Damn it!
Hela's face turned incredibly grim. So grim, in fact, that she wanted to curse. In all of Asgard right now, no one was more aware of what those burning crimson flames were than she was.
That was the Eternal Flame, the supreme treasure known as the "Everlasting Fire," which Odin had seized from the Fire Lord Surtur during his conquest of the Nine Realms. It was also the very fire she had used to resurrect the spirits of her army.
How is this possible...
Hela couldn't understand it. The Eternal Flame was kept in Odin's heavily protected Vault. Currently, besides herself, only Frigga was authorized to enter Odin's true vault. She was here, and Frigga was locked in a secret dungeon.
"Aren't you going to put out the fire?"
Seeing the scorching flames on the palace architecture spreading, Lothar raised an eyebrow, a little curious.
"That's the Eternal Flame, the flame that never goes out."
"Didn't Woz give you the intel?" Hela cast a cold glance at the curious Lothar, then walked through the sea of fire and kicked open the burning palace doors.
"He's not with me today. I left him in the Black Quadrant to work on something." Lothar, who was playing with a small flame flickering at his fingertips, was quite amused as he tested the Eternal Flame's temperature.
The Eternal Flame? The flame that burns everything? The flame that never goes out?
"As I suspected, she's gone."
Hela's face was dark as she quickly descended to the secret dungeon. The cell where her mother should have been was empty. On the other hand, Thor was still curled up in the corner of his cell, his head buried in his knees as if he had lost all sense of his surroundings.
"Can he still talk?"
Without a key, Hela forced open the dungeon door and grabbed her brother by his collar. The unfocused, hollow look in his eyes disgusted her. How could Odin have raised such a useless son? He was just captured by Lothar; what was the big deal?
Back in the day, she had been defeated countless times but always kept fighting. What about Thor? A person with no ambition at all, and yet Odin would name him as the King? Hela really doubted whether this man was even Odin's son.
"Just take that thing off."
Toying with the flame on his fingertip, Lothar casually flicked an energy blast. The metal muzzle covering Thor's mouth shattered.
"Where's Frigga?"
"Speak!"
"I told you to speak!"
Hela slapped Thor's face twice. The hollow look in his eyes finally began to regain its light.
"Where's Frigga? Where is she?!"
Hela shoved her brother's head against the transparent wall, pointing to the empty room across from them.
Bang!
The regained light in his eyes reignited his previously stagnant divine power. The heavy chains once again sealed off any miracle that might have occurred in Thor's body.
"A sorcerer named Kaecilius took her..."
"I don't know where he went, or even why he took her..."
The weary Thor gave up struggling, allowing Hela to push his head around however she pleased.
"Can you tell me why you're doing this, Hela?"
"She's your mother! Why would you—"
BOOM!!!
Before Thor could finish, the ground shook violently!
RUMBLE!!!
The Eternal Flame, which hadn't yet reached the dungeons, burst forth like a beast as the ground cracked open. In the blink of an eye, Lothar and Hela's surroundings had been completely engulfed in a sea of fire!
"Odin!"
"I have returned!"
"I!"
"WILL DESTROY ASGARD!"
It was a world-ending declaration, a furious roar.
With Dormammu's help, the Fire Giant Surtur had left his lair and, with the aid of the Eternal Flame, returned to his peak power. He wielded his giant sword and wreaked havoc across Asgard. The terrifying flames constantly devoured Asgard's land and life with every step he took!
"No!"
"No!"
"Help!"
"Run! Run!!!"
Screams of anguish and heartbroken cries echoed. The once solemn and majestic Asgard had become a scorched wasteland under the feet of the Fire Giant Surtur. The gatekeeper Heimdall and all of Asgard's defense forces had been killed by the returning Hela, which meant that Surtur was now running amok on this sacred land without any opposition.
"No..."
"It can't be..."
"She would never do that..."
The destroyed palace could no longer obstruct Hela's view. The sight of Surtur rampaging through Asgard reminded Hela of the prophecy he had made when Odin defeated him years ago: the prophecy of Ragnarok.
Hela refused to believe it. She refused to believe that her own mother, Frigga, would take the Eternal Flame to resurrect Surtur just to get rid of her.
"Damn it!"
"Lothar! Watch this coward for me!"
Hela cursed under her breath. With no time for further thought, she instantly tied her hair back in a fighting style. The nearly endless magical energy supplied by the land of Asgard caused a mechanical beast made of special magical metal to appear at her feet. A sea of weapons gathered at her command and rushed toward Surtur, who was swinging his sword.
"Surtur!"
"Get back where you came from!"
A fierce roar. For the first time since breaking her seal, Hela was going all out in front of Lothar. The approval and support she received from Asgard meant Hela had no worries about her body being drained of power. Countless sharp metal weapons swirled like a rainstorm across the entire Asgardian sky!
"Daughter of Odin! You cannot stop me!"
"Odin is dead!"
"Asgard will be destroyed!"
"This is your fate, Asgardian!"
Surtur saw Hela, but he ignored her. He would not be stopped by one Hela on his quest to destroy Asgard.
"Odin is dead, but I'm still here!"
"Without my permission, no one can destroy Asgard!"
"The fate of Ragnarok? I do not believe in fate!"
A peacock's fan of weapons shot out from behind Hela and struck Surtur, finally stopping him from continuing his destructive march. Hela's slender form stood tall on the giant metal beast, single-handedly facing the ancient enemy of the Asgardians. The inexhaustible divine power she commanded bought time for the fleeing Asgardian populace to escape the ravaged area.
"She..."
"She's stopping the fire giant's attack for us?!"
On the metal beast, Hela's small, elegant figure brought immense shock to all the surviving Asgardians. Shimmering chains wove through the dense array of weapons and began to bind Surtur's massive body. The fury of the Goddess of Death instantly froze the flames at his feet, which were the source of his life.
The countless weapons fell like meteors, repeatedly stabbing into the giant's burning heart!
"Right now!"
"I am the King of Asgard!"
"The fate of the Asgardians, the fate of Asgard, will be broken by me!"
With a roar that echoed through the clouds, the metal beast under Hela's feet completely pierced Surtur's chest!
Lothar, who had been playing with the flame, threw the completely stunned Thor to The Other. He looked up at the fierce, majestic Queen who was going all out in the sky, his eyes full of amusement.
I will defeat you one day!
The vow Hela had made when they first parted ways in Jotunheim echoed in his mind.
"Interesting."
Lothar grinned with pleasure. So far, Hela was the only woman he had met who could "catch up" with him in terms of her rate of strength improvement.
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This fanfic has been fully translated!