"How dare they..." Hela gritted her teeth, dark green Death Divine Power surging uncontrollably from her body.
"Where is Asgard's early warning system? Where is the Bifrost Bridge's surveillance? Where are Heimdall's eyes?!"
The answer was obvious: the Dark Elves had used some unknown technology or treasure to completely bypass all of Asgard's defenses and detection, appearing directly above the capital at Asgard's most relaxed, celebratory, and defenseless moment.
This was a long-premeditated sneak attack—this was war!
Almost at the same moment the thought occurred to the three of them, the Dark Elves' fleet gave its response.
No warning, no declaration of war, not a single redundant movement.
The cannons of the T-shaped giant ship at the very front simultaneously lit up with a blinding, eerie purple light.
The hum of gathering energy rang through all of Asgard like the tolling of a death knell.
Then, they fired.
It wasn't a probing attack from one or two cannons, but a full volley!
Over a thousand main cannons simultaneously spat out beams of destruction.
The eerie purple torrent of energy poured down like a rainstorm, covering the Golden Palace, the harbor, the barracks, the temples, and residential areas...
Indiscriminate, full-coverage, pure destruction.
Time seemed to stretch.
Mavuika could see the trajectory of every beam, the distortion of the air ionized by the beams, the terror-stricken faces of the people below, and a golden balloon slowly slipping from a child's hand, floating upward, about to be swallowed by a beam—
Her roar synchronized with her actions as she spread her hands toward the sky.
Inside her, that newborn star pulsed frantically.
For the first time, the source of the Eternal Flame was pushed to its full potential—not for attack, but for protection.
Golden-red flames erupted from Mavuika's palms, chest, eyes, and even every pore, spreading, expanding, and congealing in the sky above her head.
It wasn't just a thin layer of shield, but a true "Sky Canopy."
Composed entirely of highly compressed Eternal Flame, its surface flowed with Sun-like patterns, its edges resonating with Asgard's atmosphere to produce a low, majestic hum.
The first wave of the beam rain slammed into the Sky Canopy.
The moment the eerie purple and golden-red collided, there was no explosion, only silent annihilation.
The two were like water and fire, day and night, life and death, beginning a fierce mutual cancellation the moment they touched.
She was single-handedly countering the attack of an entire fleet.
Hela took a step forward, her feet sinking deep into the ground.
She gripped the air with both hands, and dark green Death Divine Power erupted from her body like a volcano.
The ground of the square in front of the Golden Palace burst open, and a colossal sword over a hundred meters long and twenty meters wide broke through the earth.
The giant sword, carrying unstoppable force, headed straight for the Dark Elves' giant ship.
The Dark Elf warship's shield collapsed the moment it touched the blade, and the sword sliced into the hull.
Like a hot knife through butter, the giant sword silently sliced through the warship's thick armor, internal corridors, cabins, reactors, and everything in its path.
With one strike, from bow to stern, the thousand-meter-long giant ship was cleaved in two.
"The first one," Hela panted, retracting the giant sword.
This strike had consumed most of the divine power she had just recovered, but the effect was significant.
The struck warship, billowing black smoke as thick as pitch, began to tilt, disintegrate, and fall.
The massive wreckage crashed into Asgard's outlying mountains, triggering a series of explosions and earthquakes.
But this was only the beginning.
The Dark Elf fleet did not retreat in the slightest. More warships emerged from the shadows, and more cannons began to charge.
At the same time, the bellies of all the warships opened simultaneously, like a Hive being unsealed.
"Whirr—"
It was the shriek of engines.
Thousands upon thousands of small aircraft swarmed out like locusts, each only the size of a carriage, shaped like twisted bats, their surfaces covered in light-absorbing coating.
They were incredibly fast, weaving dazzling trajectories in the air, bypassing Asgard's anti-aircraft fire and diving straight for the ground.
The air raid had begun.
Asgard needed no orders; the instincts of warriors were etched into their very bones.
"Enemy attack—!!!"
At the harbor, the fleet that had just returned didn't even have time to offload the wounded before all turrets charged again, aiming at the black swarm in the sky.
In the barracks, resting warriors grabbed their weapons and rushed out of their quarters, their armor automatically donning itself as they ran.
On the city walls, the Guard Captain roared as he activated protection runes; golden light curtains rose from the walls, but their coverage was limited.
Civilians on the streets, guided by guards, rushed toward underground shelters; mothers clutched their children tightly, and the elderly stumbled along with their canes.
War had descended upon Asgard on the day of triumph in the most unexpected way.
Odin's voice rang out behind Mavuika, steady as a rock: "Leave this to me for now."
The King of the Gods had already donned his full set of battle armor, the Eternal Spear gungnir crackling with lightning in his hand.
He scanned the fleet in the sky, the diving aircraft, the chaotic capital, and finally looked at his two daughters.
"Go at once and settle Frigga, Thor, and Loki," Odin's voice left no room for doubt.
"The Golden Palace has the strongest Protection Array, but they need someone to maintain them. Mavuika, Hela, eliminate any enemies that break through the lines and ensure the safety of your mother and brothers. This is an order!"
Mavuika and Hela exchanged a glance.
They saw the struggle in each other's eyes; they wanted to stay here, to fight alongside their father, to wash away the shame of this cowardly sneak attack with the enemy's blood.
But they also understood that their father was right.
The Dark Elves' choice to attack at this moment meant their target couldn't just be ordinary military facilities.
Frigga, Thor, and Loki were all in danger.
"Yes!" the sisters replied in unison, without any hesitation.
Odin nodded, then turned to face the sky.
He raised the Eternal Spear, its tip pointing directly at the newly appeared flagship, which was even more massive than the previous T-shaped giant ship.
"Malekith!" Odin's voice rolled through the sky like thunder.
"Do you think you can shake Asgard with such despicable means?"
At the bow of the flagship, a figure slowly emerged.
It was a thin and pale Dark Elf, wearing ornate dark purple robes and a crown set with black gemstones.
His eyes were pure pitch-black, without pupils, like endless abysses.
crimson particle fluid swirled in his hands, flowing over them as if it were alive.
The King of the Dark Elves, Malekith.
"Odin," Malekith's voice spread across the battlefield through magic, hoarse and cold.
"The shame of three years ago shall be washed clean today with Asgardian blood. As for the'spoils' you just obtained, I will collect them along with everything in Asgard into my darkness."
The battle between the King of the Gods and the King of the Dark Elves was on the verge of breaking out.