The Eye of Horus scanned the surroundings in the void. Once it was confirmed that Loki had truly left, Arthur finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Eye's surveillance ability had always had the power to see through illusions, but without opponents like Loki in the past, that function had remained unused.
It wasn't until Arthur faced Loki that he remembered this particular function of the Eye Of Horus, prompting him to quickly summon the Eye of Horus. The Second Prince of Asgard was no simple opponent— not only could he vaguely sense the presence of the Eye, but he also seemed to understand its capabilities.
As a result, Loki chose not to continue the fight and retreated. After all, he was only a projection, and his means were limited. The Eye of Horus appeared to have a subtle suppressing effect on many of his abilities, making his withdrawal a wise decision.
Still, even with that in mind, Arthur had to admit that this Loki was far stronger than what was portrayed in the movies. His bizarre magic was difficult to defend against. If his real body had been there, Loki's close-combat abilities would likely have been formidable as well.
Although they hadn't engaged in a full fight and despite the fact that the movie wasn't a reliable source of reference, Arthur could tell from Loki's actions that he was certainly both skilled in magic and combat.
"Looks like I'm not the only one in this world who's a master of both magic and combat!" Arthur muttered to himself.
At some point, the rain overhead had stopped, and Arthur began to reflect on the brief confrontation. The fight had been short, and most of their moves were mere tests of each other's abilities.
Arthur hadn't even used his trump cards— like his superhuman strength, energy blasts, or his "Abomination" attack. But considering that Loki was just a projection, Arthur wondered how a fight would play out if Loki's real body was present and he unleashed all his hidden cards.
After pondering for a while, Arthur realized there was no clear answer. The Marvel universe wasn't like cultivation novels where power levels are obvious— where you could say, "I'm at the Nascent Soul stage, and you're at the Core Formation stage," and everyone would know who's stronger.
In Marvel, power wasn't always clearly defined. You might get beaten badly one day, but in another situation, you could rise to victory. A person's combat strength was influenced by their state, mindset, battle spirit, and even their goals.
Every living being had hidden cards to play, especially these gods with unfathomable depths.
Thor, with his straightforward nature, was probably the easiest to gauge. But figures like Odin and Loki? Their strength felt vague, like a mist— you could sense they were powerful, very powerful, but no one could gauge how powerful they exactly were.
If you had the guts, you could try to find out by fighting them. If not, you'd just have to keep guessing…
Arthur sat there, contemplating all of this, then recalled Loki's words to him. He chuckled bitterly. He didn't believe a single word from the God of Mischief— not even a punctuation mark.
Odin, with his status, couldn't afford to lie; his pride wouldn't allow it. But Loki, lying would be a second nature to him. That was as normal as breathing for him. If he ever stopped lying, that would be the real shocker.
Without knowing the truth, it would be easy to be deceived by Loki. But Arthur was always on high alert when dealing with him. This trickster could betray you without a second thought. One moment, he'd be speaking with sincerity, full of emotion and logic, and the next, he'd be selling you out.
Loki's ability to switch goals seamlessly, leaving no trace, was truly something else.
Using the Eye of Horus, Arthur scanned the surroundings again to make sure Loki hadn't returned. After confirming this, he redirected the Eye toward Thor, where he saw Thor being escorted out by Phil Coulson. Standing at the entrance was a middle-aged man, gratefully thanking them.
"Hmm..." Arthur rubbed his nose, realizing that his rainy night adventure was probably coming to an end.
He recalled this scene from the movie— where the middle-aged man pretended that Thor was his colleague, even going so far as to forge credentials. Coulson quickly saw through it but decided to release Thor anyway, assigning surveillance to him.
Classic SHIELD move: let the bait run to catch the big fish. But Coulson probably never imagined that the fish they'd catch wouldn't be human— it would be a god.
As Arthur processed the events in his mind, a slight smile formed on his lips.
...
Two cars left the makeshift SHIELD base. The first belonged to the middle-aged man, and the second to SHIELD. However, the driver of the second car had no idea there was an unexpected guest in the trunk.
Arthur, awkwardly curled up in the back, muttered, "This is really cramped..."
Using the Eye of Horus, he tracked the middle-aged man's car ahead.
That man was no ordinary person either. His name was Erik Selvig, the mentor of Thor's soon-to-be girlfriend and an expert in astrophysics and quantum physics. He was said to have been friends with Banner before the Hulk's emergence caused them to lose contact.
After reviewing the man's background in his mind, Arthur started feeling bored. It looked like he would be stuck in the trunk for the entire journey. He pulled out his phone to pass the time and noticed a few messages from Lily that evening.
She enthusiastically shared details about her dinner, which made Arthur even hungrier. Suddenly, he realized he hadn't eaten all day. Seeing that it was already past midnight, he sent Lily a teasing message reminding her to get up for a midnight bathroom trip.
Then, he tucked his phone into the Disassembler space and began disassembling the green-labeled weapons he had stored there.
As Arthur disassembled, his thoughts wandered. The Disassembler was now at Beginner Level 3, but what would come after that?
"With the higher level, I should be able to disassemble more items, right? But I'll need to experiment to find out... Hmm, I wonder if I could disassemble a car?"
With that thought in mind, Arthur patted the trunk's base. To his surprise...
**[Would you like to disassemble this vehicle (Blue)?]**
"It actually works? I couldn't do this before! What could I get from disassembling a car?"
Arthur blinked in surprise, resisting the urge to disassemble the vehicle. After all, there were still two SHIELD agents sitting in the front. Disassembling the car now? He'd heard of self-driving cars, but driving without a car altogether? That wouldn't end well.
Plus, the car was only of blue quality. The results from disassembling it probably wouldn't be worth much.
"But still, I'm curious— what would I get from disassembling it?"
Arthur blinked again, realizing something else. His pat on the car had been an instinctive move, but the Disassembler was already in operation at the time. Could it be that he could add items to it while it was running?
(End of Chapter)
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