48 Chapter 48

Hela Pov:

I extract myself from the sleeping Aelsa and Loki. Compared to humans, we have a far better recharge rate. Aelsa and I can go days without sleeping, and when we do, we only sleep between 2 and 4 hours before we are fine again.

Loki however doesn't even need to sleep, yet it feels like he is competing against mortals every day, about who could sleep the longest. He likes to pretend he is a lazy bastard, and that is exactly how it seems, but for someone who has known him for centuries, it isn't exactly true.

Sure he isn't the most diligent person alive who does something 100% like the Asgardian gatekeeper, but Loki spends at least 50% of his day, some days more. I admire the naked bodies of my two lovers for a few moments before heading out.

When I first met Aelsa I thought I would hate and maybe kill her, but she has been a great conversation partner, and has become one of the few friends I have. It also helps that she brought my favourite niece into the world, someone who I view as my own daughter.

I still remember the days I trained Elsa on how to use swords and other weapons in general, while her father taught her the basics of magic, and later let her train with that weird bald sorceress. It was honestly surprising, since I thought that he would have been a better teacher seeing all his knowledge of magic.

I sometimes think that he can do everything well, and it leads to me being shocked and secretly happy when he proves the opposite, but the even more surprising thing is, Loki is shit at teaching someone more than the basics of any art.

Even while teaching her the basics, he only succeeded because he rephrased his own lessons, from what I could tell. By the end of the lessons, he tried teaching her the stuff only someone at a master level could even comprehend, and only offered the barest minimum of explanations. It was obviously trivial to him, but he thought it would be easy for an adolescent child.

Thinking about his flaws reminds me of my flaws in general. I recently developed an unhealthy addiction to video games, which took me unexpectedly, since I always nip things like these in the bud. The fact that my lover is such an excellent videogame developer certainly doesn't help.

Dismissing my problems, I teleport to Perfectum and head towards an area Loki reserved for me. It housed thousands of my fallen foes ,that I used my magic to turn into my berserkers. It's nothing compared to the thousands of creatures that Loki has artificially created and housed inside his Omnitrix, but it is still impressive nonetheless.

"Not even saying hello. So cold of you aunt." Someone says and I whip my head around and barely stop myself from firing a necrosword, since I doubt an enemy would be able to sneak aboard Perfectum. It is a good thing too since it was just Jormungandr.

"You know you shouldn't sneak up on people like that. You could lose your head." I say. For a giant snake, his ability to sneak around is almost as good as his father. Illusion magic is practically a favourite branch of magic for Loki and his children, so I am certainly not surprised by their skill in it.

"Maybe. Why are you here, you only come here when you add new berserkers. It's almost like you are preparing for war. Are you going for Asgard? You know my father wouldn't like that." He asks/states.

"I am preparing for Thanos, since your father isn't taking the threat of him seriously."

"He doesn't have to. Father won't be beaten by a mere eternal."

"I know, but the damage that they can cause to the planet would be a pain in the ass to fix. This planet is my second home, so you can understand if I want to stop that from occurring."

"Your point makes sense, but I hardly took you for someone to care enough about that."

I just shrugged. "They have a nice entertainment centre, and I am looking forward to a few shows and movies coming out. It would be a shame if that was cancelled because someone invaded the planet."

"Why did I even expect another answer?" He just shakes his head. "I'm in a family of sociopaths."

"Just because we don't really care about others, doesn't mean we don't care about each other. You spend more years on this shitty planet, and it will make sense for you to care, and even if you care; we both know it's just like how an owner views his pet and nothing beyond that." I say.

"Maybe, maybe not. I am not going to argue with you about that point."

"Good," I say and silence envelopes us as I begin training my army with simple but advanced formations.

"Have you met my brother? My father had the glorious idea to knock his stepmother up, and he somehow managed to father a dragon." Jormungandr says after a while and I only raise my eyebrow.

"Well, it's not exactly shocking since he fathered you. I am seeing a strange pattern, first his sister and now his mother. Should I fear for Elsa's safety?" I add jokingly since I know he doesn't have that kind of desire for her.

Jormungandr just scoffs before leaving. Just like Loki, he doesn't like when someone makes such crude jokes about someone important to him. Unlike Loki however, he doesn't cast illusions letting the person see them being cuckolded or their worst fears before offing them. Jormungandr is kind of right, we are a family of psychopaths. Even Elsa is ruthless, even though she isn't as bad as us.

Thanos Pov:

"The space stone has been on Earth for centuries now. It's time we retrieve it and use it for more worthwhile purposes. We already have the mind stone, and Gamora is currently searching for the soul and power stone." I say to my children, my black order. "Odin is dead, Earth and the other realms are the weakest they have been for centuries. Go, my children, find the stone and return. We will be one step closer to the final goal."

"Yes, father." Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian said obediently.

"You may take the Chitauri and use them as a distraction. Do not underestimate them, especially with Asgard still lurking in the background. They somehow defeated a weakened Jotunheim and managed to drag Surtur into the affair as well."

I watch as my loyal children leave. I have a mind to loan the mind stone to help them, but the chances that they will lose the mind stone is too high. The whole war against the Jotunheim is sketchy, and my agents haven't gotten the best information on the topic.

Just the fact that it led to the majority of Jotunheim and Surtur's army being decimated is enough to cause concern. The whole situation of Odin's death is also something I would like to get more information about.

I know I am not invincible, the battle against Vilgax was enough to prove that. The technology he used was impressive and extremely dangerous. Him being from Earth, just showed that it could be a dangerous place. Such a unique device could have helped my cause immensely, but it disappeared when I finally managed to kill Vilgax.

Such a shame.

A/N: If you want to read ahead, you can on pa.treon.