Dark storm clouds loomed overhead, casting the world beneath in a shroud of gloom. A bitter wind sliced through the air like knives, chilling to the bone.
Standing amidst the ruins of a shattered world, Hela gazed out into the endless desolation before her, her expression grave.
To create an interdimensional subspace of this magnitude through sheer force alone, Agamotto's power far exceeded anything she had imagined.
"This is the Time Training Ground. Here, time holds no meaning for you."
Wearing a deep yellow sorcerer's robe, Agamotto pulled back his hood and appeared abruptly before Lothar and Hela.
"What did you say?" Lothar asked, stunned.
Time, the very fabric of the universe. Even Thanos, his adoptive father, would never have dared to make such a claim.
"You can stay here as long as you like. But the one condition, don't die."
Without another word, Agamotto raised both hands and thrust forward with explosive force.
Even with their guards up, Lothar and Hela's souls were instantly torn from their bodies by the Supreme Sorcerer, who had once stood alone against the dread gods of other dimensions.
Thud!
Their now soulless bodies collapsed. Agamotto calmly sealed them against two broken pillars amid the ruins.
With a flick of his fingers, their souls were hurled uncontrollably toward the farthest edges of the subspace.
"No matter how you do it, if you can return here, break my seal, and reclaim your bodies, your training will then ends."
"Now... begin."
As the final word fell from his lips, Agamotto vanished from the subspace without a trace.
After all, this training was nothing more than a chance, an opportunity he was offering these two. Whether they could seize it or not was entirely up to them.
"How long can you hold out?"
In the heart of a pyramid, Agamotto sat cross-legged, gazing expectantly at a projection cast from the Time Stone.
Meanwhile, in the Black Quadrant, fully armored, Thanos silently reforged his great blade. Normal weapons were useless against the ruler of the Dark Dimension.
On Asgard, Odin, donned in the Destroyer Armor and armed with the never-missing spear Gungnir, strode off into the Rainbow Bridge's fading light, leaving behind Queen Frigga's reluctant gaze.
In the Dark Dimension, Dormammu, having granted a portion of his power to his devotee Cuba, grinned wickedly as he cast the now-unrecognizable white husk of a man back into the frigid wilderness of northern Europe.
Swoosh!
Boom!
Back in the Time Training Ground, Lothar and Hela, now in soul form, once again failed their attempt.
Before they could even begin their journey from the edge of the world, a familiar figure and a fully armed legion intercepted them at a border town.
"Shafrin…"
Seeing the golden-armored figure atop the wall, Lothar stood, jaw clenched, disbelief burning in his eyes.
"Why are soldiers from the Nine Realms taking orders from someone not of their realm?" Hela asked, staring at the organized Nine Realms Unified Army below, visibly irritated.
"The Time Training Ground can manifest enemies you've defeated in your past, drawn from your own timeline."
"Now powerless, do you still have the courage to throw a final punch at foes long vanquished?"
Within the pyramid, Agamotto remained motionless, his tone brimming with expectation.
In front of him now stood three figures occupying what had once been an empty space:
The Other, clutching the Mind Scepter, visibly worried.
Woz, so shocked that even his oil drum slipped from his grasp.
And Menis, the true master of the Eye of Horus, the Egyptian Pharaoh.
"Meow~"
A ginger Flerken circled Agamotto's form, eyes locked on the gleaming, mystical object on his chest, pondering whether it could be swallowed.
"No way! We can't get through!"
In the training ground, Hela, still able to channel fragments of her divine power in soul form, was being pushed back again and again by Shafrin, clad in golden armor and masked.
After Hela was punched clean out of the city's perimeter, Shafrin finally ceased his attack and calmly flicked his cloak back into place.
"Hey! How did you beat this guy last time?!" Hela demanded, gritting her teeth.
"I blew up Planet U40 along with him," Lothar replied coldly, eyes locked on Shafrin atop the wall, his expression growing darker.
If only he still had his strength…
They were nothing but defeated remnants of his past…
"This path won't work. Let's try another."
After several futile attempts, Hela decisively chose to retreat.
That move, Corpse Qi Death Wave, was not something her soul form could withstand.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Let's go!"
She turned back to see Lothar still rooted in place, eyes fixed unwaveringly on Shafrin.
Trials were easier to bear with someone by your side. But Lothar didn't move. Eyes lowered, fists clenched, a storm roiling in his heart.
He had already beaten this enemy once…
"Corpse Qi…"
On the city wall, as if responding to a silent order, Shafrin raised his right arm. From the far edges of the subspace, a poisonous violet mist began to pour forth.
"Poison?!"
Lothar and Hela's faces twisted as the deadly fog closed in. They shot into the air, but the miasma pursued relentlessly, tightening its deadly grip.
"We'll go around, to the sea!"
Blocked by enemies ahead and death behind, the two were forced to divert. They descended over an open ocean, free from the mist.
"LOTHAR!!"
They barely had time to catch their breath before a bare-chested warrior wielding a trident burst from the waves, roaring Lothar's name as he surged skyward!
Wild black hair. Savage features. A trident that pierced the soul.
"Lothar, who is that?!"
Hela barely dodged the attack, only to be suddenly ensnared by a whip that manifested from thin air.
"We are Avengers of the Underworld."
"This is between us and Lothar. You, outsider, step aside."
The whip's owner swayed with serpentine grace, her wavy hair dancing in the sea breeze, her gaze captivating.
"…Diana?" Lothar muttered, brows furrowed.
He hadn't misseen.
"So… this time it's warriors from Planet N52, huh?"
Looking skyward, Lothar barely had time to react before a bolt of living lightning crashed into him like a meteor.
Boom!
Searing voltage surged through his soul body, locking up his every nerve in a single instant.
"You betrayed this world."
From the darkened sky, an old bat-winged figure hurled four bat-shaped blades, pinning Lothar's soul to a rising mechanical pillar above the ocean's surface.
"You're going with him."
Diana smirked and flung Hela down beside Lothar.
"Ugh… cough… cough…"
Staggering to her feet, Hela glanced at Lothar, whose soul's glow was already starting to dim.
"So… how did this bunch die?"
"I destroyed Planet N52."
Lothar opened his eyes and looked up just in time to see the final figure descend before him, red cape billowing.
With each labored breath, fury burned hotter.
He had turned them all to ash.
Crackle—!
Golden lightning danced across Lothar's body once more, catching Hela by surprise.
A faint golden hue appeared in his hair. Under the surge of power, cracks split across his soul, beginning at the face and spreading down his limbs.
"Lothar!!!"
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