"Grandmaster." Soren's gaze sweeping over the humiliated figure still forced to kneel, "You should consider yourself fortunate."
"My friends are alive, and you are the Collector's brother. That is the only reason you still draw breath."
"But if you dare try something like this again… I will kill you. No mercy, take care of yourself."
Grandmaster's throat tightened. Rage simmered beneath his shame, but he didn't dare lift his head.
And when he finally did…
Soren was gone.
The palace doors stood silent. The suffocating pressure had vanished as though it had never been there.
All that remained was the lingering echo of Soren's footsteps… and the weight of Grandmaster's own fear.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
Soren had already returned to the ruined building where Hulk and the others waited. He had come here prepared to kill Grandmaster.
After all, the man had unleashed an army of mercenaries and wanderers in an attempt to slaughter him and his companions.
But when Grandmaster fell to his knees, Soren changed his mind… not out of mercy.
Sparing him honors the Collector.
Killing him risks provoking the Cosmic Elder Association… and by extension, several creation gods.
Trouble he had no interest in causing.
Thor was the first to react when Soren reappeared.
"Soren, what happened? We didn't hear any explosions. Did you and the Grandmaster not fight?"
"Let's go," Soren replied simply. "It's over."
"Grandmaster has learned his lesson. Asgard is falling apart and we need to head back immediately."
The weight of his words tightened everyone's chests. They had been so focused on Soren's confrontation that the looming disaster at home had briefly slipped their minds.
"Loki!" Thor's eyes widened suddenly.
"He's here too, Grandmaster called him his 'guest.' Did you see him?"
Soren shook his head. "Maybe that's for the best. Loki fits in better here than in Asgard."
Thor exhaled, a weary sound of disappointment.
"Hulk go with you!" Hulk announced abruptly, puffing out his chest.
Soren chuckled. Even without Banner's mind guiding him, this childlike Hulk had a loyalty that was almost endearing.
"Hulk help Thor!" He added proudly, before slapping Thor on the shoulder hard enough to nearly dislocate it.
Thor winced, fighting the urge to cry out, but still managed a grateful, "Thank you."
He turned to Valkyrie next. "You should come with us."
"Grandmaster knows you're helping us now, Sakaar won't be safe for you anymore. When Asgard is stable again, you can decide whether you want to stay or leave. I won't force you."
Her expression shifted, old wounds flickering behind her eyes, but she nodded.
Thor's relief was immediate. He looked at Soren with genuine gratitude. "Thank you. Let's go."
Soren simply nodded, he hadn't done this for Asgard.
His goals had always been the Soul Gem, but helping Thor now was the natural next step.
He summoned his power.
Space bent around him, ripples forming like waves on a dark lake. He reached across the cosmos, searching~
And found Asgard.
Soren raised a hand to open a portal.
Space cracked open… then snapped closed, violently, as if slammed shut by an invisible gate.
Soren's brows knitted.
"What happened?" Freyja asked, startled by the sudden change in his expression.
"Asgard is under Hela's control now." Soren said slowly.
"The moment I tried to open a channel, another force blocked it. A very powerful one."
"She felt me trying to enter. Hela has been alerted."
The room fell silent.
"Hulk can fight back!" Hulk declared boldly, pounding a fist into his palm.
He didn't know who Hela was, didn't understand what she represented, and that ignorance made him utterly fearless.
This time, however, Thor didn't correct him.
If Hela had shattered the space channel to Asgard, it meant only one thing, She had seized full control of the Realm Eternal.
And she would not stop there.
Whatever her plan was, Thor knew it needed to be stopped.
"Soren," Thor said firmly. "We're ready. No matter what it takes… we have to stop her."
Soren's expression grew serious. "I can force a channel open, but doing so will definitely cause Hela to take action."
"There's no turning back once I do it, are you certain?"
Thor nodded without hesitation. "I'm sure."
Soren exhaled slowly. Hela was no ordinary foe, she was a pseudo–EX level being whose power rivaled the greatest threats in the cosmos.
If he fought her recklessly, half of Asgard could be erased in a heartbeat.
Normally, he would hesitate.
But Thor had spoken and Asgard was already under siege.
So Soren gathered a massive surge of spatial energy, not to open a gentle portal this time, but to blast straight through the cosmic barrier surrounding Asgard.
A deep, rumbling boom echoed through the void, shaking reality itself. Everyone instinctively braced as the air trembled.
CRACK
A clean noise split the space before them, and a jagged, blazing passage tore open, linking Sakaar to the distant, embattled kingdom of Asgard.
Power flooded through it like heat from an open furnace.
Everyone could feel it.
Asgard's aura. It's pain.
It's danger.
"Be on your guard," Soren warned, stepping toward the rift. "The moment the channel opened, Hela felt us, and she's already watching."
He led them through at once, giving orders without slowing. "I'll handle Hela."
"Freyja, find Heimdall using the coordinates I gave you. Check on the evacuation of Asgard's people. The rest of you, prepare to face the Goddess of Death."
Heads nodded.
They stepped out of the space channel and into the golden realm now cloaked in the shadow of death.
…
The moment Soren and the others vanished, Grandmaster watched it all unfold on his monitors. His expression was blank.
But beneath that mask, pure murderous hatred.
The man who forced him to kneel…the man who humiliated him before his own guards.
Grandmaster's hands curled into fists, knuckles whitening. "This… is not over,"
"I won't forget, and I won't forgive."
The humiliation would be repaid.