Chapter 266 : Loki’s Incomprehensible Fear!

"The adopted son of the enemy, the eldest daughter who was sealed by her own father, and the eldest son who's all brawn and muscle."

"Wow, someone needs to make a drama about Odin's family—it's got all the drama and tension to be a hit," Tony said with a smirk, imagining what Odin must be thinking right now.

Odin's expression remained neutral as if Thor's comment didn't bother him at all. He kept watching the screen without reacting.

The scene continued to fast-forward. 

[Now it was the events on Sakaar, where Thor was bested by the Grandmaster's champion, Hulk, and later escaped back to Asgard, fully awakening his power. He then triggered Ragnarok to defeat Hela. 

Loki, who had a role in all this, seemed to be changing, too, as if he was on the verge of a transformation.

But then Thanos appeared.

Loki's destiny took a sudden and tragic turn. The scene played out with dramatic abruptness—the final image of Loki lying cold and lifeless on the blood-soaked deck of Thanos's ship. It felt like a tragic end to an unfinished story.

Loki exploded with anger and disbelief. "Is this my life?" he shouted. 

"If I could meet those Time Keepers, I'd ask them why," he muttered. "Why am I always the sidekick? Why do I have to be the stepping stone for someone else's success? Why does my death seem so... trivial?"]

Off-screen, Loki looked at the other version of himself with a steely resolve. This time, he would not follow the same tragic path. If he had to die, he would do it with a bang.

Of course, it would be even better if he could take a bite out of those so-called Time Keepers while he was at it.

["BOOM!" 

Just then, the door swung open, and a female officer entered with a smirk. She wasn't planning to use any weapons to discipline Loki—instead, she intended to teach him a lesson with her bare hands.

Despite being confined to a mortal body, Loki's combat instincts remained intact. 

He cunningly outmaneuvered the female officer by pretending to be weak, then quickly slipped the time collar around her neck. 

With the controller in hand, he clicked away, letting the officer experience the same discomfort she'd inflicted on him.

After he'd had enough, Loki tossed the controller aside and slumped to the ground, feeling dejected. This was when Mobius returned.

Loki finally agreed to cooperate, promising to help Mobius catch the time criminal who had been causing him so much trouble. He knew this might be his only shot at changing his fate.

"Why me?" Loki asked, bewildered.

Mobius shrugged. "Because the time criminal we're hunting is you."

Meanwhile, in Kamar Taj, Strange burst out laughing. "Of course it's Loki. He's always up to something, no matter the timeline."

However, the Ancient One shook her head. Strange, aware that her mastery of the Time Stone was far greater than his, waited for her to explain.

"Two Lokis appearing from the same timeline doesn't align with the natural order of time," she said. "Normally, when there's a disruption, the timeline corrects itself, preventing another Loki from emerging."

Most people wouldn't notice this anomaly, but the Ancient One saw it immediately.

Strange, being the genius he was, quickly grasped the implication. "So, there should only be a new Loki if the Time Variance Authority resets the timeline, right?"

Ancient One nodded with approval.

However, Strange was unsettled by this revelation. If this was the case, then who was the Loki that Mobius was chasing, and where did he come from?

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he blurted out, "Could it be the multiverse? Does the Time Variance Authority oversee all multiverses?"

The Ancient One shook her head. "I can't say for sure."

"Although the concept of the multiverse exists, it's not as simple as it seems," Ancient One remarked, her voice filled with uncertainty.

"You remember the video we watched, the one where the Six Infinity Stones seemed overly powerful? Both of us know the capabilities of the Infinity Stones. While they're strong, they're not supposed to be that overwhelmingly terrifying."

"Moreover," she continued, "in the video where Ultron destroyed the universe, we never saw Living Tribunal or the horrifying cosmic beings like the Beholder, which are some of the most frightening entities known in our universe."

The Ancient One took a deep breath and sighed with a hint of concern. "It's likely that there's something deeper, some secret hidden within these events," she mused. "Let's keep watching for now, without overthinking it."

Strange nodded, understanding that digging deeper could lead to unwanted consequences, perhaps even affecting his current reality.

The scene on the screen faded to black, and when it lit up again, it showed Loki and Mobius arriving in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1985. A Time Guard had been kidnapped by a rogue variant of Loki.

Due to the increasingly complex and unstable time branches, the Time Variance Authority (TVA) could only react to these incidents as they happened, without the ability to prevent them at the source.

At the scene, Loki's mischievous side quickly resurfaced, as he attempted to trick Mobius, spinning tales about the end of the universe in an effort to get Mobius to take him to see the Time-Keepers directly.

Mobius, initially patient, eventually saw through the ruse and, visibly frustrated, ordered Loki to rejoin the team. "Nice try, but I'm not falling for it this time," he muttered.

Thor, watching the scene unfold, couldn't help but laugh. "That's my brother for you," he said, shaking his head. Even in the midst of chaos, Loki's penchant for deception remained strong.

After returning to the TVA, Loki browsed through the archives, his eyes lighting up with excitement as he made a discovery. "I've found it! I know where he's hiding!" he exclaimed, rushing to tell Mobius.

Mobius, still annoyed by Loki's earlier deception, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Did you actually read all the files this time?"

Loki grinned, leaning back in his chair. "Nope," he replied with a smirk, "The answer isn't in the files. It's in the timeline!"

"Turns out that Loki, the trickster, has figured out how to stay hidden—in the midst of doomsday events."

Mobius raised an eyebrow. "In the chaos of an apocalypse, any changes to the timeline wouldn't matter because everything's about to get destroyed anyway. But doomsday? There are countless apocalyptic events throughout history—how do you plan to find him?"

Loki smirked and pointed at a file. "Ever heard of Ragnarok?"

Mobius nodded. "Sure, Ragnarok, the end of Asgard, where almost everyone gets wiped out. Oh, sorry, I forgot you're from there," he added without an ounce of remorse.

"Ragnarok!? Again and again!?" Thor shouted, his eyes widening as he turned to his father, Odin. Anger and confusion were etched into his expression.

Odin's response was uncharacteristically subdued, a flicker of worry crossing his eyes. He didn't offer any explanation; instead, he merely gave Thor a warning look, indicating that he didn't dare speak about it.

Thor, not one to back down, barked again, "Father!"

"Enough!" Odin shouted back, trying to regain his composure with a deep breath. "From this moment on, I want you to forget what you just heard. Say one more word about it, and you'll end up in the underground prison."

Loki, who had been standing nearby, lowered his head, hiding his shock. Unlike Thor, who often acted on impulse, Loki was more calculated. He noticed something beyond Odin's anger—there was a hint of fear in his father's eyes.

"Impossible," Loki thought. "Odin, the Allfather, the King of the Nine Realms, is afraid? What could frighten him so much that he wouldn't even discuss it?"

Even the Time Variance Authority (TVA) didn't push Odin like this. Loki felt a chill run down his spine—this moment was more terrifying than when he'd seen his own demise at the hands of Thanos.

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