Loki smirked as he rolled his shoulders, his green magic swirling around his fingers. "Oh, dearest sister," he said with his signature smile, stepping forward. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm afraid I have an empire to take over."
Hela tilted her head slightly. Her eyes were glowing with a green hue and she looked amused by Loki's usual laid-back attitude even in that situation. "And yet here you are, standing between me and your inevitable, agonizing death."
Loki chuckled. "You know me, always the optimist."
There was a moment of silence...
Then the Black Order moved.
Corvus Glaive struck first, lunging at Hela with insane speed. His golden glaive gleamed as he aimed for her throat. But before it could land, Hela caught it with ease.
"Really?" she sighed.
With a flick of her wrist, she shattered the legendary glaive into dust. Corvus barely had time to register the loss of his weapon before Hela's hand shot forward, impaling straight through his ribcage.
The glow in his eyes dimmed instantly.
"Oops," Hela said mockingly.
She twisted her hand and ripped out his heart. Blood splattered across the dark metal floors of Sanctuary II. Corvus staggered, his mouth opening in shock before he crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
"One down," Hela smirked, tossing the heart aside.
"YOU BITCH!" Proxima Midnight roared.
She hurled her spear. Hela caught it midair and, without hesitation, snapped it in half like a twig. Proxima's eyes widened in horror.
Hela moved faster than sight. In an instant, she was in front of Proxima, gripping the woman's skull with a vice-like grip.
"You talk too much," She whispered.
Then she crushed Proxima's head with one hand. Bone and brain matter splattered against the walls. The lifeless corpse slumped to the floor.
"Two down."
Loki took a slow step back, eyes flicking between his sister and the remaining two members of the Black Order. "Well," he muttered. "This is going about as well as expected."
Black Dwarf, the monstrous brute of the group, let out a furious bellow and charged Hela like an unstoppable force. His warhammer swung in a devastating arc, powerful enough to shatter entire buildings.
Hela merely sighed.
At the last second, she sidestepped, her form blurring unnaturally. Black Dwarf's hammer crashed into the floor, splintering the reinforced metal beneath them. Before he could recover, Hela casually reached out...
...and shoved her fingers through his eye sockets.
Black Dwarf let out a hideous, gurgling scream. Hela twisted her fingers inside his skull, her expression bored. Then, with a sharp yank, she ripped his head clean off his shoulders.
"Three down."
The massive corpse collapsed with a loud THUD, the head still clutched in Hela's grasp. She tossed it aside carelessly, her emerald eyes flicking to the last member of the Black Order.
Cull Obsidian, the last remaining warrior, hesitated. His massive fists clenched, his breathing ragged. His instincts screamed at him to flee.
Hela grinned.
"Run."
Cull Obsidian turned.
He never made it.
Hela raised her hand and dozens of necrotic black blades shot from the ground, impaling Cull from every direction. His massive body twitched as dark magic drained the life from his flesh. His roar of agony was short-lived before his body withered into a dried husk, crumbling to dust.
"Four down."
The Black Order was no more.
Hela flicked her hand, dispelling the lingering blood from her armor. She turned back to Loki, who was still standing there, staring at her with a mixture of amusement and mild concern.
"Well," Loki muttered. "That was dramatic."
Hela smirked, conjuring a black dagger and twirling it between her fingers. "Now," she purred, stepping toward him, "let's talk about your little betrayal, brother."
Loki swallowed.
"Shall we negotiate?"
Hela just grinned.
"Why not? Do yourself a favor and kill yourself and save a world of pain."
Loki chuckled, the sound smooth and lazy, but his sharp green eyes never left Hela's. He took a slow step back, twirling a dagger between his fingers. "Oh, sister dear, you wound me."
Hela stalked forward, her armored boots clicking against the dark metal of the Sanctuary II. "Not yet," she said, her voice a velvet purr. "But I will."
Loki's smirk twitched. "Ah. You do hold a grudge."
Hela flicked her wrist, and a dozen black blades materialized in the air, hovering around her like hungry wolves. "You betrayed me," she said, each word laced with venom. "You tampered with the Bifrost. You threw me into the void, leaving me to die. And now, here we are." She tilted her head, amusement gleaming in her emerald gaze. "Oh, I do believe this is what mortals call… karma."
Loki sighed dramatically, tapping a finger against his chin. "Alright, fine. In my defense, it was rather entertaining."
Hela's smirk sharpened.
The black blades shot forward like lightning.
Loki blurred.
The air shimmered, and his body dissolved into green mist just as the blades ripped through where he had been standing. Hela narrowed her eyes, already sensing the magic at play.
Behind her, Loki reappeared in a swirl of emerald light, his twin daggers flashing as he struck.
CLANG!
Hela spun, blocking his strike with a conjured obsidian blade. Sparks flew as their weapons clashed, their faces inches apart. Loki grinned, eyes glinting with mischief. "Miss me?"
Hela's response was immediate.
She headbutted him.
CRACK!
Loki staggered back with a curse, clutching his nose as blood dripped between his fingers. "Bloody Hel, that hurt!"
Hela smirked. "Oh, I haven't even started."
She lunged.
Loki twisted, barely avoiding the deadly arc of her blade. He ducked under her next swing, rolling backward as a barrage of black spikes erupted from the ground. His fingers flashed, sending a wave of green energy outward, shattering them before they could impale him.
Hela was already moving. She was fast. Inhumanly fast. Her form blurred as she closed the distance, her foot slamming into Loki's chest with brutal force.
THOOM!
Loki was launched across the battlefield, skidding across the platform before slamming into the hull of the Sanctuary II. He groaned, rubbing his ribs. "I really hate fighting family."
Hela tilted her head. "You don't even like family."
Loki grinned, wiping the blood from his lips. "Fair point."
Then, in an instant, a dozen copies of Loki appeared around her, circling like ghosts. Each one was identical, their movements synchronized as they spun their daggers. "But I do love an audience," they all said in unison.
Hela sighed. "Illusions."
She threw her blade.
The first Loki vanished in a puff of green mist.
She pivoted, slashing through another... gone.
The third, the fourth, the fifth... each illusion shattered as she struck. But there were too many. They danced around her, their laughter echoing in the metal corridors of the ship.
"Do keep up, dear sister," one Loki taunted.
Hela exhaled through her nose.
Then she closed her eyes.
The moment stretched.
The shadows around her twisted.
And then...
A pulse of pure death exploded outward.
A tidal wave of necrotic energy swept through the battlefield, disintegrating every illusion in an instant. The air crackled with residual magic as the space around her cleared.
And Loki, the real Loki, was forced to appear.
He reappeared behind her, dagger raised...
Hela caught his wrist without looking.
His eyes widened.
Then she broke his arm.
CRACK!
Loki let out a strangled gasp, staggering back as pain shot up his limb. His dagger clattered to the floor. Hela turned to face him, slowly, deliberately.
"Tricks won't save you," she murmured.
"No. But what about the Destroyer?" Loki vanished and instantly the ship exploded.
Flames erupted from the wreckage of Sanctuary II, metal splitting apart as the ship began to fall. Chitauri warships scattered, struggling to evade the debris as gravity took hold.
Hela stood amid the chaos, looking at the spot Loki was standing a moment ago. Well, he was gone.
"That slippery little bastard."
A groan snapped her attention downward.
Thor.
Her idiotic little brother lay sprawled on the broken deck, battered and barely conscious. His once-mighty form was a wreck—blood dripped from his temple, his breath ragged. Without Mjolnir, without his usual bravado, he looked… vulnerable.
Hela scoffed, placing her hands on her hips. "Pathetic."
She should've left him. Let him die with the ship. It would've been poetic. The so-called God of Thunder perishing in his own arrogance.
But something in her hesitated.
She clenched her jaw.
Odin may have cast her aside, but she wasn't him.
Hela clicked her tongue in annoyance. "You are lucky I'm in a good mood."
With a flick of her wrist, dark tendrils coiled around Thor's broken body. Before the flames could swallow them, she vanished in a swirl of shadowy energy.
And just like that...
Sanctuary II crashed.
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