Chapter 564: Schiller's Strongest Skill (1)
"Thor! Calm down! Let me explain! Things are not as you think!" Stark's shouts echoed in Deep Space, but Thor paid no heed to his explanations.
He continued to unleash Thunderbolt attacks. From Thor's attacking style, it was evident that he had lost his temper.
Although Thor's frontal assault tactics had been criticized by many for not resembling that of an heir and a king, it was undeniable that his strength was remarkable. He possessed excellent tactical instincts, which allowed him to charge into battle without losing his life.
However, at this moment, this master of close combat had been reduced to mindlessly throwing punches.
Normally, the power of the God of Light formed by ThunderboltFire had many ways to be used, and to some extent, it even restrained Stark's mechanical fleet since Thunderbolt was highly conductive between machines.
In fact, the best tactic would be to use divine power to cage Stark's movement while gradually depleting the mechanical components around him because Thor knew that Stark couldn't hold out for long.
For Stark, the solo peak of Space was an awkward position. Above this level, he could merge all energies into one, no longer bound by any energy sources, becoming a part of Space's essence itself, eliminating the need for external energy.
Below this level, he would have to forcefully raise his magical energy to maintain his formidable power. However, Stark's magical energy was clearly insufficient, so engaging Thor in a battle of attrition was the best option.
But now, Thor had lost his mind and was not attacking the mechanical components around Stark. Instead, he was unleashing powerful lightning strikes one after another towards Stark's head, as if he wouldn't stop until he killed him.
"Warning, insufficient energy! Warning, insufficient energy! Sir, the current energy in the magic core can only sustain for another minute and a half. I recommend sending a distress signal immediately!""No, we can't call for help!" Stark refused immediately, gritting his teeth. "If we bring them all here, won't they make fun of me? Thor will definitely spread rumors about me and Lady Loki. We're not..."
"Warning! Core energy output continues to decrease. Unnecessary defense measures have been removed. Attack frequency decreasing, continuing to decrease..."
"Remove all attack reserves!" Stark made an unwilling decision. He said, "Channel all the energy into defense. Otherwise, we won't withstand his Thunderbolt."
The dense Thunderbolts continued to rain down, but as Thor regained his composure with the diminishing divine power, Stark's situation became even worse. As Thor regained his senses, his tactics became more cunning.
Instead of evenly attacking the entire shield, he kept targeting one point, putting more strain on Stark, who was already low on energy. Suddenly, Stark heard JARVIS say, "Unidentified energy source detected, magic energy is abundant, absorbing... energy replenished to 60%, shield strength greatly increased."
"Energy? Where did the energy come from?" Stark asked, puzzled. JARVIS continued to respond, "Environmental scan in progress... detected an opening portal... 3, 2, 1..."
"Tony, catch!" A portal opened, and Strange flew out of it, tossing a Crystal ball glowing with magic to Stark. Stark instinctively caught it and asked, "How did you get here? And when did you start delivering takeout as a side gig?"
"Don't ask too many questions. Schiller sent me. Absorb the energy quickly; Thor won't go easy on you."
"Okay!" Stark suddenly said to Strange, "You need to explain things to him. It's not what Thor thinks at all! The child isn't mine and Lady Loki's, well, in a way it is, but not the way he thinks..."
"What? Lady Loki? Child? Are you saying you and Lady Loki have a child?!" Strange asked loudly. Before Stark could explain, another lightning strike crackled down.
Thor, who had just regained some clarity, was provoked once again by these words, resuming his attack on Stark. Stark hadn't finished adjusting to the newly absorbed energy, so he had to evade Thor's attacks for the time being. Thus, the chase continued in the vast expanse of space.
Stark felt somewhat in the wrong, after all, he had stood Lady Loki up, and even though the child was probably the result of some outrageous plan by Schiller, he had decided to adopt Helen, so it wouldn't be right to really fight Thor.
So, as he ran, he continued to engage in battle, avoiding confrontation whenever possible. He intended to use the magic energy from Strange's attacks to wear Thor down until he was too exhausted to resist Stark's explanations.
However, as he fled, other things in Space suffered. Be it celestial bodies or demon gods, if they encountered this pair of Space brawlers, they were in for a world of hurt. Some received minor damage, while others were obliterated in an instant.
Unlike the previous Member Gifts incident, this time, it wasn't the Cosmic Gods from the Abyss giant mouth who followed them; instead, it was the peculiar combination of The Ancient One, Strange, and Mephisto, carrying sacks behind them.
Initially, Sanctum Sanctorum hadn't planned on involving Mephisto in this business since it was an internal affair. However, due to the unfortunate timing of Thor and Stark's fight, Mephisto got a piece of the action.
Mephisto was helping Sanctum Sanctorum collect these deposits, and in return, they were offering him favorable interest rates along with some financial products. Mephisto didn't really care about the interest; the key was that he could fleece Sanctum Sanctorum and gain a sense of accomplishment in doing so.
When Sanctum Sanctorum's broadcast spread to every member customer, they couldn't believe it. They could save their Member Gifts? Not only that, but it was free and came with interest? Of course, they had to save! Even though they couldn't consume the stored energy right away, there would come a day when they needed it.
Who would complain about having extra reserves? Sanctum Sanctorum's method of distributing Member Gifts was to collect the corpses of demon gods affected by Stark and Thor, distribute them based on the proportion they had each consumed last time, deposit them into personal accounts, and then start calculating the interest.
Initially, this business seemed entirely beneficial without any drawbacks. They wouldn't miss out on Member Gifts, and they'd get free interest. Some clever demon gods were even considering storing some of their remaining unconsumed energy with Sanctum Sanctorum. Especially after hearing that the more they deposited, the better the interest rate, many demon gods had plans in that direction.
At the moment, Sanctum Sanctorum's credit was still good, and these resources were essentially free money falling from the sky. Even if they were to disappear, they wouldn't lose much, but they had grown significantly stronger from the energy they had already absorbed.
So, many demon gods were willing to put aside a small portion of their energy for experimentation. If Sanctum Sanctorum's claims of increasing interest rates were true, it would mean more energy for them in the future.
Perhaps those who understand the banking industry should know that fundamentally, the reason why banks are willing to provide interest on customer deposits is because pooling these funds can have a greater impact.
Whether to encourage savings or borrowing depends on market conditions. If they want to stimulate consumption, they offer more favorable terms for borrowing. If they want to attract more deposits, they offer better conditions for savings.
The relationship between banks and the market is inseparable, and if Sanctum Sanctorum could truly become the most reputable bank with the most customers in Space, it could have a significant influence on the Space market.
At the same time, human civilization, which had absorbed vast amounts of savings, could use these funds for its development, which was Schiller's ultimate goal.
First, they used the destruction day, Stark, Lady Loki, and the Thunderbolt on the hammer to create a child. The fact that the Ark Reactor appeared on Helen was indeed beyond Schiller's expectations. But even if the Ark Reactor hadn't appeared on Helen, Schiller had a way to make Thor or other members of the Asgardian pantheon believe there was something between Stark and Lady Loki.
This wasn't too difficult because these two were already communicating quite frequently, making it easy to spread gossip. As for the child, Schiller was confident he could persuade Stark to adopt. In this way, a fight between Thor and Stark was inevitable. Seeing that this round of Member Gifts collection was almost complete, Schiller directly ordered Strange to intervene and bring Helen over. Even if Thor was still angry, he wouldn't be able to harm the child.
Of course, Helen's hatching also had a share of Schiller's influence. Schiller would never take such a young child directly to face the two peak-level demon gods in Space. Therefore, Schiller first transformed into Grey Mist and took Helen to the high skies of Earth.
Helen showed no fear; even when the oxygen levels were lower at higher altitudes, Schiller had started to control Grey Mist to supply her with oxygen. In response, Helen immediately evolved the ability to survive in low-oxygen environments. Furthermore, once in space, Helen didn't need to breathe at all.
Similar to the original Destruction Day, she could absorb the energy from the Sun without fear of its radiation or heat. With this ability, Schiller felt a bit more at ease. He removed the restrictions on Grey Mist. At first, Helen was somewhat bewildered as she floated in space, but soon she gained control over her body.
Shortly after, she hovered in place for a moment and suddenly began flying through space. The radiance of divine power covered her, indicating that Helen had evolved the ability to use divine power as a propulsion force, allowing her to roam freely in Space.
Seeing this, Schiller knew there was no need for any adaptation training. He planned to throw Helen into Thor and Stark's battlefield and let her deal with them after a few minutes, as she was likely to exhaust both of their energy sources.
Seeing this situation, Schiller picked up Helen and called Strange. After a while, a portal opened above him, and Schiller flew into it, arriving not far from the battlefield between Stark and Thor. At this point, their battle had reached its final stages, with both of them running low on energy.
However, Stark had received a resupply from Strange, so he now had more energy than Thor. Thor, who had previously mindlessly attacked, had depleted most of his divine power, and now his blue bar was nearly empty. However, this wasn't critical for Thor, as he was a berserker at heart, and running out of divine power didn't matter much to him. He could still rely on his physical strength and fists.
Stark, on the other hand, hadn't lost his composure and didn't plan to engage in close combat with Thor. So, he continued to evade and used energy beams from his palms to hinder Thor's movements, intending to wait until Thor completely ran out of energy before explaining things to him.
Helen, held by Strange, tilted her head and watched the battlefield intently. Meanwhile, Strange was chatting with Schiller and didn't notice the unusually contemplative expression on the little one's face.
"We've collected more this time compared to the previous round, but the quality isn't as good. After going through so many crises, anyone with a bit of sense knows to stay away. It seems like future business will be tough," sighed Strange.
"No need to worry. A reduction in the number of demon gods is a good thing for Space as a whole and especially for humanity. From any perspective, we're not at a loss. At worst, the business expansion might be hindered," Schiller reassured.
"That sounds easy, but I have a feeling... Ah! Helen! Helen! Come back!!!" Suddenly, Strange yelled because Helen had jumped out of his arms. He quickly summoned his Cloak and attempted to chase after her.
However, the little one was incredibly fast, and to Strange's surprise, she wasn't running but teleporting. Her divine power emitted a bright flash, and Helen appeared right in the center of the battlefield. Stark, seeing her there, shouted, "Helen? What are you... get away from there!"
Suddenly, Stark froze. He saw a small figure in the dark expanse of Space, striking the classic Iron Man pose—the Ark Reactor suddenly lit up, and she extended her hand, releasing a burst of energy beams from her palm, radiating an incredibly brilliant light.
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