The rift deep within the palace continued to tear open. Following the first pale, skeletal claw, a second and third dragged themselves out of the black-green necrotic mist. The harsh, teeth-setting screech of rotting armor scraping against stone echoed through the courtyard. The things crawling from the depths still bore the vague outlines of Asgardian warriors. They wore archaic helmets, and their shoulder plates were engraved with a black blade insignia.
They did not breathe. Eerie green ghost-fire burned in their hollow eye sockets as they dragged rusted longswords, battleaxes, and bent spears behind them. Hela spread her arms wide, as if welcoming her rightful royal court.
"Do you see clearly now?" Hela's voice echoed with mocking grandeur. "This is what deserves to be called an army."
A white-haired veteran raised his shield, his voice trembling. "It's the Berserkers..."
A young guard beside him shot him a confused look. "What Berserkers?"
The old soldier swallowed hard. "When His Majesty Odin conquered the Nine Realms, they were the vanguard that charged at the very front. The army entirely erased from history!"
Thor heard him. His grip on Mjolnir tightened. His father had never said a word. His mother had never mentioned them. Beneath the shining glory of Asgard lay buried a mountain of bloody, unspeakable secrets. He wanted to demand answers. He wanted Odin to give him an explanation right here and now.
But then, the piercing cry of a child echoed from the evacuation tunnel. A squad of the undead had already crossed the broken stone steps, charging straight for the fleeing civilians.
Thor swallowed his questions down like broken glass. "Heimdall!"
Heimdall cleaved through an undead warrior's neck and roared back, "I'm here!"
Dragging his battered body, Thor rushed toward the tunnel. Mjolnir slammed down, lightning detonating on impact, and the front row of the undead was violently blasted away. But these things felt no pain. If they lost an arm, they snapped their jaws. If their chests were crushed, they dragged their severed upper halves forward.
Thor smashed a skull to dust, only for a black blade to thrust at his flank. He twisted to dodge, but the movement violently tore open the old wound on his waist, fresh blood soaking his armor. Hela stood in the distance, watching. She wasn't in a rush to kill Odin. She was savoring this far too much.
"Brother," she mocked, her tone dripping with venom. "You struggle so much just to guard a single door."
Veins bulged on Thor's forehead. He wanted nothing more than to charge over there and smash her smug mouth into a bloody pulp. But the civilians were right behind him. He absolutely could not leave his post. A child tripped and fell. As the mother turned back to grab him, an undead soldier raised its axe, aiming squarely for her back.
Thor violently hurled Mjolnir. The hammer, wreathed in thunder, shattered the undead's upper half before spinning seamlessly back into his palm. Thor panted heavily, his chest heaving. He had never felt a tunnel stretch so long, nor had he ever felt so agonizingly slow.
"Thor!" Frigga's voice called out from behind the magical barrier. "Don't let her dictate the pace."
Thor didn't look back. "I know!"
The moment the words left his mouth, three black blades flew from behind the undead horde, forcing him to retreat several steps. An undead axe swung perilously close to his shoulder, shredding his red cape.
Hela's smile widened. "You know? You know absolutely nothing. You don't even know how the very city beneath your feet was built!"
Thor's expression was incredibly grim. Right at that moment, the sharp, brittle sound of snapping iron echoed from the edge of the plaza.
Crack!
Kaido violently yanked the last segment of a death spear out of his own chest. Blood poured from the gaping hole. The black spear was still frantically trying to corrode his flesh. He glanced at it, opened his mouth, and bit down hard.
Crunch. The steel-like shaft shattered between his teeth. Kaido spat out the fragments and looked up at the undead army.
"Hey. Old man."
Odin didn't acknowledge him.
Kaido hoisted his broken kanabo onto his shoulder, a bloody, savage grin stretching across his face. "You keep so much trash buried under your house, don't you find the noise annoying?"
Thor couldn't hold back a furious shout. "Now is not the time for jokes!"
Kaido shot him a sideways glare. "Is the God of Thunder only good for sitting back and enjoying the show?"
Thor's face darkened. "I am protecting my people!"
Kaido stomped his foot, his body explosively expanding. Pitch-black scales rapidly climbed from his shoulders to his neck. Menacing bone spikes erupted from the stumps of his broken horns. A massive dragon tail swept violently across the rubble, shaking the ground. His Hybrid Form continued to mutate. His torso elongated. His bones expanded. Searing flames poured frantically from the gaps in his scales.
In the next moment, a colossal, pitch-black Demon Dragon coiled within the royal plaza.
Kaido. This time, he didn't go after Odin, nor did he lunge for Hela. He lowered his massive head, glaring at the undead legion swarming the civilians.
"Eyesore trash should be burned to ash!"
His abyssal maw opened. A searing, tsunami-like Bolo Breath swept across the plaza. The flames surged violently along the ground, mercilessly engulfing waves of the undead. Old armor glowed red-hot. Bones exploded in rapid succession. Unable to scream, the undead could only writhe desperately in the sea of fire before crumbling into black ash.
Thor was momentarily stunned. Just a second ago, he had been terrified that Kaido would go on a rampage and destroy the palace. Yet, this lawless, mad dragon had actually chosen to clear out the foot soldiers first. Of course, Kaido wasn't doing it for the people of Asgard. He just found it annoying. The top-tiers hadn't even finished their fight, and a bunch of disgusting corpses dead for countless years dared to swarm the stage. To him, this was far more insulting than a direct provocation.
Hela raised a hand, sweeping it downward. Necro-energy manifested as a curtain of black rain, violently pressing down on Kaido's flames. Fire and death clashed, blowing terrifying fissures across the center of the plaza.
"You can't burn them all," Hela said coldly. "They died a long time ago."
Kaido's reptilian pupils abruptly contracted. "Then let them die again!"
His massive tail swept out, shattering an entire row of the undead. His dragon claws pinned two Berserkers, tearing them in half as easily as ripping wet paper. An undead knight leapt from the flank, driving a battleaxe into Kaido's neck, but it only left a faint white scratch on his scales. Kaido snapped his head around and bit the attacker—armor, axe, and all—chewing him to bloody paste.
Thor watched, his eyelids twitching wildly. "What the hell is this monster made of?"
Heimdall cleaved an undead warrior and took a second to reply. "I'm more interested in knowing what kind of hellish tavern hires him as a security guard!"
Thor had no answer for that. All he knew was that if a tavern's security guard was this freakish, the owner had to be completely insane.
At the rear of the plaza, Frigga continuously erected magical barriers, her face now pale as paper. There were simply too many undead. The Berserkers crawled out of the subterranean rifts in endless waves. Several ghouls clad in giant beast hides hurled long spears at the evacuating crowds.
Thor batted a spear away with his hammer, his arm going numb from the impact. Kaido's mockery still echoed in his ears. Is the God of Thunder only good for sitting back and enjoying the show? Thor gritted his teeth. He didn't want to admit it. But he truly had been beaten down by Kaido earlier. He had to be saved by Odin. He was mercilessly mocked by Hela. And now, even a mindless horde of undead was pushing him into a pathetic, desperate defense.
He was Thor. The Son of Odin. The Crown Prince of Asgard. He couldn't just be a brute who blindly swung a hammer. But more importantly, he absolutely refused to lose to a foreign lunatic when it came to a simple brawl.
"Mjolnir!"
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