Inside the Temple in New York.
Mjolnir, stained with dried divine blood, lay on the coffee table.
Hela's face was dark and serious as she spoke of what had just happened in Hell.
Aron listened silently, then reached out and grabbed Thor's hammer by the handle. He lifted it effortlessly. That could only mean one thing, Odin's enchantment no longer worked.
"Do you think Thor is dead?" Aron looked at Hela and handed her Mjolnir.
Hela took it and immediately shook her head.
"I don't know. But one thing is certain… Odin is gone."
"I don't feel his breath, and the seal he left in the Underworld has also weakened." Hela's face showed not a trace of joy.
Yes, she hated Odin. She longed to kill him herself, to bring him down with her own hands. But now, when he had vanished, when he might be dead, she couldn't feel happiness. Instead, rage and grief crept into her heart.
"I think something attacked them."
She gripped Mjolnir so tightly her knuckles turned white, and determination blazed in her eyes. Odin could die, but only by her hand. No one else was allowed to take that fate from her.
...
The Ancient One sat in the New York Temple, listening in silence. Her brows furrowed slightly, as if she was trying to connect something important.
"Ancient One, do you know what's happening?" Aron asked.
Just minutes ago, he had planned to seek Odin's help in fighting the Celestial. And now, it seemed Asgard was the first to be struck by catastrophe.
"I… am not sure."
For the first time, confusion appeared on the Ancient One's face. She looked into the future again through the Eyes of Agamotto, but Aron's arrival had already disrupted the flow of many events.
Even so, she could not say anything with certainty. She had her suspicions, but she did not want to speak them aloud.
"No matter. Then we'll go see for ourselves."
Aron wasn't stupid. The truth would only be revealed in Asgard.
"Ancient One?" he said, looking at her directly.
She immediately understood what he meant.
"Go. Earth is in my hands now. If Arishem shows up, I'll notify you at once."
"Heh, I knew you understood me." Aron smiled faintly, then turned to Hela and led her out.
He drew Gram, the Divine King's sword, and pointed it to the sky.
Boom!
The Bifrost opened, a pillar of light shining down on the ground before them.
...
"The smell of blood… thick and heavy."
"Looks like nothing good is left here."
Aron stepped into Asgard. The stench of death and blood filled the air like a dense fog.
On the Bifrost, where once stood the unyielding guardian of Asgard, Heimdall, there was now nothing. Only eerie silence.
Inside the grand Bridge Hall, two lifeless bodies were found.
"Volstagg and Hogun… of the Warriors Three."
Hela lowered her gaze upon their faces.
"Friends of my foolish brother."
Though sealed away for thousands of years, Hela had still heard of the warriors who earned fame in Asgard. The Warriors Three were among them. Now two lay dead, their blood still staining the stones of the Bifrost.
"They fought before they died, they fell in battle."
Aron crouched and carefully examined the bodies.
Volstagg's and Hogun's corpses were covered in various scars.
There were clear claw marks, slashes from sharp blades, and stab wounds caused by weapons like spears.
And that meant only one thing…
The enemy was either incredibly numerous.
Or carried an entire arsenal of weapons with them.
"Go, search further." Aron rose and flew off the Bifrost.
At the exit, an even more horrific sight awaited him.
It looked as if the whole of Asgard had gone through a dreadful war.
The magnificent structures that once adorned the city were now damaged, cracked, and covered with marks of battle.
Blood was everywhere.
The corpses of dead Asgardians lay all across the square.
Their deaths were gruesome, their faces frozen in grimaces of pain, as if in their final moments they had seen something unimaginably terrifying.
"This is a massacre!"
"They didn't even have time to sound the alarm!" Hela flew toward another square.
There she was surrounded by countless elite Asgardian soldiers, all dead.
Their standard armor, which once could withstand the charges of the greatest enemies, was now pierced, riddled with holes, and utterly useless against the attackers.
From everything that could be seen, it was obvious these warriors had endured a fierce battle before falling.
But something was unnatural.
In the square, there wasn't a single enemy corpse.
Not one.
"The palace has become a dead zone. There are no more living." Hela's face was dark and cold. Whoever had done this would have to pay.
"But maybe there's still someone." Aron suddenly lifted his gaze in a direction, sensing something.
The two soon arrived at the Asgardian prison.
Inside, the same scene awaited them.
Corpses were scattered everywhere.
The invaders clearly didn't care who their enemy was. To them, the enemy was anyone who stood in their way.
They had slaughtered not only the prison guards but also the prisoners.
Aron and Hela slowly walked over the dead bodies until they reached a special cell.
Loki's cell.
Inside was chaos.
The seat was smashed, and Loki looked dead, lying twisted and bloody.
"Stop that act. Your sister is here." Aron knocked on the wall.
Soon, the cell flashed with green light.
The illusory Loki on the floor slowly vanished, and in the corner of the cell appeared the real Loki in a hood, his face filled with fear.
"You can never imagine what happened here."
"Asgardians, the Vanir, elves of Alfheim…"
"All dead." Loki's voice trembled, his body shaking.
This god of mischief, who once proudly and arrogantly attacked New York, now looked like a terrified child.
"Frigga… she's dead too."
A single tear slid down his face.
Aron remained silent. He hadn't expected the situation to be this dire.
Even Frigga had been killed?
"Loki! I'm asking you! What about Thor and Odin!? Where are they?" Hela grabbed Loki and lifted him from the ground as if he were nothing.
She slammed him against the wall, holding him like a mere bird in her hand.
"Answer!"
"I don't know…" Loki looked lost. At first, he didn't even understand why his sister was attacking him, Asgard was already destroyed.
Why was she angrier than him?
"Odin has been gone for a long time."
"As for Thor… all I know is that he fought with the intruder. After that… no one knows where he ended up."
Loki was shaken. For the first time, he didn't use his typical lies. He told everything honestly, exactly as he knew it.
"Who was that intruder?" Aron asked.
"He called himself Gorr… the God Butcher. Gorr."
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