Asgard, Deep Underground.
This was the darkest, most forbidden place in the Realm Eternal.
Odin, holding Gungnir, stood silently before a stone gate covered in sealing runes.
Behind him, Queen Frigga clasped her hands tightly, her face pale.
"Let us begin."
Odin's voice carried no emotion.
He raised Gungnir and thrust it violently into the core of the magic circle on the ground.
Rumble, rumble—!
All of Asgard trembled violently with this strike.
The forbidden gate, sealed for thousands of years, slowly cracked and opened amidst an endless green glow.
A gust of decaying, cold wind, filled with the breath of death, instantly howled out from the void behind the door.
Immediately after.
Click, click, click.
The sound of high heels striking the ground was particularly piercing in the silent dungeon.
A figure slowly walked out from the darkness.
It was a woman.
Although her clothes were tattered and her hair messy.
The innate arrogance and domineering aura radiating from her pressed down on people like a physical weight, making it hard to breathe.
Hela, the Goddess of Death.
"Phew..."
Hela walked out of the doorway and took a deep breath, as if tasting the flavor of freedom in the air.
She stretched lazily, a movement that was languid yet lethally dangerous.
"Thousands of years..."
"This smell of rot really hasn't changed a bit, Asgard."
Hela slowly opened her eyes.
Those eyes, full of ambition and slaughter, immediately swept over the two people in front of her.
"Long time no see."
"My dear Father..."
Hela's gaze landed on Odin's aged face, a sneer of utmost sarcasm curling her lips.
"You look like you're old enough to crawl into a coffin."
Then, she glanced at Frigga beside him.
"And you, this useless woman, are actually still alive?"
"Hela..." Frigga trembled, subconsciously covering her mouth, her eyes full of fear and sadness.
That pure pressure of death radiating from Hela...
Even as the Queen of Gods, she felt suffocated.
"Enough."
Odin interrupted her in a deep voice.
He handed Gungnir to the Queen and tightened his grip on the World-Ender Greatsword, a cold light flickering in his single eye.
"Sealing you for so long was a last resort."
"Last resort?"
Hela laughed shrilly, as if hearing the biggest joke in the world.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Stop being so hypocritical, old man."
"Are you going to start your lecture about peace and benevolent kings again?"
Hela raised her hand, making a grasping motion.
"Unfortunately, I'm not interested in your nonsense."
"What I'm interested in is..."
Hum—!
With Hela's movement, the leylines of all Asgard seemed to respond to her summons.
Endless divine power flooded into her body like a tide.
Her tattered clothes vanished instantly.
Replaced by a dark green skintight battle armor.
And that hideous black headdress, like antlers, symbolizing the authority of death.
Her hair was slicked back, transforming into the image of the Valkyrie slayer that terrified the Nine Realms.
"Power!"
"This endless power!"
Hela intoxicatingly felt the divine power surging within her.
In Asgard, she was invincible!
With elegant and dangerous steps, she approached Odin step by step.
"Father, you locked me up for so long, and now you dare to let me out?"
Black light flashed in Hela's hand, a Necrosword condensing out of thin air, its tip pointing straight at Odin's throat.
"Haven't you considered..."
"How miserable your death will be?"
Facing Hela's death threat.
Odin did not retreat half a step.
He just quietly looked at the daughter who once made him proud and later made him fearful.
Then, he slammed the [Core of Asgard · World-Ender Greatsword] in his hand heavily onto the ground.
BOOM!!!
A pressure even more violent and terrifying than Hela's, seemingly containing the weight of nine worlds, exploded instantly!
The strength of this pressure actually forced Hela back half a step!
Hela's pupils contracted violently.
She stared dead at the sword in Odin's hand, and the Destroyer armor radiating blue divine fire.
"This is..."
Hela's expression changed.
She could feel that the power contained in those two items was enough to pose a fatal threat to her!
"You old undying thing, you were hiding such good stuff?"
Hela gritted her teeth, the killing intent in her eyes receding slightly, replaced by deep wariness.
"Hela."
Odin's voice was old and tired, but revealed a resolve.
"Do you think if it were just for playing house games like fighting for the throne, I would break the seal and let you out?"
"The reason I let you out is because..."
Odin looked up at the distant starry sky.
"The Nine Realms are about to face a disaster ten thousand times more terrifying than Ragnarok."
"Disaster?"
Hela scoffed disdainfully, twirling the Necrosword in her hand.
"What disaster? That trash Surtur the Fire Giant? or that garbage heap of Frost Giants?"
"Or is it..." Hela looked amused, "You're afraid of death, so you want me to fight your wars for you?"
"None of my business!"
Hela shouted loudly.
"I just want to kill you and sit on that throne! If Asgard is destroyed, fine, I can build a new one!"
"Foolish!"
Odin roared suddenly, his voice like thunder.
"Who do you think we are facing?!"
"It's a monster called Frieza!"
"He crushed your brother Thor's head with one hand! He erased Midgard's moon with a casual strike! He even turned Xandar into his colony!"
Speaking of Thor's death, Odin's voice trembled.
Hela paused.
"Thor? That kid who played with my hammer is dead?"
Although she didn't like that brother, hearing that a god was crushed like a bug...
Her brow still furrowed.
"With my current strength."
Odin stroked the World-Ender Greatsword in his hand, his tone chilling.
"Even if you stand on Asgardian soil now, possessing infinite divine power."
"I can still use this sword to execute you!"
"But..."
Odin changed the subject, a deep sense of powerlessness in his tone.
"It would be meaningless."
"Because that man's strength is far stronger than you imagine, even stronger than me in my prime!"
"If we continue to infight here, then what awaits Asgard is only utter annihilation!"
"Annihilation where we aren't even qualified to be slaves, but are directly erased!"
Odin stared dead at Hela, extending a hand to her.
"Now, my daughter."
"Your best choice is to temporarily put aside your ambition and join forces with your Father."
"Gather all our strength and fight that monster to the death!"
"Only then might Asgard, and the entire Nine Realms, have a sliver of a chance!"
The dungeon fell into a deathly silence.
Hela didn't speak.
She just narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the father before her who was once insufferably arrogant but now wore a look of despair.
She was judging if Odin was lying.
But those two artifacts emitting world-destroying auras.
And the grief of losing a son, so intense it couldn't be dissolved, in Odin's eyes, told her...
It was true.
"Interesting..."
After a long while, Hela suddenly smiled.
That smile was bewitching and bloodthirsty.
"It seems this guy called Frieza is really strong."
"Otherwise, he wouldn't force a stubborn old man like you to ask for help from a prisoner like me."
The sword in Hela's hand slowly dissipated.
She adjusted the crown on her head, resuming her queenly arrogance.
"Alright, old thing."
"I accept your proposal."
"After all, Asgard is my thing. I won't allow any outsider to damage my property."
Hela walked up to Odin, their gazes colliding in the air, sparks flying.
"However, let me make myself clear first."
Hela extended a finger and poked Odin's hard chest plate.
"That Frieza, whatever he is, I will kill him with my own hands."
"But..."
Hela leaned into Odin's ear, her voice like a viper flicking its tongue.
"After that monster is dead."
"You better obediently hand over the crown."
"Otherwise, I don't want to waste energy chopping off your dog head after chopping up outsiders!"