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With King Eitri and all the dwarves watching,
The once intact skull of Surtur suddenly had one of its long horns snap off and instantly melt into the molten metal in the forge.
It seemed like a signal because immediately after, the whole skull was completely melted and blended into the forge's molten core.
"Hurry, extinguish the neutron star's flame."
Eitri swallowed his excitement and quickly gave the next command.
The mechanism on the ring slammed shut.
The blazing heat beam from the neutron star slowly faded away.
"Eternal flame, from here on, it's all up to you."
As the neutron star's fire died down, a faint golden flame suddenly flickered to life beneath the forge.
But even that faint little spark of fire made the entire forge suddenly start shaking violently.
It was like some furious beast trapped inside was about to break free.
"ROAR!"
In the shocked silence, a deafening roar of rage echoed from deep within the forge, slamming into everyone's ears.
It felt like the sound shook all Nine Realms.
Up in the palace of Asgard, Odin—who had been meditating, trying to suppress his surging divine power—suddenly opened his one eye, sensing something.
He looked into the void, as if his gaze could pierce through everything in the Nine Realms.
"Surtur. The Eternal Flame."
"Eitri, King of the Dwarves… you actually went through with it…"
"In that case—let me lend you a hand."
In the next moment, Odin's eye gleamed with fierce determination. He pointed his Eternal Spear straight into the sky.
In an instant, a dazzling golden beam shot out, cutting through all of Asgard, spanning across the Nine Realms like a second Bifrost Bridge.
"Wait—Surtur?!"
"No way! I already killed him for good!"
Back in Nidavellir, Thor stared up at the sky in disbelief, eyes locked on a massive shadow—a giant flaming figure burning in the void.
In its hands was a blazing longsword, swinging wildly, and nothing around it seemed able to stop its terrifying advance.
And right there in the heart of the flames, Thor saw something that shook him to his core—a vision of Asgard, torn apart and nearly destroyed.
"Eitri, what the hell is going on?!"
Thor was stunned, horrified—like he was staring into the prophecy of Ragnarok itself.
"Relax, Thor. That's just a vision of what could've happened."
"The Eternal Flame triggered it, brought that future to the surface… but fate's already shifted. The timeline has changed."
Just like Eitri said, a golden beam of light suddenly blasted through the sky and shattered the terrifying illusion right before their eyes.
"No—!"
With a final roar of fury and unwillingness, the flaming giant and the golden light both got sucked back down into the massive forge.
A strange glowing pattern appeared on the outer wall of the forge, then slowly faded away.
"Odin's blessing?"
Eitri stared, clearly stunned.
He'd spent his entire life forging weapons—but this was only the third time he'd ever seen Odin bless one with divine power in person.
"Thor, your father…"
He turned slowly to Thor, clearly wanting to say something, but held back.
Then, shaking off the moment, Eitri threw himself fully into the task at hand.
"Quick, bring me the mold! And the World Tree branch—don't forget that!"
Seeing that Odin's blessing had merged with the forge, he shouted anxiously.
Then Eitri stepped forward himself and slowly tipped the forge over.
A glowing, molten liquid metal—shimmering with multiple colors like lava—began to flow out slowly.
It poured into a square mold they'd prepared in advance.
When the last drop of metal left the forge, the mold was filled perfectly to the brim.
Soon after, the special mold cooled rapidly, and the molten metal inside solidified into shape.
Eyes gleaming with excitement, Eitri didn't hesitate—he smashed the mold open.
Two still-glowing, red-hot chunks of metal lay inside, radiating heat.
Faint red markings could be seen etched into their surfaces, with golden threads running between them like veins.
"Bring me the axe handle…"
Taking the World Tree branch from another dwarf, Eitri ignored the searing heat from the metal and slowly brought the branch over.
In an instant, strange energy crackled to life between the branch and the two metal pieces.
The dead World Tree branch suddenly surged with vitality—as if it had been reborn.
The wood extended rapidly, shooting out new offshoots that wrapped tightly around the metal parts of the axe head.
Clang!
With one clean, crisp metallic sound, the entire thing fused together perfectly.
In the next moment, Eitri felt a powerful force surge through the World Tree branch in his hands.
The newly forged battle axe suddenly tore itself free from his grip and shot up into the air.
For the first time ever, the skies over Nidavellir turned pitch black with storm clouds.
CRACK! BOOM!
Streaks of silver lightning and blood-red thunder clashed and exploded in the clouds above.
The apocalyptic scene froze every dwarf in place.
"Thor—go! Grab it! And pour all your godly power into it!"
Eitri was the only one still moving, eyes full of hope as he yelled to Thor.
"Got it!"
Thor didn't hesitate.
Silver lightning flared all around him, matching the stormy sky above.
In the next instant, Thor rose from the ground, shooting straight into the air.
The axe—still crackling with both silver and red lightning—seemed to sense Thor's presence.
It spun wildly in the void, then surged straight toward him.
Thor instinctively raised his right hand—and caught it tight.
In an instant, two terrifyingly powerful energies surged toward his body.
Within the blink of an eye, half of his body was engulfed in a brilliant silver-white glow, crackling with silvery lightning.
The other half, meanwhile, blazed with intense red light—flames dancing wildly around him, radiating a fierce and aggressive aura.
His eyes, too, glowed—one silver, one red.
In that moment, his entire presence exploded like a storm, red flames and silver lightning intertwining in perfect harmony.
Even the clouds above darkened so completely they blotted out the light of the neutron star.
"Today... I'm taking back everything I lost with my own hands!"
As if he felt something shift, Thor—surging with overwhelming power—didn't hesitate. He raised the battle axe in his hand high above him.
In front of all the stunned dwarves, a rainbow-colored beam of light shot down from the sky, summoned by Thor himself. It wrapped around him, and in a flash, carried his body through all Nine Realms.
"This axe… truly my greatest creation!"
At that moment, Eitri watched Thor disappear with an ecstatic look on his face.
…
"Magical battle armor? That sounds kinda fun."
Meanwhile, Peter slowly pulled his consciousness back from observing Tony.
"I'm here. Talk later."
He said this to Gwen, then calmly stepped out of the elevator and walked toward the lab where he was interning.
"I'm here, Professor."
His mentor turned out to be none other than the beautiful Asian scientist—Dr. Helen Cho.
"Perfect timing, Parker. Come help me test if the Regeneration Cradle is—"
Before she could finish her sentence—
The whole building suddenly shook violently.
"Was that... an earthquake?"
Dr. Cho looked at Peter in alarm.
"No… that wasn't an earthquake."
With his heightened senses, Peter instantly detected it—inside a storage room somewhere in the building, a pile of silver metal scraps had suddenly started crackling with bright lightning.
It was as if something was drawing them in with incredible force.
"Sorry, Professor—I just remembered something I need to take care of."
As he spoke, Peter stepped out of the lab.
The next second, a shadow shot out of the building, flying straight toward the dazzling pillar of light that had descended not far away.
"Midgard! I'm back again!"
As the light faded, Thor—floating in mid-air, holding his battle axe and wreathed in silver and red lightning—looked off into the distance as if sensing something.
In the blink of an eye, a figure darted toward him.
".....?