amaotonovel Chapter 4080 MU Superbody Major Event (16)
Chapter 4080 MU Superbody Major Event (16)
Chapter 4080 MU: The Superbody Incident (160)
After Loki stormed off, Helen quickly chased after him. Although she had returned to protect Asgard, the most important person in the palace was Loki. With Loki gone, there was nothing left to protect in this dilapidated house. On the contrary, if something happened to Loki while he was away, then all would be lost. So Helen didn't hesitate and flew out of Asgard as well.
But she was actually mistaken: there was really nothing to protect about this dilapidated house in Asgard. After all, it was just the residence of Odin's family. Although it had some symbolic significance, Asgard never cared about such things; if the house broke, they could just rebuild it. What was truly important here were two things: Thor's crown and Loki's Mind Scepter.
Helen certainly wouldn't have considered this thing to be important, since the Infinity Stones had been unusable for a long time. Thor's crown usually only served a decorative purpose on major holidays; the Mind Scepter could help Loki cast spells, but that was only in its normal state, and if Loki were to ascend to the status of the Goddess of Light, it would be of little use.
Throughout Helen's childhood, she had never witnessed these two items playing any significant role. When she visited the Time Bureau before, she even saw a box of Infinity Stones there, but she didn't consider them any treasures. Therefore, in her view, there was nothing worth coveting in Asgard, and she left without any protection.
But ironically, Batman's long and complicated journey was ultimately aimed at obtaining the two Infinity Stones. His impersonation of Thor to injure Thor wasn't actually to kill him, but to lure Loki out so he could steal the stones from Asgard.
The plan went very smoothly. Loki rushed out; in his Radiant Goddess form, he didn't need weapons, so he tossed his scepter into his bedroom. Thor wasn't wearing his crown either; although he'd heard about the battle for the Infinity Stones, the fighting here was even more intense, and he didn't have time to go back for it, leaving his crown in the top-floor dressing room. Neither Infinity Stone was protected, and Martian Manhunter easily succeeded.
Martian Manhunter first picked up the Mind Staff, then went to the top floor, took Thor's crown, and escaped without attracting anyone's attention. No one even noticed him until he left.
This is actually thanks to the unique physical structure of Martians. As mentioned before, Martian hunters are essentially a moving mass of molecules, with a structure similar to that of a symbiote. When it transforms into a human, it completely mimics that person's physical structure, making it difficult for any scanning instrument to detect any difference, because they are identical at the molecular level.
Martian Manhunter replaced Thor from the hypothetical universe party, mainly because this guy was an alcoholic who liked to go to the bar under the base to drink all the time.
This base was built by the Asgardians, so naturally there were drinks available to get them drunk. However, Asgardians metabolize hallucinogens very quickly; a good night's sleep is all it takes. Therefore, Thor always ends up quite tipsy at parties.
Normally, nothing's wrong; a good night's sleep leaves him refreshed and ready for battle the next day. But there's always someone scheming. Martian Manhunter exploited this weakness, knocking Thor unconscious on his way back to his dorm from the party. After mimicking Thor's body structure, he had the few remaining Flash members take Thor back to the Dark Quadrant, taking his place and joining Thor's team, then delivering a brutal blow.
Thor was caught off guard for two reasons: firstly, he hadn't expected Batman to move so quickly; secondly, Martian Manhunter's imitation had even fooled Party Thor's Mjolnir, meaning he could wield Mjolnir. The divine power he used in the previous attacks on the Brood was also from this hammer, identical to Party Thor's. The Aesir recognize people by their divine power; when divine power is identical, few would suspect impersonation.
After Martian Manhunter successfully acquired the two stones, Batman now possesses five Infinity Stones, meaning he only needs the Soul Stone to complete his collection.
No one expected the situation to develop to this point. Or rather, everyone on Marvel's side felt that they were initially in the lead, but somehow they started to lose ground.
However, this is only the beginning; the more serious consequences of the recent setbacks are gradually becoming apparent. Most importantly, their strongest intelligence agency, the Sanctuary, is essentially crippled.
After the corrupted Scarlet Witch and Magneto were swallowed whole by Helen, they were resurrected in the Battle Realm and sent a very important message to the command center via Battle Realm communications—there was no dimensional rift at the mission target location at all.
Although they were driven mad and became violent due to the pollution, they could still sense the specific structure of that space before completely losing consciousness; there were no spatial rifts at all. This was a very pure trap; the other side didn't even bother to set it up. The central area was actually very calm, with nothing there except for the source of the pollution.
However, this intelligence was provided by the Sanctum Sanctorum, and when the command center reconfirmed it, the Sanctum Sanctorum confidently asserted that there was no problem, which led to the significant losses among mutants. So, can the Sanctum Sanctorum's intelligence still be trusted?
An investigation should have been initiated to find out who sent the intelligence back and who confirmed it, but in reality, it was impossible to do so because the mage had more important things to do, namely, to check the magic defense network.
More important than identifying the mole within the Sanctum Sanctorum is how that mole infiltrated Earth. Providing false information and causing the deaths of mutants is one thing, but if the magical defense network fails, all of humanity will perish.
The mages were so busy checking the magical defense network that they had no time to hunt down the traitor. To make matters worse, the Sorcerer Supreme had fallen into enemy hands and his fate was unknown; Loki was too enraged to act on his brother's death, and neither of them had time to investigate. Therefore, the command center had no choice but to rely on the abandoned Sanctum Sanctorum as their source of intelligence.
The abandonment of the Sanctuary information had another serious consequence: no one was looking for the Infinity Stones anymore.
The Avengers had to defend the base, the mutants had to help Asgard fight on the front lines, the mages had to check and repair the magical defense network, and the remaining few were basically useless.
So even knowing that Batman is only one stone away from completing the Infinity Stone set, they are powerless to find it. Once Batman finds the final Infinity Stone, the battle is doomed to be lost.
Meanwhile, the DC superheroes suddenly realized just how elaborate a scheme Batman had orchestrated to turn the tide of their initially unfavorable situation.
Their biggest setback, the loss of Apokolips, also became the turning point for them to turn defeat into victory.
Because of the loss of Apokolips, the battle situation became extremely unfavorable. The Superhumans wanted to intervene, but Batman caught them red-handed and wrote the life equation into them, giving them an extremely powerful magical life form that could use the power of the universe's origin.
Then, Batman from Manhattan intervened, capturing Doctor Strange and his companions, which weakened Earth's magical defenses. He then used Superman to disrupt the magical defense network, allowing someone to successfully infiltrate the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Next, the mole fabricated false information, causing the mutants to fall into a trap and unfortunately lose control. Then, the mole led the out-of-control mutants to attack the barriers of the Nine Realms, putting enough pressure on the two great empires on the main battlefield. Then, the mole ambushed Thor, diverting the Asgardian guards and taking the opportunity to seize the Infinity Stones.
It's not hard to see that the key to this plan is actually the mole. The prerequisite for using the mole is that Arkham Batman and his team sow discord between the Black Queen and the White Queen, ultimately causing the White Queen's powers to erupt, destroying the planet-level brainwave amplifier and depriving Charles of his psychic abilities that cover the entire universe in the central universe.
Because of the mole, the Sanctum Sanctorum became unreliable, and the command center no longer dared to trust the information provided by the Sanctum Sanctorum regarding the final Infinity Stone. Furthermore, apart from the Sanctum Sanctorum, the efficiency of others searching for the object throughout the universe was not high enough, and Marvel's home-field advantage was almost nonexistent.
If Batman obtains the last Infinity Stone, the tide of battle will be completely turned.
Judging from the coherence of these plans, Batman had definitely planned this all along: first, destroy the brainwave amplifier to disable the mind-reading ability; then, quickly send out a mole to disable the Sanctum Sanctorum's intelligence capabilities; collect the first two Infinity Stones, and then go find the last one. The entire operation was executed flawlessly.
What troubles command most is Batman's ability to snowball. He is very good at maximizing a small advantage.
For example, destroying the brainwave amplifier was their first victory after losing Apokolips. In fact, the result was not very significant, because Charles did not die, and Eric, who created the brainwave amplifier, also did not die. In other words, given enough time, they could have easily rebuilt it.
It could be said that if the opponent had been even slightly slower, this victory would have been a complete waste, serving no purpose other than boosting morale.
But the other side happens to be Batman, who is best at seizing opportunities. In just that short time, he managed to turn Marvel upside down: severely injuring Thor, blatantly stealing two Infinity Stones, leaving Marvel powerless to find the last one, and incidentally destroying their intelligence system.
What was initially a negligible victory has been turned into a major upset thanks to Batman's actions. If he finds the final gem, victory will be a foregone conclusion.
Command center understood that if Batman continued to snowball his advantage, the battle would be over. Although the situation was extremely unfavorable, it wasn't time to give up; they still had some leverage and could try to fight back.
For example, those Supermen trapped by Charles would be good targets. Although they can no longer be used to negotiate with Batman, they can at least be used as hostages to slow him down.
Moreover, those who previously remained neutral can no longer stay so. Marvel is on the verge of survival; if they don't act soon, they should be kicked out of the central universe.
"Hehe, don't be in such a hurry." Mephisto paced in front of Natasha and said, "You know I've always been a staunch supporter of our universe, how could I not help you? I just waited for the right moment to act."
"When will the time you're waiting for come?" Natasha asked coldly, "When Batman throws his victory party?"
“No, that’s not it,” Mephisto said, rolling his eyes. “A brute-force attack isn’t the style of us devils; devils use their brains. I do have a little idea…”
"explain."