Chapter 284: A Mixed-Doubles Beatdown, Courtesy of Kaito and Tsukasa
Loki turned his face away, deliberately avoiding Thor's gaze, a tangle of conflicting emotions churning inside him.
Thor's arrival brought him no joy at all — if anything, it felt like an insult, some victor's condescending gesture of pity toward the loser. He didn't need Thor's rescue. He had his own pride, his own dignity to hold onto.
He'd rather face all of this alone than accept a shred of pity from his own brother.
Still, somewhere deep down, a small warmth stirred in Loki's chest. This idiot Thor genuinely still thought of him as family.
All Thor saw, though, was rejection and cold indifference — and it left him helpless, and hurt.
Thor gave a bitter, weary shake of his head. He knew his brother's nature well enough by now — always stirring up trouble, always giving him gray hairs to worry over.
But even so, he couldn't stand by and let Loki be pushed around like this. Loki had lied to him before, even tried to kill him — but in Thor's heart, Loki would always be his brother. Family.
He couldn't allow Loki to face judgment on Earth. It wasn't how things were done under Asgardian law. He'd come to take Loki back himself, to face Asgard's judgment properly — and to clean up whatever mess his brother had made along the way, before it brought any more disaster down on Earth.
There was another reason for Thor's visit, too — to warn Ethan and the others that Earth might be facing a coming war.
He'd learned from his father about Kamar-Taj's existence — a magical order with a thousand years of unbroken tradition behind it.
He understood well enough: with the depth of power Hell's Kitchen and Kamar-Taj both commanded, whatever Loki thought he was doing here amounted to playing with fire.
What worried Thor even more was the knowledge that the Tesseract — the Space Stone — was in Ethan's hands.
He didn't know the details of Loki's plan, but he was afraid Loki might go looking for trouble with Ethan specifically. Thor knew firsthand just how ruthless Ethan could be toward his enemies, and he didn't want to see Loki wander any deeper into that kind of danger.
He was genuinely relieved that it hadn't been Ethan who'd captured Loki this time, but rather this ragtag outfit calling itself S.H.I.E.L.D.
With that thought, he turned to look at Tsukasa and Kaito, who were just about to make their exit.
The two stood on either side of the doorway, watching Thor.
Both men recognized him. Tsukasa had been present the time he fought Ethan, back when Thor had still been an ordinary, powerless man stripped of his godhood — so Tsukasa didn't actually know him particularly well. All he really remembered was that this was "the god who cried, hugging his hammer."
Kaito, on the other hand, had been present for the whole Loki affair start to finish, so he knew exactly who Thor was.
Thor frowned at the two of them, clearly recognizing them in turn. That gun-wielding one was with Loki a moment ago — so why is Loki tied up while this one's standing here without a care in the world?
"Hey. You, with the gun. Was it your betrayal that got Loki captured?" Thor demanded, his tone far from friendly.
His voice echoed through the empty space, carrying an authority that brooked no argument.
Kaito didn't seem bothered in the slightest. He shot a glance at Tsukasa, as if silently checking in.
After all, this was more or less Tsukasa's turf here — and as a guest, Kaito figured he owed his host at least some deference.
But what Thor said next made his expression shift instantly.
"Release him. I'll let this whole matter go," Thor said coldly.
His voice carried an unshakable finality — practically an ultimatum aimed at the two of them.
Kaito's smile vanished on the spot. He fixed Thor with a cold stare, a flicker of irritation crossing his face.
If there was one thing he genuinely hated, it was being given orders — especially in a moment like this.
"You know what I hate most? Being told what to do." With that, Kaito abruptly drew his gun and fired straight at Thor.
Thor, naturally, batted the shot aside without any real effort.
He fixed the two of them with a cold, burning glare, fury sparking in his eyes.
He hadn't expected these two mortals to actually provoke him like this.
"I know you. You fought Ethan before," Thor said, turning his gaze on Tsukasa. "I'll give you one more chance. Release Loki. Otherwise, I won't mind teaching you mortals a lesson on Ethan's behalf."
Thor knew perfectly well these two weren't ordinary humans — they clearly had some real strength behind them.
But Thor had also seen, firsthand, Ethan defeat Tsukasa in their earlier fight — and had mistakenly concluded from that alone that Tsukasa's overall strength was nothing special.
As for Kaito, Thor barely registered him at all. Anyone running around with his brother, he assumed, had to be some scheming lackey — surely not much of a fighter in his own right.
All told, Thor figured taking on both of them at once wouldn't pose him any real trouble.
Sure — he himself had lost to Ethan. But he considered the gap between them fairly narrow these days. After his recent training on Asgard, he genuinely believed his current strength stood on par with Ethan's.
Which meant, naturally, he had no reason to think much of Tsukasa at all.
Hearing Thor's words, Tsukasa let out an amused, half-furious laugh. He hadn't planned on getting involved — but decided this so-called "god" needed a little lesson of his own.
And just like that, Thor's arrogant little speech had successfully riled up both Tsukasa and Kaito at once.
Tsukasa swayed his head, taking a few unhurried steps forward, plucking a card from his coat with two fingers and swiping it against his belt.
"HENSHIN," he muttered, low and dismissive, tilting his head as he sized Thor up.
His body was engulfed instantly in a surge of power.
An instant later, he stood transformed — Kamen Rider Decade, clad in full armor, imposing and majestic.
Kaito followed right behind him, transforming into Kamen Rider Diend, and the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder, radiating overwhelming presence.
Had Ethan been here to see it, he'd surely have applauded Thor for his sheer luck — getting to face down Kaito and Tsukasa's husband-and-wife mixed-doubles routine wasn't a privilege most people got to enjoy.
Thor, for his part, seemed to notice the shift too — both transformed Riders carried a genuinely formidable presence, nothing like the pushovers he'd assumed. The two facing him clearly weren't as weak as he'd imagined.
Still, if anything, that pleased him more. He craved a genuinely even fight.
He hefted his hammer, settling into a combat stance.
The two newly-transformed Riders exchanged a glance, seemingly debating who should go first, or whether to just charge in together — neither one, it seemed, was particularly enthusiastic about this fight to begin with.
Thor, however, didn't wait for them to decide. He struck first.
"Beat the two of you, and Loki walks free on his own."