"No, we must make them remember the fear of being dominated by darkness again."
Homelander rubbed his brow and pulled his attention back to the present.
"Is there any news on Kaecilius's whereabouts?"
"Yes, sir." Skynet's screen switched to a satellite map of New York. "Based on the surveillance footage extracted from his battle with Dr. Strange on Bleecker Street, I have locked onto his facial features."
"Afterwards, I discovered his stronghold in St. Mary's Church in London and successfully recorded his biological signal."
"Since then, he has used mysterious means to conceal his tracks or relocated via portals multiple times, but my satellites have identified and re-locked onto him every time."
"Furthermore, during the gaps when he left the church, I dispatched micro liquid metal robots to install a covert surveillance network inside his stronghold."
Skynet asked, "Do you need me to organize the V-Special Forces or dispatch a Superhero squad to capture him?"
Homelander waved his hand.
"Leave him be, continue monitoring. Report any abnormalities to me immediately."
Capturing him now would be equivalent to ending the game early.
He was still counting on Kaecilius to help him farm some achievements.
...
London, inside St. Mary's Church.
Kaecilius sat cross-legged in front of the altar, gently massaging his abdomen.
The force of that kick from Strange, which caught him completely off guard, had ruptured almost all his internal organs.
Relying on the dark energy bestowed by Dormammu, he barely managed to hold on without passing out on the spot.
Afterward, he collected several magic potions to ingest and absorbed energy from the Dark Dimension to repair his body, taking a good half-day to basically recover.
"Damn that Doctor mage..." Kaecilius gritted his teeth.
At this moment, two zealots, also sporting panda eyes, walked over quickly.
"How is the situation?" Kaecilius asked.
"The situation is dire, Master." The zealot lowered his head and replied respectfully.
"Vought International is organizing the evacuation of civilians around the New York Sanctum and the Hong Kong Sanctum."
"The scene is packed with Vought's Superheroes, and the defense is tight. We don't dare to get too close for fear of being discovered."
"The initiative is lost." After hearing this, Kaecilius's eyes turned sinister, though his face remained expressionless.
"Since they are fully prepared, we must lie low for now."
"Defense cannot last forever; no matter how tight, every defense will show a flaw. There will definitely be another opportunity."
"But our current strength is not enough. To prepare for the next all-out attack, we must expand the scale of believers for My Lord Dormammu and accumulate more power."
"Go make arrangements," Kaecilius commanded. "I want to meet with the leaders of the Glory Society."
The zealot looked hesitant: "My Lord, those people are extremely arrogant and may not be willing to see us."
"They will see us," Kaecilius sneered. "...What the Dark Dimension can offer them is something that cannot be bought with wealth or power."
"Go tell them that I can give them... eternal life."
...
Asgard.
Thor strode down the corridors of the Royal Palace, with Surtur's massive crown firmly strapped to his back with iron chains.
Showing off his war achievement to everyone he passed.
Afterward, he went straight to Odin's vault and casually placed the crown in a hidden corner.
Having completed the task assigned by Odin, Thor immediately set off for the Bifrost Bridge hub to find Heimdall.
Heimdall was standing motionless in front of the console, gripping his greatsword.
"Heimdall, my friend." Thor walked up, "Help me find Loki's tracks. That guy, full of bad ideas, snuck away again in Muspelheim. I'm afraid he's hiding in some corner of the Nine Realms again to cause trouble."
"I was just about to find you, Thor." Heimdall said in a low voice, "Loki was kidnapped by Thanos in Svartalfheim."
"They left a written message at the scene, meaning that if you want to save Loki, you must take the Tesseract to Sakaar to make a trade."
"Sakaar?" Thor frowned. He was very unfamiliar with the name. "Where is that? Is it a realm outside the Nine Realms?"
Heimdall shook his head.
"Sakaar is not in the Nine Realms. It is located in a terrifying place where the gravitational field and spatial curvature are extremely distorted."
Heimdall explained the dangers of that place to Thor in detail.
"In the sky there, countless space wormholes of various sizes are entangled together, like a giant mouth constantly opening and closing."
"These wormholes generate unimaginable suction, mercilessly sucking in ship debris, space junk from surrounding galaxies, and even those unlucky, lost interstellar travelers, finally 'excreting' them all onto the surface of Sakaar."
"Because of this extreme intake and output characteristic, it has become a famous junkyard in the Universe."
"Among the interstellar Raiders, it is also known as... the Anus of the Universe."
Hearing the name "Anus of the Universe," the muscles on Thor's face twitched, and his face was full of disgust.
"Odin above, is that guy Thanos sick? Trading in a garbage dump?" Thor curled his lip in disdain.
Disgusting as it was, the important matter couldn't be delayed.
"What is the environment like there?" Thor asked.
"Very dangerous." Heimdall nodded, "As the only entry and exit passage for Sakaar, the biggest characteristic of the Anus of the Universe is that it's easy to get in, but hard to get out."
"Its interior is full of violent gravitational tearing and spatial turbulence. Most ships that attempt to forcefully control their direction and pass through it in reverse will be ruthlessly shredded."
"That dangerous? Then can you use the Bifrost Bridge to send me in directly, or pick me up?"
After hearing this, Thor's expression became serious.
"The Bifrost Bridge cannot pinpoint a location within such a chaotic gravitational field. Forcing it open would only lead to energy backlash and damage the Bifrost Bridge."
Heimdall looked at Thor and pointed out Thanos's sinister intentions.
"Thor, this is clearly a meticulously designed trap. Thanos chose that place for the transaction, making it clear that you have no choice but to take the Tesseract there."
"And once you hand over the Tesseract, Thanos can use its power to ignore the chaotic space of Sakaar and leave directly."
"But you, having lost the Tesseract, will lose the quick means of leaving Sakaar and might be trapped in this cosmic junkyard forever!"
After listening to Heimdall's analysis, Thor not only didn't retreat but burst into laughter.
"So what if it's a trap?" Thor smiled proudly and weighed Stormbreaker in his hand. "I fear no enemy now! I will both rescue Loki and bring back the Tesseract!"
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