"Why did you even follow us up here?" Tony asked.
"It's dangerous."
Loki shrugged, eyes shifting away.
"Just here to watch the show."
"Who doesn't love a good spectacle?"
"Oh, you like watching?" Thor snapped, half-laughing in exasperation.
He grabbed a carefully selected chunk of roasted Chitauri mothership meat that Leon had just handed him—and promptly stuffed it into Loki's mouth.
"Then watch this!"
"Still enjoying yourself?"
Thor accepted another piece from Leon and glared menacingly.
Loki coughed, swallowing nausea.
"…Still… curious…" he muttered stubbornly.
Thor trembled with outrage.
Leon, wordless, continued supplying ammunition in the form of alien barbecue.
After Loki had thoroughly emptied his stomach and barely recovered—
Thor resumed interrogation.
"Loki. How are you alive? I saw Maw snap your neck. And Maw noticed nothing wrong."
Snap.
Loki flicked his fingers.
A vivid illusion materialized before them—the scene replaying exactly as it had occurred: Ebony Maw twisting Loki's neck.
Loki gestured smugly for Thor to touch it.
Thor reached out—
Solid.
He could feel the body.
Even the tension of muscle.
Thor frowned.
He swung Mjolnir down on the illusion's head.
Thud.
The sensation was disturbingly real.
Even the cry of pain.
Thor's eyes widened.
Until the "illusion" clutched two symmetrical swelling bumps on its forehead and yelped:
"Ow!"
"…Sorry," Thor muttered. "Thought you were the fake one."
Loki rolled his eyes so hard it was a wonder they didn't fall out. He was increasingly certain Thor had done that on purpose.
Thor tested again—
This time the hammer passed straight through, revealing the faint shimmer of green magic.
"How?" Thor asked, genuinely confused. "It felt real before."
Loki smiled faintly.
"The illusion remains an illusion. But I have refined a minor spell that deceives all five senses."
"Unless someone realizes from the outset that they are under illusion—like you did just now with brute force—"
"They will accept the altered reality as truth."
"They experience events as I rewrite them."
Leon immediately understood.
A fabricated reality layered over the real one.
Complete sensory manipulation.
In another universe, they'd call that Perfect Hypnosis.
Troublesome.
Fortunately—
Leon's Ultra Instinct would not be affected.
And Spider-Man's precognitive Spider-Sense likely wouldn't either—
A conclusion already proven in a certain London illusion showdown.
But for ordinary beings?
Distinguishing illusion from reality would be nearly impossible.
Thor could brute-force break it with area damage—
But you couldn't exactly level a city block every time you felt suspicious.
Leon nodded approvingly.
Now that's more like the future Sorcerer Supreme of the Nine Realms.
He conveniently ignored that he was technically the youngest here.
Tony glanced upward.
"Leon. You planning to stay in giant radioactive lizard mode?"
"Radioactive lizard?!"
Godzilla-Leon roared indignantly.
"This is an Atomic Dinosaur!"
The more he insisted, the more Tony, Thor, and Loki agreed silently that it looked like a massive lizard.
His voice boomed like constant thunder, radiation-heavy breath blasting outward.
"Leon," Tony said carefully, "maybe don't let Pepper see this form."
"Guys can appreciate it."
"Women tend to be… sensitive."
"And your 'breath' might accidentally sterilize a neighborhood."
"I'm doing it on purpose."
"…."
Tony went quiet for a long moment.
"Having you as my brother is a radioactive blessing."
"Mhm~"
Godzilla-Leon attempted to cross his arms proudly—
But his stubby forearms didn't quite reach.
He casually transitioned the motion into rubbing his belly as if nothing had happened.
He briefly considered lengthening them using Super Self-Regeneration.
But decided against it.
One: respect the classic silhouette.
Two: imagine someone underestimating him for short arms in battle.
The thought delighted him.
A sudden suplex.
Rear naked choke.
Have you ever seen a Godzilla that knows grappling?
Exactly.
"Alright," Tony said. "Let's head home."
"…We have about two and a half hours," Leon replied. "Bastet won't reopen the portal until then."
He tilted his massive head.
"Hop on."
His stubby claw gestured toward his back.
He didn't offer rides to just anyone.
But these were his brothers.
Tony. Thor. Loki.
None of them even pretended to refuse.
Riding a dragon in space?
That's mandatory.
"Holy hell," Tony muttered. "Leon, you're enormous."
Thor gripped one of Leon's dorsal spines, exhilarated.
"Only Surtur or perhaps a cosmic beast of legend would rival this size!"
"Surtur?"
"Garbage."
"One Atomic Breath and he's barbecue."
Godzilla-Leon roared proudly, cruising lazily through debris fields in open space.
Suddenly—
[System Prompt: Would you like to complete today's Daily Sign-In?]
System sis, you want some Atomic Breath too?
[Ding! Daily Sign-In complete. Reward acquired: Unlimited Chitauri Barbecue.]
"…I take it back."
"I'm sorry, System sis."
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