"No, I don't think you're sincere in saying that," Female Loki had a knowing look, "I think you're terrified."
"No, Time Variants, you're just a colossal disappointment," Time Keeper A gave the order, "Erase them."
"No, I haven't finished yet!" Female Loki was about to rush forward, but Judge Renslayer pressed a button on her remote control, and her body returned to its original position.
Boom!
Just then, the large door behind them opened, and a woman dressed in pitch black walked in.
This woman was familiar to everyone. She used to be a loyal subordinate of the Time Keepers and was the one who captured Loki and brought him to the TVA.
However, it seemed she had changed sides. Holding a remote control, she pressed a button, and with a series of clicks, the collars around Loki and Female Loki's necks instantly released.
Then, she handed a knife to Female Loki.
Without the collars controlling them, neither Loki nor Female Loki would stay put. They immediately engaged in battle with the Time Keeper's subordinates.
The reason these people could subdue Loki was solely due to the collars around his neck. Now that the collars were gone, they stood no chance. In a matter of moments, they were either dead or unconscious, lying on the ground.
"You're also a child of the Time Keepers, Sylvie. We can talk," Time Keeper A saw the situation deteriorating and attempted to negotiate with Female Loki, his tone less imposing, now open to discussion.
"Is that so?" Sylvie didn't beat around the bush. She threw the knife in her hand, and with one swing, she beheaded Time Keeper A. The head rolled to Loki's feet with a clatter.
At that moment, Loki shockingly realized that the head was connected to various wires at the neck.
Turns out, those three Time Keepers were actually three mechanical puppets!
They were fakes!
"Unconscious machines," Sylvie picked up the head and exposed the truth behind the Time Keepers.
"It never sleeps," Loki looked at the head, and after a pause, he asked a crucial question, "So, who created the TVA?"
"I thought this was the end!" Sylvie angrily threw the machine head to the ground.
Both of their attentions were focused on the revelation that the Time Keepers were machines, so they didn't notice that Judge Renslayer, who had been knocked down, had gotten back up.
This woman had no sense of honor; she attacked from behind. She sliced Loki's back with a single blow, turning the handsome young man into nothingness right in front of Sylvie's eyes.
Video paused here, and the question appeared.
[After being pruned, Loki arrives at the end of time's void. There, he sees other versions of himself. Which version of Loki does he not see?]
[A Young Loki]
[B Bald Loki]
[C Horse-Face Loki]
[D Crocodile Loki]
[Answer this question correctly and receive a Quantum Body, deduct one year from your lifespan.]
"So, does the meaning of this question imply that even if the Time Keeper's lackeys prune us, death is not the end, but rather a transition to another place?" Loki said after reading the question, "So, what's the point of pruning?"
"What?" Thor asked, "It seems like you're not satisfied with not dying? Do you actually prefer to die after being pruned?"
"Though I've died many times, those were all fake. I haven't had my fill of life yet," Loki pointed to the words "end of time's void" in the question and asked, "Thor, what is this place? Have you heard of it?"
"I've never even heard of the TVA, so how would I know about this void?" Thor said.
"It doesn't matter where it is. As long as we know that being pruned takes us to that place," Tony Stark chimed in, "But besides the gorgeous Female Loki, there are so many strange Lokis. I never would have thought."
"Bald Loki?" Scott Lang looked at Loki's luscious hair and said, "Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what Bald Loki looks like."
"Don't stare at me like that; you'll never see me bald!" Loki retorted in an annoyed tone, "My hair is just fine."
"You'll never see it?" Scott Lang chuckled, "Why do I feel like I'll see it in the video soon?"
"Such a Loki will never exist!" Loki corrected, "And besides, the question isn't about Bald Loki; it's about Bald Loki. Bald!"
"Aren't they the same thing? What's the difference between bald and no hair?" Scott Lang said.
"Of course, there's a difference," Thor chimed in before Loki could speak, his flowing locks a match to Loki's own hair. "Although both represent the absence of hair, being bald is a choice. It means the person had hair but chose to shave it off. On the other hand, being bald involuntarily means the person wanted to keep their hair but lost it all and ended up bald."
"One is a choice, the other is a circumstance. Thor, it's quite impressive to hear such logical words from your mouth," Loki complimented Thor with a glance, "Well said, it resonates with me!"
"Indeed, don't you see how my flowing hair is?" Thor laughed heartily, "You have to reach a certain level of hair quality to understand these things. Those guys with short hair will never get it."
"Alright, Thor, even if you have great hair, it doesn't change the fact that you were tied to a chair and had your hair cut off, then got slammed by the Hulk," Tony Stark couldn't bear Thor's smugness and revealed Thor's vulnerability without mercy.
"That wicked old man! He dared to touch my hair, and why did I have to fight in the arena and get my hair cut?" Thor, who was full of enthusiasm, turned solemn when recalling his tragic experience, "But that won't happen again. I won't end up on Sakaar."
"With all this talk about hair, do you guys really think the answer is B, no Bald Loki?" Scott Lang asked.
"No, I'm just saying that this handsome face of mine won't be bald," Loki wasn't foolish enough to make such a choice, "Just like Female Loki looking completely different from me, maybe Bald Loki looks totally different from me too. The only thing they have in common is the name Loki."
"Young Loki and Bald Loki, these two are the most probable. There's no suspense there. The answer won't be in those two choices," Steve Rogers said, "Horse-Face Loki and Crocodile Loki, those options are quite absurd."
"Horse-Face Loki, are you saying there's a version of me with a horse face?" Loki touched his own face and imagined what it would look like with a horse face, "That Loki must be quite hideous, and I doubt he has my luscious hair."
"This Loki simply has a horse-like face. But option four has Loki as a crocodile!" Natasha Romanoff stated, "While there are countless parallel worlds with countless Lokis, a crocodile Loki is still Loki. It's quite ridiculous."
"Ridiculous or not, it's just how we feel," Bruce Banner provided a more rational perspective, "We don't have any solid reason to rule out any option. Feelings are quite unreliable. In fact, our concepts of what's absurd have been challenged many times. Before Loki appeared, you told me gods were real, which I found absurd. Before the Chitauri arrived, you told me aliens existed, which I found absurd. Before I knew about Thanos, you told me snapping your fingers could wipe out billions of lives, that sounded utterly absurd!"
"So, our feeling of absurdity might be due to a lack of information?" Clint Barton suggested.
"But clearly, we can't acquire relevant information, so we're left with feelings to guide us," Loki glanced over the four options, "Remember the magic trick with choosing the most unlikely answer? He listened to me and chose the least likely bug, and it was right. Now, I'm going to try it again. Among the four options, the most normal-looking one is Young Loki. It's the least likely, but I'm going to pick it. I choose A!"
[Answer Incorrect! Deduct one year from your lifespan!]
He got it wrong.
"Looks like luck only strikes once," Loki felt quite frustrated, "The same idea, why did that trickster get it right while I got it wrong?"
"Because I have better luck than you," Stephen Strange stated without a hint of shame.
"That kind of choosing the most unlikely option is inherently low in probability. Stephen getting it right was already a stroke of luck; do you really expect lightning to strike twice?" Tony Stark looked at Thor disdainfully, "It just proves you're foolish! You deserved that wrong answer!"
"Tin Man, if you're so smart, you choose," Loki huffed, "I want to see if you can get it right."
"Setting aside the dumb approach of choosing the least likely, among the four options, it's quite clear that Young Loki and Bald Loki have the highest probability," Tony Stark said without hesitation, "It's not Horse-Face Loki, so it must be Crocodile Loki."
"Don't 'must be' me; just give a certain answer," Loki said, "So, which one do you choose?"
"If I have to choose, I'll go with Crocodile Loki," Tony Stark said, "Statistically speaking, Crocodile Loki is the least likely."
"I can't wait to see you proven wrong," Loki said.
Loki didn't have to wait long for that, because the video soon showed the image of Crocodile Loki.
The scene began with Loki waking up in what looked like a desolate wasteland.
"Is this hell? Am I dead?" Loki felt thoroughly perplexed. He distinctly remembered being pruned.
"Not yet," someone answered him.
Startled, Loki quickly got up from the ground and saw three figures in front of him: a young Loki, a Bald Loki, and a figure draped in a cloak, somewhat resembling a circus performer.
"Where is this place? Where are we? Who are you?" Loki was full of confusion, bombarding them with a barrage of questions.
"This is the Void, and that's Alligator Loki," the cloaked figure pointed to the massive smoke monster blotting out the sky, "We're about to become its lunch. Move quickly."
Even though Loki didn't know what Alligator Loki was, he could tell from its menacing appearance that it was not something to be trifled with. Without a second thought, he followed the others and fled.
"Let's catch our breath for a moment," after running for a while, Loki said breathlessly, "That way, I can ask you a thousand questions."
"We have to keep moving, or we'll die," the cloaked figure kept walking, paying no attention to Loki's plea.
"I support that," Loki said as he walked, "but what's the plan?"
"Not dying," the cloaked figure replied.
"I get that, but aside from not dying?" Loki inquired.
"Not dying," the cloaked figure repeated in the same succinct and meaningless manner.
"That's not a plan, that's just a general requirement for staying alive," Loki corrected, "If you are Lokis, you should have…"
As it turned out, all the people who appeared here, whether the young Loki, the Bald Loki, or the cloaked older Loki, were all Lokis.
However, no one paid any attention to Loki as they continued to move forward.
"Could someone please explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Loki couldn't hold back any longer and stopped in his tracks, shouting, "Listen, these past few days, or was it months? I don't even know how long it's been since New York. I only know I got pruned and woke up here. Now I'm surrounded by my own variants and an alligator. It breaks my heart to say this, but I don't even find any of this strange. Now we're running away from that thing, and I have no idea where we're headed. What I should be doing is finding a way back to the TVA…"
"Stop shouting; you'll attract the attention of Alioth," Young Loki interjected and silenced Loki with a swift sword movement.
"Are you talking about that monster in the sky?" Loki asked.
With a shake of his hand, Young Loki's sword disappeared, and he pulled Loki to his feet.
"Thanks," Loki muttered.
"The TVA dumps its trash here, everything they prune," Young Loki explained to Loki, "And Alioth, its purpose is to erase everything beyond retrieval."
"It's like a living storm, consuming matter and energy," Bald Loki added, "They sent an entire branching reality here, and it got devoured in an instant."
"We're in the shark tank, and Alioth is the shark," Cloaked Loki provided a vivid analogy.
As soon as he finished speaking, the alligator on the ground opened its mouth and let out a sound.
"There's no such thing as a shark tank, and besides, this analogy works better," Cloaked Loki understood the meaning of the alligator's sound and bent down to converse with it, then explained to Loki, "He's just as hypersensitive as we are."
"Wait a minute, are you saying that thing is Loki too?" Loki pointed incredulously at the alligator on the ground.
He had seen the alligator for a while, but he thought it was a pet owned by someone. He never imagined it was also a Loki!
"Yes," Cloaked Loki affirmed.
"Alright, I'll take that in," Loki said, "So why are there so many Lokis?"
"Because Loki always manages to survive, that's our common trait," Cloaked Loki explained.
"Fine, so how do we escape?" Loki asked.
"We don't escape; we were all captured and pruned by the TVA, just like you," Cloaked Loki said, "We all used to stand around and make futile plans, just like you."
"But we have access to a TempPad," Loki pointed out.
*Vote Stones Plz*
You can read to 150+ chapter on my P@treon page for just 4$ !!
P@treon.com/young_sunlight
Collection/Tag is : MAFEM
[END OF CHAPTER]