Hulk was having a miserable time.
Hela's conjured blades rained down forcing him to duck, weave, and rip up chunks of Asgardian stone to shield himself.
Even so, several of the spectral spikes found their mark, scoring his skin with stinging impacts that only made him angrier.
A long, razor-sharp thorn whistled through the air and buried itself in Hulk's thigh.
"RRAAAARGH!"
The ground trembled beneath Hulk's roar.
His muscles swelled, his frame expanding as fury flooded him. He ripped the thorn out, crushed it into dust, and launched himself toward Hela.
Dodging was over, now he wanted to smash.
As Hulk's rage reached its peak, Hela's barrage became almost useless.
The black spikes shattered harmlessly against his skin like brittle glass. His power, speed, and resilience spiked to terrifying levels.
Hela did not falter and simply let out a sharp playful whistle.
A shadow leapt.
WHUMP!
A massive, dark shape slammed into Hulk mid-charge. Both titans crashed to the ground, the impact sending a plume of dust and shattered stone into the air.
The giant wolf, resurrected alongside Hela, a monstrous beast forged through ancient battles across nine realms, had joined the fight.
The wolf was enormous, nearly a match for Hulk in size, and far more viciously trained.
The two beasts collided again and again, their battle a spectacle of pure brute force.
The wolf's speed and centuries of combat experience let it pin Hulk down at first, knocking him back and clawing at him.
Yet Hulk's body was nearly indestructible.
No matter how sharp the fangs or how heavy the blows, the beast couldn't pierce his skin. Hulk struggled, enraged but unharmed and growing stronger by the second.
…
While the monsters clashed below, the duel above was pure fire and fury.
Soren and Surtur were locked in a blazing war. Their battle was volcanic.
Surtur's colossal size gave him overwhelming strength, but Soren's advantage was speed.
With the lava artifact in hand, Soren darted around the Flame Giant like a streak of molten light.
Each slash of his weapon carved a trail through Surtur's fiery form, Surtur roaring in frustration as he spun, swung, and stomped to catch the infuriatingly fast opponent.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The lava artifact only grew brighter as it's flames sharpened to an almost unbearable intensity. With every hit, it devoured part of Surtur's fire, part of his very essence.
That terrified the giant.
Surtur's power came entirely from the Eternal Flame.
It was his heart, his soul, the spark that resurrected him. But now, under the artifact's hunger, that sacred core dimmed, shrinking from a raging inferno into something small and trembling.
Each strike weakened him and made him more desperate.
"ROOOOAR!" Driven by panic, Surtur unleashed everything.
Flame erupted from him in a violent wave, a sea of fire rolling outward with the fury of a dying star.
It surged toward Soren, intending to swallow him whole and pin him down long enough for Surtur to deliver a final, crushing blow.
The battlefield lit bright as day.
Even Surtur's devastating sea of fire was no match for Soren. With a precise strike of the lava artifact, the inferno was split in two.
Much of the fire was absorbed into the artifact, feeding Soren's power as he surged forward through the blaze unscathed.
Hela had expected Surtur to be no match for him, but what surprised her was how little Soren seemed to exert himself.
He wasn't unleashing all his abilities.
Instead, he relied almost entirely on the lava artifact to suppress the Flame Giant, keeping him from fighting back.
Watching Surtur struggle beneath Soren's control, Hela's sharp instincts tingled.
The Eternal Flame that animated the giant, the very heart of his power, was steadily being drained.
If this continued, it would not take long for Surtur to collapse, his flames extinguished, reduced once again to a chained, lifeless skull.
A slow, thoughtful smile crossed Hela's face… but it quickly faded as her expression reverted.
Enough of Surtur; now it was time to turn her attention fully toward the other combatants.
With a subtle gesture, Hela conjured a vast storm of black weapons. They swirled outward, blanketing the battlefield, sweeping toward Thor, Valkyrie, Freyja, and Heimdall.
The group braced, but Hela's sudden offensive forced them back.
Thor's lightning crackled against the onslaught, but even he felt the pressure.
Valkyrie's movements slowed, maintaining her extreme agility for such a prolonged fight was exhausting.
Freyja relied on the magical necklace from the Collector, but even her natural-magic barrier strained under the volume of Hela's assault.
Despite the chaos, Soren focus was absolute.
Though he was engaged with Surtur, the lava artifact allowed him to suppress the giant without effort. Freed from immediate pressure, his senses expanded across the battlefield.
Hela had overextended herself, and Soren detected it...
A faint imperceptible smile crossed his face. He gathered his spatial energy, condensing it into an invisible spear that pierced the air like a needle.
The spear struck Surtur's chest colliding with the molten flame at the giant's heart.
A groan reverberated as Soren's power pierced deep, ignoring Surtur's bulk and overwhelming defenses.
At unparalleled speed, Soren's lava artifact followed through, drawing forth the dimming flames at Surtur's core.
The Eternal Fire, once roaring like a star, flickered under the artifact's pull, shrinking and weakening.
Surtur roared, frustrated and desperate, but the Flame Giant was gradually reduced to nothing more than a vessel for the lava artifact's hunger.
Hela's eyes widened ever so slightly… she had underestimated him.