Asgard, the morning after Su Ye disappeared on the Bifrost Bridge.
Heimdall hadn't slept all night. He was so exhausted that white hairs had begun to appear on his head, but even so, he still hadn't found Su Ye's whereabouts.
On the other hand, Thor had slept soundly. After returning from Earth, in order to prevent the Great Wall guardians from noticing Su Ye's absence, he went straight to the banquet hall and took the lead in drinking heavily.
The emotional and behavioral contrast between these two actions made Sif, who had been paying attention to him, feel very strange.
Meanwhile, Sif also noticed that Su Ye, who had left with Thor, was now gone.
"Where's Ye Su?"
Sif leaned toward Thor and asked in a low voice.
As she asked, she told herself in her mind that it was just out of pure curiosity, not because she was concerned about Su Ye.
Thor, however, simply handed her a huge mug of ale.
"Who cares! It's a celebration! We're toasting our hero. Sif, you were the key to conquering Jotunheim! Without you, those guys might've kept fighting us to the death. This one's for you—you have to drink it!"
Sif wanted to say she wasn't some kind of war hero. All she did was sit inside that thing called a Gundam and shake the control stick for a while, didn't even put in any actual effort, and actually enjoying it to the fullest.
If there was any credit, it might be because Su Ye, who was with her, was even happier?
But that was it. No way she deserved to be called a hero.
Yet the others were all drunk, and the only somewhat-sober Thor was the ringleader, making toasts and stirring up the crowd. Sif was cornered and had no choice but to take the mug. Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Given her alcohol tolerance, one drink wasn't a big deal. She didn't want to kill the mood, so she planned to drink this one, then clarify to everyone that she wasn't some big hero.
But unexpectedly, after finishing the cup, she immediately got tipsy.
Thor had secretly added a few drops of Asgard's thousand-year-old reserve into her cup—the kind that even Earth's Watcher, Old Li, couldn't handle.
"Hahaha, if it weren't for me, that war definitely wouldn't have ended so quickly!"
Now drunk, Sif began boasting about her great contributions—just like any typical drunk—and what little rationality she had left was fully used to cover up the fact that she'd "been ridden."
With Sif's doubts now removed, the banquet hall was fully immersed in a lively atmosphere.
Even the heroines like Gwen and Sharon gathered to chat and drink.
When women chat with other women and hit it off, whether men are around or not stops mattering.
They kept drinking the whole night, and by the next morning, no one had noticed that Su Ye was missing.
At the Bifrost Bridge, Jane somehow found a watermelon, eating it while looking at Heimdall beside her.
"Have you found him?"
Heimdall shook his head without looking back.
"Are you tired? Do you want a piece of watermelon?"
Heimdall was definitely worn out. He walked over to Jane, squatted beside her, grabbed a slice of watermelon, and began devouring it.
Food is strength—eat first, search later.
And just then, a voice came from behind the two of them.
"Hey, is this watermelon guaranteed to be ripe?"
"It's definitely ripe, want a piece?" Jane handed over a piece.
Heimdall heard the voice, turned around to look at the person, and then spit out the watermelon flesh for several meters.
"Ye Su? You're back?!"
Su Ye smiled and took the watermelon from Jane's hand. "I came back as soon as I finished my business. Were you looking for me? How long have you been looking?"
In the Fate instance, Su Ye stayed for almost a week. He honestly didn't know how much time had passed outside.
"I've been looking for you all night!" Heimdall finally sighed in relief, sat down on the ground, and, while relaxing, grabbed the watermelon and started eating again.
Now that Su Ye was back and the crisis was over, he could finally eat in peace.
On the side, Su Ye took the watermelon from Jane. In the process, his fingers inevitably touched Jane's.
Suddenly, Jane jolted like she'd been electrocuted and let out a sharp gasp.
"Oh! F*ck!"
Su Ye was startled.
Did he come back from the Fate instance having unknowingly developed some god-tier ability—like making women climax just by touching them?
He had no idea!
"No—it's something! Something's coming out!"
Jane had sprung a leak!
Su Ye looked at where their fingers touched and saw a red, viscous liquid flowing from Jane's fingertip, quickly worming its way into Su Ye's finger.
"Does this count as... exchanging bodily fluids?"
A bizarre thought flashed through Su Ye's mind—along with a faint sense that he might've just NTR'ed Thor.
After all, Jane's reaction... was too much like that thing...
The whole process was quick—just a few splashes—and then Jane collapsed weakly, while the red liquid had fully entered Su Ye's body.
"The Aether!"
That red viscous liquid was the Aether—the Reality Stone's encasing substance—which Jane had accidentally brought back from its sealed space less than a day ago.
And now, it had switched hosts, entering Su Ye's body.
Heimdall noticed the strange state of both of them and immediately tried to send a warning to Thor: "Hurry and check—your girlfriend just passed out in another man's arms!"
But Thor was already dead drunk. No matter how hard Heimdall tried to call him, he couldn't wake him up.
As for Odin, although he seemed a bit revitalized recently, his body appeared much sturdier than when he exiled Thor, he still wasn't very involved. Last night, he had a bit of alcohol and was now peacefully sleeping in his 'coffin.'
Su Ye didn't care about all that. Just as the Aether entered his body, he heard the system chime.
[Ding! A powerful ability detected. Absorbing it may trigger an unknown function upgrade. Would you like to absorb it and start the new feature experience?]
"Tsk?"
Su Ye couldn't help but take a deep breath.
The system sure had been upgrading a lot lately. It had just absorbed some Bifrost energy during his last crossing, upgrading once already. Now it wanted to absorb the Reality Stone too?
Absorbing the energy from the Bifrost allowed Su Ye's [Girlfriend Card] system to activate the [Instance] feature.
If he absorbed the Reality Stone now, what would he gain?
The Reality Stone's power was to alter reality—turning imagination into existence.
Just like how the characters from the Girlfriend Card system could manifest in the real world, complete with their original universes and logic structures.
The system's function was already similar to the Reality Stone's.
So, could it really improve further by absorbing it?
Su Ye wasn't sure. If he fed the Reality Stone to the system, would the benefits outweigh the costs?
With the stone in hand, he could combine it with Unlimited Blade Works and manifest more than just swords—things like the Dragon Gall Spear, the Sky Piercer Halberd, or the Green Dragon Crescent Blade could all be brought to life.
He could even summon the Ruyi Jingu Bang!
Using Unlimited Blade Works to manifest all kinds of weapons and inherit the abilities of their wielders—that was arguably more powerful than just gaining additional duplicate-girlfriends with enhanced stats.
After all, Su Ye's goal wasn't really about increasing his girlfriend count anymore.
Even with a hundred girlfriends, so what? He only had one thing, and it only worked with one person at a time.
Unless he mutated into some kind of tentacle creature… yikes, that's disgusting.
After weighing it all, Su Ye felt like trading the Reality Stone for an unknown upgrade to the [Girlfriend Card] system wasn't quite worth it.
Just as he was about to refuse, he suddenly remembered the scene inside the Bifrost and furrowed his brows, turning to Heimdall.
"Hey, Old Heim—back when I crossed the Bifrost with Thor to Earth, did the energy or structure of the Bifrost change?"
Heimdall didn't know why Su Ye was asking, but he thought for a moment and shook his head.
"Nope. The Bifrost is the same as always. There's been no changes."
Su Ye nodded inwardly.
'The system clearly absorbed the Bifrost's energy earlier, but it didn't cause any damage—so maybe absorbing the Aether won't deplete the Reality Stone either.'
That seemed highly likely. After all, the Reality Stone was on a whole different level compared to the Bifrost.
'In that case—let's do this!'
[Ding! Absorbing powerful energy, system upgrade triggered. Would you like to start experiencing the new function now?]
After hearing the system's voice, Su Ye checked, and indeed, the amount of Aether's energy that entered his body had decreased slightly, but the completeness and power of the Reality Stone had not been affected.
'Looks like this system really doesn't need much. Low maintenance, high output. What a great deal.'
"Since that's the case, let's experience the new features of the system, give me..."
Just as Su Ye was about to start experiencing the system's new function, a sudden chill ran down his back, and the hairs on his body stood on end.
It was just like that scene from Infinity War, where Spider-Man sensed the alien ship's arrival on the school bus.
"Really? Now?"
Su Ye temporarily put the system aside and closed his eyes. His telepathic abilities expanded instantly.
He quickly sensed countless dark specks beyond the skies of Asgard—arranged in the shape of a cross.
At the same time, his magnetic field sense detected a massive spaceship.
"Dark Elves, huh? That was fast."
Su Ye sighed and turned to Heimdall. "The enemy's here. Take Jane somewhere safe. I'll handle this."
"Enemy?" Heimdall looked toward the outside of Asgard, his face instantly darkening.
Heimdall looked outside of Asgard and his face immediately darkened.
A massive spaceship hovered in space, and countless unknown enemies were in formation, ready to launch an attack at any moment.
This was an invasion—a full-scale invasion of Asgard!
"Enemy attack!!"
Heimdall shouted, but then, thinking about Thor and the others who were passed out drunk in the banquet hall, and Odin, the Allfather, who was sleeping peacefully in his coffin-like bed, his heart sank.
"Asgard is done for!"
Su Ye frowned. "Hurry, Heimdall. Take Jane and retreat to the palace. If things get ugly, I can't guarantee I won't accidentally hurt you guys."
"Also, if the Bifrost gets destroyed, you can repair it, right?"
On the other side, Heimdall's brows were furrowed together.
"You're not seriously thinking of dealing with this whole thing alone, are you?"
Heimdall felt like either he was crazy… or Su Ye was.
That was a giant spaceship filled with enemies and fighter crafts capable of planetary-level attacks. No single person could handle this!
Su Ye shook his head. "Of course not alone."
As he spoke, a red glow lit up in his hand, and a massive sword, as wide as a door, appeared.
But this wasn't an ordinary blade.
It had a technological design—more like several weapons fused together into one.
Looking at the weapon in his hand, Su Ye couldn't help but smile.
This weapon was called the "Buster Sword."
Maybe not everyone knew the name, but its original wielder was world-famous—Cloud Strife.
The male protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, a long-time champion of the entire Final Fantasy character popularity rankings.
Of course, for many fans, it's Cloud's girlfriend who is even more well-known.
That's right—Tifa.
Tifa Lockhart.
In the CG world, she was the eternal goddess. A true legend.
Just hearing the name was enough. No further explanation needed.
And now, with the help of the Reality Stone, Su Ye's Unlimited Blade Works could manifest more than just copies.
The weapons he projected were now the real deal—with all the powers of the original.
And at the same time, he would also inherit the full abilities of the original wielder.
This Buster Sword, in his hands, was just as easy to wield as if it were his own arm.
Just as Su Ye was about to leap into the sky and start slashing down Dark Elves with his new toy—a system notification popped up.
[Ding! Host has obtained new character weapon and ability. Ten blue "Girlfriend Cards" will now be consumed to generate a matching girlfriend, solidifying the associated power.]
(If there are insufficient Girlfriend Cards, the weapon and ability cannot be manifested, and the girlfriend effect will not activate.)
This is the new feature after the system upgrade.
Now, he could reverse the process—manifest a weapon or ability first, and the system would auto-generate the corresponding girlfriend afterward.
But the cost was mandatory. As soon as you manifested a weapon, it would directly deduct the cards.
This made Su Ye a little cautious.
What if he accidentally summoned a "girlfriend" who liked pooping on his bed? That would be a disaster.
And now the system had placed a hard limit: if you didn't have enough Girlfriend Cards, you couldn't project the real weapon or gain the actual ability.
For instance, Su Ye tried to manifest a Zanpakutō just now using Unlimited Blade Works and the Reality Stone…
And the system chimed in:
[Ding! Insufficient number of Girlfriend Cards, unable to materialize the real version of the Zanpakuto 'Shinso'!]
Upon hearing the prompt, Su Ye abandoned the idea of continuing to materialize a powerful weapon. After exchanging for Tifa, he had fewer than ten blue cards left.
Even Shinso couldn't be summoned.
'My Rangiku...'
That's just how men are—never satisfied.
Even after getting Tifa, fulfilling a dream most men would never achieve, he still found himself thinking about Rangiku and her… assets.
Looking at the increasingly closer spaceship, Heimdall knew that now wasn't the time to hesitate.
"This is on you now—hold them off with your… sword. I'll go alert Thor and bring reinforcements!"
He shouted, picked up Jane, and ran.
In the face of Asgard's safety and Su Ye's life, he decisively chose to protect the bigger picture.
"Ye Su, You must hold out! If… If you don't make it… Asgard will remember you!"
What Heimdall didn't know was that the Dark Elves' goal wasn't all of Asgard.
Their target was the Aether.
Now that the Aether was inside Su Ye, they only needed to capture him—their revenge on Asgard could wait.
At that same moment, in the dungeons beneath Asgard, among the prisoners Thor had brought back from Vanaheim—a massive masked brute suddenly triggered a riot, leading a prison break.
The prison guards were basically useless—completely overwhelmed. The prisoners flooded toward the outside.
Without Loki to guide them this time, Algrim—the brute—didn't find the route to the palace center.
Instead, he took the most difficult path—a trial of blood and fire.
Even without Thor, if he could break through this path, he would be able to prove himself as a warrior god.
On the outskirts of the Bifrost, the Dark Elves' spaceship came to a stop.
Just as they prepared to launch an all-out assault on Asgard, Malekith, the Dark Elf King, suddenly realized something.
The Aether wasn't in the palace.
It was on the outer edge—right at the Bifrost.
"Is this arrogance or ignorance?"
"They've brought the Aether to the very edge—were they afraid I wouldn't find it?"
Feeling the malicious disdain from Asgard, Malekith grew angry.
"Send out the airships and launch indiscriminate attacks on all of Asgard!"
Malekith waved his hand, commanding the Dark Elves under him to instantly launch a large-scale invasion of Asgard.
It wasn't that he had nothing to do or didn't care about the casualties of the Dark Elves.
This was done partly to vent his anger, to release the pain and frustration of his defeat from thousands of years ago.
At the same time, this was a way to hold back Asgard's fighting forces, to prevent them from interfering with his collection of the Aether particles.
But the main reason was actually to support Algrim, after all, he was Malekith's most loyal and capable subordinate. If his judgment was wrong and Algrim fell in Asgard, Malekith would be heartbroken.
They had been together for thousands of years, and where would Malekith find another man with such a strong body and such good skills?
As for the Aether—Malekith wasn't worried.
After all those years of bonding, he just needed to touch the host, and he could retrieve it.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several small razor-shaped ships launched from the mothership, speeding toward the palace.
Su Ye now stood atop one of the Bifrost support pylons.
He looked toward the approaching ships and casually raised a hand.
"You really think you can pass with me here?"
"What's art again?"
"Art… is an explosion."
As his fingers clenched into a fist—
The invisible ships collapsed inward, one by one, and BOOM—they exploded into fireballs.
Over a dozen fireworks lit up the sky, alerting the palace guards in the distance.
Heimdall was still running along the Bifrost.
The palace hadn't yet received the alarm.
Su Ye couldn't help but shake his head.
Asgard had such advanced magical technology, and yet—
No long-range communication system?
Everything here still relied on shouting.
And even then, they couldn't shout far enough… yet insisted on building the Bifrost so damn long.
On the Dark Elf cross-shaped ship, Malekith saw Su Ye's display—and grew even angrier.
"That's the Aether's power! My power, you thieves! Robbers!"
"All troops—CHARGE!!"
With Malekith's roar, the mothership plunged into the Bifrost bridge.
Its underbelly split open like diarrhea, spewing out waves of howling Dark Elf soldiers.
They stormed the bridge supports, charging toward Su Ye.
Su Ye didn't dare let his guard down.
Even with the Buster Sword, the enemy numbers were overwhelming—
Plus, they had long-range weapons and devastating tech like black hole bombs.
There was no way to avoid all damage.
Still, Su Ye wasn't scared of swarms.
A single "Shadow Clone Jutsu" and he could summon 3,000 clones—these guys were nothing.
But he didn't do that.
Crushing enemies too easily would make people take him for granted.
That's the difference between giving help during a crisis and just showing off when times are good.
Only by letting the Asgardians see that the battle was intense, that Su Ye barely survived and used all his strength to hold the bridge, almost dying in the process, would they truly appreciate him from the bottom of their hearts.
Could Malekith really extract the Aether from his body?
Could he learn how to control it by watching him?
And if Malekith did get it out—where would he go next?
Would he still head to London, like in the original story?
Su Ye hoped so.
After all—America's New York was gone.
L.A. and Boston were half-ruined.
Wouldn't it be kind of rude if Britain didn't get some love too?