บท 336: Chapter 336: Wrong Process, Right Outcome
"I object!" Volstagg, the stout member of the Warriors Three, fell silent for a moment upon hearing Loki's decree, but eventually, he couldn't hold back his anger and stood up. Looking at Loki firmly, he said, "Loki, remember, you were just Thor's sidekick. Even if Thor is not in Asgard right now, it doesn't mean you can keep the throne forever!"
"I appreciate your courage and your willingness to resist authority, but I hope you have the courage to continue doing so!" Loki replied with a smile, nodding at Volstagg then turning to the guards, "Take these four away. If they resist, treat it as a betrayal of Asgard. You know what to do, don't you?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The celestial palace guards approached. Regardless of their personal feelings, with Loki acting as Asgard's regent, his commands had to be obeyed.
"You!" Volstagg looked at the approaching guards, instinctively wanting to resist, as their mission had not been accomplished. However, he soon calmed down, fully aware of the guards' strength.
The Warriors Three were strong, considerably more so than the average Asgardian soldier, but they were not particularly advantaged against the palace guards. With only three of them against many, the odds were not in their favor.
More crucially, with Odin now in a deep sleep, Asgard was under Loki's rule. Any resistance could indeed be branded as rebellion, which would complicate Thor's potential return. Thus, Volstagg and his companions reluctantly turned and left, though not without plans to find a way to bring Thor back.
In the hearts of the Warriors Three and Sif, only Thor could truly be considered the king of Asgard. To them, Loki was merely a follower trailing behind Thor.
"Follower? Hmph!" Watching the Warriors Three and Sif leave, Loki's heart sneered, his eyes flickering with displeasure. He knew why Thor was more popular—it wasn't just because of his combative nature and rapport with many Asgardians, but importantly, Thor had wielded Mjolnir, the symbol of Asgard's heir.
Loki saw the initial gifting of Mjolnir to Thor as Odin's refusal to accept his true heritage. If Odin had truly disregarded his frost giant lineage, Mjolnir would not have been given so readily to Thor.
"Who says I can't be worthy of Mjolnir?" Loki thought, recalling Odin's act of casting out Mjolnir. It seemed to him that depriving Thor of Mjolnir was meant to make the hammer available for himself, but instead, it was thrown to Earth—a mere pretense to mitigate Thor's punishment.
Indeed, Asgard had not seen a real war in ages, or more accurately, a war that threatened the entire realm. Previous conflicts were minor—mere child's play for Thor.
The near-war with the frost giants was something most Asgardians found unacceptable, regardless of their fondness for Thor. Odin's actions seemed more like an attempt to cleanse Thor's errors, just for show to the Asgardian public.
Loki was conflicted. He struggled with accepting his identity as Odin's son and as a frost giant, yet he still harbored dreams of ruling Asgard, or else he wouldn't be sitting on the throne.
"If I could lift Mjolnir, who could then deny my right to rule Asgard? Even if I am just a frost giant..." This thought flickered through Loki's mind, his figure shivering slightly before regaining composure.
Meanwhile, on Earth, in a Hydra base, Thor, who had been injected with the super-soldier serum and brainwashed, was training much harder than he had in Asgard. His opponents were animal warriors.
Thor, like Ah Fu, was an outlier among those who had only received the super-soldier serum, stronger than typical animal warriors, some of whom had undergone secondary experiments but still didn't match Ah Fu's power.
For Thor, newly successful with the serum, these animal warriors posed a great challenge, especially as his strength began to return. Despite his brainwashing, his body instinctively fought in his old style.
This method was effective against those not enhanced by the super-soldier stage, their styles surprisingly similar, even more bestial.
Facing such enemies was all too familiar for Thor. Although different in strength, he had encountered many similar foes across the realms, and his body instinctively knew how to respond.
Unfortunately, when facing the top-tier animal warriors evolved from super-soldiers, Thor's tactics were flawed, leading him to suffer.
However, now also a super-soldier, Thor was learning quickly. Each day, his combat skills reached new heights, his mastery of his own strength swiftly increasing...
"What's going on? Is that Thor?" At that moment, Loki, cloaked in invisibility, watched Thor engaged in battle with disbelief. Loki, who had grown up with Thor and lived with him for centuries, had never seen Thor employ such advanced tactics in combat. Thor's approach had always been straightforward; if brute force could suffice, his brain wouldn't bother with strategy.
But now, Thor was different. He was adapting, setting traps for his enemies and striking them down decisively when they fell for his ploys.
Watching Thor, whose combat style had drastically changed, Loki felt a twinge of confusion. He couldn't understand what Thor had gone through. If it weren't for the familiarity that years of companionship bred, Loki might even suspect that the man before him, devoid of divine power and without Mjolnir, was just a lookalike of Thor.
"Wait, if Thor has lost his divine power, why is his body still so strong?" Loki pondered as he observed Thor's performance, his mind racing with possibilities. Could this be some trick of Odin's?
But soon, Loki noticed a lab where a physically fit man entered an experimental chamber. When the man emerged, his physique had transformed, becoming almost perfect, and in Loki's eyes, he seemed as strong as an average Asgardian, though he was originally just a weak human.
"Is this why Thor's body is so strong now?" Seeing the transformation of the man, Loki began to understand. He frowned, uncertain whether Odin had a hand in this change, considering how much more powerful Thor seemed compared to the transformed man.
"Why not just ask him? I can't believe that Thor's fighting style has changed and his brain has become sharper." After much contemplation without reaching a conclusion, Loki decided to confront Thor directly, not believing that Thor could really keep such changes hidden from him.
"Thor, long time no see..." Loki soon approached Thor after his battle, speaking softly.
"Huh? Who are you?" Thor paused when he saw Loki, sensing something familiar but unable to remember Loki due to the brainwashing. He only knew he must have been very familiar with Loki at some point.
"You don't recognize me?" Loki had imagined many scenarios for their reunion but never this one. He stared at Thor, feeling unexpectedly choked up.
"I think I should know you; you seem like someone important in my life, but I can't remember you..." Thor slowly shook his head, his gaze flickering as he suddenly asked, "Could it be, are you my friend from the divine realms? Have you come to visit me? What kind of god are you?"
"Divine realms? Friend?" Loki repeated Thor's words, puzzled. Asgard could indeed be called a divine realm, but hearing such words from Thor felt odd, as Loki suspected that Thor wasn't referring to Asgard.
"Could I be mistaken then?" Seeing Loki's reaction, Thor looked disappointed and then became alert. He glanced around, noticing people looking at him strangely but not at Loki, which made Thor more suspicious. "Wait! If you're not a god, then who are you? How did you get in here?"
"Thor, what have you been through? Why have you lost your memory?" Loki approached Thor slowly, reaching out to check on him.
"Get away!" Thor reacted sharply, his pupils dilating as he shouted and threw a punch at Loki.
"Whoosh!" Thor's punch passed right through Loki, hitting nothing but air. Regaining his composure, Thor stared at Loki, demanding, "Who exactly are you? What are you doing here?"
"Thor? What happened?" McCarthy, alerted by others, looked at Thor cautiously and asked, "Are you having memory issues again?"
"Loki! I'm Loki! Don't you remember me? I'm your brother!" Before Thor could respond to McCarthy, Loki shouted urgently, unable to accept that Thor had truly forgotten him. Though Loki didn't understand why he felt so distressed about Thor's memory loss, which should have been advantageous to him.
"Loki? That name sounds familiar. Who is Loki?" Thor murmured, still trying to grasp his memories.
"Loki? You've seen Loki? Is it a hallucination?" McCarthy looked around, saw nothing unusual, and concluded that the brainwashed Thor might be experiencing delusions. To stabilize Thor, McCarthy explained, "Loki is your father's brother, the god of lies and trickery in Norse mythology. He conspired with the tyrant Odin to deceive you, causing you to transgress the divine laws and be exiled to Earth. This is what you told us before we rescued you. Have you forgotten? Are the gods sealing your memories?"
"Loki?" Thor seemed to recall Loki's deceit, his eyes blazing with anger as he stared in Loki's direction, "So it was you who got me exiled! I will kill you!"
Seeing Thor lunge at him again, fists raised, Loki was taken aback and confused, not understanding what the humans were
talking about. The idea that these humans could mess up his relationship with Odin was one thing, but how did they come to reveal the truth about his causing Thor's exile?
What was this divine law? Although Odin's image had recently crumbled in Loki's view, he was not a tyrant, was he? And since when did Odin seal memories instead of just divine power?
Caught off-guard by the revelation of his betrayal and Thor's wrathful demeanor, Loki felt overwhelmed and found no chance to consider whether McCarthy's words were just lies meant to deceive Thor.
"Better hide for now!" Faced with the relentless pursuit from Thor, a bewildered and somewhat remorseful Loki chose to temporarily retreat, vanishing from sight.
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