"This is outrageous!"
Seeing Fenris relentlessly attack him again, the pair of enormous claws swept through the air so quickly that they left a dense curtain of afterimages. In the blink of an eye, they filled Laufey's entire field of vision.
Startled, Laufey forcibly drew upon what little strength he had left and flashed aside, narrowly avoiding the attack.
He shot Fenris a hateful glare before turning and streaking toward the temple. His target was none other than Loki, who remained completely encased in ice.
"Is that... Loki?"
Following Laufey's path, Fenris also spotted the familiar figure inside the ice.
Wasn't Loki a Frost Giant—and Laufey's own son? Why had Laufey sealed him in ice instead?
Loki was even holding Gungnir. Even if he couldn't unleash the full power of that supreme divine weapon, he still shouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state.
As that thought occurred to him, Fenris studied Loki's deathly pale face, and a suspicion abruptly entered his mind.
Don't tell me he ended up like this because of the injuries I gave him?
"Damn—the Casket of Ancient Winters!"
Remembering that the Casket of Ancient Winters was most likely in Loki's possession, Fenris suddenly had a terrible feeling.
Laufey's strength had declined considerably, making him more than manageable in his current state. But if Laufey obtained the Casket and restored his power, he would no longer be so easy to deal with.
Fenris's heart skipped a beat. His enormous body began shrinking at the same time, returning to human form in the blink of an eye. He immediately transformed into a blur and sped toward Laufey.
"What is that?"
Laufey glanced behind him from the corner of his eye, only for his heart to sink at what he saw.
The enormous black figure that had effortlessly defeated him was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a human figure following close behind him.
The figure was moving at an astonishing speed, visibly closing the distance with every passing moment. Fenris was about to catch him.
"What kind of monster is he?!"
Laufey snarled hatefully.
He had lived for thousands of years, yet he had never encountered such a bizarre existence.
"Everyone, stop!"
Fortunately, at the very last moment, Laufey reached Loki first.
He lifted the frozen Loki and leaped into the air, rising high enough for everyone in Asgard to see him.
"I said stop!"
Laufey's booming voice instantly drew the attention of everyone on the battlefield. Thor looked up, only for his heart to plummet at the sight before him.
"Loki?!"
"Your Highness?"
Inside the solid ice, Loki was frozen in the middle of a soaring leap. His face was twisted with fury, and both hands tightly gripped Gungnir, which he had raised overhead in preparation for a crushing downward strike.
Unfortunately, every movement had been frozen at that exact moment.
To the gods of Asgard, the scene appeared to show their second prince, who had temporarily assumed the throne of the All-Father, defiantly launching a desperate final attack against the enemy.
"So... we misunderstood him."
"Loki didn't use the chaos to flee. He fought before any of us and sacrificed his own life..."
The gods of Asgard immediately understood what must have happened.
All their previous suspicions that Loki had abandoned them and fled for his own life instantly vanished.
"Loki..."
"I... I was wrong about you..."
Thor stared at his younger brother's tragic condition and remembered how Loki had sent him a plea for help through the Destroyer back on Earth—only for Thor to misinterpret it as another scheme directed against him.
All the dark suspicions that had filled his mind then resurfaced, yet now they seemed utterly shameful.
Having finally pieced together what had happened, Thor closed his eyes in anguish.
"Loki isn't evil. He's a hero of Asgard!"
"Everyone, stop fighting!"
Seeing the encirclement of the Frost Giants come to a halt once again, Laufey finally had the chance to release a slow breath of relief.
After suffering one heavy blow after another, followed by his desperate overexertion moments earlier, he had almost no strength left.
Even so, he continued to pretend that he had power to spare. Pointing at the frozen Loki, he growled, "This is Asgard's new king, and he is now in my hands!"
"If you don't want anything to happen to him, drop your weapons!"
Laufey's voice rolled across the battlefield like thunder.
Hearing him, the gods of Asgard involuntarily turned toward Thor.
"What do we do?"
Loki's bravery had certainly changed their former opinion of him, but Asgard had finally seized the upper hand. Were they truly supposed to surrender such a tremendous advantage now?
This was a war between races—a war for survival and a battle that would determine the fate of both Asgard and Jotunheim.
The victor would live.
If they broke Jotunheim's spine in this battle, the Frost Giants would never be able to threaten them again.
Thor naturally understood that. Destroying the Frost Giants had once been his greatest desire. In fact, it was precisely because he had acted recklessly in pursuit of that goal that Odin had banished him to Midgard.
Yet when Thor looked at Loki inside the ice, hesitation and conflict suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"But Loki is my brother..."
Before he realized it, Thor had turned his gaze toward Fenris, who hovered in the air opposite Laufey.
Fenris stared intently at Laufey without blinking.
The reaction from the Titan Bestiary was clearer than it had ever been before, and the source of that reaction pointed directly toward Loki.
That meant the Casket of Ancient Winters—the key that could unlock an entirely new Titan, as well as the treasure capable of restoring Laufey to his full power—was currently in Loki's possession.
"Still..."
Fenris's gaze subtly swept over Laufey.
Laufey did not look like someone who knew where the Casket of Ancient Winters was.
If he had known that Jotunheim's greatest treasure was in Loki's possession, he would have seized it immediately. Why would he have waited until now?
"Could Loki have hidden the Casket so well that Laufey never discovered it?"
As that thought crossed his mind, Fenris's gaze met Loki's.
At that moment, he clearly saw Loki's eyes move, turning pointedly toward Laufey.
"Kill him!"
"Don't worry about me!"
Not long ago, the two of them had been fighting each other with blades drawn. Fenris had even personally struck Loki down and left him severely wounded. Yet in this moment, a silent understanding passed between them through nothing more than their gazes.
"What a joke. Of course I'm not worried about you."
Wanda was still suffering inside the ice. Fenris sneered, glanced down at the conflicted Thor on the battlefield below, and slowly reached his right hand behind his waist.
"That's right!"
Fenris saw Loki's eyes light up.
"Cut him down, just like you cut me down!"
(End of Chapter)
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