As Loki slowly opened his eyes, a trace of confusion flickered through them. Hadn't I been gravely wounded and knocked unconscious?
As he wondered, he turned to look beside him, only to find Tony's half-smiling face right in front of him.
"Tony!"
Clearly startled by Tony, Loki couldn't help crying out.
Once he recovered, Loki hurriedly got up from the ground and stood there in awkward silence.
"What, even the mighty God of Mischief gets embarrassed?"
"Weren't you pretty brave when you fought Zarathos earlier?"
Tony's teasing tone made Loki wish the ground would swallow him whole.
"You saw everything."
"I was watching the whole time. If you could take more of a beating, I'd have watched a little longer."
Tony made no attempt to hide the fact that he had arrived long ago.
"You knew you were no match for him, yet you still stubbornly held out. Have you lost your mind?"
Tony snorted, and Loki lowered his head under the reprimand.
He knew he had acted rashly this time. Without Tony backing him up, he probably really would have become a corpse by now.
Just as Tony was scolding Loki, the flames of life suddenly reappeared in the eye sockets of Zarathos, who had been lying lifeless a short distance away.
Seeing that neither Tony nor Loki had noticed him, he formed a seal with both hands, turned into a wisp of black smoke, and vanished.
The sudden movement instantly alerted Loki. His eyes widened. "Oh no, he's escaped! After him!"
With that, he was about to give chase, but before he could move, Tony's right hand landed on his shoulder and held him in place.
"Huh?"
Loki turned back to Tony in confusion, but Tony said unhurriedly, "I let him go on purpose. No need to chase