"What a fool I was, trusting that fast-talking tanuki!" Kōrima scolded himself after he discovered his target had gone in a different direction. "If Susanoo sama hadn't corrected my current course when I reached the ocean, I may have led myself off the edge of the planet!" He followed his new directions to the southwest, as determined as ever to find the legendary jewel!

As the detectives and their associates in the horse-pulled wagon arrived at the Shinano River, the guards suddenly stopped the horses.

"We're stopping here?" Loki asked. "Right by the bridge?"

"Look, in the water!" One of the guards pointed, and the detectives noticed what spooked the guards: a fish-like creature with a froggish face, webbed appendages, and a turtle's shell on its back stared at them, balancing a dish of water on its head. "It's a kappa... we must all bow, or it will drown us and the treasure with us!"

"Did we get any cucumbers in the city?"

"No, we forgot! We'll just have to bow and hope it returns the gesture."

The guards all bowed in respect, and the kappa did the same, remaining in the river while keeping his water dish balanced. However, the detectives didn't join in, remaining inside the wagon. Fiamma, on the other hand, stepped out to face the kappa, staring it down in the eyes as she approached.

"Uh, Fiamma?" Mobius called to her. "What are you doing?"

She ignored him and spoke to the aquatic creature. "I challenge you to a wrestling match, kappa of Shinano River. If you win, you get to drown me. If I win, you become my slave. Deal?"

Yatagarasu shook his head. "We should have never told her about the kappas' love of sumo wrestling! She's at a clear disadvantage, a fire being fighting a water kami, aho!"

"Aho yourself, Yata-yata." Sylvie replied. "Speaking as someone who's fought Fiamma firsthand, she's not one to be disadvantaged by any powers her opponents possess, and she's a fierce fighter."

The two opponents entered a ring of lilypads on the shore of the river and stared each other down until Mobius decided to referee. "Ready... fight!"

The kappa quickly lunged at Fiamma, who readily leapt over him and dodged all of his subsequent attempts to grab her. The water around Fiamma's feet evaporated into steam as she moved around the ring. The kappa tried to use this to his advantage, sneakily circling around her and grabbing her, yet he couldn't budge her, pushing with all his might! After watching him struggle for a bit, the giantess shoved him with one hand, knocking him onto dry land and placing a foot over his chest, pinning the creature down for the count.

The water in the kappa's dish instantly spilled onto the ground, upsetting him as he frantically tried to scoop it back inside.

Fiamma rolled her eyes. "Don't embarrass yourself, let me." She dipped the bowl back into the river and placed it on his head, helping him to his feet in the process. "So, you're my servant now, right?"

The kappa nodded and bowed to her, following her back inside the wagon while the impressed guards rejoined them.

"Told you." Sylvie said to Yatagarasu.

"Amazing!" Watari cheered. "That shinobi won't stand a chance!"

"He doesn't seem too much for words, unlike the other yōkai we've met." Loki remarked. "Are you going to name him, Fiamma?"

"Meh... I'll call him Grodan, short for Grodansikte."

"'Frog Face?' How flattering."

"If we keep this up, we'll have as many animal companions on board here as Noah did on the ark!" Mobius referenced.

"Ark? Was Noah from Lamentis-1?" Loki wondered.

"Nah, the ark that survived the great flood apocalypse on Earth, thousands of years ago from the God of the Jews, where only one human family and two of every animal on the whole planet survived."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to regale me with the story of that apocalypse sometime. For now, we should finish formulating our plan to catch our ninja."

"You think he'll find his way back in our direction?"

"If he's anywhere near as crafty as I am, I'm sure of it!"

They group continued across the river, and as the hours passed by, the guards around the curved jewel suddenly felt a chill.

"Detectives, Kōrima is here!"

Loki and Sylvie quickly joined the innermost guards with the former masking the duo's presence once more, while Fiamma and her new lackey exited onto the covered roof, readying her fire powers and watching for the shinobi. They looked all around for him, but when they spotted him, it was too late!

While the mischievous duo kept an eye out him, they noticed a patch of frost forming from the rooftop. They prepared to strike as Kōrima swiftly slashed through the material. He peeked through, and as soon as he met the guards' eyes, he vanished from sight!

"Where did he go?" A guard asked.

"It looks like he's got the same powers as you!" Sylvie said to Loki. "But it's still two Lokis against one!" She looked around her. "Can you see him anywhere?"

"No, I can't."

"Me neither. You keep an eye on that jewel, while I keep lookout for the thief!" Sylvie continued to scan the area until her eyes stopped in the back of the vehicle. She grabbed hold of Kōrima with her telekinesis, yet he easily broke free of her hold and moved to attack the guards.

The guards charged Kōrima, but they could do nothing to stop him, their weapons bouncing off of him.

Loki then grabbed the ninja, but he turned out to be an illusion, vanishing into a cloud of smoke. As Loki looked around for the genuine Kōrima, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. Startled, he turned to find a blade sticking into his back. He grunted in pain as he struck back, but that Kōrima disappeared too.

"How is he able to see us?"

"I don't know, but that prick stabbed me from behind." Sylvie groaned as she rubbed her back.

Loki gasped and hustled to heal her, but to their astonishment, the wound wouldn't heal and the pain didn't fade! "Is my healing magic not working!? Healer, what's going on with my powers!?"

"I cannot feel anything wrong with our powers, Loki, but I can feel that your variant and the jewel are gone! Thereforeee, that could not have been him who stabbed the both of you!"

"How!? That wasn't an illusion that did it: I felt it too! Wait, can you see if-"

"On it!" Healer detached a piece of himself that took a quick look inside of Sylvie and returned to him. "The baby is unharmed, do not worry!"

Loki sighed in relief. "Thank goodness!"

Sylvie nodded. "You think he can make solid duplicates of himself?"

"I don't know. I think the future us from the void could when he fooled Thanos, but I've never done it myself, nor have I seen it in action!"

"And we were not wounded either, though I felt pain as you did."

"What?" Loki thought back. "Hold on... what if he's cast that ninja spell he's known for utilizing when we researched him... genjutsu, was it called?"

"Yes!" Healer and Loki both grunted in pain as he felt another blade stab him.

"That scroll claimed he used genjutsu to confuse his enemies, like he did to the guards when he took the sword... we must be under that same spell!"

Sylvie put her hand on Loki's head and closed her eyes, but in a moment, she was also interrupted by another stabbing pain. "I can't undo it with my powers. Do you know how to break it?"

"Hmmm... Watari, Yatagarasu!" The two animals came to him at his signal. "Do either of you know how to break a genjutsu?"

"I've heard how it works." Yatagarasu replied. "It allows the caster to take control of his opponents' senses. He would have had to trap you through one of your senses, like sight, sound, smell, or touch."

"Including controlling our pain receptors. He didn't get us through touch, and I didn't hear or smell anything from him... so perhaps when we looked him in the eyes, he took control via our sense of sight, even while we remained hidden?"

"So to break it, you would probably have to overcome your illusionary state with real pain." Watari figured.

"Agh! Or something strong enough to shock the pain receptors in our brains."

"So what, we just whack the sense back into each other?" Sylvie asked. "Ugh. Sounds too simple."

"Indeed. Besides, even if you weren't in your condition, I wouldn't want to engage in such a barbaric method." Loki promptly lifted his fiancée's shirt and tickled her belly. "I much prefer to shock your senses this way!"

Sylvie tried to hold back her laughter. "H-hey! Not in public, you clown!"

"Sorry, too late for that!"

"Loki-i-i-!" When Loki ceased his torturous tickling, Sylvie noticed her wounds and her pain disappear. "Hey, it actually worked! Alright, now it's your turn!" She warned, not hesitating to retaliate against her fiancé, and both Loki and his Symbiote erupted with laughter! After a few seconds, Healer emerged and formed a protective shield around his host.

"THAT IS ENOUGH OF THAT!"

"Ehehehehe, thank you." Loki giggled. He saw his injuries fade in turn, and he glanced towards the guards, now seeing a block of ice where the jewel was.

"Of couuurse!"

"Not fair." Sylvie pouted. "Two against one, and I'm an easy target."

"Let's just focus on returning the guards to normal, stopping Kōrima, and returning the treasures, and then you two can have your lovers quarrel!" Yatagarasu prioritized.

"Wait... is Fiamma still on the roof with her fishman?" Sylvie asked.

"Oh yes, they may have been affected as well. I'll go check!" Loki climbed up to the roof, confused when he couldn't find the two. He searched all around until he saw the light of Fiamma's flame in the distance. He then stopped the wagon, untied one of the horses, and spurred it on to her location. When Loki reached her, he found her holding a red-faced snow monkey captive while her kappa dove through the hot spring.

"Ah, Loki. I've got him in custody!" Fiamma bragged. "He just told me that he hid the treasures at the bottom of this spring!"

Loki just shook his head and froze the giantess's foot, freeing her from the genjutsu and freeing the monkey to soak in his onsen again. Loki then pushed the kappa Grodan above the water's surface with his icy powers, where Fiamma held his water dish steady with one hand and slapped him with the other.

"So, Plan B?" Fiamma guessed.

Loki nodded, remounting the horse. "Let's discuss it back in the wagon."

Fiamma instead hopped on her kappa's back. "Got it."

After they returned and the others recovered, the detectives told everyone the whole situation.

"So now he has all three treasures." The lead guard stated, noticing the jewel missing. "We have failed."

"Not quite." Loki manifested the real curved jewel from his magical stash. "He has two treasures and a decoy with a tracking Symbiote blob attached."

"At least your contingency plan worked." Mobius complimented. "So Healer can sense where he is now?"

"He can, and now we know how to prepare for our next meeting: as long as we don't look him in the eyes, we can ambush him and take him out."

"Could you tell if he was a Loki?" Sylvie wondered.

"We could, and he is. Jörmungandr could tell he was one of me too. So no, we can't get any information out of him via enchantment. However, if we tail him without him noticing, he'll more than likely take us to the other two treasures, if he isn't concealing them with his own magic! Watari, Yata, you two stay with the guards here. We'll go after this shinobi Loki!"

"Alright. Good luck!" Watari wished them.

The lead guard nodded. "I don't understand all this talk of doppelgängers and magic, but I trust you can handle this... this sorcerer."

"It is pretty confusing for anyone, but you actually sound like you have a more accurate grasp on it than most people." Mobius explained.

"Grodan, you stay here with the guards." Fiamma instructed. "That water dripping from your head would probably give us away." The loyal kappa nodded. "I'm definitely ready for round two; the fact that's he's a Loki is a great bonus!"

"Well she's all fired up!" Mobius remarked. "Uh, no pun intended.

Loki turned to his faithful serpent. "Jörmungandr, you stay and guard this wagon too, alright? When the time is right, I'll open a portal for you to reach us." The serpent flicked his tongue in understanding. "Such a good snake." Loki smiled, stroking his pet. He concealed his group's presence and pointed in the direction his variant was heading. "He's headed in that direction, towards the Sea of Japan."

Loki, Mobius, Sylvie, and Fiamma then left for the open waters, ready to finally outmaneuver their cunning foe!