Luka instinctively looked up.
It was only then he realized—the entire world seemed to have been paused.
The panicked expressions on people's faces were frozen in place.
Flames that had danced moments ago now looked like crude 2D special effects. Water sprayed from firetrucks floated silently in the air, every droplet suspended in time, crystal clear.
And in this utterly frozen world, only one person was still moving—smiling as he walked slowly toward Luka.
The sound of his footsteps echoed oddly through the silent, still world.
Luka swallowed hard, a bead of sweat trailing down his temple.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat produced no sound.
"Hmm~ I think there's no need for you to use that toy, don't you think?"
The man raised a hand and pointed at the [Monkey Bomb] in Luka's hand. His tone was gentle, with a casual, teasing edge.
Despite the man's seemingly peaceful demeanor, Luka didn't dare relax.
He slowly placed the Monkey Bomb on the ground and rubbed his brow, muttering a name:
"God of Stories... Loki!"
Yes—even though the Loki before him wore the tattered green Asgardian robes from Avengers 1, his hair disheveled and clothes dusty, looking rather unkempt—
There was no mistaking it. To freeze the entire world in time like this… this could only be that Loki.
The Loki who had taken the final step—now guardian of all MCU timelines.
The God of Stories, or simply: God Loki.
It was ironic. Luka had braved immense danger just to reach Stark Tower in time—to stop Loki from taking the Tesseract and falling into TVA custody. To prevent this timeline from being erased.
And now, the one standing before him was already the final version of Loki—who had made it through two full seasons of his self-titled show.
God Loki seemed unaware—or uninterested—in Luka's swirling emotions. He merely smiled with curious amusement.
"God of Stories? Not a bad title~ So that's what people in your world call me, huh?"
Luka's pupils dilated.
Your world?
With just those two words, his cover was completely blown.
But he quickly calmed. Of course, he thought. If it's God Loki, arguably one of the most omnipotent entities in the Marvel Universe, it wouldn't be surprising for him to know.
"Surprised?" Loki chuckled. "You're not the first of your kind."
"Let me think… ah yes, there was a girl named Gwenpool. She came from a 'real world' too, just like you~"
Luka was stunned into silence.
This guy didn't just know he was from another world—he straight up mentioned the real world.
Gwenpool? Never heard of her... and with a name like Gwen, she hardly sounds like someone from where I come from.
His mind already numb, Luka hesitated only slightly before asking:
"So... you know your world is actually a..."
He trailed off.
What was he even supposed to say? "You're a movie character"? "Your real name is Tom Hiddleston"?
Better not risk offending someone practically omnipotent.
But Loki didn't seem to care at all. He casually raised his eyebrows.
"A TV show? Yes, yes~ I know~"
"Don't worry too much about it. The mechanics of a world aren't as simple as you think."
"Maybe you can think of your 'real world' as a universe that visualizes superpowers as entertainment—films, TV, etc."
"There's a zombie universe, a Spider-Verse, even a two-dimensional cartoon one. So having a universe with no supernatural powers, where these things are just fiction—what's so strange about that?"
"Or—how do you know that your so-called 'real world' isn't just someone else's movie or novel?"
Loki's tone was casual, but Luka was left speechless.
This was philosophy now—Luka had no real way to argue, much less debate with a god of infinite timelines.
Still, he latched onto something Loki had said.
"If you know about the real world… then could you maybe…"
He hesitated again.
Luka had been about to ask whether Loki could send him back to his original universe.
But as he began to speak, he realized—he had no real ties back home.
Why go back to a dull life, when he was in the middle of an epic adventure here? Even with danger—even with death on the line—it somehow felt more alive.
Loki, of course, read between the lines.
"No. I can't."
"Even as I am now, I'm far from omnipotent. My power has limits. What you're asking is simply beyond me—for now."
Luka just nodded. He couldn't tell if he was disappointed… or relieved.
But another question quickly arose.
"If you're not here to banish me… then why are you here?"
Loki didn't answer immediately. He turned toward the frozen lobby of Stark Tower.
There, time-stilled, was another version of Loki—handcuffed, motionless like a statue.
Strangely, Luka saw… a glimmer of envy in God Loki's eyes?
"Someone sent me. To offer you a choice."
"And also… to give you a kind of… hmm, identity verification, I suppose you could call it."
God Loki turned back to Luka. Whatever emotion had been on his face vanished, replaced once more with a mischievous grin.
But what he said next stunned Luka to his core.
"Huh? Someone sent you? And… what choice? What identity?! What are you even talking about, man?!"