I arrived on the barren, desolate plains of Niflheim, and found Odin waiting for me there, along with Thor and Loki.
I raised an eyebrow.
"What's he doing here?" I asked.
"I brought him here at your insistence. You wanted the heir to know the truth of our empire did you not?" Odin replied.
"I meant Thor." I clarified.
"You didn't specify. And Loki is as much an heir to the throne as Thor is." Odin said, placing an hand on Loki's shoulder.
I sighed, rubbing my temples.
"I know this is a nice little show of familial solidarity and you're having a moment here but Loki slaughtered 6000 innocent people for an arguably stupid plan. That alone should disqualify him from the running.
But fine. It's not like I care about people's lives anyways. And Asgard is mine after this either way."
I took a deep breath and relaxed, summoning a dimension anchor beside me.
"Alright. What are you waiting for. Get on with it." I said, gesturing at Odin to hurry up.
He smiled, and I notice, the slightest hint of a sly one too.
Looks like he's up to something of his own.
A double cross?
That would explain the presence of Loki.
He's probably filled their heads with lies about Hela already.
Very well then. I was planning on taking Asgard anyways.
And I figured already that Odin wasn't about to just hand his divine realm over that easy.
After all, this was the same man who carved himself a nice chunk of the power cosmic all on his own.
His very own Odinforce.
Brilliantly talented. Fiercely intelligent.
He was a smart man. A cunning man.
But at his age....is he still a brave man? Brave enough to dare double cross me.
Hehehehehehe.
Now that's going to be interesting to watch.
Odin raised his hands as two massive stone doors rose up from the ground bound in chains of pitch black metal and burning like a volcano.
With a clap, his hands glowing he shattered the chains, and the door lay bare, ready to open.
For a moment, there was an uncanny silence in all the realm. Then, slowly, but surely they began to shake, as crack began to form on the doors until with a thunderous rumbling, the doors blew apart sending shockwave of pure force strong enough to send Thor stumbling back, raising a cloud of dust and ash throughout the surroundings.
There we go.
Now that's a worthy opponent!
I pulled out the flask of mega seed juice and took a sip as I prepared to go on the offense.
No sooner had I spoken, did a sound emanate from the other side of the door.
Click clack!
The crisp sound of stilletos on pavement echoed put and a woman's voice could be heard from within.
"How dusty." The sultry voice noted, "This is no way to herald the return of a queen!"
She raised a hand, and gave her fingers a snap as an oppressive force blanketed the area, pressing down on all present and immediately like curtain, the dust cloud fell to the floor as the woman's visage was revealed.
Standing almost eye to eye with was a woman in a torn bodysuit, one that highlighted all her luscious curves and pale, milk white skin.
Her face was lined with high, bulging cheekbones the kind that made her look like a victim of poor facial reconstruction surgery and her hair looked matted with dirt and oil, which is obvious given she had been trapped in Hel for thousands of years.
To be frank, the fact that she is still hella attractive, pun very much intended, is a miracle.
And yet what caught my eyes were her ... well, eyes.
Lined with a permanent shadow, they were a striking dark glowing green, just like everything else in her attire, they were strangely captivating. Like fine cut gems.
And within them shone fierce ambition more akin to a beast than a woman and a penchant for cold efficiency that was almost as good as mine.
I grinned.
Now that's a woman I'd like to fuck. And I don't say that often.
Shame she had to die today.
Would've put her on the throne of Asgard myself if she wasn't such a maniac about Asgardian supremacy too.
She looked over to Odin straight, her eyes not even registering my presence.
"Father. Have you finally come to your senses? Or will I have to shed the blood of my kin to earn my rightful throne? Because I don't mind." She smiled, flicking her wrist as a ridged blade appeared, sliding into her palm with practiced efficiency.
"No, Hela. Today you will perish here." Odin replied.
"And who will accomplish such a feat? You? You're not powerful enough. Not like the old days. If not you then who? Those two guards beside you?" She scoffed.
"No. Him." Odin pointed at me and I waved to her with a smile.
Hela raised an eyebrow and pointed her sword at me
"Him and what army?" She asked, "He's just a human. And he looks like an idiot."
My smile drained away as a frown replaced it.
"Darling, if I needed an army to deal with you, I'd drown myself in a cupful of water." I taunted.
She turned to look back at me with a surprised expression.
"Human...." She chuckled in amusement, ".....you might want to bow down and beg for forgiveness now, while I allow it unless you wish to be impaled?"
"Bitch." I smiled back, "You might wanna get, while you can."
She looked confused for a moment as I raised my hands.
"Get what?" She asked when her eyes went wide and she leapt to the side, a second too late.
I snapped my fingers, opening a portal to the molten gold dimension inside her body, severing her arm right off, searing the wound closed.
She almost dodged that?
Wow. Now that is beyond my expectations.
I thought she was just some sword shooty lady that was so strong because she drew her power from Asgard.
Hence the dimension anchor, to stop her from drawing power from Asgard.
But apparently not.
She is strong enough on her own too.
Still, nothing that can hold up against me.
"That." I pointed at her arm and cackled.
She on the other hand just sighed, unbothered.
"You should have taken my offer, human. I would have allowed you a painless death."
"Hn?" I intoned as a volley of thorns burst out from the grounds, shattering on my forcefield.
But the force of it still launched me high into the air, and Hela took the opportunity to fire off another thorn at me.
The ground beneath me cracked and caved in as a massive pike rose from the ground, shooting straight at me, and all I did was smile, staring right into her eyes.
Another portal opened up, one I intended to use to cleave her in two.
But now, she was prepared.
Even before the portal manifested, she dodged back, only getting nicked across her stomach.
Another portal, another dodge and another cut, shallower this time.
She's learning!
Fuck!
I mean I am far slower without the A.I. assisting me or else I'd have blown her away with the Godslayer Mk.III the moment she stepped out of the door.
But still.....the portals are fast!
How do you dodge a goddamn portal?
That's too OP, please nerf!
I mean, I won't die because I'm immortal but getting hit still hurts and if she turns me to a bloody mush then Odin could possibly trap me in an Uru urn or something forever.
That'd be a pain in the ass to deal with.
I can always escape with a portal if things get tough, not that they will. I'm way stronger than all of them combined, so I doubt Hela poses any actual threat to me, unless she can pull out a planet buster or something.
I chuckled. Though, now I'm interested.
If she can dodge my portals, what else can she do?
What is the extent of her power, I wonder?
Let's test it out, shall we.
A little playing around isn't going to hurt anybody!
Well, it will hurt Hela but I've already torn off one of her arms. What's a little bit more?
But before that, something important!
Note to self. Code an A.I. immediately when you get back.
Life without A.I. helping me is just too slow.
Or maybe I've gotten rusty because of it doing all the calculations while I gave the orders.
Either way it doesn't matter now.
I shook my head and prepared myself.
If portals won't work.....
Brute force it is then.
I looked her right in the eyes and gestured at the pike she was throwing at me.
Watch, my eyes seemed to say. And she got it, as her eyes flickered the slightest bit.
Hehehehhehe!
I laughed, reared my fist back and coiled my nano swarm around me.
"United States Of Smash!"
I punched out, letting loose the force of a tornado from my fist, tearing through the massive pike, near disintegrating it, as it blew up into smithereens.
The ground beneath the pike shattered into massive crater, and a storm of sharp blades spread out in all directions carving deep scars into the rocky surface of Niflheim.
I watched as Hela's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and she stumbled back, summoning her other sword out of her stump, getting ready to fight for real this time.
Just as I landed she pushed off the ground and disappeared, leaving behind the crackling echoes of a sonic boom.
Around us, a web of green trails formed while the earth itself shook with each step she took, sonic booms ringing out all around.
Afterimages began to form in her semblence as her spell weaved to completion, and as one all the afterimages summoned a long lance-like blade stabbing it into the ground all at the same time.
"Death Knell!" She cried out, and spell circles formed above and around me sending shockwaves of energy at me one after the another.
Interesting. A sound based spell?
I noted.
And here I thought her domain was spikes or something.
And the spell.
Oof.
That's loud.
If it weren't for the forcefield activating it's emergency measure, I'd be bleeding out right now.
Looks like near 240 dB loud. That's nearly a quarter as loud as the roar of the Sun itself. But it went even higher as more and more waves approached me.
The rocks around me began to get pulverized on the spot, turning to fine grain, and the ground beneath my feet turned almost instantly into a quicksand pit, nearly dragging me in.
And then, my forcefield cracked.
Then another crack appeared and the forcefield itself began to flicker.
Well, shit!
Alright. Enough playing around.
I jumped up, punching down again, blowing the quicksand away before opening a portal out of the spell's range.
I appeared up in the sky, flying with my rocket shoes, above the entire spell circle and spotted something up high in the churning mass of clouds that made my blood run cold.
Up above me, amidst the roiling storm of grey, I could spot the tip of a sword, just peaking put from the cloud cover as a faint green spell circle glowed faintly in the translucent grey.
Shithshitshitshit.....
I began to open a portal, but even before the thought popped into my head, Hela spotted me, and a vile grin spread across her face.
She raised her hand in one smooth motion, and gripped the air as if gripping an invisible sword.
Then, she brought it down.
And there was barely enough time.
I flared out my shard power and reached into the air, as the titantic sword shot out from the sky, barreling straight at me, and summoned my backup forcefield generator.
A kaleidoscopic blip, a ray of light zipping past it and with a pop it appeared in my hands.
Another forcefield clip.
The heavenly peg shot down ever faster now, cleaving through the clouds and sky creating eddies of vacuum swirling around it.
It struck my forcefield, shattering it instantly, and in the nick of the moment, I pushed my technokinesis into the new clip, concentrating the entire forcefield before the tip of the blade.
Lightning crackled as the two made contact, storm winds exploding out from the collision, blowing away the clouds, the night sky revealing itself overhead and I reared my fist back, not waiting to see the result.
The nano swarm coiled around my arm forming exo musculature and my shard power enveloped it, enchanting it with two concepts.
Invulnerable. And Destruction.
The two conflicting concepts clashed against one another forming a devastating beam of energy at the tip of my fist, thrumming heavily in the air.
"Go fuck yourself Hela!" I cried out, and punched out at the sword with all my might.
A blinding light burst forth from my fist, accompanied by a deafening boom so loud it silenced everything around it.
For a moment everything was silent and no one could see a thing.
Then, as the light cleared it all became clear.
And the result was.....
_______________________
MC underestimates Hela and nearly gets his ass handed to him.
Hela is more competent than she appears.
Who would have thought?
Will the MC even survive?
Find out what happens next time on ITCOTM!
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Edit : I can see that a lot of you find mc to be stupid in this and admittedly he is stupid in this chapter. He is used to the A.I. doing the work for him while he just orders stuff around. Now that he has to do all the calculations on his own, he falters in mid combat.
If he ahd his A.I. support, MC would have decimated Hela in 0.1 seconds.
But he's doing it all on his own this time so there are hiccups. Part of it is his cocky behaviour too. MC has grown arrogant after having all that power and now that it's taken away he's fumbling.
This will be repaired in the next chapter. Sorry if you felt like this was bad.
I should have written better.
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