A blinding column of light tore through the Bifrost's control chamber, and several figures emerged from the rippling, iridescent passage. At their head was Sean. Behind him came Thor, Valkyrie, and Loki, who looked ready to kiss ass at a moment's notice.
"My prince. It is a great relief to see you returned." Heimdall, having delivered yet another critical assist, knelt upon his greatsword.
He paid no attention whatsoever to the other prince, Loki.
He continued in a heavy tone, "I led a number of civilians into the hidden fortress our ancestors built. It serves as a temporary refuge for the Asgardian people. Hela is an utter madwoman. None would follow her willingly."
The moment Heimdall had learned of Odin's death, he had sensed Hela's return looming. He abandoned the Bifrost preemptively and went into hiding, waiting for Thor to come back from Muspelheim.
However, Hela's power had exceeded every estimate. Heimdall had been forced to use the Bifrost to spirit away the defeated Thor, and then had vanished into the mountain wilds with his greatsword.
Only recently, when Thor had left Sakaar newly resolved to reclaim Asgard and save his people, had they reestablished contact through Heimdall's preternatural sight.
"Hela draws her strength from Asgard itself. With each passing day, she grows more powerful."
Thor nodded, understanding Heimdall's unspoken warning. He had already fallen to Hela once, and might not be able to overcome her now.
"Relax, Brother. You've brought reinforcements." Loki inserted himself with practiced timing, a malicious smirk on his face, "If Hela proves as formidable as you all claim, Lord Cyphers can simply order the Imperial-class warship anchored outside Asgard to reduce this place to rubble. Asgard can be relocated to Earth. Lord Cyphers has guaranteed that the Unified Government will pass an Asgardian Refugee Assistance Plan. The provisional settlement zone has already been designated in Northern Europe."
Thor glared sidelong at Loki, his fists clenched with an audible crack. He had never imagined a day would come when he could not even protect his own homeland.
"There's no need for concern. That is only a contingency plan, a last resort. One should always prepare for the worst, isn't it?" Sean cut off Loki's taunting before it could provoke the unsightly spectacle of Thor pummeling his own brother.
The vast expanse of Asgard lay eerily silent, like an empty city. Apart from the distant bloom of fires and the occasional cry that split the air, there was no sound at all.
Sean stood upon the Bifrost and gazed toward the colossal and majestic sprawl of architecture in the distance. Countless glittering stars flickered faintly against the black canopy of sky. The golden palace, perched at Asgard's highest peak, thrust upward like a sword driven into the heavens, looking down upon the entire realm from its mountainous throne.
"I can feel Hela's presence. She has become one with Asgard. No wonder you lost to that sister of yours, freshly escaped from Hel as she was." Sean nodded in understanding.
So long as Asgard endured, Hela's power was inexhaustible. She could be neither defeated nor killed.
Thor exhaled heavily. He had tasted Hela's strength firsthand. The moment they met, his unreasonable sister had thrashed him and gouged out an eye. It was a pitiful story to tell.
The thought of Mjolnir crushed into scrap metal sent a fresh pang through his chest. He would have to visit King Eitri of the Dwarves on Nidavellir. He was in dire need of a proper weapon.
"The people of Asgard will never accept Hela. If she can be defeated, everything can still be salvaged." Thor's voice was firm.
Hela could never earn the people's love or loyalty. She might carry Odin's blood, and she might be the firstborn princess, but the Goddess of Death was simply too deranged.
After the brutal invasions by Thanos's Black Order and the Chitauri armada, Asgard yearned only for peace and quiet. No one wished to reignite the flames of war. But Hela dreamed of nothing but conquering the Nine Realms, dominating the galaxy, and then pushing outward into the cosmos to sate her mad ambition.
Though Asgardians were a warrior and martial people, they had no desire to live under a tyrant's heel. That was why Odin had chosen imprisonment over handing Hela the crown.
If she were left to run rampant, she would yoke Asgard to an unending war chariot and drive it straight into the abyss. As king, Odin could never tolerate such a fate...
"And after defeating your sister... what will you do then?" Sean asked meaningfully.
Thor paused for a moment, then gave a cold, hard answer, "Perhaps Hel is where she truly belongs."
Sean smiled calmly: 'It seems adversity and suffering can indeed force a man to grow quickly...'
Even Thor, the once-brash and arrogant god of Thunder, had become clear-eyed and pragmatic. There was a hint of a true king about him now.
At the very least, he had stopped clinging to sentiment. Odin had imprisoned his own daughter long ago, and Thor had now arrived at the very same resolution.
The group crossed the Bifrost. Asgard was now a hollow city; the palace guards who should have been patrolling its streets had long since been butchered by Hela, and the terrified civilians had been led by Heimdall to the hidden fortress deep in the mountains.
Sean strolled into the once heavily guarded golden palace as though he were taking a leisurely walk through a garden. He paid no mind to Thor's mounting anxiety, instead admiring the exquisite reliefs and murals that covered the walls.
The vivid, masterfully rendered panels mostly depicted Odin's heroic campaigns across the Nine Realms, alongside the grand sagas of the Nine Kingdoms. These ancient tales passed down through millennia had been painted in rich, sweeping strokes across walls and archways for future generations to revere...
"When exactly are we going to stop Hela?" Thor finally lost patience.
Knowing Hela's madness, if the people of Asgard refused to bow, the Goddess of Death would not hesitate to unleash a massacre.
"I was wondering when you'd ask that." Sean shrugged and turned his gaze toward the throne room, "She already knows we're here."
...
Within the vast, soaring throne room, Hela sat upon the great seat of the King of Asgard, one hand propping her chin. From this throne, one could survey all Nine Realms like a supreme sovereign presiding over creation.
"Hm?" She raised her head abruptly. Her stare collided across the immaterial space with Sean's deep, fathomless gaze.
"It seems my little brother has found himself some reinforcements." A flicker of contempt passed through the Goddess of Death's eyes.
So long as she stood upon Asgard, she was inherently invincible, this was why Odin had known he could not stop her.
Having returned to Asgard, Hela's power flowed from the very land beneath her feet. It was unassailable. Unless someone destroyed Asgard itself, she could be neither defeated nor slain.
In a sense, as Odin's firstborn, along with her soul and power bound to the realm, she was indeed the most qualified heir to the throne. But no matter how strong Hela grew, even with Asgard's own acknowledgment, the king that Odin had truly wanted was always Thor. No one else.
At this thought, Hela's hatred for Odin burned even hotter. It was she who had conquered civilization after civilization for Asgard, and what had she received in the end?
To secure the throne of the Nine Realms and project Asgard's overwhelming might, Odin had ignited a cataclysmic war that swept through all Nine Kingdoms. It was she who had led Asgard's legions, grinding every civilization that dared resist into dust beneath the iron tide. In that age, how resplendent and mighty Asgard had been...
The Nine Realms had hailed it as sovereign, as supreme overlord, as guardian of Yggdrasil, as the Realm of the gods.
"You could have raised Asgard to the pinnacle, making it the greatest civilization in this universe... but because you suddenly decided you wanted to play the merciful king, you halted the war and pretended the bloodshed and wailing had never happened. Such hypocrisy!" Hela let out a scornful, bitter laugh, her gaze blazing with animosity.
She could not comprehend Odin's choices. Even after millennia in Hel, she still could not accept them.
Had mercy driven out the Dark Elves? Had benevolence defeated the Frost Giants? Asgard had become protector of the Nine Realms precisely because of its overwhelming martial strength.
"I will prove you wrong. In my hands, Asgard will reclaim its former glory." Hela rose from the throne and looked down upon the phantom images of the Nine Realms.
With a languid sweep of her arm, she released the Eternal Flame from her palm. It surged forth in a torrent of ghastly green fire and seeped deep into the earth, into the Hall of the Slain below.
Deep beneath the palace, the warriors who had fallen heroically in ages past stirred as though summoned. Cold flames kindled in their empty eye sockets. The desiccated corpses drank in new life, rising to their feet with stiff, mechanical movements.
Just as they had eons ago, the Einherjar, the honored dead who had slept beneath the earth, once again sounded the horns of war.
"Let us see if you are worthy of the name 'Son of Odin'. Worthy to be called King of Asgard." Hela stood motionless before the throne.
The legion of unthinking Einherjar poured from the palace like a tide of black, their footsteps falling in grim, heavy unison.