The Bifrost slammed down from the sky just as the green rift in space was halfway open.
When the beam of rainbow light faded, Thor and Loki appeared at the other end of the alley.
Thor wore an ordinary Earth jacket. Loki still had on his neat suit. Both faces were filled with urgency.
Then they saw Levi.
And the golden particles dissolving in front of him.
Thor's face instantly turned pale. He reached out, trying to grab the fading light—
but caught nothing but air.
Loki froze where he stood, his expression complicated, thoughts unreadable.
The green rift finished opening.
A woman stepped out.
Black leather bodysuit. Long dark hair. No trace of life clung to her—only death and arrogance.
She glanced at the filthy walls and garbage cans before her gaze settled on Thor and Loki.
A smile curled across her lips.
"Well, well… look who it is," she said hoarsely. "My two brothers."
Her eyes flicked to the last drifting specks of golden light in the air. She shrugged.
"Looks like I missed the show. Father finally died."
She walked forward slowly.
Every step felt like it landed directly on the heart.
"Allow me to introduce myself."
She spread her arms.
"I am Hela. Odin's firstborn. The true heir of Asgard."
Her eyes turned cold.
"Now… kneel."
"Kneel?"
Thor looked like he'd heard a joke.
The grief on his face instantly turned into fury.
He raised his hand.
Mjolnir roared through the sky, thunder crackling around it as it flew toward him.
Thor caught it and hurled it straight at Hela.
Loki's expression changed.
He tried to grab Thor—
but it was too late.
Hela didn't even look at the hammer.
She casually raised a hand and caught Mjolnir midair.
The hammer vibrated violently in her grip, struggling.
It couldn't move even a millimeter.
"Not bad," Hela said, examining it.
"But Father must have grown old… if he believed this toy was the source of power."
Her fingers tightened.
CRACK.
Mjolnir shattered.
Just like that.
It exploded into fragments of metal scattered across the ground.
Thor froze.
It felt like something inside his body had shattered along with it.
Hela gave him no time to react.
She appeared before him in a flash and kicked him square in the chest.
Thor flew backward, slamming into the wall and collapsing.
Loki drew a dagger, attempting a sneak attack.
Hela didn't even turn around.
She simply reached back—
grabbed his throat—
and lifted him into the air.
"Still playing these little tricks."
She tossed him aside like trash.
Loki crashed into the ground beside Thor.
---
Levi frowned.
What he sensed wasn't merely energy.
It was law.
Cold.
Tyrannical.
The Law of Death.
He moved.
One step forward.
He placed himself between Hela and the two brothers, raising his hand.
A spatial barrier formed instantly.
Hela stopped and looked at him.
"A mortal?"
She tilted her head slightly.
"No… you carry Father's scent. And the scent of that blue stone."
Her smile sharpened.
"How interesting. A hybrid."
A black sword appeared in her hand.
She lightly swung it toward the barrier.
SCRRRT—
The spatial shield split open.
The blade could cut space itself.
Levi's heart sank.
Hela was far stronger than he had estimated.
Her mastery of the Law of Death was complete—perfectly structured.
Levi possessed many laws.
But most of them were only at beginner or intermediate mastery.
None had reached Hela's level.
A direct fight meant defeat.
He didn't hesitate.
Spatial power erupted around him, wrapping Thor and Loki.
He tore open a rift—
and vanished with them just before Hela's sword fell.
---
The ground of the Bifrost was cold.
Levi, Thor, and Loki tumbled out of the spatial crack.
Heimdall immediately stepped in front of them, gripping the Guardian Sword with both hands and pointing it toward the rift.
Too late.
Hela stepped out of the green portal.
Her high heels clicked against the rainbow bridge.
She didn't even glance at Heimdall.
Her gaze locked directly onto Levi.
"Running?" she mocked.
"In front of me… no one escapes."
Before the words finished—
she became a blur of black.
She appeared before Levi instantly.
The black sword thrust straight toward his heart, carrying the power of death.
Levi's pupils shrank.
He activated Spatial Exchange, swapping places with a crystal formation a hundred meters away.
But the sword seemed alive.
After missing, it twisted—
tearing open space itself—
and reappeared from the void beside Levi.
He barely twisted his body aside.
The blade scraped across his ribs.
His Adaptive Armor activated instantly—
but the Law of Death pierced straight through it, leaving a deep wound down to the bone.
Black death energy spread through the injury, preventing his Healing Factor from regenerating it.
Thor roared.
He had lost his hammer—but not the thunder.
Lightning exploded from his eyes.
A massive column of thunder crashed down toward Hela.
She didn't even turn around.
The lightning slammed into her back.
The violent energy detonated—
then vanished like a stone sinking into the ocean.
The death aura around her formed an invisible shield that devoured all energy.
"That's it?" she sneered.
She waved her hand.
The crystalline ground beneath them twisted into dozens of black spikes and shot toward Thor and Loki like venomous snakes.
Loki panicked and created illusion clones.
The spikes ignored them completely.
They pierced every illusion and aimed directly at his real body.
Levi clenched his teeth through the pain and slammed his hands together.
Spatial Curvature Barrier!
Layers of warped space unfolded in front of them.
The spikes pierced into the distortion field.
Their speed dropped sharply.
Their trajectories twisted—
and they clattered harmlessly to the ground, turning back into ordinary crystal fragments.
Levi grunted.
Blood slipped from the corner of his mouth.
Every collision between laws placed enormous strain on his mind.
He finally understood the gap between himself and Hela.
He had many abilities—
Space.
Force.
Time.
Life.
Chaos.
He was like a toolbox filled with countless instruments.
But he had merely learned how to use them.
He hadn't perfected any of them.
Hela, on the other hand, had only one weapon.
Death.
She had become the embodiment of that law itself.
Even worse—
as long as she stood on Asgard, her power was endless.
Fighting her here meant fighting the entire realm.
She was practically immortal.
Unless—
Asgard itself were destroyed.
The thought flashed through Levi's mind.
He glanced at Thor struggling behind him and immediately dismissed it.
---
Levi made a decision.
He looked at Loki—terrified and shaken.
At Thor—eyes blazing red, still summoning useless sparks of lightning.
"Run."
Not like a defeated dog.
But to find a way to defeat her later.
"Loki!"
Levi shouted.
"Go to the control panel! Use Heimdall's sword and open the Bifrost! Anywhere—just get us out of here!"
Loki scrambled to his feet and sprinted toward the control station like a man chasing life itself.
Hela's eyes narrowed.
She moved to intercept—
but Levi stepped forward instead.
He spread his arms.
His Binary Form erupted fully.
Golden cosmic energy fused violently with the Law of Force, forming an unstable sphere of destructive power.
"Try this."
He pushed the energy sphere toward her.
Not to kill.
Just to buy time.
For the first time—
Hela's expression turned serious.
She crossed her arms before her.
A massive wall of black death energy formed.
The golden sphere struck it.
No explosion.
Only an overwhelming white flash—
a law-level annihilation.
When the light faded—
Hela still stood there unharmed.
But a massive section of the Bifrost beneath her feet had collapsed.
She had been forced backward.
On the other side, Loki slammed Heimdall's sword into the control console.
The Bifrost began roaring to life.
Levi grabbed Thor by the collar—just as Thor tried to charge back in—and hurled him toward the rainbow vortex.
"GO!" Levi shouted.
"Stay here and we all die!"
Then he looked one last time at Hela standing at the far end of the shattered bridge, her face dark with anger.
Levi jumped into the raging current of the Bifrost.
The vortex sealed shut.
Hela stood alone on the broken rainbow bridge.
She watched the direction they had vanished.
A slow, cold smile spread across her lips.
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