After returning to the temple, Odin wasted no time and convened yet another emergency meeting.
With Hela's return, his confidence soared. If Thanos really wanted a fight to the death, Odin was ready to give him exactly that. Still, yesterday's battle had been… educational. Painfully so. Those miniature spaceships? Brave, sure—but about as durable as wet paper. Odin finally accepted that sentiment didn't win wars. Firepower did.
So he ordered the production of more space battleships.
Even a tiny, properly armed ship was leagues better than vessels that existed solely to explode dramatically five seconds into combat.
Under the highest state of mobilization, hundreds of billions of Asgardian gods across the entire floating continent threw themselves into shipbuilding. The forges never cooled. The factories never slept. Three shifts, twenty-four hours a day—hammering, welding, enchanting, complaining, repeating.
Time rolled on.
Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
By then, Odin commanded an additional fifteen thousand spaceships.
Naturally, most of them were small-class vessels. Medium and large space battleships had manufacturing cycles of at least a year. Three months wasn't even enough time to finish the blueprints and argue about whose rune design was "more traditional."
Thanos, meanwhile, hadn't been sitting around twiddling his thumbs.
Every month, roughly a hundred ships arrived at his forces' rear base, delivering supplies, reinforcements, and who-knew-what else. Deep within the shadows, the Dark Order's bio-warriors were being hatched nonstop—creatures born only to fight, kill, and die on schedule.
Just as Thanos began to assume Odin would turtle up in Asgard forever, a report reached him.
The Asgardian warships were launching.
Even more shocking—the protective shield was opening.
At that moment, Thanos was standing on a barren planet, calmly absorbing the core of a star. The planet itself was already on borrowed time.
Upon hearing the news, he didn't hesitate. He abandoned the dying world mid-drain and shot off toward Sanctuary II.
When Thanos unleashed his full power, his speed edged frighteningly close to light itself. Still, he had deliberately chosen a remote location to absorb the star core. He was now over a hundred light-years away.
So he did what only someone like him could do.
Using his own body, he tore open a spatial rift, stepped into subspace, and began jumping.
This was an ability he'd only gained after absorbing his first star core. In the past, traversing subspace would have required massive amounts of destructive energy just to keep his body intact. Now, his physical form alone could endure the violent spatial turbulence.
Ten minutes later, he emerged.
Temple Two was right in front of him.
The sight was immediate and unmistakable. Asgard's protective shield had opened wide, and countless warships were surging outward like an unleashed tide.
Laser cannons roared. Energy shields flared to life.
From the continent itself, plasma cannons, electromagnetic railguns, energy spires, and a dizzying array of other installations opened fire in unison.
This was a true high-tech clash.
At its core, the battle was simple: whose technology was better, and whose energy reserves would run dry first.
Of course, this universe wasn't ruled by technology alone. It was a place where machines and gods shared the battlefield.
Thor charged through space with Mjolnir in hand, lightning blazing like a living storm. Each swing erased another enemy ship, leaving nothing behind but expanding clouds of debris.
Thanos narrowed his eyes.
This was exploiting a weakness—his forces lacked true high-end combatants. The Black Order was formidable, yes, but none of them stood on the level of a Celestial Father. Stopping Thor was beyond them.
Thanos shook his head and vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of Thor, Tyrant's Blade already descending.
"Don't—!"
A furious roar echoed across the battlefield.
Odin.
He had never imagined that Thanos, a being with Skyfather-level power, would stoop so low as to ambush Thor—a sub-Skyfather—in the middle of combat.
Where was the dignity of the strong? The pride of a heavenly father?
Had it all been tossed into the void along with basic decency?
Odin's anger burned, but rage couldn't rewrite reality.
Before Thor could even fully react, Thanos's blade struck Mjolnir head-on.
The next instant—
A blinding flash erupted.
Lightning exploded outward in every direction, wild and uncontrollable, as a figure was hurled through space like a broken comet.
When the light finally faded, silence followed.
Mjolnir… was gone.
Reduced to fragments, drifting aimlessly.
Thanos calmly sheathed the Tyrant's Blade and lifted his gaze, locking eyes with Odin in the distance—cold, indifferent, utterly unrepentant.
Thor's body finally came to a stop, and Odin caught him, pulling his son into his arms.
The battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
However, at that moment, he noticed a woman standing beside Odin—someone he didn't recognize.
She radiated an aura of pure death, cold and suffocating, her strength unmistakably at the level of a Heavenly Father.
Thanos's lips slowly curled into a smile.
So Odin had finally released Hela.
After checking Thor's injuries and confirming that he was still alive—barely—Odin passed Gungnir back to Frigga without looking. His remaining eye burned as he tightened his grip on the Eternal Spear and locked onto Thanos.
"Today, we fight to the death."
No speeches. No theatrics. He charged.
The last battle had taught him a hard lesson: ranged attacks were useless against Thanos. Any more spell-slinging would just be a waste of breath.
He hadn't even made it halfway before golden light burst from his body, flooding the void like a miniature sun.
The divine presence had been fully activated.
Hela moved instantly, keeping pace behind him. Two short swords formed in her hands with a flick of her wrists, black metal crawling into existence. A heartbeat later, green-black flames ignited along their edges.
She had fused with the Eternal Flame. Every strike now carried burning death.
Thanos watched the two of them approach and merely shook his head, almost disappointed.
By now, he had absorbed nearly two planets. His power had climbed to an absurd level.
When he struck Thor earlier, he hadn't even used his full strength—purely to guard against Odin's inevitable intervention. Otherwise, Thor would already be a corpse drifting through space.
Still, caution was second nature.
With a thought, he activated the authority of rulership and destruction.
In the next instant, Odin was in front of him.
Ding!
The clash echoed through the vacuum itself as the Eternal Spear met the Tyrant's Blade.
But Odin's expression changed immediately.
Instead of the stalemate he expected, a crushing force slammed into him, hurling him backward.
Impossible.
He had paid an enormous price to suppress the backlash of his last divine descent. Right now, he was at full strength.
So how—how was he being overpowered?
Did Thanos hold back last time?
That didn't make sense. War was life and death. There was no reason to save strength.
Then again… a temporary surge?
Odin's face darkened.
Before Thanos could press the advantage, Hela arrived. A storm of black short swords shot toward Thanos like fragments of night itself.
Thanos shoved Odin aside and casually swept his blade, knocking Hela's weapons away as if swatting flies.
And then the real fight began.
Destruction. Divinity. Death.
Three overwhelming forces detonated within a tiny patch of space, causing fine cracks to spiderweb across reality itself.
Thanos felt exhilarated.
The release of his full power, the roaring surge of destructive energy inside him—it was intoxicating. He hadn't felt this alive in a long time.
Last time he fought Odin, he'd been distracted, constantly worried about his army's position. This time?
No distractions. No restraint.
He moved faster, his control over the Tyrant's Blade growing sharper with every exchange, his swings leaving afterimages in their wake. Against all logic, he held his ground against both Odin and Hela—and at times, even forced them back.
For Odin, it was unbearable.
Based on what Thanos had shown so far, he should have been completely crushed already.
If Hela hadn't joined the fight, he would have fallen long ago.
Hela, for her part, didn't know how strong Thanos had been before—but unease crept into her bones all the same.
They were Asgardian gods. Royal blood. Born at the very top of the cosmic food chain.
And yet, two against one… and they were still being suppressed.
Even Zeus, king of the gods, probably couldn't have pulled that off.
.....
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