Marvel's Shendu: Dominating the Multiverse

Chapter 160 Retrieving the Ox Talisman

The Lord entered the main hall without making a sound, but Loki reacted faster than Heimdall; his wine glass stopped at his lips, and he had already stood up from his throne.

Loki put down his glass and straightened his collar. "You've arrived."

The actors on stage were still reciting their lines when Loki interrupted them with a gesture. The troupe filed off the stage quickly and efficiently.

Hela stood up, her movements completely different from Loki's. Loki stood up voluntarily, while Hela's body executed the "stand up" command on its own. Controlling the Mind Stone did not require her will.

"Master," Hela said calmly.

The Holy Lord glanced at the layout of the main hall. When he last came, this was the council hall. Now it was full of portraits of Loki himself, some riding horses, some reading books, and one full-body portrait of Loki standing on the Rainbow Bridge against the wind. The composition and use of color were very particular.

"You drew twenty-three portraits of yourself."

Loki showed no intention of denying it. "Twenty-seven. Four of them are in the hallway."

"—Alright." The Holy Lord didn't dwell on the matter. "Is Thor in the arena?"

"He trains from morning till night every day." Loki poured two glasses of wine, offering one to Shendu, who ignored it, so he drank it himself. "Your hammer is almost always with you. Do you need to see him, or do you want to retrieve the artifact—no, retrieve your power, the talisman?"

The Holy Lord did not answer this question.

Loki didn't press the matter; his sense of propriety was always impeccable in front of the Holy Lord. He knew when to ask what needed to be asked and when not to, which was one of the reasons he was able to maintain his position.

"Wanda, come with me. Hela, you come too."

The three of them left the main hall. Loki called out from behind, "Should I tell the arena to be cleared?"

"Need not."

The arena in Asgard is open-air and can hold tens of thousands of spectators. At this moment, the stands are empty, with only one person standing in the center of the arena.

Thor.

He was shirtless, covered in sweat, and his blond hair was casually tied back with a leather rope. In his left hand, he held Thor's hammer and was practicing striking a row of stone pillars.

With each strike of the hammer, the stone pillar shattered. Then he would pile the fragments back together, use the runes on the hammer handle to restore the pillar to its original state, and then strike it again.

Ox Talisman, Super Power.

Thor noticed that the person had stopped moving.

Thor's expression underwent an intriguing transformation, starting with wariness, then confirmation, and finally settling into a complex silence.

His attitude towards the Holy Lord differed from Loki's. Loki's obedience was shrewd, calculated, and based on the pros and cons. Thor, on the other hand, was like a defeated knight facing an opponent he couldn't defeat but didn't hate.

"Lord." Thor placed the hammer on the ground. According to Asgardian etiquette, placing a weapon on the ground signifies that there is no hostility.

"How long have you had the Ox Talisman?"

Saul answered directly: "One hundred and thirty-seven days."

"How is it working?"

"It works well." Thor glanced at the hammer. "The power boost is about four times the original. Combined with Mjolnir's inherent attributes, shattering a small asteroid is effortless."

He didn't ask why the Holy Lord had come. There was no need to ask. One hundred and thirty-seven days ago, when the Holy Lord embedded the Ox Talisman into Mjolnir, he had said that this was a loan, not a gift.

"Here you go." Thor bent down, picked up the hammer, and walked to the Holy Lord.

Instead of handing over the hammer, he gripped the handle and pressed his right thumb against the edge of the bull rune. A thin slit of light appeared between the rune and the urnu metal. Thor skillfully peeled the rune off the hammer handle along the slit.

The moment the bull charm detached from Mjolnir, Thor's right arm muscles twitched. The sudden decrease in power was palpable; the drop from four times to normal in an instant was a difference that even Thor would need a few seconds to adjust to.

He placed the talisman in the Lord's outstretched palm.

The bull charm resonated with the other charms already in his palm. Wanda's senses detected that the charms on the Holy Lord each had their own energy frequency, but in his hands they were unified into a single tone, like musical instruments playing together.

The Holy Lord put away the talisman. This is the tenth one. Rat, Snake, Monkey, Dragon, Rooster, Pig, Horse, Rabbit, Tiger, Ox—two are still missing from the set of 12.

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Thor took two steps back. Without the buff of the Ox Charm, the luster of Mjolnir's hammerhead visibly dimmed. He gripped the handle, adjusting to the new feel.

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"How long will it take to adjust from four times to one time?" the Holy Lord asked.

"Three days," Thor thought for a moment, then changed his mind: "Two days."

The Holy Lord didn't comment; he turned to Wanda and said, "Sensitize the residual energy in his body."

Wanda raised her hand, and crimson chaotic magic spread from her fingertips, not taking shape, but merely like a thin mist covering the air. Her senses swept across Thor's entire body. Thor's body was very resistant to scanning; Asgardians were naturally resistant to foreign energy, but Wanda encountered little resistance this time.

Nidavellir's trip changed more than she realized.

"The bull charm left some marks on his body, not deep, mainly concentrated at the junction of his right arm and shoulder blade. After 137 days of long-term use, his body developed adaptive memory." Wanda withdrew her hand. "It won't affect anything, and it will fade away on its own in about two weeks."

Thor glanced at Wanda. When they last met, Wanda's chaotic magic was still unstable. Now, although it was still disordered, it had developed its own rhythm within that disorder.

"You've become stronger," Thor said.

"Thanks."

"I'm not praising you. Becoming stronger means becoming more dangerous." Thor's tone was calm, without malice; he was simply stating his understanding of power.

Wanda didn't respond. She didn't need to learn about power from Thor. Her teacher stood beside her.

Shendu stored the ten talismans into a compartment of the Space Stone. The action was casual, like putting keys in a pocket. But Wanda could see that the Space Stone's internal structure underwent an extremely precise rearrangement the instant it received the talismans. Each of the ten talismans occupied an independent spatial fold, undisturbed by the others, yet simultaneously available for use when needed.

"Two more are needed," Wanda said.

"The sheep and the dog." The Holy Lord turned and walked out of the arena. "I've located the sheep, and thankfully, I have a lead."

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Wanda followed. Hela followed too, her steps even, her expression blank.

As Loki emerged from the arena's passageway, he leaned against the wall, waiting. He had changed his clothes, transforming from his casual attire into a formal Asgardian royal robe. It was green with gold trim, and sharply tailored.

"The Ox Talisman has been retrieved?" Loki asked.

"Where is your source?"

"The acoustics of the arena tunnels are excellent; you can hear conversations inside from this position," Loki stated frankly. "This isn't eavesdropping; it's a problem with the architectural design."

The Holy Lord glanced at him.

Loki immediately corrected his posture, going from leaning against the wall to standing up straight.

"How are things going in Asgard?"

"Everything is in order." Loki began his report quickly, "The tribute from the Nine Realms has been submitted on time—"

"You did a good job."

Loki's lips twitched slightly. A single compliment from the Holy Lord was more effective than ten compliments from Odin when he was alive.

"I have something to ask," Loki said, walking to Shendu's side, deliberately trailing behind by half a step. "It's about Wanda."