Hela had no idea what Hades was thinking—if she did, she would've already put him in his place and told him to his face that she wanted him dead. Not that he would bend, of course.
Right now, however, her mind was focused elsewhere.
She now had access to Kamar-Taj, which gave her many options, but the Ancient One was still within Hel and hadn't informed the others of the situation. If Hela were to show up at Kamar-Taj directly, it would only complicate things.
So she decided to give the Ancient One a bit of time—to study the Ethernano on her own terms. Meanwhile, Hela would focus on other matters.
She was thinking about solutions regarding the dangers of placing entire dimensions—or even whole universes—inside her own body, and how to solve them.
She couldn't afford to spend every second monitoring what was going on inside them. There was no way she was going to act as a babysitter to infinite layers of reality 24/7.
Besides, many of the projects she wanted to begin required a ridiculous amount of calculation—the kind that would take even J.A.R.V.I.S. months or years to process. And Hela… well, Hela was lazy.
Not human-level lazy. Goddess-level lazy. The kind of laziness that makes you think, Why should I manage thousands of reality fragments manually when I could just create something to do it for me?
So that's what she decided to do.
She would create her own version of Raphael—a being who would exclusively manage the internal structures she placed inside her body.
Someone—or something—that would notify her immediately if something strange or dangerous occurred. A guardian. A warden. A divine overseer.
But of course, what she intended to create wasn't just some basic skill or artificial intelligence like J.A.R.V.I.S. No, she wanted to create a real form of life—something at least on the level of Ultron or Vision.
Unfortunately, the Mind Stone was missing. She had searched for it, but found no trace. If this world followed the pattern of the MCU, then Thanos likely had it—or would soon.
That left only one other viable option: the Soul Stone.
And to be perfectly honest, Hela considered the Soul Stone the easiest one for her to obtain. After all, it only required manipulating one of the countless pieces of walking human garbage scattered across Earth—or other living beings in the universe.
All she had to do was find someone desperate enough to believe they could gain ultimate power by sacrificing something they 'loved the most.'
And people like that? Oh, they existed. She was sure of it.
Once they committed the act, all she had to do was swoop in and claim the result. No mess, no effort. Easy as stealing candy from a morally compromised baby.
But there was one thing to consider.
If she were to collect a second Infinity Stone, it would effectively be the same as announcing to the entire universe that she was preparing for conquest.
That's the part she was still thinking about.
Was it worth it now? Or would it be smarter to wait until she had fully sealed Hel within her body? After that, she could emerge from the shadows and claim the Soul Stone openly—without needing to hide, without subtlety.
She could declare war on every major civilization in existence—not as a whisper in the void, but as a goddess standing boldly under the cosmic spotlight.
If she didn't do it that way, then what was the point?
How would her Raphael even be worthy of her?
"It seems," she whispered with a slow smile, "that it's time for a grand announcement."
Who was Hela?
Someone who thrived on excitement. Who liked fighting. Who didn't want to do quiet or discreet. Of course she wouldn't keep a low profile—she was going to do things with style and full fanfare.
Now that her decision was made, there was no hesitation.
She returned to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and gave herself three days.
Three days outside.
Three years inside.
During those three years, she would make full use of her adaptivity and elevate herself to a new level—at the very least to the point where the Space Stone or any other attack that used space wouldn't be able to do anything to her.
...
...
...
(Somewhere out there)
"Sigh... It seems that the beginning of yet another war is inevitable. Just a few years after your death... In the end, even though I don't want to admit it, you failed. No, they failed you," murmured a woman who appeared to be in her fifties, her voice heavy with regret, as if each word carried the weight of decades.
"Hmph, I told you countless times. Humans are creatures that don't deserve to exist. They're always greedy, always lusting after powers they can't control—just to kill more and more," said a voice from nowhere, though the woman didn't seem surprised by it.
She didn't reply immediately. Instead, she sighed, silently contemplating his words, before a soft smile tugged at her lips.
"You're wrong. I won't deny that humans are indeed full of greed… but deep down, all of them want peace."
"Unfortunately," she continued, colder this time, "those kinds of people rarely hold any power. Only those at the top get to decide, and sadly, the ones who reach the top never want to step down."
"They'll do anything to maintain their position—even if it means manufacturing fear among the weak and convincing the masses that they need them to survive."
The more she spoke, the more her despair seemed to fade, as if she were slowly convincing herself.
"But I still believe... If someone like him once existed, then surely, someone else will rise again—someone who can bring peace, just as he did."
She continued to speak, yet overlooked—or perhaps deliberately ignored—one important fact: she herself was strong.
Strong enough that, with the right moves and decisions, she could bring peace to the world with her own hands.
And yet, like so many others, she chose to maintain the status quo, clinging to the hope that some savior—an illusion, a fantasy—would come and fix everything.
At least, that's what the voice believed. A voice that had lived for over a thousand years.
It had seen every kind of human imaginable, every kind of conflict.
It had witnessed a war that lasted for centuries, a war that no one tried to stop—until he appeared.
And then, not even five years had passed since his death, and the world was once again descending into chaos, this time on an even greater scale.
How many more centuries would need to pass before another like him appeared? And during that time, how many atrocities would humanity commit?
When the voice didn't answer, she shook her head.
He truly was difficult—stubborn, unyielding, always anchored in his judgment.
She could only hope that his next companion would manage to open his eyes… to make him see the good in humanity.
Neither of them could have imagined that his next companion would not be a human at all.
But a goddess, watching from beyond the universe.
A goddess who would change him—
But not in the way the woman had hoped.
(END OF THE CHAPTER)
"Late justice isn't justice," so said Codeblack.
Since that's the case... this chapter is a little late. So technically, it's not today's chapter—it's tomorrow's!
Okay, I'm joking.
Anyway, I didn't plan to write a chapter today since I'm at my grandma's house, but here we are!
Thanks for the Power Stones yesterday—that was epic! From now on, for every 500 Power Stones, there will be a bonus chapter, since I'll be focusing more on this story.