Could it be… they didn't fight?
No!
Loki immediately rejected that idea.
Considering Hela's former arrogance and destructive intent, there's no way
she would just coexist peacefully and give up so easily!
But if so…
Why are both of them standing here unharmed?
After a brief rest, Loki's mind began to spin rapidly.
Right—his previous guess was correct!
Hela, in front of the monstrous Lucci, was…
no match!
No! More accurately—she'd submitted!
Otherwise, with her unruly nature, there's no way she'd be like this now—her face full of unhappiness,
yet obediently following Lucci, even afraid to breathe loudly.
The more he thought about it, the colder Loki felt, a chill running from his soles to his crown!
He looked at Lucci's indifferent expression, all thoughts of luck gone, replaced by unending awe and fear.
But before he could think of how to flatter his way off the throne—
a cold, sharp, and utterly contemptuous gaze shot at him!
It was Hela!
She looked at Loki on the throne as if gazing at an ant.
All the resentment and fear she'd felt from Lucci had, in this instant, transformed into monstrous fury toward Loki!
"Impudent!"
"Who are you?"
"The Asgardian throne… Is this your chosen seat!"
Hela's voice was icy and sharp, filled with undisguised contempt.
Loki, excited by Hela's terrifying killing intent, nearly tumbled off the throne in fright!
He quickly stood up, a flattering smile plastered on his face, bowing deeply to Lucci.
"Brother! You're back! Please, sit! Please, sit!"
He nodded along, stepping aside. His humble posture was a stark contrast to his earlier swagger.
Yet Lucci didn't even look at him.
He walked straight to the center of the God King's Hall, closed his eyes, and a faint, mysterious light radiated from his body.
The Law of Time—activate!
Buzz—
Centering on Lucci, an invisible ripple instantly enveloped the God King's Hall!
Under the astonished gazes of Loki and Hela, the lights and shadows in the hall began to reverse at an incredible speed!
Guards patrolling the corridors started walking backwards.
Dust in the air floated back to its original place.
Burning candles reversed from bright flames to dwindling wicks, finally dissolving into faint green smoke…
The whole God King's Hall was like a videotape being rewound!
Soon, the scene in the hall froze into a single image—
the moment Odin opened the message…
[Odin, waiting at the edge of Nidavellir Starfield coordinates xxx.xxx.xxx.
If you don't want Asgard attacked, come alone for a final decision.]
—Thanos
In the image, Odin's face instantly became extremely solemn.
Got it.
Lucci opened his eyes, the golden light in his pupils slowly fading.
He now had the precise coordinates of Odin and Thanos' battle.
Just as he was about to leave—
"Hela… My daughter… You… you've come back."
From the entrance to the God King's Hall, a woman's voice, full of excitement, joy, guilt, and anxiety, could be heard.
Everyone turned to look, and there stood Frigga, Queen of the Gods.
Tears streaked down her face, her gentle gaze fixed on Hela, her body trembling with joy.
It seemed Heimdall had delivered news of Hela's return.
Facing her mother, Hela's cold face grew extremely complicated.
There was resentment and anger, but more than that, a kind of… emotion she herself was reluctant to acknowledge.
It was complicated.
She opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately only managed a cold, distant greeting, her face still turned away.
Seeing this, Frigga's eyes filled with deeper guilt.
Lifting her skirts, she hurried over to Hela, reaching out to hold her hand, though a little afraid.
"Child… After all these years… Your parents owe you so much…"
The mother-daughter reunion filled the God King's Hall with a complicated atmosphere.
Lucci glanced at Hela, seeing her tense up like a wooden figure, and spoke,
"The Queen Mother is speaking to you."
Though his words weren't loud, Hela's body tensed involuntarily!
Her face paled, but in the end, she forced out a few words through clenched teeth.
"…Mother."
It was barely louder than a mosquito's buzz, but to Frigga, it was the sweetest sound!
"Oh!"
Frigga burst into tears of joy, unable to restrain her emotions, hugging Hela tightly.
Though Hela's body was still stiff, a faint ripple stirred deep in her cold eyes.
Loki watched all this from the side.
His heart was no longer shocked, but… shaken!
He stared at Lucci, a single thought echoing fiercely within:
That man… what did he do to Hela?
How did he subdue such a madwoman so easily?
This is no longer something that can be explained by strength alone!
It's simply… unbelievable!
After a while, Frigga finally regained some composure from her excitement at reuniting with her daughter, and remembered something more important.
"Lucci!"
She let go of Hela's hand and grabbed Lucci's arm anxiously, her beautiful face full of worry and pleading.
"Hurry! Go save your father! Odin… he's in danger!"
Hearing this, Lucci glanced at Loki.
He remembered clearly that Thor and Heimdall had said they kept Odin and Thanos' duel a secret from Frigga to keep her from worrying.
How did she know?
Feeling Lucci's gaze pierce through him, Loki's heart leapt as he forced a bitter smile and stammered,
"It's… Don't look at me like that… Mother couldn't find Father, so she came to ask… It's not my fault!"
Lucci snorted coldly, no longer bothering with Loki.
Instead, he held Frigga's hand, comforting her in a calm, reassuring tone.
"Mother, don't worry."
"I already know where Father is. I'll go now."
"Good, good! Be careful, and take Thor with you!"
Frigga nodded repeatedly, though her eyes still brimmed with worry.
Lucci delayed no longer.
He looked at Thor and Hela beside him.
"Come with me."
As soon as he finished speaking, he moved his mind, and an invisible spatial force instantly enveloped the three of them.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished from the God King's Hall as if they had never been there.
…
The cosmic abyss—a savage star field long forgotten by civilization.
Here, gigantic, desolate, lifeless stone planets floated in space.
Their surfaces were scarred by countless impact craters, as if relentlessly battered by meteors over endless eons.
There was no sign of life; only the cold cosmic winds howled among the jagged rocks.
At the center of this dead, silent place, within a gigantic crater several kilometers across,
as if struck by some terrible force—
A once unparalleled golden figure struggled to support his battered body with the eternal spear Gungnir.
It was Odin, the King of Gods and master of the Nine Realms!
At this moment, Odin's former majesty was gone.
His splendid god-king armor was in tatters, scorched flesh and blood exposed in many places.
The godly light in his one eye was dim, full of exhaustion and weakness,
with traces of golden divine blood still at the corner of his mouth.
He was gravely injured!
Not only had these wounds severely damaged his divine body,
even more, his divine power throughout his body was almost completely depleted!
Now, he didn't even have the strength to summon the Bifrost and return to Asgard!
He could only rely on his last bit of unyielding will to cling to life.
At this moment—
Not far from him, the air rippled like water.
A flash of light—
Lucci, Thor, and Hela suddenly appeared.
"Father!"
The moment Thor saw Odin's miserable state, his eyes turned red!
With a furious roar, he transformed into thunder and charged at Odin!
Behind him, Hela's cold beauty changed unconsciously the instant she saw Odin's wretched state,
as if something long-frozen for ten thousand years thawed inside her.
Instinctively, her body wanted to rush over with Thor.
It was the deepest, most primal reaction of blood ties.
But then—her steps suddenly halted!
She remembered the endless loneliness and suffering of her years of imprisonment!
And the man before her was the cause of it all!
At that thought, she stopped abruptly, her face returning to indifference and mockery.
"Thor…"
Relying on his last scrap of will, Odin forced himself to stand, not to collapse.
At that moment, hearing Thor's voice—his familiar, taut-string voice—he finally broke!
His majestic body trembled violently and he fell backward.
But just as he was about to fall,
a flash of light appeared behind him—
a warm, strong palm pressed gently against his back, supporting him firmly.
It was Lucci.
In the next moment!
A pure, solemn, and vibrant energy of law flowed from Lucci's palm,
instantly nourishing and repairing Odin's nearly broken body and divinity.
This power, infused with the Law of Life, was like rain after a long drought, rapidly healing Odin's divine form.
"Ah… ah…"
Odin gasped greedily, color returning to his pale face.
He struggled to turn his head, seeing Lucci supporting him, and in his single eye showed true peace of mind.
"Lucci… you're here…"
But then, as his gaze passed Lucci and Thor,
he saw Hela standing nearby, her face cold as ever, and was momentarily stunned.
"Hela?"
Odin's voice was full of surprise and confusion.
"Why… are you here?"
Hearing this, Hela's face twisted into a mocking sneer.
"What?
You see me freed from the seal and… you're disappointed? My dear… Father!"
Before Hela's sharp sneer, Odin's eyes held no anger, only deep, inextinguishable guilt.
He sighed and spoke hoarsely,
"Child… how could you think… think that way?"
"I don't want to, but what should I think?"
Odin's words were like a fuse, instantly igniting the resentment Hela had accumulated for millennia!
She pointed at Odin, shrieking hysterically,
"You sealed me in that dark place!
For thousands of years!
Thousands of years!
Now you look at me with that guilty face—
Did you ever think of me as your daughter when you threw me away like garbage?"
...
Seeing Hela's emotions running wild again, Lucci frowned slightly and glanced at her.
"Father is gravely injured. Say less for now."
Though the words seemed ordinary, they carried a weight that quieted the scene.
It was as if Hela's rage was doused by a bucket of ice water—most of it vanished instantly.
She glared at Odin, snorted coldly, turned her face away, and fell silent!
Lucci ignored her, lowered his voice, and asked Odin,
"Father, let's talk about the rest later. What happened here?"
Now on business, Odin's face turned solemn and bitter.
He took a deep breath, smiled wryly, and slowly recounted what happened.
"I was… too careless."
Odin's voice held a touch of regret.
"After training the 'Secret Codex of Divine Power Refinement' you gave me, my power surged, the decay in my body was gone, and I thought I'd regained my peak."
"I thought dealing with Thanos would be no problem…"
"But who would have thought…"
Here, Odin paused, deep fear flickering in his single eye.
"He really… he actually found it!"
"In his hand… was the Power Stone!"
Power Stone?!
These words struck Thor and Hela like a thunderclap!
Thor's face was full of shock and terror!
The Infinity Stones!
The six primal singularities that form the ultimate sources of the universe!
Each possesses unimaginable, destructive power!
And the Power Stone is one of the most destructive, wielding the authority of "power" itself!
No wonder…
No wonder, even as strong as Father, he was defeated so miserably!
Hela frowned deeply.
She knew better than Thor just how terrifying the Infinity Stones were—
she had witnessed their power in the ancient wars alongside Odin.
Thanos… that Titan madman… really has the Power Stone?
Lucci was only slightly surprised to hear the Power Stone mentioned.
"I see."
He looked around the crater.
"So, you were defeated by Thanos with the Power Stone?"
Odin nodded, his single eye grave as never before, his tone extremely serious.
"Yes.
Lucci," he said,
"Thanos is far more terrifying than we imagined.
Not only does he have iron will, but also boundless cunning and matching wisdom."
"Now, with the Power Stone, every blow from him shakes the foundations of planets!"
"The shockwaves of his energy can even tear the universe itself!
Even after purifying my divine power,
compared to this most primal force of the cosmos, I…
I am still insignificant."
"Lucci, your power is immeasurable, surpassing even mine.
But confronting Thanos with an Infinity Stone… you must be careful!"
"He is… by no means an easy enemy!"
Every word Odin spoke was full of concern.
He was afraid Lucci would underestimate the enemy and repeat his mistake.
"Don't worry, Father," Lucci nodded.