After their battles, they would sit amidst the ruins, in the wilderness, or by a riverbank to rest, sharing what they had seen and heard during the week.
Hela would complain about some stubborn soul who refused to accept the fact that they were dead, wandering the Underworld for decades before finally coming to their senses recently.
Mavuika would recount the comical plays she had seen in some human city or the strange foods she had tasted.
In these moments, stripped of their halos as the sun goddess and the Goddess of Death, they were simply Mavuika and Hela—a pair of sisters supporting and understanding each other through their endless lives.
The only regret she had was that she still hadn't found a suitable place to ignite the Sacred Flame.
The Sacred Flame needed to take root in a nodal point of the Irminsul's root system, carrying the vitality of the Nine Realms and the laws of the Underworld; it had to be a core location with abundant and stable energy.
In the seventy-third year of her century-long travels, Mavuika did something important.
She reforged the sun-blaze thousand suns.
What triggered this was a small matter: while she was staying temporarily in a certain kingdom, the local lord saw her greatsword wrapped in cloth and insisted on "appreciating" this weapon that "looked very mighty."
Mavuika politely declined, but the lord was persistent, even sending soldiers to surround her residence.
Mavuika could have easily resolved the issue—an illusion, a teleportation, or even a warning glance would have sufficed.
But she suddenly realized that walking among mortals with a greatsword that couldn't be hidden was indeed a hassle.
That night, she lit a bonfire in the backyard of her residence.
It wasn't an ordinary flame, but a platinum-gold divine flame flowing from her palm, fused with the essence of the Eternal Flame.
The sun-blaze thousand suns hovered above the flames.
Mavuika closed her eyes, completely connecting her consciousness with the sword.
She permeated the blade with her divine power, as the Eternal Flame gently enveloped it, merging into the veins of the uru metal.
Mavuika wove her understanding of energy conversion and her control over morphological changes into the structure of the sun-blaze thousand suns.
This process lasted for three full days and nights.
When the dawn arrived for the third time, the sun-blaze thousand suns emitted a clear, vibrating hum.
The blade became transparent within the flames, turning into countless shimmering points of light, as if decomposed into the most fundamental energy particles.
These particles did not dissipate; instead, they flowed toward Mavuika, merging into her palm and flowing along her veins, eventually re-condensing beside her divine power core—no longer a physical sword shape, but a concentrated energy mark that could be manifested at any time.
Mavuika opened her eyes and reached out her right hand.
With a slight thought, platinum-gold flames surged from her palm, quickly condensing, shaping, and solidifying; the sun-blaze thousand suns appeared fully in her hand, exactly as it had been before.
With another thought, the greatsword decomposed into light particles again and returned to her body.
"Perfect," Mavuika smiled.
From then on, her travels became much easier.
She no longer needed to carry a greatsword on her back, no longer needed to wrap it in cloth, and no longer needed to explain it to the curious.
The sun-blaze thousand suns had become a part of her, as easy to use as her own limbs, available or hidden at any moment.
Recently, Mavuika chose to settle near a small village at the foot of the Alps.
The scenery here was beautiful and the people were simple, with the villagers making a living through herding and farming.
Mavuika built a wooden cabin on the hillside, cultivated a small vegetable garden, and even raised a few chickens, living a semi-reclusive life.
The villagers only knew this red-haired woman named Mavuika as a solitary scholar who was gentle-natured, knew some medicine, and occasionally traveled far away.
She liked to sit in the backyard in the afternoon, brewing a pot of tea made with local herbs, watching the clouds drift by, and listening to the wind passing through the mountain forests.
This ordinary life was a special and long-awaited enjoyment for her.
Until that peaceful afternoon was shattered.
The sunlight was pleasant that day, and Mavuika was napping on a lounge chair, a book about local flora spread across her lap.
The chickens were scratching for food by the fence, and the faint sound of bells drifted from the village in the distance.
Then, a spark appeared in the air.
Mavuika looked up; it wasn't an ordinary flame, but an energy phenomenon produced when space itself was torn apart.
The spark rapidly expanded and rotated, outlining a circular silhouette, within which surged energy fluctuations completely different from this World—the aura of another dimension.
The circle stabilized, turning into a portal.
Inside the door was not Mavuika's backyard, but a courtyard scene filled with Eastern charm: stone paths, bamboo groves, stone lanterns, and the upturned eaves of distant buildings.
A figure stepped out from the door.
It was a woman dressed in a simple yellow robe, bald, her face calm and reflecting profound wisdom.
Her eyes were clear and sharp, as if they could see through appearances to the very essence of things.
Most striking was the pendant she wore on her chest—a metal disc with a green gemstone embedded in the center, most of the gemstone's energy being shielded by that disc.
But even so, those peculiar energy fluctuations made Mavuika couldn't help but look a few more times.
The energy fluctuations were very familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before, but they were also slightly different; Mavuika searched through her memories.
She soon had the answer: it was the Aether Particle, or rather, energy fluctuations similar to the Reality Stone.
The woman stepped out of the portal, and the doorway closed silently behind her, vanishing as if it had never existed.
She stood in Mavuika's backyard, forming a strange contrast with the surrounding mountain and farmland scenery.
Their gazes met in the air.
Mavuika did not stand up, nor did she deliberately display the pressure of a God, nor did she hide her essence.
She simply watched the visitor calmly, waiting for the other party to speak.
The woman in the yellow robe bowed slightly, her movements elegant and full of respect.
"Greetings, Your Highness Marvika, the Sun Goddess of Asgard." Her voice was steady, carrying a certain unique rhythm.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am the Ancient One, this generation's Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard."
Mavuika was not surprised.
During her century of travel, she had long since sensed that powerful magical energy deep within the Himalayas and vaguely knew that a force protecting this dimension existed there.
She just hadn't expected the other party to take the initiative to come to her door only now.
Mavuika had originally thought they should have sought her out shortly after she arrived on Earth, but since there had been no movement, she had assumed they wouldn't come looking for her.
"Greetings, Sorcerer Ancient One," Mavuika nodded in return, her tone gentle.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. Would you like a cup of tea? I've just brewed some."
The Ancient One seemed a bit surprised by this composure, but she quickly revealed a faint smile: "It would be my honor."
Mavuika turned to go into the house, and a moment later, she brought out another chair and a clean cup.
She poured tea for the Ancient One, her movements as natural as if the other party were just an ordinary neighbor visiting.
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