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The slap didn't carry any real power, yet it startled her.
Hela spun around, her face still a mask of blinding fury. "Hm?"
Arthur gave a faint, tight smile and activated All Things Grow!
But the first thing that surged with unbridled power wasn't the ground or the atmosphere, it was Hela's own divine essence!
Arthur's eyes went wide as saucers. Simultaneously, Hela's figure seemed to shift, growing into something impossibly more potent, more... voluptuous.
"What the--"
He didn't get to finish. Hela's leg flashed out in a brutal, instinctual kick that sent him spiraling backward. She looked down at herself, confusion warring with raw power on her face. "What did you just do to me?"
Hovering mid-air, Arthur spread the Wings of the Raven God, equally dumbfounded. "How the hell should I know what I did? Damn it, "
He'd never been entirely sure if his ability could affect the Æsir. But if the name truly meant all things, then a god was technically just another, more evolved form of life.
It should work.
His earlier declaration of "this ends here" had been pure bluff, though he'd been confident that the ability could affect her. He just hadn't expected it to hit like this!
Was there even any justice left in the Nine Realms?
"Did I just… accelerate Hela's goddamn evolution to maturity!?" Arthur screamed internally.
Hela's cold voice snapped him back to the moment. "I don't know what trick that was, but judging by how I feel right now… my condition is perfect. Come on! Whatever you gave me, I'll give it back to you in pieces!"
The instant her words fell, the void beneath her feet erupted with a deafening, spatial crack. Space itself was splintering under the sudden, immense increase in her divine force. In a blink, she closed the distance.
Arthur inhaled a sharp, rattling breath, drawing an Asgardian greatsword from the void of his Disassemble space, and charged straight at her.
Their blades met with a ringing, agonizing clang, followed by a shockwave so violent the small pocket dimension shuddered like a gong struck by a mountain.
Powerful waves of sheer force burst through the cracks of the barrier, spilling into the real Hell, and the countless souls there wailed in fresh agony.
From the start of their battle, the denizens of Hel had regarded that forbidden domain with fear. Now that the shockwaves ripped through their very forms, the rotting creatures truly felt pain tear through their essence.
They screamed and cried, some fell to their knees in submission, others howled into the void before finally crumbling into ash.
And still, the shockwaves intensified, growing stronger and more terrifying with every passing minute, their combined power easily enough to turn Hell inside out!
The battle raged for a full three hours before the tremors finally subsided.
When it ended, the two stood face-to-face in the shattered space, both panting, both utterly spent.
Arthur was missing an arm; several deep, black gashes crisscrossed his chest, some so severe his internal organs were visible. Yet, under a soft, golden glow, his wounds had already begun their impossible, slow recovery.
Hela hadn't fared much better. Her body was a roadmap of the conflict, riddled with sword cuts, deep spear holes, and countless wounds, proof of the vicious ferocity of their exchange.
Unlike Arthur, she had no fast way to heal. She simply clenched her teeth, staring him down through the sweat and blood.
Three hours of fighting, and Hela knew the horrifying truth: she still couldn't defeat him.
His growth was too fast. Unbelievably, insultingly fast.
When they first met, he had been strong, but still fundamentally human. If not for Odin's radiance, if not for her sealed power, if not for that initial rain of blood… Arthur would have been a corpse long ago.
But now?
Even with her full, untainted power unleashed, she couldn't break him.
She had fought with everything she was, and in the end, it was a brutal, bloody, infuriating draw.
That damned, impossible man…
That maddening, heart-pounding bastard.
A golden, singular eye appeared above her head, one she knew all too well. Arthur loved fighting with that celestial thing watching over him. Every time she injured him, that eye would restore him.
As she watched her own wounds begin to stitch themselves shut under its borrowed light, Hela's volatile emotions gradually steadied. She glanced at Arthur's regenerating arm, her expression shifted slightly, a flicker of something she didn't show, but she said nothing.
"Don't refuse. This is the last bit of power I have left."
Before Hela could protest, Arthur spoke again, his voice rasping with exhaustion. "I've already used up all my strength."
Hela let out a sharp, ragged breath and then simply sat down on the debris, her chest rising and falling with pure physical depletion.
Arthur watched her, a clear, unspoken sign of a temporary truce, and sat down as well. Smiling lightly, he managed, "So… how about a post-battle chat?"
"I'll give you a chance."
Hela looked him dead in the eye, the fire banked but still burning in her gaze. "If you're willing, I'll go with you right now, and abandon all claim to Asgard."
Arthur rubbed the stub of his regrowing chin. "You know, whenever someone says something like that, it always sounds like the kind of offer you're supposed to immediately refuse. So go ahead, what's the fine print? What are you really proposing?"
"Be my man."
This time, Hela was completely direct, cutting through the pleasantries. "Become my man, and you'll be the King of Asgard. I'll acknowledge your existence. As long as it's you, it doesn't matter whether Asgard is ruled by my hand or yours."
"…"
Arthur blinked, utterly dumbfounded. What the hell, had his market value suddenly shot up in the last week? Or was he cursed with some kind of bizarre, impossible romantic calamity?
First, Odin tried to force a political marriage, and now Hela? Girl, even you can't seem to stick to your own position anymore!
"Answer me, yes or no!?"
Hela didn't give him much time to process the absurdity.
Arthur blinked rapidly, then nodded, and immediately shook his head. "Wait, wait, hold up a second… If I say yes, wouldn't Asgard still technically be yours? You're the Queen, I'd just be the consort."
Hela nodded, a sly, almost feral light in her eyes. "But the one in real power, would be you."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on! You've planned this way too well, not only do you get yourself a man, you also keep the entire Asgard for free!"
Hela smirked, a genuine, beautiful, terrifying smile. "And you get a woman, and the entire Asgard."
"What if I don't want either?"
"Then wait for the third time."
"Hey… that's cheating, you know," Arthur muttered, leaning back on his hand. "You can see I'm getting stronger each time we meet. By the third time, you definitely won't be my match. You'll just end up following me out of here anyway, so why bother dragging this out now?"
"The third time…" Hela's eyes narrowed, all humor gone. "That will take time. And don't forget, I can grow stronger too."
"Then we'll just wait and see!"
"Fine by me."
"Damn it!"
(End of Chapter)