Asgard.
Odin's Vault.
Boom!
"Hela! You will never be my opponent. Even if I have been sealed here for countless years, all Asgardians will eventually be killed by me—especially Odin!"
As soon as those words were spoken, a woman dressed in black leather was knocked out of Odin's Vault again. The bloodstains covering her body showed that her battle had not gone smoothly. A deep scar, so severe that bone was visible, had been carved across her fair face, and a trace of blood could not help flowing from the corner of her mouth.
Hela once again held the broken sword in two pieces, disbelief filling her eyes. "Why... why can't I defeat this monster buried beneath Asgard?"
Hela found this fact difficult to accept. She was Odin's eldest daughter, the first child of the God-King. She had once accompanied her father in conquering the Nine Realms and even the universe. Countless civilizations had been forced to crawl beneath her and Odin's feet in order to survive.
Just when Hela was about to lead Asgard to rule the entire universe, she had been stabbed in the back by her father.
Before being sealed, Hela's heart had been filled with doubt and anger. Like a madwoman, she had screamed and roared, asking the God-King seated on the throne why he had betrayed his own daughter. She had led Asgard toward supreme glory!
Odin had merely said lightly, "You are too cruel."
Hela had frozen. She had never expected that her respected father would seal her away for such a ridiculous reason.
A sorrowful smile appeared on the woman's lips, and she escaped. She killed all the Valkyries sent by Odin, even though some of them had once been her comrades.
Asgard had betrayed her. Odin had betrayed her.
In the end, she had been cast into the underworld—Niflheim—by her father.
As the Goddess of Death, Hela could not simply sink into idleness just because she had been sealed. There was no beer or video games in the underworld, and no one she could threaten. There were only withered bones and herself, accompanied by death.
She had dismissed everything else and accumulated her own strength and her undead army. From two thousand years ago, she had known that Odin would not live forever. People would always die, and the same was true for God-Kings. One day, they too would fall. They were not the immortal cosmic gods of the Celestials.
Hela understood her position very well and was familiar with her own strength. She knew that if she truly broke through the seal and led the undead army to invade Asgard, she would likely be stopped by her father. So she decided to endure it until the day Odin died. Then she could immediately tear open the rift, return to Asgard, and take back everything that belonged to her.
But a few days ago, she had suddenly stopped sensing Odin's breath. That old man had never wanted to leave Asgard, clinging stubbornly to rules and pedantry.
So... she had come. She had returned to Asgard. She had come to rule this ignorant people... Wait. Where were the people?
Hela had been dumbfounded. There was not a single trace of anyone in the vast Asgard. She had searched almost everywhere before finally finding a bald man. When Hela heard that Odin had escaped with the entire Asgardian race, she nearly went mad. You were a mighty God-King, and you ran without even fighting? Did he not think that was an insult to the title of God-King?
Looking at the empty palace, Hela also lost the urge to destroy and collapsed onto Odin's throne in despair.
Finally, one day, she heard it. She heard hatred and resentment rising from beneath the ground. She went to that place full of joy, a cruel and excited smile on her face. She wanted to kill that thing... no, she wanted to carve it apart piece by piece. Blood and corpses would make Hela happy.
She stepped into the forbidden area, and five seconds later, she flew out like a cannonball, smashing through several walls. Surrounded by broken stone bricks, she lay on the ground in a sorry state.
...
"Mangog... Mangog!"
Hela's black hair was covered in filthy dust, which was unbearable for a woman, but the monster inside the cave made her even angrier. It had almost trampled her dignity and glory under a pair of filthy feet.
Her power was clearly growing stronger and stronger. As long as she remained in Asgard, her power would never end. She even felt that her strength had already surpassed that of her father, Odin.
"Stinking girl, you want to kill me? You couldn't do it even if Odin were here!" Mangog's arrogant laughter echoed throughout Odin's Vault, and a large abstract face slowly emerged from the shadows. Jagged square teeth, a head larger than its body, dull eyes... and unparalleled strength. The contrast between its appearance and its power made people underestimate it easily.
Hela looked solemnly at Mangog. Odin's remaining power sealed it inside the dark abyss of the cave, yet its own overwhelming strength had still nearly killed her several times. Thinking of that, Hela's white palm could not help breaking out in cold sweat. She gripped the broken black sword, as if that could give her even the slightest sense of security.
"I never said I had to kill you." Hela suddenly laughed, staring coldly at the manic monster. Its laughter was extremely harsh. Hela enjoyed people's terrified screams before death, their miserable cries when wounded, and the faint gasps of life slowly slipping away. In her ears, those sounds were no different from listening to Beethoven's Ode to Joy, exciting her almost to the point of screaming.
"Odin can seal you, and so can I." Hela put away her black sword, an unpredictable smile appearing on her face as she slowly moved closer to Mangog, almost close enough to touch the monster's body.
"Go to hell!"
Mangog was enraged by Hela's sneer. How dared a mere Asgardian smile at it?
Just as its fist was about to smash Hela's beautiful face, an invisible barrier stood between them, blocking all of Mangog's attacks as if it could never be destroyed.
Hela could not help laughing when she saw this. "Odin still has some use, at least. This seal is dozens of times stronger than mine!" Because this was not a seal aimed at the Goddess of Death, she could naturally enter and leave at will. Odin, that old man, always liked to create strange and targeted magic spells. Some were aimed at a single person, while others were aimed at an entire group.
The Goddess of Death slowly stretched out her arms, carrying unknown and deathly power that erupted from her body. A dark-green, soul-like aura enveloped Odin's Vault. Although Mangog was not intelligent, its instincts were extraordinary.
"You're reinforcing the seal!" Mangog could not help roaring. This woman was actually trying to stop it in such a despicable way. It had admired her before, too. Hatred and malice wrapped around her entire body. It liked that aura, like a kitten encountering catnip.
Hela was using her own power to strengthen the seal of Odin's Vault. Since she could not defeat this monster, she would bury it deep underground forever, like a forgotten landmine. Perhaps it was still dangerous, but as long as no one knew, there would be no danger.
Mangog frantically beat against the thin but steel-hard seal. With every strike, Odin's whispers coiled around Mangog's body, tightening more and more.
But according to the usual routine in television dramas, whenever things reached a critical moment, someone would definitely appear to disrupt the situation.
Boom!
The Rainbow Bridge fell from the sky, and the violent energy lifted Hela away. Mangog slapped the barrier excitedly. "Odin! You damned bastard!" It was so happy. Seeing its mortal enemy for the first time in thousands of years, Mangog could not wait to break out of the seal and tear the one-eyed old man into pieces.
Sleipnir raised his head and let out a sharp neigh. Odin took the opportunity to flip down from his horse. He pointed Gungnir at Mangog, and the majestic power of Odin enveloped the vault. It blasted Mangog backward, sending it falling into the bottomless black abyss once more.
"Odin? You old bastard, you're not dead yet." Hela looked surprised. Then she narrowed her eyes and sensed carefully, unable to help smiling with a hint of mockery. "So you're about to die. No wonder you were finally willing to leave your damned throne and hide in Vanaheim."
"What? Do you want to seal your dear daughter again? The child who once helped you conquer the Nine Realms?" Hela waved both hands, and two sharp black swords materialized from the air. "I heard I have two younger brothers now. Where are they? Have they been exiled somewhere else?"
"Hela..." Odin stared at his daughter with some disappointment. "After so long, you still feel no regret." The old man raised Gungnir, and immense divine power overflowed from it, shocking Hela and forcing her to retreat several steps.
This old man was clearly about to die. How could he still be so powerful?
Hela looked unwillingly at the legendary spear, and jealousy and resentment suddenly erupted in her heart. She should have been the king of Asgard.
"You feared and hated my power, so you exiled me to Niflheim! You left me to spend every day with dead people and bones!" Hela roared.
"Child... that is where you should stay!" Odin glanced at Hela with a lonely expression. Sleipnir behind him suddenly screamed. Gungnir instantly broke free from Odin's hand, carrying glass-colored rainbow light, carrying Odin's supreme power, carrying the endless wrath of the King of Asgard... and shot straight toward Hela.
The Goddess of Death tried to resist with both hands. Over the past few days, her strength had grown to a terrifying level. The aura of death erupted from her body, like an atomic bomb falling from the sky. It was the complete opposite of heat, filled with coldness and deathly silence.
Hela roared angrily. She refused to believe that she could not even defeat a dying old man. Dark-green death power was continuously released as she attempted to block Gungnir's advance.
The spear tip of the artifact easily split open Hela's death shield and struck her head-on with overwhelming force.
"No!"
Hela roared in despair, and her body was pierced by Gungnir. Strangely, not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound. Instead, only endless undead and the blue kingdom of death could be seen.
Odin's strike directly pierced through the boundary between Asgard and Niflheim. Gungnir carried tremendous force and drove Hela back into the underworld with her body.
Hela was torn away from Asgard, and her body was nailed to the throne of the Queen of the Underworld by Odin.
"Sleipnir!" Odin roared, and the eight-legged steed behind him neighed loudly. It stepped onto the Rainbow Bridge and rushed toward the underworld, dragging a gorgeous rainbow tail behind it like a warrior bravely marching to death, until its body completely merged into Niflheim.
"Hela! Gungnir and Sleipnir will accompany you and watch over you until the day your death comes. From this moment on, you will be imprisoned in Niflheim for eternity! Eternity!"
The undead souls in the underworld seized the chance to escape through the torn cracks. Odin only hummed softly, and the scattered souls were wiped out in an instant.
All of Asgard returned to peace once more.
Odin smiled, and the old man finally squatted weakly on the ground. The dazzling golden armor on his body also scattered into the wind.
Now he was no different from an ordinary old man. He raised his head, his eye seeming to pass through eternity, and took one final look at the throne that symbolized supreme power. His expression was indifferent. It seemed as if he opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, it only turned into a powerless sigh.
He turned around and stared with one eye in the direction of Muspelheim, where his two sons were. His lips trembled slightly, as if he were chanting someone's name.
He had lived for a long, long time—so long that he could no longer remember everything he had done, what he should have done, or what he had done to his children and his people. Perhaps a nursing home truly suited him better now than the throne, and perhaps Loki had actually done something right.
Frigga... She must have been waiting for him for a long time. I am truly sorry... I made you leave alone for so long, but I am coming to find you now... Thor and Loki will grow up...
Odin smiled and slowly closed his eye, his body emitting light like a firefly. Day would replace night, just as fireflies would one day need to hide in the grass and woods. The old man's body gradually dissipated, and his light scattered across Asgard, just as he had spent his entire life for Asgard over countless years.
Odin had fallen.
...
Far away in Muspelheim, Surtur played with Thor, who was covered in scars and looked like a dead dog. With a trace of impatience on his face, he threw the charred prince into a prison made of human bones, then casually made a ball from the side of the prison and tossed it to the lowly dragon crawling on the magma to play with.
Seeing Thor being toyed with, Surtur could not help laughing.
At that moment, a divine word from Asgard reached Muspelheim, and a heavy, majestic voice echoed in Surtur's head.
"Die!"
Surtur seemed to have been struck by lightning. He was so frightened that he shot up from his throne, wailing in pain. His enormous body gradually cracked and collapsed under Odin's word. The body that had been hundreds of meters tall suddenly shrank by half. He raised his head in horror and stared toward Asgard in panic.
...
Heimdall and Renzo also heard the warning and looked toward Asgard with solemn expressions.
Heimdall's face filled with sorrow, and he knelt down before everyone. The people of the Aesir seemed to sense something as well. Seeing Heimdall's actions, they lowered themselves and knelt obediently.
In an instant, all the people of Asgard knelt toward Asgard.
"Send off the God-King..."
"Send off the God-King!"
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