As the Prince of Asgard, Thor had seen countless rare treasures and could be considered highly knowledgeable.
But he had never seen the magic on this particular scepter before.
"The energy contained within this scepter is extremely weak, yet its material and energy are real."
"It's almost as if... the scepter's energy has been entirely depleted?"
Hearing this, before the other Avengers could even raise a question, Loki laughed.
"If you knew the true origins of the scepter, you wouldn't say something so idiotic."
As an elite agent, Natasha's instinct for extracting information was always active. She exaggerated on purpose, "Could the true purpose of this scepter be to destroy planets?"
Loki shot Natasha a contemptuous look. "Your acting is far too clumsy. You might fool me once, but you won't fool me a second time."
"But since you are all so curious, I can tell you directly. Embedded at the tip of the scepter is an Infinity Stone!"
"An Infinity Stone?" everyone asked in unison.
Tony Stark joked, "Thank you for the science lesson, Bambi. Good to know stones are divided into finite and infinite?"
"Does that mean they also come in rational and irrational numbers?"
Thor, however, looked grave. After recalling some memories, he said, "I remember during a battle two hundred years ago, I heard the name 'Infinity Stones' from a Frost Giant leader."
"Later, I specifically went to ask Father and Mother about it, but they were deeply secretive regarding the Infinity Stones."
Thor's words forced everyone to take this so-called Infinity Stone seriously.
Clint thought for a moment and said, "We don't need to worry about the Infinity Stones right now. If we want to verify whether the scepter is real or fake."
"We just need to try using it. If it can fire an energy blast, it's real. If it can't..."
Clint didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.
Consequently, everyone turned their gaze to Thor, gesturing for him to try using the scepter.
Thor aimed the tip of the scepter at the sky and channeled his divine power into it.
The result—
The scepter seemed unable to withstand the infusion of divine power. The entire thing shattered with a series of cracks, turning into fragments of ordinary rock that scattered across the floor.
Seeing this, everyone instantly realized that Loki had been right.
Tony Stark couldn't help but curse out loud.
"Shit! Who stole the scepter?"
Loki wore an expression that said 'I told you so', looking around at the group arrogantly.
"As Asgard's most powerful sorcerer, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there were magical fluctuations on the roof just now."
"Clearly, a wizard of unknown origins has played you all for fools!"
"Who is he? Tell me, Loki!" Thor grabbed his brother by the collar of his armor, demanding sternly.
"I don't know. Either way, I'm not the one who got played. Unless you let me go, perhaps I could take you to find him..."
"Enough!" Thor didn't trust the deceitful Loki in the slightest. He pulled a metal muzzle from his belt and gagged his brother's mouth.
Afterwards, he looked at the group and said, "Loki's words cannot be trusted. We need to find another way to retrieve the scepter!"
"Guys, we could actually request the surveillance footage from S.H.I.E.L.D.," Clint suggested.
"After an unprecedented alien invasion like this broke out, I refuse to believe the agency didn't have this area under strict surveillance."
Clint's suggestion met with everyone's approval.
However, when Natasha requested the surveillance footage from S.H.I.E.L.D.
And everyone reviewed the monitoring data from the space satellites and the public cameras near Stark Tower.
They all fell silent.
The public cameras hadn't captured a single thing.
And the thermal imaging analysis data from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s space satellites only faintly revealed a humanoid biological signature.
Starting at 1:20 PM, within just a few short minutes, it flew all the way from Midtown Manhattan to the roof of Stark Tower.
After pausing for about a minute, it flew off again.
And after flying two hundred meters away, the heat signature suddenly vanished.
"It's only visible on thermal imaging, but the high-resolution optical cameras from space can't see this person's existence at all."
"So... this sorcerer can turn invisible?" Tony Stark stroked his goatee, making a guess.
Natasha asked Thor, "Did you know there were sorcerers on Earth?"
Thor shook his head. "I never frequented Asgard's library. Aside from basic common knowledge, my understanding of Midgard isn't very extensive."
"No wonder you turned out to be such a meathead," Tony Stark curled his lip, whispering a sarcastic remark.
With his sharp hearing, Thor caught Tony's mockery and, ignorant of the context, asked foolishly: "Meathead? Is that some sort of title for a warrior? I like that title!"
Tony gave the big oaf a speechless look.
Natasha suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.
"I know what happened! Before you guys got up here, I noticed something seemed wrong...
"Thinking about it carefully now, it felt like my brain short-circuited at that moment, and even my memory got jumbled."
"At first I thought it was because of the concussion, but now I understand. Someone altered my memory!"
Tony Stark's brows knitted tightly together. "So, this sorcerer can also alter people's memories?"
Everyone felt that dealing with such a mysterious sorcerer equipped with so many strange abilities was going to be extremely troublesome.
At that moment, Nick Fury's voice crackled over Natasha's earpiece.
[Attention, that humanoid heat signature has reappeared!]
"Hey, it seems S.H.I.E.L.D. has located the sorcerer's trail,"
Natasha relayed Nick Fury's warning.
Tony Stark immediately took the real-time satellite surveillance feed sent over by S.H.I.E.L.D. and projected it in front of everyone via holograph.
"The unknown heat signature is right in the West Side of Midtown Manhattan. Looks like we found our mysterious thief." Tony Stark was itching to move, wanting to set off immediately to catch him.
Watching the holographic image, where the humanoid heat signature was flying southwest at 150 miles per hour...
Clint looked a bit puzzled.
"His flight speed isn't exactly fast. Didn't the Director send Quinjets to intercept him?"
Natasha shook her head. "He did, but the pilots reported back."
"Whenever they got close to the heat signature, they would suddenly remember some urgent matter, subconsciously ignore the intercept target, and immediately return to base."
"What kind of bizarre magic is this now? Do all sorcerers have these kinds of miraculous abilities? Then why is little Bambi over here so weak?"
As Tony Stark spoke, he cast a highly skeptical look at Loki.
As if to say: You're both sorcerers, so how come you're so utterly useless? And aside from illusions that look like cheap parlor tricks, we haven't seen you use any other magic at all!
Being looked down upon by the Midgardians he had always despised the most, Loki's eyes filled with raging fire, and he struggled violently, making muffled "mmph-mmph" sounds.
If it weren't for the Uru metal handcuffs he was wearing, he would have definitely fought to the death against the foul-mouthed Stark today!