At Alfred's near-collapse and wailing, Odin's expression turned strange.
He stared at the rune grandmaster on the ground, then at the parchment draft that had completely broken him, and a bitter smile tugged at his eyes.
He bent down and took the draft—Rune Outline—from Alfred's trembling hands.
At a single glance, Odin felt extraordinary charm of law.
Every word, every stroke on the parchment seemed to echo the universe's origin, resonating with the majesty of following the law.
His gaze fell on the opening outline:
"Runes are the whispers of the universe, the marks of law.
Their form is the surface, their meaning is the inner layer, their rhyme is the foundation.
The people of the world often see the form, rarely understand the meaning, and almost never notice the root.
Now, we return to the foundation and reshape it…"
Just a few lines—starting from clarity and going straight to the core!
Odin's heart shook.
What a brilliant perspective.
What terrifying insight.
He read further, seeing Lucci's optimized basic runes and unheard-of new ones.
For example, a rune called ''Singularity''—able to "infinitely compress space within a designated range."
And another rune called "Entropy Silence"—able to "forcibly halt all energy activity within the target area."
With Odin's vision as a All Father-class powerhouse, he instantly understood the greatness of this general outline.
This was no longer "using" a source.
This was defining a new origin.
Many of Lucci's runes were backed by deep laws and applied techniques that even Odin would need significant time to comprehend and master.
If the runes Odin had once understood were knowledge the World Tree had "taught"…
Then what Lucci was doing now was giving the World Tree a "lesson."
Telling the World Tree what runes "should" be.
"Gulp."
God-King Odin swallowed unconsciously.
He raised his head, looking at Lucci's calm face—as though he had done something trivial—
And the shock in his heart was unbearable.
At last, Odin realized that all his previous prophecies and judgments had been wrong.
And wrong by an absurd margin.
He had thought Lucci was "learning" the world's knowledge.
Now he realized Lucci had never been studying.
He was compensating.
He was transcending.
Lucci's growth speed completely surpassed Odin's imagination and comprehension!
"Perhaps…"
A frightening thought made Odin's heart pound.
"Asgard's future is greater than I imagined…"
"And it will arrive… far sooner."
…
Just as Odin was shaken by Lucci's heaven-defying display—
Elsewhere in Asgard, in the training grounds.
Thor was alone, hugging boulders and venting his frustration.
The scene of his defeat by Lucci that day lingered like a nightmare.
He couldn't understand why the power he was proud of had been crushed so completely.
Loki saw Thor and curled his lips into a playful smile.
"What's wrong?"
"My brave, invincible brother, the future guardian of Asgard—what troubles you?"
"Don't bother me, Loki!" Thor roared.
"Oh?" Loki circled him. "Is it because of your new brother?"
Thor's movements stopped. He slammed the rock in his hands onto the ground with a loud crash.
He didn't speak, but his expression said everything.
Seeing the reaction, Loki became more certain.
Still pretending surprise, he asked, "Right? You really went to compete with him and then… lost?"
Thor's face flushed.
Hesitating, he told Loki how he had been defeated by Lucci's single finger.
Loki's teasing slowly faded, replaced by disbelief.
"He's really that strong? He used only one finger?"
"I don't know if he's strong, but…" Thor struggled for words. "His power was huge… incomprehensible."
Loki stared at Thor blankly, then rolled his eyes and employed his best provocation.
"What? You can't handle such a tiny setback?"
He sneered. "How shameless to call yourself 'Asgard's First Warrior.'"
"It seems that title might belong to someone else."
"That's not true!" Thor was instantly triggered and jumped up. "I was just… momentarily confused!"
"I'll get stronger!"
"I'll go challenge him again—right now!"
With that, he turned and stormed toward the palace as if proving his strength.
Loki watched Thor's ignorant back and twisted his lips in contempt.
"As expected—brainless. Muscles growing into his head."
He looked toward Lucci's palace, malice in his eyes.
"Strength alone is meaningless. In Asgard, you must use your head."
"And that boy named Lucci…"
"It seems he needs a little… color."
"Otherwise he'll really think no one is left in Asgard."
A scheme silently took shape in Loki's mind.
As one of Asgard's top illusion masters, Loki had absolute confidence in his illusioncraft.
Strong?
Before a refined illusion, it was nothing but fists swinging at empty air.
"Lucci…"
"Let me see whether your mind is as simple as Thor's."
Loki stood before a huge magic mirror, a crafty smile on his lips.
He stretched out his hand. Divine power flowed, and ancient incantations spilled from his mouth.
Soon, an illusory clone emerged from the mirror—identical to Loki, even mimicking his breathing vividly.
"Go," Loki ordered. "To Lucci's palace. Give our new brother… a 'greeting.'"
"Make him understand how deep Asgard's waters are."
His goal was simple: use illusion to deceive Lucci, make him embarrass himself in front of everyone, and blunt his edge.
The clone smiled strangely at Loki, then drifted away, passing through walls and floating toward Lucci's palace.
…
Inside the palace.
Lucci was immersed in further refining the Rune Outline.
Suddenly, he raised his head, his calm gaze landing on the palace gate.
"Loki" strode in boldly.
But to Lucci's eyes, this Loki felt… wrong.
In his vision, everything had essence.
This Loki's body was wrapped in dazzling illusion energy, yet at its core was emptiness—unreality.
Like a realistic painting: in the end, it was still flat.
Heaven-defying comprehension—automatic activation!
[You observe an unknown illusion creation…]
[You begin analyzing the composition of illusion energy…]
[Your comprehension defies the heavens. You instantly understand the essence of illusion and create your own magic—Eyes that Shatter Delusion!]
In an instant, within the depths of Lucci's pupils, countless runes seemed to live and die.
The world before him changed again.
The illusion energy disguising "Loki" vanished in his sight, revealing a false core made purely of magic.
"A doppelgänger? You want to play…"
Lucci understood immediately, yet his face remained calm.
He even found it a little amusing.
Using illusions?
It was like a three-year-old showing off single-digit addition and subtraction in front of a mathematics professor.
But since the other party delivered himself to the door, Lucci was willing to "return the favor."
[You gain insight into the origin of illusion; your comprehension defies the heavens…]
[You begin creating a new application of illusion…]
[Combining the opponent's thought patterns and soul fluctuations, you create your own magic—Heart-Demon Labyrinth!]
A faint arc curved at the corner of Lucci's mouth.
He lifted his eyes to the approaching clone, who was about to mock him—
Lucci's gaze met the clone's.
"Broken."
He spat out a single word softly.
An invisible power of shattered delusion struck instantly.
Before the clone could speak, it popped like a bursting bubble—poof—turning into green specks of light and dissipating into the air.
But it didn't end there.
The moment the clone shattered, Lucci's powerful, incomparable divine thought surged along the faint spiritual link between the clone and the original—
Like lightning flowing against the current—crossing distant space, blasting straight into Loki's mind in another palace.
"Returning the gift. Receive it."
Boom—
…
In Loki's palace.
He reclined leisurely, wine glass in hand, imagining Lucci's embarrassed face in his illusion, smiling smugly—
Suddenly!
It felt as if an invisible giant hammer smashed his brain.
His vision went black; all scenes vanished in an instant.
When he "opened his eyes" again, he found himself in an endless, mirror-lined maze.
"This is… where?"
Loki was shocked.
He immediately realized he had been tricked.
It was an illusion!
"Hmph—trying to teach a master?"
Loki sneered. He was confident in his own ability to break illusions.
But when he tried to dispel it, he was stunned—
All his illusion techniques were completely ineffective here.
This labyrinth seemed built directly on his mental origin, unimaginably real and solid.
At that moment, in the maze's mirrors, his most terrifying visions began to appear one after another.
Scenes of being seized by giants and about to be eaten.
Odin looking at him with cold eyes and disappointment.
Thor ascending the throne while Loki could only envy from the shadows.
And the thing he feared most…
The endless, lonely abyss of the cosmos.
"No! No!"
"I don't care about any of that!"
"It's all fake!"
Loki ran madly through the maze, trying to escape.
But no matter how he ran, he could not leave the circular labyrinth.
The terrifying scenes repeated before him again and again like pus on bone.
"Ah—!"
"Help!"
In reality, inside Loki's palace—
The God of Mischief was sprawled on the floor, convulsing, face pale, eyes shut tight, screaming with bottomless grief and endless terror.
He had been completely crushed in his own specialty.