Loki showered Hela with affection and concern, leaving Thor utterly dumbfounded. Hela, on the other hand, who just moments ago was ready to kill both brothers, accepted Loki's fawning with a completely natural air.
Thor rubbed his eyes, wondering if Hela had knocked him senseless with those two slaps, causing him to see such an unbelievable scene.
Hela, increasingly dissatisfied with Thor's foolish appearance, frowned and spoke in a chilling tone: "Look at you. Do you have the bearing of a future king?"
Thor: "???"
Loki turned his head and protested to Saiki Kusuo, "Why isn't the future king me?"
Saiki rolled his eyes at him.
Hela, feeling her authority as the elder sister being challenged by Thor's lack of response, believed that Odin's parenting philosophy was that if a child was disobedient, a beating would do the trick. So, Hela approached Thor, weapon in hand.
"It seems that your trip to Earth has made you bolder."
Hearing this, Thor immediately took a wary step back and demanded, "What do you want!"
Seeing the two siblings on the verge of a fight, Loki was quite happy to watch them tear each other apart. However, he was still quite wary of Hela and worried that the foolish Thor might blurt something out. So, he patted Hela's shoulder, signaling her to calm down, and walked over to Thor.
He approached Thor, who was still fuming and ready to fight Hela again, and whispered, "If you don't want her to destroy Asgard, obediently call her 'Elder Sister'."
Thor, misunderstanding and thinking Loki had surrendered to Hela out of fear for his life, spat at him fiercely.
"Don't compare me to you, Loki! You don't deserve to be my brother, nor do you deserve to be an Asgardian!"
Loki wiped the spit off his face, resisting the urge to strangle Thor. He pointed to Saiki Kusuo, who was enjoying the family drama immensely.
"Don't you understand? That guy modified Hela's memories, making her believe she's a sister who deeply loves her brothers."
"What?" Thor's eyes widened in disbelief. He quickly regained his composure and pointed at Hela, questioning Loki. "Does she look like a sister who deeply loves her brothers?"
Loki felt that Thor's IQ was beyond communication. He even momentarily thought that Saiki shouldn't have modified Hela's memories, and should have let Hela kill this foolish brother with one slash.
But in the end, for the sake of his own life, Loki patiently continued to explain, "Elder sisters naturally need to appear strict. Did you think she'd be as foolish as you look?"
"Hmph, I'm not foolish, I'm just good-natured. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a brother as troublesome as you."
It was rare for Thor not to immediately yell that he wasn't an idiot and to actually retort.
Their whispering caught Hela's attention. Her current persona was that of a good sister who deeply loved her brothers, so she leaned in.
"What are you two whispering about?"
Hela's sudden appearance startled Thor. If Loki hadn't been quick to stop him, Thor would probably have punched Hela.
"Nothing, Elder Sister." Loki flashed his harmless smile. Seeing Hela's obvious disbelief, his eyes darted around, and he spoke again.
"It's just some private matters between men. You know, Thor has lived for over a thousand years and has never even held a woman's hand. He recently went to Earth and fell in love with a human girl. He finally experienced a relationship, but after only a few happy days, she dumped him for being too boorish. So, he's not in a good mood. Don't mind him."
Thor: "..."
Thor, having his dark history unexpectedly dug up, retorted indignantly, "I told you, I dumped her, not the other way around!"
After hearing Loki's explanation, Hela's expression softened slightly. Her gaze towards Thor was no longer filled with killing intent but with the love and concern of an elder sister for her brother.
She reached out and ruffled Thor's hair.
"Just one woman. My brother is so outstanding; are you worried you won't find another?"
He, Thor, the God of Thunder, had lived for 1,500 years and had seen all sorts of storms, yet he was so frightened by Hela's head pat that he almost knelt on the ground.
Having watched the heartwarming family drama unfold, Saiki Kusuo finally spoke, reminding them, "Don't get too happy too soon. We still have an enemy to deal with."
Thor, stiff from Hela's touch, took the opportunity to avoid her hand and turned to ask, "What enemy?"
Hela also became serious. "That's right. This might be the most terrifying enemy Asgard has ever faced."
An enemy that even Hela was wary of made Loki ask, "Who?"
Thanos.
This man, infamous throughout the universe, was said to kill half the population of every planet he visited. He was a demon that instilled fear in everyone.
"So, Thanos's target this time is Asgard? Why is he targeting this place?" Thor asked after hearing Loki's introduction of Thanos.
Loki felt a little guilty and was about to change the subject when Saiki Kusuo unceremoniously betrayed him.
"You should ask your brother about that. He has the most to say."
Loki glared fiercely at Saiki. The next second, he was subjected to a double interrogation from Hela and Thor.
Hela: "What's going on?"
Thor: "Did you cause trouble again?"
Under the double pressure, Loki honestly confessed what had happened after he was exiled.
Hela: "So you brought this trouble upon us? You're a useless, good-for-nothing!"
Thor: "If anything happens to the people of Asgard, I swear I'll cut you down to appease the masses."
What's with this united front? Don't forget that just a moment ago, you were fighting to the death!
The indignant Loki could only silently complain in his heart about the siblings who wanted to give him a double beating. As a troublemaker, Loki knew he'd caused a major disaster this time, so he didn't dare talk back during their scolding. Instead, he turned to Saiki Kusuo for help.
"So, what do you think we should do?"
Saiki said, "Just honestly hand over the Tesseract to him, wouldn't that be fine?"
"No," Thor refused. "That contains an Infinity Stone; how can we give it to Thanos? And did you forget what Loki just said about Thanos's deeds? If he sets foot on Asgard, that demon will kill the ordinary people of Asgard."
"We naturally won't give him the Infinity Stone. Besides, if you really want to protect the Asgardian people, I have a suggestion."
"What suggestion?"
"Take everyone and leave this place."
Even if Saiki helped repel Thanos's invasion this time, as long as Asgard remained here, Thanos would launch a second attack. With Thanos possessing Infinity Stones and his massive army, Saiki wasn't confident that all the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled of Asgard could escape unharmed.
Moreover, Earth would soon fall into chaos, and Saiki couldn't focus all his energy on Asgard. The only way was for everyone to evacuate.
From the information he'd gathered with his clairvoyance, Thanos had already obtained three Infinity Stones. Of the remaining three, two were with him, and the other was with Stephen. If Stephen hadn't had such high expectations of him, he'd probably be happy to take that Time Stone.
Should I try to steal the gem with psychokinesis? But I don't know the value of the gem, so I don't know how long it would take to steal it. Should I go directly confront Thanos? No, that's not good either. One Thanos is difficult enough to deal with, let alone with three Infinity Stones and his Black Order. Fighting this group of experienced war-mongers alone might be a disadvantage.
So, the best way was probably to go back in time and prevent him from obtaining the Infinity Gauntlet and the three Infinity Stones, then cripple Thanos, the instigator, so he couldn't wage war. By cutting off the source, this disaster could be avoided.
While Saiki was racking his brains for a solution, the three siblings on the other side were also considering the feasibility of Saiki's suggestion.
Hela and Loki, who had fought with Thanos and suffered losses, agreed with Saiki's suggestion.
Hela: "I've been to Thanos's planet. Although I don't want to admit it, his army is well-trained. Just his Black Order might be enough to wipe out all of Asgard."
Hela analyzed seriously, then suddenly felt that her memory seemed a little off. She hissed and frowned.
"That's strange. I've always been in Asgard, why would I suddenly go to Thanos and fight with him?"
Loki, afraid that Hela might remember something, quickly interjected.
"That's right. During my exile, I was always by his side, working for him, so I have some understanding of his strength."
Seemingly unwilling to recall those humiliating memories, Loki took a deep breath, controlling his emotions. "Thor, you might laugh at me, look down on me for surrendering so easily, but when you face him, you'll know how terrifying this man is."
Thor was finally persuaded by Hela and Loki. They had the Asgardians board the spaceship Hela had stolen from Thanos when she escaped. After confirming that everyone was on board, Thor released Surtur, whom he had captured.
Surtur wreaked havoc on the land he hated. Hela, having left Asgard, felt as if her body had been drained, and she frowned, clutching her chest. Thor helped her to a seat on the side.
"You better keep your word. Otherwise, I swear in the name of Odin's son, Thor Odinson, the God of Thunder, that even if it costs me my life, I will kill you!"
Thor said to Saiki.
Because Saiki had promised to help them repair Asgard after the matter was resolved, Thor released Surtur to delay Thanos's actions, allowing them to evacuate safely.
"Don't worry." After settling things here, Saiki used his clairvoyance again to monitor Earth's movements. He then discovered that the Black Order had split up with Thanos and had already arrived on Earth, searching for the Mind Stone and the Time Stone.
SHIELD had already been destroyed. The Avengers, without the Hulk, were significantly weakened. Saiki turned his head and shouted to the Hulk.
"Hulk, come with me."
After the Hulk responded with a confused "Ah?", Saiki took him back to Earth.
He dropped the Hulk off at SHIELD, and he himself went to Stephen's battlefield.
Stephen, fighting alone, was immediately brightened upon seeing Saiki's figure.
"You're finally here!"