Just as Helen's energy beam was about to hit Thor, a faintly glowing magic barrier suddenly appeared in front of Thor, with Frigga's figure slowly descending from mid-air.
Due to Helen's diminutive size against the energy beam, she was barely noticeable amidst the vast universe. Any small celestial fragment was much larger than Helen, and if one didn't look closely, they might mistake her for a mere speck of cosmic dust.
Therefore, from Frigga's perspective, the source of the energy beam was Stark. Despite her anger at Sif's injury, her maternal instinct to protect her child prevailed. After shielding Thor from the attack, she landed beside him.
As the light gradually dissipated, a tiny figure floated in the air. The moment she saw the face, Frigga was stunned.
"Loki? How...how did you shrink?" Frigga's first reaction was to rush up to embrace Helen. Not until she got closer did she realize that the girl didn't seem to be Loki.
No one knows a child better than a mother, and the Asgardians can also sense the divine power emanating from each other. As Frigga had been spending every day with Loki recently, she was very familiar with Loki's aura. The little girl in her arms, although resembling Loki, was not her.
Frigga slightly loosened her hold of Helen, held her by the armpit, and lifted her up, revealing the Ark Reactor on Helen's chest, still glowing. It was clearly just outputting power and recharging.
Suddenly, a figure flew to Frigga's side, took Helen from her hands. Stark held Helen's back and pressed his armored hand on the Ark Reactor on her chest.
A few small robots flew over, linking the mechanical parts of the two, Stark fixing the Ark Reactor on Helen's chest. Earlier, he'd found that the older version of the Ark Reactor on Helen's chest was malfunctioning from exertion.
At this time, the already exhausted Thor flew over. Before he could unleash his fury, Stark explained, "First of all, this is not a child I had with Loki."
"Impossible! She looks exactly like Loki!" Thor roared.
"She is Loki's child! But not mine and Loki's!" Stark explained again.
"Then why does she have your Ark Reactor on her chest?" Thor questioned.
"Humans are carbon-based organisms. The Ark Reactor is my invention. How could she inherit it…"
"So you were using Loki's child for experiments!"
"Hold on." Frigga suddenly spoke up. She was a lot calmer than Thor. She thought that this might be Stark and Loki's child when she noticed Helen's appearance, but she wasn't as angry as Thor.
On the one hand, Frigga had spent more time with Loki. As a mother, she knew that no one could force Loki if she was not willing. And given Loki's current level, it was unlikely anyone could deceive her.
If this indeed was Stark and Loki's child, this indicated Loki must have consented, whether for love or benefit; she must have had her purpose.
As Frigga and Thor had different viewpoints, they drew different conclusions. Since Loki was willing, the arranged marriage would actually make Frigga happier.
What nobody knew was that Frigga did not agree with Odin's idea to pair Thor with Loki.
Primarily, Thor clearly saw Loki only as a sister, and in his previous life as an elder brother, Loki was a brother; they hadn't developed feelings beyond kinship. If Thor was forced to wed Loki, Thor would surely feel uncomfortable.
No matter how one looks at it, Thor is now the divine king of Asgard. Odin's era has passed, and there's no need for friction between the new and old king over this issue.
Secondly, Asgardians' perception of Loki is not easily changeable; they would not approve of Loki becoming the Queen of Gods. Forcing this could make things difficult for Loki, even despite her capabilities.
Frigga knew Odin had other lovers, which was common in Asgard, but Asgard firmly followed a monogamy system. In other words, one could have multiple lovers, even make them goddesses, but there would only be one everlasting Queen of Gods.
Asgardians would only recognize one Queen of Gods. They've never heard of an Asgard divine king having two queens simultaneously. These made Asgardians' expectations of the Queen of Gods extremely high; she must be strong, beautiful, gentle, virtuous, and her every word and action must conform to the traditional image of an Asgardian goddess.
Obviously, Loki was not this kind of person, her ambition was too great, and Asgard could not accept a Queen of Gods who meddled in politics, not even if she occasionally appeared before them.
Odin's political calculation to bring the two together was flawless, but in reality, it would only cause discomfort on both sides.
Moreover, if Thor were to abandon Sif like this, it would inevitably earn him criticism. He first expelled the stubborn faction then discarded Sif, who once relied on the stubborn faction. This could easily make the people of Asgard believe he was heartless, leaving everyone insecure.
In a nutshell, Frigga had been fretting about how to break this deadlock. She had also tried to convince Odin, but he still thought that one should act for the bigger picture and even asked her to persuade the two children.
But having been the Queen of Gods for so long, Frigga knew better. Whether Odin was willing was one thing, but whether it could happen was another. Frigga may have refrained from speaking or acting on the surface, but she also had ways to prevent this arranged marriage from happening.
And now, the opportunity had arrived. Frigga even believed that Loki might have sensed Odin's intentions and thus entangled herself with Stark. With a demon god who could escalate the situation any time in between, it would be difficult for Odin to separate the two.
Thinking this way, Frigga felt she must help her daughter. Therefore, she stopped the infuriated Thor, saying, "I don't care how you two had this child. I just want to ask, are you her father, and is Loki her mother, right?"
"This... "Stark hesitated for a moment, then briefly explained to Frigga how the child came to be. Frigga listened with furrowed brows, she said, "So, this child is not just yours and Loki's, but could also be Thor's?"
"My child? What's it got to do with me?!" Thor was still struggling to process this.
"If what he said is true, then the spark that ignited this child's soul fire is actually your divine power. In other words, you could also be considered his father."
Thor was startled, he reached out a large hand, gently touched Helen's head. He then felt a familiar presence. Although it was not his divine power, the little girl's soul was indeed from the Aesir.
Frigga turned to them both with a serious look on her face, saying: "I do not want to probe into how this child came into existence, either way, whether Loki or Thor, I should be this child's grandmother."
Stark had to admit this point. After all, it was Loki that had initially wielded the hammer, and the divine power was Thor's. But both of these two were the princes of Asgard, also the children of the Queen of Gods. Therefore, regardless of how you look at it, Frigga was Helen's grandmother.
"Now, I hope you two do not reveal how she was born. Or rather..." Frigga, looking into Stark's eyes, said, "Insist that she is the child of you and Loki, and completely unrelated to Thor."
"Why?" Stark asked.
Frigga glanced at Thor, who was still confused, but did not directly answer the question. Instead she said: "If Odin were to find out that Thor has a child, he would do whatever he could to bring this child back to Asgard for us to raise."
"No way." Stark shook his head, looking at Frigga he said: "You should know better than I do what Asgard will face."
"Precisely because of that, Odin would view every deviation from the prophecy as a last resort." Frigga emphasized her words, then said, "Odin is a pure nationalist of Asgard. He will sacrifice everything, including every Asgardian and himself, just to ensure Asgard's survival."
Frigga sighed looking at Helen, and said, "The prophecy has never included this child. If Odin found out she has a connection to Thor, you might be in trouble."
"Don't you wish she could alter the twilight of the gods?" Stark asked.
Frigga closed her eyes and shook her head, saying, "Perhaps Odin values Asgard too much. It's the people on the inside who are often blinded. The cause of the twilight of the gods is not that we are not strong enough, but that we are too powerful."
"He's desperate to train Thor, waging wars everywhere, looting resources, strengthening Asgard, but all these actions are pushing it towards destruction. If he insists on bringing this child back to Asgard, all he will do is join us on the path to return to the origin of the universe."
Stark held Helen, stroked her head, then said, "This child will never follow you back to Asgard. I don't care what Odin thinks. If he wants to come, I'll wait for him."
From Stark's tone, Frigga could hear a determination. Having once lost a child, Frigga understood more than anyone that parental protective instincts were the most powerful force in the world.
After saying this, Stark turned around and left. Thor, who still didn't fully understand what was going on, ran after him, saying, "Wait! You haven't explained what's going on between you and Loki!"
Watching their receding figures, Frigga sighed deeply. Suddenly, she turned her head towards the endless space, where a brilliant thunder was flickering with light. That was Odin.
Frigga turned her head, looking somewhat sad. Clearly, she still harbored resentment about the previous incident when Baldur had returned to the World Tree due to excessive destruction.
Odin, however, stepped forward and hugged Frigga, saying, "Let's go, let's go home."
"Don't you want to bring that child back?" Frigga asked him.
Odin shook his head and said, "I understand this more than you do. An opportunity that appears outside the prophecy must remain outside the prophecy to truly bring a real chance. If we must drag her into this mess, the final outcome will only be mutual destruction."
"After Thor inherited his throne, I had more free time to think. I thought a lot."
"Humans are a fascinating race. They hold emotions in such high regard. I used to think that was just an excuse they use to avoid their weaknesses."
"But, they changed Thor, they changed Loki. Perhaps emotions do reveal more weaknesses in them, however, it also gives them greater strength..."
Odin, with his arm around Frigga, turned back. Looking through the endless space towards that azure blue planet.
At this moment, the line dividing day and night just passed over New York. The arc of the sun's rays was floating on the shimmering sea, accompanied by the first horn sound of the morning, New York woke.
Pepper, who had been busy all night, rubbed her temples and quickly walked into the elevator, heading for Stark's lab, intending to discuss the upcoming quarter's work agenda with Stark.
As soon as she walked through the door, she was knocked off balance by a small figure. From Pepper's perspective, the first thing she saw was the Ark Reactor on the chest of the little girl who had also fallen to the ground.
What she saw next, was that the little girl looked at least 80% similar to Loki.