CHAPTER 232: CHAPTER 233: A FATHER’S LIMIT

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

"Thor!"

"You’re tampering with history!"

"And not just any history, this is two thousand years ago!"

"Do you even understand what kind of consequences this could have?!"

"Do you?!"

Rocket, seething with fury, grabbed the hem of Thor’s cloak and barked furiously at him after witnessing him throw Mjolnir.

"Sorry... but I don’t have a choice."

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

"No! You do have a choice!"

"You know exactly what kind of injury your mother is going to suffer!"

"And it’s not fatal! You know that, Thor!"

Rocket, now utterly enraged, leapt onto Thor’s shoulder, grabbed him by the collar, and roared in his face.

"So what? You want me to just stand there and do nothing?"

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

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

Thor’s voice was cold, cutting. The insult hit deep.

"...What did you just say?" Rocket’s fists clenched. He had never expected that from Thor.

"Look, I—"

Thor realized immediately that he’d gone too far. His tone softened. But before he could finish, an ocean of weapons surged toward them, an endless tide of gleaming metal.

A chilling instinct of danger silenced him. Without hesitation, Thor grabbed the stunned Rocket and vaulted toward a nearby market stall, dodging the incoming onslaught.

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

"So please... just stay here, okay?"

"Don’t move. I’ll be right back. Got it?"

He gently set Rocket down and rose to his feet, his eyes locking onto Hela, now hovering in the sky, searching for him.

Resolute, he moved toward her.

As he passed a booth, he grabbed a cheap horse-faced mask hanging on a rack and pulled it over his head, concealing his identity.

"Who are you?"

Hela had spotted him, this masked figure pushing through the crowd against the flow.

Mjolnir... her weapon, forged by Odin for her. And yet, this masked man wielded it.

"Me?"

"Just a passerby from Asgard. That’s all."

His beer belly and unkempt face were poorly hidden by the loose robes. To further throw her off, Thor deliberately mimicked Lothar’s cadence, Lothar’s odd phrasing. The familiarity in his tone gave Hela pause.

"As an Asgardian, I don’t recognize your right to rule over us."

"You’re cruel. Brutal."

"And clearly unfit to be king."

From behind the mask, Thor reached out toward the Mjolnir that had fallen at Frigga’s feet.

The hammer from two thousand years ago was still intact. And fortunately, it recognized him.

If he was going to face his sister, the Goddess of Death, he needed a proper weapon.

"Oh? Interesting."

An eerie sense of unease had been gnawing at Hela ever since this man appeared. That only fanned the flames of her murderous intent.

"In that case... you can die."

She unleashed her deathly aura, gathering a blast meant to end her masked opponent in a single blow, but just as she raised her hand, another figure appeared in a flash before her.

A golden figure with flowing white beard and battle-hardened armor gripped her arm.

"Father?!"

"Odin!"

Odin had returned. He nodded at Frigga gently, then cast a fleeting glance at Thor. The latter instantly froze, his bloated frame stiffening under the weight of that look.

"Impossible..."

Unlike Thor, Hela felt no dread, just disbelief. Her mind reeled.

"Everything you have, Hela, I gave you."

"And that includes your power."

Having reunited with an old friend and donned his battle armor, Odin now radiated the might of the All-Father, sovereign of the Nine Realms.

Deprived of the Mind Stone’s boost, Hela struggled in vain to free herself from Odin’s grip.

SLAP!

A loud crack echoed. Five red marks bloomed across Hela’s pale cheek.

"You are my daughter, heir to Asgard’s future. That is not in question."

"But remember this."

"The throne you seek... can only be given. Not taken."

"Because I am your father."

BOOM!!!

Blinding silver-white light burst from Odin’s palm. An ancient, incomprehensible force surged into Hela’s body.

SPLURT!

Blood sprayed into the air.

"How... how can this be...?"

Just one strike, and Hela was smashed to the ground, her mouth dripping blood.

Just. One. Strike.

She had no strength left to resist.

The sheer terror of Odin’s full power in battle armor could no longer be questioned.

Father...

Thor stood off to the side, stunned, his heart a storm of emotions.

He had always known Odin was powerful, but this? This was something else.

Hela, who had crushed them all, who once ruled the battlefield unchallenged, hadn’t lasted a single round.

"You made a grave mistake, Hela."

Odin approached the crater where Hela lay.

She clawed backward with every limb, trying to put distance between them.

"Is that so? I disagree. I believe what I did was right."

Though she struggled to steady her breath, her voice trembled with defiance.

"Peace built on submission is fragile at best. The supplies you promised Jotunheim will only raise generations of youths poisoned by hatred for Asgard."

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

Despite her wounds, her conviction was unshaken.

A sudden conjured blade appeared at Odin’s side, proof of Hela’s stubborn will.

Now!

The fleeting moment of opportunity, caught in Odin’s blink, was all she needed.

Through searing pain, she conjured a fleet of weapons, forged into a ship that carried her swiftly away.

She needed backup.

One face burned in her mind: Lothar.

If only Lothar could lend me the Mind Stone again...

CLANG!

An endless barrage of spectral Gungnir spears rained from the sky, blasting Hela and her vessel into disarray.

Weapons clattered across the ground in a cacophony of metal on stone.

"You cannot escape me, Hela."

"My daughter."

Odin appeared again, effortlessly.

Clad in golden armor, he looked down upon the battered, blood-soaked figure below him.

A king’s cold judgment in his eyes.

Kneeling in the dirt, Hela looked up at that calm, imperious face and saw only one thing:

"Daughter... your father has come to kill you."

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