The power of the casket of ancient winters erupted like a tsunami; the blizzard that had been dispersed by Mavuika's Fire re-condensed and became even more violent.
Snowflakes became sharp as knives, the cold wind became thick as glue, and even space began to be Frozen and brittle.
"Laufey is going all out," Odin narrowed his eyes.
"He wants to use the source power of the casket of ancient winters to directly rewrite Jotunheim's climate."
In the battlefield below, Mavuika and Hela felt the pressure surge simultaneously.
Mavuika's Fire domain began to be compressed.
The radius shrank from a hundred meters to seventy, then fifty... the power of the casket of ancient winters was like an invisible giant hand, trying to snuff out her invading Sun.
A piercing hiss sounded at the boundary of Fire and ice; it was a collision of two fundamental laws.
Hela fared even worse; although Death Divine Power was formidable, it had few ways to block the severe cold, and the power of the casket of ancient winters was Frozen everything.
Her black sword began to slow down, and the lightning from the head of mjolnir also began to weaken.
"Sister!" Hela shouted rarely, her voice carrying a hint of anxiety.
"This damn thing is Frozen my divine power! We must end this quickly!"
Mavuika looked up at the highest point of the Royal Court.
Laufey stood there, holding the fully opened casket of ancient winters with both hands.
What poured out of the box was no longer a pillar of light, but a substantive, flowing "coldness"—a conceptualized low temperature, the origin of the phenomenon of "Ice."
"I'll deal with him," Mavuika said. "Hela, you clear the battlefield; don't let anyone else interfere."
"By yourself?" Hela frowned.
"Trust me." Mavuika gave her a slight smile, like sunlight breaking through dark clouds.
She no longer maintained the domain, but instead retracted all the Fire into her body.
The runes on the blade of sun-blaze thousand suns glowed to a blinding degree, and the entire sword began to turn transparent, as if it had become solidified Fire.
Then she moved.
With every step Mavuika took, an Eternity Burning Golden Fire Lotus remained beneath her feet; her long hair no longer fluttered but was Burning upward like Fire, the tips turning into dancing tongues of fire.
She charged toward the Royal Court, toward Laufey, and toward the casket of ancient winters.
Frost Giants along the way tried to block her, but within a hundred meters of her, their armor began to Melt, their weapons began to drip, and their bodies began to spontaneously combust.
She was like a humanoid star, carving a path through the realm of absolute zero with absolute high temperatures.
Laufey saw her.
"Arrogant!" the Frost King roared, aiming the casket of ancient winters at Mavuika.
A blue torrent gushed from the box—it wasn't ice or snow, but "coldness" itself.
Where the torrent passed, space Frozen into fragile ice crystals, the flow of time slowed down, and even light was Frozen into curved icicles.
Mavuika did not dodge, gripping the sword with both hands and raising sun-blaze thousand suns over her head.
Fire so bright it was almost blinding ignited from the sword's blade, and after a brief flicker, it surged skyward like a Solar Flare eruption.
Mavuika's whole body tensed as she gripped the hilt with both hands and swung down fiercely.
The golden-red Fire sword light collided with the blue torrent of coldness.
There was no sound... or rather, the sound was erased by the two extreme powers the moment it was born.
Only the confrontation of pure light and dark, heat and cold, life and death remained.
Centered on the point of collision, the battlefield was split in two.
On the left was Mavuika's Fire Realm: the ice surface Melt and boiled, steam rose into clouds, and warm raindrops fell from the clouds, blooming into short-lived flowers of Fire upon hitting the ground.
The air was filled with steaming heat, and even space seemed as if it would be distorted by the high temperature.
On the right was Laufey's Frost Hell: everything was Frozen, time stood still, and even falling snowflakes were Frozen in mid-air into Eternity ice sculptures.
Several unfortunate Frost Giants caught in the crossfire remained in a charging posture, turned into crystalline ice statues, their startled expressions still visible inside.
It was absolute silence; even creatures like Frost Giants, who lived for the cold, were Frozen.
The two domains underwent mutual corrosion, squeezing and swallowing each other.
A distorted barrier formed at the boundary, where Fire and ice transformed frantically; a snowflake would fall, instantly Vaporize into steam, the steam would immediately condense into ice crystals, and the ice crystals would Vaporize again...
Cycling over and over, never stopping.
Hela stood at the edge of the barrier, her expression solemn.
She wanted to rush in to help, but as soon as she took a step, she felt her Death Divine Power become sluggish as if stuck in a mire.
The power of the casket of ancient winters was specifically Frozen all concepts of "activity," and death, essentially the end of life's activity, was likewise suppressed.
"Damn it..." She gritted her teeth, slamming the head of mjolnir into the ground, creating a crack that stretched for a hundred meters, but the crack came to a dead stop upon touching the barrier.
She could only watch.
Watching her sister face the Frost King and that Ancient Artifact alone.
In the center of the domain, Mavuika and Laufey faced off a hundred meters apart.
This distance seemed far to mortals, but at their level, it was equivalent to being face-to-face.
Veins bulged on Laufey's hands as the casket of ancient winters hovered before his chest, continuously draining his life force to convert into coldness.
His face turned pale at a visible rate, ice-crack patterns appeared on his skin, and the backlash of overusing the artifact was manifesting.
"Odin's daughter..." He panted, his ice-blue eyes staring fixedly at Mavuika.
"You are indeed strong, but the casket of ancient winters is an ancient relic of Jotunheim; its power is infinite. And you—how long can your Fire Burning? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? When your strength is exhausted—"
"You will defeat me?" Mavuika finished calmly.
"Perhaps, but Laufey, look around."
She looked up slightly, pointing outside the domain.
Laufey followed her gaze.
Through the distorted barrier, he saw the collapsing Frost Giant battle line.
Although Hela could not intervene in their duel, she had unleashed an even more efficient Carnage on the periphery.
The Death Guard and Valkyrie Legion followed in her footsteps, harvesting the Frost Giants, who had lost the enhancement of the casket of ancient winters, in swaths.
Further away, Asgard's Golden Fleet had broken through the final line of defense and begun bombarding the Royal Court itself.
Ice walls collapsed under the gunfire, palaces were Burning, and countless Frost Giant civilians were fleeing.
"Your people are dying," Mavuika's voice was as warm as Fire, but her words were as cold as ice picks.
"Even if you defeat me, Jotunheim has already lost this war."
Laufey's face was contorted; he knew Mavuika was telling the truth—even if he defeated his opponent, the Frost Giant defense line had already crumbled.
War was never a game for one person, and besides, Asgard still had the most powerful Odin, who had not yet acted.
Laufey fell silent for a moment, then began to drive the casket of ancient winters even more frantically.
He was the King of the Frost Giants, the Master of Jotunheim; how could he possibly admit defeat like this?
Mavuika clearly felt Laufey's desperation, and the pressure suddenly surged.
But it was no longer possible to retreat; Mavuika understood that if she showed even the slightest hint of withdrawal, the power of the casket of ancient winters would immediately overwhelm her Fire.
Thus, Mavuika did not dodge, and likewise began to fully mobilize the power within her body.