CHAPTER 245

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It took me around five minutes or so to take full control of Xandar, in the end, not even having to reveal myself to the Xandarians as their new leader, as the pleasant realization that having control of all the leaders in the planet was more than enough to satisfy my system and what my power considered as a conquered territory.

With that new bit of information about the whole conquering thing, things had become considerably easier.

I now simply had to take control of a few selected beings across the universe, effectively taking hold of problematic planets and species before Knull did.

The fewer materials the King of the Void had to work with on his hands the better it would be for us in the long run. Sure, ideally, the best scenario would be for me to take hold of the entire universe to completely nullify his horde, sadly, that was simply not plausible in the least.

Not only the universe was infinitely vast, but taking control of that many planets would tax me a lot, weakening me.

And when it came to Knull, I didn't have the luxury to lose any power, or stretch my focus more than I already was.

So, instead of stretching myself thin across the universe, I had decided to take control of a selected few, those that I considered possible threats should they fall to Knull and his horde.

The list was the following.

The Sovereign.

The Kree.

The Skrull.

The Chitauri.

The Shi'Ar.

The Brood.

The Technarchy.

The Sakaarans.

The Flora Colossi.

So far, according to an extensive search on my library that took a few hours to complete, those were the most problematic planets should they fall into Knull's hands, at least in the near universe, be it because of their technology, or natural abilities, or a mix of both, every single one on the list was a possible threat.

Some more than others.

"Time to 'democratically' become the hidden ruler of nine civilizations at the same time," I sighed, teleporting to the first one on the list, The Sovereign.

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[Thor Odinson POV]

My journey to crown my sworn brother as the King of the Nine realms had started pretty easy.

Without much fight, Eitri, the King of Dwarves had accepted my proposition, saying he trusted my judgment, and his once former student, Alex as well.

However, the easy part of my journey had sadly ended there.

The moment I had left Nidavellir for Vanaheim, with a smile on my face, eager to continue on my journey, I soon found out things would not go like they had gone with Eitri at all. I realized this as soon as I started explaining the situation to the people of Vanaheim, with their gazes meeting mine with a lot of doubt.

I couldn't blame them.

The whole situation was hard to believe, nevertheless, I would not give up at this minor setback, so trying my best I determinedly reassured them that there was nothing to worry about, that what I was offering was merely a temporary arrangement we were looking to make to keep everyone safe.

For the next following hours, I spoke with the leaders of Vanaheim.

Trying my best to come to an agreement with them.

"Are you sure this man is to be trusted?" 

I smiled, almost insulted at his comment. Was my brother to be trusted? Of course he was! I would place my beating heart on his hands, and not question if he crushed it, for I would trust without a doubt he had good reasons to kill me.

"Without a doubt," I replied, without a hint of doubt in my tone.

"I see, then we will trust your judgment,"

I beamed.

Two realms down, six more to go.

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[Hela Odinsdottir POV]

Something was wrong.

I could feel it in the air.

The flags of war were being raised.

Normally, I would be excited at the prospect of a war on the horizon,  I mean, how could I not? It was my element, I thrived in the chaos that war provided me, I relished the bloodshed it brought with mad sickening delight.

But instead of feeling like I wanted to feel, I felt troubled.

For the first time in all my long life, I felt anxious at the possibility of war.

It was laughable, really, on more than one level, that I, Hela, the fearless Goddess of Death, would feel this way, and yet. Here I was, terrified of what was to come, without even knowing what was to come.

I suppose I didn't need to know, after all, one does not require to see the threat to know there's one. And while I couldn't see any threats with my own eyes, every cell in my body knew with certainty there was a threat ahead like nothing I had seen before.

"I wonder what though," I sighed.

"You seem scared," Loki grinned, walking towards me.

"As a matter of fact, I am," I replied with a quick nod, without a care. I was not one to hide, pretending that I was above feeling fear, unlike others, I embraced fear, for fear made us stronger, fear made us understand our own mortality and weakness and how to surpass it. Every warrior worth a damn had experienced fear more than once in their life, and those that said they had not, were nothing more than pathetic excuses for a warrior hiding beneath a skirt of false bravado.

"I wasn't expecting that answer," Loki replied.

"I suppose you weren't," I sighed, pondering about what was to come.

"What troubles you, if I might ask?" Loki asked.

"My, are you worried about me, little brother?" I asked, teasingly.

"As much as I can be," Loki rolled his eyes, scoffing. "I simply wish to know what scares you, because frankly, until today, I assumed you were scared of nothing, not even Alex, or Thor for that matter."

"Why would I fear them?" I chuckled, "I know what my destiny is should I ever face them as I am now, so what's there to fear? Death? Please, only cowards fear their end."

"That doesn't answer the question," Loki pressed.

"No, it doesn't," I nodded, giving him a small smile.

"I take it you won't answer," Loki sighed.

"There isn't much to answer to be honest," I admitted, taking a deep breath, before continuing, "All I know is… something is about to happen… something big, what or when?" I shrugged, "I don't have the slightest idea, but whatever it's about to happen, will drown the cosmos in darkness like nothing we have ever seen."

"I see," Loki chuckled, his eyes gleaming with stupidity.

"I know what you are thinking Loki," I sighed, putting my hand on his shoulder, "But this is not an opportunity to try and scheme, I know you are not one to listen, and frankly I don't care, but for the first time in your life, you must listen. What is about to come is beyond our power, beyond our personal desires, so if you have any sense of self-preservation or a modicum of intelligence, heed my warning, and don't try anything, for once, stay back."

"You are more frightened than I anticipated," Loki muttered, his eyes gazing over me in a calculating fashion.

I sighed, I had done what I could, my good deed of the year, if the imbecile wanted to ignore my warnings, he was more than welcome, "Do as you please, Loki, but know that from this point on, you walk towards your grave out of your own accord."

With that said, I walked out of the room, leaving a silent Loki behind.