On the phone, Shiller heard Peter swallowing hard, and Little Spider's flustered voice rang out, "Mr. Shiller, you'd better… come over here…"
Strange immediately opened a portal, and before Shiller could hang up the phone, he had already stepped in. Then, Shiller heard Strange curse.
Out of curiosity, Shiller looked through the portal, but saw nothing. Strange's voice rang out from the other side: "Shiller, get over here!"
Neither Peter nor Strange were ones to curse, so for both of them to suddenly be swearing, Shiller became very curious as to who was on the other side.
Once he stepped through the portal, he also froze, staring at the girl in front of him. Shiller took a deep breath and said, "… Loki?!"
That's right, the robed girl standing in front of him was Loki, or perhaps more accurately, Lady Loki.
Shiller wouldn't have been so surprised by a gender-switched Loki alone, as he knew that in the comics Loki had changed to female a number of times. Being gender fluid was Loki's canonical character trait, so it wouldn't be surprising if Loki decided to become a woman one day.
But what stunned Shiller was that many layers of halo enveloped this young Lady Loki. This wasn't any kind of abstract description, it was a concrete portrayal.
The moment she took off her hood, a seemingly endless string of holy and hazy halos, bearing the iridescent colors of a rainbow, appeared behind her. It felt like a scene straight out of a medieval religious painting, making her look extraordinarily sacred and beautiful.
Loki was very beautiful, which didn't surprise Shiller. Man Loki was already very handsome, so it was also understandable for Goddess Loki to be quite attractive. Yet, this young Lady Loki had a unique charm and allure. Her holy aura made it hard for anyone to tear their eyes away.
Lady Loki's first words were: "I am Loki."
And the second sentence was: "I screwed up big time, find a way to help me!"
Considering her inherent saintly charm, her plea didn't sound so much like an urgent cry for help, but more like a divine decree being issued from the heavens.
Once again, Peter swallowed hard. When Loki turned to look at him, his face flushed beet red. He was completely flustered.
In this situation, one of the best at resisting Loki's charisma was Shiller. He pushed Strange and said: "We should talk somewhere else."
Strange was still immersed in shock. Among everyone present, he and Loki were the closest friends. Yet this dramatic change from his intimate friend into an incredibly beautiful and holy goddess was hard for Strange to accept all at once.
"I'll do it." Lady Loki extended her hand into the air and drew a circle. She opened a portal. Shiller stepped in first, followed by Lady Loki. The remaining three people hesitated for a long while before finally stepping in.
The portal led to the Arkham Sanatorium's visitor room. They sat down in orderly fashion, Lady Loki alone took the couch by the window. Shiller sat in a single chair nearby, while the other three squeezed onto the opposite couch, their eyes fixed on Lady Loki.
"Go on, what happened?" Shiller asked Lady Loki.
It was undeniable, just a few seconds' glance at her face was like an invisible whirlpool pulling you in. After staring at Loki for a while, Shiller said, "You seem to be on the verge of a promotion. What exactly did you do?"
Lady Loki let out a small sigh. Her sigh was ethereal, like a divine maiden in mourning for the pain of mere mortals.
"Well, it all started on Sakaar…"
As we left off in the last book, after Thor was banished to Sakaar, he ascended to become the New God of Light.
And how did Loki feel about this? It's hard for him to say. But one thing was clear: the reality of this change hit him hard, leaving him in a state of emotional turmoil with no outlet.
So when Thor announced his intention to stay on Sakaar to save the slaves, Loki didn't agree or disagree, he just followed Thor in a numb daze.
Thor felt guilty towards Loki and wanted to help Loki out of his slump. To accomplish this, he infused a large portion of his Divine Light Power into Loki.
Just like Thor, who was previously disheartened, Loki showed no intention to use this power.
They left the Saka Star Arena and headed towards the mine where Thor had previously worked.
They walked on the barren land of Sakaar, where hot wind howled and sandstorms were a constant feature. Thor didn't use his powerful Divine Light Power to directly teleport, but walked step by step with Loki.
On the way, a flash of light streaked across the sky, and Sif dropped from the glow of the Rainbow Bridge. When Thor saw her, he was astonished. He asked, "Sif, why are you here? Are your injuries better?"
Sif still looked a bit pale. She walked up to Thor and said, "I healed much faster than the others, so I came to look for you."
"When the power of the God of Light came, all of Asgard's citizens were chanting for their new king. Thor, congratulations..."