Even using the Siphoning Ability to steal lifespan from them to make up for his insufficient storage of lifespan didn’t help. This was because there were just too many people using the divine constellation against him, and all of them thought that he was weak and vulnerable, so they didn’t want to give up on their inquiry to him.
At the end of the day, he didn’t get to fight them at all. In fact, he didn’t get to run far either. This was because he ran out of lifespan and died too soon.
His plan was to run to one of the small worlds that he knew were nearby and devour it to gain more lifespan. But he couldn’t get there because too many people were using the divine constellation to inquire about him.
Just before dying, he returned to the past with the Rewind Metac. This time, he controlled Fenrir to stop as soon as possible. So he returned to a moment before his fight with Gold Body.
Immediately after returning, he went looking for Rusty. But while he was doing this and the other things he needed to do to get Gold Body, he didn’t think about his upcoming fight with Gold Body at all. Instead, he was thinking about his plan after the fight.
What had happened in the previous timeline went through his mind and made him think, ’That was a big failure. Frankly, I am not surprised by it. After all, that was why I didn’t run away the first time I became the Monarch Gold Body.’
’I knew that running away was a bad idea, as it would make me look weak and allow the people of the Thorn House of Commerce to do anything they want to me without worrying about anyone seeing them.’
’But as bad an idea running is, I still have to do it. After all, that’s the easiest way to attract prey and separate them from the herd. I simply have to tweak the plan a little bit.’
His mind went over what had happened again and again before going through what he should not do, what he should do, and what he should do better. These were the things he was thinking about as he fought the old Gold Body.
Finally, he killed the old Gold Body and took his place. Then he chose to run instead of waiting to confront Monarch Forced Exchange and Monarch Life’s Worth.
But while he was tearing a gap in the barriers of the third dimension, he gave the order to the manifestation of Fenrir that he had prepared.
This manifestation attacked the city below. It wasn’t just a simple attack. The metal dog attacked the entire city with the Devouring Ability.
The whole city was covered by a black force field that broke down the city and swept it clean. Only the sect grounds were spared. The rest of the city was devoured.
All of these happened in Loki’s absence. By the time the city was gone, Loki had disappeared into the third dimension. But all of the lifespan and law fragments that he entered went directly into Fenrir in the core of his Cave Heaven, so he didn’t miss anything.
After the city was destroyed, Loki let the manifestation of Fenrir go, so the metal dog turned into a cloud of scattered metallic dust. So when Forced Exchange came, he found a decimated city and no culprit.
To say that Forced Exchange didn’t like this would be an understatement. In fact, saying he was incensed would also be an underestimation.
Forced Exchange didn’t look angry at all. His face looked calm, but his eyes were glaring with a blinding intensity.
He had that look of someone who didn’t know what blinking was as he said, "It seems the threat of the Thorn Josie of Commerce has diminished. And it would seem that the power of the Thorn House of Commerce needs to be displayed again, so the world will know to show it the proper respect."
He said that as a warning to everyone watching. His warning indeed made some people fearful, but three divine beings still came out to interfere in this business.
The three divine beings were Forced Exchange, Money Construct, and Wealth Status. The three of them joined Forced Exchange in actively hunting Loki.
Aside from these four who went after Loki, four other people sneakily used the divine constellation to try to get some information about Loki. If Loki were truly as weak as he looked, they wouldn’t mind joining in the fun.
Unfortunately for all of them, Loki had gained 1,478,817 and 7,136,328 law fragments from eating the city. So he had a lot of lifespan at the ready to block their inquiry.
The thought of so much lifespan in his possession made him chuckle and say, "I was going to offend them anyway. So why not take it further?"
He didn’t stop with just blocking inquiries, though. He also investigated the people who were pursuing him.
The investigation was mainly to learn useful information about the motives of his pursuers. But just as important as this was his plan to drain some of their lifespan through the investigation. This second reason was why he investigated Forced Exchange and Life’s Worth.
He already knew why Forced Exchange and Life’s Worth were chasing him. But he still investigated them for various things because he wanted to make them lose some lifespan, blocking his inquiry.
Monarch Life’s Worth refused to block his inquiries and let him see whatever he wanted to see about her motives. So he decided to inquire about something else about her. He wanted to see who she had fought or worked with recently.
He kept searching for more information about her until she was forced to block his inquiry to prevent the exposure of some of her secrets. This success brought a smile to his lips, but he pushed her too far.