Chapter 516: Confession in a Dream Tonight (Part 1)

In the Sanctum Sanctorum, Strange walked quickly through the brightly lit corridor. After entering the reception hall, Loki was sitting on the sofa drinking tea. Seeing Strange come in, he stood up and asked:

"What on earth is going on? What kind of trouble is Schiller causing again?"

"Who knows." Strange changed his previous panicked and sad expression and said: "If I'm not mistaken, he should have become a believer of the Egyptian pantheon, and then let some Egyptian god lead his soul to the Underworld. He might be wreaking havoc in the Underworld or even the Heaven of the Egyptian pantheon right now."

He sighed, sat down opposite the sofa, and said: "For people like us, physical death is never the end. All souls dissipated five minutes after death? Who are you trying to fool!"

The two used tea instead of wine, clinking cups, and began to speculate on what Schiller was going to do this time.

Strange knew more information, so he spoke first:

"I don't know how Schiller got in touch with the Moon God Khonshu, but obviously, that big bird-head has already been fooled by him. I haven't been the Sorcerer Supreme for long and haven't had time to read so many files. What is going on with the Egyptian pantheon?"

Loki recalled for a moment and then said: "When the Egyptian pantheon was active, I should not have been born yet, but later, I came into contact with several Egyptian gods, but they were all animal gods and didn't live in Heaven."

"As far as I know, a war once broke out in the Heaven where the Egyptian pantheon lived. After that war, most of the animal gods and some relatively marginal and weak gods were expelled." Loki stroked his chin and recalled.

"In other words, the relationship between the gods in Heaven now and the animal gods we are familiar with is not good?" Strange asked.

"That's right. Didn't you know that before? The Panther God, Lion God, Vulture God, and Eagle God don't live in Heaven. They all have their own fragment dimensions, but they should have lived in Heaven before; they were just driven out."

"The Egyptian pantheon wasn't strong to begin with, and they still had infighting?" Strange shook his head and said: "As far as I know, even their relatively strong Sun God and Underworld God can't compare with the main gods of Asgard, let alone Odin and the new God King Thor."

"In fact, no matter which pantheon it is, it's hard to be stronger than Asgard. After all, we control the World Tree and truly rule the Nine Realms in the real sense." Loki took a sip of hot tea, sighed, and continued: "After Thor purged the war-mongering faction that had been lost in slaughter and destruction, Asgard is like a rebirth and will only become stronger in the future."

"Speaking of which, what kind of god is Khonshu?" Strange asked.

"Khonshu? I remember he seems to be the Moon God representing the changes in moon phases, right?" Loki was worthy of the title of the universe's know-it-all; he knew about Demon Gods big and small. He said: "Since he is the Moon God, he should be a nature god, right?"

"But he has a falcon head, and it's a skeletal falcon head, which is different from the human-form nature gods I've met." Afterward, Loki denied himself.

Speaking of this, Strange and Loki looked at each other, obviously knowing that the other had guessed the same answer. Strange tapped the table with his fingertips and said:

"Moon God Khonshu belongs to the Theban Triad, but the one ruling Heaven now is the Ennead. At the same time, Khonshu also has an animal appearance. As far as I can see, the gods in Heaven have a very bad attitude toward him, constantly saying they want to catch him back for trial."

"Demon Gods don't know how to swallow their anger. I guess Schiller must have had a heart-to-heart talk with Khonshu and successfully fooled him." Strange continued to speculate along this logic chain and said:

"The Egyptian pantheon should have a place like your Asgardian artifact, Valhalla, where the souls of their believers go after death. This can also explain why Schiller's soul disappeared immediately after his physical death..."

"After Schiller's soul was led to the Underworld of the Egyptian pantheon, the gods there would definitely be in big trouble. Khonshu might want to use Schiller's power to take revenge on that group of nature gods."

"Khonshu's purpose is not important." Loki shook his head, then said: "What's important is Schiller's purpose. What does he want to do?"

"Age of Genes"

"I heard that the Egyptian pantheon has the ability to resurrect believers. What is going on?" Strange asked Loki again.

"All abilities related to resurrection must be approved by a mysterious existence. The Valhalla possessed by Asgard is the same." Loki hesitated and continued: "But this is a secret even in Asgard; even the current Thor doesn't know the specific details."

"Okay, let's put this question aside for now." Strange said while thinking: "After I detected Schiller's physical and soul condition, I knew that Stark would definitely think he was really dead, because his armor cannot detect souls. Do you think Iron Man's eruption was within Schiller's expectations?"

"Of course it was. Otherwise, why would he kill himself? Why not just let Khonshu take him to the Underworld? He faked a scene of death, definitely wanting to stimulate someone." Loki shook his head and continued: "But based on my understanding of him, if he really wanted to purge the sealed Demon Gods on Earth, he wouldn't have to hurt Stark's feelings."

"I think so too." Strange confirmed Loki's guess and said: "Schiller once told me that he is not a person who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, or rather, he disdains such people, because once someone reaches this point, it proves that he has been forced into a corner, and Schiller always has a way out."

"Even if eradicating these poisonous seeds that haven't grown into big trees on Earth is something humanity must do before entering the universe, the situation is not urgent to this extent. Even if we do it one by one slowly, there is enough time; there is no need to stimulate Stark, let him erupt, and then wipe them all out."

"For human civilization, Stark is more important." Loki made such a judgment. Standing from the perspective of an outsider, he could see more clearly. He said: "It's not even because he can become the Iron Demon God, but simply because of his wisdom and vision."

"Then it is more likely that Stark's eruption and the purging of Earth's Demon Gods, allowing magical power to spread to lower-level organizations, is actually just a secondary goal, a side effect." Strange stroked his chin, frowning, trying hard to think.

"... Then what is the main goal?" Strange raised this question, but he didn't expect Loki to answer. However, to his surprise, Loki gave a different line of thought.

"In the entire chain of events, only one thing is shrouded in fog and is still unclear."

Loki dragged out a tail tone. The two looked at each other, and Strange said: "... The secret of how the Egyptian gods can resurrect believers."

Unlike the atmosphere in the reception room of the Sanctum Sanctorum where one could think quietly, the Earth at this time was already in a mess.

Of course, in most orderly countries, this had nothing to do with civilians. Official organizations were dispatched to deal with those Demon Gods who suddenly broke through the seals. Although there was no large-scale war, the local battle situation was very fierce.

The Avengers, who were staying at the border of Germany and Austria, were thinking about how to calm Stark down when Steve's phone suddenly rang. He took the phone and heard Nick's voice from the other end.

"Captain, send the members of the Avengers team back to defend. Demon Gods have broken through seals in 12 states in the United States. We don't have enough manpower!"

Steve took a deep breath and said: "Okay, I will send people back."

After hanging up the phone, he looked at Matt and said: "Matt, you take the others back. S. H. I. E. L. D. needs your support."

The situation was urgent now, and Matt didn't say anything else. He just asked: "What about you?"

"I have to stay here. On one hand, I have to ensure that Stark won't lose control of his emotions and harm the Earth. On the other hand..." Steve turned his head to look at Schiller's corpse lying on the cold ground. He didn't say anything, but everyone understood what he meant. So, Matt waved to the others and turned to leave.

Spider-Man looked back frequently, seemingly very unwilling to leave. Matt pulled him while telling him about the possibility of the Demon God eruption harming ordinary people. The two pulled for a long time before finally getting into the car.

After everyone had left, Steve showed a tired expression, and sadness flowed upstream along the rain lines, climbing into his eyes.

The instinct of a veteran returning from the battlefield made him not show sadness for sacrifice in front of his teammates, because this might cause despair in others. But after everyone else had left, Steve could no longer control himself.

He walked to Schiller's corpse, knelt down halfway, and placed his shield on Schiller's chest, covering the huge wound. But even so, it couldn't cover the fact that this was indeed a corpse.

Steve closed his eyes tightly, his knuckles protruding excessively when he exerted force. The mud he clutched in his hand was mixed with rain and blood.

Steve never thought he would be unaccustomed to the smell of blood, but at this moment, even though the bloodstains had been diluted a lot by the rain, Steve still felt that the overly heavy smell made him dizzy.

His chest heaved violently, and he began to hyperventilate again. He covered one of his eyes with the palm of his hand, trying to resist the surging memories.

Suddenly, he felt a shadow fall in front of him. Steve looked up, eyes wide, and the hazy rain lines flickered in front of him. At that moment, he thought he was hallucinating, because the person appearing in front of him was Stark without his armor.

He just stared at Stark blankly, but Stark also knelt down halfway. He stared at Schiller's face and said: "... You don't believe he's dead like this, do you? Neither do I..."

"But..." After Steve uttered the first syllable, he fell silent. The two remained silent for half a minute like this. Stark spoke again: "Jarvis and Strange both told me that Schiller is already dead."

"He is indeed..."

"No, I have one last way to confirm."

"What is that?" Steve looked into Stark's eyes. This was the first time in a long time he had started seeking answers from Stark.

Stark reached out and pointed to his temple and said:

"Remember? In Schiller's own consciousness world, there is a towering giant tower. If we can find this tower in the consciousness world, it means his soul still exists, so physical death is not a problem."

Steve thought for a moment, and then his eyes slowly brightened. He said: "That's right, we can go find Professor X. He might be able to find Schiller's existence in the consciousness world!"

"No." Stark denied this method, the muscles on his mouth twitched, and he said:

"I'll go myself."

Steve looked up at him. He wasn't sure if he saw guilt in Stark's eyes, but he stood up, looked at the real sun that had just appeared on the horizon, and said:

"I'll go with you."

For the first time, Stark did not reject Steve's proposal or mock him as usual. He stood up, pursed his lips, and said: "I am not a psychologist and have never done relevant research. The consciousness and dream world are very dangerous. You'd better not..."

"Tony Stark, do you really think I am someone who would run away in this situation?" Steve asked, looking into Stark's eyes.

Stark had never heard Steve ask in such a serious tone, and at the moment he heard this question, the answer in Stark's heart made him open his mouth: "... You just need to fall asleep and dream. I will use the power of magic to pull you over."

Stark glanced at Schiller's corpse lying on the ground and said slowly:

"Have a good dream." ===== CHAPTER 517 =====