Loki's Thousand Brilliant Schemes

Loki was certain.

Fang Mo was deliberately targeting him.

Though he had no idea how Fang Mo had learned his true identity.

Yes, Loki himself was actually a Frost Giant. Of course, he had only learned this himself not long ago.

When Thor had rashly invaded Jotunheim, Loki had been struck by Frost Giant magic, causing his bloodline to reveal itself. Only then had Loki realized that he was not Odin's son at all, but a Frost Giant despised by everyone in Asgard.

He had not told Thor or any of his other friends. Instead, he had chosen to confront Odin directly.

But to Loki's surprise, Odin had truly become too old. After being berated by Loki a couple of times, he had actually fainted on the spot. Apparently, it was something called Odin Sleep, the kind he would not wake from anytime soon.

It was only after Odin collapsed before him that Loki realized he loved him too.

After all, Odin had truly raised him as his own son. Though Loki had indeed resented Odin for always favoring his brother Thor, he had never truly wanted to kill Odin.

But a kingdom could not go a day without a ruler.

With Odin fallen, Asgard had to quickly choose a regent God-King.

Thor was still in exile, so everyone naturally turned their attention to Loki. The others did not know he was a Frost Giant, and since he too was Odin's son, they saw no issue with him temporarily serving as God-King. And so, Loki naturally became Asgard's regent God-King.

But just because the others did not know did not mean Loki was not panicking.

He did not want his identity exposed.

Odin might not have cared about his identity, but Asgard did not belong to Odin alone. If the others discovered his identity someday, he might end up like a rat crossing the street, hated and hunted by all.

But Loki was, after all, the God of Lies and Mischief. Before long, he came up with a brilliant scheme.

As mentioned before, Thor's reckless attack on Jotunheim had destroyed the peace treaty. The Frost Giants were now about to wage war on Asgard, yet Odin had fallen at such a critical moment. Everyone was anxious and unsettled.

Loki decided to find a way to destroy all of Jotunheim and kill every Frost Giant in the world except himself.

As long as all the Frost Giants were dead, it would not matter even if his identity was discovered.

After all, would his actions not be enough to prove himself to Asgard? God-King Loki had even been willing to wipe out his own people to protect Asgard. That was the very definition of putting righteousness before family.

Then he would become Asgard's greatest hero. Surely no one would have anything to say about him then, right?

Of course, even if the plan failed, Loki could dump the blame on his brother, claiming everything had been caused by Thor's recklessness and impulsiveness, and that he had merely been trying to clean up Thor's mess.

Mm-hmm, what a brilliant scheme.

Thinking of this, Loki could not help admiring his own clever little brain.

Yet what he had not expected was this.

His plan had barely reached its first step when he encountered a tough nut like Fang Mo.

Loki simply could not understand why a strange person like Fang Mo had appeared in a place like Midgard. Was this not supposed to be the realm of mortals?

No matter how he looked at him, this guy did not seem like a mortal.

It was hard to say whether Fang Mo was even human.

"Who exactly are you?"

With a dark expression, Loki looked toward Fang Mo. "I am Asgard's God-King. Protecting the Nine Realms is my duty. You are not from Midgard at all. You... what are you?"

To bolster his own courage, Loki even drew Odin's weapon, Gungnir.

"Isn't Asgard's God-King Odin?"

Fang Mo asked cheerfully, "Since when did it become you?"

"Our father is dead."

At Fang Mo's words, Thor lowered his head in immense guilt. He explained on Loki's behalf, "It was all because of my foolish recklessness that things ended like this. By Mother's wishes, and everyone else's, I will remain exiled here forever as a criminal. Loki should rightfully become Asgard's new God-King..."

Yes, Thor was straightforward and simple by nature. Put bluntly, he was especially easy to fool.

And his younger brother was the God of Lies and Mischief, so even now Thor had not realized he had been deceived. He still believed Odin had truly died. Despite being in tremendous pain, he was even speaking well of his brother.

"Odin really died?"

Fang Mo stroked his chin and deliberately asked, "He's the great King of the Gods. Surely he did not just get so angry over his son that he died on the spot? Could there be some... hidden truth behind this?"

"Hm?"

Thor suddenly froze upon hearing that.

"For example, some vicious scheme devised by Frost Giants." Fang Mo smiled. "Because they feared the might of Odin, the Allfather, they deliberately used underhanded tricks... Perhaps Odin was too worried about you, and with Asgard's greatest warrior absent to protect him, he let his guard down and fell for it."

"What utter nonsense!"

Before Thor could respond, Loki suddenly could not help roaring from the side.

"...Loki?"

Thor looked at Loki in confusion, unable to understand why he had suddenly become so agitated.

Yes, Loki was truly panicking now. For some reason, he suddenly had a powerful intuition that Fang Mo really was targeting him. Especially when Fang Mo kept talking about a vicious scheme devised by Frost Giants—was he not practically pointing at Loki?

"Is our father's greatness something Frost Giants could so easily trample upon?"

Loki shouted, "He merely believed Thor was too impulsive and had thrown the Nine Realms into chaos. He was old and frail, yet overcome with anxiety, and that was why he collapsed!"

As he spoke, he forcefully struck the ground with Gungnir.

Mighty divine power formed a ring-shaped shockwave, shoving the mortals present several steps backward.

Of course, Fang Mo remained where he stood without even moving. After all, after swallowing an entire stack of Essence Berries, a single punch from him would probably make even Hulk think twice. How could a mere Loki possibly scare him?

"Brother, I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do about this."

After driving everyone back, Loki suddenly turned to Thor and said, "One of Jotunheim's conditions for a ceasefire is that you must be exiled forever."

"I..."

Thor's face filled with sorrow and self-reproach. "I'm sorry... Loki..."

Loki did not want to stay here for another minute. He had to hurry back and devise a way to deal with Fang Mo, or his entire plan would surely fall apart.

With that in mind, Loki bade Thor farewell.

"Brother, I have to go."

After saying that, Loki struck the floor with Gungnir. The Bifrost's energy pierced through the ceiling, and in the next instant, his figure vanished.