Marvel: Summoning Xandar.

~~~Ischyros, Xandar~~~

~~~July 1942~~~

Azrael did not expect Asgard to show up so quickly, for as far as he understood, Asgard, though it boasted of ruling over the nine realms, did not care to control its territory one bit, and if it did control it, it was to a very low and small, almost unchecked extent, which was further evidenced in Thor; A Dark World, when all the realms under Asgard's power revolted upon discovering that Asgard had lost its most important transportation route: the Bifrost.

However, now, thanks to the almost omnipresent view that the structure block brought to Azrael, he was able to observe how seven Asgardians showed themselves, as to how he knew that if they were Asgardians, it was enough to see their means of transportation, a letter of introduction thanks to the rainbow beam that had left them in his realm, what did they want? Azrael did not know, but that woman who arrived hours ago must have been the key.

The case here was that the seven Asgardians arrived armed to the teeth as if they had fallen on a battlefield and not in a peaceful place, and seeing that they didn't bring with them any member that looked like a diplomat or anything like that, it was evident that what they were looking for was a fight, and Azrael was willing to give it to them if they dared to prove it.

"Your majesty, the nearest outpost has sent troops, by now they should be in crossfire, do you approve of class B aid?" Maria, one of Galio's closest aides, informed Azrael while being attentive to the possible orders he might give her.

"No, quick response will suffice for the time being, have the Alpha Witches immediately position themselves on site and intercept the invading forces, and let Galio know, to send in the Dark Wave," Azrael ordered, then began to walk towards a part of the castle where the security and the presence of Alpha Witches and guards began to become more conspicuous.

Ischyros was not only Azrael's castle, which consisted of a complex of buildings, gardens, murals, theaters, indoor lakes, huge training grounds, wyvern landing games, and even a huge field where Endoxes could land.

The entire complex occupied over three hundred square kilometers, as it also served as the political, administrative, banking, and organizational center of the kingdom, making it the most secure complex in the world, with over three thousand Enderman, two thousand Alpha Witches, and a total of two thousand soldiers as guards, making Ischyros a difficult place to occupy, injure and leave alive.

But Azrael was going neither to the Central Bank, the Chancellery, nor even the prisons, he was walking to the most dangerous, volatile, and terrifying place in all of Xandar as a whole: the resting place of the Wither.

While the place where Endoxes rested was dangerous to a great extent, the dragon enjoyed a kind of intelligence that made him ignore the people who approached him to give him food, care, and clean his huge enclosure.

On the other hand, the Wither were creatures that had a total level of aggressiveness, they attacked everything they saw, without contemplation and rancor, they were completely destructive creatures, which, if they were in a group, even Endoxes avoided meeting them.

In total, Azrael had in his control twenty Wither, and that was a large number, because those beasts in every sense of the word were very difficult creatures to tame, and it would even require the use of three books of loyalty incantations to subdue one.

Azrael walked through the corridors that were found in the heart of Ischyrós, a place where very few had access, even Valka and Isabella could not enter the place due to the level of danger that was handled on the site.

The corridors were made entirely of Bedrock, with no windows anywhere, and mechanisms every twenty meters that if activated, sent a wall of the same material and would completely isolate a certain part of the corridor. This was done in case a Wither escaped without Azrael's presence in the city.

Although Azrael controlled them, he could not leave them in charge of anyone else because they did not obey anyone else but him, so if the Withers had to be summoned to some place where they were needed, Azrael would have to guide them himself. And that is what he was about to do.

The end of the hallway came to a Bedrock wall, a place where the five Omega Witches stopped and did not follow Azrael, since beyond the wall was where the Wither compound was located.

Azrael, for his part, clenched his fist and struck at a small section near the wall, breaking apart the wall, and revealing a lever hidden behind the wall, which he moved without hesitation, causing the end of the corridor, which looked like just another wall. It rose, revealing a large room.

Entering the room, Azrael pressed a lever on the inner side of the door, causing the room to be sealed again.

The room glowed in different colors, revealing that the walls of the room were filled to the brim with protective enchantments of all kinds, to keep what the room contained within itself and prevent the entry of outside beings to any extent.

In the room, there were twenty huge glass cases, all made of glass, but with the same characteristic glow of the incantations, and in each one, a creature of fear floated carelessly.

With three heads, a skeletal body, and a bony tail at the end of its body, they turned the Withers into beasts that managed to create nightmares for less powerful minds, especially when looking at their three faces, which had no mouth or nose, only empty eye sockets.

For any human being, being in front of such beings would be a huge psychological burden, but for Azrael, who had to be with them longer than anyone else in the world, it no longer made a dent in his mind. So he wasted no time and immediately went to where the two Withers closest to him were, and without any fear, opened the two display cases, giving the two Withers a free way out.

The Withers came out of their cabinets, floating and with their eyes fixed on Azrael, waiting for his orders. Azrael, for his part, turned away from them and walked back to the exit of the room, pressing the lever and opening the door.

Once Azrael was out, the Withers followed close behind him, and seeing the five Witches behind him, they became alarmed and were about to start attacking.

"Lyka, gīda ilagon!" Azrael immediately shouted at the two Withers, slowing their advance and thus preventing them from attacking the Witches.

Letting out a silent sigh, Azrael walked over to where the outer lever was and moved it, closing the entrance to the room, then resealing the lever with a block of Bedrock.

Azrael knew that now with the unwanted visit from Asgard, and knowing the outcome that an Asgardian arrival on Xandar as invaders would have, it meant a short matter of time before he would receive a more warlike response from Asgard, and though Azrael felt he was powerful, his power lay mostly in his army and the advantages it had, and he was ready to face the power of Odin if need be.

~~~Nepal, Tibet, Himalayas, Kamar Taj~~~

~~~Yao, Ancestral~~~

The sands of time had shifted several days ago, starting like the small ripples in a lake when a stone is thrown at it, only to have those ripples grow bigger and bigger. Turning into a tsunami.

However, fate had been in charge of reshaping things again, although not everything had returned to its course and, although I tried several times to use the gem of time to discover the genesis of all those changes, I could not find out, something or someone prevented me, or perhaps the same gem did not want to show it.

So far everything has come to a single place: Xandar, an Empire that appeared overnight, the size of a continent, and with forces beyond the power shown that the world could have in these times.

But the gem did show me what was happening in the present, being able to glimpse a power that I had not seen since the Skrull empire had come to earth.

Although from the little that the gem showed me, I could glimpse a future in which the earth was ruled by a being beyond my understanding, which ruled the earth without letting any danger happen to it, thus protecting its territory.

But now, the Bifrost had come to earth, and while the supreme sorcerer's job was to watch over the safety of the earth, that only concerned interdimensional attacks.

But since I couldn't see due to whatever it was that interfered with the gem, this time it would be my turn to interfere, since I didn't know what Asgard wanted with the planet, and feeling where the Bifrost had gotten to, it didn't look good for the future.

So preparing to open a portal, I felt it collapse in on itself, slamming shut, at the same time I felt two waves of enormous power, which belonged to beings outside this plane, almost interdimensional.

And if before I thought I had to interfere, with this last sense, I needed no further proof, and opening again a portal, I crossed and arrived at the epicenter of the Bifrost, ready to stop all this theater.