—Asgard, Rainbow Bridge
All around them, the battlefield blazed with fire and thunder. Earth's fleet was locked in brutal combat with Hela's undead legions.
And atop the shattered Rainbow Bridge—the real battle was about to begin.
On one side stood the Goddess of Death, Hela.
On the other: Thor, Loki, and Kagura.
Their eyes met. No words were exchanged.
There was no need. Everyone understood.
There was only one outcome for this confrontation—battle.
"Then… Hela," Kagura said, lowering her stance, her voice calm but resolute, "I'm coming!"
A surge of power erupted from her.
Waves of invisible force rippled out in every direction, distorting the very air.
Hela's brows furrowed slightly.
This silver-haired girl was different from before.
The aura she radiated now—unconscious, effortless—was far more intense than when they had last met in Norway.
What had this girl been through since then?
Hela narrowed her eyes.
Was she on something?
'WHRRRRM!'
A thunderous shockwave burst out from Kagura, blasting away the smoke.
In the blink of an eye, the silver-haired, golden-eyed android shot forward like a streak of white lightning—charging directly at Hela.
But the goddess was ready.
"Awooooo!"
With a deafening howl, a massive shadow surged up behind her.
"Fenrir, my old friend," Hela said with a smile. "Why don't you go play with my sweet little sister for a bit?"
'KRA-KOOM!'
The Rainbow Bridge cracked beneath enormous paws as a colossal wolf—three stories tall—landed in front of Kagura, blocking her path.
With a snarl, the beast lunged.
Both it and Kagura were hurled into the distance, crashing into the far side of the bridge in a blur of motion and dust.
That beast—Fenrir—was once one of Asgard's deadliest weapons, and Hela's most loyal battle companion.
Legend said the gods had once deceived Fenrir, planting deep hatred in its heart.
When Ragnarok came, it bore two children and sent them to devour the sun and moon, plunging Asgard into eternal twilight…
If Hela was near-invincible, then Fenrir was the only creature worthy of standing beside her.
A monstrous being who wielded the divine authority of Devouring—not something easily defeated.
Smoke spiraled into the sky as Kagura and Fenrir clashed at the far edge of the bridge, locked in a brutal duel.
That left Thor and Loki alone in front of Hela.
"So, little brother," Thor said, raising his battle axe, "do we wait for Kagura to come back and team up—or do we go hammer our dear big sister into the dirt right now?"
Though he sounded casual, his eager tone betrayed how ready he was to erase the humiliation of their last encounter—where Hela had, quite literally, crushed him.
"Hmph. Do you really need to ask?" Loki replied with a sly grin.
"Kagura's done enough for us. We'd be shameless to keep relying on her."
He gave a wicked smile.
"Let's go!"
"RUAAAAAAHHH!!"
Thor's thunderous war cry shook the heavens.
His body ignited with blinding arcs of electricity as he leapt high into the air, Stormbreaker raised overhead.
"Kagura said it herself—if you're gonna strike, aim for the head!"
'CLANG!'
The deafening clash of metal rang across the battlefield.
The shockwave shattered the air, flinging a whole wave of undead soldiers off their feet.
"Oh?" Hela smirked, her gaze locking onto Stormbreaker. "Something from Nidavellir? Impressive… Got yourself a new toy, huh?"
"But what of it? Weapons from Nidavellir or not—they're no different from sticks to me!"
'SHWIP! SHWIP! SHWIP!'
Suddenly, blades of shadow burst from behind her—dozens of them—firing toward Thor like homing missiles.
He batted aside her cleaver with Stormbreaker and spun in place, the massive axe dancing in his hands, deflecting the incoming shadow blades one after another.
"Hela!" he roared. "I'm not the same man I was back then!"
"This time—I'm smashing your skull in!"
'BOOOOM!!'
Lightning split the sky.
Thunder rolled across the heavens.
Electric arcs surged from every direction, converging on Thor's axe, transforming it into a radiant blue beacon of divine power—like a lightning-charged glowstick from the gods.
"RUAHH!!"
Thor's eyes glowed with raw electricity, overflowing with divine power as he entered full-on god-mode.
The storm surged around him.
With Stormbreaker in hand, he wielded the full fury of thunder itself.
'KRA-KA-THOOOM!!'
Lightning cascaded down like a waterfall—Stormbreaker's edge followed, descending in a divine arc of destruction.
'BOOM!'
Hela raised an enormous shadow blade, pouring the authority of Death and Destruction into it.
Then, without hesitation, she stepped forward to meet the blow—head-on.
'CRASH!'
Power collided. The world trembled.
A swirling shockwave burst outward, searing hot and glowing with both deep emerald energy and blinding lightning.
Any undead soldier caught in its radius was vaporized on the spot, turned to dust in an instant.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the Rainbow Bridge.
The sound of shattering crystal echoed out from the center of the clash.
This ancient bridge—The Rainbow Bridge—had stood for tens of thousands of years.
Since the day it was first built, it had never once been destroyed.
But now, under the full might of two Asgardian gods clashing at full force, it looked as fragile as glass—cracking, trembling, threatening to shatter at any moment.
"Hmph. All that noise… and that's the best you've got?"
Hela's tone remained as calm and condescending as ever, laced with a quiet, bone-chilling authority.
"You really are a disappointment, Thor. What kind of god are you again? The God of Hammers? Or maybe axes now?"
As the smoke cleared, Thor's eyes widened in disbelief at what he was seeing.
His mighty Stormbreaker—forged in Nidavellir, the greatest weapon the dwarves had ever crafted for a king of Asgard—had indeed cleaved through Hela's cursed blade, even one empowered by the divine authority of Death. But…
"This… this can't be!"
Right before his eyes, Hela had stopped Stormbreaker—with just two fingers.
The same weapon that had once split Thanos's chest wide open, the very embodiment of thunder's destructive might—had done nothing.
"Surprised, Hammer Boy?" Hela sneered, her lips curling into a cold smile.
"You don't understand the true power of Asgard's gods. You're not even one percent of what your father Odin was. So what gives you the right to stand before me—and challenge me?"
'CLANG!'
In a blur, Hela twisted her wrist, flinging Stormbreaker aside, then spun around and kicked Thor in the chest with brutal force.
He was launched backwards like a ragdoll, crashing down the Rainbow Bridge.
"Come back after you've trained for another ten thousand years," she scoffed. "Weakling!"
'SHING!'
Just as Hela turned, preparing to declare her victory, a searing pain shot through her chest.
A brilliant white weapon—a staff that had morphed into a longsword—had pierced her from behind.
It was Loki's doing.
The Mistletoe Wand, now transformed, had been driven straight through her heart.
"How does it feel, dear sister?" Loki said with a sly, smug grin.
"To be stabbed through the chest by a 'weakling' who you said couldn't beat you in ten thousand years?"
He twisted the blade with a wicked snap of his wrist.
"This little wand, by the way, kills the undying and destroys the indestructible. Pretty neat, huh?"
"Khff—so, it was a sneak attack, huh?"
Hela coughed up a mouthful of dark blood.
"Mistletoe, of all things? Looks like you two really have pulled out all the stops."
And then—as if nothing had happened—she calmly reached back, gripped the blade protruding from her chest…
…and yanked it out.
"What!?"
Loki stumbled forward in disbelief, completely caught off guard.
A second later, he was smacked across the face by his own Mistletoe Wand and sent tumbling down the Rainbow Bridge in a series of increasingly ungraceful rolls.
Hela casually tossed the weapon aside.
"The dwarves of Nidavellir never told you, did they?" she said, voice dripping with condescension.
"Mistletoe may be able to kill the undying—but it doesn't work on someone who's already dead."
A cruel smile spread across her face.
"You idiots don't get it. I am the Goddess of Death. I govern the end of life in all of Asgard, and rule over Helheim, the realm of the dead."
"I am death itself!"
She narrowed her eyes.
"So how could a mere god-killing trinket hurt me? You really thought you had a chance?"
She gave a laugh—low, mocking, venomous.
"Truly pathetic."
'WHRRRM—'
Before she could say another word, a shiver ran down her spine.
The air behind her warped violently.
And then—something enormous came hurtling toward her.
A massive wolf's head, torn clean from its body, sailed through the air—trailing a torrent of blood as it flew directly toward her.