Loki, God of Mischief

A year ago.

After Corvus Glaive completed the task Thanos had assigned him, he did not immediately return to report. Instead, he went off alone to search for new planets.

By chance, during his search, he encountered someone adrift in space—or rather, a god.

The other party claimed to be one of the Asgardian Gods, named Loki.

Hearing that name, Thanos became even more certain of where he was in the timeline.

This should have been after the events of Thor.

Back then, in order to seize the throne of Asgard, Loki had calculated that his adoptive father, Odin, was nearing his time of slumber.

So he deliberately provoked his dim-witted brother, Thor, into angering Odin, the Allfather.

And just as Loki had predicted, the enraged Odin stripped Thor of his divine power and banished him to Midgard—Blue Star.

Thus, Loki got his wish and became acting God Wong while Odin fell into his slumber.

But Loki was not satisfied with the word "acting."

Ambitious as he was, he had even sent War Machine, the Destroyer, to Blue Star to assassinate his own brother.

What Loki had not expected, however, was that it had all been his adoptive father's scheme.

Because even Loki himself did not know that he carried Frost Giant blood. No matter what he did, he could never inherit the throne of the Asgardians.

Just when Loki was about to succeed, Odin secretly restored Thor's divine power.

Thor then smashed the Destroyer and fought his way back to Asgard, while Loki fell into an unknown Wormhole.

The current point in the story was before the Avengers. Thanos had just discovered Loki and was about to have him bring the Mind Stone to Blue Star in preparation for invading it.

But now that he knew the story, he naturally would not follow its original course.

Who knew which Marvel Universe this was? What if it was the universe with that madman Ultron?

Would he send over the Mind Stone, let the other side create Ultron, and then get blasted away by a laser?

He was not that stupid.

Still, Loki could be put to use.

Just as Thanos lowered his head in thought, Proxima Midnight, who had been cultivating beside him, suddenly dropped to her knees.

"My lord, I can't go on."

Thanos shook his head and had Deep Blue shut down the gravity system.

Then, as he walked out, he said, "I'm going to see this Loki. Until you can adapt to a thousand times gravity, don't leave without my permission."

Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive immediately wore expressions as sour as bitter melons.

Though they were both renowned powerhouses in the universe, they did not dare disobey their lord's orders.

More than ten minutes later.

Thanos arrived at the place where Loki was being held. The first thing he saw was that long horned helmet.

At the moment, Loki was lying on the bed, reading a book he had obtained from who knew where.

But Thanos turned to look at another corner of the cell.

It appeared completely empty, with nothing there.

Yet in his senses, a mass of energy was gathering there.

As his gaze shifted toward it, the energy seemed to stop gathering and return to stillness, as if it had all been an illusion.

But Thanos knew it was no illusion.

A mocking smile appeared on his face.

Loki was known as the God of Mischief. Of course he would not obediently surrender.

The one on the bed should have been an illusion, while the real Loki had turned invisible and hidden in the corner, waiting to attack the moment someone entered.

From the shadows, Loki saw the Purple Big Guy outside the cell staring at him with a smile and immediately knew that his little scheme had been seen through.

He was straightforward about it. He directly dispelled the illusion and invisibility, revealing himself in full battle gear, then looked up at the massive figure before him.

He was not actually short. At one meter eighty, he was considered average height among the Asgardian Gods.

But Thanos was nearly two and a half meters tall, making him simply too enormous by comparison.

"Who are you?"

Thanos shut off the laser gate and walked inside.

Then, using his height advantage, he looked down at Loki and said calmly, "You may call me Thanos."

Seeing him look down on him like that, Loki felt a surge of anger. But his body was much more honest as he lowered his head and said respectfully, "So you are Lord Thanos. I have long heard of your great name."

Although Asgard followed a policy of isolation, news from the universe still made its way in.

Among it, Thanos's rise was undoubtedly the biggest news in the entire universe lately.

After all, he was the only one in the universe to implement population, resource, and reproduction laws, depriving people even of the freedom to reproduce.

He enforced what he called the most scientific and rational reproductive plan.

Anyone who had too many or too few children would face enormous fines, or even criminal punishment.

This system was precisely the method Thanos had devised to sustainably maintain the balance of the universe.

It was far better than his previous brute-force plan of wiping out half of all life in the universe.

But in the Marvel Universe, where freedom was valued more than life itself, such a system was regarded as heresy and avoided at all costs.

If not for his overwhelming strength, he would likely have been exterminated as a heretic long ago.

Thanos ignored Loki's superficial flattery and said teasingly, "Loki, known as the God of Mischief, Odin's third son—but actually a bastard with Frost Giant blood."

At the word "bastard," a cold gleam flashed through Loki's eyes, and he swung both hands forward.

In an instant, more than a dozen daggers shot out of thin air and flew toward Thanos at incredible speed.

His earlier flattery had only been meant to lower Thanos's guard.

He had been calculating all along how to escape.

But to his surprise, Thanos ignored the daggers and merely crossed his arms.

Seeing this, excitement began to rise in Loki's heart.

Among those dozen daggers was one of his divine weapons: the Godslayer Dagger.

Any weapon that could be called a divine weapon by the Asgardian Gods was naturally extraordinary in power.

He had killed countless powerful enemies with the Godslayer Dagger. This Purple Big Guy would surely be no exception.

The next moment, the sound of steel striking steel rang out.

Clang, clang, clang...

Then, a particularly crisp clang... suddenly sounded.

Loki's face instantly filled with disbelief.

Because the divine weapon he had placed such high hopes on had been deflected just like the other daggers.

Thanos seemed to notice that this dagger was different. He caught the falling Godslayer Dagger, examined it for a moment, then said mockingly, "You Asgardians really are rich, casually pulling out daggers made of Uru."

Although Uru was not as rare as Adamantium or Vibranium, it still ranked fourth in the Marvel Universe.

The Uru in this dagger alone could be exchanged for a small spacecraft in the Cosmic Alliance.

That alone showed the value and rarity of Uru.

Loki ignored Thanos's mockery and said with an ugly expression, "First, I'm not a bastard. Second, I am Odin's second son, not his third!"