"Lothar!"
"No!"
Hela snapped sharply, her voice laced with fury, the moment she sensed something was wrong with Lothar.
"Are you trying to die?!"
"Don't forget, you're a soul right now! A disembodied one, unrecognized by the cosmic laws! You can't withstand that kind of power!"
Cracks were spreading across Lothar's form, rapidly multiplying. Unable to contain herself, Hela called out in alarm.
Agamotto had made it perfectly clear to both of them before this, if they died here, there would be no resurrection.
"Shut up."
Lothar's voice came out hoarse, but the overwhelming pressure radiating from him didn't falter, it only continued to rise.
"RAAAHHHHH!!!"
BOOM!
A crimson-gold aura exploded into the sky. The roaring surge of power finally found an outlet, erupting like a volcano and shaking the very fabric of space around them.
Crack...
Crack-crack-crack...
The overwhelming energy shattered the bat-shaped restraints. One of the seven Lords of Planet N52 was instantly dismembered by Lothar's strike.
The golden legend of the Saiyans, terrifying beyond compare!
"Now... it's your turn."
Expressionless, Lothar raised his head. As the words left his lips, he vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared before a man in emerald wizard robes, then launched a brutal punch.
Whoosh!
Bang!
A vibrant red cape billowed in the wind, but it arrived just a moment too late.
Superman, who hadn't managed to intervene in time, could only watch as Lothar's fist tore clean through the green-robed mage. When Superman's fist collided with Lothar's, the backlash caused the cracks on Lothar's arm to finally give way, shattering completely.
"Lothar?!"
From the side, Hela knocked Diana back with a sweeping sword strike to create distance, then appeared beside Lothar, his body still fragmenting.
"Go!"
"Get out of here!"
She grabbed his remaining left arm, trying to drag him into a breakout maneuver.
But Lothar yanked his arm free, coldly snapping, "Get lost."
"?!"
Hela stared at him in disbelief.
You're nearly soul dust, and you're still thinking about fighting?!
"These guys are my problem. This has nothing to do with you. Now get the hell out."
Then—THWACK!
Lothar kicked Hela square in the butt, sending her stumbling forward, completely unprepared for the blow.
His enemies were his responsibility. He would face them alone.
Before his words even finished echoing, his body surged forward again.
A massive energy sphere condensed in his left palm and hurled toward the encircling Planet N52 giants!
"Hm?"
The moment he let the energy sphere fly, Lothar sensed something was wrong.
There was no resistance. No interception.
The sphere slammed directly into the ocean surface, sending up an earth-shaking tidal wave.
Gone...?
BOOM!!!
The exploded seawater drenched his fragmented soul.
When the noise faded, the enemies had vanished.
Only Lothar remained, his spiritual form now rapidly fragmenting, drifting midair, staring vacantly at his own translucent, flickering body.
"You idiot!!!"
Hela's voice roared in his ears, raging, unforgiving.
Wielding a wolf-fanged mace, she came barreling toward him like a storm.
"Have you lost your mind?!"
The aura of a Super Saiyan faded. Lothar's body stopped cracking further. He raised his left arm, his only arm, and calmly blocked her strike with a single finger.
"Yeah, you're right. I must be insane, for warning you that transforming into some insane Super Saiyan might get you killed!"
"You egotistical, reckless, utterly self-centered lunatic! What the hell was I thinking trying to help you?!"
Hela was trembling with rage. Her tight black outfit now sported a very visible footprint right on her backside.
Never in her entire life, not even her parents, had anyone kicked her butt.
And the first time it happened? By Lothar. And under these circumstances.
She felt deeply humiliated.
The divine power of Death around her swelled with her fury, making Lothar frown.
"All that fuss over a butt kick?"
"What's the big deal?"
It had been an instinct. One hand was busy dealing with the Planet N52 giants, kicking had been the only option.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
Hela exploded.
The dense power of Death condensed into a massive blade, easily fifty meters long.
Enraged, the Goddess of Death had finally broken through the bottleneck she'd been trapped in for ages. This was her Throne Weapon, a clear step closer to becoming the embodiment of the death principle itself!
With a wild swing—
"I'll show you what's a big deal!"
"I'll show you what's a big deal!"
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT'S A BIG DEAL!!!"
She slashed and hacked with reckless abandon.
The newly-formed fifty-meter blade danced like an extension of her arm, tearing at Lothar's flickering soul.
Each strike rendered his soul increasingly translucent.
These were attacks infused with the very rules of death. For a normal person, a single slash would be a death sentence.
But Lothar endured thirty of them, thanks to two decades of Titan-tech nutrient infusions fortifying his soul.
Titan black-tech, number one in the universe!
"Enough!"
Lothar's face darkened as he bellowed.
Sure, his soul had been fortified over the years, but even that had its limits.
Especially after burning himself with that power-up just now.
As he closed the distance, enduring one final strike, Lothar appeared right in front of Hela.
He lunged forward, his left arm clamping around her throat like lightning.
The two tangled figures plummeted from the sky and crashed into the ocean surface below.
SPLASH!
"You've only got one arm left, and you still think you can take me?!"
"Die already!"
The two rolled onto the beach, drenched.
Close quarters made her massive blade impractical. Hela dropped it and lunged with both arms, relying on the fact that she had one more arm than he did.
Using that edge, she pinned the clearly weakened Lothar beneath her.
She was just about to strike when a red tail suddenly wrapped around her neck.
Lothar seized the moment, flipped her over, and kneed upward, sending Hela flying.
And again, his knee hit her butt, as she'd just stood up to free herself from the tail.
"I'm settling everything with you today, old scores and new!!!"
Furious, Hela began listing every slight since the moment they met, starting with their rocky first encounter to her humiliation on Svartalfheim.
"You? Beat me? Not a chance."
"You've got another twenty thousand years before you're even close."
The two of them, soaked to the bone, rolled and grappled in the sand, locked in a chaotic brawl, venting every ounce of pent-up frustration.
Inside the Egyptian pyramid, three silent observers watched from a distance.
Thanos and Odin, fully armored, exchanged a long, uncomfortable look, silent sparks flying between them.
"Ahem... Regardless," said Agamotto, caught awkwardly between the two cosmic titans. He cleared his throat twice to ease the tension. "They passed the first trial quite nicely."
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