Marvel's Kryptonian Scientist Chapter 263 263

Once the dwarves of Nidavellir received the weapon orders for the Kryptonian Empire's Hulk soldiers, they were stunned.

These warriors could transform into giants, and each one possessed over a hundred tons of single-arm strength.

Even Asgard could not field many warriors on that level.

Outside of the Valkyrie Corps, which had already been wiped out, there were probably very few forces capable of standing against them.

And yet the Kryptonian Empire possessed one hundred thousand of these monsters.

An entire organized legion.

That realization gave King Eitri and the dwarves an entirely new understanding of just how terrifying their new masters really were.

Compared to this, even Asgard suddenly seed less impressive.

Especially after hearing about the Kryptonian Empire's generals and commanders. According to the rumors, several of them were powerful enough to overpower Thor himself.

Of course, they had not witnessed it personally, so the dwarves remained skeptical.

But if it was true…

Then the Kryptonian Empire was horrifying beyond reason.

Asgard had once swept across the universe with only Odin and Thor. Even Thanos avoided Earth because of them.

And now the Kryptonian Empire apparently possessed three people capable of fighting Thor head-on?

Technically four.

Because Drex Valen had also transferred Hercules from Earth into the Kryptonian Empire and appointed him as the vanguard commander of the Imperial Expeditionary Forces.

Unlike the others, Hercules had not been enhanced with Kryptonian genetics. Even so, Drex's modified version of him could still trade blows with Thor or the standard Savage Hulk without much issue.

As a vanguard commander, he was more than qualified.

Hercules alone could probably hold off the Black Order by himself.

What the dwarves did not know was that Krypton also housed an entire Angel Legion.

Every angel possessed Kryptonian military genetics, enhanced further by the Plasma Spark Towers. On Krypton itself, they were essentially invincible.

At the sa ti, the entire universe now knew Gladiator had beco both a Royal Knight and Grand Commander of the Kryptonian Imperial Guard.

Anyone familiar with Gladiator's strength imdiately beca wary of the Kryptonian Empire.

Previously, civilizations had feared Esdeath, the war-crazed Grand General.

Now Gladiator stood beside her.

With two monsters like that under its banner, the Kryptonian Empire had finally earned the status and presence of a true fourth galactic empire.

Of course, beings capable of influencing an interstellar war through individual power alone were incredibly rare.

And even then, they usually only affected local battlefields.

The scale of cosmic warfare was simply too enormous.

Any civilization capable of leaving its own star system deployed combat forces numbering in the hundreds of millions during warti. Each "combat unit" often represented ten thousand soldiers at minimum, or an entire warship outright.

No matter how strong an individual was, could they really destroy hundreds of millions of units alone?

Even the seemingly unimpressive Chitauri possessed considerable military strength on a galactic scale. Otherwise, Thanos never would have targeted them, destroyed their howorld, and forced them into the Black Order.

The Chitauri alone could deploy countless millions of combat units without difficulty.

The Burning Legion and the Cosmic Knight Legions were terrifying, but even they primarily functioned as spearhead forces.

That was why the Kryptonian Empire had begun recruiting soldiers from conquered planets.

Without enough manpower, they could not properly govern or wage war across expanding territories.

"Back on Krypton," Drex said quietly to himself, "being a scientist on the battlefield was honestly terrifying."

With his super-brain, his old mories remained crystal clear, as vivid as if they had happened yesterday.

His parents had been cold people.

Emotionless.

Even toward him, they showed no warmth.

When Drex repeatedly violated Kryptonian law and tried stealing the Codex, his father rely protected him with a blank expression. Without that intervention, Drex would have been exiled to the Phantom Zone long ago.

Later, he was reassigned to several research facilities to continue his experints.

At first, Drex had been relieved.

He had failed to obtain the Codex, but at least he had escaped Krypton itself.

Then Krypton recalled every off-world Kryptonian by force.

When Drex attempted to flee, his father, already fully aware of what he intended, dispatched soldiers to drag him back.

But during his final desperate attempt to steal the Codex, he discovered the guards had mysteriously vanished.

This ti, he succeeded.

As for what happened afterward to Kal-El…

Drex had not cared.

Survival ca first.

"What are you thinking about, Drex?"

He snapped back to reality and saw Tifa standing nearby.

Naturally, he had brought her and the others into the Kryptonian Empire with him. To them, it was supposed to be a vacation.

Tifa looked at him with concern.

The expression he had worn monts ago carried a kind of lonely sadness that made her chest ache.

"Why aren't you out exploring the other planets with the others?" Drex asked with a smile as he pulled her into his arms.

Every civilization in the universe possessed sothing different. That was what made travel worthwhile.

Drex knew his own views on love were deeply flawed.

The only thing he could do was try to give them the best things possible.

"I'm still not really used to it," Tifa admitted awkwardly.

Mostly because aliens ca in every shape imaginable.

Unlike Lyra Yan, who found absolutely everything interesting, Tifa struggled to adapt to so of the stranger sights.

"I understand."

Drex nodded.

Then he simply held her quietly.

The two leaned against each other in silence, listening to each other's heartbeat.

For a while, the distance between them felt impossibly small.

…

In a dark corner of the universe, aboard the flagship Sanctuary I, sat the being known as Thanos.

Though technically an Eternal of Titan, he appeared little different from an enormous purple-skinned humanoid ape.

He sat motionless upon his throne.

His expression never changed.

But the veins bulging across his clenched fist said enough.

The Earth invasion had failed.

The fleet stationed there had been annihilated completely.

The modified Hive had been destroyed.

And the final report stated that the portal had been closed.

Loki, you useless bastard.

Months ago, Thanos had encountered Loki drifting through a spatial storm like an abandoned stray dog.

To be honest, Thanos had found him interesting.

There was obsession in Loki's eyes.

Hatred.

Ambition that still burned fiercely even after absolute defeat.

Thanos appreciated people loyal to their own desires.

And Loki's identity made him even more intriguing.

A Frost Giant.

Raised as an Asgardian prince.

That alone had made Thanos mildly interested in Asgard.

Still, Thanos never stopped moving forward.

Whether Asgard mattered could be decided later.

In the anti, there was no harm in developing Loki into a useful subordinate. Earth, despite still looking primitive by galactic standards, clearly possessed several things worth paying attention to.

Since Thanos intended to return eventually anyway, he had decided to let Loki handle things first.

So he left behind an entire auxiliary fleet.

He even disguised the Mind Stone and handed it over to Loki.

Partly because he wanted to see what soone fueled by hatred could accomplish.

And then…

Everything collapsed.