"According to the information we've received from Earth, Hela has returned," said an old man with crimson hair in a composed tone, calmly analyzing the reactions of everyone seated in the grand hall.
"And so what?" responded a bald man, his tone casual—though perhaps he was simply jealous of the other man's glorious red mane.
The red-haired elder didn't even need to answer, because a woman's sharp voice cut through the tension first. "Watch your tongue, Hades. If not for the All-Father's grace, you wouldn't even be allowed to sit at this table."
The woman who spoke also had vibrant red hair, as though she could have been the sister of the first speaker—but in truth, she was his wife.
Hades, for a moment, seemed like he wanted to retort. But when he saw Hera's expression—stern, cruel, and merciless—he kept his mouth shut.
You could provoke almost anyone in Olympus… anyone except Hera. Even Zeus himself didn't dare challenge her openly.
The room fell silent once again. Whether it was Athena, seated with a thoughtful expression, or Ares, who had been visibly excited at first, thinking that a fight might happen, or even Hercules, who looked like he had been about to interject—each of them held back the moment they saw Hera's gaze sweep over them.
They waited in silence, eyes subtly turning to Zeus, expecting him to speak.
After all, the very fact that the Council had been summoned—and that even Hades, who had recently attempted to seize Olympus's throne, had been allowed to attend—meant this matter was far more serious than the mere return of Hela. Still, it clearly had something to do with her, since she was the one who'd been mentioned first.
Zeus didn't waste time with speeches. Instead, he raised one hand and projected the recordings he had personally reviewed before calling the meeting.
The footage began from the moment Hela possessed Jean Grey's body and confronted Odin in front of the world. Yet rather than respond with violence, Odin simply left—without even attempting to fight after speaking harsh words. Ares scoffed at the sight, unable to hold back his disdain.
"Since when did Odin become such a coward? She provoked him in front of everyone, and he just let her walk away like that?"
Surprisingly, Hades found himself agreeing with the brute. "She thinks she can just walk away with those humans like it's nothing. Who does she think she is? No wonder Mephisto tried to contact me earlier—I ignored him because I was occupied, but now I understand why he seemed so agitated."
Athena, wearing her signature helmet adorned with a red crest like Ares', studied the recording carefully and spoke in her usual analytical tone. "Perhaps Mephisto and his minions attacked her without Odin's permission… and maybe they succeeded. That could trigger a conflict—possibly even a war—between Asgard and the various Lords of Hell."
Her reasoning seemed plausible. After all, Hela, while extremely powerful, could still be overwhelmed if two or more beings of similar strength attacked her at once.
Furthermore, her mere return was a threat to every faction that had profited during her absence. While she had been imprisoned for over 2,000 years, the others had been collecting souls and amassing power freely.
And now, she had returned—powerful, furious, and already claiming victories.
"And if I may add," Hermes interjected from the corner, "I don't believe she's even truly free. It's not her original body. She's merely possessed a mutant girl."
This back-and-forth began to irritate Zeus, who knew far more than all of them combined. He didn't hide his frustration. "Will you all shut up and just watch?" he snapped. "Besides, the person she possessed isn't just any mutant. She's the future host of the Phoenix Force."
That silenced the entire room.
Like Odin, Zeus had his own ways of glimpsing into the future—though limited, they were accurate enough.
He knew that Jean Grey was destined to become the host of one of the most powerful cosmic forces in existence: the Phoenix.
Everyone present knew what that meant. The Phoenix Force, even when only partially mastered, could rival the power of gods like Zeus.
And if it were fully mastered—as it was in the legends—it could create or destroy entire universes as easily as breathing.
If Hela ever managed to come into contact with the Phoenix Force...
The thought alone was enough to make the gods uneasy. No one dared say it out loud, but the fear was palpable.
Hela, the goddess of death, merged with the embodiment of cosmic rebirth and destruction? That would be a nightmare beyond reckoning.
Even the most prideful gods in Olympus didn't want to imagine what such a fusion would look like. Not because they couldn't fight her—but because they weren't sure they could win.
Zeus was pleased by their reaction—it was exactly what he wanted from them. It seemed that after years of seclusion, they truly were feeling safe and detached from the dangers of the outside world. Ironic, considering he himself was known as the king of debauchery.
The projection completely shifted once Hela finished her message. After all, it was Zeus who was projecting what he had seen himself, and naturally, he skipped directly to the event that occurred seven days after Hela's appearance—the massive gathering of millions of humans.
At that very moment in the vision, a spatial rift tore open before the Garden of Hel emerged.
"Incredible… how is this even possible?" Athena asked aloud.
What they witnessed was space itself being split cleanly in two—no signs of magical incantation or external device—just pure spatial manipulation, as if someone were commanding the laws of reality themselves.
Then, in Zeus's projection, Hela's own projection appeared outside her Garden of Hel. Athena, who had been puzzled and deep in thought about how Hela had achieved such feats, immediately rose from her seat. "Impossible… is that one of the Infinity Stones… attached to her throne?"
She recognized it instantly. At that moment, none of them even paused to question why Hela wasn't using the future host body of the Phoenix Force, nor how she had managed to escape her imprisonment. Their attention was completely consumed by what they saw: the Space Stone.
"It is indeed the Space Stone," Zeus confirmed solemnly. "Fully possessed and perfectly mastered by Hela—without side effects or instability of any kind."
"But that's not all. Keep watching."
The projection continued. Soon, several of the Hell-Lords appeared. The group watched their brief interaction before Hela invited them into her grand castle.
Ares couldn't help but feel a bit of regret for missing such an epic battle. Still, he was intrigued by how it all would end. After all, with the Space Stone in her hands, Hela could have easily escaped if things turned south—but deep down, he doubted she was the type to run away.
"Pfft! Hahaha! So everything he said was nonsense? Is he really that weak?" Ares burst into laughter, mocking Blackheart. The latter had been the loudest and most boastful of the Hell-Lords, but as it turned out, he was just a weakling in disguise.
As they continued watching, something strange became apparent. Even without using the Space Stone, Hela held her own effortlessly against the Hell-Lords. Not only that—she seemed to grow stronger with every second of the battle.
Eventually, she reduced Mephisto—who was supposed to be at least on par with Hades himself—to the equivalent of an adult struggling against a child. The humiliation was clear. Hela wasn't just powerful; she was overwhelming.
No one spoke again until the projection came to an end. Hela had returned to her kingdom, accompanied by a massive group of humans and mutants—beings with exceptional potential, some of whom could potentially rival the gods themselves.
When it was finally over, Zeus turned and spoke, his voice heavy with thought. "As you all saw, she made it clear—only one Hell shall exist in this universe. She's already captured most of the Hell-Lords, which means a direct conflict between her and us is inevitable."
He said this while looking directly in Hades's direction. The god of the underworld didn't look the least bit concerned.
"Let her come," Hades replied coldly. "She'll find that I don't bend like the others."
But sadly, no one took his bluff seriously anymore. If the Hela shown in that vision were to confront Hades right now, he probably wouldn't last even ten seconds.
....
Updating for four days in a row, I can officially say I'm back this time, plus give me some Power Stones to cheer me because I kinda feel like it seems that most no longer care about it, I have only received 40Power Stones from yesterday to now and honestly, it's discouraging