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 figur
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?