"Drip..."
"Drip..."
Blood dripped from fingertips onto the ground, blooming into Bloody Marys on the silent plain. That is, if anyone was actually willing to drink them.
With his foot on the corpse of the last Frost Giant, Beckett, having finished his slaughter, shook his hand and turned his gaze to Hela, who stood behind him holding a large iron hammer. The killing intent still lingering in his pupils caused Hela to instinctively raise Mjolnir, adopting a defensive stance.
The two of them were not close comrades; they had merely formed a temporary alliance due to the appearance of the Frost Giants. Now that their common enemy, the Frost Giants, had fallen, their unspoken alliance naturally dissolved.
"How much longer can you last?"
Beckett watched the figure before him with great interest. In all his years, Hela was the only woman whose combat power was close to his. Furthermore, from his current perspective, Hela's combat power was even higher than Proxima Midnight, the only female general among the Black Order under his adoptive father, Thanos.
"What do you think?"
Hela, holding Mjolnir, secretly gathered the little energy she had recovered. The Odin magic on Mjolnir was Hela's trump card, to be revealed only at the last moment, and also...
"Heimdall."
Hela, holding Mjolnir, tried to contact Heimdall, Odin's loyal subordinate, once more. Lightning and thunder suddenly flashed across the sky above the bloody plain, and the immense power caused a smile to appear on Hela's face. Although she didn't know why Heimdall hadn't responded before, now—
"You will pay the heaviest price for your arrogance, Heimdall!"
The roar emanating from the Bifrost caused the smile on Hela's face to gradually disappear. The Bifrost, not yet fully open, closed again under the surge of several dark energies. Clearly, Heimdall, who was controlling the Bifrost, had not been able to withstand the attack of the approaching party.
Dark Elves.
Hela, who had once led an army in battles against the elves in Svartalfheim, immediately identified the owner of the voice.
Malekith, the new king of the Dark Elves, and an ambitious ruler whose Dark Elf legions were one of the main forces preventing Asgard from conquering the Nine Realms.
But...
"How is this possible?"
Hela couldn't fathom how Malekith had managed to sneak into Asgard, bypassing Odin. Asgard was currently on high alert, and the defenses at every checkpoint were virtually impenetrable, let alone the crucial Bifrost. By all logic, the Dark Elves should have had no chance of appearing in Asgard.
Unless there was a traitor in Asgard, and her father Odin was away conquering other realms at this time.
This was the only possibility Hela could think of.
Thinking of this, Hela's expression turned grim, especially when her gaze fell upon Beckett, who was walking towards her step by step.
"It seems you have no backup." Beckett, rubbing his right wrist with his left hand, walked up to Hela and grabbed her by the throat. His speed was so great that the severely injured Hela couldn't react at all.
Thump!
Beckett paused his movement, and his entire body was thrown into Hela in front of him by an external force, sending both of them rolling three times on the ground.
"Who?!"
Beckett, using Hela as a buffer, leaped up and looked warily at the empty plain before him.
The dense corpses vanished under the setting sun, and blue ice crystals rapidly covered the plain. A phantom sitting on a throne appeared before Beckett through the refraction of the ice crystals. The icy, snowy phantom and the sunset that dyed the horizon created a scene of contrasting elements, a unique artistic conception.
"This is just a warning. Don't meddle in affairs that don't concern you, Son of Thanos."
"For your father's sake, I can overlook what you've done. Now, return to your world." The figure seated on the throne opened its eyes, its majestic gaze seeming to cross the spatial barrier and fall upon Beckett. After issuing the warning, the phantom disappeared along with the Frost Giant corpses on the plain.
"A warning... for me?"
Beckett narrowed his eyes, gazing at the now empty, blood-colored sky.
"Laufey, King of the Frost Giants." Hela, standing up, wiped the blood from her face, which had been left there when Beckett used her as a human shield.
"Oh, so that's Laufey?" Beckett recalled Milner, whom he had kicked to death earlier. He remembered that Milner had said before his death that Laufey would not let him go.
But now, the Laufey whom Milner had placed so much hope in seemed less formidable than he had imagined.
"Follow me."
Beckett commanded, his gaze returning to Hela. Hela, who had never been commanded by anyone other than her father Odin, naturally didn't want to obey, but fate had other plans.
Her severely injured body was completely unable to evade Beckett's restraint, and Hela was directly slung over his shoulder and carried to the warship.
"Welcome back, His Highness Beckett."
"Woz, give this woman a sedative and tie her up."
Beckett commanded, throwing Hela onto the ground like a sack of sand.
"Your Highness Beckett, Hela Odinsdottir has the bloodline of the Asgardians. Our sedatives will not be effective on her." A mechanical rope shot out from beneath Hela's feet, directly restraining her as she lay on the ground.
"You will regret this."
With her body bound tightly by brown mechanical restraints and her space to move eliminated, Hela looked up, grinding her teeth in hatred. In all these years, when had she ever suffered such humiliation?
As soon as the words left her mouth, Hela saw a blur before her eyes. Beckett's right hand had already gripped her chin, lifting her from the ground and pressing her against the warship's pillar.
"I never do anything I regret. Why would you think you're an exception?"
With a cold gaze filled with killing intent, Hela was once again thrown to the ground by Beckett.
"Woz, melt those ice sculptures outside."
"Your Highness Beckett, Woz does not know magic."
"You don't need to know it, she does." Beckett looked down at Hela beneath his feet. This was the real reason he had brought Hela back.
"Understood, His Highness Beckett." Unfamiliar characters flickered across the azure screen, and after a few seconds, a complete unsealing plan appeared before Beckett. Or rather, it appeared before Hela.
"Hela Odinsdottir, please follow the instructions here."
Hela glanced at the azure light screen. "Untie the ropes, or I won't be able to do anything."
"You just need to recite the incantation and guide your magical power to your hands. I can handle the rest." Eight mechanical arms materialized instantly, placing Hela into a magical containment unit on the battleship without her consent.
"After unsealing, locate the Frost Giant Laufey," Beckett commanded as he stepped into the Nutrient Pod.
I wish I could evolve into a two-chapter-a-day beast, but there were some issues with the engineering design these past two days, and I need to discuss them with the workers as soon as possible...
Working overtime again tonight, yep...
Maybe my Children's Day gift will be getting through this little hurdle perfectly~
Hopefully, I can catch the last subway tonight
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