A proclamation, sharp and absolute.
Before the eyes of all Asgardians, the woman standing atop the Iron Dragon brandished her sword and issued a challenge, to her own father, Odin, the reigning King of Asgard and Sovereign of the Nine Realms.
It was a gamble. A decisive, all-in move.
As Odin's own flesh and blood, Hela had taken it upon herself to burn every bridge, leaving herself no retreat.
If Odin could once comfort himself with the thought that her past misdeeds were the folly of youth, Hela's declaration of rebellion now made it clear: there was no turning back.
He was the King. The King of Asgard.
No one challenged his authority in his realm.
Not even his own daughter.
The bustling realm of Asgard fell into dead silence. Hela's declaration had frozen all noise, as if time itself held its breath.
"No… Hela… no…"
Inside the royal hall, Queen Frigga had lost all of her usual grace and composure.
Her daughter's open defiance struck her like a sledgehammer, leaving her reeling.
No one knew Odin's pride better than Frigga.
"Hela, listen to me. Your father, he—"
"That's enough, Frigga."
Frigga, rising into the air in an attempt to ease the unbearable tension, was cut off by her husband's raised hand.
"I will handle this."
"You should return."
Odin's cold detachment sent a chill straight to her core.
"Odin…"
"I said… return."
"Now." His eyes, frigid and sharp as ice, fell upon her the moment she tried to speak again.
In that instant, it was as if Frigga had fallen into a frozen abyss.
"Damn it, what is she thinking?!"
Hidden among the crowd, Thor looked skyward, teeth clenched, at the sister who had raised her blade against their parents.
And when he saw her lift that blade toward both father and mother, his shock reached its breaking point.
"Thor!"
"Calm down!"
"Have you forgotten who your father is?!"
"This chaos won't harm Asgard. Your father remains one of the mightiest beings in the cosmos."
Rocket, gripping Thor's cape tightly, was terrified he might do something reckless.
Especially now, after all this time wallowing in disgrace, what could Thor possibly accomplish by rushing in?
He'd only get himself skewered by Hela before he even landed a blow.
Worse still, Tony Stark had once warned them: anything they did two thousand years in the past could cause a catastrophic disruption to the timeline.
It was a cardinal taboo.
A serious one.
"Now, get to the Rainbow Bridge and prepare the ambush. That's what we're here to do."
Ever dutiful, Rocket managed to push Thor's rising fury back down into the depths.
CLANG!
At that very moment, metal clashing in the sky signaled the outbreak of rebellion.
Hela struck first.
From atop the Iron Dragon, she unleashed the very power Odin once bestowed upon her, against him.
The roar of war echoed like thunder, splitting the heavens above Asgard in an instant.
SWOOSH!
Odin, his white robes billowing in the wind, made no move to don his armor. He simply raised his hand, and hurled Gungnir, the Spear of Heaven.
"Odin!"
"She's your daughter!!!"
"You can't—!"
Frigga, blocked by Odin, screamed in horror.
The Spear of Heaven's reputation resounded across the Nine Realms. Known for its unerring aim and forged from the branches of Yggdrasil itself, it was a weapon of awe and dread.
From the moment of its forging, every strike had drawn blood.
"That's exactly why I must hold her accountable for what she's become."
Odin's face was devoid of emotion as he watched his daughter engage the Spear of Heaven.
With a sweep of his arm, a terrifying force erupted beneath Hela's troops.
Without warning, an explosion of raw energy engulfed her entire army; Kiel Marza and the rest swallowed whole in utter silence.
"Is that so? Well, I think you may be mistaken."
The dense aura of death coiled around Hela's hands, coalescing into a pitch-black beam that surged straight for the Spear of Heaven.
"What gives you such confidence, Hela? What makes you think you can defeat me?"
The brilliance of the spear didn't dim in the face of death's embrace. The tip, gleaming with lethal sharpness, pierced the darkness, and shot through Hela's right arm in a flash.
Flesh burst open. Nerves screamed. But Hela seemed unfazed, charging directly toward where Odin stood.
"It's hope! That's what drives me!"
A cry of rage burst from her lips as a blade tens of meters long reflected the rising sun's chill gleam.
Fury etched across her face, she bore the look of one consumed by madness.
"Hope for Asgard's future! Hope that you, father, can return to who you once were!"
CLANG!
Her massive blade crashed against the self-defending Spear of Heaven, and for the first time, its unyielding edge chipped, a visible crack blooming across it.
"I've never forgotten what you taught me."
"When I was little… every mistake I made, you corrected me… harshly. You cared for me."
"So now…"
Rather than retreating after her blade shattered, Hela surged forward. Her body, wrapped in black armor, moved with perfect precision, springing from airborne debris, she landed before Odin.
CRACK!
A bare-knuckle punch, raw, unrefined, and true.
Blood trickled from the scratches on her skin, but she didn't seem to feel pain. Her fist landed cleanly across Odin's face.
"I will awaken you... my way."
The whispered words, carried by blood, lodged deep in Odin's heart, leaving a scar that could not fade.
"Father."
The pitch-black god-force of death flared at her fingertips. The fallen Asgardian warriors, slain by Odin's first blow, poured their power into Hela.
Weapons filled the sky, dense as a storm cloud, blotting out the sun. That surge of strength restored her near-drained body.
Then, without hesitation, it all hurtled toward Odin.
"Take it, then, this trivial concern of mine."
BOOM!!!!!!!
The death ray burst from her fingers with cataclysmic force. Odin, just an arm's length away, was blasted into the storm of weapons that had darkened the sky.
SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!!!!
Blades rained without mercy, impaling the unarmored Odin in mid-air.
In the blink of an eye, ten thousand blades pierced his body.
"No!!!!"
"Odin!!!!!"
Frigga, bearing the title of the wisest sorceress of the Vanir, instantly began casting a spell as she watched her husband fall beneath a tide of steel.
"You shouldn't have done that, Mother."
Hela's crimson eyes mirrored the madness once seen when she was possessed by the Mind Stone. In a blink, she appeared behind Frigga.
Her words were as cold as the blade she swung.
"No!"
CRACK!
A thunderous roar shook the skies above Asgard.
In a shadowed corner, unseen by Hela, lightning flashed in Thor's eyes as he gripped Mjolnir, the war hammer that had found its way into his hand.
In the next instant, he hurled it, summoning the wrath of the storm itself!
"Thor!!! Are you out of your mind?!!!"
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