"Hahahaha! When did a Frost Giant bloodline ever qualify as an heir to Asgard?" Hela mocked as she quickly recognized the Frost Giant power surging from Loki's body. "Boy, tell me, what kind of god are you? A Frost Giant god?"
Her words dripped with ridicule. Asgard and the Frost Giants had been mortal enemies for generations. In the past, Hela herself had led campaigns against the Frost Giants, effortlessly defeating all but their king, Laufey.
Though Hela admitted that the Frost Giants possessed remarkable strength—stronger than Asgardians on average—the divide between ordinary Asgardians and their deities was vast. Ordinary Asgardians were physically superior to humans, akin to super soldiers, while Asgardian gods wielded unimaginable power that allowed them to dominate most Frost Giants.
But no matter how powerful the Frost Giant bloodline was, it was not a valid reason for Loki to be part of Asgard, let alone its royal family or a potential heir to the throne.
The unfairness of it all burned in Hela's heart. She, the rightful Goddess of Death of Asgard, had just been stripped of her title and inheritance by Odin. Yet here stood Loki, a mere Frost Giant, raised in Asgard's royal palace, groomed as a prince and heir.
This double standard enraged her. "So, it's just me you've chosen to target, huh?" she thought bitterly.
A glint of murderous intent flickered in Hela's eyes. Countless Death Swords materialized once more and slashed toward Loki.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
At that critical moment, Thor intervened. Even without Frigga's earlier words, Thor could never stand by and watch Loki die at Hela's hands.
Mjolnir, shattered into countless fragments, carried the power of Rune Lightning as it hurled itself toward each Death Sword. Thor's mastery of Mjolnir had reached unparalleled heights; he could now individually control each shard of the hammer, infusing them with the power of Rune Lightning.
It was this infusion of Rune Lightning that gave Mjolnir's fragments the strength to block Hela's Death Swords entirely, ensuring that not a single blade reached Loki.
But a new problem arose: Loki was still in Hela's grasp. Using Death Swords to kill Loki was merely one option; a far simpler method was for Hela to crush his throat with her bare hands.
Loki's Asgardian physiology and Frost Giant bloodline granted him exceptional durability compared to mortals. However, against a near-Heavenly Father-level deity like Hela, his defenses were laughably insufficient.
Crack!
As the Death Swords were deflected by Mjolnir's fragments, Hela's lips curled into a cruel smirk. She glanced at Thor with disdain, as if to mock his futile efforts, and slowly began to tighten her grip. Loki's neck emitted ominous cracking sounds.
Loki's face grew paler by the second. His arms and legs flailed weakly as he desperately pounded on Hela's arm, trying to free himself.
But the power disparity was insurmountable. No matter how much Loki struggled, he couldn't even make Hela flinch, let alone injure her or escape her grasp.
"Let him go! Release him now!" Thor's eyes widened in panic as he saw Loki's life hanging by a thread. The shards of Mjolnir, still infused with Rune Lightning, surged toward Hela with even greater intensity, aiming directly at her in a desperate attempt to force her to release Loki.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
But just as Thor had blocked Hela's Death Swords, Hela effortlessly countered Thor's attack. Her own Death Swords intercepted the hammer's fragments, nullifying their advance.
With Thor's offensive neutralized, Loki had no chance of escape.
At this dire moment, Loki's body grew colder and colder. His face turned deathly pale as his life force ebbed away. But as he teetered on the edge of death, his body suddenly transformed—his skin turned an icy blue, and a wave of intense cold erupted from him.
The Frost Giant bloodline within Loki awakened. A layer of ice armor formed over his body and spread to Hela's hand, encasing it in frost.
This was the Frost Giant power Loki had always resisted and denied. He had refused to acknowledge this part of himself because, in his heart, he believed he was Asgardian. He saw himself as an Asgardian prince, someone imbued with the noble blood of Asgardian gods—not the filthy, shadowy Frost Giants who lurked in the darkness of their icy world.
But in this life-or-death moment, when all the Asgardian skills he had learned were useless against Hela, Loki had no choice. And this power wasn't even something he consciously summoned—it erupted instinctively from his bloodline in response to the threat of death.
Though Loki's power was far inferior to Hela's, the sudden burst of Frost Giant energy caused her to momentarily stiffen. Thor seized this brief opening. His body vanished in a flash, reappearing with a thunderous surge of Rune Lightning as he slammed directly into Hela.
Boom!
The impact of Thor's Rune Lightning against Hela's deathly power echoed throughout the grand hall, causing the entire palace to tremble.
Forced to defend herself, Hela had no choice but to release Loki. However, before letting him go, she clenched her hand with one final surge of power, shattering Loki's ice armor and aiming to crush his throat.
Hela's strength was overwhelming. Even this parting blow caused catastrophic damage to Loki. His throat was injured along with the ice armor, and his body crumpled to the ground.
"Urgh... Urgh..."
Loki lay on the floor, clutching his throat with one hand while the other reached toward the sky, as though trying to grasp something—anything—but finding only empty air.
Hum!
At that moment, Frigga, who had been resigned to her fate, looked at Loki with deep sorrow in her eyes. The deathly aura consuming her body paused for an instant, and she slowly forced herself to stand. Despite her weakened state, she began walking toward Loki.
Though Frigga had accepted her impending death, her maternal instincts overpowered her resolve. She was willing to join Odin in the afterlife, but she could not bear to watch Loki, the child she had nurtured, perish before her eyes.
To Frigga, Loki was still young. He had a long life ahead of him—how could she let him die in the chaos of Asgard's turmoil?
"It's alright, my child. It's alright, Loki." Frigga knelt beside him, gently taking his trembling hand as she spoke softly, just as she had comforted him countless times when he cried as a child.
Warmth flowed from Frigga's hand into Loki. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, the pain disappeared. His throat healed, and the injuries across his body vanished.
"Odin, I'm going ahead. Thor, Loki, live well."
Frigga's voice echoed gently as her body began to shimmer. By the time Loki lifted his head to look at her, her form had dissolved into starlight, drifting away into the palace's vast halls.
"No!"
Both Loki and Thor cried out in unison, their voices filled with anguish. Odin, however, remained silent, for he understood Frigga's intentions. Their separation would be brief—once his own divine power was fully depleted, he would join her in the Hall of Heroes.
While Odin accepted her passing, Thor and Loki could not. Their grief transformed into anger, fueling Thor's attacks, which grew fiercer with every strike.
If Thor had previously sympathized with Hela, understanding the torment she had endured during her millennia of imprisonment, that sympathy was now gone.
Hela had killed Frigga. Even if Frigga had been ready to embrace death, Hela's actions had accelerated her demise. Frigga was not so frail that her body could no longer sustain her life—this was entirely Hela's doing.
"Angry? Good, get angry! My rage burns no less fiercely than yours!" Hela sneered as she faced Thor's relentless onslaught.
Thor's emotions surged uncontrollably. His fury amplified his Rune Lightning, making it more powerful than ever. But Hela's own fury matched his. Her millennia of effort had been rendered meaningless by Odin's actions. Her life had become a joke, her struggles mocked by the very family she had fought to belong to.
If she couldn't rule Asgard, then she would destroy it. Hela's resolve hardened as she vowed to turn Asgard into a land of the dead, absorbed into her domain of Helheim.
As the battle intensified, blood flowed freely from both Thor and Hela. Thor bore the brunt of the injuries, as Hela's Death Swords were sharper and deadlier. While Thor's Rune Lightning could wound her, it was not enough to turn the tide.
"Am I just going to stand here and watch?" Loki growled, clenching his fists as he watched the battle unfold. He couldn't accept his powerlessness.
Finally, after a long internal struggle, Loki made a decision. "Frost Giant bloodline... so what?" he muttered. Tightening his fists, his body began to change.
The blue skin and Frost Giant power he had once rejected now reappeared, transforming him back into his true form.
At that moment,
Loki fully embraced his Frost Giant bloodline. He reconciled with the power he had denied for so long, because no matter what power he wielded, his heart belonged to Asgard. Most importantly, if this power could help him avenge Frigga, then it was a power worth using.
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