Possession

Loki fell silent for a moment, then asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Old Tony asked, "Neither technology nor the Eternals’ methods are reliable. Loki, does Asgard have any magic for finding people?"

"There is, but we don’t have the materials."

Loki sighed. "Asgard has been destroyed. There’s nothing left."

"No materials?"

Old Tony asked, "Can’t other materials be used as substitutes?"

"Other materials can be used, but we’d need extensive experimentation to determine which ones can replace the original materials."

Loki said, "Those experiments are not only tedious, but also require a great deal of time."

Old Tony immediately said, "We don’t lack time. Go conduct the experiments in the Time Room and find substitute materials as quickly as possible."

Loki could not help glancing at Old Tony. Was he deliberately finding an excuse to lock him up? After hesitating for a moment, Loki nodded. "No problem. But, Iron Man, don’t forget your promise to me. Asgard cannot perish."

"I never intended to destroy Asgard."

Old Tony said, "However, Asgard cannot remain on Earth."

"I never intended to stay either."

Loki snorted and followed Old Tony to the Time Room.

Outside the Time Room, Old Tony watched Loki busily working inside and secretly sighed. He hoped everything went smoothly. Damn Ultron—he could have rebelled sooner or later, yet he had chosen to do so while Old Tony was unconscious.

"That name really is unlucky."

Old Tony shook his head and entered another Time Room. He needed to redesign the Anti-Blood God Armor.

At the End of Time, Wang Bert, fused with the Sentinels, held Sylvie as he rapidly flew toward the black mist ahead. The moment the black mist saw them, it abruptly vanished.

Wang Bert stopped, frowning deeply. "Sylvie, what’s going on? Why does Alioth disappear the instant it sees us? This has happened several times already."

"Who am I supposed to ask if you’re asking me?"

Sylvie said irritably, "Logically, it shouldn’t be like this. Alioth’s consciousness is about the same as that of a cat or dog. It couldn’t deliberately toy with us. Besides, it’s extremely domineering and never lets a target go once it sees one."

Wang Bert descended with Sylvie and said unhappily, "Then how do you explain it disappearing every time I get close?"

Sylvie thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "Maybe it’s afraid of you."

Wang Bert was stunned. "Afraid of me?"

"I controlled Alioth once before, so I have some mysterious connection with it. I can vaguely sense that it’s afraid."

Sylvie looked at Wang Bert and asked hesitantly, "What exactly are you? Even Alioth fears you?"

"Could it have sensed my true nature? Is it afraid I’ll devour it?"

Wang Bert frowned. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Are you sure it’s afraid of me and not you? You controlled it before, after all!"

Sylvie shook her head. "It isn’t afraid of me. I’m certain of that."

Wang Bert asked again, "Could Old Tony be behind this? By the way, why didn’t he take Alioth away? Alioth is an extremely powerful weapon."

"You think he didn’t want to? He simply couldn’t."

Sylvie snorted. "Alioth only obeys Kang the Conqueror’s orders. After Kang the Conqueror died, Alioth became even more violent than before. Iron Man nearly got devoured by it, so Iron Man absolutely can’t be behind this."

"Is that so?"

Wang Bert said, "Since Alioth wants to play hide-and-seek with me, I’ll play along. I’ll catch it."

"How?"

Sylvie asked impatiently, "I’m starting to regret coming with you."

"What’s there to regret? If you hadn’t come with me, it would be chasing you. Since you came with me, you’re chasing it."

Wang Bert said, "To catch it, I need to hide inside your body."

Sylvie’s face filled with vigilance. "Hide inside my body? And you still say you don’t have designs on me?"

"Please look in a mirror. I have no interest in buck teeth."

Wang Bert said irritably, "I need to use your body to conceal my aura, so Alioth won’t run away again."

As he spoke, Wang Bert stepped out of the Sentinels’ body. The Sentinels transformed into an alert form and stood guard over the surroundings.

Sylvie flatly refused. "No."

Wang Bert asked, "Why not?"

"Why? To conceal your aura, you have to hide inside my soul."

Sylvie snorted. "Not only is that dangerous, but more importantly, you’d learn my secrets. I’d rather never leave this place for the rest of my life than let you enter my body."

"I can grant you one condition. Don’t rush to refuse."

Wang Bert said, "A formal introduction: I’m Bert Wang, Creator God of the Main Universe. My promise carries far more weight than you can imagine.

"If you need it, I can even destroy a galaxy for you—provided there’s no one in it."

"Creator God?"

Sylvie was somewhat stunned. She looked Wang Bert up and down and asked, "Really? You don’t look anything like one of those lofty gods."

"Of course it’s true, Sylvie. This is the greatest opportunity of your life."

Wang Bert said, "There are others at the End of Time. If you refuse, plenty of people will be willing."

Sylvie had a rebellious nature. Hearing this, she immediately snorted. "Then go find someone else. I will never agree."

"That works too."

Wang Bert smiled, then turned and asked, "You’ve been eavesdropping for so long. Aren’t you coming out?"

"Someone’s there?"

Sylvie froze, then hurriedly looked in the direction Wang Bert had turned. Two familiar figures were walking out from behind a large rock.

One was a Black woman in uniform. She looked young but carried herself with considerable authority. She was Ravonna Renslayer, a female judge of the Time Variance Authority.

The other was a somewhat cynical-looking middle-aged white man. He was Agent Mobius of the Time Variance Authority.

Sylvie asked unhappily, "You’re still alive?"

"Though we aren’t Loki, we’re pretty good at escaping too."

Mobius smiled, then asked Wang Bert, "Honored sir, was everything you said earlier true?"

Wang Bert nodded. "Yes. Whoever lends me their body will be owed a favor by me."

"I’ll lend mine."

Ravonna immediately said. Everyone was somewhat surprised, and Mobius hurriedly said, "Ravonna, think this through."

"I’ve thought it through."

Ravonna said, "I don’t know whether he truly is a Creator God, and I don’t know whether he’ll honor his promise. But I have to leave this place. If everything is true, that would naturally be best. If not, I’ll consider it a lost gamble."

"No wonder you became the leader. You’ve got guts."

Wang Bert gave her a thumbs-up and said, "Then it’ll be you—"

"Why her? I agreed too. Blood God, you asked me first."

Sylvie said unhappily. Her personality was full of rebellion and contrariness. If no one competed with her, fine, but once someone did, she would definitely snatch it back.

Wang Bert looked at Sylvie and said, "Sylvie, have you thought this through? Let me make this clear beforehand: those who deceive me never end well."

Sylvie said, "I’ll let you possess me, but you have to give me the Gender Transformation Technique."

"Interesting. Fine, you can have it."

Wang Bert suddenly smiled. Then he flicked his finger, sending a ray of light into Sylvie’s glabella. It was the complete inheritance of the Gender Transformation Technique.

After digesting the inheritance, Sylvie beamed with joy. "So that’s how it works. Ha! With this transformation technique, I can turn that disgusting guy back into a man."

"Just how much do you hate Loki?"

Wang Bert complained, then turned to Ravonna and said, "You acted well. I’ll give you a thumbs-up."

Ravonna said respectfully, "Thank you for the praise, Creator God."

Sylvie froze, then immediately realized what had happened and shouted angrily, "You set me up?"

Mobius was also quite surprised. He had not known about this beforehand. "Not exactly. If I met the requirements, I’d be happy to let the Creator God possess me."

Ravonna said. Earlier, Wang Bert had secretly discussed it with her through Mind Power, which was why they had put on this little performance.

"I don’t meet the requirements?"

Sylvie blinked, then suddenly realized. "You have no magic power. You can’t seal off the Blood God’s aura at all. Damn it, how did I forget that?"

"Because you’re too competitive."

Wang Bert said, "Sylvie, whether you’re willing or not, I’ve already paid."

"I’ll let you possess me, as long as you don’t get cut to death by me."

Sylvie drew the large blade at her waist and slashed at Wang Bert. Wang Bert grabbed her arm and flung her aside.

Unwilling to give up, Sylvie attacked again, only for Wang Bert to kick her three meters away.

Then Wang Bert flicked his five fingers, and Sylvie climbed to her feet and began "happily" breakdancing. Her bizarre dance moves made Ravonna and Mobius burst into laughter.

Sylvie was both ashamed and furious. She shouted, "What did you do to me?"

"I merely controlled your body."

Wang Bert said, "Actually, if I wanted to, I could control you at any time. But I haven’t done that, because I respect you."

"You call this respect?"

Sylvie cursed, "Let me go. Since you’re stronger than me, I agree to the previous condition."

"Offending a Creator God comes at a price. Dance for five minutes first."

Wang Bert smiled, then turned to Ravonna and said, "I won’t go back on what I promised you."

Mobius said, "What did you promise her? I’m just curious. You don’t have to answer."

Wang Bert said, "I’ll take both of you out of the End of Time. Both of you."

"Should I say thank you?"

Mobius asked with a complicated expression. Ravonna said, "I apologize for concealing the truth earlier, but I don’t think I was wrong. Order must be maintained."

Mobius said angrily, "Order does need to be maintained, but it can’t be built upon lies and enslavement."

Wang Bert asked curiously, "Lies and enslavement?"

Mobius asked, "Blood God, where do you think us Time Variance Authority staff came from?"

Wang Bert casually replied, "Created by Kang the Conqueror? Or selected from across the Entire Universe?"

"No. We’re all Time Criminals. Kang the Conqueror wiped our memories and turned us into staff members, making us capture Time Criminals for him."

Mobius smiled bitterly and said, "We’re worse than tools. Ravonna, you were the same as us. Why, after recovering your memories, did you choose to wallow in the mire with Kang the Conqueror?"

"At first, I didn’t know Kang the Conqueror existed. I merely obeyed the orders of the three Lizardmen."

Ravonna replied, "The Time Variance Authority must continue to exist. I intended to gradually uncover its secrets, then take control of the entire organization and turn it into a truly perfect Time Variance Authority."

Wang Bert glanced at Ravonna. She was an extremely ambitious woman.

Mobius sneered. "You just want power, don’t you?"

Ravonna said, "Even bad order is better than no order. The Time Variance Authority does have problems, but we should solve them gradually rather than directly destroy the Time Variance Authority. That would only cause an even greater disaster, just like now.

"Tony Stark thinks he’s a hero, but he’s actually a world-destroying Demon King. Before long, other Kang the Conquerors will descend upon this universe and destroy everything."

Mobius fell somewhat silent. After a moment, he reiterated, "An order built upon lies and enslavement has no meaning."

Ravonna said, "It has no meaning to you. It has great meaning to those who are alive."

Seeing the two about to start arguing, Wang Bert waved his hand. "There’s no point arguing about this. What are you planning to do after you get out?"

"Take a boat out to sea and fish. I’m tired. I don’t want to concern myself with anything else."

Mobius said dejectedly, "I’ve done enough protecting the world."

Ravonna said, "I’m going to kill Tony Stark, then find a way to rebuild the Time Variance Authority and save the world."

"Good idea."

Wang Bert smiled. "I think you and Nick Fury might have a common language. That guy is old now. You could be his successor."

Ravonna said, "Nick Fury? Though he was deceived by Hydra, I greatly admire his style and methods."

Mobius scoffed. "Because you’re the same kind of people."

At that moment, Sylvie impatiently shouted, "Are you done talking? Make me stop already."

Wang Bert smiled, snapped his fingers, and Sylvie stopped dancing. She let out a sigh of relief and glared fiercely at Wang Bert.

Wang Bert did not care. He said, "Sylvie, time is of the essence. I’ll hide in your body immediately, then we’ll search for Alioth together."

"Whatever. It’s not like I can say no."

Sylvie said unhappily. Wang Bert shrugged and transformed into a ray of Light of the Mind, rushing into Sylvie’s body. Sylvie stiffened all over and shouted, "Don’t go looking through my memories!"

Wang Bert lazily said, "Don’t worry. I won’t look at your love story with the mailman."

Sylvie angrily said, "How do you know about my love story with the mailman if you didn’t look?"

"Guesswork."

Wang Bert smiled. Sylvie gritted her teeth in fury, but there was nothing she could do to him.

"Sylvie, I never thought you’d have a day like this."

Ravonna said with glee. The hatred between her and Sylvie ran deep. In fact, Ravonna had been the one to capture Sylvie and bring her into the Time Variance Authority.

Sylvie gritted her teeth. "I should have chopped you to death back then."

Ravonna said, "You won’t get that chance again. Next time, I won’t lose."