On the permafrost of Jotunheim, blizzards swept by, carrying ice crystals.
Thor's red cloak fluttered in the cold wind, and Mjölnir blazed with blinding lightning in his hands.
Splash…
Another wave of frost giants surged from the glacier fissures, their blue-green skin sheathed in thick ice armor, their eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty, icy light.
"For Asgard!"
BOOM!
Thor roared and swung Mjölnir, unleashing a bolt of lightning that split the snow and blasted the dozen or so frost giants at the front of the charge into shards of ice.
His boots shattered the frozen ground with every step, each strike echoing like thunder.
Loki prowled the edge of the battlefield, hurling beams of emerald-green energy from his hands.
"Brother, to the left!"
He shouted a warning, transmuting a frost giant that had attempted a sneak attack into a puddle of mud.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sif's golden longsword carved a perfect arc, cleaving an ice sculpture in two.
"Hahaha! Now that's what you call a fight!"
Volstagg brandished his double-bladed battle-axe, veins bulging in his thick arms.
BOOM!
With one stroke, he smashed through a frost giant's ice shield; with the other, he severed its head.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hogan and Fandral stood back to back, their weapons gleaming in the frigid light, weaving a deadly web.
Yet the frost giants seemed endless. For every group that fell, more emerged from the glacier.
Thor's breath misted in the icy air, and he felt Mjölnir's weight grow strange—Jotunheim's extreme cold was dampening the hammer's power.
"Thor!"
Sif cried out as her sword jammed between the ice spears of three giants. Thor hurled Mjölnir instantly, shattering the spears.
BANG!
But that moment of distraction left his back exposed, and a giant's ice blade gouged a deep crack in his shoulder armor.
Loki swiftly stepped in, conjuring dozens of illusory clones from his scepter to confuse the enemy.
"We have to retreat, brother! They're wearing us down!"
He rarely showed such urgency.
Just as Thor opened his mouth to reply, the ground trembled violently. A distant glacier collapsed with a deafening roar, and from the ice burst dozens of frost monsters—each twice the height of an ordinary giant.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
They bore mammoth-like tusks and six arms, each wielding a different ice weapon, charging like a tidal wave.
Seeing this, Thor made a split-second decision. He looked up at the sky and shouted:
"Heimdall! Open the Bifröst!"
Then he turned to his companions:
"I'll cover the rear—go first!"
"Absolutely not! Asgardians do not abandon their comrades!"
Volstagg cleaved the giant before him with his axe and roared back.
BOOM…
The first wave of frost monsters crashed upon them. Thor raised Mjölnir to summon thunder, but only a faint rumble answered across Jotunheim's sky.
BANG!
Gritting his teeth, Thor met the attack head-on. Mjölnir clashed with the monster's ice axe, and the shockwave shattered the ice surface for a hundred meters in every direction.
By this time, Sif's golden hair was covered in frost. Her swordsmanship remained sharp, but her speed had clearly diminished.
"Boom!"
Hogan swung his meteor hammer, smashing the knee of a frost monster—but was pierced in the thigh by an ice spear from the creature's other arm.
"Ugh—!"
He cried out in pain, dropped to one knee, and his blood instantly froze into crimson ice crystals in the frigid air.
Worst of all was Volstagg. A monster suddenly opened its blood-red maw, its jagged, icy teeth sinking into his left arm.
"Pfft—!"
Even with an Asgardian's constitution, the extreme cold and paralyzing toxin spread rapidly—his arm turned bluish-purple almost instantly.
"Get out of here! Now—!!"
Thor roared and swung Mjǫlnir in a wide arc, pulverizing the monster's head as it bit into Volstagg.
He hoisted his wounded comrade to his feet, and Loki immediately conjured an illusion—a thick smoke barrier swirling around them. But a voice colder than a blizzard cut through the chaos:
"Son of Odin… do you truly believe you can come and go as you please in my kingdom?"
Atop the glacier's summit, Laufey emerged.
He stood half a head taller than the other frost giants, with crown-like ice crystals adorning his brow and eyes that burned like twin stars brimming with destructive power. His very presence dropped the surrounding temperature by tens of degrees.
Thor shoved Volstagg toward Loki and shouted:
"Brother—take them and go!"
Alone, Thor turned to face Laufey, Mjǫlnir raised once more.
But Laufey merely lifted a hand—and an ice wall erupted from the ground, cutting Thor off from the others.
"Kneel. Submit to me… and perhaps you'll be granted a sliver of hope."
Laufey's voice dripped with biting sarcasm.
"Keep dreaming!!"
Thor leapt forward to attack—but Laufey struck him down with a single backhanded blow, sending him hurtling kilometers through the air.
"Boom—!!"
The Frost King's power surged through Thor's breastplate, and frost spread instantly across his armor. His limbs began to numb, and Mjǫlnir slipped from his stiffening fingers.
Two frost giants dragged Thor—frozen solid except for his head—to Laufey's feet.
"Prince of Asgard," Laufey sneered, "it seems your strength doesn't match your bravado. Have you chosen your last words?"
He raised his foot, poised to crush Thor's skull.
But in that moment—the sky split open.
"Boom—!!"
A blinding beam of light, over a hundred meters wide, tore through the gloomy heavens, instantly vaporizing every frost giant and monster in its path.
Laufey staggered back, shielding his eyes from the searing radiance.
From within the luminous pillar descended Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged celestial steed. Astride him sat the one-eyed Allfather, Gungnir in hand, his golden armor blazing like a second sun.
"Odin—!!"
Laufey spat the name like a curse, venom thick in his voice.
"Bang! Bang! Bang—!!"
With a casual flick of Gungnir, Odin sent Laufey flying hundreds of meters—shattering glaciers in his wake until he finally came to a halt.
"Odin! You've broken our treaty! Is this your declaration of war?!"
Laufey burst from the ice, hovering midair, his fury crackling like a storm.
"Laufey," Odin replied calmly, "Asgard's desire for peace has never wavered. This was but a childish transgression—and I will discipline them accordingly."
"But if you wish to call it an invasion… if you seek the spark of war… then so be it."
"I shall await your declaration in Asgard."
Without so much as a glance at the Frost Giant, Odin raised the Spear of Eternity. A golden arc blazed through the air, and the shimmering light of the Bifröst enveloped all the Asgardians.
"Boom—!!"
When the radiance faded, only the corpses of countless frost gian
ts—and a seething, solitary Laufey—remained on the frozen wasteland.
The blizzard howled across Jötunheim, swiftly burying all traces of the battle that had just raged.
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