"When... did he wake up? How did I not notice?" Thor asked in surprise, glancing toward where Loki had been. He realized what had just happened but was puzzled by how he hadn't noticed Loki's awakening. While on Earth, Thor had sensed Loki's true form when he used an illusion against Ebony Maw, but just now, he hadn't detected anything unusual about Loki. This indicated that Thor still had room for improvement in his abilities.
"When you get old, your eyes may not see as clearly, but some things become much clearer in your heart." Odin smiled and shook his head gently, speaking softly to Thor. "Of course, if you inherit the throne of Asgard, with your current age, you should be able to see things more clearly. And when you fully transform the Odinforce into Thorforce, your strength will be enough to deal with that Saiyan..."
"So the method you mentioned to the Saiyan for unlocking potential was to inherit the throne?" Thor frowned and hesitated as he looked at Odin. "Does that mean your end is near?"
"Not yet, I can hold on a bit longer..." Odin sighed softly, speaking in a low voice. "Asgard can only have one king, and as long as I'm alive, you cannot become the King of Asgard. You know that. And if I were to truly die now, it would be disastrous for Asgard!"
"Hmm? What do you mean? Does Asgard have other enemies?" Thor was taken aback, looking deeply at Odin. In the past, Thor wouldn't have understood the deeper meaning behind Odin's words, but now he quickly realized that Odin was hiding a significant secret.
"Enemies? Yes, you could say she's an enemy! At the very least, she won't be your friend…" Odin fell silent for a moment before finally nodding and speaking. "If I die, she will emerge and find a way to return to Asgard. If you haven't inherited the throne by then, you might be safe. But if you have, she will undoubtedly kill you and seize the throne!"
"She? A woman? How could I not know of another goddess in Asgard? Could it be one of the Valkyries from the stories I heard as a child? Or perhaps an old rival of yours?" Thor's expression turned serious as he realized that Odin's mentioned enemy wasn't just anyone—it was likely someone closely tied to the Asgardian royal family.
While many beings in Asgard could be called gods, not all of them were part of the royal family. Some nobles could also be considered gods, but they were mid-tier and couldn't gain the recognition of Asgard's primordial power to become King. Only those of the royal lineage, acknowledged by Asgard's primordial power, could vie for the throne. Notably, even though Loki was adopted, he was considered part of the Asgardian royal family once he was granted the title of god.
This was why, even though it was widely known that Loki was a Frost Giant, he was still accepted as a prince of Asgard. Bloodline wasn't the most crucial factor; it was the pure divine power that mattered most.
It was because of this divine power that Loki could wield artifacts like the Eternal Spear and the Space Stone without any difficulty, not due to his Frost Giant heritage.
"She's not my rival; she's yours. Or rather, she's your and Loki's elder sister, my daughter, and Asgard's eldest princess!" Odin looked up at the ceiling of the palace, his expression relaxed as he spoke.
"I have a sister? How is that possible? Why have I never heard of her before? No one in Asgard has ever mentioned this!" Thor's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Odin.
If Odin had told Thor that this woman was an old rival, Thor could have understood. Odin, having become King of Asgard, could have suppressed his rivals, sealing them with his divine power. Now, with Odin's power fading as he approached death, the seal might weaken, giving the rival a chance to return and challenge for the throne.
This theory made sense, especially considering that the rival was from Odin's era, which was long ago, explaining why Thor had never heard of her. But now Odin was saying that this person was his sister, and that was something Thor couldn't accept. He had always believed himself to be Asgard's firstborn, the rightful heir to the throne. But now, knowing he had an older sister who had a higher claim to the throne than he did, Thor was struggling to come to terms with this revelation.
"I've kept this secret for far too long. Very few in Asgard know this history because I sealed it away. And those Asgardians who have lived long enough to remember are rare..." Odin slowly shook his head as he spoke, and once again, a divine light shot out from the Eternal Spear in his hand, hitting the murals on the walls of the palace.
The murals in the Asgardian palace had depicted many heroic deeds of Odin and some of Thor, but now they began to fall away. Thor watched as a piece of the mural with his own face fell to the ground and cracked.
"What is this?"
"My gods?"
"Is this the hidden history?"
At that moment, the previously silent Warriors Three and Sif gasped in shock. Even though they had been brainwashed by Thor and showed no reaction to anything, the new mural stunned them.
The mural no longer featured Odin alone, and Thor was completely absent. Instead, it depicted a black-clad goddess who occupied more of the mural than Odin himself!
"Mjolnir?!" Thor, hearing the gasps of the Warriors Three, looked up. When he saw the weapon held by the black-clad goddess in the mural, his eyes widened, and he hesitated, glancing at the Mjolnir in his hand before looking back at Odin.
"Yes, her name is Hela. She's your sister, the Goddess of Death, and the previous owner of Mjolnir!" Odin nodded, speaking softly to Thor.
"But you said Mjolnir was forged specifically for me, the weapon of Asgard's crown prince?" Thor asked, looking at Odin in confusion.
"Ahem, it *is* the weapon of Asgard's crown prince. That hasn't changed. But Hela was the crown princess before you…" Odin coughed and explained.
"But that doesn't make sense. Hela is the Goddess of Death, and her powers are different from mine. How could she wield Mjolnir? And if she was the previous owner, why is it called Mjolnir, the Hammer of Thor, and not the Hammer of Death?" Thor interrupted Odin, bombarding him with questions.
"The name is just a designation; it doesn't matter what it's called. Besides, haven't you realized yet? The power within Mjolnir isn't just the power of thunder; it's the Odinforce. It's meant to guide you in mastering your own lightning power, not just to release thunder…" Odin explained seriously as he looked at Thor.
"You've already reached the point where you don't need Mjolnir to wield lightning. Have you still not figured this out?"
"Once I mastered lightning, I began using Mjolnir more simply because the lightning it released wasn't as strong as mine…" Thor shook his head slowly, sighing before suddenly thinking of something and asking Odin again, "But then why do those on Earth who lift Mjolnir gain the power of lightning?"
"Sigh! You still don't understand the Odinforce well enough. I suppose it's my fault for not guiding you in this before…" Odin sighed, continuing his explanation.
"Do you remember when you made a mistake and I stripped you of your powers? I placed a spell on Mjolnir: whoever could lift it would gain the power of Thor. The lightning they gain is still a transformation of the Odinforce."
"As for Peter Parker, who lifted Mjolnir, he somehow replaced his energy with lightning, which, although not as strong as the Odinforce, still retained the power of thunder."
"So it sounds like my divine power is limited to lightning, while your Odinforce holds infinite possibilities?" Thor glanced at Mjolnir in his hand, speaking wistfully.
Thor realized that even though his power had grown significantly, he still couldn't compare to Odin, not in terms of absolute strength or in the diversity of his abilities.
"It's alright. As your power continues to grow and you become the King of Asgard, condensing your own Thorforce, you will be just as powerful, if not more so, than I am!" Odin comforted Thor.
"Before I became King, the Odinforce was just a form of energy; it wasn't as extraordinary. In fact, it wasn't necessarily stronger than your lightning power. The Odinforce became what it is today because of my countless years of accumulation. Your journey has only just begun!"
"Let's talk about Hela then. How did she go from being the crown princess of Asgard and the owner of Mjolnir to a forgotten goddess, with all records of her erased and apparently sealed away by you?" Thor asked as he looked up at the mural of Hela, who appeared confident and powerful.
"Back then, I wasn't the only one conquering the Nine Realms. You can see that Hela was a key figure in those campaigns. She was more eager for battle than you are. But unlike your brute-force approach, Hela was intent on conquering everything in her path!" Odin also looked up at the mural as he spoke.
"Perhaps because of her divine role, she killed too many beings during the conquest of the Nine Realms, to the point where it seemed she couldn't stop. She didn't just want to conquer the Nine Realms; she
wanted to conquer the entire galaxy, even the entire universe!"
"But as you now understand, Asgard isn't that powerful. The Nine Realms are the limit of what we can control. If we continued our conquests, we would inevitably provoke a massive counterattack from other forces. Asgard would suffer heavy losses, and we might even lose our current territory!"
"Moreover, such bloody conquests wouldn't bring significant benefits to Asgard. We'd have more territory, but what about the people? In war, Asgardian soldiers were also dying, and among the Nine Realms, there were few who could truly serve us."
"So I decided to change our strategy, to focus on consolidating our control over the Nine Realms and ensuring that the inhabitants of the Nine Realms fully accepted Asgard's rule."
"But Hela didn't want to stop. She wanted to continue conquering, to dominate everything she could see. This led to conflict between us. Hela sought to rebel against Asgard, or rather, against me, and establish herself as queen."
"So I sent the Valkyries after her and eventually suppressed and sealed her, stripping her of her divine power. As long as my power remains, she won't be able to escape…"
"As far as I know, Asgardian gods grow more powerful as they age. You've grown old and can't balance your body and power anymore. Are you sure your power can still seal the increasingly powerful Hela?" Thor hesitated to ask as he listened to Odin's story, though he had wanted to interrupt several times.
"It's becoming more difficult, but it doesn't matter. Even if Hela escapes, without the Bifrost, she won't be able to return to Asgard anytime soon..." Odin sighed as he looked at Thor, his expression growing serious.
"But remember, if I die before you've inherited the throne, don't let Hela return to Asgard. Without the throne, she remains the rightful heir. The primordial power of Asgard will continually enhance her strength, and you won't be able to defeat her!"
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