Thor’s Chuunibyo?

Old Bridge Town, a large hospital, Emergency Room Three on the second floor.

It was late at night.

The hospital had originally been quiet, with barely any patients, but after Kyle and the others arrived, nearly every doctor and nurse in the building gathered here.

"Father King, Heimdall! Open the Bifrost and let me return! What place is this?!"

"Damn you! How dare you attack the mighty Son of Odin!"

The emergency room looked like a battlefield. A tall, powerfully built blond man wearing only black thermal shirt and pants lay spread-eagled across a white hospital bed, shouting strange things in agitation.

More than five doctors and nurses combined could not restrain him. They nearly all got thrown onto the floor.

"Get the security guards! Get security in here!"

The doctors had never seen a patient with such terrifying strength. They shouted in panic, and several guards who heard them hurried over from the hallway and entered the emergency room to join the struggle.

Outside the emergency room, Kyle and the others waited on the hallway seats. Through the transparent glass door, they could see Thor shouting like a madman inside while doctors, nurses, and guards swarmed him, forming a tight cluster to pin him down.

Forced against the door, Thor pressed his rugged face so hard it twisted out of shape. Desperately preserving the last shred of his dignity, he growled, "Mere mortals, you cannot defeat the mighty God of Thunder…"

Before he could finish, the attending doctor injected him with a sedative. Thor’s eyes rolled back, his strength vanished, and he slumped down again in a daze.

Outside the door, everyone who had silently watched that sudden reversal fell into a brief silence.

"Do you think Jane might have knocked him stupid?" Daisy shrank her neck and asked timidly.

"It wasn’t his head that got hit. If he’s stupid, it’s because you electrocuted him," Jane retorted, a lingering trace of worry in her beautiful eyes.

"Didn’t you hear what he said? Odin, the Bifrost, the God of Thunder!" Erik softly reminded them. Seeing both students looking confused, he explained somewhat bitterly, "Those are things from Norse Mythology. I grew up listening to those stories."

"So?" The three of them looked at one another, then all turned their gazes toward Kyle, who had remained silent.

"Why are you looking at me?" Kyle smiled, shrugged, and said seriously, "Wandering alone through the wilderness at night while shouting about the All-Father and some divine realm… I’d say he has that chuunibyo thing that’s become popular lately."

"Chuunibyo?" Everyone froze. They had heard the newly coined term before, and now it seemed to fit the mysterious man’s delusional behavior perfectly.

"That’s right. Chuunibyo. A severe case, too," Kyle confirmed.

In secret, Vis and Venom were laughing their heads off. They could barely maintain their transformations.

The others wanted to continue discussing it, but Kyle rose from his seat and headed toward the staircase. Waving over his shoulder, he said, "All right, that’s enough for tonight. I’m going to find somewhere to get some sleep. We can go over last night’s survey data tomorrow morning."

"You’ve worked hard. You can call me anytime tomorrow," Erik hurriedly replied respectfully, even accompanying Kyle halfway down the corridor.

After Kyle disappeared into the stairwell on the second floor, Erik let out a quiet breath and turned back. Only then did he notice Jane and Daisy staring at him suspiciously.

"Well, I’m going to get some rest too," Erik said, his heart skipping a beat as he scratched his head.

"Hold it!" Jane and Daisy stepped up from either side, grabbed Erik, and pulled him back into his seat.

Jane cleared her throat and asked solemnly, "Professor, what exactly is Mr. Karr’s identity?"

Erik gave a wry smile. "Didn’t I introduce him? He’s a friend of mine and the head of a research company."

"Who are you trying to fool? Would a mere company head make a famous astronomer and university professor like you act so cautious around him?" Daisy snorted.

Erik blinked innocently. "Was it that obvious?"

Jane and Daisy nodded at the same time and answered in unison, "Very obvious!"

"All right." Erik thought for a moment, then spread his hands and said bluntly, "You don’t need to ask me about Mr. Karr’s identity. When he wants you to know, you’ll naturally find out. If he doesn’t want you to know, then even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn’t dare reveal it carelessly."

"I won’t ask again," Jane said, nodding thoughtfully.

Daisy said doubtfully, "That exaggerated? Don’t tell me he’s the mayor of New Mexico or something?"

Hearing that, Erik’s slightly aged face remained solemn and serious as he said flatly, "Not even close. If you compare him to the President of the United States, that would be more like it."

Jane and Daisy exchanged glances, both their eyes filled with shock.

Compared to the President of the United States? Could his status really be that sky-high?

Seeing the stunned expressions on his students’ faces, Erik smacked his lips. In the end, he did not add the words, "From certain perspectives, even the president might not compare."

Night was nearing dawn.

The eastern horizon was turning pale, and morning light fell over the desert outside town as darkness receded like a tide.

At the wilderness site where Jane’s group had been struck by a meteorite last night, the ground had collapsed into a crater with a radius of ten meters. There was no meteorite or alien spacecraft wreckage at its center—only a small silver hammer planted at an angle in the earth.

Whoosh!

A shadow descended toward the ground, and the powerful gust it generated sent sand and stones flying. Kyle retracted his dark wings and stood calmly on the inner edge of the crater, studying the plain, ancient-looking hammer with his shattered golden eyes.

The watch on his left wrist projected blue light, scanning the hammer and the surrounding ground inch by inch.

Vis said with feeling, "Current technology and the database cannot analyze it… Master, is this Mjolnir?"

"Of course. The real thing." Kyle nodded. "According to Odin, whoever can wield this hammer and prove worthy will possess the power of the God of Thunder and be crowned king of the divine realm."

As he spoke, he bent slightly and reached forward with his right hand, gripping the hammer’s handle firmly.

"Master, you…"

Vis trailed off. Kyle, channeling his divine power, had easily lifted Mjolnir and even weighed it in his hand.

"You really lifted it? Master, doesn’t that make you the king of the divine realm?" Venom said incredulously.

"You two are overthinking it. It’s not that simple."

Kyle shook his head with a smile. Holding the hammer without the slightest trace of pride, he said, "It won’t just be Thor and me. There will be many others in the future who can lift this hammer. In fact, anyone with divine abilities, a pure heart free of distractions, and no intense selfish desire for power can qualify to wield Mjolnir."

"But what the All-Father said…" Vis raised the point he still did not understand.

"You believe that old man Odin’s words?"

Kyle casually swung the hammer and said, "Think about who Odin said that to in the first place. It was to the two princes, Thor and Loki, when they were still children. In other words, only if one of them lifted the hammer would it count as fulfilling the condition to be crowned king."

"And between Thor and Loki, Odin had long known who could lift Mjolnir. This hammer was merely a pretense and a test."

At that, Kyle sighed softly and returned Mjolnir to its original spot without hesitation.

"The hammer is nice, but it doesn’t suit me. It looks like I’ll still have to slowly gather materials and forge a divine artifact truly suited to me."