Technomancer in MCU #105 (Patreon)

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Chapter 105

Technomancer in MCU

–Odin–

He sighed as he looked at the unconscious form of the demon host. Alfred, the Guardian of the Singularity, was trying to do his best with his repertoire of medical spells but he knew, just from a look, why the demon host had fainted. It was due to the Singularity’s soul.

The burden of bearing the soul of a Singularity was not something that many beings in the universe or even the multiverse could do. You needed a certain level of strength but also finesse regarding the handling of souls to be able to do that and on top of that, one needed to have the consent of the said soul to do so.

To bear that burden for so long, for that, Toby Mathers has his respect. But it would seem that even an empowered demon host would not be able to bear that burden for long. Just another thing on the list of things that he would have no choice but to do that also reduced his already meager lifespan.

Sigh He seemed to sigh a lot lately. He already had made the decision to handle Hela before dying but if he were to help in Alfred’s crazy procedure, he might just not make it to see Hela out of her prison.

What a mess.

“Don’t worry about him. It is just the stress of handling the soul transfer of Ed. That fool went ahead and hardcoded that spell into his magical systems, allowing that spell to function even if he himself went unconscious.” He said while thumping Gungnir on the ground, making the stone disappear back into his personal dimension. 

As soon as he did that, the gazes that had converged on Asgard the moment Alfred had taken out the Mind Stone began disappearing one by one. Especially since he had made sure to project the Odin Force to obstruct their views. One by one, everybody left until only a few left were still trying to see through the veil he had crafted over Asgard until eventually, after not finding any gaps, they too left.

He sighed in relief at that. While he had projected a strong front there and was more than capable of killing all of them should they show up, his body would just not last while battling them. It was his mistake anyway. He should not have woven the spell with the Odin Force before banishing Hela but at the moment, he had no other way of imprisoning her. She had grown too strong.

“What do we do now?” Alfred’s question brought him out of his lamentations. He looked at Alfred who had covered Toby in a barrier that was filled with dark energy of some sort. 

He nodded internally in approval. It would have been quite a blunder on ALfred’s part if he had employed the same strategy that he had used to heal him, i.e., using concentrated CHI to accelerate the natural healing process.

Demon hosts are naturally darkness-aligned beings and thus, concentrated CHI that Alfred had made using light energy as a medium, would have the potential to severely injure TOby Mathers. Granted, it would take a significant amount of it with his powers but at the moment Toby was concentrating the majority of his powers to ensure that Ed’s soul did not wither away to the Astral Realm and thus, Toby was in an exceptionally vulnerable state.

Quite admirable to do that just for a friend, he must say.

“Take him to Eir and tell her to keep him tethered to the Soul Forge and not to spare any Soul Crystals to hasten his recovery. I am sure he will be needed for your insane ritual.”

Alfred nodded and left for Eir's office.

He sighed and slashed Gungnir, creating a tear in the space in front of him. Walking through, he found himself in his bedroom instead of his personal library. Granted, both of these locations were quite near but for his spell to take him someplace else was unthinkable. Unless?

“I changed the destination of your spell,” He turned around and found Frigga sitting on one of the chairs.

“You might not deign to give them an explanation but I need one and I need it now. So, what happened when you were in that mind trance?” Frigga asked him seriously.

He had hoped to delay this matter a bit because honestly, he himself did not have a complete understanding of what exactly happened with his father’s energy but maybe she could shed light on some aspects by looking at it from a new perspective.

So, he sat down on the chair next to her and subspaced Gungnir while trying to recall everything that had happened since he had supplied the Odin Force with that light. Then, after Frigga had waited patiently for a couple of minutes while he gathered his thoughts, he explained everything to her, in detail.

He had not expected to meet with an imprint of his father’s will. Somehow, he had predicted the resurgence of the Aether and the awakening of Malekith from his centuries-long slumber. He had then placed a part of his power into the Aether and imprinted a message within, hoping that by the time somebody reached the Aether, the will imprint would survive and it did survive.

The will imprint was on its last legs as it was trying to protect Jane Foster from the Aether as it was trying to completely take over her body when it sensed his Odin Force and began gorging on it to sustain itself. He had allowed it to happen because he was curious and thus after the imprint had enough of his Odin Force, it manifested a mental connection to him which he allowed to happen.

In the vision, he met his father or rather, a recorded message from his father. In which, he warned him about an invasion that would happen in the future.

Not the Dark Elves invasion but an invasion that scaled across their entire multiversal cluster. A group of higher dimensional beings were on their way to their universe in search of the Singularity. The Singularity who was not yet born in their universe and who also happened to have something that the higher dimensional beings desperately wanted, so much so that they had already destroyed dozens of universes in the multiversal cluster in search of the Singularity.

He had also been warned that he was not to look at things with his arrogance. He would not be able to solve the situation. The Singularity and the SIngularity alone had the ability to prevent the invasion, allowing their universe to survive. He had of course wanted to speak more with his father and foolish thought that more Odin Force would get him more of the message so he pumped more of his energy into the imprint, not knowing that the imprint was in the body of Jane Foster, a mortal, who ended up nearly dying due to his energy.

That was when Frigga’s spell severed their connection and due to the slight backlash he faced from the spell, he fainted and woke up after a while.

“I see. So we have to offer our unconditional support to Ed then,” Frigga said after a while.

He found himself nodding at the question. They had no other choice and while he had grilled Alfred about his mistakes, the truth was that he and Ed truly were their best options when it came to the future of Asgard.

Thor, as he was now, was simply not capable of being King. He still didn’t understand the severity of being King. The sacrifices it demands, the things it takes from you. He had no understanding of that feeling. Loki, on the other hand, had experienced many things in his life that matured him faster than Loki but his heritage was something that could not be kept hidden for long. While he himself had no problem with Loki being a Frost Giant, the people of Asgard would go to war if they heard that he was going to crown a Frost Giant, the King of Asgard.

No, Loki was always supposed to be the King of Jotunheim while Thor would be the King of Asgard. Together, both of them would foster peace between the two realms that would last for generations.

Alas, the possibility of that happening was slim and even if it did happen, the chances of him being alive till then are zero. So, all he could realistically do to make the situation slightly better was make sure that Hela was not a problem for them and help in healing the Singularity’s body, a process that has been long overdue now.

The chances of them winning against Thanos with Ed at his peak condition would be vastly better than they are now, especially since Thanos knew he was alive and would not move until he was confirmed dead. He was quite shrewd that way, unwilling to even face him at his end. Cautious till the end.

“We have to help Alfred in his insane ritual idea,” He said to Frigga with a resigned sigh. The amount of attention that Asgard was going to get after that ritual was not something that was desirable but he just hoped that the deterrence of Ed and Alfred would stop most of the old monsters from coming out and testing Asgard’s defenses.

“I understand. I’ll go over the ritual spells with the scholars and get back to you. Until then, rest, OK?” Frigga gently said as she took something out of her personal dimension and gave it to him.

He took it in his hand, only to see a glowing pill of some sort. Answering his questioning look, Frigga said, “It is an invention of Alfred. It helps people sleep properly while it recharges their stamina. I’m sure it will be helpful for you. Now, why don’t you get some sleep while I make sure that Alfred does not do something incredibly stupid, like bringing in another Infinity Stone on Asgard without permission,” 

He nodded and after changing into his pajamas with a flick of his fingers, he ate the pill and went to bed.

Strangely enough, he went to sleep almost right away, something of a rarity in the last century because of all the headaches he was constantly given, by the court, by the nobles, by the nine realms, by his sons.

He just hoped that by the time he woke up, there would not be another headache in the form of Alfred, waiting for him.

Guest Wing, Royal Palace, Asgard

–Ed–

“You did what?” He nearly shouted at Alfred who looked completely uncaring of the fact that he had just tried to smuggle in one of the six most dangerous weapons of the entire universe, into a foreign country without the approval of their King.

Was he out of his mind?

“I was having a discussion with Toby and wanted to show him how the ritual would go,” Alfred said as he continued to pour over the ancient tome that described the ins and outs of demon hosts that Asgard had encountered millennia before even Odin was King.

He put his hand over his nose and exhaled, before counting to ten to calm his mind. He could not imagine the consequences of the stunt Alfred just pulled. Especially since he knew that there were many old monsters in the universe who would not hesitate to attack Asgard to get two Infinity Stones at the same time. A single Infinity Stone was tempting but ultimately futile to pursue because doing so under the watch of Odin was certain death.

But the temptation of Two Infinity Stones was not something those old monsters could resist. 

“Is the Stone safe now?” He asked as he continued to look at the diagnostic spells that Alfred had cast on Toby, hoping to make some sort of sense of the data being shown.

He was quite aware that Toby was the reason he was even conscious right now and while he was grateful for that, he was also aware that doing so came at a cost, even for someone like Toby, who had dozens of years of experience dealing with souls, being a demon host.

“Yes, Odin took it from me. I can no longer sense it on Asgard. He must have kept it really hidden deep within the palace,” Alfred said as he continued to cast a spell that created a ring of darkness around the prone form of Toby. His body continued to absorb that darkness that Alfred had taken from some unclaimed alternate dimension but he showed no signs of waking up.

“When will he wake up?”

“According to my estimates, by tomorrow morning, his body should be in a good enough condition to wield the stone,” 

“Ok. I am going to sleep now. You should also get some rest for tomorrow because I have already gotten the summons for a meeting with Odin, Frigga, and the Scholars of Asgard tomorrow.”

“Very well,” Alfred said, still distracted by something.

Word Count - 2211

A/N - I am sorry for the delay. I had to go to the bank for some reason and then, by the time I got time to write, it was already night. WIth the tasty dinner that I cooked for myself, it got even harder for me to sit and write this so you better appreciate it.

Toodles!