"Loki!!"
Thor, who had arrived soaring through the sky, completely ignored Arthur. He called out his brother's name and dove down.
The Eye of Horus scanned Thor from top to bottom, and only then did Arthur breathe a sigh of relief. "Authorized confirmation— he's the real deal!"
Thor's gaze was fixed firmly on Loki, while he glanced at the guards who were still entangled with the Abomination.
With a wave of his hand, Thor commanded, "Stop!"
Thor's authority was undeniable. Although he had been cast down to Earth by Odin before, his return meant he was still the prince of Asgard— Thor.
The guards, without a second thought, ceased their actions immediately.
Arthur, having maneuvered the Abomination back to his side, patted him, causing the Abomination to vanish from sight.
Frankly, fighting with these guards had been quite exhausting. It was all too easy to accidentally crush a couple of them.
The Abomination's strength was too exaggerated, and if he had ended up causing a bloody massacre, it would be hard for him to explain the situation to Odin.
Thor looked at Arthur one more time before focusing his attention on Loki. "It's over!"
Loki glared fiercely at Arthur. Arthur looked at him innocently and wondered why Loki kept staring at him.
Grinding his teeth, Loki sneered, "Do you really think… you've won?"
He gathered divine power in his hands, and the magic staff immediately began to glow brilliantly.
"Eternal Spear!"
Thor's expression changed dramatically, and his mighty hammer whirled into a whirlwind.
Arthur was stunned. "So that wasn't a magic staff…"
He had thought it was a magic staff when he saw the movie, but it was actually called the Eternal Spear?
"Run!"
Thor shouted as he stood in front of Arthur. At the same time, Loki hurled the Eternal Spear with its brilliance blazing towards them.
A massive force erupted suddenly. Arthur's face turned grim as he blinked into the air, using his steel-like body to brace himself. However, before he could rise very high, he felt an immense pressure coming down on him, brutally overwhelming his every sense.
In an instant, Arthur's body was hurled away.
He flew a considerable distance— over a hundred meters— before crashing into a building!
Crash!
The building behind him instantly cracked with numerous fissures but did not collapse.
Arthur was embedded in the wall, exhaling sharply. "Damn it, that was close!"
The colorless energy within him was nearly depleted. He let out a long sigh, but when he looked through The Eye of Horus, he nearly coughed up blood.
He saw that Odin had appeared out of nowhere and had intercepted the Eternal Spear, preventing its energy from dispersing.
Arthur, having climbed so high, was affected by the irregular force, resulting in being swept by the energy.
"Damn, this is what they call 'smartness often backfires.' I should have dodged backward…"
Arthur sighed deeply and then noticed that Loki was not visible through The Eye of Horus.
"Where did he go?"
He quickly sent The Eye of Horus aloft but couldn't find Loki's whereabouts.
...
...
Loki had fled!
This was confirmed the next day.
Odin had mobilized all of Asgard's resources to search but had found no trace of him.
Arthur felt a bit of regret. He thought that if Loki had been captured and imprisoned at this moment, it might have been a decent ending.
At least that guy won't be constantly creating disaster everywhere he went.
But clearly, things aren't as simple as they seemed, and Arthur could only sigh.
After spending a night in Asgard, Arthur also took the opportunity to heal his injuries.
Fighting a god was clearly no simple matter. Even though the battle was back and forth, the issue was that this back-and-forth meant that while Arthur was hitting Loki, Loki was hitting him too.
Although the steel-like defense was almost a bug-like protection that mitigated most of the damage, there were still some minor injuries. The main damage came from 'shock' injuries. Such attacks can't be completely blocked. Even if the surface shows no harm, the force can still cause issues with the internal organs.
Especially from the final attack with the Eternal Spear— Arthur definitely took a hit there.
The colorless energy could regenerate automatically, so that wasn't a concern. However, it took Arthur twenty minutes with The Eye of Horus to fully recover from his injuries.
At this moment, there was a banquet in the hall of the palace.
Arthur was sitting in the grand hall, listening to everyone boasting.
Surrounding him were the three warriors of Asgard and the goddess Sif.
It was only earlier that Arthur learned that the three warriors of Asgard formed a small group, and Sif wasn't counted among them.
But it didn't matter. These people were extremely warm towards Arthur.
This was mainly due to Arthur's strength, being able to single-handedly fend off Loki and protect the Guardian Sword, which earned him almost universal praise in Asgard.
Moreover, the Asgardian warrior, Heimdall, who was the gatekeeper, almost left his post to come and offer him a toast.
The preservation of the Guardian Sword was immensely significant to him.
However, due to his duties, Heimdall couldn't leave, though he hoped to have a chance to pay his respects to Arthur before he departed.
This kind of treatment made Arthur feel for the first time that being a 'hero' wasn't entirely without its perks. At least in Asgard, he was quite popular.
After drinking for a while, Arthur noticed that the enthusiasm around him remained high, but he found himself growing restless.
Quietly leaving his seat, he inquired about Odin's whereabouts from Odin's wife, Frigga, and then found Odin.
The old man was standing at the end of a corridor, admiring the view of Asgard.
"Admiring your grand realm?" Arthur approached Odin from behind, unsure why he felt such respect for this old man, yet always spoke without much thought.
Odin didn't mind and said: "Beneath the peace lies countless blood and bones. We lack the courage to face challenges but don't need to sound the war horn."
Arthur thought for a moment and said, "So, whether it's protection or invasion, people have to die."
Odin was silent for a moment before nodding: "Only those who have the courage to face all this can understand compassion."
"Do you think Thor understands?"
Arthur scratched his head. "Actually, I'm not very sure myself."
Odin looked at Arthur with a hint of helplessness, as if to say, do you think you're better than my son?
After a brief silence, Odin spoke again: "He is beginning to understand what compassion is. He will become a better king than I am!"
(End of Chapter)
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