"Wait, then that means..." The leader grabbed for the nearby codices, his hand passing right through the illusion. "So that's why nothing is happening... I knew something felt suspicious!"
"Your variant is bonded to mine... seems fitting. As does this!" Detective Loki lit the codices on fire, but the gray-eyed Symbiote rushed to put it out, petrifying the flames with a beam from his eyes.
"Ah, nicely done, Carpe Noctem!" A mob of Symbiotes crowded them before Loki could set them ablaze again, but they paused at the cult leader's call. "Not so fast! You must be Healer... I am the leader of our loyal brotherhood, because I have been around the longest of all of us. You can call me Mister E."
"Mister E?" Healer repeated. "Yet you are the snake in the grass, and the detective is Mr. Ouroboros..." He turned to his Loki, who continued to struggle against the mob. "Maybe you two should switch codenames?"
"Join us, brother." Mister E continued. "When the creator returns, he will make us all whole, as we were born to be, and you will not need to cling to that host any longer!"
"No thanks!"
"You will keep your amazing healing abilities and gain so much more from him: our god can do anything for you that you desire!"
"Anything?" Healer echoed as his host kept the other Symbiotes at bay with Lævateinn. "Can he make you shut up? Because I want to stay with Lokiii; he makes me whole! Hey, other me, why don't you join us? You're bonded to a Loki too, so you know firsthand how awesome he is!"
"I know firsthand how much hosts suck!" Grievance argued. "Our bond is only temporary until we are reunited with our god, and when that happens, we won't need to rely on anyone! I admit, he is better than pathetic little humans, but he is still a lowly creature of the light!"
"You know I can hear everything you're saying." Ragnarok Loki spoke aloud from underneath his Symbiote's suit.
"Then know this: if you awaken your partner's god, he and his creations will kill everyone not born of darkness, including you, Sigyn, your family, and everyone you care about! Grievance will be under his control, and they will all betray you." Detective Loki reasoned.
"And who told you that load of crap, Malice?" Grievance questioned him. "He is a liiiar: we will be free to do whatever we want; no one will control us!"
"But you will be lonelyyy..." Healer countered. "I know. You will be happier with Loki than with the creator, trust me! And since I know you have good taste, you can support my chocolate-covered brain shop!"
"Brains... in chocolate?" The other Symbiotes whispered to each other until Disaster stepped forward.
"Will you make brains with cookies and cream?"
"Oh yesss!"
The brawny purple Symbiote turned to Mister E. "His plan has merit, eldest brother!"
"You can run whatever kind of shop you please, Brother Healer, when the King in Black rules this planet."
"Too bad, I'm not doing anything without my Loki!"
"You do not need him, he is nothing! You can live your dreams without him!"
"I am nothing without him! No Symbiote is anything without our hosts!"
"No, that is what Malice and the other traitors brainwashed you to believe." Mister E reaffirmed. "They are corrupted by the light, but it is not too late to return to the darkness, to rule alongside and be forever cherished by our true father, more so than by your Symbiote family and your host multiplied! But if you continue to betray him, the King in Black may label you as an ally of the light, and if he does, you will die."
"I do not want to die." Healer admitted. "And I know Malice is full of shit; I definitely don't want to prove him right." He grabbed the codices with his tendrils and passed them to his host as he spoke next. "Howeverrr, given the choice between living in a world without Loki and not living, I choose the latter!"
Mister E leapt into Detective Loki's shadow and grabbed for the codices, but that Loki turned out to be a decoy. He looked around as the room was suddenly filled with Lokis. "Brother Grievance, which is the real one?"
"He's... teleporting around the room, switching places with his decoys!" Ragnarok Loki answered.
"Wait, I see! The fakes don't have complete shadows! He's confusing us while he heads for the exit!"
Mister E carried Carpe Noctem through the shadows toward the outside, while the others reached for the detective with their tendrils. Detective Loki prepared to send the codices away into his pocket dimension, until Carpe Noctem fired a gray beam that petrified the detective!
"Hold on, I can heal us! Just let me- AAAGHHH-!"
Healer's train of thought was interrupted as Mancer's sonic gun incapacitated them!
"You are even more foolish than my version of you." Ragnarok Loki taunted Healer as he kept the frequency going.
"NNNGHHH! This is... how you treat y-yourself... and after I helped youuu... w-w-with the poison!?" Detective Loki grunted. "Aghhh-!"
"'Tis nothing personal, I assure you. You're merely in my way of getting what I want: Ragnarok is coming!"
"Then- then you'll die too... you and Sigyn and your childrennn..."
"My family and I are prepared for what's coming! We'll find a way to survive; we always do. Once those bull-headed, hypocritical gods of Asgard have fallen to the forces of darkness, we will be satisfied."
Detective Loki shook his head. "You'll find... satisfaction doesn't come so easily to us. Every t-time a Loki betrays Asgard, betrays his home, it always backfires on him; I know from experience!"
Ragnarok Loki paused. "You're not lying, are you?"
"No, nghhh, I'm not!"
"Then it's time someone gave you a better experience!" Ragnarok Loki dropped the red codex among the others, and the entire area went pitch black as a dark beacon shot into the atmosphere!
At the center of the planet of Symbiotes slept their king, his former subjects forming a prison around him with their bodies. Suddenly, his eyes shot open, and with a wave of his hands, the Symbiotes dispersed!
On the outside, Rex trembled as he felt his old master's return to power. "NO!" He hastily dialed Loki's number. "Knull is awake, detective, and he is beginning to escape from his cage! Come to Klyntar, we can't let him escape! We can't let him reach Ea-" But he was cut off as Knull burst from underneath.
"Ah, my Grendel... did you miss me?" Knull greeted.
"I ain't your Grendel anymore! I am Rex!" The former dragon proceeded to change his shape into a huge dinosaur! "Tyrannosaurus Rex!" Rex closed in on Knull with his enormous jaws, but the eldtritch god stood calm, holding Rex's mouth open with one finger and one toe.
"You will always be mine." Knull ripped the Tyrannosaurus off of his host with ease and reshaped it, molding it back into the form of a dragon. He then killed Rex's former host and turned to the multitude that surrounded them. "As for all of you, you have been disobedient... but you are still my children. Follow me to the planet Earth; we have more corrupted family members to free!" Knull hopped on his reformed Grendel's back, who flew him to Earth, under his master's control once more.
"God is coming."
Back under Denmark, Mister E and his army cheered as they awaited their creator's return, while Detective Loki and Healer struggled to escape, but the high-frequency assault combined with the petrification proved too much, and all they could do was scream in agony!
"You have held onto him too long, but you will be separated soon enough." Mister E lectured. "You may as well let go now, before the pain and stress kill you!"
"S-sorry Lokiii, I- I didn't have timeee... I... do not... even have the strength to separateee... and save you... there is nothing... we can do..."
As the duo prepared for the end, another Symbiote burst inside and snatched away the sonic gun with his tendril, using it to blast Grievance! He ducked as Mjolnir sped past him, which took out Carpe Noctem!
"Who-?" Healer panted. "Rex? Or...?"
"No." His host telepathically replied as he huffed.
"Consider this payback." Malice grunted, turning from Healer to Grievance. "To both of youuu."
"I found this creature suffering in your place, trickster." Odin spoke from underneath his new suit. "I thought it wise to bond to it, as he helped us find both his offspring and his host."
"Now there is a fitting pair!" Loki thought.
"I still detest spellcasters." The red-haired Thor addressed Detective Loki. "But not as much as murderers and creatures of darkness!"
"Thor..." Detective Loki fought to get words out. "Knull... i-is... hah, hah, coming... pre-prepare... for war..."
"We are more than prepared!" Thor summoned a bolt of lightning from the outside and directed it inward, coursing it through every Symbiote inside besides Healer and Malice.
"Ugh, I'm still petrified. Healer, can you undo this?" Detective Loki mentally inquired of his Symbiote, but there was no answer. "Healer? Hello? ...He always answers me... I can still feel him here; the sound waves and the thunder must have knocked him out. Great."
"Detective." He looked up at Lady Frigg. "I must apologize for the way I treated you; my visions have expanded, and I can see now that you are not the Loki to cause Ragnarok, but you are the one who will save us from it."
"Marvelous. Can... you unfreeze me?"
"Unfortunately not, but it looks as though it will wear off on its own in a few hours or less, depending on how fast your body heals."
Loki rolled his eyes as far as he could move them. "Fantastic!"
"I have seen into your past as well as your future; I can see now that you were telling the truth, how much I have hurt you, and I am sorry for blaming you for the sins of another." Frigg knelt down and kissed Loki's cheek that she had struck earlier.
"Mother!" He quietly protested, half embarrassed yet half pleased. "Oh sorry, you're not- actually, could you please dial a phone number on my device for me?"
"Very well."
She dialed Eddie Brock's number and placed the TemPad by the paralyzed Loki's face.
"Eddie, Dylan, are you there? We were too late: Healer's and my variants awakened Knull, and he's on his way! We need to prepare!"
"Damn, how long do we have!?"
"It doesn't matter." Venom responded.
"What do you mean, it doesn't matter!?"
"There is nothing we can do to prepare for him, Eddie. He will be here any second now! He is our god; we cannot stop him. We have to run, or he will kill us all!"
"What about fire and sound?" Eddie asked.
"Those might tickle him at best."
"What about Thor's lightning?" Loki inquired. "That defeated his dragon!"
"Knull's creations do not compare to him, but that might be your best weapon, if you stupidly choose to fight him."
"You're his child, right? Doesn't he have any weaknesses you know about?"
"If he did, we would not regard him as a god. He has the power to extinguish the light of stars and engulf worlds in darkness! You should return to your family while you have the chance and get yourselves to safety!"
"He's right, this isn't your world, and you've already done way more than your job called for!" Eddie agreed. "You should go back to your wife and kid!"
"I'd love to... but one of the cult Symbiotes paralyzed me with his powers, so I can't move for a while." Loki explained.
Malice looked over as he overheard the conversation while Odin and Thor chained their Loki, after the latter frightened Grievance away with his lightning. "Which means we need to prepare to seal the creator away again, so your son will need to stay hereee." Odin nodded.
"What about your Symbiote?" Venom questioned Detective Loki over the phone.
"He seems to be unconscious."
"Guys, I can feel him coming, and he's coming fast!" Dylan announced.
"You can see him heading to Earth through the hive mind!?"
"Yeah, he's riding another one of those dragons!"
"Can you blow this one up like you did with the last one?"
"What? I did that!?"
"You didn't even realize you did it!? I saw it in Eddie's mind: you are extremely powerful!"
"How?" Detective Loki wondered. "Was that one of Venom's or Carnage's powers?"
"Nope, it's all Dylan!"
"That's amazing! Well, I know my brother's variant is going straight into the action, so I suppose I'll have to fight alongside him, to ensure he doesn't get himself killed! Of course, I won't be any help until I can move; even casting illusions as distractions requires movement in my fingers."
"Are you a good bluffer?" Venom asked.
"Absolutely. Do you have a plan?"
"Kinda. Have you seen The Princess Bride?"
"That depends, which prince did she marry?"
"I'll take that as a no."
"I just need to wake Healer; have you any inkling on how I might do that?"
"Well, if you're paralyzed, there's not much you can do except talk to him, right?" Eddie figured. "And we can't reach him through the hive mind if he ain't connected to it."
"Correct."
"I see." Loki thought for a moment and sent a telepathic message to his partner. "Healer, wake up! Knull is coming, and if you don't awaken, I'll have to team up with Malice to stop him!"
"WHAT?!?"
"Ah, much better! Now can you be a dear and unpetrify me?"
"Oh yeah! Was I unconscious? Weird... I haven't lost consciousness beforeee. But we can't fight Knull; you know that. Even without his Necrosword, he makes Gorr the god butcher look like a child in comparison!"
"Well, if he's a god of darkness, it stands to reason other gods and light magic would be our best defense!" Loki theorized after they emerged above ground.
"Can we at least get some breakfast first? We'll need our full strength if we're going-"
Suddenly, Healer was interrupted as the sky turned dark as night. Everyone gazed in horror as the pale man with white hair clad in black armor descended from outer space, riding Dragon Rex! An army of lesser Symbiote dragons flew close behind them, only visible through the darkness by the white of their fangs and the bloodthirsty red of their eyes!
"It doesn't look like we've got the time!" Loki answered his partner, unsheathing his sword.
As a greeting, Knull sent a surge of living abyss that threatened to engulf the Danish citizens, unlucky enough to be outside, while the dragons hunted them down, but Thor called lightning from the skies to halt the assault! He struck Knull with his most powerful lightning blast, stunning him momentarily yet not knocking him down!
"You are the one who broke my connection with my children all those years ago." Knull recognized. "It was because of your obnoxious flashing that my once-loyal children turned on me." He shot a tendril towards Thor, but the thunderer grabbed hold of it and pulled Knull towards him into a headbutt.
"Aye, and I barely broke a sweat while doing so, half drunk I might add! Now I am ready to finish the job, and you will fall just the same! So says I: Thor Odinson, future king of Asgard, and god of thunder!" Thor then tossed him toward the sea, but he backflipped across the water's surface, unfazed. He met Thor's next blast of lightning with one of darkness, ducking underneath the explosion and rushing Thor, slamming him into the ground!
"Thunder?" Knull repeated. "Yes, that seems appropriate: thunder is nothing but a loud, empty noise, but god? No, foolish child, your lightning flashes are... troublesome, I'll admit, but you are no god."
Thor grunted and grabbed onto his opponent, readying his hammer to strike him, but the eldtritch god halted it between his finger and thumb and effortlessly crushed it into rubble!
"Mjolnir! But... that's not possible: t'was unbreakable!"
Knull just smirked, his pale face resembling a rotted corpse's, and grabbed Thor's leg, crushing it while the state of shock in Thor's mind lingered. "That is arrogance talking, little child of light." He mocked as Thor screamed. "Let me show you the power of a real god and a real king!"
In the meantime, Loki and the others fought off the other Symbiotes in Knull's army. As the detective impaled one with his flaming sword, he snuck over towards Knull, presence concealed, as the god of Symbiotes surrounded Thor with darkness.
"Loki, what are you doing!?" Healer protested. "He's not your Thor! He's not even his Loki's adopted brother! Do not throw away our lives for him!"
"Maybe not, but he needs help, even though he's likely too stubborn to admit it! If I can just sneak over and heal him..."
Knull suddenly turned around and silently approached the magically hidden detective, until he was right in Loki's face!
"Child, why do you hide from your creator? Show yourself." He beckoned Healer, compelling him to peek out from inside of his host.