"Wow!"
Emerging from the Bifrost conduit and looking at the magnificent, golden observatory, Jane couldn't help but let out a cry of amazement. Then, she spotted Heimdall standing not far away, holding his sword.
"Welcome to Asgard!"
Noticing Jane's gaze, Heimdall spoke with a faint smile. Because of Thor, he actually knew Jane very well, and thus held a degree of appreciation for her.
After exchanging introductions, while Jane was busy admiring the surrounding observatory, Thor walked over to Heimdall's side and asked in a low voice, "That place has the mark of the Bifrost. What exactly is inside the seal?"
"I do not know!"
Heimdall shook his head, looking equally perplexed as he replied, "I have never seen that place anywhere within the Nine Realms. As for the seal, I suspect it dates back to a time before I took command of the Bifrost."
Thor couldn't help but frown upon hearing this, and continued, "Jane said she was sucked into a space once before, after which she mysteriously blacked out and returned to Earth. At the time, she also felt a sort of summoning. I'm worried something has gone wrong with that seal, so I want to take her for a checkup first."
Heimdall nodded and replied, "I will keep an eye on that place. If anything happens, I will notify you immediately!"
Flashing a grateful smile at Heimdall, Thor scooped up Jane, who was still curiously studying her surroundings. Raising his hammer, he lifted off the ground, and amid her exclamation of surprise, flew toward Asgard's healing chambers at extreme speed.
...
Somewhere in the universe, inside a massive spaceship, a dormant system was suddenly activated. The Dark Elves, who had been in deep slumber, began to wake up one after another.
Having slept for far too long, Malekith was still somewhat weak upon waking from his hibernation. He quickly figured out the reason for his awakening and walked into the ship's cabin. Looking at his confused clansmen who were waking up from their deep sleep, he spoke up to explain:
"The Aether has awakened us. The Convergence of the Realms is upon us once more!"
Malekith knew this was their chance. As long as they reclaimed the Aether and took advantage of the Convergence, they could reproduce the glorious era when they ruled the universe.
The remaining Dark Elves were all survivors of the great war back then, and they all understood what these words implied. Without needing any orders from Malekith, they excitedly began to busy themselves around the spaceship.
Before long, by virtue of their special connection to the Aether, the Dark Elves located its approximate position.
"It's actually in Svartalfheim!"
Looking at the tracked location, a hint of surprise flashed through Malekith's eyes, accompanied by a touch of nostalgia and sorrow.
At this moment, a figure walked up to Malekith's side and asked with a frown, "Could this be a trap?"
"I do not know!"
Malekith shook his head, then looked at him and replied, "But whether it is a trap or not, we cannot give up on reclaiming the Aether. Moreover, that is exactly where we were headed anyway."
Algrim fell silent for a moment before asking, "Then what should we do?"
"The Aether was able to send out a signal to wake us, so it must have found a temporary host. We must find them immediately. No matter who it is, we must reclaim the Aether before the Convergence and restore the universe to its original darkness!"
Hearing Malekith's words, Algrim didn't say much more and immediately ordered the spaceship to steer toward Svartalfheim.
However, as the spaceship traveled, Malekith's expression carried a hint of gravity. Seeing this, Algrim walked over to comfort him, "We will surely succeed!"
But Malekith sighed, looking at the Nine Realms displayed on the screen, and said, "The Convergence is coming soon, but we haven't had time to recover our strength. Next, besides that unknown host, we may also have to face Asgard!"
"The suffering they put us through, I will make them pay back tenfold!"
At the mention of Asgard, deep anger and hatred flared in Malekith's eyes.
However, after such a long slumber, it was impossible for everyone's strength to recover all at once. Therefore, to deal with what lay ahead, someone had to step forward and make a sacrifice to restore their power.
Algrim instantly understood Malekith's meaning, and his eyes immediately filled with resolve as he replied, "I am willing to sacrifice myself."
Malekith looked at him with a complex gaze. This matter concerned the future of the entire Dark Elf race, so he had to make a choice.
Algrim was the strongest warrior among the Dark Elves, and only his sacrifice could yield the best result.
For the fate of their entire race, Malekith ultimately chose to let Algrim become the 'Sacrificed One.'
This was a method to rapidly gain power at the cost of sacrificing one's life. It was only effective for Dark Elves. By injecting modified fragments of the Aether into the body, it would continuously absorb the user's vitality, constantly boosting their strength.
This process would not stop until their life force was completely drained, right up to the moment of death.
Meanwhile, Fini had no idea that the Dark Elves were already on their way to find him. He had finished testing his skills and discovered that although his other abilities were affected to some extent, none were as severely impacted as Incursio.
The main issue affecting him was that he had to maintain an immense amount of mental focus to stabilize the Aether's energy within his body, while also preventing it from absorbing too much of his vitality.
Through his research, Fini also discovered that hosting the Aether inside his body didn't come without a price.
Like a parasite, it had to absorb life force to stay active, which made Fini feel an increasing urgency to get it out of his body as soon as possible.
Aside from these drawbacks, he had also mastered a few simple ways to use the Aether beyond just firing energy blasts.
For instance, he could construct dark matter energy weapons that could shift shape at will, and his physical attributes received a certain degree of enhancement.
However, perhaps because his method was incorrect, or perhaps because his physical structure differed from that of a Dark Elf, the degree of enhancement was very limited, falling far short of Incursio.
Looking at the dark-red greatsword in his hand that extended over twenty meters, Fini felt a bit disappointed.
Though this ability looked exaggerated, it didn't actually bring much enhancement to his overall combat power. He could achieve a similar effect in the dimensional space using the Golden Derivative Spell; it was just that the material of the blade would be different.
Still, Fini didn't give up and continued to work hard on developing other capabilities of the Aether. In any case, he was already prepared to wait here for a week.
While Fini was waiting for the Dark Elves, Asgard was not at peace either.
As the King of Asgard, it was difficult to hide anything that happened within the realm from Odin. Therefore, not long after Thor brought Jane to the healing chambers, Odin found out.
His eldest daughter was currently imprisoned by his own hands, and his adopted younger son was locked up for a rebellious uprising. Right now, Odin had absolutely no other choice for the heir to Asgard besides Thor.
As such, he did not want to see the future Queen of Asgard be a mere, ordinary mortal woman from Earth.
It wasn't that Odin was steadfastly opposed to Thor finding a woman from Earth to be his wife; he simply looked down on Jane as an ordinary human woman. If Jane possessed Ancient One's level of strength as a Sorcerer Supreme, he guaranteed he would already be preparing the wedding for Thor right now.
Thus, he stormed into the healing chambers in a fit of rage. Looking at Thor, who was staring at Jane with a silly grin on his face, he was so angry he practically wanted to release Loki and just let him inherit the throne instead.
"Do you treat my words like flatulence?"
As the All-Father and Lord of Asgard, Odin rarely spoke this way, which also showed just how furious he was at this moment.
(⊙o⊙)...