Marvel: Starting as a Time Criminal, Stealing Powers

The once cold, dead, and desolate land was now shaking violently!

Thor, Loki, and their group were fleeing frantically!

Behind them, a monstrous Frost Beast covered in spikes roared as it charged after them.

All the boulders and ice in its path were instantly crushed!

And behind it, scattered across the icy wasteland, thousands of Frost Giants were awakening from hibernation. The sight was nothing short of terrifying.

Thor's face no longer held the confidence it once did. A fresh scar marked his armor.

Volstagg had fallen behind, carrying the wounded Fandral on his back, getting dangerously close to the pursuing beast.

They would be caught in less than ten seconds!

Gritting his teeth, Thor spun Mjolnir and hurled it backward with a mighty roar!

But the creature chasing them was no ordinary beast—it was a war machine bred by the Frost Giants. It wasn't intimidated in the slightest. With a single powerful swipe, it sent Thor flying backward, carving a deep trench hundreds of meters long into the frozen earth and ice!

Seeing Thor injured, Loki finally panicked.

They had boldly entered Jotunheim, so why hadn't Heimdall alerted Odin?

By all reasoning, Asgard's reinforcements should have arrived ten minutes ago!

But the most crucial thing was—

Even if they didn't arrive, how could they just let Thor die here?

At that moment, Sif and the others came to a halt, prepared to fight to the death.

Volstagg, acting as the shield of the group, charged forward—but the moment his shield shattered, he was knocked into the air, coughing up blood.

If it had been one of the others, they would have died on the spot.

Loki's scalp tingled with fear. Instinctively, he turned to run.

But just then, a strange voice echoed in his mind:

"It's just a primitive and clumsy beast. Call my name."

"I will help you kill it."

Loki's pupils turned green, and his expression went blank.

Instead of fleeing, he strangely walked to the back of the group.

Sif and the others were stunned. They hadn't expected this so-called coward to show such courage.

But trash was still trash.

That frail body would be torn apart in seconds.

Facing the roaring Frost Beast, Sif shouted for Loki to get out of the way and tried to pull him aside.

But to her surprise, she couldn't move him at all.

Then, Loki spoke in a bizarre tone:

"Follow the guidance of the spirit, connect through the soul, and summon the great Fire Messenger to descend and destroy this Frost Demon!"

Fandral thought Loki was casting a spell—but it looked more like the ramblings of a deranged cultist. He nearly lost it.

Hogun gripped his sword, ready to crack Loki's skull open to see what was inside.

Sif screamed:

"Are you insane, Loki? Get out of the way!"

The ground trembled more violently. The Frost Beast was nearly upon them.

A few hundred meters away, Thor struggled to his feet. When he saw the scene unfolding, his eyes turned bloodshot.

He roared and prepared to throw Mjolnir again—

But in that moment, an unimaginable sight unfolded!

A red sun suddenly rose over the eternally dark land of ice, its blazing light reflecting off the stunned faces of the Frost Giants—revealing pure terror.

In the next second, the sun pulsed and instantly engulfed the roaring Frost Beast.

And then—

The ground stopped shaking. The roar ceased.

Darkness returned.

The terrifying Frost Beast was completely obliterated—reduced to nothing.

A massive crater had formed in the earth, not filled with water, but bubbling with thick, dark red magma.

Loki collapsed, as if all energy had been drained from his body, and knelt on the ground, panting heavily.

But there was no joy in his eyes—only overwhelming fear!

Fandral and Hogun, who had been ready to face death just moments ago, stood frozen in shock.

For the first time in their lives, they felt how truly small and insignificant they were.

It was unreal!

When Sif had faced the flames just now, she thought her body and soul were about to be incinerated and torn apart!

Yet somehow, the searing heat had been perfectly contained within that sun.

Unbelievable!

Sif's trembling voice broke the silence:

"That fire... Loki, how did you summon such power through prayer?"

"What did you sacrifice?"

Loki's pale face twisted with fear, and he looked like he was about to cry.

"I don't know... I don't know..."

Just then, the ground rumbled again, and Thor returned, stunned.

He looked at Loki, then laughed with excitement:

"Brother! You had such a terrifying spell? Why didn't you use it earlier?"

"That was amazing! Even the greatest sorcerer in Vanaheim couldn't do something like that!"

"Let's go back! We'll kill the King of the Frost Giants and shake all of Asgard!"

But after a couple of laughs, he noticed something strange.

"Why... why aren't you laughing?"

Thor looked around, confused. Normally, when he laughed, everyone would laugh with him.

At that moment, Loki stumbled forward and muttered:

"Thor... that power wasn't mine. It came from a prayer."

"I only remember... something about a Flame Messenger in his name... but I've never heard of it before."

He didn't understand it, and Thor understood even less.

But Thor was generous. He simply patted Loki on the shoulder and said:

"It doesn't matter. That power shocked the Frost Giants—and for now, we're safe."

Hearing this, the others turned their heads to look.

Far across the icy plain, hundreds of meters away, the once-advancing army of Frost Giants had frozen in place.

Even though their expressions couldn't be clearly seen from a distance, their fear and shock were easy to imagine.

They were afraid—that sun might appear again.

Sif and the others immediately let out sighs of relief. Even if the monstrous beast was gone, the Frost Giants alone could have easily overwhelmed them.

Now they could only hope Asgard would notice the anomaly soon and send reinforcements.

As for the price of the power just unleashed... well, it had been Loki who summoned it.

And he wasn't dead... yet.

But before they had time to rejoice, the ground suddenly began to shake once more.

In the ruins of a shattered temple, the eyes of the King of the Frost Giants—Laufey—turned blood-red!

Asgard had gone too far.

He would kill every last one of them—no matter the cost.

He would make Odin regret this. He would ensure the bloodline of the gods was wiped out.

With a roar, Laufey severed his own left hand. His limbs turned to ice, shattering into powdered frost.

"Let the boiling blood freeze into ice... let flesh and bone become statues... let the soul be scattered by the north wind!"

"For the glory of Jotunheim!"

"Awaken... Nidhogg!"

"Kill them all!!"

BOOM!

The ground beneath the temple cracked open with a thunderous roar, revealing a dark, bottomless abyss of ice.

A moment later, a deafening howl rose from its depths.

On the distant battlefield, Thor and his companions clearly heard the sound. Before they could process it, a massive shadow surged from the far-off horizon, hurtling toward them at impossible speed!

"W-What is that?!" Loki stammered, swallowing hard as he stared at the rapidly approaching shadow.

Thor stopped smiling.

His sharp eyes narrowed—and as the shadow drew closer, he finally saw it clearly.

A ferocious dragon head, jagged horns, and massive wings.

Its entire frost-covered body looked less like flesh and more like cursed ice. It was riddled with scars, its eyes glowing with the same icy blue energy that shimmered across its form.

Thor's scalp went numb.

This thing... didn't even look alive.

And there was no need to explain what it was.

They had been fleeing for more than ten minutes... but this thing caught up with them in just ten seconds.

Loki and the Four Warriors of Asgard stood wide-eyed, their pupils trembling violently.

The creature was at least several hundred meters long, its wings stretching out like a shield that could blot out the sky. The sheer oppressive aura made it hard to breathe.

With a single roar, it felt like the heavens themselves were trembling.

What kind of monster existed in Jotunheim!?

Thor gripped Mjolnir tightly—but even he felt despair.

The gap between them was too vast.

There wasn't even a sliver of hope.

Everyone's faces were filled with hopelessness. None of them even considered running.

At that moment, Fandral suddenly recalled something. He shouted at Loki:

"Second Prince! Pray again! Maybe you can summon that flame and burn this ice beast!"

Now you remember I'm the second prince... Loki shouted back:

"If I try that again, I might be completely sacrificed! My entire soul could be consumed!"

"That's how magic summoning works—it comes with a price!"

Volstagg, somehow back on his feet, spat out a mouthful of blood and muttered bitterly:

"If you try, you might survive. If you don't... you're definitely dead."

"Do you really think that thing would spare your soul?"

Loki trembled. He hesitated for a moment—then gritted his teeth.

"Follow... Follow the words from before... uh... follow..."

Hogun shouted impatiently:

"Say it! Now's not the time to freeze up!"

Loki snapped, turning and yelling:

"Do you think I don't want to?! I don't remember it at all!"

"When I summoned it the first time, it didn't feel like I was in control! It was like something else was possessing me!"

"Hurry and remember!" Sif screamed. "It's starting!!"

Loki looked up—and his blood ran cold.

Thousands of meters in the air, the dragon had folded its wings and begun its dive. Faster and faster it fell!

Thor tensed, ready to leap—nerves drawn taut like a bowstring.

Loki's face turned deathly pale. He tried to recall the incantation and shouted:

"Follow... follow the guidance of the spirit... no, that's not it!"

"Follow the call—damn it—!"

The frost dragon closed in. Loki could see the terrible energy swirling in its open jaws, preparing to unleash destruction.

It felt as if death itself had wrapped around him, squeezing every breath from his lungs.

And then, at the breaking point—his nerves snapped. He screamed:

"Flame Messenger!!"

"Flame Messenger Russell, save me!!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!!"

"Great Russell! Please save me!!"

Hearing this, Fandral's face collapsed in despair.

What good is just knowing the name?! Where's the full ritual?!

But in that instant—

BOOM!!!

In the desperate eyes of everyone, a colorful torrent crashed down from the sky like a divine comet.

Then, from within it, a voice echoed—disgusted and a little annoyed:

"Alright, alright, stop screaming. I heard you."

Just as the dragon's ice-blue breath erupted from its mouth, a golden spell shield appeared out of nowhere—solid and absolute.

The breath of death was completely blocked.

In the stunned silence, as the dragon circled above them in fury, a strange man walked out of the rainbow light.

He looked up at the monstrous beast roaring in the sky, and instead of fear, his face lit up with a satisfied smile.

Like a hunter who had finally found his prey, he whispered:

"I've been waiting for you."

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