Loki opened his eyes and found himself inside a cavern.
His mind blurred for a moment before reality caught up. He was not in Asgard. He was on a planet that reeked of garbage.
He should have been a slave in the arena, forced to entertain the crowds. Death and blood, served up to spike those barbarians' adrenaline.
But Bant had saved him. Bant had removed the control device from his body and given him freedom.
After leaving the arena, Loki fled all the way out of the royal capital at last, only to pass out in the wilderness.
Now it seemed someone had rescued him.
He struggled to sit up, and a sharp wave of pain tore through him.
Even though the chains on his body had been removed with Bant's help, the wounds that pierced bone were not so easily healed.
"You're awake?"
A silver-gray alien walked in, holding water in both hands. Seeing Loki conscious, the alien set what he was carrying down.
Loki's guard snapped up instantly.
The alien paused, then lifted both hands to show he meant no harm.
"Relax. If I wanted you dead, you would've been sold back to the capital before you ever woke up. After all, the great Red King still doesn't know his slave escaped death." The alien's words dripped with mockery, enough for Loki to understand one thing clearly.
This man did not intend to kneel to the Red King.
Loki's thoughts flashed back to the dungeon not long ago, to what Bant had told him.
"That red ant is so arrogant he looks down on people through his nostrils. Do you really think the people of this planet are willing to be enslaved by him? Loki, right now you're the only one who can leave the arena, and only you can gather the forces that resist the Red King."
"You're really just going to let me leave?" Loki had asked back then.
"You can run with your tail between your legs like a dog, sure. But then that red ant will never pay the price for enslaving an Asgardian prince. Or what, are you going home to cry to your mother? Let Odin and Thor see just how timid and pathetic you are?" Bant had fired back.
Then Bant had said, "This is your chance to prove yourself, Loki. If you become king on Sakaar, who can say you're not qualified to become king of Asgard?"
His mind returned to the present.
The alien placed the water beside him. Loki glanced down, and disgust twisted across his face.
The water was as muddy as sludge.
Compared to this, even the arena's rations could be called decent.
"This is all we have," the alien said. "All the resources on this planet are gathered in the capital. Only the Red King decides how they're distributed. Otherwise, those scavengers wouldn't be insane enough to eat alien corpses…"
Loki fell silent. He licked lips so dry they had cracked, then suddenly laughed.
"Looks like what you need… is a true, wise ruler!"
"If you're willing to help us, we'll be grateful," the Phantom Tribe alien said. "I know you're an Asgardian prince, and you have a blood feud with the Red King. I can take you to meet the leader of the resistance."
"But you won't become our king, because the one we've been waiting for…" He spoke, then paused, his face filling with reverent faith.
"…is the Son of Sakaar."
In the dungeon.
Bill rolled his shoulders. Several days of rest had made his body feel lighter.
He had barely taken a few steps when he heard other gladiators discussing the battle from a few days ago, the fight between the Hacker and the Red Wind Queen.
"He almost won. If the Red King hadn't interfered, he would've been the first to defeat the Red Wind Queen."
"Yeah, but what can you do? We all have to obey him."
"Damn it, if it weren't for the Obedience Discs…"
Then every voice was swallowed by silence. They did not dare speak too loudly, and they absolutely could not let the guards hear even a hint of resentment toward the Red King.
But every word still reached Bill's ears.
He opened his palm. A tiny device lay quietly there.
And in his mind, he replayed the plan Bant had told him.
This device could interfere with the Obedience Disc signal, but it had to be placed at the highest point, the top of the Totem Tower, to cover the entire capital.
Bill's mission was to infiltrate the top of the Totem Tower when the second match began.
In truth, it would have been more suitable for Luma to do it.
But Bant, Luma, and Brunnhilde all agreed on one thing.
The Red King would definitely keep his eyes on Luma during the second match, to prevent her from disrupting his plan to eliminate Bant.
So Bill, who was also far from weak, became the best choice to carry out the task.
As for Brunnhilde, her role was to reorganize the other scavengers and pull together another force.
That way, with Bant and Luma as the core combat power, plus all the enslaved resistance forces on Sakaar, the arena warriors led by Bill, and countless scavengers swarming like locusts…
Once those forces united, they would be enough to ignite a planet-level war.
A week slipped by quietly.
And the second match of the Champion's Challenge arrived right on schedule.
But this match would not be held inside the arena.
It would be held in Sakaar's infamous forbidden land: the Great Maw!
The Great Maw looked like a colossal mine shaft, spiraling paths layered upon layered, like a road that descended straight into hell.
Deep within the Great Maw was magma, boiling and scorching.
Just standing at the edge of the pit, Bant could already feel the blistering heat rush into his face.
He raised his head.
Above him, aircraft fitted with cameras circled nonstop.
Because the battlefield was not in the capital, the match would be broadcast live.
In the capital.
For once, the Red King was fully armed. Golden armor wrapped his body.
It was a high-tech exoskeleton suit. In terms of technological sophistication, even Tony Stark's current armor would not be worth mentioning beside it.
The Red King was brutal, but he was also extremely cautious. After sending Caiera out to deal with Bant, he did not leave anyone even the slightest opening.
Not just the armor.
He had mobilized nearly the entire royal guard of the Totem Tower to his side.
On top of that, all kinds of powerful weapons were kept ready at all times.
The way he protected himself like a turtle hiding inside its shell made it no surprise that Luma looked down on him.
But now, the Red King did not care.
Originally, he had treated Luma like a gentleman because she was strong, and forcing her down would have cost him dearly.
But the last time, when Luma defied him in front of tens of thousands, it became something he could no longer tolerate.
Once Bant was dead, he would immediately recall Caiera and the Death's Crown troops, then move on Luma.
He would turn Luma into his slave completely!
"That woman hasn't made any strange moves, has she?" Having already made his decision, the Red King's tone toward Luma turned openly disdainful.
A guard stepped forward and bowed his head. "So far, the Red Wind Queen has stayed in the training room. She should be preparing for the third match."
"A pity. There will never be a third match," the Red King said with a cold smile.
He sat down in his armor. A massive double-bladed sword was placed beside the throne.
"I want the entire world to see what happens to slaves who defy me!!"
At the Great Maw mine pit.
Caiera had been waiting for a long time, accompanied by the Death's Crown, or rather, the Skull Army.
Each Skull Warrior wore an exoskeleton suit similar to the Red King's, though their models were older and less advanced than his.
Caiera's emotions were complicated.
On one hand, she also despised the Red King's actions. Just to eliminate one warrior, he was deploying such a huge army…
But on the other hand, because of the Obedience Disc, she could not disobey the Red King's orders.
She lifted her hand, her fingertips resting on the disc.
With a little force, she could crush it.
But the neurotoxin inside would spread through her entire body in an instant and take her life.
She sighed.
And she did not attack Bant immediately.
The monster inside the Great Maw was terrifying. Even if Bant's displayed strength had slightly surpassed Luma's, he still might not be able to subdue that thing.
If Bant lost, all their preparations would become meaningless.
If Bant won, then they could strike when he was most relaxed and erase him in one decisive blow.
At this moment, she walked toward Bant.
Caiera dressed provocatively. Even if her looks were not to Bant's taste, he had to admit her figure was impressive.
"This is the Great Maw, and this is your battlefield," she said. "You must defeat the monster within the Great Maw to be declared the victor."
Hearing that, Bant looked down toward the lava.
At the same time, that enormous monster seemed to sense living presence and began waking from its slumber!
"ROAR!"
It lifted its mountain-like body, and in that instant, the massive volcano revealed its horrifying face.
Scorching energy surged outward, raising the temperature of the Great Maw. In a blink, the air climbed to nearly one hundred degrees, and it was still rising!
At such a terrifying temperature, even with Bant's superhuman physique, it was unbearable.
Yet Caiera beside him seemed completely unaffected.
"Good luck, Hacker."
She drifted away.
And at the same time, the volcano finally erupted in full!
Searing ash surged hundreds of meters into the air. Magma, melted by the heat, burst out like a gigantic fountain. Burning boulders fell like the end of days!
Boom!
In an instant, power strong enough to swallow civilizations crashed toward Bant, as if carrying the King of Sakaar's fury, determined to burn him to nothing!
In the distance, Caiera watched Bant being engulfed and gently shook her head.
Clearly, she did not believe Bant could survive a disaster that could only be called cataclysm.
But the moment he arrived at the Great Maw, Bant already knew what he had to do.
"Flame Man, the hero makes his entrance!"
/-\
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