Thor anxiously gripped the Hulk's massive forearm.
"We have to return to Asgard as soon as possible. Hela won't stop until everything is ash. Hulk, I need your help… fight beside me, like we used to!"
But the Hulk only frowned, folding his arms like an upset child.
"Hulk isn't going anywhere! Thor fought Hulk and Hulk doesn't help people who fight Hulk!"
Thor sighed, defeated. He had forgotten how stubborn Hulk could be.
Before he could try again, a sharp voice cut through the room. "Who are you? And how did you get in here?!"
Soren and Freyja turned at the same time. They had been focused on Hulk and Thor and hadn't sensed anyone approaching.
A woman stood in the doorway armed and clearly dangerous. Soren's system panel marked her as an A-level existence.
"Hulk! Who are these people?!"
The green giant blinked, suddenly unsure. Even he couldn't explain how Soren and Freyja had appeared.
Soren smiled and caused spatial energy to ripple around him. With a single thought, an invisible barrier expanded outward, sealing the entire building. Even a massive explosion inside would leave no trace outside.
Thor quickly stepped between them.
"This is Soren, and this is Freyja the Goddess of War. Don't you recognize Valkyrie?" he said with an edge of irritation.
"They're here to save me!"
Valkyrie stiffened… Goddess of War.
The title stirred memories she had long tried to bury. But Soren sensed no hostility in her, as long as she didn't interfere, he had no intention of acting.
The truth was simple, after Thor had been thrown through chaotic space, Valkyrie had found him.
Naturally, she "captured" him, dragged him to the Grandmaster, and sold him as a contender for the Championship bouts.
Once, Valkyrie had been more than a wandering mercenary chasing cosmic coins. She had held a title of honor, a Valkyrie of Asgard, one of the elite warriors who guarded the realm.
But that was before everything changed.
Long ago, Odin had not been the gentle ruler he pretended to be now. In the age of conquest, Odin marched across the Nine Realms with fire and steel, and his daughter… Hela, Goddess of Death, led the charge.
Under her command, Odin's legions had become an army of the undying, crushing everything before them. Where Hela pointed her blade, nothing survived.
Until the day Odin realized Hela's ambition was devouring her sanity.
He ordered her sealed away and commanded the Valkyrie to stop her.
Valkyrie felt her chest tighten. Even now, she feared remembering that battle.
The Undead Legion fell. Hela was exiled. And the proud Valkyries of Asgard… was annihilated.
She was the only one who lived.
And she had only survived because her closest companion… her sister-in arms had thrown herself in front of Hela's killing strike.
Valkyrie swallowed hard and met Soren's gaze, then Freyja's.
Since that day, both the Undead soldiers and the Valkyries had been erased from history. Odin abandoned his conquests, hid the truth, and remade himself into the gentle, benevolent king the Nine Realms believed him to be.
Valkyrie, however, knew the truth and had seen the cost.
And she had lost her faith in Asgard.
So she left drifting from world to world until the galaxy itself became her refuge.
Eventually, she turned her skills into survival, capturing fighters for the Grandmaster's arena, merely another wanderer trying to forget a past that refused to die.
"Valkyrie," Thor said, stepping toward her, "You're from Asgard. And now Odin is gone, I will rule in his place."
"You should be loyal to me!"
Valkyrie's expression hardened instantly, the distant grief in her eyes turned sharp.
"Loyalty?" She repeated, her voice like ice. "I was loyal to Odin. Look where that got me." She pointed toward the door sharply.
"For the sake of what Asgard once was, I'll let you walk out of here today. But don't ever appear in front of me again."
Soren and Freyja exchanged confused glances. Every new sentence between Thor and Valkyrie only made things murkier.
"Hold on," Soren said, raising a hand. "What exactly is going on here?"
Thor exhaled heavily.
He didn't know all the details, but from Valkyrie's hints and what he remembered of Asgard's hidden history, he pieced together the truth.
He explained everything to Soren and Freyja as best he could.
When he finished, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence.
Freyja's brow furrowed thoughtfully.
"How powerful is Hela?" she asked, noticing the fear Valkyrie couldn't fully hide whenever the name surfaced.
Soren shrugged. "In Asgard? I'm not entirely sure I can kill her."
He spoke almost absentmindedly.
But to Valkyrie, the comment sounded like pure arrogance.
"Kill?" She laughed coldly. "The sea of blood behind the Goddess of Death could drown you a thousand times over. You think you can kill her?"
Soren didn't take offense.
He understood her past and he recognized her bitterness for what it was… not hatred, but trauma. She was one of Thor's own people, Soren had no intention of fighting her over words.
He would prove himself when the time came.
Thor, however, bristled with discomfort.
"Valkyrie… Soren's strength isn't in doubt. My sister may be the Goddess of Death but even she may not be his equal."
It didn't sound like an exaggeration.
Freyja nodded firmly in agreement. Any respect she had initially felt toward the legendary Valkyrie had evaporated the moment Valkyrie insulted Soren.
She stood beside him now…