"So," Loki began, "I assume you have a way of finding Ebony Maw despite his attempts to hide?"
I nodded. "Indeed. Before these eyes, no lies can survive — and hiding… hiding is just a form of lying. To lie to the senses, that too cannot stand before these eyes."
Indeed, my Fea Eyes A were my secret weapon. The eyes of the Fea were pretty damned broken. Not only did they allow me to see through magic, to see its true essence, but also to see lies and truth.
None could lie before a Fea.
Fea were pretty strange things. At least high Fea like Morgan were in a league of their own, yet all the same, Fea followed their own strange set of rules and didn't follow human logic at all. So if some Fea decided that hiding was lying, then their eyes would see through any and all means used to hide, be it magic or technology.
"Your Majesty, it would be dangerous to seek out the enemy commander on your own. Shouldn't we call the knights to your side?" Galahad said, having remained silent this whole time.
"I have you at my side, don't I? Plus, they are needed down there." I pointed at the chaos below.
Down there, the tide of battle had shifted. Now the forces of Asgard and my knights were pushing the Chitauri back, slowly gaining territory. Yet it was clear that the constant reinforcement from the portal wouldn't allow for a quick victory, which meant that if my knights were to pull back, many would still lose their lives.
Galahad accepted my answer with a solemn nod, though the tension in his shoulders remained. His guilt — his betrayal of his oath that once left me without him at my side as I fell in battle — still weighed heavily on his heart. He wished that no harm ever came to me.
Though I understood his thoughts, I honestly found them unnecessary. Against Ebony Maw? Even he wouldn't be needed. Maw might be strong, yes, but to fight against Loki with his spear would likely already be beyond him.
Much less with me at his side.
After all, my Magic Resistance A wasn't for nothing. Anything but the most powerful of magic could affect me, and I wasn't sure Maw could even pull that off. And if he could, it wouldn't be something he could do while dodging Loki's spear — or rather, Odin's.
"Well," Loki said lightly, spinning Gungnir once, "I, for one, am pleased you are not calling the entire Round Table to crowd around us. I prefer my battles with a little more room to breathe."
He cast Galahad a sideways look.
"And fewer knights glaring holes into the back of my skull."
Galahad did glare, but with the dignified, polished fury only a perfect knight could manage.
"Focus," I said gently, before Loki could escalate.
"This is the time to show Thanos and the universe that Loki Odinson is still able to defend the Nine Realms, so the battle is yours — you who command this army, who lead even Thor, God of Thunder, into battle. Show everyone your might." I spoke, stroking Loki's ego with every word.
I had put too much effort into making sure that Asgard wouldn't falter and into making sure the bond between brothers wouldn't snap to allow anything to go wrong here.
Loki straightened at my words.
And oh, how easily flattery worked on him.
The tension in his shoulders melted into something proud and dangerous; Gungnir hummed in his grip, echoing the sudden surge of confidence flowing through him. His eyes glimmered with that familiar blend of vanity and ambition — but this time tempered by responsibility, not mischief.
"You speak wisely," he said, voice lower, richer. "The Realm Eternal watches. And if this army falters, it is my failure — not Thor's, not Asgard's. Mine."
Galahad made a quiet sound — not approval, but acknowledgment.
Loki continued, chin lifting as if he stood upon a throne.
"Then let Thanos witness it. Let the Chitauri witness it. Let all creation witness that Loki Odinson, Lord Regent of Asgard, does not shrink from his enemies."
"Then prove it," I said. "Lead."
He flashed me a sharp smile, one that balanced on the line between regal and wicked.
"I shall."
He turned toward the tower, green light beginning to crackle around him as he prepared to teleport — only to pause, glancing back at me from the corner of his eye.
"You meant what you said… about this battle being mine to win?"
"Yes," I said simply.
It was not only strategy. It was necessity. Loki needed this victory as much as Earth did.
He needed the world to see him as a protector, not a threat.
He needed Thor to see him as an equal.
He needed himself to see that he was still worthy of the throne he held.
The wind shifted around us, pulling upward toward the portal like a tide being swallowed by the heavens. The Tesseract pulsed again — stronger now, more erratic. Maw was growing desperate.
"Go," I said softly. "And I will follow."
Loki smirked, and in a flash of green light, he vanished.
Galahad stepped closer, shield raised, ready to intercept whatever awaited us.
"My King," he said, voice gentle but firm, "you play a dangerous game."
"Perhaps," I admitted. "But the safest path is not always the one that leads to victory."
Galahad bowed his head. "Then I shall walk beside you, wherever it leads."
With that, both Galahad and I also disappeared from Ehangwen, leaving only Tristan up there with his bow, defending it by shooting down anyone who would dare touch it.
The world reappeared as we emerged from the teleportation inside the top chamber of Stark Tower. Loki stood there as well, spear of destiny in hand.
"Ebony Maw! Show yourself! Or is it that all the Children of Thanos do nothing but hide in the shadows? You dare come here, to Midgard, one of the Nine Realms, and try to steal from Asgard? Do you think Asgard weak!?" he called out in challenge.
I, too, looked around the room. Now that the entire thing was visible to me, I could see more than the centre I'd glimpsed from outside. I saw him there, in a shadowed corner, tucked behind debris: the grey face of Ebony Maw.
I didn't let him know he'd been seen, but I kept an eye on him all the same, and more importantly, on the scepter in his hand.
Because I knew that within it, the Mind Stone itself was hidden. While Loki hadn't known this and hadn't been able to draw out its full power, I wasn't about to assume the same would be the case here.
Sure, Maw couldn't use its full power either, but he could surely use far more than Loki had done.
And even a small part of an Infinity Stone was still an Infinity Stone.
I watched, from the corner of my eye, as Maw's face tightened at Loki's words, his thin grey fingers tightening around the scepter.
He clearly hadn't expected this — had not expected Asgard to send this mighty a force, nor had he expected me, nor my might. He was cornered, his trap foiled, the truth exposed.
Loki made it clear he knew the truth, that he knew who was behind all of this, and why.
The Tesseract.
All was exposed, and so Maw was trying to figure out what to do next. How to still salvage the situation.
He believed himself safe, hidden completely thanks to his own magic and the scepter. While Reed and the others thought about how he hid, who knew if their own thoughts were truly their own around Maw?
Indeed, even I couldn't be sure if the reason I wasn't killing him already was because he didn't want me to attack. Such was the potential power of an Infinity Stone.
"Maw!? You coward! Show yourself! Face the judgement of Asgard!" Loki shouted, clearly frustrated that Maw wasn't showing himself.
Loki looked at me, and I nodded, telling him that yes, Maw was here, hiding. Which only made Loki even angrier as he was clearly being ignored.
Loki's rage simmered just beneath the surface, visible in the twitch of his jaw and the way Gungnir vibrated in his grip. For someone who lived on attention — who breathed validation like air — there were few things more infuriating than being ignored.
Especially by someone weaker.
He took a step forward, voice rising to a cold, imperious roar.
"Your silence is an insult, Maw! You dare walk into the domain of Asgard's rule and hide like a rat in the dark!? COME OUT!"
The room trembled.
Metal groaned, warped by the residual energies of both the Tesseract and Loki's fury. The weapon in his hand shook and gave off dangerous energies.
But Ebony Maw remained where he was — half in shadow, half in the distorted light of the portal — utterly still.
And utterly smug.
He believed himself untouchable.
I could see it in the lines of his face, in the subtle shift of his fingers around the scepter, in the faint curl of his lips. Confidence sharpened into arrogance. Fear tempered into cunning. His mind was racing, calculating, searching for a path to victory that no longer existed.
But he still thought he had time.
He still thought he had control.
He still thought his illusions protected him.
Fool.
Loki snarled, raising Gungnir, ready to blast apart half the chamber in righteous fury—
I moved first.
Galahad followed a split second later, shield glowing bright as sunlight.
I kicked off the ground hard enough to shatter the floor tiles and shot toward Maw.
He had no chance to react to the sudden change in situation before I appeared behind him, sending a mighty kick into his back and launching him through the air. He crashed hard into the opposite wall, his invisibility broken and his face marred with shock.
Maw crumpled against the wall with a sickening crack, debris exploding outward around his thin frame. His illusion shattered completely — no elegance, no poise, no mystique. Just raw, ugly fear beneath a layer of arrogance that had finally split open.
He slid down to the floor, breath hitching, eyes wide.
"You—" he hissed.
Loki's laughter boomed behind me.
"Oh, excellent. Now we can see your face while you grovel."
Galahad stepped between me and Maw with practiced precision, shield angled to intercept any retaliation. His stance was impeccable — not out of fear, but duty.
"Maw," I said, advancing slowly, "your tricks end here."
But Maw was already reacting.
He wasn't a warrior.
He wasn't a brute.
He was a strategist — and strategists fought through manipulation, control, and deception.
His fingers tightened around the scepter—
WHUM—
A telekinetic wave blasted outward from him like a bomb detonation.
Elsewhere, even a lesser hero would have been thrown like a ragdoll.
Galahad's shield met it head-on. His shield, made from the wood of the Round Table itself, was beyond even divine metal and didn't even shake from the force. The blast carved a trench through the ceiling and walls, ripping out metal girders like paper.
But it did nothing to me.
Nor to Loki, who stood behind me, having always stood hidden — the Loki shouting earlier had been his own illusion. He might now be more of a king, but he wasn't a warrior, wasn't a brute; he was still, at heart, a trickster.
"Oh my, he sure got angry, didn't he?" Loki laughed in joy as he showed himself, finding no shame in standing behind a woman.
"He is a madman who worships the ground Thanos steps on. Yes, you made him angry," I said as I carefully watched Maw, unwilling to let him slip past me.
"Enough! Mere gods, thinking you are special — but my master has slain countless gods, brought a future to countless worlds, and you will not stop his great work!" Maw growled.
(End of chapter)
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