Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1742

As the mist gradually dissipated, Hela coldly watched Thor and Loki huddled together next to Frigga.

The aftershocks of that duel still reverberated across the Faroe Islands. Thick, dark gray clouds pressed down on the sea, brewing lightning. Beneath the clouds, blizzards howled across the frozen ocean, giant waves freezing into icebergs, and whirlpools turning into ghastly white craters. Occasionally, towering flames could be seen shattering the clouds on the other side of the horizon, while thunderous roars that shook the earth and ice drifted slowly from afar, finally exploding in one's ears, gripping the fragile viscera of humanity.

The Faroe Islands have vanished. The tragic victims and their structures are buried beneath ice and molten rock, leaving only a few rocky outcrops and a blackened, scorched-by-fire spires protruding from the ice, a testament to what was once an inhabited island. The safest place on the battlefield is the towering tree constructed of runes. The runes isolate it from the ever-changing environment, but neither storms nor extreme temperatures can penetrate the stone Frigga discarded on the ground, engraved with combined runes.

"Dear Mother, it's been a long time. I still remember how you tricked me into going to the Land of the Dead." Hela scrutinized her mother, her tone rising with sarcasm. "You look much older. A noblewoman like you should be taking better care of yourself. Is it because raising these brats is too much trouble? I can kill them and save you the trouble."

"No!" Frigga cried out anxiously. Then she lowered her voice, "No, they are your brothers."

"If this is what you want,"

Hela's helmet spikes flew high as she stood with one hand on her hip and the other gripping the black longsword "Night Sky" like a pointer, its tip pointing at Thor and Loki. "As long as they don't get in my way, I can spare their lives for your sake. You certainly don't remember what happened before, Thor; your childhood was far too long. Even now, you're still like an underdeveloped teenager—impulsive, naive, and lacking in wisdom. You wield my weapon as if it were born yours."

"Mjolnir is the warrior's weapon! You have insulted my honor, and you have insulted Mjolnir!"

If Frigga hadn't been holding him back, Saul would have rushed up and smashed his sister, who didn't remember him at all.

"If a ranger's adventure counts as a military achievement, then you've done well. Don't think that just because I'm in Nelfheim I don't know what's going on outside. You've never experienced a real battlefield. Only court bards would exaggerate a few minor rebellions into epic tales."

Hela remained as nonchalant as ever.

Her sword tip pointed at Loki, who immediately put on a polite smile and then gave a perfunctory bow.

"Jotunheim bastard, you're lucky to have survived." Loki's expression froze, and he could only awkwardly straighten up. Hela continued, seemingly oblivious, the tip of her sword waving in front of Loki. "You were so small then, much smaller than the average Frost Giant child, so small and cold, even breathing was a struggle. I suggested Odin feed you to Fenrir to spare you too much suffering. But he thought you could control Jotunheim. Now it seems he failed; he treated a pet like a son. You should be living in the stables, but now you call yourself a prince—it's laughable."

"Stop talking." Frigga closed her eyes in anguish.

"Look at you, still so weak, but you've learned to disguise yourself. Even though you want to bite my throat right now, you still pretend to smile. That's clever, but—" Hela's malice was almost overflowing, her sword tip waving like a red cloth teasing a bull in front of Loki and Thor. Thor hadn't underestimated Hela's danger; that black sword was constantly pointed at his and Loki's vitals.

"—Coward. You're a coward, lacking the courage to face your enemies." Hela drawled, "Look at Thor, he may be foolish, but at least he had courage. You wouldn't do that, would you? I forgive you; you're not an Asgardian. Thank you for my mercy; I can kill you first, so you can say goodbye to your miserable mongrel life."

"Shut up!" Thor roared angrily, "Shut up, you..."

"She's trying to provoke you," Loki whispered a warning. "Don't talk to her; she's trying to make you lose your mind. Our sister, who just got out of prison, is smart, at least smarter than you."

"I know!" Thor glared at Hela, twirling Mjolnir in his hand. "Will you help me? I want you to swear an oath to Mother!"

"She doesn't seem to like me that much." Loki chuckled and shrugged. "I swear to Frigga, I swear in the name of the God of Mischief, I swear to the gallows, I will help you, dear brother."

"So, do you choose them or me, Mother?" Hela looked at Frigga, her smile vanishing. Seeing Frigga's pained expression only fueled her anger—she knew the answer—Hela forced a voice from her throat, accompanied by black fury, "You know I am destined to inherit Asgard, you know Odin fears me… I never imagined my mother would deceive me!"

"You've gone mad, Hela," Frigga said, tears streaming down her face. Thor and Loki stared at their mother's tears, bewildered. They had never seen her so sorrowful. "You want to kill everyone. You want to build your war achievements with skulls."

"Odin commanded me to bring death to the enemy, and I did it!" Hela shouted angrily. "Now he wants to adorn his robes with gold to wash away the stench of blood! For his own reputation, he wants to erase my achievements and force my officers to lay down their arms! Tell me, Frigga, can I watch wounded warriors lay down their weapons, erase their honor, and force them to do the work of commoners?"

"The war is over, but you're the only one who hasn't moved on!"

Frigga closed her eyes in anguish, her heart clenching at her daughter's madness. "Odin has given those soldiers and their families a safe life and honor. The king has not failed any of his soldiers. Your accusations against him are a disgrace to the honor of Asgard."

"Utterly foolish, how short-sighted."

Hela shouted angrily, striding forward. Thor and Loki immediately blocked Frigga's path, stopping her. "The war isn't over! There are still many threats in this universe. Odin has even lost faith in his own army, otherwise he wouldn't have stopped the expedition!" she said furiously. "He's afraid. He's afraid of things he can't fight, afraid that my influence in the army will dethrone him! For the sake of his reputation, he even ordered the Valkyries to attack me..."

"What's wrong with the Valkyrie?" Thor asked.

"I once fought alongside the glorious Valkyries, and I must praise their brutality and courage. But Odin ordered the Valkyries to attack me, knowing they were no match for me. This is our father, so hypocritical, that even the Valkyries, utterly loyal to him, could not escape death. Their remains are destined to be stepping stones for him to become the King of the Gods, simply because the Valkyries are the sagas whose path to conquest is written in the blood of their enemies. The clothes of the Father of the Gods cannot be stained with blood!"

Frigga remained silent.

She knew perfectly well why Odin had halted the expedition. Part of what Hela said was true, but not the whole story. Those invincible enemies were always watching Asgard, and one day they would unleash Ragnarok, the day of the gods' destruction. The day Odin had foretold was drawing near, and she could see the vague outline of that catastrophe.

Hela was merely the beginning, not the decisive factor, of Ragnarok; everything Odin did was to prevent that day from coming. But she couldn't speak of it, for even uttering those names might attract their attention and hasten the destruction of Asgard. Frigga could only hope that everything Odin had planned for tens of thousands of years would work.

If Asgard is destined for destruction, then the gods behind the veil of Ragnarok will also pay the price!

Even gods shed blood!

“I don’t deny it.” Frigga composed herself, forcing a firm expression. She looked like a queen again. “But I still believe Odin’s choices were correct, including imprisoning you. You had already caused damage to Asgard at that time, and as a king, Odin had to deal with you.”

"Including purging those soldiers loyal to me?" Hela sneered. "Zinar, you remember him, he was in charge of feeding Fenrir. He always followed in my footsteps, fighting on the front lines. He was wounded more than once, and if I hadn't pleaded with your healer, he would have died on the battlefield long ago. Asgard was built on his blood, yet Odin still killed them without mercy."

"They have to make sacrifices," Frigga said coldly. "That's Asgard."

Hela was getting closer, and Thor and Loki could even smell the blood on her.

They were speechless, for they had never experienced the bloodiest and cruelest period of Asgard's history, nor had they ever seen their gentle mother so ruthless—the one who issued the orders was their father, but at least some of the orders came from their mother, Frigga, whose hands were no less stained with blood than Odin's—all the saga sung by bards praised the mercy and wisdom of the great god Odin, never mentioning the cruelty and bloodshed of the god of the gallows. Thor had heard that the aliens in the colony called Odin "the King of the Wild Hunt."

Thor never considered the source of the aliens' fear of Odin, but simply took it as praise from an enemy and hoped that one day the aliens would call him that too.

"Do you know what I was thinking when Zinar fell before me? I couldn't let them down, Frigga. Asgard belongs to me, to my soldiers, not to a king who likes to adorn himself with gold and honor! A true king should ascend the throne on iron and blood, not like these two reckless, foolish, and naive fellows, treating the entire country as a game or an adventure sung by bards bribed by the golden palace!"

Hela suddenly calmed down, straightened her back, and adopted an arrogant posture.

She made her decision with a statement, as if everyone else was obliged to accept her every word, allowing no dissent. "Since Odin calls me by the name of death, then I will crown myself with bones and a black sword. If a hundred oppose me, I will kill a hundred; if ten thousand oppose me, I will kill ten thousand! If all Asgardians oppose me, I will not hesitate to rule a kingdom of the dead, as I have for the past millennia. Anyone who stands in my way to the Silver Tower, to ascend the Hliskjálf (the supreme throne in Norse mythology), will be my enemy—"

Hela's sword was pointed at Frigga, and at Thor and Loki, who were standing in front of Frigga. She looked excited, poised to unleash her power, as if Hela couldn't wait for Thor and Loki to attack her. Thor felt a chill. He could tell that Hela was serious; she really would kill him and Loki in front of Frigga.

Frigga just looked at her coldly and said nothing more.

"Including you, Mother, I've had enough of your deception."

"You're insane! I've had enough of your nonsense! You cold-blooded monster!" Thor could no longer contain himself. He gripped his hammer and stepped out of the runic protective zone, a blizzard and ice blasting at him. "If you dare challenge the heir of Asgard, then I shall accept! Come here, my sister whom I've never met, I will prove my honor here, and your death!"

A massive black sword emerged from the ground to meet the lightning summoned by Mjolnir, the deafening roar of thunder striking the protective magic constructed from runes. The Goddess of Death laughed maniacally, her slender, long black sword flashing across the night sky, creating an opaque curtain of darkness. Several shallow wounds quickly appeared on Thor's body, blood dripping continuously onto the snow, then rapidly freezing into deep red ice.

Hela toyed with her prey with excitement, enjoying its death like a feline, seemingly determined to drain Saul dry. She even viciously cut open Saul's skin and muscles to make the blood flow faster, forcing Saul to grit his teeth and endure the immense pain of his flesh being rolled back and the dizziness from rapid blood loss.

Loki frantically pulled out a dagger and began carving runes into the rubble, watching his mother with worry.

Frigga looked utterly haggard; her feigned toughness had vanished, and she was simply weeping, as if her life had already ended, leaving only a thin shadow beneath the giant tree. She watched the battlefield, seeing Thor clumsily wielding his lightning-infused warhammer, shattering Hela's black swords again and again, the metal clashing against metal producing a piercing noise and flashes of light.

Each time Thor summoned lightning struck the black sword, it could only block one attack, utterly powerless to stop Hela's relentless onslaught. Blood and lightning splattered, the thunder under the dark clouds grew even more violent, and the destructive roar of lightning beneath the clouds even shattered the nearby ice surface. Even the sky, which had become gloomy due to the ecological disaster, was illuminated as bright as day for a short time.

Mjolnir was originally a warhammer that could be wielded with both hands. It was a divine artifact that Odin ordered craftsmen to forge on the dying star. Hela once led her legions into battle with the warhammer in one hand and the black sword in the other, until the eve of her being declared a traitor.

By the time it reached Thor's hands, the handle of the warhammer was already shortened. Perhaps the warhammer was damaged during Hela's direct confrontation with Odin, or perhaps Hela discovered that Odin had used a spell to forbid her from using Mjolnir, forcing her to destroy the weapon to prevent Odin from using the warhammer.

Regardless of the truth, Mjolnir is currently a warhammer that can only be wielded with one hand, not a weapon suitable for dueling. If he could, for the first time in his life, Thor wished he were holding a shield, so he could approach his enemies without hesitation, instead of hoping that his armor plates could stop the black sword "Night Sky" for even 0.1 seconds.

The two divine weapons, once fighting side by side, clashed repeatedly. Thor discovered that Hela's black sword could even scratch the surface of Mjolnir; the damage to the weapon pained him far more than the physical harm. He roared, trying to close the distance with Hela and end the battle quickly with his unparalleled power.

However, Hela is faster and more experienced.

She wasn't a madwoman wielding weapons recklessly, but a skilled battlefield artist, experienced in both leading legions in battle and dueling for honor. However, her next attack was abruptly interrupted; a bullet struck precisely the spine of the sword in the night sky, deflecting the blade that was meant to pierce Thor's grasp on Mjolnir's fingers.

Hela glared angrily at the dark portal and the two tall figures that emerged from it.

"I'm sorry to interrupt such a pleasant family gathering, but unfortunately, visiting hours are over." Bayonetta, dressed in a dark blue Japanese-style police uniform skirt—no one knew when she had changed clothes—the black-haired witch took a rose-shaped lollipop from her mouth, glanced at Hela surrounded by floating black swords, and said casually, "If you two have any arguments, you'd better settle them on your own turf, or I'll give you a ticket!"

Seeing that they were two mortals, Hela had no desire to speak.

The Lady of Death merely swung a black, obsidian-like sword towards Bayonetta and Jeanne, as if mortals were nothing more than weak creatures to be executed at will. Bayonetta fired a shot, deflecting the black sword once more, and only then did Hela give the witches a proper look.

"You dare refuse the death I offer, mortal!"

"I thought his arrogance was annoying enough, but your arrogance is even more like bloating, utterly repulsive." Joan crossed her arms, pointing to the dark clouds and ice that stretched low to the sea in the distance. "The one who defeated you is right there, along with your father. Why don't you go and challenge him? I believe they wouldn't mind spending a little time killing you, Goddess of Death."

The witch's wickedness and cruelty exceeded the Asgardians' expectations.

"I will wait here for the final victor of that duel. Only the victor can challenge me!" Hela laughed angrily. "Until then, you must atone with your lives!"

"She can't go to Asgard!" Frigga interrupted Hela. "Odin has abdicated the throne, and now the faith Asgard has accumulated over half a million years will belong to the first in line to the throne. The order of succession has never changed, and my daughter, he always hoped..."

"Don't think you can fool me with such tricks, Mother. You were the one who tricked me into going to the Land of the Dead!"

Hela simply waved her hand dismissively. She knew that as long as Thor accepted the challenge, the Bifrost would open, and Asgard would inevitably welcome its king. If she killed Thor, she would undoubtedly be the Queen of Asgard, and Heimdall would have to open the Bifrost to welcome her, because Asgard had no other choice. If she failed to kill Thor, then a third party must have provided assistance, and Heimdall might have sided with Thor, using the Bifrost to take him away. But it didn't matter; this was the opportunity she had been waiting for. The Bifrost could not refuse the heir of Asgard.

Bayonetta frowned deeply.

From Asgard's perspective, resolving Hela's problem on Earth is incredibly fortunate, but this is Earth, and Earth has never belonged to Asgard. The battle between Odin and Salomon has already triggered an ecological catastrophe, and while the battle between Hela and Thor may not have the same impact as the previous duel, it is still unbearable suffering for mortals.

She snapped her fingers, and a massive, dark shadow, like viscous mud, surged forth from beneath her butterfly shadow, instantly forming a humanoid figure tens of meters tall with indigo skin. Dressed in a long black gown woven from butterfly scales and a crown shaped like butterfly wings, Lady Butterfly looked down at Hela, who radiated malice. "My dear half," Bayonetta addressed Lady Butterfly, "we are about to taste blood again."

Lady Butterfly smiled and nodded. Immediately, a shadowy portal appeared beside Bayonetta, and a golden spear and longbow emerged from it. As Bayonetta gripped the spear and rested it on the bow, the light of Venus pierced through the thick blizzard clouds and fell upon her.

"Final announcement." Bayonetta's tone remained as sarcastic and provocative as ever, but this time she no longer resembled a shadow witch, but a deity draped in starlight. "Death, or departure."

"You are a god too, very good, this battle can still be considered an honor."

Hela raised her longsword, and a giant wave of gray skeletal spirits appeared out of thin air and leaped to her side.

She stood on the wolf's head, looking up at Madame Butterfly and the Black-haired Witch. Death was both a curse and a praise, not only because many alien races who called themselves gods had died by her sword or the jaws of wolves, but also because she had dabbled in forbidden dark magic.

“My dear brother, come with me,” Hela said. “And you, you Jotunheim bastard. Look at this woman; she’s even braver than you.”