Loki stood beside the roots of the World Tree. This place was somewhat different from the roots of the World Tree in his universe.
The power of the World Tree in the Central Universe was incredibly strong, not only continuously replenished by the power of the Demon God brought by Loki but also receiving a significant compensation to offset the debts of Ragnarök, thus fully restoring its peak power. The power near the roots of the World Tree was so dense it seemed almost tangible.
However, the power of this World Tree was much more dispersed, appearing somewhat weak. Loki didn't know how they made the World Tree grow overnight, but it certainly didn't come without a price, and he wanted to understand what the hidden danger was.
Loki gently raised his hand, wanting to touch the roots of the World Tree, but was suddenly interrupted by a roar:
"Loki!! What are you doing?!!!"
Loki turned his head and saw Thor's angry face. Before he could react, Thor had already thrown a punch, shocking Loki, who instinctively raised his arm to block, but was still sent flying. Fortunately, he quickly covered his body with a Magical Shield, and when he was knocked against the roots of the World Tree behind him, he wasn't injured.
But he was still slightly embarrassed. Loki got up from the ground, leaned against the roots, and shook his hand. He looked at Thor and said:
"What are you doing? Are you crazy?"
"You're the crazy one, Loki!!! Did you really intend to touch the World Tree?!!" Thor, like an angry bull, was approaching, "You know I coexist with the World Tree, do you want to kill me?!!!"
Loki was initially puzzled, but when he thought about what the Loki in this universe had done, he suddenly understood Thor. After all, if the Loki of this universe had genuinely come, just a touch could have poisoned the World Tree half to death, which would have been no different from killing Thor.
Loki silently cursed his own rashness again. He had played the role of Loki from other universes before, either helping them develop Asgard or assisting Thor, and overall, there hadn't been much trouble, and the results were good, so he became complacent. Who knew things were so chaotic in this universe?
Just as Loki was about to say something, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by Thor. Thor's grip was as strong as an adult Black Dragon's, causing Loki to gasp in pain.
"What are you doing! Let go of me!" Loki was truly unable to bear it. He raised his other hand and shot a Magic Beam to push Thor away.
Thor was stunned: "Where did you get such strong Magic Power?! You really intend to kill the World Tree!!!"
Loki found it hard to explain. Toppling with this madman was bad luck for him, and he raised his hand to open a Teleportation Portal. But then he realized that this Thor could immediately track him to any of the Nine Major Kingdoms, so escaping wasn't an option. If this problem wasn't resolved, Thor would haunt him like a Ghost.
But explaining was difficult, and he didn't know how. In Thor's eyes, it indeed appeared as if this newly released Loki was trying to solve the problem at its root, attempting to eliminate Thor by poisoning the World Tree. After all, the Loki from this universe had done so before, making it a convincing argument.
"Fine. I do want to kill you." Loki simply admitted. Now, even the most sophisticated Mind Reader couldn't expose his lie; he genuinely thought about killing this filthy creature.
However, admitting this way made sense; as long as Thor truly felt threatened, Thor would surely lock him away again, giving him a chance to escape and find another madman for a swap.
To appear more like a killer, Loki took a deep breath: "I've never truly killed you before. The Destroyer only severely injured you, but you killed me once. That's not fair. So yes, I want to kill you."
Fearing Thor might suddenly attack, Loki kept his eyes on him, but as he looked, he started to lose focus. This Thor, sharing the same face as his brother, apart from the beard, was no different; even the eyes were identical, and Loki couldn't bring himself to utter more harsh words.
"You're becoming more arrogant, Loki." Thor continued to glare at him with anger, "Caught by me, and you're not even trying to flee?!"
Loki rolled his eyes internally; he wanted to escape, but he couldn't.
But what he didn't realize was, the Loki of this universe might be even crazier than he thought, or rather, the Loki of the Central Universe was still too orderly. Odin's teachings made him understand that escaping mistakes was useless, and making excuses worsened the situation, so he would seemingly joke about some ridiculous reasons or simply stand firm, but wouldn't sincerely evade.
However, this universe's Loki was different; his tricks for making excuses and shirking responsibility seemed endless. So Thor, after waiting for a long time without hearing Loki's defense, grew even angrier.
"It seems I've left you speechless." Thor said, "If I kill you once more, will you find it even more unfair?"
Loki's eyes widened. He hadn't imagined Thor would say something like that. He looked at Thor sincerely and said:
"You want to kill me? In a clear state of mind?"
"You started wanting to kill me first!" Thor roared, "I've become the lord of the Nine Major Kingdoms, and your jealousy must be driving you mad, right? Just like before, this world dissatisfies you, so you want to destroy it. I won't let you succeed; I'll kill you first!"
"You..." Hearing Thor say such words with that face, it felt like a bucket of ice water was poured over Loki from head to toe, nearly engulfing him in a tide of fear.
"I am not your brother!" Loki finally couldn't withstand the pressure, revealing the truth. He couldn't face a Thor intent on killing him; even in his worst nightmares, such a Thor didn't exist.
With a deep breath, and the remaining sanity, he said: "I'm not the Loki of this universe; I exchanged places with him! You've got the wrong person!"
"That's a good excuse." Thor was evidently already irrational, viewing it as another of Loki's lies, "Who told you about the Multiverse visitors? Never mind, it's not important. But do you think you can deceive me and escape using that? Dream on!"
"You madman!" Loki decided not to hold back any longer, and with a wave of his left hand, the Soul Wand appeared in his hand. The flashing Magic Light repelled Thor. But in an instant, the entire world started to press against him, and Loki suddenly couldn't breathe.
Thor had become the True God of the Nine Major Kingdoms, controlling everything here, especially at the World Tree's core, where his strength was at its peak.
Should have elevated sooner. Loki gritted his teeth, now he had to run or surely it would all go down in flames!
With a "swish," the teleportation portal opened, and Loki directly teleported to the headquarters of the Rebirth Alliance – a place he had carefully selected.
Loki hadn't entirely lost his mind; he knew that if he were to teleport right in front of his real brother now, it would absolutely lead to a Divine King battle. Thor from the Central Universe could make eighteen holes in this bastard in a second, and even Sif would give him two swords.
But the issue was that he couldn't let them fight in a hotel full of multiverse guests. Not to mention the risk of collateral damage, if it was captured and drew public attention, the Rebirth Alliance's plan would be ruined, and then Asgard's reputation in the multiverse would be damaged.
No matter how you put it, they were there to attend a wedding; no matter how justified, you couldn't travel from afar to fight at someone's wedding. Who would dare invite people from Asgard in the future?
So Thor was first ruled out by Loki; even if it came down to near-death, it wouldn't be too late to call him then. Of course, Loki also considered Shiller, but considering that this Thor was like a big fool, he might not have heard of Shiller's reputation and wasn't afraid of him, so Shiller was also ruled out.
Loki thought about it and decided to directly go to the Rebirth Alliance. With so many superheroes, they surely could stop one Thor, right? Thor should have some reservations and wouldn't dare make a move in front of so many people. As long as they calmed him down first, the rest could be explained slowly.
Seeing Loki suddenly appear in the office, Carter was startled, and the next thing Loki said made Carter's head buzz even more.
"Thor wants to kill me!" Loki's fear at this moment was not feigned, "Help me!"
"Crash!"
A bolt of lightning struck above the headquarters of the Rebirth Alliance, charring the top of the building. Thor descended from the sky holding Mjölnir, lightning flashing continuously in his eyes.
Captain America and the other superheroes rushed out immediately, he shouted:
"Thor, what are you doing!"
"Hand Loki over to me! Hand him over!!!"
Captain America was stunned, "How could Loki be..."
Then Carter's voice came through his earpiece, "Loki teleported to our office, he said Thor wants to kill him. This is obviously another lie, I'll send him down immediately..."
"No!" Captain America said immediately, "Thor doesn't seem rational, don't let him come down..."
"Why should we get involved in their brotherly affairs?" Carter's voice revealed confusion, "Or do you just want to have a fight with Thor here?"
"No, Carter." Captain America said, "I don't want to cause any trouble at this critical moment, but I suspect Thor really might kill Loki, and I can't let him do that!"
"You can't possibly see Loki as a victim, can you? Think about what he's done to us, to this universe..."
"He's not entirely a victim, it's even possible the current situation was caused by him, but I can't let Thor kill him." Captain America's tone became firm, "It wouldn't be good for anyone."
"You think just because it's your decision, it's undoubtedly beneficial, Captain America." Carter took a deep breath, doing his best to remain calm, "But is that really the case? Are we really going to continue provoking Thor? How can you ensure he won't lose his mind and destroy Forward York City?"
"I will stop him." Captain America said.
After saying that, he directly hung up the communication. He walked up to Thor and said, "Calm down, you can't kill your brother here."
"He just tried to kill me!!!" Thor roared, "Give him to me! Otherwise, I'll go in myself!!!"
Captain America wanted to say more, when a green light flashed, Loki appeared beside Captain America, in front of Thor.
"I'm right here." he said, "Come on, kill me."
Thor suddenly lunged, grabbing Loki by the throat, slamming him against the wall. The force was so great that he nearly twisted Loki's neck in one go, causing Loki's face to turn crimson and his eyes to bloodshot as they bulged:
"You'll... prove... you're... unworthy..."
Captain America rushed forward at the fastest speed, grabbing Thor's arm and pulling it back: "Have you gone mad? Thor?! You can't kill him here, let go of him!!!"
Unexpectedly, in the next second, another Loki rushed out.
"Stop!!!"
But it was already too late.