BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The Destroyer's assaults hammered the desert floor, sending shockwaves rippling through the sand. Thor dodged and weaved, but without his powers, he was still just a man. A blast clipped him, sending him flying. He hit the ground hard, blood already staining his shirt.
"Loki! I won't let you have it this time!" Thor roared, staggering back to his feet. "I understand what it means to protect now! I'm taking the throne back—not for myself, but to keep my people safe from you!"
His words seemed to be the key.
Inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. crater base, Mjolnir—which had been immovable for days—suddenly woke up.
It vibrated violently, humming with ancient power. Then, with a deafening crack of thunder, it launched itself into the sky, tearing through the lab walls as it shrieked toward its master.
"Die!"
Loki screamed through the Destroyer, unleashing a full-power beam directly at Thor's chest.
CRACK-BOOM!
The beam met a wall of lightning.
In a blinding flash, Mjolnir slammed into Thor's hand. The divine energy surged through him, instantly healing his broken bones and knitting his flesh. Armor materialized over his mortal clothes, and the red cape unfurled in the wind.
The God of Thunder had returned.
Thor wasted no time. He swung the hammer, summoning a massive bolt of lightning that smashed into the Destroyer, staggering the metal giant.
But the Destroyer was Asgard's ultimate weapon. It wouldn't go down that easily. If it were fragile, Fury wouldn't be sweating bullets right now.
Remembering the video from the diary, Thor knew what to do. He spun Mjolnir, generating a localized tornado that lifted the Destroyer off the ground, carrying the fight into the sky.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The sky lit up with explosions. Every clash sent shockwaves rolling across the desert, forcing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to retreat further. The pressure was intense—some agents felt like their chests were being crushed just by watching.
Even Tony Stark had to snap his faceplate shut. The sonic booms were rattling his teeth.
"It should be fine," Fury shouted over the wind. "In the video, he wins this fight!"
"Yeah," Tony agreed, his sensors tracking the energy spikes. "Magic armor is tough, but Thor has the upper hand."
Tony still didn't understand the physics behind the Destroyer, but he knew one thing: he needed a suit that could fight on this level. The "Anti-Thor" armor wasn't just a paranoid idea anymore; it was a necessity. Earth needed its own heavy hitter.
Suddenly, the sky tore open.
A massive beam of rainbow light punched through the clouds, distorting space and time.
"The Bifrost!" Tony identified it immediately.
The Rainbow Bridge. Asgard's method of inter-realm travel.
"Reinforcements?" Tony's expression darkened. This wasn't in the video.
If Thor hadn't finished the Destroyer yet, and Asgard sent backup for Loki... things were about to get very, very bad.
But it wasn't a soldier that came through.
It was cold.
A wave of absolute, bone-shattering frost erupted from the Bifrost beam. It swept across the sky, freezing the air, the clouds, even the lightning itself.
Thor, mid-flight and focused on the Destroyer, never saw it coming.
The cold blast hit him dead center.
Instantly, the God of Thunder was encased in a block of mystical ice. His momentum died. He dropped from the sky like a stone.
CRASH!
The ice-block slammed into the desert floor, creating a massive crater.
"This..." Fury stared, stunned.
Everyone froze. This wasn't in the script. This wasn't in the diary.
Thor had been ambushed. And the attacker was none other than Loki.
Far away in Asgard, standing at the Bifrost observatory, Loki held the Casket of Ancient Winters in his hands.
He had used the Bifrost not to transport himself, but to beam the Casket's absolute zero freeze directly onto Thor.
A sniper shot from across the galaxy.
It was efficient. Brutal. And it ended the fight in a single second.
The Casket was the greatest weapon of the Frost Giants. Once Odin seized it, it had sat gathering dust in the Vault. Now, Loki had unleashed it.
As the Casket's power faded, the blue tint on Loki's skin began to recede. But he could still feel it—the dormant power in his blood reacting to the weapon.
It felt different from his magic. His magic was learned. This power... this was biological. It was raw, ancient, and terrifyingly strong.
It was the power of a Frost Giant King.
"So this is my true strength," Loki whispered, looking at his hands as they shifted back to pale Asgardian skin.
He hated it.
He hated looking like one of them. Like the monsters parents used to scare Asgardian children.
"I am not a monster," he hissed, his voice trembling with self-loathing. "I am the Second Prince of Asgard!"
He refused to accept his heritage. He refused to be Laufey's son.
After all, as Odin had told him, Laufey had abandoned him in a temple to die because he was too small. A runt.
If not for Odin, Loki would have been a frozen corpse a thousand years ago.
Why should he feel any loyalty to the Frost Giants? He hated them.
He hated that Odin lied to him, yes. He hated that Thor was favored, yes. But deep down? He still wanted to be an Asgardian. He still wanted to be Odin's son.
"I am not a monster," he repeated, smoothing his armor and regaining his composure. "I am Loki of Asgard."
But the lingering hum of the cold energy in his veins was intoxicating. For the first time in his life, he felt a power that could rival Thor's lightning.
If he embraced it... if he used this cursed blood... maybe he could finally step out of his brother's shadow.