Loki's gaze turned glacial, a wicked smirk twisting his features. If not for the prison bars between them, he'd have teleported behind Hong Fei and plunged a dagger into his kidney without hesitation.
Hong Fei pressed on: "That direction you sent him—does it lead to the sleeping quarters behind the Heavenly Palace?" Loki answered with silence.
"You despise Odin," Hong Fei continued. "This was your chance to humiliate him. Imagine the scandal—a prisoner storming the royal chambers. The All-Father's reputation would never recover."
Loki's unblinking stare bore into him. Then Hong Fei's smile turned sharp.
"But aren't you worried he might hurt someone else?"
Loki scoffed and looked away.
Hong Fei wasn't finished.
"Ah, I see. You hate Odin, but you know his power. You never believed that intruder could do real damage in the palace's heart."
Loki's mouth twitched. He narrowed his eyes.
"Are you analyzing me to prove your cleverness? Or just flaunting your stupidity?"
"You're always so confident," Hong Fei observed calmly.
"Nothing ever shakes you—not family, not enemies, not even Odin. You've always got another scheme waiting."
Loki's sudden laughter cut through the dungeon.
"I never said that. But thank you for the compliment."
His mirth vanished as quickly as it came.
"Then what if—"
"What if he's stronger than you calculated? What if he crosses paths with some minor deity—someone you actually care about? What if Thor and Odin are distracted elsewhere?"
Hong Fei's voice dropped.
"What then?"
The hypotheticals shouldn't have rattled a god, but something in Hong Fei's tone struck deep.
Loki whirled, eyes blazing.
"What are you implying—"
A deafening explosion rocked the dungeon. Screams echoed through the halls as the very walls trembled. Loki steadied himself against the bars, realization dawning.
With a snarl, he slammed against the energy barrier, ignoring the sizzle of burning flesh.
"Explain yourself!" he demanded. Hong Fei merely chuckled.
"You already know."
Loki's roar shook the cell. His gaunt face twisted with fury—then desperation. A wild light flashed in his eyes.
"Save her! No—find her! Now!"
Hong Fei remained silent, brow furrowed. Loki's hands smoked from the barrier's burn, yet he seemed oblivious.
"You're Thor's friend, aren't you? That's his mother! His birth mother! The intruder went left—it's barely guarded! You could intercept him—why are you still here? GO!"
The raw panic in Loki's voice, the redness rimming his eyes—this was no act. His love for Frigga was real. But Hong Fei hadn't conjured this illusion to test Loki's heart. With genuine regret, he shook his head.
"I can't help you."
Loki gaped.
"You—what?"
His voice cracked.
"Do you know what you're saying? If Thor finds out—"
"Even if he does," Hong Fei interrupted, "there's nothing I can do."
He reached toward the wall. As his fingers touched stone, a strange light shimmered—his arm phased through the solid surface, his body turning translucent.
Loki knew this magic.
"A phantom? You sent a phantom to taunt me?"
"Yes."
"No, there's still a way."
Hong Fei's voice grew fainter.
"Go find Thor or Odin—they can—"
"It's too late."
Loki's hands balled into fists as he watched Hong Fei's form flicker like a dying candle.
"The Phantom Illusion's power is almost gone. Why did you even come here?"
His voice cracked.
"If you knew this would happen, you should've gone straight to Thor!"
Hong Fei met his gaze, eyes heavy with sorrow.
"Finding Thor or Odin wouldn't solve the root problem. I wanted to stop this at the source."
A bitter smile touched his lips.
"But I arrived too late, Loki..."
His form dissolved into golden motes before the sentence finished.
Alone in the dungeon, Loki hammered against the energy barrier until his knuckles bled. His roars echoed through the empty chamber—no one would hear him until the Dark Elves retreated. By the lake, Hong Fei's remaining Phantom Illusion vanished as Heimdall's sword struck true, forcing a cloaked Dark Elf warship to materialize.
High above, Hong Fei's real form scanned the horizon. Spatial ripples betrayed the enemy's presence, but Dark Elf stealth technology worked against both sight and psychic senses—tracking their exact movements proved nearly impossible. The first crippled warship plummeted onto the Bifrost Bridge, erupting in a fireball that licked at the clouds. Heimdall stood amidst the flames, chest heaving.
Then the sky darkened. A monstrous T-shaped mothership, easily a kilometer tall, materialized above the bridge hub. From its belly, swarms of blade-like fighters detached in perfect formation, streaking toward the golden spires of Asgard's palace.
The invaders showed no hesitation. Crossing the city's threshold, they opened fire immediately. Asgard's defenses responded almost instantly—turrets mounted on crystalline towers unleashed a storm of energy fire, turning the sky into a lethal lightshow. Explosions rocked the air.
Orange-yellow beams arced through the smoke as Dark Elf ships twisted through the barrage. But for every vessel destroyed, three more took its place. Asgard's turret network couldn't maintain the kill zone for long. Within minutes, the battlefield became a choking haze of energy discharges and blackened wreckage.
Asgard's own floating warships finally joined the fray, turning the conflict into a brutal stalemate. Yet from his vantage point, Hong Fei saw the truth—the battle line crept inexorably closer to the palace's heart. Below, Heimdall drove his sword into the Bifrost's control hub and twisted.
A corresponding mechanism flared to life within the palace. A golden energy dome erupted from the city's edges, vaporizing the first wave of Dark Elf ships on contact. The barrier held firm, unshaken by the explosions.
But the shield's ascent halted abruptly. With a sickening flicker, it began retracting downward. More enemy ships breached Asgard's outer defenses now, sacrificing themselves to crash into the palace grounds.
Pillars collapsed, rows of Heavenly Palace guards ran quickly, but were still crushed to death by the warships. Odin commanded troops on the far flank while Thor battled escaped prisoners near the dungeons. Inside the palace halls, Dark Elves disembarked from smoking wrecks to clash with Asgard's warriors in the gilded corridors.
Malekith seized the moment to slip away from the warship. Ignoring the nearby battle, he snatched a black hole grenade from his subordinate, armed it with a flick of his wrist, and hurled it toward Odin's throne. The massive gravitational distortion shattered the golden seat instantly.
His face remained blank as he tracked the Aether Particle's energy signature toward the palace's private chambers. Below in the dungeons, guards sprinted past Loki's cell, their panicked shouts confirming every word Hong Fei had told him.
Loki roared for attention, but no one even glanced his way. Not even when he begged. Meanwhile, Jane remained in the royal quarters with Frigga—until Hong Fei, mid-descent, spotted Sif overwhelmed by enemies. He paused just long enough to unleash a surge of Dragon Power toward her attackers before veering toward the sleeping chambers.
Inside, Frigga dueled Malekith alone. She had him at blade-point when the Cursed Warrior materialized beside them. The dark elf wrenched the knife from her grip in one fluid motion, lifting her by the throat while pressing the blade against her spine.
Hong Fei arrived just as Malekith realized the "Jane" before him was Frigga's illusion. Loki's magic had been her teaching, after all—and the queen outclassed them both. Snarling, Malekith demanded answers, but when Frigga stayed silent, the Cursed Warrior drove the knife forward—
—only for the strike to meet empty air. No resistance. No wound. A bowl-sized portal yawned open behind Frigga, swallowing the blade whole before expanding violently. The shockwave flung the Cursed Warrior back as the portal engulfed Frigga and snapped shut.
Malekith whirled toward the new threat. Hong Fei stood framed in golden light, Jane cradled against his side while another portal shimmered at his feet. In his free hand, he casually tossed a familiar black hole grenade—Malekith's own weapon—toward them.
The detonation warped space itself. Furniture splintered. Floors and ceilings peeled upward like paper in a storm.
The Cursed Warrior dragged Malekith and ran away desperately, their retreat frantic as the vortex devoured everything behind them. Hong Fei stepped back with Jane, clear of the blast radius. The portal sealed shut. When the last debris vanished into the void, only Frigga's fallen knife remained, clattering against stone.
Thor arrived just in time to see it hit the ground.