The Jotuns backed away from the infamous Odin Borson while Thor's and Loki's teams stayed in place. Laufey stared his old foe down and propelled himself with his ice powers to meet him face to face. "Allfather, you look... a bit weary."

"Only of my son's rebellion, but I am thankful I arrived in time."

Loki grinned. "Indeed, perfect timing!"

Odin faced the Jotun detective. "Are you Loki?"

"I am. You... you recognize me... Allfather?"

"I was told of you by the Midgardian goddess Amaterasu's messenger, who also notified me of Thor's visit here. She said that you helped her, that you have a good heart, and you can be trusted."

Thor pointed to Loki and Kōrima. "Father, he and his twin snuck into Asgard through a secret passageway between realms, concealing themselves with sorcery, yet they refuse to reveal its location! How could we trust them!? They are the sons of Laufey!"

Odin looked to the Lokis in amazement. "Laufey has sons... Amaterasu did not tell me that." He turned back to his own son. "No matter, we will search for this passage to Jotunheim and make sure it is well guarded. Thor, it is time we head back home."

"That's it!?" Thor asked incredulously. "You're not going to teach them a lesson for stealing from you!? They have your weapon; think of the chaos they could cause with it!"

"Excuse me, but as you recall, the casket was ours to begin with, so you're the one trying to steal yet again from us!" Loki argued. "Think of all the chaos you could cause with your powers, with that hammer, and especially with the power of your Bifrost, and we're not trying to steal any of that from you! Don't think we don't know about the bloody history of Asgard, how Odin and his army terrorized all nine of the realms before you were even born!"

"We told you, we're using it to restore our realm; look around you!" Kōrima urged. "Does our realm look like it could stand another war!?"

"He's right, you know." Loki agreed. "It'll take time to fix an entire realm; we can't afford to let you take our casket again! Not every realm is all gold and rainbows like the one you live in!"

"You see how disrespectful these giants are to us?" Thor told his father.

"Disrespectful?" Laufey repeated. "Allfather, your boy barged in here, demanding answers of us like a spoiled child and accusing us of restarting the war so he can finish it. He has the makings of a killer, just like his father."

"I told you not to insult my father's na-"

"SILENCE!" Odin boomed before his son could draw his weapon. "We have the information we needed; it is time to return home!"

"Wait!" Kōrima shouted. "There's something I need to know for myself before you go!"

"And what is that, son of Laufey?"

"Did you slay Farbauti, Queen of Jotunheim, all those years ago? Did you really kill our mother?" Odin looked away in shame, and the young shinobi glared at the Allfather. "Father said you did, but if that's true, I want to hear it straight from the murderer's own mouth!"

Thor clenched his fist around Mjolnir once more, but Odin raised a hand to keep him from throwing it.

"Tell him!" Laufey ordered.

Odin sighed. "...I did. I did not know she was with children. I had just defeated your father in battle, and I discovered she was hiding out on Midgard with a squad of your father's soldiers, so I assumed they were all still assaulting the humans while my attention was on Jotunheim. It was only after I had slain them that I realized who she was. Forgive me."

"We may be at peace...for now, but that does not mean you can be forgiven, Allfather." Laufey stated.

Kōrima turned to his variant's TemPad, and Verity's voice confirmed that Odin just told him the truth. He sighed. "No, I can't say that I forgive you. I never knew her, and today I've learned that I will never get the chance to, because of you. But I do have the chance to know my father now, because of Detective Loki, and I will not let anyone take that chance from me! So leave now, before our patience with you runs dry!"

"Is that a threat!?" Thor twirled Mjolnir, utilizing his mighty hammer to fly right up to Kōrima's face, staring the crown prince down. "Challenge me to my face, runt!"

"Thor, you fool, get back here!" But Thor ignored his father's warnings and didn't budge an inch.

"Runt?" Kōrima repeated. "Very witty. Very manly, swinging that oversized hammer around..." He sized up the blond prince and wryly smiled. "I was wondering whether the part you're compensating for is between your ears or your legs, but now I see it's clearly both." The other Jotuns burst into full laughter as Thor passive aggressively snickered. He moved to smack Kōrima with his hammer, but to his surprise, the weapon passed right through him.

While Thor looked around for the real Kōrima, he was suddenly impaled in the leg from behind with a large icicle. He smashed it with ease with another swing Mjolnir, but soon he found himself being stabbed by icicles from all sides, one of them piercing his right hand and separating him from his trusty hammer.

"Father, there's too many of them! Let us fight together!" He cried out, but Thor looked to find Odin pinned to the icy ground by Laufey, too old and tired to overpower his old enemy. "Father!" He looked to his friends, who were all instantly cornered by the army of Jotuns. Thor tried to summon Mjolnir into his hand, but to his surprise, it would not return to him! In a matter of seconds, a thick layer of ice began to form around each of the Asgardians!

In spite of the overwhelming pain and numbing cold, the Asgardian prince struggled on, desperate to save his father from the Jotun king. He valiantly smashed the ice around him through sheer willpower, but a final shard of ice shot through his chest from Laufey's hand, and the proud warrior fell at last.

As Odin caught his son in his arms, his son's friends gathering around him in concern, the Allfather turned to the shinobi aghast. "What did you do to him!?"

"I gave him what he wanted, but more than he could handle." Kōrima explained. "I simply cast him into an illusion; he believes that he was just brutally slain by us, but when he returns to your realm, he will wake up as if from a dream. However, if he has any sense in him, he will awaken realizing how foolish challenging us to war is and leave us in peace. Forgive me, but it was the only way I could get him to leave without any casualties. But know this: if he ever returns here in an unwelcome manner, we will not hesitate to kill him for real!"

Odin nodded. "As long as he is unharmed and the truce remains unbroken, there is nothing to forgive." Odin then raised Gungnir, calling the Bifrost down once more to take the Asgardians all home.

Loki sighed in relief while Laufey smirked. "Once again, Kōrima, you have proven yourself." The Jotun king complimented. "Though we have preserved the peace, you at least put the son of Odin in his place!"

"That was my pleasure; he was very rude!"

"Well, thank you for not harming him." Loki added.

"I meant what I said though: if he ever returns here without our consent, he will die. He is like the samurai: proud and strong with little survival instinct."

"Yes, feel free to kill the Odinson, but remember, Odin himself will die by my hand." Laufey asserted.

"You... might not want to kill Odin..." Loki hinted. "Not without being prepared for his heir to deal even more damage to you, fair warning!"

"The son of Odin was no match for my son, let alone my army!"

"Not by himself, but have you ever faced the daughter of Odin?"

"Daughter?"

"Hela Odindottir, otherwise known as the goddess of death, so powerful and violent that her own father had to imprison her in Hel with his own life-force! In other words, you kill Odin, and all Hel breaks loose!"

Laufey thought back. "His executioner, with whom he first conquered the nine realms? I haven't heard about her in so long, I thought she had died long ago."

"Yes, she and Odin had a falling out, and he literally erased every trace of her existence from Asgard, or so I heard. She's also much more powerful and more magically inclined than Thor, plus she slaughtered an entire army of Valkyries like a hill of ants, so if I were you, I wouldn't be so hasty to slay Odin."

"I have been waiting for centuries to slay him, boy, and with each day, he takes one step closer to death's door. No one will deny Laufey his revenge: I must take him before old age does!"

"Then you'll need to be prepared for his daughter, after you restore your world that is." Loki turned back to Kōrima, conversing with him privately. "So, now you've found your identity and your home, but... well, we could take you back in time to a Jotunheim when both your parents are alive, if you want. You- we... could meet our mother."

Kōrima pondered the idea but shook his head. "But I wouldn't be her son in any other time period, would I? Now I'm no time traveler, but if I did go back, there would be a baby me born either already or after I arrive, and his parents would both be his, not mine. My own parents wouldn't even know me. Besides, I would more than likely arrive in the middle of that war with Asgard, and like I said, the last thing I want is to be involved in another war! Thank you for the offer, but I must stay here with my own family who needs me."

Loki nodded. "A wise decision. You do sound very knowledgeable on the subject of time travel; of course, we Lokis are fast learners!"

"And fast talkers." Sylvie added.

"But if you really want to gain your people's favor, you should introduce them to the most delectable dessert of the future: ice cream!"

"Ice cream?" Kōrima repeated. "It is a frozen dessert, I take it?"

"A frozen dairy dessert. Why don't I bring an ice cream maker and the ingredients from the future here, and we could teach you to make it for them, after you try some for yourself of course! I know you'll all love it, and your people will love you for it!"

"It's that good, is it? Very well, I could never say no to a good dessert!"

"Hmmm..." Healer pondered. "I wonder if the native Frost Giants would enjoy a brain-flavored ice cream sundae?"

"I doubt it." Loki disagreed. "Recall that I'm a Frost Giant, and I prefer my desserts brain-free!"

"Yeah, I recall. But waittt... do you not still have to book the ninja youuu for the case of treasure theft?"

Loki shrugged. "Not technically. The treasures have all been returned, no one at the temples was harmed, and those who fell to his illusions have all regained themselves. Kōrima won't be returning to Earth, and even if he could, he wouldn't need to steal anything again. Technically, it was Susanoo's plan to take his sister's treasures, so we can assign him due blame, can we not?"

"You may." An familiar voice agreed.

"Yata?" Sylvie looked around for the 3-legged crow, who flew up to her, joined by a pair of ravens. "What are you doing here?"

"Delivering one more message from Amaterasu sama, after traveling through Odin sama's Bifrost. She says, 'It was just like my brother to manipulate a mortal...' or a Frost Giant, in your case, 'into freeing him. My messenger will explain to the shrine guards, and you can collect your pay from them without any trouble.' She said she's very grateful to you for solving the mystery for her, and she wishes you a safe journey back through time and space!"

Loki smiled. "Then thank her for her kind blessing and for sorting out the messy details for us."

"Thank her for me as well please." Kōrima requested. "For being so understanding and forgiving of my actions."

"Will we see you back at the first shrine?" Sylvie asked the bird.

"Inconveniently, I must return to my kami now that my work is complete, aho, so now is the time for me to say my goodbyes to you, as I have already done with Mobius san. It was a pleasure working with you, detectives; may we meet again."

"Likewise." The Loki couple replied. Heimdall opened up the Bifrost once more for Yatagarasu, and he flew back to his kami.

"Well..." Detective Loki extended his hand. "Good luck with your new home and family."

"Thank you. Uhm..." Kōrima awkwardly peered down at his variant's hand before he bowed instead, with the detective variant noticing and reciprocating.

"Fiamma, are you staying with Kōrima?" The Fire Giantess faced her shinobi, who nodded to her. "For as long as I can."

"For as long as you'd like." Her Loki corrected. "But first, you should go someplace warm until I find a way to keep you warm here."

"Well, I'm definitely not going back to Surtur, even if my oh-so-perfect sister hasn't been born yet. I could bring a nice toasty fireplace from Earth here, if the other Jotuns don't mind the smoke."

Kōrima warmly smiled. "I certainly don't: ironically, I have always found fire a beautiful force of nature. Uhm, I may have burned down some enemy strongholds and houses during my shinobi missions."

Fiamma's smile slowly faded as she remembered her past quest for the Twilight Sword, burning down every structure in her path until the Time Detectives stopped her. "I wonder how long I can stay with him until I have to go back?" She thought. "I almost feel like I should tell him, but what good would that do!? He'd probably feel like I was using him and act oversensitive about it... and he's pretty Earthy and old-fashioned, even for an Asgardian... I'd probably have to marry him before he accepts me as his mate... but..." He looked into his deep red eyes, which reminded her of red hot embers, and she warmly smiled back. "But maybe that wouldn't be so bad, mating for life, if he's the one I choose."

She kissed him on the lips again while the two Asgardian ravens flew over them unnoticed from above. When their lips finally parted, Fiamma noticed the birds circling around a portal, and out of the portal stepped two young Asgardian women, one wielding a mace and one with a large axe. The Jotuns gathered around them, wary from the last uninvited Asgardian visitors.

"It's alright!" Fiamma told them. "They're here for me, not you!" The Jotuns slowly dispersed as the red and pink haired duo surrounded her, handcuffs and weapons at the ready. Fiamma sighed. She couldn't put it off any longer; her time was up.