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Chapter 235: The God of Deceit

Chaos, darkness, and coldness. That was all Thor could feel. After a pain that felt like it was tearing his body apart, he woke up to find himself drowning in terrifying despair and agony.

Thor lay on a barren field, struggling to open his eyes. Before him was a hazy white mist followed by a faint halo. He felt his dry and cracked lips, the excruciating pain all over his body, and the thick scent of blood in each breath.

Did Loki die? Yes, Loki died.

Thor had seen it with his own eyes. Loki was hit by the rainbow bridge's light and returned to the World Tree. He also saw Loki's divine powers being drawn out of him, meaning that Loki's physical body was indeed destroyed, and his last act before death was to infuse his divine powers and authority into himself.

Thor lay there feeling a cluster of blazing flames burning in his chest, not knowing whether it was Loki's divine authority or his own anger.

The one who killed Loki was the rainbow bridge, Asgard's most powerful weapon. And the one who manipulated it was Heimdall.

Thinking of this fact, Thor felt like his soul was about to burst from pain. He knew better than anyone else that Heimdall's most important job was to guard the rainbow bridge. No one would have been able to pass him and activate the rainbow bridge to attack Loki.

Heimdall killed Loki, and Thor didn't want to admit it, but he knew it was true.

Thor didn't want to think about what caused all of this, but he knew. He had always known that Asgardians didn't like Loki, even to the point of contempt and disgust. They didn't even want to comply with the Allfather's rules that required them to pay respect to Loki because they believed Loki had no sense of honor and was not worthy of being an Asgardian.

Thor knew that his brother was sensitive and suspicious, having felt resentment from the other Asgardians' disregard on numerous occasions.

Thor thought that he had allowed all of this to happen, allowing the other Asgardians to endlessly doubt and scorn Loki.

He remembered what Loki had said to him, "Do they not have any considerations for power struggles in their actions? Just because I am not the future heir of Asgard, they treat me this way? Imagining me as an enemy, they are always on guard against me, interpreting everything I do with the worst possible intentions?"

Thor lay on the ground, his thoughts starting to become scattered but also constantly connecting. If today, he had held Loki's neck, would Heimdall dare to activate the rainbow bridge to attack him?

No, Thor thought to himself. Of course, Heimdall wouldn't dare to do so because Thor was the future heir of Asgard, and Loki was just an insignificant prince.

This was the most important reason for all of this tragedy to happen. Thor closed his eyes, his breathing becoming heavier and heavier. He thought that Asgardians were dissatisfied with Loki, which led them to ignore him. Loki resented the Allfather and the other Asgardians for their unfairness, but what did he do?

He did nothing.

When the seed of conflict was sown, he was basking in the glory of honor and achievements, enjoying the praise from others. As the conflict grew deeper, he was still proud of the admiration he received from others.

Many people and things played in front of Thor's eyes. He and all his peers in Asgard were like brothers. They always praised him with smiles, went hunting with him, brought fresh fruits and served him wine.

The image of the Allfather Odin flashed in Thor's eyes. In his impression, Odin had never expressed satisfaction or praise for Thor's reputation among the people of Asgard.

Perhaps Odin had long known that there were too many insincere praises in this world. Once indulged in them, one would become arrogant and look down on others.

When did he start to become like this?

Thor began to recall.

He followed Odin to fight outside, and the praise from his subordinates and seniors surrounded him, making his soul rise higher and higher, making him feel invincible and entitled. Were there any sincere praises among these people? Perhaps there were, and some were proud of his bravery and skill in battle.

But was this because they truly submitted to his strength and leadership, or because they believed that this kind of bravery and skill in battle would bring more honor to themselves and their families? No one knew.

Thor suddenly felt ridiculous. He had been so obsessed with this kind of praise, like a dog chasing a bone. They could easily manipulate his emotions with just a few words, making him feel complacent and ignoring many things he should not ignore.

The praise of subjects and subordinates could win a smile from a king, but Thor found that he had actually taken this smile as his ultimate goal.

With endless regret and sadness, Thor's consciousness was shrouded in a black mist and slowly sank into deeper darkness. After a long time, a drop of cold rain fell on his face, and the feathers brushed his cheek, making Thor open his eyes in a daze.

His breathing was very weak, and he heard a sharp voice saying, "He's awake, he's awake!"

Thor struggled to breathe and opened his eyes to see the sun shining on his face, making him feel waves of heat. At this time, a huge wing stretched out in front of his face, blocking the sun for him. A bird face leaned in front of him and asked, "You're awake? Who are you? How did you get here?"

Thor heard that it seemed to be a common language in some peripheral galaxies, but he could understand some of it. He said, "Where is this?"

"This is the edge of the Woka Red Ring. How did you fall here?"

"What is Woka Red Ring?"

"Oh, I see! You were also exiled here as a criminal, right? This is Sakaar Star, the main planet of the Tayer Star System in the cosmic furnace, of course, people in the universe prefer to call it Sakaar Junkyard."

Sakaar Star?

Thor's mind was in chaos, and it took a long time for him to remember that he had followed the Allfather through here before, so he could understand some of the common language here.

He opened his cracked lips and looked at the sky. The sky here was completely different from Earth, covered with a layer of faint green, and a huge planet with a ring of stars hung in the sky. The sun also appeared bigger, and the sunlight was more intense.

The sun grew bigger and brighter in front of his eyes, gradually occupying his entire field of vision, and everything turned white.

"Click", the white light disappeared, and the switch of the desk lamp was turned off. Schiller sat beside the hospital bed and said, "So why did you throw him to Sakaar Star?"

"Of course, because that place is really suitable for him."

A voice came from the hospital bed, but there was no body to be seen. What was horrifying was that Loki's head was resting on a pillow while his body was made up of starlight.

It wasn't exactly starlight, as all the stars were connected by black slime. His body was like a web made up of symbiotes, and the black slime was busily climbing and moving, collecting the scattered power of the stars and weaving them back into his body.

Schiller held a cup of coffee and said, "I wanted to pour you a cup, but since you don't have any digestive organs now, I guess I won't."

Schiller and Loki both looked at Loki's body, and Loki laughed. Schiller asked, "You still have the mood to laugh?"

"Of course I do. I can guess what that idiot is thinking right now."

"He must think he's a complete fool, believing all those people who praised him before. He must feel like a clown, taking the least important things so seriously."

"Honor, honor," Loki sighed. "Who bestows honor upon whom?"

The door creaked and Strange walked in. He looked at Loki and said, "If I had known your plan was so risky, I wouldn't have taken Thor over."

"Risky? Well, I admit there's an element of gambling, but obviously I bet correctly."

"Tell me about your plan again. I think you need a listener right now."

Loki smiled again, appearing very relaxed, and began his tale.

"Thor's biggest problem is that he's too immersed in the sense of honor and duty that has been fabricated for him. He has never figured out one thing: who bestows honor upon whom?"

"The Allfather stands on the highest throne, bestowing honor upon whoever he chooses to be Asgard's valiant warriors. But Thor is the opposite. People praise him as Asgard's bravest warrior, and he believes it to be true."

"The Asgardians are a very strange race," Loki's tone was mocking and full of emotion. "They are born warriors, but are unwilling to admit that their violent genes make them constantly want to wage war."

"So, they want to cloak war in a hypocritical veil of honor and duty. But in reality, they are just addicted to the pleasure of victory and conquest."

"A king who cannot understand this will never rule the Asgardians, but obviously, the Allfather has done a good job."

"He throws war like a bone to a dog, while using honor and duty as chains and collars to drive Asgard's warriors to fight for him. At the same time, he is revered as the wisest king, and they willingly submit to his rule, eagerly seizing the fruits of victory for him."

"But Thor doesn't understand this. He chases after the bone with the rest of the dogs, instead of being the one who throws the bone on a chain."

"If he continues like this, he will be fooled by honor and lead Asgard to the Abyss of destruction."

"His trust in the Asgardians is built upon their flattery of him. But the Allfather never needs their flattery. He only needs them to fight bravely for him."

"What was the Allfather's ultimate goal in throwing Thor to Earth? To teach him humility? To teach him kindness?"

"No, no king needs those things. Besides, although I often mock Thor, I have to admit that he is actually a good person. He is kind enough, even to the point of being too kind and appearing foolish."

"The Allfather did it to make him understand that any flattery from any Asgardian, any talk of honor and duty, is meaningless."

"Without enough power and weapons, he could only live a difficult and impoverished life like an ordinary earthling."

"When he wakes up from that false sense of honor, he may be able to embark on the path of a true king."

"Why is he going to cause trouble in Jotunheim? It's because he's worried that the turmoil at the ceremony might tarnish his image in the hearts of Asgardians, he's worried that Asgardians will no longer respect him, and he's afraid that this unexpected event might make him lose credibility."

"But what the Father of the Gods uses to win people over is never an image, face, or a ceremony. His majesty is never questioned by anyone."

"We all understand this. In fact, except for Thor himself, many bystanders can see that he has reversed the order of importance, but this may also be related to his father's education. Odin came up with a set of rhetoric about honor and deceived his son."

"So you intend to make him realize this, to wake up from these false senses of honor, so you played a trick?"

"But I don't understand something." Strange looked at Loki and said, "How did you accomplish all this?"

"This is actually the easiest part. Sif and those three idiots don't trust me deeply. You can only say they hate me very much. Heimdall seems to remain neutral, but I know he is very suspicious of me."

"I deliberately ran back and forth in several warehouses under their noses, acting suspiciously."

"I grew up with Sif and a few of them. To be fair, I know they have simple minds and rarely think about anything complicated. What's surprising is that they themselves don't think I'm a threat. They may only think that I want to play some pranks or something."

"But their families are different. Sif's two brothers are deputy captains of the fleet, and the other three have elders who were close to the throne of Odin, and one is the deputy commander of the palace guard."

"They always keep a close eye on me because what they cannot accept the most is that I have any possibility of rising to power, because everyone knows that once I rise to power, they will have no chance to fight. Asgard will take a completely different path."

"These Asgardians have violence and war ingrained in their bones. They will never accept such a result, so they will definitely instill this idea in their children, watch me closely, and not let me threaten Thor in any way."

"Thor is the king they want, and I am not."

"Originally, this was an established fact, but recently, the attitude of the Father of the Gods has been somewhat subtle."

"Indeed, he knocked Thor down to the mortal world, and then gave you a divine position, and you are the first among your peers."

"I can imagine how they have been trying to figure out the Father of the Gods' thoughts, and just when they wanted to test it, the Father of the Gods fell asleep."

"At this critical moment, I sneaked in and out of various warehouses, pretending to want to use conspiracy to kill Thor. They would be like headless flies, uniting together to discuss what I was doing and whether I would really threaten Thor."

"So, I attracted most of their attention, including Heimdall, who guards the Rainbow Bridge."

"Heimdall is the only person in Asgard, besides the Father of the Gods, who has the right to activate the Rainbow Bridge. Even the goddess Freya and the commander of the palace guard do not have this right."

"So you brought the Destroyer to Earth, and then pretended to want to kill Thor and his companions, attracting the Rainbow Bridge to attack you. But aren't you afraid that the Rainbow Bridge will really kill you?"

"So I said, there is an element of gambling in it. I know Heimdall to some extent. He is a relatively conservative Asgardian. That is to say, although he supports Thor, he only suspects me, not strongly opposed."

"In short, he doesn't hate me, he just thinks I'm not suitable to be Asgard's heir. During my business trips in the universe, I frequently used the Rainbow Bridge, but he didn't say anything about it."

"So I'm sure that even if he remotely controls the Rainbow Bridge to attack me, he will control the force and not really kill me, but only stop me from hurting Thor."

"But you performed Loki's death in front of Thor."

"Yes, and I have to thank him for that." Loki lowered his head and looked at Venom in his body. Venom was busy and didn't have time to answer their questions, so Loki continued, "When this symbiote approached me before, it said it wanted to devour its own kind, which carried Knull's most refined power."

"After adapting to my body, it started its plan, but it found out that it wasn't that simple. The symbiote called Riot, relying on Knull's power, has been resisting, and Venom has no good way to eliminate him."

"If they were to fight head on, the result would be mutual destruction. Riot would consume all the power Knull left him, and Venom would get nothing."

"I see." Strange sighed and said, "So you two are in cahoots?"

"This is mutually beneficial. Venom put Riot into my body, and when the Rainbow Bridge attacked me, it used him to withstand most of the damage. This can weaken Riot's power and also block damage for me."

"How did you become like this?"

"The Rainbow Bridge is Asgard's most powerful weapon. Even if it's set to the lowest power, it's enough to seriously injure me. But that's not explosive enough and may not stimulate Thor. I had to perform a real death scene for him."

"So when the Rainbow Bridge attacked me, I let Venom attack Riot at the same time. The two symbiotes fought inside me, and I don't know if you guys understand their fighting process."

"I understand. In just a second, they can launch a group battle in every cell of your body, and the effect is similar to igniting a huge nuclear bomb in every cell of your body."

"That's right. The battle between Venom and Riot destroyed almost all of my physical body and allowed Thor to see a real death scene."

"You should have other goals, such as your divine power and divine position?"

"Yes, after my investigation, I found that I may not be suitable for the position of God of Fire in Asgard's divine system."

"But Asgard's divine system is a very magical thing. Once you choose it, you cannot change it. An Asgardian with a divine position of a righteous god can hardly change it, except for one possibility, which is death or approaching death."

"At that moment, Venom closed my consciousness and then melted my body. This deceived the World Tree and made it think that I was already dead, so my divine power and divine position were drawn out of my body."

"When my consciousness returned, I voluntarily poured the power and divine position into Thor's body, and I can rebuild myself and choose a more suitable divine position."

"So you two can get three divine powers and divine positions. How did the World Tree give birth to such a genius like you?" Schiller also laughed.

Strange, however, sighed and said, "The people of Asgard have woven a web of lies for Thor with praise and compliments, but as the God of Lies, you died to expose this lie."

"So," the three looked at each other and smiled.

"Can you calculate the shadow area of Thor's psyche at this moment?"