Ryan sneered, "Hit the little one, and the old one comes out. You House of Odin really are protective of your own, aren't you, Your Majesty the All-Father!"
Following Ryan's mocking tone, a rainbow beam of light descended onto the ground from the hole previously pierced by gungnir.
Under Loki's excited gaze, a golden-armored figure riding a six-legged Pegasus emerged from the rainbow light like a savior!
After Odin stepped out, his first words were: "Ryan Parkerson, King of the Frost Giants, I have come to bargain."
This routine again?
Ryan's face was full of disdain, and he ignored Odin's words.
"What???"
While Ryan had no reaction, Odin's words turned Loki's mood from surprise to shock.
One must know that his true identity was a Frost Giant, and Laufey, the King of the Frost Giants, was the father who had once abandoned him. But now that the throne of the King of the Frost Giants had changed hands, didn't that mean his biological father had already died at Ryan's hands?
For a moment, Loki's gaze was complicated, unsure whether he should hate Ryan for killing his biological father or thank him for killing the father who had abandoned him... But Ryan wasn't about to kindly let Loki go just because of one sentence from Odin, especially after Loki had repeatedly provoked him.
Thus, Ryan pointed his giant blade at Odin and said coldly, "You think with just one sentence, I'll spare that bastard who led an army to invade Earth twice?"
Odin immediately retorted, "Loki is no bastard. He is my son, and also royalty of the Frost Giant Clan—the elder brother of the successor you chose for the throne!"
Ryan frowned upon hearing this, looking toward the Bifrost Bridge behind Odin as if sensing something, because he felt another emotional signature within the beam of the Bifrost Bridge!
??? Loki whipped his head around to look at Odin. "Brother? I have another brother or sister?"
Odin nodded silently, and then a slender blue figure slowly emerged from the rainbow beam behind them.
It was none other than Sylvie!
Seeing this, Ryan narrowed his eyes. "It seems His Majesty the All-Father has come well-prepared, even playing the emotional card. But unfortunately... you've chosen the wrong card, Your Majesty the All-Father!"
Just as Ryan finished speaking, the emerging Sylvie instantly turned on Odin and ambushed Loki from behind, condensing an ice blade in her hand and pressing it against Loki's throat.
Facing the sudden defection of the ally he had painstakingly brought along, Odin didn't panic at all. He flipped his hand, and a blue cube appeared, floating toward Ryan.
Ryan's eyes lit up as he caught the cube on his giant blade. "The casket of ancient winters? Not bad indeed, but this was originally a supreme treasure of my Frost Giant Clan, and you promised it to me before. So, it's not enough to trade for your son's life, is it?"
Hearing this, even Odin was somewhat speechless by Ryan's thick skin. "What I said before was that I would give you the casket of ancient winters if you helped Thor understand the true responsibility of a king. But in the month since you returned to Earth, it seems you haven't seen Thor even once, let alone taught him anything about responsibility."
Ryan couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. "Ahem, well, I've been busy. But one thing at a time; right now we're talking about your third son, Loki. Don't drag your second son, Thor, into this."
Loki was left completely confused. "Third son? Am I not the second son? Father, do you have an illegitimate child?"
"When kings are talking, keep quiet as a prisoner!" Sylvie, who was holding Loki hostage, frowned and pressed the blade slightly deeper into Loki's neck, drawing a thin line of blood.
Loki's lip twitched as he muttered, "You really are my dear sister..."
Sylvie said coldly, "I am not your sister. Ever since I was abandoned by Laufey on the ice fields to die, I've had nothing to do with your house of Laufey, and even less to do with you, the son of the All-Father!"
"Aside from my mother, I only belong to the King who gave me a second life!"
Hearing this, Loki fell into a rare silence, no longer trying to play any more little tricks.
Because his experience was so similar to this sister he had never met, yet hers was even more unfortunate... After a moment of silence, Odin clearly didn't want to delve further into his complicated family ethics and shifted the topic: "In addition to the casket of ancient winters, I have already dispatched the armies of Asgard to resolve the trouble Loki caused this time."
"Finally, I can also offer you a benefit, which is..."
"Hmm?!" Mid-sentence, Odin's words suddenly stopped, and he and Ryan looked in the same direction at almost the same time.
At that moment, in an alley just one wall away from the building where Ryan was, space suddenly distorted, and four figures wearing white space suits appeared.
Once the space suits on the four people retracted, two familiar faces and two unfamiliar ones appeared.
The familiar ones were Tony and the Hulk.
As for the two strangers, calling them strangers wasn't exactly accurate.
Because Ryan was actually quite familiar with them, though he hadn't truly met them in this Universe yet.
They were Captain America Steve Rogers and Ant-Man Scott Lang.
"Whoa, so this is the famous 2012 Battle of New York? This is awesome! Back then I was still in prison and didn't get to see the Avengers' first assembly in person. Today I'm finally on the scene!"
As one of Marvel's chatterboxes, Ant-Man started rambling the moment he appeared and was the first to excitedly run out of the alley.
Neither Captain America nor Tony had time to stop him.
But Ant-Man didn't run far; just as he stepped out of the alley, he froze in place, staring fixedly at the sky as if he had seen something unbelievable.
Seeing this, the corner of Tony's mouth curled into a smirk as he teased the Captain beside him:
"This Thumbelina you brought along really is as unsophisticated as ever. Just the Battle of New York has him so stunned he can't move. It's a good thing he was in the Quantum Realm during Thanos's invasion, otherwise this Thumbelina would have surely wet his pants in fear~"
Captain America frowned at his words:
"Tony, don't talk about Lang like that. He's our teammate, we're a team, and if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have this chance to set everything right!"
"Fine..." Tony shrugged, not refuting the Captain's words, and also walked toward the alley exit.
Captain America and the Green Doctor exchanged a look and followed helplessly.
The three walked up to Ant-Man, and Captain America said with a serious face, "Hey, Lang, snap out of it. There's nothing to see here. The most important thing now is to make a plan for how to get the three Infinity Stones."
Hearing the Captain's words, Ant-Man didn't look away immediately but instead stiffly raised his hand and pointed to the sky:
"But... Captain, why does this Battle of New York seem different from what I saw in the news?"
The three looked up and saw that in the sky, besides the Chitauri army, there were actually dense swarms of golden ships engaging the Chitauri!
No, calling it an engagement wasn't even accurate; more precisely, those flying golden ships were slaughtering the Chitauri army!
Even the spatial portal in the sky, serving as the Chitauri's exit, was not spared and was being continuously struck by a rainbow beam!
Vaguely, Captain America and the others could see firelight emanating from the portal!
The expressions of Tony, Captain America, and the Green Doctor changed instantly: Σ(°ロ°)!!!