The transport via the Bifrost was a wondrous experience that transcended conventional space jumps. It wasn't a simple displacement, but rather felt more like being swept into a turbulent river composed of pure light and energy. Countless phantom stars and colorful ribbons of light streaked past, blurring one's sense of time and direction. The only anchors were the solid path of light beneath their feet and Thor's tall figure ahead.
When the dazzling stream of light suddenly receded, and the sensation of solid ground returned, air that was crisp, rich in magic, and distinctly different from Earth's rushed into her lungs. Artoria opened her eyes, and even with her current experience, she couldn't help but be captivated by the scene before her.
They were standing on a vast, magnificent bridge that seemed to have been carved from a single piece of iridescent crystal. The bridge was translucent, with dreamlike, magical radiance flowing within it, extending to the horizon. Beneath the bridge, there was no water, but a rolling, surging sea of cosmic energy shimmering with starlight. At the end of the long bridge connected a floating continent of unimaginable scale. On the continent, clusters of towering, layered palaces—shimmering with sacred gold, silver, and white light—pierced the clouds. Under the illumination of the starlight of Eternity, it was as magnificent and glorious as myth itself—this was Asgard, the realm of the Aesir, the legendary Asgard.
"Welcome to Asgard!" Thor turned, a proud smile on his face. He gestured with his arm, pointing toward the glorious realm, "Look! This is my home! The Golden Palace is just..."
His voice trailed off abruptly.
Because the scene before him was completely different from the solemn, peaceful, and glorious Asgard in his memory.
The iridescent Bifrost itself remained brilliant, but the surface of the bridge was scattered with traces of battle—charred burn marks, frozen patches of ice, shattered weapon fragments, and even several spots of solidified "god blood" shimmering with a faint golden luster. In the air, besides the abundant magic inherent to Asgard, there was a mixture of biting, primal icy energy, as well as a faint scent of blood and gunpowder.
Further away, in the direction of the Asgardian continent, the protective light barrier that should have been peacefully shining was now visibly unstable, rippling and dimming. Several areas even had plumes of black smoke rising. Faint sounds of shouting, the clash of weapons, and the muffled thuds of energy explosions drifted over intermittently with the wind.
The smile on Thor's face froze instantly, turning into disbelief and shock, which was then replaced by raging fury. "What... what is going on?! Heimdall!" he roared toward the massive spherical control room at the end of the Bifrost.
The doors to the control room were tightly shut, with no response. Heimdall, the Guardian God who usually stood watch over the Nine Realms at all times, was nowhere to be seen.
"Invaders..." Thor gritted his teeth, gripping mjolnir tightly as angry arcs of electricity danced across the hammer. "It's the scent of that Frost Giant scum! How dare they?! Loki... it must be him!" Recalling Loki's words during their previous communication and the attack by the Destroyer, he instantly understood the situation. His brother had not only deceived him and tried to kill him but had actually invited the wolf into the fold, bringing the Frost Giants into Asgard!
"Mother! Father!" Thor was frantic with worry. Ignoring protocol, he quickly said to Artoria and Minerva, "Both of you, I'm sorry! Asgard is under attack; I must rush to the Golden Palace immediately! You..."
Before he could finish, several sharp roars suddenly erupted from the sea of void energy on either side of the Bifrost! Several massive, blue figures radiating biting cold leaped out from the clouds like ghosts, landing heavily on the bridge and blocking their path.
They were three Frost Giants. They were generally over three meters tall, their skin a deep blue like ten-thousand-year-old ice, rough and covered in cracked lines, with bulging muscles full of primal brute force. They held massive battle axes or heavy hammers crudely forged from ice and some kind of black metal. On their ferocious faces, deep within eye sockets covered in ice crystals, burned malevolent, destructive, deep-blue flames. Clearly, they were the patrol or blocking force deployed by the invaders on the Bifrost.
"The Prince of Asgard... and... two little snacks?" The leading Frost Giant, who was exceptionally tall, let out a mocking laugh like grinding sand. His gaze swept over Thor and then landed on the significantly "slender" Artoria and Minerva. A cruel light gleamed in his deep-blue eyes. "Capture them! Especially that blonde woman; Laufey might be interested!"
Before the words had even faded, the three Frost Giants roared and charged! Their heavy footsteps thundered on the crystalline surface of the Bifrost, and cold air spread with their movements, causing a layer of white frost to rapidly form on the bridge.
"You're courting death!" Thor roared, lightning flaring intensely on Mjolnir as he prepared to strike back.
"Thor, go to the Golden Palace! Leave this to us!" Artoria spoke up at that moment, her voice calm and clear. She could see that Thor was frantic with worry; the situation at the Golden Palace was clearly more critical. Although these three Frost Giants looked fierce, to her and Minerva, they were nothing more than cannon fodder blocking the way. Even though she was slightly fatigued from repairing Minerva, she was far from being unable to handle such enemies. It was a good chance to stretch her muscles.
Thor was taken aback by her words. Looking at Artoria's calm eyes and Minerva's unruffled posture, he remembered the abilities they had displayed in the desert and nodded heavily. "Alright! Then I'll leave it to you! Watch out for their ice powers!" With that, he didn't hesitate any longer. Lightning erupted from his body, and he transformed into a golden bolt of lightning, bypassing the Frost Giants from the flank and speeding toward the Asgard continent with astonishing velocity.
In the blink of an eye, only Artoria, Minerva, and the three fierce Frost Giants remained on the Bifrost.
"Abandoned his companion and ran away? Coward of Asgard!" The leading Frost Giant sneered, locking his target entirely onto the two who remained. "Then we'll tear you to pieces first!"
The three giants surrounded them in a fan formation, brandishing their icy weapons and stirring up biting, freezing winds.
Artoria exhaled softly, suppressing the fatigue in her body. She didn't switch any forms, nor did she conjure a magic sword. To deal with enemies like these, there was no need for a major exertion. She simply bent her knees slightly, hung her right hand naturally at her side, and raised her left hand in a gesture, assuming the most basic opening stance of knightly swordsmanship. Her eyes were sharp as a hawk's, instantly locking onto the movement trajectories and potential attack paths of all three targets. The battle instincts and exquisite swordsmanship experience honed through the "Saber" template had already been integrated into her soul.
Minerva moved at the same time. She didn't even assume any fancy stance; she simply lowered her center of gravity slightly, her optical sensor sweeping calmly over the three giants as cold killing intent permeated the air like a physical substance.
The battle erupted the moment the giants stepped into attack range!
The giant on the left swung his axe down violently, the giant on the right swept his hammer horizontally, and the giant leader in the center opened his maw, spewing a blast of freezing breath mixed with sharp ice shards, covering a large area in front! The coordination wasn't particularly refined, but relying on immense strength, sturdy bodies, and the assistance of icy magic, it was enough to make most Asgardian warriors scramble in confusion.
However, their opponents were not ordinary warriors.
Facing the covering breath of freezing air, Artoria shifted her feet lightly, her figure like a willow catkin in the wind, dodging the core impact of the cold air by a hair's breadth. She used only her remaining magic to form a thin layer of light on her body, warding off the residual ice shards. At the same time, she spotted the insignificant shift in the left giant's center of gravity caused by his full-force axe swing. Instead of retreating, she advanced, her entire being like an arrow released from a bow, cutting into the giant's embrace beneath the blade of his axe!
A flash of astonishment crossed the giant's eyes, and his other hand instinctively reached out to grab her. But Artoria, as if she had foreseen it, lowered her body and slid, evading the giant hand. She held her right hand with fingers together like a sword, concentrating a thread of highly compressed magic, and struck lightning-fast at the joint under the armpit of the giant's axe-wielding arm—the spot where the ice armor was relatively thin and a key node for generating force!
"Pfft!" A muffled sound, not the cracking of bone, but magic penetrating and precisely disrupting the local flow of icy magic within the giant's body, while simultaneously striking the convergence point of its motor nerves! The giant's entire arm went numb instantly, the heavy battle axe nearly slipping from his grasp, and his massive body's movements distorted due to this sudden interference, causing him to stagger half a step.
It was this half-step gap!
Minerva cut in from the right like a ghost. She didn't pay attention to the heavy hammer sweeping in from the right. Instead, with astonishing speed and precision, the moment the hammer was about to reach her, she tapped her toes lightly on the bridge surface, her whole body leaping up gracefully. With a tap on the hammerhead for leverage, her figure rose again, flipping through the air onto the shoulder of the giant on the right! The giant roared and reached out to grab her, but Minerva, as if walking on flat ground, stepped on his shoulder and used the force to lunge forward. Her hand-blade, wrapped in high-frequency oscillating energy, cut through the ice armor like a hot knife through butter, precisely piercing the relatively vulnerable gap in the ice armor on the side of the giant's neck!
"Sshh!" Pale blue blood sprayed out! The giant let out a painful howl, and his attack movements were completely distorted.
The giant leader in the center was both shocked and angry; he hadn't expected the two "little things" to be so slippery and troublesome. He abandoned the covering attack, and his massive ice fist, carrying a shrill whistling sound, smashed fiercely toward Minerva, who had just landed!
Minerva didn't even look. The moment the fist was about to reach her, her figure drifted backward as if weightless, narrowly evading the heavy, powerful blow. The giant leader's fist slammed heavily onto the bridge surface, shattering it into countless ice cracks. And just at the moment when its old strength was spent and new strength had not yet arisen—
Artoria's figure appeared, as if predicted, at the side exposed after it had thrown its punch! She didn't use any flashy moves, just the simplest, most direct side kick. Her toes, concentrated with penetrating magic, kicked fiercely beneath the ribs that the giant leader had slightly raised due to the punch!
"Bang!" The power of this kick far exceeded the giant leader's imagination! It felt a sharp, concentrated force penetrate its body, not only shaking its blood and energy into turmoil but also precisely hitting a certain energy node within its chest cavity! It let out a muffled grunt, and its massive body was actually kicked, staggering several steps to the side, nearly falling over.
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