The Death Knell

At the beginning, the answer to many questions was one name, Loki.

Who brought the world to the brink of destruction, yet saved it on a whim?

Loki.

Who escaped life and death through serial contracts with the hell lords and rewrote the story of time reversal?

Loki.

Who started a game, a game of machinations to change the world for the better, to purge that cursed fate?

Loki.

Now, the game is coming to an end, and the end of everything is often accompanied not by a loud bang, but by silence.

Black magpies were flying in the sky, heading towards a place far away from the fairy palace.

Loki followed closely behind it.

He needed answers. The bird didn't know where it was leading him, but he believed he could escape unscathed. He needed an answer.

The little black figure was like a piece of rag, rolling in the air from time to time, as if enjoying the pleasure of being chased.

Beside a calm pond, it suddenly dove into the water.

Loki frowned, but he quickly recognized that this small pond was just an illusion and everything was fake.

He jumped down.

As imagined, there is a medium-sized hole below, like a wine cellar in a civilian home.

The air was turbid and pitch black.

The black bird has disappeared into this space.

"Mr. Black Magpie?"

Loki straightened up and looked around for the bird.

At this moment, a fire lit up in the distance behind him. Dark green flames shot out of the ground and slowly spread to both sides. A circle of fire surrounded him.

As the flames continued to rise, a figure gradually appeared above the flames. He looked transparent, like a ghost or a piece of smoke.

He was wearing green robes and a golden horned helmet on his head. There were shallow wrinkles on his face, which were traces of time.

Loki couldn't help but tremble in his heart. This was his favorite outfit, and there were notches left by him on the long horns of the helmet.

So this person in front of you...?

"The time has come, little Loki."

The figure answered him in a sharp tone that seemed to have texture, crawling up Loki's legs like a snake.

Not only did he not answer the question, the figure also looked at him with narrow eyes, as if he was looking at some ridiculous animal.

"You...?" Loki turned around quickly, and what he saw in his eyes made him confused.

"Although I still want to play a guessing game, as soon as you see me, you have already seen the answer to the riddle." The figure folded his arms and floated in a loose posture. He was like a ball of smoke.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Loki frowned.

"Ah, this is not bad. Why don't you guess what I know?" The figure opposite showed a big smile, and the wrinkles on his face appeared even more: "But I have to remind you first, I am the one you can't Those who believe, just because I am you.”

Loki guessed the answer, yes, who else could it be besides himself?

He is Loki, and the opposite person is also Loki, but an older version of himself, perhaps from the future?

"Enough, old me, what kind of torture instruments have you prepared for me? These fires are just illusions, and they cannot trap the prince of Asgard!"

"Prince of Asgard? Hahahaha, this is the best joke you have ever told me." The old Loki seemed to be touched by the point of laughter. He laughed so hard that he pretended to wipe his tears with his fingers: "What a pity. , I thought it was going to be a fair game, but you reminded me of how stupid we were."

Loki put his hands on his belt, stood up straight, and looked at his future self coldly.

"You came back to the present like a ghost, don't you just want to hear jokes?"

"I can say it, but it's up to you whether you believe me or not." The old man raised his hand and pinched his smooth chin: "In order to conceal the truth from those who are interested, the seven black magpies started Their journey, they took part of my plan to meet the wrong people, and the last one found you."

The black bird that Loki was chasing flew from nowhere, landed on the shoulder of old Loki, and whispered in his ear.

It glanced at the young Loki with its dark eyes, as if its eyes were full of disdain, and then like a pebble, it sank into the chest of the old Loki and disappeared.

He had been covering it up carefully, using various tricks and descriptions to prevent anyone from seeing clearly the whole story.

He is the God of Lies and the Deceiver, but those were his previous names, and now he is the God of Stories.

When he wants to make up a story, he can ensure that anyone, even observers of the multiverse, or even higher-level beings, can only see a weird story of Deathstroke running around.

And in the corner where no one can see, no one knows what changes have taken place in the universe and what other people have done.

None of the things that happened were directly connected. He put them together abruptly, but who could care about doubting the rationality of the story?

They will just indulge in it.

But Loki knew Deathstroke too well. There were many people who could hide it from him for a short time, but there was no one who could hide it from him forever.

Throughout the Nine Realms, the entire story has become shaky. Deathstroke may have noticed his presence, and may even jump down from the hole with a big sword in the next second.

Who can say for sure?

The story keeps changing because of a character. Old Loki has long expected this situation. He knows that Deathstroke has never been a person in the story, and he is not subject to any interference.

But fortunately, whether it's a story or a scam, this is the first time Deathstroke has been seen at this point in time. He will be deceived for a while, and this time is enough.

Old Loki will use his best method to achieve his goal, which is deception.

Regarding where the remaining six magpies went, Loki did not hesitate to twist the story itself for what purpose. There is a small flashback in his script.

The first magpie went to the revealer above the story.

He is a shriveled old light elf who did not exist. Loki shaped him in the future and then sent him to the beginning of the multiverse to tell the story written by Loki.

This blind old elf is the same as the observers. He does not have much power. His only ability is to become a 'mystery' in 'eternity', using Loki's story to cover up the original story.

When Magpie arrived at his castle of scrolls and books, there wasn't even an exact idea of ​​time.

His pale white eyes saw the magpie staying on the question mark-shaped window lattice. This was all Loki's prank. He didn't give the light elf pupils, but he gave him vision.

Isn’t it funny that a blind man can see everything?

Looking at the skinny bird, he unfolded the scroll in his hand.

"You bring news of Loki, and who are you?" he asked in the language of birds.

This upsets the black magpie because it is no more a messenger than a crow is a scavenger.

Scavengers refer to animals that mainly rely on eating carrion for survival, such as vultures, storks, hyenas, wolverines, and jackals.

But the crow is omnivorous, and its diet is grains, insects, fruits, other bird eggs, etc. Even though many people think it is a scavenger, it is not. More often, it is a predator.

But the black magpie opened its mouth and answered the revealer in the language of birds.

"Looking at Loki, waiting for the next Nine Realms War, he created a prop that can destroy the multiverse, and now he temporarily allows himself to think that this thing is safe, you write a contract with this prop The message reached an agreement with Mephisto, please remember to sign it with 'Your dear old friend, Loki'."

"Then what benefit can you give me?" The revealer said expressionlessly.

"You like stories, then keep this. This is the story Loki has woven, and it will only be known to you for a long time."

After the black magpie finished speaking, he flew out of the window again and disappeared into the white light of the future.

And when all these agreements were reached, a book that had never been written suddenly appeared in the hands of the revealer. He opened the pages with sharp nails and looked at the contents.

Surprisingly, the main character of the book is not Loki, or Thor, or even anyone known to the Revealer.

But a mortal named Deathstroke.

Loki didn't know the man himself, but he made the whole story full of fun and mischief.

It is enough for him to understand himself. In the story, all everyone can see is Loki in the shell of Death Knell.

The Revealer immediately suspected that Loki wanted to replace this person and deceive the whole world by making up stories, but he soon discovered that this story had no ending. Behind the hundreds of pages of the story, there were only the pranks left by Loki. Graffiti covers everything.

In fact, this story is only the beginning, and this beginning was in 1925, which is 2 million years after the time where the revealer is now...

The Revealer then wanted to use this story to gain benefits for himself, but he quickly gave up, because Loki must have thought of what he could think of, and the God of Stories must have been prepared.

He sighed and looked out the window at the ever-white environment. No one knew what he saw with his lightless eyes.

Bone-like fingers closed the book, and ink gradually appeared on the cover. It was not the title of the book, but a long list of words.

‘Journey into Mystery, a comedy in thirty acts, or a tragedy in thirty-one acts? Or a thirty-two-act serial...hehe. ’

This is Loki's style, making people unable to figure it out. He doesn't even know how to end the story he wrote.

Don't want to? still can not?

The Revealer silently put the book away and put it into his chest, and then began to recite a contract with a narrator-like announcer's voice, a contract to a certain hell lord.

The black crow will come back one day, even if it doesn't want to, it will still be the messenger.

He didn't know how long had passed, it seemed like a few seconds, or it seemed like millions of years. He had just finished reciting the last syllable of hell, and before he even had time to purse his lips, he saw a small black shadow flying from the window. , just like last time.

"I bring news."

said the black magpie in the language of birds.

"You bring news of Loki, and who are you?" the revealer asked in the language of birds.

This upsets the black magpie because it is no more a messenger than a crow is a scavenger.