Actually, in Asgard, Loki and Thor weren't always "he causes trouble, and he laughs." Instead, the two often caused trouble together. Especially when they were young, at that time Thor didn't have to attend any training, and Loki was even more spoiled by Odin and his wife, becoming unruly. Not a single male or female deity of Asgard, nor any plants, escaped their hands.
Although Loki often used pranks to tease his brother, they also often teamed up to prank others. As a result, they were very experienced, and their cooperation was somewhat tacit. If this weren't the case, Thor wouldn't insist on bringing Loki onto the battlefield—not just indulging his brother, but also knowing that many times magic could solve things that fists couldn't.
It can only be said that if Loki had experienced any complete misfortune in any aspect in Asgard, he definitely wouldn't have chosen to stand with his father and brother when Ragnarök came.
Having Loki take on the role of the mage for the encirclement plan was better than having Doctor Strange because his cooperation with Thor was more seamless, and he understood those Asgardians better. This made their cooperation extraordinarily exquisite.
If, over on DC's side, only the Green Lantern was well-trained, with no real ties to Wonder Woman and others, then Marvel's forces were a triple chain of Thor, Loki, and Asgardian warriors. They were originally part of a combat system, so naturally, they cooperated better.
The situation started to become increasingly unfavorable. One Shazam was surrounded by Asgardian warriors, shining with white light; next was a Green Lantern, then Wonder Woman. The number of casualties increased more and more rapidly.
Hal's heart had sunk to the bottom. Just as he planned to burn his boats, he suddenly discovered that two white lights suddenly lit up at the rear of the opponent's—namely, by the outpost's building.
From the Central Universe, Loki clearly noticed it too. Previously, seeing Thor and Hai'er being evenly matched, he didn't think to intervene, as, without elevation, his physique could hardly withstand a punch from Hai'er. It would be even more troublesome if he were taken hostage, so he just blended into Loki's group and cast magic.
But now seeing that there seemed to be a problem on Thor's side, he rushed over anxiously, and the scene in front of him made his blood pressure surge.
Hai'er neatly twisted the neck of a Doctor Strange. Thor rushed in with a punch, knocking him down, but the opponent flickered to another side of the building, and another laser pierced through Doctor Strange's chest.
Previously, many Doctor Stranges knocked out by Green Lantern energy were transported to the rear of the outpost by Strange from the Central Universe. By rights, the enemy line compressed to the extreme shouldn't be able to reach here. Who knew Hai'er would charge in solo, like a wolf into a sheepfold, slaughtering mages while weathering Thor's ferocious assault.
This bunch of Doctor Stranges being unreliable was one thing, but after waking up, they couldn't even figure out the situation. Despite Thor urging them to run, they didn't, it was unclear if they were dazed by Green Lantern energy or what, they couldn't even use a teleportation portal and just stood dumbly being killed. Within dozens of seconds, Hai'er scored a pentakill.
Loki's mind buzzed. In an instant, he ascended to become the Goddess of Glory, stepping directly between Hai'er and the mages, stubbornly enduring a punch from Hai'er. Luckily, he was protected by Radiant Divine Power, apart from being smashed against the wall of the outpost, he wasn't hurt.
But how could Thor stand to see this? He roared furiously, stabbing Hai'er in the shoulder with a spear. The King of Brightness struck in anger, the Divine Power pierced Hai'er's Man of Steel-like skin directly, shattering his shoulder blade.
Hai'er growled in pain, turning suddenly to shoot a laser. Thor blocked it again with a divine barrier, retrieved the spear, and followed with another thunderbolt, sending Hai'er flying.
At this moment, a teleportation portal appeared, and Strange, upon returning, was stunned to find so many people missing.
"Where did you go?!" Loki couldn't help asking.
"I had to transport them out," Strange said. "Human bodies are fragile, offering no defense against the flush of Green Lantern energy. All the Doctor Stranges hit have their energy circuits in chaos, they can't use magic at all, so I had to move them out one by one."
Loki couldn't help covering his forehead: "My God, can they get any worse?! We might as well have The Ancient One instead!"
"Enough about that, where are the rest? Why does it seem like five or six are missing?" Strange couldn't help but look around.
Loki pointed in the direction of the battle between Thor and Hai'er. Strange looked over, found Hai'er somewhat familiar, but couldn't recall who it was; however, the emblem on Hai'er's chest reminded him.
"Is that Superman? Oh my god, why is he so strong? Wait a minute, those mages wouldn't be..."
Loki nodded helplessly.
Strange sighed deeply and said, "Though they needed to learn a lesson, this one is a bit too much. How will we explain this to Central Command?"
"You're definitely going to have to write a report." Loki gloated.
Just then, the battle shifted again: several golden streaks of lightning jumped into the fray, and soon several exhausted and heavily injured Green Lanterns were whisked away. This time, it was Main Universe Thor's turn to curse.
"Weren't all the Flashes taken away? How are they back again? What's the Time Management Bureau doing?!"
And not only that, among these familiar golden lights, there was one particularly special: the golden light was intermittent, as if obscured by some kind of black, and every time it appeared, it was several streaks, like a sharp blade slicing through space.
One Thor, who was fiercely battling Wonder Woman, didn't notice and accidentally touched that line, splitting in half and instantly turning into a flash of white light.
Main Universe Thor, who caught this scene in his peripheral vision, gasped: "Get away from there! Everyone get away from there!! Don't touch that line!!!"
He shouted a bit too late because, at this moment, those thin lines were slowly spreading, almost covering the entire front battlefield; already, two Thors and several Asgardians had been unfortunately cut.
But Hal on his side did not relax either; he was also shouting frantically for people to stay away from the line. However, there were still plenty of Green Lanterns who thought it was merely a mark left by the Divine Speed, and as soon as they stepped in, their feet disappeared; there was even a Shazam, as if his vision was impaired, who flew right into the thin line, splitting directly into two halves, turning into white light and returning to the revival point.
Hal was lost for words. Barry's power was undoubtedly strong but indiscriminate: he'd made it like a spider's web here, hurting not just the enemy but making things even tougher for their side, leaving almost no tactical space.
"I'll go," said Martian Manhunter, "my body won't die being cut, I can reassemble at any time. But you'll need to protect me from fire attacks with Green Lantern energy."
"No problem," Hal quickly replied.
Once Martian Manhunter took action, the situation indeed improved: their bodies were composed of molecules, and being cut didn't count as death, allowing them to reassemble instantly. Thus, those thin lines only affected enemies; moreover, the Martian Manhunter's own strength was not weak, quickly fighting back some space.
"Prepare to break out," Hal shouted, "attack in this direction with me!"
All the Green Lanterns started to gather towards his indicated direction—where the thin lines were most concentrated. The Asgardians hesitated, afraid to unleash their attacks, but Martian Manhunter could wade through, opening a path for his teammates.
"Let them pass," Professor X's voice echoed in Main Universe Thor's mind, "that's enough for this battle."
Main Universe Thor sighed in his heart, knowing there was no room for continued encirclement, waved his hand, and the Asgardians dispersed. Then Hal used the last of his energy to conjure a virtual spaceship, taking away all the remaining defeated soldiers.
After it ended, Main Universe Thor raised his hands and let out a roar, and the Asgardians shouted as well—this was their usual move to celebrate victory. While it wasn't a major victory, it was still worth celebrating as the first skirmish had ended successfully.
Main Universe Thor silently calculated in his mind: excluding the mages, the enemy's losses were far greater than theirs; several Green Lanterns had died, as had Wonder Woman and some Shazams, with only Martian Manhunter remaining unscathed, but he was notoriously hard to kill, with his weaknesses being quite apparent and no cause for concern.
Though they had casualties too, their losses were far fewer than the enemy's. If not for being unprepared for those thin lines, they might have achieved a no-casualty victory.
But soon, his mood turned heavy again: the mages' casualties were too severe, with five dying in an instant—a loss beyond estimation.
As he hadn't seen what happened over by the outpost, Main Universe Thor had no idea how those five died, leaving him utterly perplexed: the mages' teleportation portals were so far the most efficient means of movement—if they were losing, why didn't they just run away?
However, more than the mages, Main Universe Thor was concerned about the Asgardians. He asked in his mind, "What's with those thin lines?"
"We're investigating too," Professor X said, "According to Spider Man, it seems like some universe's Flash has a special ability like that. But this ability is unstable, as you saw earlier, it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe, cutting anyone who touches it."
"Alright, seems we'll have to skirt around it in the future," Main Universe Thor shook his head and said, "Did you see how the mages died?"
Professor X sighed and said, "Don't worry about that, you've done exceptionally well. The mages' deaths were entirely their own fault."
"Exactly," Main Universe Thor couldn't help but say, "Steven was really out of his mind; I had advised them to retreat with the main force earlier, but they insisted on staying, didn't even replenish their energy properly, it was all too careless."
"They've never been on a battlefield, they don't count as soldiers at all, and Stephen Strange born post-war has no real understanding of it, in this respect, he's no match for you. You should give him a good talking to."
"That's easier said than done; Steven can be stubborn as hell, never listening to advice," Main Universe Thor couldn't help but say, "But after this, he should have learned his lesson."
Main Universe Doctor Strange awoke with a start in the Asgard Base's infirmary. He took a deep breath, seeing the multicolored halos on the white ceiling above him, as scenes of another self having his neck twisted by that gray-skinned monster flashed through his mind.
His fist clenched tightly, creating fine wrinkles in the blanket, until a moment when he suddenly lost strength, his soul falling heavily back onto the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling above.
At this moment, he finally realized, war never naturally points to victory but rather inevitably slides towards a terrifying death.