Whoosh!
A huge vortex suddenly appeared in space, and then an ugly yellow-gray spaceship flew out of it. It looked as if it had been assembled from various scraps of junk.
"Blech!"
"What's wrong with this kid?" Dr. Banner turned his head suspiciously and looked at Carter, who was lying over a bucket and vomiting.
"He's just a little... spacesick."
Renzo chatted casually, frowning as he looked at the beautiful continent suspended in space.
"Oh my God! Is this Thor's home?" Dr. Banner stared intently at the magnificent continent. The falling Milky Way-like waterfall poured into the void. Renzo thought of a very famous poem: "Its torrent dashes down three thousand feet, as if the Silver River fell from the sky."
Renzo still felt that something was not right. According to the timeline, Asgard should have been invaded by Hela by now. It should not be maintaining such a peaceful scene.
"Could it be because of my reminder that Odin didn't die?"
If that was the case, Renzo could breathe a little easier. Now that the crisis of Thanos had been temporarily lifted, the only major disaster left was Hela's resurrection from the realm of the dead. Once she invaded Asgard, her next target would definitely be Midgard—Earth, the realm with the richest resources.
"Do you want to land? Thor doesn't seem to have a landing pad here." Banner controlled the spacecraft and flew toward Asgard's palace. Carter lay collapsed in the seat behind him, clutching the bucket in his arms.
"Asgard has a gatekeeper. It's best to land and say hello, otherwise we might be judged as intruders," Renzo reminded him. Heimdall was actually very powerful, but because Thor's brilliance was so dazzling, the people around him always seemed dim and lackluster by comparison.
"I don't see the gatekeeper you mentioned. Who is he? Heimdall from Norse mythology? Does he really have eyes that can see across the universe?"
"To be precise, he can only see across the Nine Realms." Renzo curled his lips. He did not see Heimdall either. So the person guarding the gate now should be that bald, comedic character who held "Destroy" in one hand and "Destroy" in the other.
The spaceship slowly landed on the Rainbow Bridge. The empty gate was deserted, filled with deathly silence.
"This gate... seems so quiet." Carter looked at Asgard's gate through the front glass of the spacecraft. "This rainbow looks very special."
"The Rainbow Bridge of the God Realm can reach any location in the universe," Renzo said in admiration. "It isn't inferior to the Space Stone's teleportation ability. It just takes a little longer."
"God Realm? You mean everyone living here is a god?" Carter said in shock. The Kree had no gods. The so-called native gods of various planets were merely beings with a little power. When he had followed Ronan, he had seen Kree soldiers kill countless such people. Their heads could have filled a warehouse.
"They're just a group of powerful people," Renzo said. He did not believe ordinary Asgardians possessed divine power in the same sense as the royal family. Although even a three-year-old Asgardian could beat an adult human from Earth, true divine power should only belong to Odin's bloodline.
"Since there's no one here, Dr. Banner, fly into Asgard. Those gods will probably inform Thor when they see us."
"Okay!" Dr. Banner agreed, driving the ugly spaceship as it soared over the God Realm.
Carter's entire body was almost pressed against the front glass, brazenly admiring Asgard's beautiful scenery. This was completely different from the Kree Empire.
His homeland was filled with factories, bridges, spaceships, ports, and soldiers preparing for battle. Messy taverns were scattered across the lower levels, and steel buildings rose from the ground one after another, almost completely blocking the sunlight. It was a purely technological world.
Here, however, the Milky Way-like waterfall flowed downward like rootless water. The golden palace stood in the most conspicuous place, noticeable at a single glance. Enormous stone statues stood along the edge, and houses of different styles were scattered across the continent. A rainbow bridge stretched through the center of the entire God Realm.
This was a world dominated entirely by divinity.
Beautiful.
While Carter was immersed in the scenery, Renzo and Dr. Banner noticed something wrong in time. There was no one in the vast divine realm.
"Thor... what happened?"
"Land, Dr. Banner. Land!" Renzo frowned and shouted. The spacecraft landed on the Rainbow Bridge. The solid bridge deck was strong enough to support anything that landed on it.
The group immediately stepped out of the spacecraft. It was silent. Too silent.
"So this is the race of gods? Hidden away in the city... You can't even see them." Carter naively thought the empty atmosphere was the usual style of the gods and spoke in amazement.
"Dr. Banner, go to the other side of the bridge and check the situation. Search for any traces of people... Carter, you follow Dr. Banner."
"Yes! I will protect Dr. Banner!" Carter gave a less-than-standard Kree Empire military salute and spoke righteously.
Seeing this, Renzo flew out directly. The situation here was far too unnatural. It was completely different from the last time he came. Even if Heimdall was not here, even if Thor and Loki were not in Asgard, the civilians should still have been here. Where had everyone gone? Unless...
Renzo shook his head and pushed away the worst thought in his heart.
Even if they had been slaughtered, there should have been traces of battle in Asgard.
...
"Loki! Behind you!"
Thor roared angrily, and a hammer blast flashed out with dazzling blue lightning, destroying all the flame demons around them.
Loki swung the long dagger in his hand, his graceful posture resembling a dance as he harvested the monsters around him with ease. A trace of anger appeared between his brows. "Why did I follow you to Muspelheim?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Loki drove the dagger into the head of a flame demon, used all his strength, and tore the head off.
Carrying thunder, Thor leaped down from the sky, and the burst of lightning directly wiped out every monster within thirty meters.
"I'm awesome!" Thor smiled stupidly, playing with Mjolnir in his hand.
"Thor!"
"Huh?" Hearing his dearest brother's roar, Thor anxiously thought he was in danger. But then he saw Loki's charred face, frizzy hair, and a typical black afro.
"Believe me, if you fall asleep, I will shave you. Absolutely!"
Loki roared angrily at Thor. A burst of dark green magic flashed, thickly covering his upper body, and his appearance instantly returned to normal.
Thor smiled awkwardly but politely. Just as he was about to apologize to his brother, a violent rumbling sounded behind him.
The entire Muspelheim suddenly shook. Countless streams of magma slowly flowed down the stone walls. Extreme heat instantly filled the whole realm. A giant lava hand nearly ten meters long reached ferociously from behind the cliff.
Then, before Thor and Loki's shocked eyes, an enormous blazing red head appeared.
"Surtur?!" Loki exclaimed. "How is he so big?"
Thor's eyes also became serious. In his father's warning, the legendary Surtur had seemed to be only thirty meters tall, but the one before him was probably more than a hundred meters.
"Loki, run! Loki!"
Thor's expression turned solemn as he told Loki to leave first. Loki was definitely not Surtur's opponent and might affect Thor's battle.
Loki was very aware of this too. He made a decisive decision and ran away madly, wishing he could grow two more legs.
"Why didn't I bring Sleipnir?"
Seeing that Loki had escaped a certain distance, Thor finally felt relieved. He turned to look at Surtur and showed a foolish, extremely punchable smile.
"Thor, Odin's brat."
"Surtur, you old bastard. You're still alive." Thor smiled stupidly. "Looks like my father still hasn't killed you. That was so many years ago. I don't think I'd even been born yet."
"At least I will not die before Ragnarok is completed and your home is destroyed." Surtur sat solemnly upon the throne of the Fire King. "What are you doing here? Trying to kill me? With all due respect, even that old man Odin could not kill me."
Surtur smashed the stone wall beside him with one palm, and even hotter magma surged from his hand. Its power was far greater than Thor's Mjolnir.
Cold sweat could not help breaking out on Thor's forehead when he saw this. Such terrifying power was indeed beyond his ability. Who knew how his father had defeated him and imprisoned him in Muspelheim?
His pride as the God of Thunder did not allow him to show fear.
"For Asgard!"
Thor roared angrily, raised Mjolnir in his hand, and leaped high into the air. Wrapped in blue thunder, he looked as if the wrath of the gods had descended. Enormous thunderclouds filled the sky above them.
Thor unleashed the most powerful strike of his life. The God of Thunder descended upon the world.
Countless barrel-thick thunder serpents twisted together and struck Surtur's body. The fierce attacks tore through his wrinkled lava skin. Thor's face lit up. It seemed to be working.
But in the next second, Surtur seemed completely unharmed. Withstanding Thor's thunder, he raised the Twilight Sword standing beside his throne and swung it heavily at Thor.
Thor could feel the immense power contained in the Twilight Sword and quickly withdrew his thunder to resist Surtur's attack.
Boom!
Thunder collided with magma, and violent energy exploded in every direction.
Loki, who had already evacuated two thousand meters away, only heard a tremendous sound like the earth shattering. Overwhelming volcanic ash spread outward at an extremely fast speed and reached Loki in an instant, sweeping him into endless dust.
"Thor..."
Loki's eyes went dull. He could no longer feel his brother's breath.
Surtur put away the Twilight Sword, looked down at Mjolnir where it had fallen to the ground, and smiled evilly.
...
Renzo and Dr. Banner gathered in the palace. They had searched all of Asgard, but they had not seen a single person. It was like a dead city, the complete opposite of its magnificent appearance.
"The feeling here... is different from what I imagined." Carter held the spear and shuddered. This strange atmosphere really made him uncomfortable.
Renzo and Dr. Banner looked at each other and saw the solemnity in each other's eyes. The worst conclusion had emerged. Something had happened to Thor.
"We need to return to Earth quickly and tell Stark and the others about Thor's accident," Renzo said in a deep voice. "We are in Asgard now. The next target may be Earth. We must let the Avengers and Nick Fury prepare. Seven billion lives are at stake."
"But who could quietly transfer all the people in Asgard and make such a large number of powerful people disappear? That's simply impossible."
Dr. Banner frowned. Everything that had happened over the past two years was too unbelievable. He felt as if he had done nothing at all, as if he had been dragged along the entire time.
"Let's go. Get back on the spaceship and return to Earth immediately."
Renzo left first, followed closely by Banner and Carter. When they returned to the Rainbow Bridge, they could not help stopping.
"Who's there?"
Renzo sensed someone aboard the spaceship through the Mind Stone and immediately flew forward to stop them.
When the man saw them return, he hurriedly climbed out from the back of the spacecraft and tried to escape.
Bzzt—
A ray of golden light suddenly blocked his path, frightening him so badly that he nearly fell to the ground. He quickly got up and raised his hands. "I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me!"
Skurge instantly fell to his knees and begged them. "I just wanted to come up here and get some food. When I saw the spaceship parked here for so long without moving, I thought there was no one inside, so..."
"Asgardian?" Dr. Banner asked suspiciously. Why did this bald man with tattoos look so timid? He was completely different from Thor. Banner had thought every Asgardian would be like Thor—both brainless and fearless.
"Where is Thor? Why is there no one in Asgard?" Renzo glanced at Carter. The Kree boy instantly understood what his boss meant. He walked to Skurge with the heavy spear in his arms, looking as if he was preparing to chop off his head.
"Please... spare my life... I... I know where everyone else went!"
"Stop!" Renzo shouted. He frowned and approached Skurge. "Then where are they now?"
"Vanaheim. They're in Vanaheim now. Hela... Hela invaded Asgard. God-King Odin anticipated the crisis in advance and sent everyone to Vanaheim through the Rainbow Bridge to take refuge."
"Hela? Hela is here?" Renzo immediately understood the seriousness of the matter. Hela, the Goddess of Death, had broken through the seal and entered Asgard while Odin was still alive.
"Wait, who is Hela?"
Carter asked the question. What kind of person could force an entire race of gods to flee?
"The legendary Goddess of Death. She is actually Odin's first child and Thor's biological sister." Renzo became vigilant and questioned him. "Since Hela is here, why did we search all of Asgard without seeing her? And if everyone evacuated, why did you stay behind?"
Skurge was frightened by Carter's spear and, afraid of dying, quickly said, "I... I was the first to see Hela. She said... she said that if I surrendered, she wouldn't kill me, so... so I..."
"Spineless!" Carter snorted disdainfully.
"Then where is she now? Has she left Asgard?"
"No. She went to Odin's vault and has been there ever since," Skurge complained. "I couldn't find any food, so I could only come here and try my luck. Please don't kill me..."
Renzo ignored the bald man's plea for mercy and instead turned his attention toward the palace. They had been so close to Hela just now.
"What do we do now?"
"Go to Vanaheim!"
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