Chapter 155: Let Asgard Welcome Its Twilight
The rotten wanderer is returning.
The man-eating demon has entered Asgard.
The former heir to the throne is on her way back.
As subtle changes continuously occurred throughout the world of Asgard, Thor noticed the strange disturbance.
Before long, Loki also vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
"Am I mistaken? The continent of Asgard seems to have undergone some kind of strange change, as if it's sending a signal? I don't recall Asgard being alive."
Loki frowned as well. His first thought was that Du Wa was behind it—some inexplicable act that Thor had sensed, which was now intensifying to the point that even he could detect it.
But soon, Loki realized that wasn't the case, because the subtle change was happening to the continent of Asgard itself.
This was an ancient, flat-world continent.
"It's not because of Du Wa, but I still haven't figured out what's happening."
Thor's expression was grave. As the king of Asgard, he immediately began to investigate.
Frigga came to find him.
"There's no need to investigate. I already know who it is." Frigga hesitated for a moment, then spoke with a complicated expression, "If I'm not mistaken, your sister has returned."
"???"
"Sister? I have a sister? How did I not know! Father gave me so many instructions before he died, but he never told me I had a sister, and a living one at that."
Thor's pupils contracted in shock. In an instant, his super-brain conjured countless possibilities, words like "illegitimate daughter" bombarding his mind.
"Before you were born, your sister, Hela, was your father's favored, foremost general. She followed him into battle everywhere and made immense contributions in the series of wars where Odin conquered the World Tree (Yggdrasil)."
"Then why did she only appear after Father died? For the past thousand years, I've never heard anything about Hela, nor have I seen any historical records of this person."
"Because your father sealed her with his own hands. He believed your sister was an extreme danger, fanatically warlike."
These words rendered Thor silent.
Fanatically warlike?
Who in all the Nine Realms didn't know that Odin himself was a war-maniac obsessed with conquest? So much so that he, Thor, the god of thunder raised by Odin, was also extremely bellicose, loving to lead troops to violently suppress countless planets in various worlds.
If he hadn't taken a trip to Earth and met Du Wa, where he was thoroughly awakened by the harsh reality of the overwhelming gap between them, he would probably still be that same warmonger, drunk on violence and slaughter.
Now, his respected mother was telling him that the fanatically warlike Odin had sealed someone even more warlike—his sister? This was a bit too much information to process.
Thor couldn't even imagine what kind of madness his never-before-seen blood relative possessed to make someone of Odin's temperament unable to bear it, forcing him to resort to sealing as a solution.
"Her name is Hela? I have studied a great deal of knowledge and I'm certain I've never seen any records of that name. What kind of god is she?"
"Hela, the God of Death."
"God of Death..." Thor's expression grew heavy. Judging by the title alone, a God of Death was far more perilous than a God of Thunder like him.
"Since she's back, as the king of Asgard, I will go to welcome her. No matter what she has done in the past, she is our family and should be accepted as part of it." Thor still felt happy about it.
Frigga's expression was complicated. "Thor, I'm afraid she isn't rushing back for a family reunion, but for revenge."
"Revenge? Hela hates Father for sealing her? My father is no longer here, so who would she seek revenge on? Us? We've never provoked her."
Thor was about to say that such an emotional act was utterly foolish, to randomly vent anger on others was simply absurd. But then he thought back to how he had rashly sent troops to Jotunheim a few years ago, provoking Odin's fury. Before being stripped of his divine power and exiled to Midgard, he had even gone so far as to insult Odin to his face.
He had been such a scoundrel himself, yet he was only stripped of his godly power and taught a lesson. It wasn't as severe as being directly sealed away like Hela, with all traces of her existence erased.
Thinking of it this way, Thor could empathize. He began to realize what a scoundrel Hela must be, definitely more of a scoundrel and more unreasonable than he had been years ago. The thought gave Thor a headache.
"Don't worry, Mother. I've already thought of a way to solve the problem. For one of Odin's children, there's nothing that can't be solved with a fight. If she wants revenge, I'll crush her, and then I'll bring her back. I don't believe that after so many years, isolated from the outside world, she could be stronger than I am now! This world is definitely not the world she understands."
If this sister of his had shown up a few years ago, Thor, armed with only Mjolnir, truly wouldn't have been able to defeat Hela.
But now, after a few years, the entire situation on the World Tree (Yggdrasil) had changed beyond recognition, driven into a frenzy by that man named Du Wa.
Even the lofty Cosmic Gods had suffered successive defeats in the domain of the World Tree (Yggdrasil), either fleeing or dying. What's more, it was only Hela. Thor was confident he had the ability to handle her.
"Hela is different from you. The source of her divine power is somewhat special..." Frigga reminded him.
Not long after.
With a loud bang, boundless lightning erupted as Thor, carrying Stormbreaker, shot out from the continent of Asgard, gazing into the distance.
He saw a slender figure rushing towards them. The closer she got to Asgard's mainland, the stronger her divine power became.
It was an aura that radiated the ultimate essence of death. Wherever she went, she could naturally suppress all living beings. Just a slight use of her divine power made one subconsciously want to flee as far away as possible.
"Hela, I just learned about you. I've come to take you home," Thor said cautiously.
"Looking like that, are you here to take me back, or to arrest me? Your pretense is as ugly as your weapon. But you're not even using Mjolnir. It seems the rumors are true—you couldn't even hold onto your own hammer. It was taken from you."
Hela gracefully stroked her forehead, using her divine power to create a brand-new set of clothes. With a flick of her wrists, two Night Sky Swords appeared in her hands. "Let's say hello, little brother. You took what belongs to me—the throne of Asgard. It was always mine, my rightful reward for serving Odin for so many years."
Swish!
Several Night Sky Swords were thrown by Hela in succession, but just as they were about to pierce Thor, he knocked them all away with a swing of Stormbreaker.
This was also the first time Thor had seen such a weapon.
"Your era has passed. I am the king of Asgard, and I will give you the opportunity to submit to the new king!" Thor said in a deep voice. "I forgive your offense, because we are family."
"Family? Shouting about kinship with one breath while pressing someone's head down and demanding their submission with the next. You truly are Odin's son, always inadvertently showing his self-righteous style. Even though he's dead, thanks to you, he's not completely gone. It truly disgusts me."
The two children of Odin began to fight, launching into a fierce battle.
As soon as they clashed, Thor was astonished. Hela's strength was beyond his imagination, and more importantly, she was growing stronger and stronger.
"Mother was right, all of Asgard is your source of power..."
Thor swung his axe, the overwhelming power sending Hela flying, but he felt a major headache. As the king of Asgard, he was essentially fighting the entire continent of Asgard. This sense of being torn, magnified on the divine power level, was sheer torture.
It wasn't that he couldn't win, but that his hands were tied.
Immediately, Thor mobilized the Odinforce within him, which surged out endlessly to cover the entire continent of Asgard. At the same time, he used his authority as the God-King to begin the deprivation of Hela's divine power.
Just as Odin had once stripped him of his.
This was indeed effective, but it required some time.
Divine power surged as the two fought a heated battle in the outer space above the continent of Asgard. The situation was gradually changing, and Thor soon had Hela suppressed.
With the empowerment of the Odinforce, plus the authority of the God-King, there was no reason he should lose to Hela.
"You're almost on par with Odin back in his day, to be able to use his Odinforce to this level in such a short time. But even as strong as you are, you're nothing but a lapdog within the World Tree (Yggdrasil). No matter how powerful you are, you can't compare to him at all. When he was conquering the World Tree (Yggdrasil), he wasn't as obedient and pathetic as you."
"Lapdog? I know what you're planning, but you can't even match me now. What makes you think you can challenge Du Wa? With that problematic brain of yours?" Thor roared. "You don't understand anything, and you've never dealt with Du Wa. This is no longer the era you're familiar with. If you apply your old philosophy to the world now, not only will you die, but you'll get all of Asgard killed with you. The fate of the giants of Jotunheim is the best lesson."
"If I cannot be queen, what does Asgard's future have to do with me? I couldn't care less," Hela said indifferently, her hair disheveled and her figure a mess.
"You madwoman! I will absolutely not let you go. Just like Father, I will lock you up until the day I die!"
Under the fierce battle of these two powerful Skyfathers, the vast continent experienced even more violent tremors.
Such a change could not be hidden from those with an interest.
The ones who first set their sights on Asgard were not the Skyfathers of other worlds. Even if they had ideas, they didn't dare take actual action.
No one knew what Du Wa was thinking. If a war between worlds broke out within the World Tree (Yggdrasil), how would Du Wa view such a matter? As the leader of the foremost clan in the World Tree (Yggdrasil), a being who had defeated a Celestial, would he personally enter the fray with his alien army and swallow both warring worlds?
Turn all the gods into hosts?
At this moment, the ones who were truly stirring were, contrary to expectations, the Shadow Gods, who were more familiar with Du Wa.
These behemoths stared at Asgard, drooling.
"What do you think? This is a rare opportunity."
"Cul courted death. Even if he isn't dead, his end won't be good. It's already obvious he's of no use to us."
"Although we mentioned the matter of the Twilight of the Gods to Du Wa, and he certainly knows it's a prophecy related to Asgard, from the looks of it, he doesn't intend to be the catalyst for this prophecy."
"We can't rely on Du Wa, and we can't rely on the outsider, Cul. We have to figure it out ourselves. Hela is the perfect candidate."
"This is our last chance. Let Hela trigger Asgard's doomsday. We have lost the divine power we accumulated over countless years. If we don't feed soon, we will only grow weaker and weaker."
The Shadow Gods were extremely anxious.
They fed on the doomsday energy that erupted from world-ending events.
These beings hit it off immediately and decided to take a gamble.
Based on their understanding of Du Wa, although they couldn't figure out the purpose of his strange actions right now, they could at least be sure of one thing: Du Wa was an extremely focused individual. Since he had more important matters to attend to, he would very likely ignore their minor actions.
He wouldn't care, as long as they didn't get in his way.
Soon, the shadows on the World Tree quietly grew longer.
These shadows, which should have been cast by the many worlds on the trunk and branches, slowly extended beyond their original range.
This change gave the life within the World Tree (Yggdrasil) a strange sense of illusion, as if the forces of darkness were coming once again, just like when Knull and the Dark Elves invaded the World Tree.
"What the hell is this?" As the God of Death, Hela was naturally more sensitive to all sorts of negative and sinister changes.
She was struggling to withstand Thor's assault, her body covered in wounds. At this moment, she barely managed to spare a sliver of energy to glance at the rapidly extending shadows.
The moment the shadows touched her, they began to continuously inject her with a large amount of divine power.
Mixed in with the shadow power were strange whispers, like some kind of plea from the World Tree itself, and also a Fate that was destined to unfold. It all flooded into Hela's mind, hinting and guiding her.
Hela saw the existence of the Shadow Gods and came to know what these beings symbolized.
Thor couldn't see them, but he guessed.
"Have you finally come out? You rats hiding on the other side of the World Tree! You were one of the things Father couldn't let go of before he died!"
Thor gripped Stormbreaker, furiously watching the silent shadows. "You despicable bastards, what are you planning this time? I won't give you the chance."
Thor simply abandoned Hela and was about to chase after the shadows to chop them down, looking for a chance to rush into the Shadow World and drag out the things within, killing them one by one.
But Hela blocked him.
Now the God of Death and Shadow, Hela was stronger than at any time in the past. Her fair skin was now coated with a layer of shadow, making her look incredibly eerie, but her strength had indeed grown immensely.
This was the last reserve of the Shadow Gods' power. It was better than them appearing in person.
"Now is the time! This is the last chance!"
"We... will take this opportunity to ignite the Twilight of the Gods, and let Asgard meet the fate it deserves!"
(end of chapter )