The royal plaza of Asgard no longer resembled a city of gods. The Bifrost was severed, golden statues lay in ruins by the steps, and noxious black-green energy continuously seeped from beneath the fractured tiles. The civilians, who had just been screaming and running from Kaido's rampage, now lowered their voices to hushed whimpers. Even they could tell. This woman emerging from the abyss was far more of an apocalyptic disaster than the mad dragon.
Thor braced himself against Mjolnir and stood up. His chest still screamed in agony, and his arm shook violently, but he took a step forward anyway.
"Who are you?" Thor roared at Hela. "What gives you the right to call me brother!"
Hela tilted her head, giving him a passing glance. Her face held none of the warmth of a family reunion, only the cold appraisal of a new plaything. "Did Odin not teach you your own lineage?"
Raising a hand, she made a grasping motion. The spear of a nearby Asgardian guard was suddenly engulfed in death energy. Crack! The weapon shattered down the middle. The recoil sent the guard stumbling backward, his hands bleeding profusely.
Hela smirked. "Makes sense. His favorite pastime has always been burying the things he doesn't want people to see."
Thor turned sharply to Odin. "Father. Is she telling the truth?"
Odin didn't answer immediately. He stood in front of Thor, Gungnir held horizontally across his body. The old king, who had just knocked Kaido to his knees with a single strike, showed no sign of relief now. "Thor," Odin spoke calmly, "Now is not the time for questions."
Thor's chest heaved. He wanted answers. But he also knew that every second wasted put his people in greater peril. Heimdall, gripping Hofund tightly, was ushering guards to escort the civilians to the rear of the palace. Children were crying for their mothers. Veteran soldiers raised their shields, blocking the entrance to the evacuation tunnels. Frigga stood by the corridor, her hands projecting a shimmering magical barrier to protect dozens of stragglers.
Looking at the scene, Thor's voice lowered. "I am the Crown Prince of Asgard. I cannot run."
Odin turned his face slightly. "Then learn to keep your people alive first."
Thor froze. That sentence hit him harder than the spiked club Kaido had buried in his chest. He had always believed the Crown Prince's duty was to stand at the absolute front line. To win. To crush their enemies. Yet, his father's very first priority was simply ensuring their people survived.
Hela sighed, looking mildly annoyed. "How touching." She raised her hand. A rapid succession of cracks echoed from beneath the plaza. Thousands of black longswords hovered in the air, their razor-sharp tips aimed squarely at everyone who had yet to evacuate. Death energy boiled off their edges.
Heimdall bellowed, "Shield wall!"
The veteran soldiers of Asgard did not retreat a single step. They raised their shields, interlocking them to form a sturdy barricade, using their own bodies to shield the women and children behind them. They knew they couldn't stop the swords. But an Asgardian warrior would never turn their back on their people.
Hela let her fingers fall. "Kneel, or perish."
A thousand black swords rained down like a torrential downpour. Odin thrust Gungnir upward, golden divine power blossoming from the tip to intercept the heaviest barrage. Dragging his battered body, Thor swung Mjolnir wildly, violently smashing dozens of blades out of the air. Frigga's magical barrier flared brightly, deflecting the deadly projectiles aiming for the flanks.
But there were simply too many. Shields were pierced. Blood erupted from the chests of veteran soldiers, yet they stubbornly held the line, refusing to fall back. One young guard had a black sword driven clean through his shoulder. Spitting blood, he desperately used his free hand to shove the child behind him into the safety of the corridor.
Thor saw it happen. His eyes slowly turned bloodshot. "HELA!" Roaring in pure fury, he launched himself forward, Mjolnir wreathed in chaotic lightning, aiming a devastating blow right at her head.
Hela merely raised two fingers. A black sword erupted from the ground, effortlessly blocking Mjolnir's path. Thor's arm went completely numb from the impact. Hela took a casual step forward, and a second blade shot out from her flank, slashing a deep gash across Thor's abdomen. Thor stumbled back two steps, his blood staining the edge of his armor.
Hela shook her head in disappointment. "Too green. Odin raised you to be nothing more than a banquet jester."
Thor gritted his teeth, preparing to charge again.
Suddenly, a booming, guttural laugh erupted from the bottom of the crater. "Wororororo!" Kaido was back on his feet. The flesh on his shoulder was torn open, and the massive wound in his chest left by Gungnir was still struggling to close. His spiked club was gripped tightly in his hands.
Kaido looked up at the relentless downpour of black swords. "Woman. I didn't give you permission to steal my prey!"
Stomping down hard enough to shatter the pit, Kaido launched himself into the storm of blades like a living cannonball. Conqueror's Haki exploded violently from his body. Red and black lightning whipped furiously across the plaza. A massive swath of black swords shuddered violently mid-air before detonating into harmless shards. A few guards, mere inches from being skewered, collapsed to the ground, narrowly escaping with their lives.
Thor stared at Kaido's back, temporarily speechless. Just minutes ago, this monster was gleefully tearing Asgard apart. Now, he was charging headfirst to intercept the attack. The sheer absurdity of it was staggering. But on the battlefield, anyone who blocked a blade for you was an ally. Even if only for a single second.
Kaido wasn't overthinking it. He just utterly despised being brought to his knees. And he hated it even more when someone tried to snatch away his hard-earned battle right after Odin had knocked him down! Hela looked at him, genuine killing intent finally sharpening her gaze.
"You are very loud."
She flicked her wrist. Three lances of concentrated death materialized instantly from the dark aura. The first impaled Kaido's left shoulder. The second pierced straight through his abdomen. The third drove ruthlessly into his chest, carrying his massive frame backward until he was slammed violently into a stone pillar at the edge of the plaza.
BOOM! Kaido's spine shattered the outer layer of the pillar, leaving him completely pinned to the stone by the three death lances. Blood poured down the column.
The surrounding Asgardian guards felt their scalps go numb. They had been terrified of this monster moments ago. Now, they desperately prayed he wouldn't die so quickly. Kaido looked down at the death lance buried in his chest. The necrotic energy was ravenously corroding his flesh. It burned. It burned like hell. Worse than Thor's lightning, worse than normal blades, worse than Marine artillery by a long shot.
Kaido opened his mouth and bit down viciously on the blade of the lance in his chest. CRACK! He forcefully shattered the black blade with his teeth. Hela's expression shifted. With a mouth full of blood, Kaido's smile became even more unhinged.
"Again!"
Thor's jaw tightened. For the first time, he realized that even a raving lunatic could make a warrior's blood run hot. But he also knew the truth. Kaido wasn't doing this for Asgard. Kaido was doing it because his pride refused to let him accept defeat. And that was enough. Thor leaned heavily on Mjolnir, forcing himself to stand firm once more.
Odin seized the opening the moment Hela focused on Kaido. Gungnir struck out. The golden divine power tore a path through the death energy, aiming straight for Hela's heart. Hela spun around to defend. She reached out to catch the spearhead. This time, Odin did not hold back an ounce of his strength. The spear's aura violently overpowered her palm, slicing through the death energy and carving a deep, bone-exposing gash into her shoulder. Hela was forced back a half-step.
A half-step. But every Asgardian in the plaza saw it. The Goddess of Death could bleed. A spark of hope ignited in Thor's heart. "Father!"
Odin didn't look back. "Silence. Pick up your hammer."
Thor tightened his grip on Mjolnir. Lightning began to dance wildly across the surface of the hammer once more. This time, he didn't charge blindly. He turned to Heimdall first. "Get them out of here."
Heimdall nodded deeply. "Understood."
Taking a deep breath, Thor firmly planted himself on the flank of the evacuation line. If a black sword fell, he smashed it away. If a guard dropped, he took their place. He was still furious. He still wanted the truth about Hela. But he was finally understanding his father's words. A King is not the first to swing his weapon. A King is the absolute last to retreat.
Hela reached up and touched the wound on her shoulder. Death energy surged, and the gash quickly knit itself back together. She looked at Odin, her voice dropping to a freezing pitch. "You've grown old, but your spear hasn't dulled."
"And you haven't changed at all," Odin replied calmly. "You still only know how to kill."
Hela laughed mockingly. "Killing is what put Asgard at the very pinnacle of the Nine Realms! Every inch of gold you enjoy today was paid for with the corpses I laid at your feet!"
Odin's grip on Gungnir tightened. "That is exactly why I sealed you away."
The smile vanished from Hela's face instantly. "Sealed me? You should be on your knees thanking me!" She threw her arms wide open. The black mist seeping from the broken tiles thickened exponentially. Deep underground, beneath the foundations of the palace, a heavy, reverberating boom echoed outward. It sounded like countless chains being violently snapped. One after another.
Frigga's face contorted in horror. She looked at Odin. "She's waking up the things beneath the palace."
Odin knew. That was the forbidden ground he had desperately hoped would never be breached. Hela wasn't the only thing buried beneath Asgard. Locked away with her was the Army of the Dead from her ancient campaigns across the Nine Realms. The fallen soldiers. The terrifying war beasts bound by her death magic. And an ancient, colossal wolf that had once trampled the battlefields of the Nine Realms.
Kaido was still pinned to the stone pillar. Reaching down, he grabbed the death lance in his abdomen and began to painstakingly yank it out by brute force. Blood sprayed wildly. But he only spat out a vicious curse. "This trash... is even more sickening than Seastone!"
Hearing him, Thor couldn't help but roar back, "Can you shut up and go heal yourself?!"
Kaido turned his head slowly. "Hammer boy. If you play dead on the floor again, I'll count you in with the rest of the grunts and smash you to pieces."
Veins throbbed dangerously on Thor's forehead. "My name is Thor!"
Kaido grinned, bearing his fangs. "Then stand your ground, Thor."
The words caught Thor's anger right in his throat. He stopped yelling. Mjolnir flew back into his palm, and the lightning crawled violently up his arm and over his shoulder. Odin stood at the absolute front. Thor stood on the flank. Kaido yanked the final death lance from his body, swaying heavily before landing hard on the ground. None of the three spoke a single word of alliance. But all three locked their eyes dead onto Hela.
Watching them, Hela's laughter slowly drowned out the screams echoing across the plaza. She turned her gaze toward the deepest recesses of the palace. The black-green death energy slithered frantically down the fissures into the earth.
"Father. You buried my army down there too, didn't you?"
A sickening, apocalyptic crack echoed from deep underground. In the next moment, a ghastly, pale, skeletal claw, draped in rotting armor, violently thrust its way out of the abyss beneath the royal palace.
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