Loki

Loki is a transmigrator, founder of the April Fool's team, and Marionettist who turns the Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society into a hunting ground for the Celestial Worthy. His ordinary Sequence 5 abilities make him elusive, but his most consequential advantages—sensing transmigrators, returning through Castle Dylan, and a near-godhood substitute—are external boons and preparations rather than standard Marionettist powers.

Biography

Role in the Central Conflict

Loki builds April Fool's around cruelty disguised as humor. Its members spread despair about the apocalypse, infiltrate other Research Society teams, manipulate fellow transmigrators, and treat the suffering of targets as entertainment. Loki also maintains a position within the Secret Order and, through a Marionettist identity, reaches middle management in Bureau 8 before disappearing. His attack on “Muggle,” Aurore Lee, has a larger purpose than the other members initially understand: he supplies or guides the Soul Summoning Spell that helps divide her soul and serves the Celestial Worthy's plan for Cordu. The others' pleasure in the “prank” is real, but later testimony indicates that Loki is following an ulterior design rather than choosing Aurore solely for amusement. (Chapters 1808–1811, 1822, 1824–1828, 1840–1841, 2018, and 2025)

When Lumian Lee and Franca Roland begin exposing April Fool's, Loki follows what he believes is Muggle's surviving trail and tries to turn them into marionettes. Hela intervenes, overwhelms him in the dream image of Castle Dylan, and destroys his body. Loki leaves no characteristic because the Celestial Worthy's assistance lets him abandon the dying body and revive with his powers intact at a prepared site in the castle. He uses the new life to warn surviving allies rather than withdraw, demonstrating both the strategic value and the moral hazard of his resurrection: each death is costly and finite, but while lives remain he can treat capture or bodily destruction as an escape route. (Chapters 1817–1824 and 1841)

In Port Santa, Loki impersonates Rubió Paco and turns Madame Martha and a Soul Assurer into marionettes. His immediate objective is Ludwig, a sealed demigod whom he hopes to control and display in a grand public performance satisfying the ritual for Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer. He prepares decoys, manipulates crowds from a distance, and abducts Ludwig under forced sleep. The plan fails on two limits he misjudges: Ludwig's high essence makes control of his Spirit Body Threads take more than an hour, and multiple demigods arrive before that process can finish. Loki abandons advancement, escapes Ludwig's bite with a specially blessed paper substitute, and later commits an explosive suicide rather than let Fors Wall capture and trace him. He resurrects again, but the operation consumes another of his limited returns without securing either Ludwig or the potion advancement. (Chapters 2010–2018 and 2022)

The final resurrection goes wrong. When Major Arcana holders track a different enemy to a shadowy cathedral, they find a familiar Loki body stained by another presence and capable of summoning figures and effects far beyond Sequence 5. Fors's later report establishes what happened: Castle Dylan had belonged to former Secret Order leader Zaratul, and Loki's flawed return allowed Zaratul to resurrect inside him. Zaratul does not fully take over, and Loki does not completely die; their minds, souls, and identities become an unstable stitched-together entity. This is why the later figure's Angel-level historical abilities cannot be added to Loki's personal pathway progression. (Chapters 2160–2171)

Inside Mr. Fool's dream, the composite uses the name “Zaratulstra.” Even observers cannot determine whether it is more Zaratul or more Loki, and the dream suppresses its expressions to roughly Sequence 7 while retaining the identity and experience of an Angel. It works for the Celestial Worthy against the protagonists, but a proposed internal struggle between the two constituent minds remains only a possibility, not a confirmed rebellion by Loki. The latest references still use Loki's repeated resurrections as an example, yet no later chapter restores him as an independent person. (Chapters 2380, 2390, 2410, and 2443)

Appearance and personality

Loki first appears at a Research Society gathering with his back turned, wearing a black Seer's robe marked “Loki” in gold. As a Faceless and Marionettist, he repeatedly changes body, height, face, and public identity; Rubió Paco and the missing Bureau 8 manager are operational disguises, not reliable portraits of an original body. The later body found in the cathedral is a dark-haired man in his thirties with average features, recognizable as Loki but carrying an unfamiliar stain from Zaratul's partial resurrection. (Chapters 1808, 2010, and 2160)

He is theatrical, manipulative, cruel, and calculating. Loki enjoys making victims understand the joke only after escape is impossible, but he also prepares identities, marionettes, altars, safe houses, and resurrection routes well in advance. He is willing to abandon a cherished advancement ritual when the timing turns unfavorable and to destroy his own body when capture would expose Castle Dylan. These retreats are not compassion or cowardice; they preserve a larger allegiance to the Celestial Worthy and allow him to continue treating other lives as performance materials. (Chapters 1828, 1841, 2010–2015, and 2022)

Pathways and abilities

Loki is a Sequence 5 Marionettist of the Seer pathway. His known progression supplies divination and spiritual sensitivity, a Clown's control of body and expression, a Magician's illusions, flame manipulation, Air Bullets, and Paper Figurine Substitutes, and a Faceless's ability to alter appearance and build convincing identities. These powers explain his espionage career and escapes; they do not explain resurrection or detection of transmigrators, which come from the Celestial Worthy. (Chapters 1817–1821, 1841, 2010, and 2018)

Spirit Body Thread control

As a Marionettist, Loki perceives and manipulates Spirit Body Threads. Initial control can slow thought and movement within seconds, while sustained manipulation turns the target into a marionette that can act at a distance and use its original Beyonder powers. Loki operates several slots, stages independent-looking performances with them, and keeps active marionettes within roughly 100 to 200 meters during the Port Santa operation. The Faceless transformation itself cannot simply be delegated to a marionette, so he must plan disguises and positioning separately. (Chapters 2010 and 2014)

The technique requires range, concentration, and time, with the target's essence being decisive. Ordinary people and Mid-Sequence Beyonders can be converted quickly enough for an ambush, but Ludwig's sealed demigod nature stretches the process beyond an hour even while he is unconscious. A Marionettist is also vulnerable when attention is split among multiple puppets, direct combat, and escape. Once Ludwig wakes, Loki can put him to sleep or continue thread control but cannot easily kill or restrain his body, forcing abandonment of the plan. (Chapters 2010, 2014, and 2018)

Faceless identities and Magician escapes

Loki uses Faceless reshaping to impersonate Rubió Paco, pass through crowds as an inconspicuous stranger, and maintain official or criminal identities. Paper Figurine Substitute can shift an attack or fatal position onto prepared paper, while flame movement, illusion, Air Bullets, and physical control give him layered escape options. Prepared substitution is not unlimited: powerful tracking, true Concealment, exhaustion of paper figures, or an enemy who controls the surrounding area can still trap him. Hela's intervention and Fors's seal both force him past normal Magician defenses and into resurrection or suicide. (Chapters 1820–1821, 2010, 2018, and 2022)

Celestial Worthy's boons and Castle Dylan

The Celestial Worthy gives Loki abilities beyond his Sequence. He can sense nearby transmigrators, receives revelations and resources, and can revive at Castle Dylan with his characteristics intact after abandoning a dead body. The returns require a prepared site and are finite; true Concealment could prevent the escape, and repeated deaths eventually exhaust the available chances. Castle Dylan is inherited from Zaratul and cannot normally be located by appearance, history, or ordinary tracking, making it both sanctuary and the hidden condition of the resurrection. (Chapters 1821, 1841, 2025, and 2160)

Before Port Santa, the Celestial Worthy attaches a special boon to a paper figurine. It substitutes Loki across several hundred meters even after Ludwig has physically seized and maimed him, an effect described as bordering on godhood. This is a one-off prepared bestowal, not evidence that all his paper figures have demigod range. It saves him from Ludwig but does not restore the severed hand, finish the failed ritual, or protect the next body from capture. (Chapter 2018)

Zaratulstra distinction

After the defective resurrection, the shared body displays Zaratul's historical projections, wishes, fog-of-history movement, and Angel-level Seer authorities. These belong to the composite's revived Zaratul component, while Loki survives only as an incompletely erased mind and soul. The dream's Sequence 7 suppression limits the expression of those powers without turning them into Loki's personal advancement. The balance between the two identities remains unresolved at the end of the supplied corpus. (Chapters 2163–2171, 2390, and 2410)

Relationships

• Aurore Lee: Under the code name Muggle, Aurore is the central victim of Loki's Research Society betrayal. His Soul Summoning arrangement contributes to her divided soul and Cordu's catastrophe.
• Lumian Lee: Lumian hunts Loki for Aurore and repeatedly forces him to spend a resurrection. Loki in turn tries to convert him into a marionette and later confronts his group through the Zaratulstra composite.
• Franca Roland: Franca's loyalty to the Research Society turns into a campaign against April Fool's. Loki exploits her connection to Muggle but fails to silence her before she exposes his network.
• Hela: Hela destroys Loki's first shown body and identifies the resurrection mechanism. Her ability to obtain true Concealment represents a direct counter to his escape.
• Ludwig: Loki kidnaps Ludwig as the intended demigod centerpiece of his Bizarro Sorcerer performance. Ludwig's essence resists rapid marionettization, and his physical attack forces Loki to abandon both the captive and the ritual.
• Zaratul: Castle Dylan's former owner resurrects inside Loki after a failed return. Neither identity fully eliminates the other, producing Zaratulstra rather than a clean possession or a normal Loki resurrection.
• Fors Wall: Fors's interventions force Loki's explosive suicide and later uncover the Zaratul fusion. Her sealing and tracking make ordinary Marionettist escape insufficient.

Items

• Gemstone teleportation bracelet: A bracelet of differently colored gems whose diamond can teleport Loki. It helps him leave Port Santa after the special substitute activates, but it does not by itself create the long-range substitute or his resurrection. (Chapters 2014 and 2018)
• Boon-attached paper figurine: A specially prepared substitute blessed weeks before the sea prayer operation. It carries Loki several hundred meters from Ludwig and is consumed in doing so. (Chapter 2018)