God Loki

Luca instinctively looked up.

Only then did he realize that the entire world seemed to have been put on pause.

The panicked expressions on people's faces were frozen in place.

The flames that had been dancing moments ago now looked like clumsy flat special effects. The water pouring from the fire trucks hung motionless in the air, each sparkling droplet clearly visible.

And in this utterly motionless world, there was only one person moving: smiling, he walked slowly toward Luca.

The newcomer's footsteps, tap, tap, sounded jarringly out of place in this frozen world.

Luca swallowed instinctively, a bead of sweat sliding down from his temple.

He tried to say something, but found that he could barely make a sound.

"Hmm~ I don't think you really need to use that toy, do you?"

The newcomer gestured toward the Monkey Bomb in Luca's hand, his tone gentle. As he spoke, he seemed to carry a hint of playful irreverence.

But despite the other man's apparent friendliness, Luca didn't dare let his guard down.

He gently lowered the Monkey Bomb and rubbed his brow, feeling a headache coming on.

Then he uttered a name.

"God of Stories! Loki!"

Yes. The Loki standing before him was wearing nothing more than the green Asgardian armor from the first Avengers movie. His hair was even a little messy, and his clothes were covered in dust. By all appearances, he looked rather disheveled.

But judging by how he had stopped time throughout the entire world, this Loki had undoubtedly taken that final step and become the "God of Stories Loki," ruler of every timeline in the MCU—or, simply, "God Loki"!

It was almost laughable. Luca had risked so much to make his way to Stark Tower, all to stop Loki from taking the Tesseract and entering the Time Variance Authority.

He had wanted to ensure that the timeline he was in wouldn't be affected and destroyed.

Yet the person standing before him now had already reached his final form, after completing both seasons of Loki.

Loki didn't seem to notice Luca's complicated feelings. Or perhaps he did, but simply didn't care.

He still smiled and spread his hands, looking rather intrigued.

"God of Stories? Not a bad title~ So that's what people in your world call me?"

At those words, Luca's emotions—which had only just begun to settle—were thrown into turmoil again.

The simple phrase "your world" had exposed Luca's status as an outsider.

But after thinking it over, Luca figured that God Loki was practically at the pinnacle of the Marvel Universe.

Knowing where Luca came from didn't seem all that surprising.

"Surprised? Someone like you isn't exactly unique~"

"Let me think~ There was a girl named Gwenpool in another world who was just like you. She came from the real world, too~"

"..."

This time, Luca was too stunned to even react.

Good grief. Loki didn't just know he was from another world; he even used a term like "the real world."

Still, Luca had never heard of the "Gwenpool" God Loki had mentioned.

"She's called Gwen, so it doesn't sound like she came from the same place as me."

Luca was already feeling numb. After a brief hesitation, he stopped dwelling on Loki's "omniscience" and asked him outright instead.

"So... you know that the world you're in is... is a..."

Luca didn't know how to put it.

Should he just tell him he was a character in a movie? That his real name was "Tom Hiddleston," and his nickname was "Hiddles"?

But what if Loki understood it differently? If Luca said too much, he might anger a being who was nearly omniscient and omnipotent.

Yet God Loki didn't seem to care at all. Instead, he replied calmly.

"You mean a TV show? Yes, yes~ I know."

Loki pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow, speaking casually.

"Don't worry too much about it. The way the world works isn't as simple as you imagine~"

"Maybe you can think of the real world I'm talking about as, hmm~ a universe where superpowers are turned into movies and TV shows?"

"If there's a Zombie Universe, a Spider-Verse, and even a flat, two-dimensional universe, then why should it be hard to understand that there's a world with no supernatural powers at all, where all of this is just entertainment?"

"Or how can you be sure that the real world you believe in isn't a movie or novel to people in other worlds?"

Looking at Loki, who spoke so casually about all this, Luca found himself at a loss for words.

This was the sort of thing that had reached the level of philosophy. Luca couldn't make heads or tails of it himself, let alone discuss it with a god who held the timelines of countless parallel universes in his hands.

But he had caught the main point of what Loki had said, and immediately pressed him further.

"If you know about the real world, then could you..."

Luca suddenly faltered.

He had wanted to ask whether Loki could send him back to the universe he originally came from.

But halfway through the question, Luca realized that there wasn't much left for him in his old world anyway.

Rather than return to the world he had once known, he could have an incredible adventure here. Even if he had to face all kinds of dangers, or even die on the road, it didn't seem like such a bad thing.

Loki seemed to understand what Luca meant and simply replied, "I can't."

"Truthfully, even now, I'm still far from omniscient and omnipotent. My abilities still have limits. What you're hoping for is something I can't do—not yet, at least."

Hearing this, Luca only nodded calmly.

For a moment, he couldn't tell whether he felt disappointed or relieved.

But another question came to mind.

"If you're not here to drive me out of this world, then why did you come?"

When Luca asked again, God Loki didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned to look at the ground-floor lobby of Stark Tower.

There, in the frozen world, another Loki stood motionless like a statue, handcuffed.

For some reason, Luca thought he saw a faint trace of... envy in God Loki's eyes.

"Someone asked me to give you a chance to choose~"

"Also, I'm supposed to give you... um, an identity verification? Something like that~"

God Loki quickly turned back to Luca. The strange look in his eyes disappeared, as if it had never been there at all, replaced by the playful smile he'd worn before.

But the words he spoke left Luca rooted to the spot.

"Huh? Someone can ask you for favors? And... what chance? What identity?? Boss, what are you talking about?"