One year ago.
After completing the mission assigned by Thanos, Corvus Glaive did not return immediately to report. Instead, he went off on his own to search for a new planet.
During his travels, he encountered someone—or rather, a god—stranded in space.
The other party claimed to be an Asgardian god named Loki.
Hearing this name, Thanos immediately gained a clearer understanding of the current timeline.
This should be the period after the events of Thor 1.
In order to seize the throne of Asgard, Loki had calculated that his father, Odin, was about to enter his Odinsleep.
So Loki deliberately misled his brainless brother, provoking Odin's wrath.
Just as Loki had predicted, the enraged King of the Gods stripped Thor of his divine power and banished him to Midgard—Earth.
Loki got his wish and became the acting ruler of Asgard while Odin slept.
But Loki was never satisfied with the title of "regent."
Driven by ambition, he even sent the war machine Destroyer to Earth to assassinate his own brother.
What Loki never expected was that it had all been part of Odin's scheme.
Because Loki himself did not know that he carried the blood of the Frost Giants, no matter what he did, he could never truly inherit the throne of Asgard.
Just as Loki was on the verge of success, Odin secretly returned Thor's divine power.
Thor destroyed the Destroyer and returned to Asgard, while Loki fell into an unknown wormhole.
The current storyline should have taken place before Avengers 1—when Thanos discovered Loki and handed him the Mind Stone, preparing to invade Earth.
But now that Thanos knew the plot, he naturally had no intention of following it.
Who knew which Marvel universe this was?
What if it was Ultron's universe?
Send the Mind Stone over, let them create Ultron, and then get blasted away by a laser?
He wasn't that stupid.
Still, Loki might be useful.
Just as Thanos was deep in thought, Proxima Midnight—who was training beside him—suddenly knelt down.
"My lord, I can't continue."
Thanos shook his head and had Deep Blue shut down the gravity system.
As he walked out, he said calmly,"I'm going to see this Loki. From now on, none of you are allowed to leave the temple until you've adapted to one thousand times gravity."
Hearing this, both Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive wore bitter expressions.
Though their strength was renowned across the universe, they dared not disobey their master's orders.
…
A dozen minutes later.
Thanos arrived at Loki's holding area.
The first thing he saw was the long horned helmet.
Loki lay on the bed, casually reading a book that seemed to have appeared from nowhere.
However, Thanos turned his head toward another corner of the cell.
It looked empty.
But in his perception, a mass of energy was gathering there.
As his gaze shifted, the energy instantly calmed, as if it had never existed.
Almost like an illusion.
But Thanos knew it was not.
A mocking smile appeared on his face.
Loki—the so-called God of Mischief—was never going to surrender so easily.
The figure on the bed was likely an illusion. The real one was hiding in the shadows, waiting to strike the moment someone entered.
Hidden in the darkness, Loki saw the massive purple figure smiling at him and immediately realized his trick had been exposed.
He didn't hesitate.
The illusion and invisibility vanished at once.
Fully armed, Loki revealed himself and looked up at the towering figure before him.
In truth, Loki wasn't short. At 1.8 meters tall, he was considered average among the Asgardian gods.
But Thanos, standing nearly 2.5 meters tall, completely overshadowed him.
"Who are you?" Loki asked coldly.
Thanos closed the laser barrier and stepped inside.
Using his height to full advantage, he looked down at Loki and replied calmly,"You may call me Thanos."
Anger flared in Loki's chest at the condescending gaze, but he still lowered his head respectfully.
"So you are Lord Thanos. I've heard much about you."
Although Asgard followed a policy of isolation, news from the wider universe still reached them.
And Thanos's rise was undoubtedly the biggest news of all.
After all, he was the only ruler in the universe to implement a population-resource fertility law—stripping people of even the freedom to reproduce.
Under this so-called scientific and rational system, having too many or too few children could result in massive fines or even criminal punishment.
This was Thanos's idea of a sustainable balance for the universe.
Compared to his former method of wiping out half of all life, it was far more controlled.
But in the Marvel Universe—where freedom was valued above life itself—this approach was considered heresy.
If not for his overwhelming strength, Thanos would have been exterminated long ago.
Ignoring Loki's shallow flattery, Thanos said with amusement,"Loki—the so-called God of Treachery. Odin's third son. A bastard carrying the blood of the Frost Giants."
At the word bastard, a cold gleam flashed through Loki's eyes.
He suddenly thrust his hands forward.
In an instant, more than a dozen daggers burst from the void, shooting toward Thanos like lightning.
The earlier politeness had only been a ruse.
Loki had been plotting his escape from the very beginning.
Yet Thanos didn't even move.
He merely crossed his arms.
Seeing this, excitement surged through Loki.
Among the daggers was his divine weapon—the God-Slaying Short Blade.
Any weapon worthy of being called a divine artifact among the Asgardians possessed terrifying power.
Loki had slain countless powerful enemies with it.
This purple giant should be no different.
The next instant—
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A sharp, crisp metallic sound echoed.
Loki's eyes widened in disbelief.
The God-Slaying Dagger had been deflected—just like the others.
Thanos seemed to sense its uniqueness. He caught the falling dagger, examined it briefly, and said mockingly,"Asgard really is wealthy. To casually throw around a dagger made of Uru metal."
Though Uru was not as rare as adamantium or vibranium, it still ranked fourth among metals in the Marvel Universe.
A piece of Uru this size could easily be traded for a small spaceship in the Cosmic Alliance.
That alone showed its value.
Ignoring the sarcasm, Loki said grimly,"First, I am not a bastard. And second, I am Odin's second son—not the third."
.....
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