"Asgard's new king is in my hands! If anyone makes a move, I'll crush his throat right now!"
Laufey's eyes turned vicious. Curling his hand into a claw, he pressed it against Loki's neck through the solid ice.
His booming voice rolled in every direction, and the vast, chaotic battlefield abruptly fell silent.
The gods of Asgard lowered their raised weapons. Even the Frost Giant army of Jotunheim halted, and the two sides quickly separated into clearly divided ranks.
"Very good!"
Seeing the situation below change once again, Laufey endured the pain wracking his body and shifted his icy gaze toward Fenris. He pointed at him and barked, "You!"
"Back away! Stay away from me!"
The creature before him might have appeared gentle and harmless in human form, but Laufey could still vividly remember his near-death experience moments earlier. Worse still, the injuries he had suffered had damaged the very foundation of his strength. It would take him an extraordinarily long time to recover.
Laufey understood better than anyone just how terrifying Fenris was, which was precisely why he regarded him with such extreme caution.
"Farther! Keep backing away!"
Fenris remained motionless in the air. His right hand had even begun drifting behind his back without anyone noticing.
For reasons Laufey couldn't explain, an overwhelming sense of danger suddenly seized him. Every instinct in his body screamed a warning.
"What are you doing?!"
Loki gritted his teeth and frantically urged Fenris on with his eyes.
"Midgardian! Stop hesitating and do it!"
Of everyone present besides Laufey, Loki understood Fenris's methods best. Besides, this was the same ruthless man who had nearly killed him from the other side of the Bifrost. How could someone like that possibly become softhearted simply because Loki was being held hostage?
Loki might not be as powerful as Thor, but his judgment of character was remarkably accurate.
Fenris had never cared about Loki. What mattered to him was the Casket of Ancient Winters hidden on Loki's person—something Laufey had yet to notice.
Laufey pressed his claws closer to Loki and partially concealed his body behind his hostage. Despite the aggressive display, Fenris's expression remained unchanged.
The Vibranium battle-axe was already in his hand.
"Fenris! Wait!"
On the battlefield below, Thor's heart lurched the moment he saw the axe glowing with dim blue light appear in Fenris's grasp.
At a distance of less than a kilometer, Fenris might as well have been standing directly in front of Laufey. The moment that axe left his hand, it would probably kill both Laufey and the Loki he was using as a shield.
Even with the ice absorbing part of the impact, Loki would be incredibly fortunate to survive.
"Wait, Fenris! Please!"
Staring at the frozen Loki, Thor hurried to the front of the gods of Asgard. He raised his head toward Fenris, his eyes filled with desperate pleading.
No matter how often Loki opposed him, the two of them had still been brothers for more than a thousand years. How could Thor bear to watch Loki die senselessly at the hands of one of their own?
"Fenris, please!"
"Loki is my brother! He means as much to me as that red-haired girl means to you. Leave this to me. Give me a chance to end this madness myself!"
Above the silent battlefield, Fenris lowered his head and met Thor's bloodshot eyes, which overflowed with anguish and hope.
Every word seemed torn from Thor's heart.
Without betraying any emotion, Fenris glanced upward. At some point, Loki had closed his eyes. It was impossible to tell whether his expression showed resignation or relief at having narrowly escaped death.
Laufey, meanwhile, was hiding behind Loki. Every tiny movement Fenris made sent an uncontrollable tremor through his body. Gravely wounded as he was, he had clearly lost all his earlier arrogance and contempt.
He had yet to obtain the Casket of Ancient Winters. He had no intention of dying here without even knowing why.
"Thor, after everything Loki has done, I will make sure he pays the price."
Following the clear signal transmitted by the Titan Bestiary, Fenris gave Loki another long look. He then stared directly into Thor's eyes for several seconds before abruptly loosening his grip on the axe.
After casting Laufey a cold sidelong glance, Fenris descended sharply from the sky. He landed lightly before the gods and stood beside Thor, shoulder to shoulder with him.
The gods who witnessed this immediately broke into a commotion and instinctively moved farther away from Fenris.
This was the man who had captured the king of the Frost Giants alive.
The gods whispered among themselves as they stared at Fenris's back.
"Thank you, Fenris. Once this is over, you may deal with Loki however you see fit."
Thor turned and exchanged a brief, direct glance with Fenris. His eyes shifted subtly toward Loki in a silent signal. Without waiting for Fenris to respond, Thor spun around and shouted toward Laufey in the sky.
"Laufey!"
Thor's gaze was firmer than ever before.
Only a few days ago, he had led the Warriors Three, Sif, and Loki into an unprovoked attack on Jotunheim, believing he could secure lasting peace for Asgard through his strength alone.
Afterward, Odin had called Thor's actions childish, absurd, and utterly irresponsible. He had accused Thor of failing to understand the terrible price of war.
War?
At the time, Thor had believed that a thousand years of battle had taught him more about war and peace than anyone else could possibly know.
Peace was security forged through Mjolnir!
It did not mean behaving like Odin—wielding Gungnir, Asgard's mightiest divine weapon, yet tying his own hands and cowering while the Frost Giants sabotaged Thor's coronation without retaliation.
But now the vast battlefield had fallen silent. Even Fenris had stayed his hand because of Thor's plea.
Thor looked around him.
War had always been a common sight throughout the Nine Realms, but now its flames had reached Asgard itself. The once golden, magnificent, sacred, and inviolable realm had been reduced to ruins beneath the Frost Giants' advance.
Only now did Thor truly understand the meaning behind Odin's words that day.
"A king should not be someone like you."
A crushing weight of responsibility and expectation settled upon Thor's shoulders, so heavy that he could barely breathe.
That burden had raised him into a position where all of Asgard looked to him.
And now the time had come for him to bear its cost.
If there can be no perfect ending... if someone must be sacrificed, then I want that person to be me.
Fenris, thank you for trusting me. I promise I'll give you the Casket of Ancient Winters so you can save that girl.
And my dear brother... it seems Asgard truly will have to be entrusted to you from now on.
Congratulations, Loki. You really are Asgard's new king.
Thor closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, allowing countless thoughts to race through his mind. Yet when he opened them again, his gaze was unwavering.
At last, having seemingly made his decision, Thor strode forward and separated himself from the gods of Asgard.
With nothing but a mortal body, he faced the overwhelming pressure radiating from Laufey.
"Laufey, a king must not be humiliated!"
"Take me instead!"
(End of Chapter)
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