287 CHAPTER 274

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[Hela Odinsdottir POV]

"Is this all, Sif?" I taunted, dodging her attacks. My right hand flashing out at her, hurling a few blades her way that managed to gash her legs, as I used my other hand to walk towards her with my sword, going through a series of masterful thrusts and parries that pushed her to the ground. Finishing her off in a blur of movement. "That's enough for now."

"No need, I have potions to heal these wounds, we must keep training," Sif panted, her blade on the ground as she struggled to get to one knee.

I chuckled. "As much as I enjoy seeing you struggle like this. We won't get anywhere if we continue like this. This is your limit."

Sif glared at me, anger pushing her body to stand up. "I am the one that gets to decide that!"

"Let me finish, darling." I grinned in amusement, seeing the fire in her eyes. She really hadn't like the comment about her limits, it was adorable. "What I was trying to say was, that you have reached your limit, as a… run-of-the-mill Asgardian. So, if you want to see gains, substantial gains, we need to change our training."

"What?" Sif asked, clearly confused by what I was saying.

"Asgardians, in general, are strong, very strong, compared to most races anyway. But as strong as they are, we are, we have our limits. One of them being an evolutionary limitation all beings share, save for Alex apparently, anyways… when an Asgardian reaches their limit, their growth slows down, or simply disappears, capping out. From there, it's only a descend."

"Yet you said that by other training methods I can get substantial gains," Sif replied.

"Indeed I did darling because, unlike most Asgardians, you share something only seen in the royal family so far, the ability to evolve," I replied, grinning from cheek to cheek. "If I had to guess, I would say you are probably related to us, the royals, in some way. That, or Odin did something rather unprecedented."

"Why is that?" Sif asked, frowning.

"Only those of royal blood have ever acquired a realm," I replied, index finger pressed upon my lips in thought. "Yet, somehow, you managed to acquire the realm of War."

"Sif, the goddess of war. The humans gave me that title," Sif smiled with a soft chuckle coming from the memories. "Thor was the one who made it a thing in Asgard, making sure everyone knew of my title. I never gave it much of a thought, I was, who I was, a soldier. That, however, changed when the Beyonder attacked everyone, and I was forced to battle in a sick tournament for his deranged enjoyment."

"How so?" I pressed, my eyes on her.

"I accessed my realm, getting just enough power to defeat the one in my way. Since then, tapping into that power, that feeling, has been unimaginably difficult," Sif sighed, her eyes down. "If I really try to, I can access that power, but only for a very brief time, and it's not the same as that time."

I smiled, clapping my hands in an excitable fashion. "Good, that makes our training much, much easier. I was afraid I would have to teach you how to tap into your realm for the first time and believe me, darling, that's a hassle, but seeing as you kind of know-how to access your realm, it makes things way simpler for me."

"I'm glad," Sif said, narrowing her eyes at me.

"All we have to do, it's get you in tune with your realm. The rest will fast into place as we go." I smiled, ignoring her squinting eyes. "Don't worry, the entire process to achieve that will be relatively easy. I did it when I was ten, so…. Hmm, then again… maybe it will be hard for you."

"Hela, I swear to Asgard I will tell Alex to seal you again," Sif grumbled, crossing her arms.

"I was joking," I chuckled. "It won't be hard, at all. I mean, harder than our training sessions so far, yes, but nothing you can't handle."

"So, how do we do that?" Sif asked, sighing.

"We need to rob the royal vault," I replied.

….

...

"What now?" Sif asked.

"Rob the royal vault," I repeated, maybe she had something in her ears, I mean, I had hit her pretty hard, and she had yet to take any potions to heal the injuries I had inflicted.

"Just wanted to confirm, now the question is the following. Why the hel we would do that?" Sif asked. "I mean, If we truly need something from the vault, we can just ask Thor or Alex. Hel, I might even be allowed in the vault without them."

Well, there goes my fun. "I suppose we could, but where's the fun in that?"

"...."

"Fair enough," I sighed. I was truly surrounded by boring people.

"So, what do we need from the vault?" Sif asked.

"A few things, some weapons, two sets of armor, and the box of truth," I replied, cutting Sif off as she was about to say something. "And before you say it, no, your weapons and armor are not acceptable, at all. I have seen sticks with more durability."

"I always bought the best," Sif sighed, looking at her blade that lay on the ground.

"The best… It's a matter of perspective and opinion. If we don't take into account most magical weapons, your swords truly belong to the best, nevertheless, that's not the case, not by a long shot, and so, they fall into the ever-growing ladder of power and use." I replied, summoning my dark helmet. "I made this using Uru, and my powers to mold it. Giving me the ability to summon an endless supply of blades at any given time. Each blade summoned, being strong enough to clash with Gungnir, at least for a brief moment, before they break, now, in the case, I truly wanted to clash with Gungnir, I would need to transform the helmet itself into a single blade, maybe two, instead of using the constructs I shape as blades for combat. On the other hand, I could destroy every single sword in your possession with a simple construct of a blade if I truly wanted to."

"Are you, as humans say, flexing your weapon?" Sif asked, raising an eyebrow.

"In a way," I nodded, giving her a small chuckle before immediately stopping to question how did I even know what flexing in human terms meant.

"Emily?" Sif asked, reading my look.

"Surprisingly, no. Natasha," I replied, remembering my first conversation with her, where she threatened to kill me if I dared to harm Emily in any way. My kind of girl.

"Oh yeah, that does sound more like something Nat would say," Sif nodded.

"Anyway, as I was saying, yes, I was indeed flexing my weapon, as humans say, but for a very good reason. To make you understand how obsolete your current equipment is, sure, right now you can use them, but the moment you start growing stronger, it will feel like using a stick made out of glass to fight, so you won't be able to really go all out, at least not without shattering your weapon into a million pieces." I said, putting my dark helmet back.

"Between you and me. You had me at the new weapon part," Sif chuckled, walking towards the potion stand as she called it.

"Hmm, then I wasted precious time," I replied.

"So, what's the box of truth?" Sif asked, grabbing a few potions before starting to drink them.

"It's an old relic made by Buri Ymirson," I replied, remembering my experience with the Box. "It holds the power to help you. As it helped me, and it helped Bor, and it helped Odin."

"I guess there's a reason why you are the last person the box helped, right?" Sif asked, to which I smiled.

"Yes, Odin, like the fool he is, probably decided not to use the relic anymore. Which explains why both Thor and Loki were, and are so out of tune with their respective realms." I nodded, before sighing. "I truly don't understand why though, if anything it would've helped Thor a lot. Instead, he allowed his heir, his blood, to struggle with his powers without any type of guidance, never being able to truly understand them."

Which makes me wonder, why even give Loki a realm? Changing him from a frost giant to an Asgardian royal, if you never intended to have him learn how to use the power you forcibly wrote on his very soul.