At this moment, his lofty worldview came crashing down, his mental defenses crushed by the woman before him.
He had long since prepared himself to die in battle and no longer feared the arrival of death.
But this demon wouldn't let him die!
This torture of being unable to live yet unable to die became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
"Why... why don't you just kill me?!"
Loki looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Unohana Retsu, his voice as shrill as the howl of a wounded Beast.
"Kill me! You crazy woman!"
Facing Loki's broken questioning, Unohana Retsu only tilted her head slightly.
She lowered her eyes, looking at the god before her who was nearly in tears, a breathtakingly gentle smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Because you can still become stronger."
A hint of morbid pleasure laced Unohana Retsu's soft voice. "I can feel that you've been suppressing your potential. If I don't push you to the brink, how could you ever bring yourself to show your true fangs?"
Loki froze.
Indeed, it was just as she said.
After being imprisoned in this sea of blood, shedding the heavy and hypocritical burden of being a "god," and admitting he was nothing more than insignificant prey, his combat instincts and the speed of his mana circulation had instead reached a peak he had never experienced in his life.
From being fundamentally unable to block a single strike from Unohana Retsu, to...
Still unable to block it, but at least it wasn't as pathetic...
But what was the use of this?!
Loki looked despairingly at the black-haired woman in red before him.
He suddenly realized that this woman's strength and presence even seemed to vaguely surpass those of his adoptive father—the All-Father, Odin!
"How is this possible..."
Loki murmured to himself.
In his understanding, Odin was the insurmountable peak of the Universe.
But facing the woman before him, Loki felt the illusion of staring into an abyss; it was a pressure born for slaughter, transcending the boundaries of life and death, even more suffocating than the now-aged Odin.
At this moment, Loki completely gave up his last shred of illusion.
He no longer hoped that Heimdall could see this place, nor did he expect his nominal father to send down the Bifrost Bridge to save him.
Because he suddenly understood a very realistic truth—
Even if Odin really came, could the aging All-Father truly escape unscathed when facing such an unfathomable monster?
Would the All-Father risk his life for an insignificant "prey" like him who only caused trouble everywhere?
He wasn't worth it, and Odin wouldn't do it.
It was hard to imagine.
In this blood-colored purgatory, in just a dozen minutes, Loki's personality had been completely shattered and reshaped by Unohana Retsu.
It was as if he had become a different person.
This was a feat Odin hadn't achieved in a thousand years.
"I can only say she's worthy of being my mother," Su Modie remarked.
The arrogant god whose head was filled with schemes, who yearned to be king and gain his father's approval, was dead.
The one who survived was only one who recognized reality and wanted nothing more than to make his death honorable...
Prey.
Clang—
The Scepter, embedded with the Mind Stone, was tossed aside by Loki like a piece of trash into the ankle-deep sea of blood.
Loki straightened his back and stared up at the boundless blood-colored dome, as if trying to look through this deathmatch space, past the endless sea of stars, and directly at the lofty Golden Palace of Asgard. He suddenly threw his arms wide and let out a desperate, earth-shattering roar toward the sky.
"Odin! Father! Look at me!"
There was no longer any of his former elegance in this voice; only the blood-weeping wail of a torn soul remained.
It carried endless resentment and madness.
"I'm not inferior to Thor at all... I, Loki... am not inferior to anyone!!"
"And I fear no one!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Loki grabbed the green and gold robes he wore—robes that were originally magnificent and symbolized the glory of the Asgardian royal family.
Rip—!
With the sound of tearing fabric, those robes, which had long since been hacked to tatters by Unohana Retsu, were ripped to shreds by his own hands.
Then, he snatched the crown from his head—one of its golden horns already severed—and threw it into the churning blood.
That was his last shackle used to masquerade as a god. As the robes and crown fell away, an ancient seal that had been suppressed by Odin's divine power for thousands of years finally loosened under the dual influence of Unohana Retsu and Loki's extreme emotions.
With Loki at the center.
The surface of the surrounding viscous sea of blood actually began to freeze into a layer of pale frost at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The aura of extreme cold collided violently with the blood-qi of "Minazuki," erupting into vast clouds of white mist.
Under Unohana Retsu's slightly raised eyebrows and Su Modie's stunned gaze, Loki's appearance began to undergo a world-shaking transformation—his originally pale and delicate Asgardian skin rapidly peeled away.
In its place was a deep, coarse ghostly blue, like ten-thousand-year-old ice.
Complex and ancient Frost Giant totems spread and bulged across his cheeks, chest, and arms as if they were alive. His originally slender and well-proportioned physique expanded by a whole size, accompanied by the bone-chilling sound of his skeleton lengthening.
Most terrifying of all were his melancholic green eyes.
The green deep within his pupils was completely swallowed up, transforming in an instant into two eyes as crimson as blood.
Water vapor gathered frantically toward his forehead, finally condensing into two long horns of blood-ice with eerie, curved arcs!
Frost Giant Loki
Frost Giant, Son of Laufey.
At this moment, not a trace of an "Asgardian god" could be found on Loki.
He completely tore apart that mantle called divinity, shedding all disguises and lies to become a total outlier. Yet, it was precisely at this moment, under the pressure of a desperate situation, that he finally truly accepted the true lineage he had despised for thousands of years.
"That's it..."
Unohana Retsu murmured softly, the blood blade in her hand trembling uncontrollably with excitement. "Now you look the part."
Loki exhaled a cloud of white mist that seemed to freeze the air.
Yes, he was prey.
A pathetic monster who had been deceived by Asgardian lies for thousands of years and was now being toyed with at will in this sea of blood. But even as a monster destined for death, he would absolutely, positively never die humiliatingly like a coward again!
Crack, crack, crack...
The tooth-aching sound of freezing suddenly rang out within this suffocating space.
With Loki, now in his Frost Giant incarnation, at the center, the churning dark-red sea of blood beneath his feet actually began to freeze inch by inch at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Temperatures of absolute zero swept toward the nearby Unohana Retsu like a violent hurricane.
Frost spread along the surface of the blood, and crimson ice crystals bloomed one after another like ice flowers.
It was as if this deathmatch domain of "Minazuki" was truly being transformed into Jotunheim, where wind and snow raged all year round!
Loki leaned forward slightly, his blood-red eyes staring straight ahead.
He faced Unohana Retsu, who still wore a calm smile even while surrounded by extreme cold.
He no longer retreated in the slightest. Instead, he took heavy steps, crushing the blood-colored ice crystals on the ground as he walked toward her step by step.
Amidst the blizzard, his shriveled, coarse lips parted slightly, uttering a murmur that seemed to span a thousand years.
"For..."
"A Glorious Purpose."
Dialogue between Frost Giant Loki and Loki: "You have wandered too far, Asgardian from home."
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