The Cosmo was as red as blood.
Now that it had successfully awakened, an endless stream of power surged from its rotation, coursing through Mike’s veins and spreading throughout his entire body.
He could almost hear every part of his body celebrating the return of this strength.
Most importantly, the power was real.
The Cosmo, a power unique to Saints and so familiar to him from his second life, had truly manifested in a universe where it should never have existed: the Marvel Universe.
Mike broke into a bright smile.
Daisy Lewis watched the grin spread across Mike’s face as he got to his feet, then cautiously exchanged a glance with Jane Foster.
Judging by the way he was smiling, they could only assume they had stumbled across some kind of lunatic.
Without saying a word, the two women held hands and slowly backed away.
Once they reached the stairs, they turned around and hurried downstairs, quickly fleeing the building.
Mike watched them leave, listening to their panicked footsteps echo through the building, but made no attempt to stop them.
In a way, he had actually saved Jane Foster.
There had been rumors that Jane’s later battle with cancer was connected to the life force she lost when the Reality Stone possessed her.
If that was true, then Mike had just saved the future Thor’s life.
With that thought in mind, Mike waited until he heard the engine of the car carrying Jane Foster and her assistant, Daisy Lewis, start up outside and drive away.
Only then did he compose himself and walk down the stairs, leaving the abandoned building behind.
The moment he stepped outside, Mike turned around and looked at the building he had barely paid attention to earlier.
For some reason, he suddenly felt as though a lifetime had passed.
Before entering that building, he had been nothing more than an ordinary man.
Now, he possessed one of the six Infinity Stones, the Reality Stone, and had used its power to fully awaken the Cosmo he had learned to cultivate in his second life.
The power of his Cosmo was still surging through his body, continuously strengthening him and making him tougher, stronger, and faster.
Mike estimated that in about a week, his strength would reach the level a Saint should possess after awakening their Cosmo.
That meant— A Bronze Saint.
Don’t underestimate Bronze Saints.
In the world of Saint Seiya, aside from the five main Bronze Saints, most Bronze Saints were little more than background characters.
They weren’t particularly impressive.
But this was the Marvel Universe.
To put it bluntly, even a Bronze Saint who had yet to receive their constellation Cloth was already strong enough to rival most of the dimensional gods in this universe.
Everyone knew that even Bronze Saints possessed enough power to tear the sky apart with their fists and shatter the earth with their kicks.
Even Bronze Saints who had yet to receive their constellation or Cloth, and were still merely trainees, could destroy a nuclear reactor with their bare hands.
A Bronze Saint’s punches and movements could reach the speed of sound.
Their attacks were faster than sound itself.
When a Bronze Saint threw a punch at an enemy, the impact would reach the target before the sound of the punch arrived.
And a Bronze Saint could throw hundreds of such punches in a single second.
They also possessed extremely high resistance to nuclear radiation, viruses, deadly poisons, curses, and other hazards.
They could even survive in lava or at the bottom of the deep sea.
All because of the Cosmo.
Once a Bronze Saint awakened their Cosmo and learned to burn it to unleash extraordinary power, saying that they were invincible beneath the gods was not arrogance.
It was simply a statement of fact.
And Mike was now a Bronze Saint.
A trainee, at that.
Just like in his second life at the Sanctuary, he had yet to receive a constellation and could only be considered a trainee Bronze Saint.
But this time, Mike wasn’t worried about failing to gain a constellation’s recognition.
Come on.
This was the Marvel Universe, and he was the only Saint in existence here.
So rather than worry about whether he would have a constellation to choose from in the future, he was more concerned about the trouble that was likely coming for him right now.
Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves.
Why had the Reality Stone briefly appeared on Earth?
Because the Nine Realms were about to experience the Convergence, an event that occurred only once every thousand years.
As the Nine Realms began to align, the dimensional space containing the Reality Stone temporarily overlapped with Earth’s reality.
Mike had taken advantage of that opportunity to obtain the Reality Stone.
But he wasn’t the only one waiting for this moment.
Malekith, the king of the Dark Elves who had once been driven away by Odin’s father, King Bor, was waiting for it too.
He had been waiting for this once-in-a-thousand-years Convergence, intending to return to the Nine Realms, reclaim the Reality Stone, and use its power to plunge the Nine Realms back into darkness, restoring the age when the Dark Elves had ruled them.
More importantly, Malekith had once been the Reality Stone’s owner.
So this time, Mike couldn’t guarantee that Malekith would follow the original events and attack Asgard.
But he could guarantee one thing: once Malekith discovered that the Reality Stone had fallen into his hands, he would come looking for him.
And he would come soon.
But Mike needed time.
Because he hadn’t truly awakened his Cosmo through his own strength, but had relied on the Reality Stone to awaken it, he needed at least a week to fully manifest the strength that a genuine Bronze Saint should possess in this universe.
Until then, he was little more than an ordinary human who was constantly growing stronger.
So he needed time.
London was no longer safe.
After leaving the abandoned building, Mike got back into his rental car.
Recalling the events of Thor: The Dark World, he quickly made up his mind to leave London.
Once the Convergence began, London would become one of Earth’s major convergence points.
Staying in London would be like putting himself under a magnifying glass and telling Malekith: Come on.
I’m right here.
Come get me.
Once he had made up his mind, Mike drove back to his hotel, quickly packed his belongings, checked out, and headed straight for London’s international airport.
While driving, he booked an airport drop-off for his rental car and purchased another plane ticket.
His destination— Norway.
Tromsø.
The legendary— Gateway to the Arctic.