POV: Baldur.
Several Galaxies away from the Earth's Solar System.
Shortly After the Machine was Destroyed.
It took much longer than I anticipated, but finally, I'm starting to recognize the location where I am. It will only take a few more minutes at maximum speed for me to reach Earth.
{Baldur, Plan A failed. Reed Richards was foolish enough to seek help from your enemy. In the end, everything unfolded as you deduced. I have taken care of the sorcerer.}
Another message from Amora.
When my path crossed with that of the Fantastic Four, I already suspected that Doctor Doom would eventually show up. However, I never imagined Reed would seek his help. But Doom's plans, in case he appeared, were easy to predict for someone with my memories.
In my opinion, Doom is the greatest villain in the Marvel universe. His mastery of magic coupled with his genius intellect earned him that title. But he has another specialty, in my view. He excels at stealing the powers of beings more powerful than himself. Stealing the powers of the Beyonders is proof enough of that.
So when Reed told me his plans, it became logical to think about what his next move would be. Luckily, I was correct. Dealing with Galactus is already quite challenging, but dealing with Doom using cosmic powers would be much worse.
"Son of Bor, are you truly going to fight against me?" I hear a voice. I know who is speaking to me.
(Should I be happy or sad to be mistaken for my father?)
Galactus already knows I am heading his way. I wasn't being very careful about not being detected. I was practically a golden sun flying many times faster than the speed of light.
Finally, I reach the solar system, passing by what remains of Pluto.
Before heading to Earth, I make a stop at Jupiter and toss Norrin, still unconscious, into the planet's red spot, a massive cyclone. He will surely survive, but he will have some trouble freeing himself. With that matter resolved, I continue my journey and arrive at Earth within seconds. But I pause when I look at the moon.
The place that is normally empty has a visitor, or perhaps the visitor has always been there. He was a small man, wearing a robe and cloak. He was bald, his head twice as large and spherical as a human's.
(Great, the Watchers exist in this reality too.)
The Watchers are beings of immense power. I think a group of them could give Galactus a good fight using their mental powers. Unfortunately, they have a rule of non-interference. They only observe and document the history of other civilizations.
This guy only came out of hiding because he thought Earth was coming to an end. Well, that's not a misguided thought. It usually happens every time Galactus arrives on a planet. Maybe I can change that.
I don't have time for a conversation, so I continue on my way home. After entering the atmosphere, I stop. Before heading into battle, I need to get updated.
"Alice, get in touch with Nordur."
"My King," Nordur says a few seconds later, appearing as a hologram projected in front of me.
"General report."
"The evacuation is proceeding more rapidly than our projections anticipated. In an hour, the entire nation will be empty," Nordur says.
As soon as the first herald appeared, I had already ordered a preventive evacuation of Genosha. My army won't fight in this battle. It will be much more useful in the evacuation than in the battle.
"And Wakanda?"
"The evacuation there is also proceeding at an accelerated pace, sir," Nordur responds.
Our allies also have settlements on other worlds. My influence over them led them to develop these plans.
"One more thing, sir. Princess Shuri informed me that her new invention is complete."
"Excellent."
(Her creation will potentially lead me to victory.)
"Continue the evacuation, Nordur, and once Genosha is clear, I want you to start evacuating the people from Earth, as we've already planned."
"Yes, sir," Nordur responds, and his hologram disappears.
As I mentioned earlier, my main focus is the survival of my people. Once they're safe, I'll turn my attention to those I can save in case of defeat. You might say I'm being selfish, that I should divide my resources and save a small portion of people from each nation. But my duty as a king is to my people, and if my actions in the future are seen as selfish, so be it.
"Amora, how's the city evacuation going?"
"It's still a long way off. The wizards' portals are proving quite useful, but we're talking about over four million people, and many can't move."
My plan involves brute force against Galactus, and for me to have a chance at victory, I'll need to cut loose. If I do that, so will Galactus, and the entire city will be destroyed in seconds, taking the lives of millions.
I foresaw this, so I asked Amora, along with the wizards of the Ancient One, to take care of the evacuation. Magical portals are perfect tools for this. The problem is time is not on our side. I can already feel the Earth changing. It won't be long before it's irreversible.
"We don't have time, Amora. Do we have any options?" I ask, devoid of ideas, not wanting to end the lives of millions.
"Stark does. He helped create plans to modify weapons so they can destroy the tubes on Galactus's ship."
She had to explain what the tubes were before I could respond.
"That's great. Tell him to proceed. I'll distract Galactus."
Without the tubes to mechanically convert Earth, Galactus will have to do it manually. That means as long as I delay him, he won't be able to end Earth, giving the city time to empty.
After getting updated on the situation, I finally head towards Galactus. Along the way, I encounter another Avenger, the Hulk. He's leaping from rooftop to rooftop heading towards Los Angeles. It will take him a few hours to get there at this rate.
"Need a lift?" I ask him, flying alongside as he jumps from one building to the next.
"Hulk doesn't like being carried," the Green Giant says, running across the roof to gain speed for the next jump.
As he leaps, I once again position myself beside him and create a golden light bubble around Hulk's body. He doesn't even have time to say anything before I shoot off at high speed. A second later, we're in Los Angeles.
I gently place Hulk on the rooftop of a building and ignore the angry look he gives me. Instead, I look out over the city, and it's not a pretty sight.
The city is ablaze, smoke and fire stretching across its length. There are also various robots in the city, currently in combat against the Avengers, Fantastic Four, the army, Magneto, and Wanda.
Galactus's robots aren't like the Chitauri, attacking anything that moves. They're keeping all their attention on the powerful targets, but even so, the collateral damage caused by their fight is claiming many lives of those fleeing the city.
This is where the wizards come in. They're stationed at strategic points of higher traffic throughout the city, their portals transporting people directly out of harm's way. But they're few, and the wizards and their energy are limited.
And at the heart of the chaos stands Galactus, towering over any building in the city, and he's looking at me.
"It's the damn giant who sent Hulk away," Hulk says from beside me.
"Look, Hulk, it seems Natasha is in danger," I point to a distant point in the city.
"RAHHHH!" My words have instant results as Hulk leaps towards the indicated direction.
Hulk is strong but very unstable. I don't want him to make Galactus furious and go all out now. Normally, he fights while holding back to conserve energy, and I'll use that against him. Right now, I need time to destroy the tubes and evacuate the entire city. So, it's better to let Hulk play with the robots and help the Avengers and Fantastic Four.
So seconds later, I'm floating in front of Galactus's face. We're just a few meters apart, but neither of us makes a move.
"I know it's ridiculous to ask, but could you, please, leave my damn world?" I think I lose my cool for a few seconds at the end of the sentence.
"This world has challenged me too much already. It will be mine, as will my prize in the end," Galactus replies, drawing attention to the end of his sentence, but it's not the time to dwell on that.
"If you won't leave willingly, remember in the end that I tried to be polite," I say, smiling.
"Your brothers also had this same arrogance, little god. Look where they are now."
I can't see Angela, but since Amora hasn't said anything, she must be okay. Thor is on the ground, at Galactus's feet, his body encased in some kind of silver cocoon. If you think about it, it's quite funny. My brother will emerge like a beautiful butterfly when he comes out of there.
"My brothers fought well, but it's up to me to finish the job."
"Your arrogance tires me!"
As he says this, his eyes gleam. I quickly sidestep, just in time to dodge Galactus's eye blast, which hits a building behind me squarely, causing it to collapse, creating a thick cloud of dust on the ground.
"Amora, get ready to transport Thor," I speak into my communicator.
Ignoring Galactus's gaze upon me, I dart towards Thor. He fires his eye blast once more, but I easily evade it, and with Sigel, I cut through the cocoon encasing Thor. As I pull my brother's unconscious body from the cocoon, he glows green and disappears from my hand.
With everything done, I turn my body towards my enemy. What I see is an energy blast headed straight for my face. I position Sigel in front of my body sideways and create a circular shield of golden light. The cosmic energy beam then hits me.
"BOOM!"
The shield holds for a few seconds before shattering, and my body is bathed in cosmic energy. When it subsides, my body is badly burnt, but regeneration and magic are already taking care of it.
(It was a powerful attack, but not as much as the Celestial's I fought. He's not fighting at full force yet.)
I soar upwards and position myself at Galactus's face once more. With my brother freed, it's time to strike.
Galactus reaches out to grab me. Instead of fleeing, I accelerate towards his hand and slip through his fingers, heading towards his neck.
Galactus's second hand comes from behind me and manages to grab me—or rather, it grabs an illusion created by me. I'm already in front of his eye, thrusting Sigel forward.
Then everything fades away.
Now I'm floating in a completely empty space.
"Mental attacks!"
"I'm a bit disappointed, Galactus."
Galactus appears in the void, his size now that of a galaxy, his hand the size of a solar system, closes around my body slowly.
His psychic powers are different from Professor Xavier's, which can be defended against with a simple device. Galactus's powers are fueled and created by cosmic energy, making them difficult to defend against.
Psychic abilities have never been one of my strong points, but Asgardians have a high resistance to them. Being more powerful than an average Asgardian and having the powers of an entity, I can defend myself quite well against them, even if I can't use them freely.
I ignore the fingers closing around my body, attacking with Sigel in a wide swing and severing all of Galactus's fingers. As I exit Galactus's palm, I clench my fingers. When I open them, four small points of light shoot towards his face, faster than light. The four balls reach their target, exploding in an explosion of Big Bang magnitude.
Something impossible to achieve in the real world, but in this mental realm, the only limitation is your own imagination.
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