Luca instinctively looked up and realised that the entire world seemed to have been frozen.
The panic expressions on the people's faces were frozen.
The fire that had been burning before now froze, and water from a fire truck was just floating in the air, perfectly still.
In this completely frozen world, only one person was moving. He was smiling and walking slowly toward Luca.
Luca instinctively swallowed with sweat trailing down from his temple. He wanted to say something but found that his throat couldn't seem to produce a sound.
"Hm~ I think... you don't really need to use that toy, do you?"
The newcomer raised a hand and pointed at the 'Monkey Bomb' in Luca's hand. His tone was gentle, yet there was a playful like he wasn't taking things too seriously.
Even though the other person seemed to be friendly, Luca didn't dare relax, not even a little.
He gently put down the 'Monkey Bomb' and rubbed his temples wearily, but a name escaped his lips.
"God of Stories… Loki!"
This Loki in front of him was only wearing the green Asgard outfit from The Avengers movie, with messy hair and clothes covered in dust, looking somewhat dishevelled...
Just the fact that he had frozen time across the entire world made one thing clear: this Loki had undoubtedly already taken that final step.
He had become the ruler of all MCU timelines—the God of Stories, Loki.
It was almost ridiculous.
Luca had taken a tremendous risk rushing all the way here to the front of Stark Tower just to stop Loki from taking the Tesseract and entering the Time Variance Authority...
He had done all this to protect his own timeline from being affected or destroyed.
And yet, standing before him now… was already the final version of Loki, the one who had lived through all two seasons of Loki.
The Loki in front of him didn't seem to notice Luca's emotions—or perhaps he had noticed but simply didn't care.
He continued smiling, spreading his hands in a casual gesture, his face showing a hint of curiosity.
"God of Stories? Not a bad title~ So, that's what people in your world call me?"
As soon as he said that, Luca's eyes widened again in shock.
'Your world.'
Those simple words pierced straight through, exposing Luca's identity as an outsider, but then he reconsidered.
'If this was God Loki, a being who stood near the very pinnacle of the Marvel Universe, then simply knowing my origin wasn't all that surprising.'
"Surprised?"
Loki went on, "In fact, you're not the only one like this. Let me think~ Ah, in one timeline, there was a girl named Gwenpool. She was just like you—also from the real world~"
"…"
This time, Luca didn't even have the energy to be shocked anymore.
'Damn! Not only did he know I was from another world, but Loki even used the term "real world" to describe it. Still, the Gwenpool that God Loki mentioned…'
Luca had never heard of her.
"Gwen? It doesn't sound like she's from the same place as me..."
Luca was already feeling kind of numb inside.
After a short pause, he decided not to stress too much about how Loki seemed to know everything and just asked directly.
"So… you know that your world is…is a…"
Luca didn't even know how to say it.
'What was I supposed to do? Should I say, 'You're a movie character. Your real name is Tom Hiddleston, and fans call you 'Hiddles'?'
'What if Loki misunderstood, or worse, what if saying too much might accidentally offend a being that was nearly omniscient and omnipotent?'
Surprisingly, Loki didn't seem to care at all. He was totally calm, like he'd already seen about all of this.
"You're trying to say 'TV show'? Yes, yes~ I know~"
Loki pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow, replying with a perfectly casual tone.
"You don't worry too much about all that."
Loki said with a smile, "The way the universe works isn't as simple as you think~."
"You can think of your real world as… hmm, a universe where superpowers are just turned into movies and shows."
"I mean, if there can be a zombie universe, a Spider-Verse, even anime universe… then having one world where none of that is real and it's all just entertainment isn't really so hard to accept, right? Or who knows—maybe the world you consider real is just a movie or a novel from someone else's universe?"
As he listened to Loki's relaxed, casual tone, Luca found himself at a loss for words.
Honestly, Luca had no idea how to argue about that, especially not with a god who controls countless timelines across different universes.
However, Luca had caught the key point in Loki's words and immediately pressed him further:
"If you know about the real world… then can you—"
He suddenly stopped. He wanted to ask if Loki could send him back to his own universe.
But halfway through, Luca suddenly realized. He didn't really have anything or anyone waiting in that world anymore.
Instead of going back to his old world, maybe it was better to stay here and live out a thrilling adventure.
Even if it meant facing danger or maybe even dying along the way—it somehow didn't seem so bad to Luca.
However, Loki seemed to pick up on what Luca was really thinking.
"I can't."
"Even as I am now, I'm far from all-knowing or all-powerful. There are still limits to what I can do. What you're asking for… right now is still beyond my reach."
After hearing this, Luca merely nodded calmly. He couldn't even tell if he felt more disappointed… or a little relieved.
Still, another question popped into his head.
"Since you're not here to drive me out of this world, then why are you here at all?"
This time, Loki didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the first-floor lobby of Stark Tower.
There stood another Loki, handcuffed, like a statue frozen mid-motion.
For some reason, Luca thought he saw something strange in Loki's eyes… was that envy?
"There's someone who asked me to give you a choice and also to give you… hmm, let's call it an ID or something like that."
Loki quickly turned back to look at Luca.
That strange expression in his eyes vanished like it had never been there. eplaced once more with his usual playful, mischievous grin.
However, the words that came out of Loki's mouth left Luca completely stunned.
"Huh? Did someone actually ask you a favor? And… what choice? What ID?? What are you even talking about?"