Clapped in Irons

The wind and frost that blanketed the sky gradually smothered the anger in Odin’s heart. Looking into his daughter’s eyes, so full of confidence in the "future," he could not help but sigh.

In an instant, the snowstorm came to a halt!

"Hela, you have overstepped your bounds."

After that sigh came the judgment of a king.

Asgard’s military strength had always been Odin’s highest priority. It was because he trusted Hela that he had granted her such immense authority, allowing her to mobilize large numbers of Asgardian troops in her own name.

But now, his daughter had betrayed that trust.

Not only that, she had personally led troops to rebel against him.

"Father, what are you talking about?"

Hela had thought that after she stormed into Jotunheim, her father would remember the glorious years when he had conquered cities and seized lands. Instead, she received only a sigh and a rebuke.

"I! I am Hela! Your daughter!"

"Not some stranger!"

"Look at the army I brought! Look at our soldiers!"

"With the blessing of my power, they can slaughter Jotunheim!"

"Isn’t that what you taught me?"

Only the intertwining of thick blood and blazing fire could forge the supreme throne that belonged solely to Asgard.

"The rules of the age change, Hela."

With a cold expression, Odin swept out a hand, and overwhelming energy instantly descended upon every Asgardian soldier Hela had brought.

They could not move an inch.

As for the potential threat posed by that Celestial, Odin still intended to let it rot in his heart. Hela absolutely could not be allowed to learn of it.

"Father!"

"What has happened to you?!"

Having personally led an army into Jotunheim, Hela had believed that the sight of war would wake Odin up. Her face was now filled with disbelief.

"We’re going to win! We’re going to win, Father!"

"Look at them!"

"Look at those giants who are about to become homeless dogs! They are no match for me!"

"Not even close!"

The Mind Stone in her brow continuously supplied Hela with enough power to speak so boldly. Yet as her strength climbed, her tone gradually grew more tyrannical as well.

"Only what is won through force can be called peace!"

"If we don’t beat them into submission, what right do we have to call it peace?!"

"Does Father want his future orders to be completely unenforceable in Jotunheim?!"

"Our Asgard is a complete empire! Complete!"

Hela roared until her voice was nearly hoarse, pointing at Laufey, who stood amid the ice and snow watching the spectacle, and shaking her head.

"Vanaheim is a fine example. The dwarves are an even more perfect example, Father."

"We beat them into submission, and they surrendered. That is why they now have no room for open obedience and secret defiance."

"Even though the Vanir and the dwarves have their own laws and rules, they willingly and sensibly accept Asgard’s rule."

"But what about Jotunheim?"

"These savages, these giants with nothing but frost and snow in their heads—do you think your peace treaty will work on them?"

"Father, do you believe that even if you sign a peace treaty with Laufey, that peace will last at most one or two hundred years?"

"And during those one or two hundred years, the Jotunheim royal family led by Laufey will constantly brainwash the giant newborns, taking the peace Father so generously bestowed and the resources brought by the treaty to instill anti-Asgardian ideas in those children."

"When those newborns grow up, Father, how do you think they will view Asgard?"

"They will demand independence. They will demand to break away from Asgard’s territory!"

"They will enjoy Asgard’s protection and the resources we provide, yet they will demand independence!"

"When that day comes, Father, will your peace treaty still be of any use?"

"Won’t it just be a worthless scrap of paper?!"

By the final question, Hela’s voice had gone hoarse, and she practically screamed the words.

Jotunheim’s upper ranks were nothing but insatiable trash. Hela’s impression of them had never changed.

"The war has already reached this point. It is almost over. We are destined to be the final victors, Father. There is no need for us to make such a pointless deal with Jotunheim’s trash!"

The Mind Stone at Hela’s brow shone ever brighter.

This was the truest thought in the depths of her heart.

"Are you finished?"

"If you are, take your people and go back. I can pretend none of this ever happened."

Odin spoke with a cold face.

His tone was calm, yet it sent a chill through Hela’s heart.

"Father…"

"Do not make me repeat myself, Hela."

"You are surrendering to Jotunheim, Father." Hela closed her eyes sorrowfully, taking a deep breath to calm the emotions surging through her heart.

"But I, and the soldiers behind me, will never surrender!" When she opened her eyes again, the sorrow in them had vanished.

A pressure of death gradually poured from the graceful body wrapped in her black skintight battle suit.

The terror of hell’s abyss, bolstered by the Mind Stone, spread through the hearts of every Jotunheim giant!

"All troops, heed my command!"

"Attack!"

The resounding war horns blared at once, and Hela’s divine power of death instantly shattered Odin’s suppression over the soldiers!

"Let’s see who dares!"

With a furious shout from Odin, who stood with his hands behind his back, the soldiers looked at one another, suddenly unsure what to do.

"Laufey, today’s events were my oversight. As for the peace treaty, I will find another time to discuss it with you properly."

Pulling the Space Stone from his robes, Odin swept out his hand, and every Asgardian soldier in Jotunheim vanished without a trace!

"Odin… what exactly is he thinking?"

Laufey frowned after witnessing the confrontation between father and daughter, unable to make sense of it no matter how he thought about it.

Odin’s actions were far too abnormal. So abnormal that Laufey had no choice but to consider the matter from every angle, only to grow more confused the more he thought…

What exactly… was going on?

Centaurus Galaxy, Dark Order.

Carrying the latest intelligence he had gathered, Ebony Maw, who had reached the outer space surrounding the penal grounds, chose to open a communications channel with Thanos.

He relayed the firsthand information he had obtained to the overlord of the Centaurus Galaxy.

A shocking upheaval had occurred in Asgard. Princess Hela had led troops in rebellion against Odin and failed. After Odin declared that she was stripped of her authority over the military and her supreme status, she was thrown into an Asgardian prison…

"Hmm? Has it begun?"

Thanos had been reviewing the reports submitted by the Dark Order’s planetary observers. Upon seeing the message Ebony Maw had sent, he fell into thought.

"Odin really laid hands on his daughter?"