"Laugh!"
"What are you so proud of?"
Every word was forced out through clenched teeth. His towering fury seemed to turn into tangible flame, all of it gathering in those steel-like arms.
The face before him was clearly exceptionally handsome, but reflected in Fenris's eyes, it made his eyes instantly bloodshot. At some point, those terrifying compound eyes had turned into cold vertical pupils.
Under the violent fluctuation of his emotions, his body seemed almost unable to maintain its current human form. His limbs began swelling wildly, then shrinking back several times. Amid his hoarse roars, his appearance changed in a strange, frantic blur.
The man before him was lifted high like a helpless chick, then slammed down with brutal force. The ancient ice was easily smashed into shards beneath that completely unrestrained strength.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Wait…"
"Boom!"
For a time, the violent sounds of impact rang out without end. Shattered ice flew everywhere, mixed with the occasional plea for mercy, only to be quickly drowned beneath the blows.
Only a few seconds passed, but to Loki, it felt as if an entire century had gone by.
His mind had almost shut down completely. His tangled thoughts churned together like glue, and only after a long while did he slowly come back to himself.
A pair of cold, blood-red eyes entered his sight.
"Release her!"
The voice rang out with a sharp hiss. Like a conditioned reflex, Loki's dazed body shrank back in the next instant.
After venting briefly, Fenris slowly loosened the claws gripping Loki's neck. Before Loki could catch his breath, Fenris seemed still unsatisfied, and one large foot stomped down viciously, crushing him deep into the icy pit.
"Pff—ah!"
Loki's vision went black again. After his internal organs suffered such heavy blows one after another, he immediately spat out a mouthful of hot blood.
The bright red stain looked especially glaring against the ice.
Cold words entered his ears. A tide of agony surged over him, nearly drowning him completely.
Loki opened his mouth wide. Even his breathing stopped for a moment. Only when he came back to himself again did he endure the pain and nod with difficulty. Only then did he feel the crushing weight on his body slowly ease a little.
"That…"
Loki coughed heavily. The exquisitely tailored green-and-gold robe on him had already become tattered and ruined. His face was bruised and swollen, and there was not a single part of his body that did not hurt.
Opening his eyelids slightly, Loki stole a glance at the man who had pinned him to the ground and beaten him mercilessly. The man's terrifying face, combined with those coldly gleaming eyes, made him shiver uncontrollably.
The oppressive killing intent prickled at his back like needles, as if it wanted to cut him into a thousand pieces. Realizing that this man might truly beat him to death alive, Loki's facial muscles twitched beyond his control from fear.
He coughed heavily and said in a broken voice, "She was sealed by the power of the Casket of Ancient Winters. To undo it, she either has to break through the ice by her own strength, or the Casket's power must be used again."
"Cough, cough. Forcibly breaking the ice will only injure her further…"
As the divine artifact passed down through the Frost Giant race for generations, once the Casket of Ancient Winters unleashed its power, it was enough to easily extinguish a star in its prime.
Freezing a planet was even easier, let alone sealing one mere human.
Fenris glanced at Wanda, trapped inside the ice.
Those bright, watery eyes, and the fear deep within them, seemed to stab into his heart. Fenris fell silent for a moment, then slowly moved his gaze away.
Looking at the gloomy, bruised face beneath his foot, Fenris felt his mind heat again beyond his control. The force under his foot erupted without mercy once more.
"Boom!"
Ice shards flew into the air. After suffering another heavy blow, Loki curled up entirely, his face growing even paler amid uncontrollable coughing.
"Hand over the Casket of Ancient Winters!"
The cold, emotionless voice entered his ears. After forcibly swallowing the blood surging up his throat, Loki suddenly forced out a brilliant smile.
"I am Loki, son of Laufey, king of the Frost Giants. Only I can use the power of the Casket of Ancient Winters…"
"Let me go. I'll save her. After all, I only came for that foolish brother of mine. I have no deep hatred with this girl."
As if to prove himself, Loki's eyes were filled with sincerity. As he spoke, his skin turned a dull blue at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This was the most obvious trait of the Frost Giant race, something no outsider could imitate.
"Emma, come here."
Fenris stared deeply at Loki.
However powerful Loki, the God of Stories, would become, the Loki before him now, the God of Mischief, was every bit as cunning.
At present, Fenris would not easily trust even Thor, that reckless brute, let alone Loki.
"What is it?"
Hearing Fenris call her, Emma quickly hurried over from outside.
The battle inside the room had ended extremely quickly from start to finish. The people outside had not even managed to react. Beneath the biting frost, Sif and the others, who had already been badly injured by Johnny, were left even more miserable and could only hide far away, shivering.
Yet when Emma reached the doorway, everything that entered her sight made her eyes instantly widen.
Wanda, who had been perfectly fine that morning, was now sealed inside a huge block of ice, her life or death unknown.
The exhausted Thor had apparently said something to Loki and been knocked unconscious again. He lay in the corner, trembling.
A bruised and swollen stranger was being stomped under Fenris's foot. Clearly, he was the culprit behind all of this.
Seeing Emma appear, he even forced himself to lift his head with a grimace, revealing an extremely gentlemanly smile.
"Hello, beautiful lady."
Emma's expression turned cold, and she stopped looking at him.
A muffled groan of pain sounded. He was stomped heavily into the ground once more, clearly suffering badly. Even from his ribs came the crisp sound of something breaking.
"See if you can control him and make him obediently free Wanda."
Fenris spoke in an icy voice.
Loki's illusion magic had been learned from Queen Frigga. It was strange and unpredictable. To avoid further complications, it was better to choose the safest method possible.
"A psychic?"
Sure enough, the moment Fenris finished speaking, Loki's eyes widened instantly.
How did this man have every kind of person at his side?
"All right!"
Hearing him, Emma nodded without hesitation. The next moment, a powerful surge of psychic energy rushed straight toward Loki.
"No…"
Loki cried out in alarm.
His current condition was already terrible. With his mind weakened, he was not even comparable to Thor in his usual state. How could he possibly withstand Emma at full strength?
Unfortunately, Emma did not give him any chance to struggle.
She invaded without mercy. Loki's unspoken words were completely drowned out. After a few seconds of struggling, his eyes turned utterly vacant.
(End of Chapter)
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