Benevolence Exhausted, Wings Spent

"Do you have any idea what you’re doing?!"

"Thor!"

"What you’re doing is changing history!"

"History from two thousand years ago!"

"Do you know how serious the consequences of this could be?!"

"Do you?!"

Watching Thor hurl Mjolnir with his own eyes, Rocket Raccoon flew into a rage, grabbing his hem and berating him sharply.

"Sorry, but I had no choice."

He couldn’t just stand by and watch his mother get hurt.

"No! You did!"

"You should know better than I do exactly what injury your mother will suffer!"

"That wound isn’t enough to end her life!"

Growing even angrier, Rocket leaped straight onto Thor’s shoulder, changed his grip to Thor’s collar, and roared.

"So you want me to stand by and do nothing?"

"She’s my mother—my biological mother, do you understand?"

"Oh, I forgot. Maybe you don’t even know what the concept of a biological mother means."

Thor, held by the collar, mocked him without mercy.

"What did you say?" Rocket, who had never expected Thor to say something like that, clenched his fists.

"Listen, I—"

Thor came to his senses and realized that what he had said was inappropriate, his tone softening. But before he could finish, a dense sea of weapons stretching beyond sight surged toward him!

The prickling sense of danger at his back abruptly cut off Thor’s apology. He grabbed the bewildered Rocket and leaped toward a nearby stall.

"Listen, I’m sorry I said something like that to you. You know I didn’t mean it."

"So please, wait here for me for a moment, okay?"

"Stay here and don’t move. I’ll be right back, understand?" After setting Rocket down, Thor stood up and turned his gaze toward Hela, who was searching the sky for him.

He resolutely walked toward her.

He casually grabbed a horse-faced mask hanging from some unknown stall and put it on, concealing his true face.

"Who are you?"

Thor’s movement against the flow of the crowded crowd quickly drew Hela’s attention.

Mjolnir was a weapon Odin had forged for her, so why could this masked man use it?

"Me?"

"Just a passing Asgardian, that’s all."

Even loose clothing could not conceal his bulging belly or his unkempt facial outline. To distinguish himself from his future self, Thor had even deliberately copied Beckett’s manner of speaking.

That familiar tone left even Hela somewhat startled.

"As a citizen of Asgard, I do not recognize you as our king."

"You are too brutal."

"Clearly, you possess none of the qualities required to be king."

Beneath the horse mask, Thor raised his hand toward Mjolnir, which had earlier fallen beside his mother Frigga’s feet.

The hammer from two thousand years in the future had already been shattered, but fortunately, it seemed he could still use the hammer from two thousand years ago.

Fighting his incomparably cruel sister without a suitable weapon would be impossible.

"Oh? Interesting."

An extremely strange feeling had lingered in Hela’s heart ever since Thor appeared, impossible to dispel. It only fueled the wildly swelling killing intent within her.

"If that’s the case, then you can die." The rampaging power of death gathered once more, but just as Hela was about to unleash a fatal blow, another figure suddenly appeared before her.

He firmly seized her arm.

Golden armor covered his body, and his white beard streamed in the wind!

"Father?!"

"Odin!"

Odin, who had reappeared in the arena, nodded to his wife. His inadvertent glance over Thor made the latter’s somewhat bloated body stiffen instantly.

"How is that possible?!"

Hela did not share Thor’s spine-chilling feeling. At that moment, her heart was filled with shock.

"Everything you have was given to you by me, Hela."

"That includes your power."

After meeting an old friend and taking the time to put on his armor, Odin displayed the formidable strength of the Lord of the Nine Realms.

Without the Mind Stone to amplify her strength, no matter how Hela struggled, she could never break free from her father Odin’s restraint.

Slap!

The resounding slap left a clear five-finger print on Hela’s fair cheek.

"You are my daughter, and Asgard’s future heir. No one can deny that."

"However, you must remember one thing."

"The throne you wish to seize can only be given by me. It is not yours to take by force."

"Because I am your father."

Boom!!!

A visible silvery-white radiance bloomed from Odin’s left palm, and that profound, unfathomable power immediately struck Hela’s fragile body!

Pfft!

Blood sprayed through the air!

"How… can this be…?"

In no more than a single strike, Hela, who had been so imposing moments ago, crashed to the ground. Blood flowed uncontrollably from the corner of her mouth, and she looked utterly miserable.

With just one blow, Hela had nearly lost her ability to fight back.

The terrifying strength of Odin, armored and fighting at full force, was plain to see.

Father…

Thor, standing to one side and blankly witnessing everything, could not help but feel turbulent waves rise in his heart.

He knew his father was strong, but he never knew his father was this strong.

The Goddess of Death, Hela, who had pinned him and the entire Avengers to the ground, beaten them into complete disarray, and forced them to rely on the Time Stone to cheat their way out, couldn’t even last one exchange against his father Odin…?

"You have made a grave mistake, Hela."

After landing, Odin walked step by step toward Hela in the crater.

Her limbs continued to struggle and retreat as she tried to widen the distance between herself and Odin.

"Is that so? I don’t think so. On the contrary, I believe my actions were correct."

Though she tried hard to steady her breathing, Hela’s voice still trembled slightly.

"Peace gained by lowering one’s head will never be stable. The material aid you intend to provide Jotunheim according to the agreement will help them raise generation after generation of young people filled with hatred toward Asgard."

"Even if you intend to kill me, I still won’t change my mind."

Though injured, Hela remained firm in her stance.

The weapons that suddenly appeared before Odin were the best proof of Hela’s continued defiance!

Now!

Hela, battle-hardened by countless fights, seized the fleeting opportunity tightly.

Enduring the nerve-rending pain coursing through every limb and bone, Hela took advantage of Odin’s blink to condense a large number of weapons into a boat and swiftly flee aboard it!

Find reinforcements!

Beckett’s face immediately surfaced in the unwilling Hela’s mind.

If… if Beckett lends me the Mind Stone again…

Clang!

Countless phantom Gungnirs descended from the sky, directly blasting Hela and her boat into a complete wreck!

The scattered metal weapons collided with one another, producing an unending chorus of clanks!

"You cannot escape my pursuit, Hela."

"My daughter."

Odin, clad in golden armor and fully armed, appeared out of thin air. With his hands behind his back, he looked down at the disheveled and miserable Hela, his eyes filled with an emperor’s mercilessness.

Kneeling on one knee, Hela could only read one sentence from Odin’s calm face:

Daughter, Dad has come to kill you.