Note: sorry about that guys
...
There were plenty of people like Skurge.
Crushed by Duncan's grand conquest, awed by his immense power, and worshipping the might of the Xenomorphs, they chose without hesitation to join Duncan's ranks and become hosts for the alien parasites.
Time and again, history has proven that as long as there is a victor, there will always be a group of fanatics willing to forsake everything to follow them.
When Skurge, reinvigorated, once again set foot on the land of Asgard, he looked down upon everything around him. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that every Asgardian now regarded him differently—with a gaze full of reverence.
Indeed, many Asgardians recognized him as the small-statured giant who had previously been captured, only to be rescued by Queen Frigga and her people.
But now, Skurge had a new identity—he was a Xenomorph.
For the first time, he felt an overwhelming sense of pride—something he had never experienced as a Wind Giant.
"Heh, so this so-called strongest godly race of Yggdrasil is nothing special after all. Strip away their divine facade, and they're just a bunch of weaklings who bully the weak and fear the strong—no different from the giants of Jotunheim."
Skurge had seen through it all. He kept reinforcing this belief within himself, convincing himself that he had made the best choice of his life.
Fueled by excitement, he eagerly scanned his surroundings, looking for an axe to slaughter a few giants for fun. As Jotunheim's notorious "Executioner," he delighted in torturing and dismembering his enemies.
Unfortunately, his weapon had long been lost somewhere in Jotunheim. Now, as a newly reborn Xenomorph, Skurge searched frantically until he finally found two M16 rifles in Asgard's treasure vault.
Yes, somehow, some Asgardian had retrieved these firearms from Midgard, and after being enchanted, they now had infinite ammunition.
"Ahahaha! This is way better than an axe!"
Skurge grabbed both M16s and fired wildly into the sky before turning to a captured giant with a bloodthirsty grin. He craved the sight of the towering warrior reduced to a pile of flesh and gore. But before he could act, several Xenomorphs tackled him to the ground.
Against an ordinary enemy, a single Xenomorph would have sufficed. But Skurge was too strong—several Dracula-type Xenomorphs had to work together just to restrain him.
"What the hell are you doing? Damn it, we're the same species now! Can't a clansman kill a prisoner to hone his skills?" Skurge struggled furiously, making it difficult for the Xenomorphs to hold him down. It wouldn't take long before he broke free.
"Every prisoner is Duncan's asset, not yours. Know your place, rookie."
Druid had arrived from Earth specifically for this. At first glance, he locked onto the unruly Skurge, his eyes lingering on the M16s he had chosen.
"Asgard's treasure vault is full of weapons far more suited to you. Why pick these?" Druid asked coldly.
"No special reason. They come from Midgard, so using them makes me feel closer to Duncan," Skurge replied.
Druid was clearly pleased with this answer. "Consider yourself lucky. Not everyone gets the privilege of becoming a Xenomorph after losing on the battlefield. You're one of the rare fortunate ones. I can sense immense potential within you. From now on, I'll be the one to train you."
Skurge was visibly unwilling. He wanted to serve directly as Duncan's guard, but one look from Druid was enough to force his way into Skurge's mind. Combined with the Xenomorph's influence over him, Skurge, whose power had yet to fully mature, realized he had no choice.
Perhaps in the future, he would. He could feel it—his strength was growing rapidly. It wouldn't be long before he could take Druid down in a single strike.
As they walked through Asgard, Skurge had no interest in sightseeing. He quickly asked, "So, what's my first mission as a Xenomorph? Who do I kill?"
"You enjoy killing?"
"Of course. Give me a target, and I'll take them down—no exceptions. Even if the target is you." Skurge sneered, licking the barrel of his M16 with unsettling enthusiasm. He had developed a fondness for these new weapons—they felt like high-speed bows.
With every passing moment, he could feel the thrilling pulse of power coursing through his chest. He focused on his transformation—the fusion of his genes with the Xenomorphs had made him something new. Enhanced senses, deadly corrosive blood, an astonishing regenerative ability—three powerful bloodlines intertwined within him, amplifying his potential exponentially. He was itching to put his newfound strength to the test.
He knew he was strong. He could feel himself growing stronger by the second. But just how powerful had he become? He needed to hunt, to fight, to carve his place in the food chain.
Yet Druid, who had hurried to Asgard, had no interest in Skurge's ambitions. If Duncan hadn't personally ordered him to keep an eye on this bloodthirsty lunatic, he wouldn't have bothered with him at all.
"Laufey, embrace the truth and become the truth."
Duncan immediately began the parasitization of Laufey.
To be honest, it was extremely difficult. He failed multiple times, resulting in the deaths of several facehuggers.
"This is even harder than I imagined. A Skyfather-level god-king— even when only a few muscles remain under his control, his instincts subconsciously resist the intrusion of foreign genetic material."
Duncan frowned and made another attempt. This time, he meticulously severed every neural connection in Laufey's body and forcibly tore apart the muscles between them.
After several arduous efforts, he finally succeeded. Before long, a Xenomorph with Skyfather-level potential would burst from its host's chest.
Duncan could already feel it—this Xenomorph embryo was the most formidable he had ever seen.
Of course, he knew it wouldn't immediately possess the strength of a Skyfather upon emerging. That was unrealistic.
"Divine power… I believe that when I finally unravel the mysteries of divinity and master the World Tree, I will be able to parasitize a god not just on the genetic level, but also at the World Tree's level—fully inheriting and replacing their divine power."
Duncan pondered. His army of divine Xenomorphs had grown to over two thousand, with even more on the way. And now, with the addition of a Laufey-Xenomorph—a leader with Skyfather-level potential—it was time to test his ability to sense the World Tree.
No matter how outsiders viewed his Xenomorph army, Duncan remained clear-headed. His ascension plan had never wavered. His goal of elevating Xenomorphs from planetary lifeforms to cosmic entities had never faltered.
Swish!
In the unseen realm, the minds of over two thousand divine Xenomorphs converged into one under Duncan's command.
In the spiritual domain, countless points of light gathered together. At Duncan's order, the divine Xenomorphs channeled their collective power, tracing the currents of divinity, using their will as a guide to search for the origin of their divine energy.
Skurge quickly felt the pull as well. He once couldn't understand the Druid, but now, as he sensed his connection to the divine Xenomorphs around him, he began to grasp it.
"So this… this is the true Duncan? He is not a singular entity… I misunderstood him from the start. That means… I am actually part of him. He is me…" Skurge's eyes burned with fervor. His body trembled slightly as he felt Duncan's gaze upon him.
Thousands of divine Xenomorphs exerted their strength together, using divine power as a medium, their spiritual world as a vessel, instinctively following their innate connection.
"I can feel it. As I suspected, the feats that Rune King Thor achieved—I might be able to accomplish something similar with the support of so many Xenomorphs…"
The World Tree was real. It was not merely a conceptual construct.
At least, in this universe, it was.
As Duncan channeled the faith of thousands of divine Xenomorphs—gathering countless consciousnesses—he finally perceived that vast, incomprehensible existence.
He saw it clearly.
A massive tree spanning countless dimensions, its branches extending endlessly, its vast, intricate network forming a near-infinite expanse. Nine primary branches stretched outward, supporting nine worlds filled with innumerable planets.
And beyond those, more branches reached into the unknown. Duncan speculated that these might correspond to realms like Olympus and other divine pantheons.
"If I can carve out a place for myself on the World Tree, I will be able to create a true divine Xenomorph species—one that naturally receives the World Tree's divine energy."
Without hesitation, Duncan pushed the consciousness of the Laufey-Xenomorph forward, urging it to climb rapidly up the enormous yet ethereally real structure of the World Tree.
Every passing moment pulsed with surges of divine power. Every instant felt like billions of visions flashing before Duncan's eyes.
For an ordinary being, encountering such an overwhelming flood of information would crush their soul into countless fragments in an instant.
But Duncan, leveraging his vast Xenomorph army, managed to distribute the immense mental burden, allowing him to persist—if only for a few more seconds.
Naturally, ancient beings noticed his presence.
In their sight, Duncan appeared as an aggregation of countless minds, a river of consciousness flowing and coiling around the trunk of the World Tree.
As light receded, the dark shadows lurking behind the veil of the World Tree extended their tendrils toward Duncan.
"An outsider. I recognize this species—it hails from Midgard. They call themselves Xenomorphs, and they were only recently born."
"It has been a long, long time since a new species was worthy of entering our sight."
"How intriguing. They seek to obtain divinity through parasitism, using that connection to perceive the World Tree."
"If they are willing to kneel before us, perhaps we could grant them a sliver of our power, just as we have done with other divine races."
"Ragnarök may have just found a new weapon… a new cycle may begin…"
These vast, shadowed beings, seemingly the very will of the World Tree itself, conversed idly. Their casual discussion echoed in the void, fragments of their words intermittently reaching Duncan's awareness.
And, as if to affirm their words, the World Tree responded.
In an instant, an overwhelming surge of divine energy flooded toward Duncan—only to vanish just as suddenly the next moment.
It was as if the gods were toying with him, whimsically granting power and then snatching it away at their leisure, effortlessly playing with him like a mere amusement.
But the intent was clear.
And in that moment, Duncan understood just how terrifying these entities truly were.
"Are you deliberately using such a casual demeanor to assert your own status? Trying to prove to me that the entire World Tree is nothing more than the plaything of these few beings? These Shadow Elders are quite interesting."
Duncan sneered inwardly. He saw through everything clearly.
The Shadow Elders were real entities in certain universes. They lurked in the unseen shadows of the World Tree, its true masters. By orchestrating endless Ragnarök events across different realms of the World Tree over the eons, they harvested immense energy to sustain their existence.
Duncan was not yet strong enough to oppose these shadowy gods. No one knew how many years they had controlled the World Tree, gazing down upon Odin and countless other divine races warring and slaughtering each other—as if watching ants engage in a vicious brawl, all in an effort to entertain them.
"Trying to trick me into believing I've uncovered the World Tree's greatest secret and luring me into their trap with such a crude ploy…"
Duncan contemplated. For a brief moment, he felt as though his power had surpassed that of the All-Father, that he was on the verge of becoming something even greater. But this sudden surge of power, almost illusory in nature, quickly dissipated.
He carefully attuned himself to everything around him.
"The Shadow Elders—the beings who personally created Rune King Thor in parallel universes—also exist in this one. Now, that's interesting..."
Duncan opened his eyes again. Everything just now felt like a dream, and his memory of it was fading rapidly. It was as if some unseen law dictated that he could sense certain things but never fully remember them, leaving only an insatiable craving for that fleeting surge of power. This, perhaps, was one of the Shadow Elders' tricks.
Before he could formulate his next plan, Duncan suddenly perceived an urgent prayer. It traveled across endless light-years, piercing through multiple dimensions, roughly locking onto his presence as it reached him.
"O ancient and sacred existence, you are a great deity, the immortal embodiment of all things. Your followers and devotees are in dire straits. We seek to borrow a fraction of your transcendent power to accomplish—ah, it's you."
The Ancient One had arrived, performing a grand and solemn magical ritual of immense power. Yet, upon discovering that the recipient of the prayer was Duncan, her disappointment was palpable.
"I thought I had struck gold, that I'd encountered a newly born or recently awakened god. Why does it have to be you?"
Duncan's expression turned odd. He had a hundred sarcastic remarks on the tip of his tongue but didn't know where to begin.
What could he even say? That he was in awe of the Sorcerer Supreme's ridiculously vast perception? That she could sense shifts in reality that hadn't even happened—changes so subtle it was impossible to confirm whether they had ever truly existed?
Impressive. For the first time, Duncan felt genuine admiration for someone.
"So, you spend your time listening to the echoes of the cosmos, monitoring the fluctuations of countless extradimensional realms—not just to fend off demonic entities but also to… borrow from them?" he finally remarked after holding back for a while.
There was a long pause before the Ancient One's voice returned in fragmented intervals. Clearly, maintaining such a long-distance magical ritual was no easy feat.
"What else do you think I've been busy with? Holding back demonic entities from multiple dimensions is exhausting. If I have the chance to turn some of them into allies, isn't that the ideal solution? Unfortunately, I didn't expect it to be you this time. And a fake one at that. How disappointing."
Her disappointment was unmistakable. It was like discovering a wad of cash in hand, only to realize it was counterfeit, created by some mischievous prankster.
And the Ancient One had neither the patience nor the time to spend fake bills one by one. It would be a complete waste of effort.
"Still, if you were able to trigger an instantaneous shift in the World Tree, you must have made a significant discovery."
The Ancient One continued, her voice flickering. "Next time, come to Kamar-Taj and explain it to me in detail. It might even give me some inspiration… I've been tracking Mephisto's whereabouts, but that demon hasn't visited Earth in this universe recently."
"Is this what you do all the time? Searching for new gods?"
"Generally speaking, yes. As long as they're not deities inherently born from sin, those who wield the authority of pure destruction, I attempt to establish contact. If something seems off, I immediately sever the connection and use magical rituals to block their counter-surveillance. But opportunities are rare. Gods of that caliber don't emerge so easily. It often takes tens of thousands of years before a new one appears."
The Ancient One continued, "The last time I tried reaching out, it was to a group of vampires from an alternate universe. They weren't even real gods, yet they managed to kill Peter Parker in an instant. They planned to stay in this world for a while, hunting down other Spider-Beings. But the moment they heard my voice, they retreated immediately. If I had known, I should have just wiped out those Inheritors on the spot instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt."
I would've run too, Duncan thought. Imagine arriving in a new universe only to encounter a lunatic who casually takes loans from demons. Even after successfully hunting down Spider-Man, there's no reason to stick around and risk facing this universe's Ancient One.
Clearly, this Ancient One knew a thing or two about the Inheritor family. And the god above the Inheritors had some connections to Vishanti as well.
"By the way, Loki should be heading to Earth. No idea what kind of mischief he's planning." Duncan casually mentioned.
"I know… Odin told me…" The Ancient One's voice cut off.
Whatever Loki was up to, it was anyone's guess.
—
While the entire World Tree focused on discussing Duncan…
Loki had already arrived on Earth, launching a meticulous search for the black dragon from years past.
With the cunning of a trickster god, he quickly unearthed a clue.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.? So, they sealed the black dragon beneath an iceberg."