World Traveler Villain-Chapter 237: CH: 234 Seizing the Power of Thunder

Please, pretty please with a cherry on top, join my Patreon! 🍒

*****

{Chapter: 234 Seizing the Power of Thunder}

The hammer streaked through the sky like a comet, drawn by unseen force, surging with divine energy. It flew straight toward Thor, who lay broken and bruised upon the cratered ground. His eyes fluttered open, filled with sudden clarity. Gritting his teeth, he thrust out his hand.

Mjölnir slammed into his palm.

The moment contact was made, a detonation of thunder burst across the sky. Dazzling arcs of lightning surged outward in all directions, a storm reborn. The earth trembled. The very air cracked.

But something unexpected happened.

Another hand shot out—grabbing the lower end of Mjölnir's handle.

A second figure stood close. Quiet. Unassuming. No one had noticed him approach the fallen god—but now, he was touching the sacred weapon at the exact moment Thor's sealed power was returning.

From within the blinding vortex, a second voice echoed—not Thor's.

"What a magnificent surge of power. I've waited for this moment, Thor. And now... thank you."

The voice—deep, calm, and unfamiliar to most—slipped through the lightning like a ghost through fog.

Gasps erupted among those watching from afar.

Jane squinted at the storm. Her heart skipped a beat. "That voice... it sounds like..."

"No doubt about it," Pepper murmured, eyes locked on the swirling maelstrom. "It's William. Or as you like to call him—Tom."

Jane blinked. "What are you saying?"

"I told you," Pepper said coldly. "I warned you Tom was William, the man the world calls a threat. But you wouldn't listen."

Jane shook her head, retreating a step. "No. That's impossible. William? The public enemy? He and Tom aren't—can't be—the same person."

Darcy clutched Jane's arm, eyes wide. "That's insane... I mean, they don't even look alike. Right?"

Pepper stared at Jane, her tone flat. "You gave your heart to a man who's been hiding in plain sight. One day, you'll regret trusting him."

Meanwhile, Thor's companions from Asgard were watching with furrowed brows.

Volstagg thundered, "What is that second voice? Who dares speak through the sacred lightning?"

Sif narrowed her eyes, shielding herself from the crackling arcs. "It must be tied to this 'William' they're speaking of. But we can't see what's happening inside that storm. Not yet."

Fandral, ever confident, smirked. "It doesn't matter. Thor has Mjölnir again. He's invincible."

But inside the lightning storm, chaos reigned.

Thor grunted, struggling to breathe as the divine power poured into him—yet it was no longer flowing only to him. There was a resistance. Someone else's hand had wrapped around the haft of Mjölnir—a second hand.

"Let go of it!" Thor roared. "The power of the gods isn't meant for you!"

"Let go?" the voice replied smoothly. "This was always the plan. Every moment we've fought together, spoken, bonded—I've been preparing for this." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"You... used us?"

"I used opportunity, Thor. Don't take it personally."

Outside the storm, Hogan narrowed his eyes. "The lightning... is it weakening?"

Fandral nodded. "It's... splitting? But how? Only one who is worthy can draw power from Mjölnir."

Lightning erupted in all directions, illuminating the heavens. Divine power surged through the air like a living storm, crackling with a primal roar.

"What... what have you done?" Thor gasped, lightning surging around them both.

"I only touched it," the man replied calmly—William, "I had only some expectation for this to work... but I'll take it."

Within the storm, something far greater than lightning stirred.

This was no mere tempest—it was the awakening of a god's essence.

Thor's divine core, locked away by his father's decree, surged upward in a flood of ancestral might. The sky trembled. The earth cracked. The heavens lit with bolts not of electricity, but of godhood reborn.

But then... the impossible happening.

The divine current splintered, veering from its rightful path.

For at the exact moment Mjölnir returned to its master, another hand had touched its sacred hilt—a hand unworthy by all known standards, but present nonetheless.

And Odin's ancient enchantment had no contingency for that.

"Whosoever holds this hammer—if he be worthy—shall possess the power of Thor."

A phrase carved into the hammer by runes older than memory. But Odin, for all his wisdom, had once again favored simplicity over foresight.

Just as he had cast away his daughter without reckoning the long-term consequences, just as he had sealed away secrets and buried truths, he had enchanted Mjölnir with a spell that lacked nuance. A spell that never imagined the edge cases. A spell that could not—would not—differentiate context.

To Odin, power was a thing to be bestowed or revoked, a lever pulled at will. But divinity was not a switch.

And now, his flawed logic—his arrogance—had left a crack wide open.

The hammer did not reject the second hand. It could not.

The enchantment simply read what it understood: someone was holding the hammer at the moment Thor's sealed godhood was unleashed.

Therefore, someone else received the power.

The runes had no defense against this. There were no lines in Odin's magic to say: But what if someone touches it in this precise moment? No, Odin had forged the enchantment as he ruled—quickly, decisively, and with no patience for mortal subtleties.

And now that carelessness echoed once more through the Nine Realms.

William stood in the storm, his hand on the handle, absorbing power never meant for him.

He did not break the rules. He simply walked between their cracks.

"LET GO!" Thor roared, trying to wrench the hammer away, but the process was already completing.

"You don't get it," William said, his voice echoing strangely. "I don't want the hammer. I just needed to be here when your divinity unsealed."

Outside the lightning storm, Jane and the others stood in stunned silence.

Darcy whispered, "Why is the lightning... flickering like that?"

Fandral narrowed his eyes. "No. It's not flickering. It's dividing."

Inside the core of the blast, Thor howled in frustration. The process completed.

With a final detonation, the storm burst outward—leaving two figures standing in its wake.

Thor, armor reforged, cape billowing, hammer in hand.

And William—smiling faintly, his eyes glowing with stolen sparks of divine power, faint lightning crawling across his skin like veins of fire.

"Half the power of Thor," William said quietly, "is more than enough."

And now—impossibly—two held it. One born of Asgard. One judged unworthy in the most expected of ways.

The lightning cracked again—louder, fiercer—and then erupted outward in a final shockwave that threw dust and debris into the air.

Thor staggered forward, panting, armored once more in gleaming silver and crimson. Mjölnir rested in his grasp. But he could feel it—something missing. A hollow place inside the thunder.

Across from him, standing in the shadow of scorched ground, emerged a second figure. Calm. Composed. Lightning still dancing across his skin like it had found a second home.

The voice returned. "You were never meant to carry it alone, Thor. Half the power... is mine now."

Every eye turned toward the newcomer—William.

The impossible had happened.

William slowly hovered three meters above the ground, his body wreathed in a blinding aura of light. Thunder crackled and lightning surged around him in chaotic waves, giving him the appearance of a god descending from the heavens. He looked like Thor incarnate, but everyone present knew the truth: William was no god. The electrifying power that surged through his veins had not been granted—it had been forcefully stolen from Thor himself.

Sif narrowed her eyes and muttered in disbelief, "Are you serious right now?"

Fandral clenched the hilt of his sword tightly, his knuckles pale. "That's him, isn't it? The man who took Thor's powers. He didn't earn them—he stole them."

Boom!

Before the tension could fully sink in, the Destroyer, still not retreating, launched another searing column of heat beam directly at Thor. Flames roared through the air, swallowing the place in a blinding inferno.

Thor, now back on his feet, gritted his teeth and shouted, "Tom, we'll deal with each other later!" With that, he flew like a missile toward the Destroyer, his hammer slamming against the uru shell of the machine with thunderous force.

Meanwhile, Jane cautiously stepped forward, her eyes locked on the radiant figure of William suspended in the air. Her voice trembled. "Tom... tell me the truth. Who are you really? Please... no more lies."

William smiled faintly, almost sadly. "Jane... I've never wanted to lie to you."

But deep down, he knew that wasn't true. He had been playing the role of a kind-hearted protector for far too long, hiding behind a mask.

"Tell me the truth!" Jane screamed, her emotions unraveling into panic and anguish. "I deserve to know!"

William raised one hand and waved it slowly across his face. A thin veil of greenish light shimmered, and then—his true face emerged beneath it.

Darcy stumbled backward in shock, her voice barely a whisper. "It's him... That face... It's the same as on the news, the same one we saw on TV."

Jane's heart plummeted. "Why...? Why would you lie to us?" Her voice broke under the weight of betrayal. "Was it fun for you? Is that what this was about? Was it some twisted game to you? Deceiving an ordinary woman just for amusement?"

She choked back tears. "You watched me fall for someone who didn't even exist..."

Pepper walked over silently. Her gaze lingered on Jane with quiet sympathy, but her words came out cold. "He'll pay for what he's done. One way or another."

Jane turned toward her. "You... You're Pepper, from Stark Industries. I thought you were dead."

Pepper nodded. "He changed everything. Even my face. I'm not who I used to be... because of him."

Sif, Fandral, Hogan, and Volstagg moved closer, their expressions grim and full of suspicion.

"This human is dangerous," Sif murmured.

Volstagg clenched his axe tightly. "He and Loki... they're cut from the same cloth."

"To steal Thor's power—that's no small feat," Hogan added, his fists trembling with restrained fury.

William kept his eyes on Jane, as if she were the only one who mattered. "I didn't want my identity to scare you. I didn't want it to ruin the friendship we had. That's the truth. That's all it ever was."

Jane looked at him long and hard, her eyes filled with turmoil—anger, grief, disbelief, and something unspoken. "Do you even believe yourself when you say that, William? You—the man with power over nations—wanted to be friends with someone like me? An ordinary girl who studies stars? It sounds like a joke."

William raised a brow. "But I meant it. Every word."

Jane's expression hardened. "Well, I don't believe you anymore. I can't. Whatever existed between us—it's gone. You betrayed me. You used me. There's nothing left now."

Her voice cracked, even as she tried to remain composed. Inside, her heart was shattering.

William gave a small smile. "How coldhearted. But maybe I deserve it."

Sif stepped forward, her weapon ready. Fandral, Hogan, and Volstagg flanked her. Fandral spoke sternly, "William, what you've done is unforgivable. You attacked Thor. You've tricked everyone. And from what we've seen, you're no hero. You're a threat. We're taking you down."

William sighed, shaking his head slowly. "I guess I'm still underestimated. You four really think you can stop me? Fine. Come together, if you dare."

"Don't mock us!" Sif shouted, charging at him with a fierce battle cry.

Her blade glinted as she soared through the air, the first to strike.

*****

You can support me by joining my Patreon and get upto 60 Chapters in advance.

patreon.com/Eden_Translation