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"Behind every villain lies a broken heart."
– Joanne Harris, (Runemarks)
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<{Elysium, Helheim, a sub realm in Nifflefheim}>
<(Omniscient POV)>
"Sigh, I am so bored. Why is there nothing to do here anymore? I feel like I am the one getting punished here, even though I am supposed to be the ruler of this place." Hela, the Queen of Helheim, released a bored exhale as she continued fiddling with her fingers to manipulate a couple of undead skeletons, making them dance like puppets under her control. "Leah, do I have anything in my schedule? I just need something to do. I feel like I will become an undead myself if I continue sitting here." She complained in a bored voice before picking up a grape from a plate beside her and tossing it inside her mouth.
[{(Image in Discord)}]
The two women were currently in a lush green forest surrounded by tall green mountains and beautiful blue lakes, a calm, serene region that could easily be described as a heavenly location. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that this part of the realm was built to mirror what most people assumed a good afterlife to look like. After all, the place was modeled to be a resting place for good-natured people as a prize after their death, a heaven for the ones with immense good karma.
"I am sorry, My Lady, but unfortunately, there is nothing for you to do for the next few years. The new judgment system that I implemented can judge souls pretty well even without your help. As for the seal placed over the realm, it shows no signs of weakening, so we are still stuck here for the time being." Leah, Hela's most devoted and loyal servant, responded respectfully, careful not to make direct eye contact with her mistress.
[{(Image in Discord)}]
Leah had been serving the Norse goddess of Death for longer than she remembered. Originally, she was an Aesir-Light Elf hybrid before she crossed over to Hel, but after she became Hela's attendant, her race no longer mattered to her or to anyone else in here. After all, Hela was the undisputed mistress of souls from all ten realms, and to her, everyone was just a soul to be collected... although two of the ten realms were no longer part of her primary domain. The curse that Odin had secretly placed on the souls of Angels thousands of years ago to curtail Hela's dominion made sure that her undead army never became too powerful for Asgard and its rulers to face.
As for when it came to Midgard, too many purgatories had sprung up there in the last few millennia for the Norse Goddess to have a sizeable piece anymore. Now she only had access to the souls who practiced Nordic culture or religion there. As a matter of fact, not just those two realms, but even Asgard after Odin sealed her away had successfully created its own "afterlife" for its Heroes and its honored dead in the form of Valhalla, thereby decreasing the rate of growth in her power.
"Tch, that old one-eyed bastard. He doesn't even allow me any entertainment. I swear once I free myself, I will... What was that?" Hela perked up instantly, a look of surprise on her face as if she had just sensed the impossible.
"What happened, mistress? Did you sense something?" Leah asked, trying her best to sense what was wrong. But despite being one of the oldest servants of the Norse Goddess of Death, her connection with the realm of Hel was nowhere near as strong as Hela's. So, even though she tried hard to pull on her connection to the realm to see what was wrong, all she felt was an eerie and gloomy silence.
"Someone's here," Hela murmured, her eyebrows knitting together while she intently stared ahead as if she were expecting someone to appear out of thin air.
"My Lady, is this serious? Should I alert everyone to increase security around the realm?" Leah asked, wanting to make sure that she did as much as possible for her mistress.
"Doesn't matter. There is no time to warn them anyway. Whoever is coming, they are too powerful to be stopped by mere guards." Hela answered just as the space in front of the two women flickered as if it were a curtain, and a muscular young man became visible walking towards them.
***
<(Atem POV)>
"At last, I am here. I thought I was lost again. Man, I don't think I have walked that much in my life." I complained to no one in particular as I finally exited the Helway and appeared in the middle of what looked like a gloomy yet beautiful forest. "I thought the Helway would make our travel easier and shorten our travel time in this realm, yet it seemed like the road was never-ending. Walking the entire path, even at my extraordinary speed, was excruciating." I mumbled to myself before finally noticing the two women standing a couple of meters in front of me. "... Oh, look at that. Two beautiful women standing right before me, seems I am at the right place after all."
"I am not a mere 'woman', and neither is my mistress. I am merely a servant of Lady Hela." Leah responded with an annoyed expression, a look of respect present on her face as she stared at the Asgardian goddess of Death, silently standing by her.
"Hela? You mean Hela Odinsdottir?" I asked, noticing a small smirk forming on her face. She was probably happy with the fact that I recognized her even though she had been imprisoned here for thousands of years. "Good, that means I am at the right place." I nodded with a relaxed smile. "Anyway, I should introduce myself. I am Atem, the New God of Domination and the Void, but you can call me oni-chan since I am, after all, your big brother, my dear little sister Hela." I grinned, expecting to see a look of surprise on her face.
But contrary to my expectations, instead of seeing a look of surprise in her eyes, I only saw hatred, anger, and maybe even a tiny bit of disgust along with a deep desire for vengeance. Sling sling. She immediately threw two black swords at me, intending to either amputate me or completely maim me. However, unfortunately for her, my cosmic awareness was more than just good when it came to sensing danger.
Sensing the incoming swords, I quickly moved out of the way at a speed faster than the speed of sound before sending about half a dozen black chakra receiver rods at her. Of course, I didn't intend to kill or injure her, I just needed to immobilize her long enough to explain to her that I wasn't her enemy and that we were on the same team.
Obviously, Hela being Hela wasn't about to be done by just an attack like that. She calmly manifested a black necro-spear and effortlessly deflected my attack before raising her hand in a grand display, "Arise, my minions" She declared resulting in hundreds of black rotten skeletons climbing up from the soil from all around me.
"Hey, sis..., you won't happen to be a Sung Jin-woo fan, are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in doubt. Hela didn't bother to answer my question, but my calling her sis seemed to annoy her a lot.
"Stand back, Leah. This isn't your fight, and I will hang you from the Hill of Death if you try to interrupt me." She warned her servant, who looked like she was preparing some kind of spell against me.
Then, with a flick of her hands, the hundreds of freshly risen undead rushed towards me with crude black weapons in their hands, intending to tear me apart like savages.
"Hakai" I snapped my finger with a shit-eating grin on my face, erasing the entire undead legion from existence with a single wave of void attack.
"Atem was it, you are strong. Tell me, are you the current King of Asgard? Has Odin finally rolled over? No, that shouldn't be. If the All-Father was already dead, the seal should have already been lifted. Also, I can still feel his power trying to keep me from accessing the Odin Force. He is weakening, but his life is far from over." She muttered to herself before producing two bright green flames in her palms. "However, it doesn't matter if you are the present King or just a prince. As his eldest child, I am the legitimate heir to the throne, and I will be the one to rule Asgard, and when I do, I will tear everything Odin has built brick by brick until there is nothing left. That man wanted a tool of war as his daughter, so that is exactly what he will get." She spoke with pain hidden in her voice as she manipulated the fire in her hands and threw a stream of green flames at me.
Her flames were quite different from normal fire or any other fire I had ever faced before. It felt cold to the touch, but my senses screamed at me not to let it touch me. If I did, then there was a chance that it could scorch my skin. So, I used my divine energy and telekinesis to cover my body with a protective layer before using Ryujin Jakka to throw my own brand of fire at her in retaliation.
The two flames collided in the middle in an explosion of heat, with no one getting the upper hand for some time. Even though the surroundings began to slowly melt due to the supernatural attributes and the high temperatures of the flames, both Hela and I stopped our respective attacks after a few minutes due to it getting nowhere and just using up our time and energy uselessly.
"Since both of our powers are so similar to each other's, let's settle this the traditional way," Hela challenged before again manifesting two sharp necro-swords in her hands.
"... As you wish." I agreed with a smirk before taking out the Blades of Chaos from my inventory, its sharp blades burning brightly with godly fire as its chains wrapped around my arms, ready to take the life of a god, the very thing it was created for in the first place.
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