Thor, lying shattered on the cold stone, his life force ebbing, was on the verge of death. It was in this final, desperate act of selfless sacrifice that he had finally fulfilled the condition of the enchantment and gained the approval of Mjolnir.
Far away, resting innocently at the end of the Bifrost Bridge, the great hammer stirred. It did not merely move; it flew.
With a low, rumbling sonic boom that only the most sensitive ears in Asgard could detect, Mjolnir soared across the palace, a blur of Uru metal and raw thunder, tearing through the corridors, seeking its one true master.
The Frost Giant, towering over Thor, raised its icy club for the finishing blow.
BAM!
Mjolnir arrived a millisecond before the club descended, striking the Frost Giant in the head with the accumulated force of its speed and the awakening of its divine will. The giant was vaporized in a flash of blue light and steam.
The hammer then performed a graceful, impossible arc, landing with a comforting thud, not on the ground, but directly in Thor's hand.
A blinding, cascading surge of pure divine lightning erupted from the hammer into Thor's broken form. Sif and the others noticed the flash of light and the subsequent rush of power, and seeing Thor 'resurrect' and catch Mjolnir, they breathed a collective, relieved gasp.
"I knew it!" roared Volstagg, tears mixing with sweat.
"Thunder God Thor is coming back, ha ha!" Fandral cheered, immediately renewed with fighting spirit.
The power of thunder did not just return to Thor's body; it flowed through him like a roaring river, knitting fractured bones back together, sealing wounds, and restoring his vitality in an instant.
Thor, fully charged and revived to full health, rose to his feet, glowing with crackling electricity. His blue eyes, previously haunted by humility, now burned with righteous, purposeful fire.
The remaining Frost Giants in the corridor immediately turned their attention to the transformed warrior. With a single, mighty swing of the hammer, Thor unleashed a focused Heavenly Thunderbolt.
A storm of lightning ripped through the corridor, reducing the giants to mounds of shimmering, inert blue ice shards.
Thor did not pause. He looked at his exhausted friends and issued a command that was now the voice of a true King:
"You four, go eliminate the invading Frost Giants, secure the perimeter, and reinforce the guards at important locations." He pointed the head of Mjolnir toward the center of the palace. "I'm going to save Father!"
With a mighty roar, Thor swung his hammer and was carried away by it, rocketing toward Odin's chamber in a streaking pillar of light.
Inside the Royal Chambers, the immense carved doors lay shattered. Odin's elite guards had already been eliminated by Laufey and the small, elite squad of Frost Giants he had brought with him.
Laufey looked down at Odin, who lay motionless in his Odinsleep, feeling an immense, primal satisfaction. His old rival of so many millennia, the one who had taken his son and humiliated his race, was now about to die by his own hand. Then, Asgard would be his. He would become the supreme King of the Gods, uniting the Nine Realms under the cold banner of Jotunheim!
Frigga, though a powerful sorceress, was a defensive fighter and could not stop the King of the Frost Giants from reaching the bedside.
"The one who ends your reign and kills you is the King of the Frost Giants, Laufey!" the giant king snarled, raising a massive, crystalline ice sword high above Odin's chest.
Just as Laufey was about to make his move, a brilliant beam of emerald energy sliced across the room. Loki had arrived in time.
Gungnir, the golden spear in Loki's hand, fired a focused energy beam. Laufey, immersed in his joy and certain of his victory—and forgetting the partner who had helped him infiltrate—had let his guard down entirely. He hadn't expected to be ambushed by his own son.
The beam struck Laufey in the back, throwing him violently across the room, leaving a burning trail in his thick blue skin. Laufey, dazed, looked at Loki in front of him, his mind reeling.
We agreed to team up and eliminate Odin, didn't we? We are partners, aren't we? And… we are also father and son!
Before Laufey could figure it out, Gungnir in Loki's hand gathered a massive surge of energy, crackling with Odin's ancient power—clearly intended to be a fatal blow. Loki was not acting on a whim; this was the premeditated, crowning moment of his scheme.
Laufey was utterly perplexed, but he had no time to process the betrayal. Under the immense, concentrated power of Gungnir, the King of the Frost Giants was instantly killed with one strike, reduced to a pile of smoking, crystalline shards.
Loki quickly checked on Frigga. Although he knew his true identity, his respect for the woman who raised him, who had shown him nothing but affection, remained his last anchor.
"Loki..." Frigga whispered, shocked, standing over Odin's slumbering form.
Loki immediately launched into his fabricated narrative, his voice ringing with false righteousness. "Mother, I arrived late. I didn't expect the Frost Giants to find a way to infiltrate Asgard, giving them an opportunity. But I have saved the Allfather!"
He grasped Gungnir tighter, his eyes wild with zealotry. "This attack proves we can never be safe. This time, I will activate the Bifrost Bridge to completely destroy Jotunheim. This way, we can eliminate future troubles forever, and all other Planets will revere us! It is the only way to secure peace!"
Frigga, a woman of deep wisdom and peace, was horrified. Loki's actions had exceeded even her fears.
"No, Loki, you cannot do this!" she pleaded. "If you do this, it will cause apprehension and dissatisfaction among other Planets. Your Father will not allow you to commit genocide!"
Loki, however, was past reason. He spoke with the conviction of a mad zealot. "I will not let anyone harm you or Father! No matter who it is, no one! I will secure this realm, even if it means acting decisively!"
Just as Loki finished his fervent, desperate defense, Thor arrived, carried by Mjolnir, bursting through the chamber wall.
Thor heard the last of Loki's pronouncements and saw the dead body of Laufey—and suddenly, the tangled web of his brother's betrayal snapped into place.
"Loki! I promised you that I would announce my abdication of the throne! You don't need to do this!" Thor thundered, his voice heavy with disappointment. "Your ambition has blinded you to the monstrous act you plan!"
Loki, now bordering on irreversible madness, faced his brother. With the plan at this final, destructive stage, no one could stop him. He would not stop now.
"Thor, in just a few days, you've become timid and weak!" Loki mocked, his lip curling in contempt. "You preach peace, but I act! I will prove to Father that I am more excellent than you, and I am worthy of this throne—not as a warrior, but as a King who is willing to do what is necessary!"
Frigga still wanted to stop him, but Loki, driven by a desperate need for validation, was already moving. He vanished in a shimmer of green light, teleporting directly to the Bifrost Bridge.
Thor had no time to linger. "Mother, take care of Father and the palace. I will stop Loki!"
Frigga, her face etched with profound worry, could only nod, tears streaming down her face. "Go, my son! Stop him!"
The two brothers flew, Mjolnir carrying Thor toward the Bifrost Bridge, where the final confrontation awaited.
Loki, having gone ahead, arrived first at the Bifrost controls. The Bifrost Bridge, the glorious symbol of Asgard's unity, was now to be twisted into a weapon of galactic destruction. As long as Gungnir was inserted and the energy channelled, the immense, focused energy stream would be enough to destroy an entire planet.
However, when Loki arrived, he found the colossal ice sculpture of Heimdall gone. The gatekeeper was standing beside the controls, already partially recovered, and beside Heimdall stood someone he intensely disliked: Su Yi.
Su Yi, using his high-level dimensional teleportation skill, had arrived almost instantly after Thor left Midgard. His first act was to release the frozen gatekeeper, knowing Heimdall's loyalty was the only certain defense. Heimdall, though weakened, was now alert and active.
Loki stared at the mortal, his rage boiling over. "Mortal! Why are you here?! You defy my clemency!"
Su Yi replied with casual ease, stepping forward. "Of course, I teleported here, Loki. I'm here to stop you. I know your plan. To use the Bifrost Bridge to destroy Jotunheim, and perhaps even destroy my Planet, just to prove a point."
Su Yi looked past Loki to the silent, frozen gears of the Bifrost. "Therefore, I must stop you, before you trigger a war that encompasses all Nine Realms."
Loki was exposed, but he didn't panic; instead, he laughed—a harsh, manic sound devoid of humor. "You're right! Your Planet must also be destroyed! Because you insulted a God!"
Loki roared, and Gungnir in his hand immediately fired a colossal beam of concentrated energy. Gungnir truly lived up to its reputation as Odin's weapon; the energy it emitted was infused with the Allfather's immense, celestial power and was incredibly formidable. It was incomparable to the weak blasts from Loki's previous staff.
Su Yi did not dare to underestimate it, rapidly summoning a barrier. The Energy Barrier shattered instantly on contact, and Su Yi's body took the residual damage head-on. He slid back across the metal floor, leaving scorch marks. Fortunately, Loki had not fully mastered Gungnir and could not unleash its full, lethal power. If Odin himself had come, Su Yi certainly wouldn't have been able to block that shot.
Just as Loki raised the spear for a second strike, Thor flew in, swinging Mjolnir with full divine strength, blocking Loki's line of fire.
"Loki, enough!" Thor's voice boomed, amplified by the thunder.
Loki was already insane; with the plan at this stage, how could he stop? Even with Thor's divine power restored, Loki would not back down.
"You two cannot stop me either!"
Gungnir's power gathered, now charged to a level that threatened the entire bridge's structure, aiming at Su Yi and Thor simultaneously.
The two heroes were forced to act together. Thor met the blast with a counter-blast of concentrated lightning from Mjolnir, while Su Yi threw up a second, reinforced Energy Barrier. The collision of immense, concentrated energy caused a blinding, deafening explosion.
The powerful blast pushed back all three of them. Loki staggered, but the distraction was all he needed. He rushed past the two stunned heroes, ignoring the pain.
Loki no longer cared about anything else. He plunged the butt of Gungnir into the Bifrost activator, ready to begin his planetary destruction.
Su Yi knew time had run out. His Planet was seconds away from being targeted. He instantly used his dimensional ability, disappearing and reappearing directly in front of the Bifrost controls.
One hand shot out, clutching Loki's throat, while the other grabbed Gungnir just before Loki could engage the power.
As Odin's weapon, the powerful spear was filled with the Allfather's ancient will. This power was incomparably strong, and it transferred instantly to Su Yi's hand and arm, searing his flesh and intending to destroy him for his presumption. After all, Su Yi was not qualified to wield Gungnir.
Su Yi held on, enduring the burning pain, his will overpowering the weapon's enchantment for mere seconds. He ripped the spear out of the activator's socket and discarded Gungnir to the side.
Loki, choked by Su Yi, struggled fiercely. Taking advantage of Su Yi being temporarily corroded and paralyzed by Gungnir's explosive surge of power, he broke free and staggered back, gasping.
"Despicable mortal! This time, you must die! I will do this for Asgard!" Loki screamed, pulling a dagger from his sleeve, his face a mask of insane fury.
Su Yi looked at the mad, pathetic figure before him. The moment of diplomacy was over. All patience was exhausted.
He slapped Loki hard across the face.
The sound echoed off the metal bridge walls like a cannon shot. Loki stumbled, his dagger falling from his numb fingers.
"Are you taking advantage of my kindness, huh?!" Su Yi's voice was sharp, low, and filled with a rare, controlled fury. "You think you're great because you're the son of the King of the Gods, huh?!"
Thor and Heimdall watched in stunned silence.
"Without Odin, what are you still?!" Su Yi continued, his voice rising with every accusation. "God of Mischief? Insignificant tricks? Utterly foolish!"
Su Yi vented his frustration in a flurry of humiliating physical blows. Several consecutive, stinging slaps were followed by a series of heavy, precise punches that directly targeted Loki's armor, denting the celestial metal but leaving his body intact. The final blow sent Loki spinning across the floor, until he crashed, unconscious, against the wall of the Bifrost control room.
After venting his frustration, Su Yi finally calmed down, shaking out his stinging hand.
"That felt good," he muttered, catching his breath. "No wonder Superman doesn't have fighting skills; turns out, when your strength is immense, you really don't need any skills!"