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"Sometimes, fate just... fate just up-and-fucks you for no good reason. That's the way'a the world! The way it's always gonna be."
- Darwin Tremor, (Smokin' Aces)
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<{Somewhere in Antarctica, Midgard}>
<(Omniscient POV)>
"Hahaha, I did it. I escaped. Take that brother, you will never have me. I am the great Loki, the God of Lies and Mischief, and the prince of Asgard. No prison in the world can ever hold me against my will." Loki laughed like a man possessed as he exited an ice cave with nothing but snow lying all around him. He looked tired with dirty snow smudged all over his face and clothes, his hair disheveled as if he had just been in a street fight, and a slight limp was also visible on his left leg but the confident charming smile on his face was still present. "Now, I just have to figure out exactly where I am and then I can get back to planning how to take revenge against my family. After all, this might be the best time for me to make a move since it doesn't look like Father would be recovering soon from the recent attack on his life." He muttered to himself before quickly snapping his fingers and cleaning himself with magic.
Since Loki was still imprisoned during Atem's battle with Odin, he was not privy to the full details of the conflict. He only knew that the person who had defeated him on Midgard was also behind the recent assault on Asgard. He had tried to glean rumors from the guards and eyewitnesses before making his escape from the realm but none of them were aware of the real reason behind the battle. Even the few eyewitnesses to Odin and Atem's clash only claimed that the fight was on a completely different scale and proved that the two were in a league of their own.
Also, despite initially seeming like both Odin and Atem were evenly tied in power, the All-Father was said to have largely dominated most of the fight, with entities like Heimdall, Thor, and the All-Mother unable even to intervene much less halt the battle. Atem, on the other hand, mostly defended himself throughout the fight and could only cause significant injury to the All-Father with his final move before he was visibly banished to only Odin knew where.
However, that one final attack apparently involved Odin being... assaulted and mutilated by hundreds of tentacles belonging to some Eldrich beings. No Asgardian had the guts to say it in public, but Loki was damn sure that those blobs of tentacles might have penetrated a couple of Odin's "sacred" places they weren't supposed to. Nonetheless, Asgard was able to expunge those creatures after the All-Father fought against them for days on end along with the entire Asgardian army without a single moment of respite. Although the attack was meant to be purely on him, the ensuing war was responsible for a lot of damage in the dimension and had caused panic among the Asgardians, panic that had enabled Loki to escape through one of the hidden interdimensional rifts that connected Asgard with Midgard.
'Now all I have to do is just find a way off this godforsaken planet to get some powerful allies. Father should remain in his Odin-Sleep for quite some time because of his injuries and how much power he had to spend eliminating those tentacle monsters and reversing the damage to the realm. Maybe I should consider allying with those Skrulls or the Kree or maybe even the Shi'ar... but again, none of them have the spine to go against Asgard. The only one who does is probably... the Mad Titan but again making him an ally might have some serious consequences. Not only is he too smart to be used as a pawn but there is a reason why he is called "mad"...
But then again, at least, he won't be as scary as those tentacle monsters. Those things looked like they were straight from the nightmares of Hel. I was only able to see one of their silhouettes for a single moment from a distance but that one moment was like months for me. I could still remember my entire body refusing to move, the ichor in my veins freezing due to fear. As a matter of fact, I think I might have even had what humans call a stroke at that time.' Loki thought to himself with a gulp. 'Nope, I definitely don't want to meet those creatures again in this life.'
