Chapter 249

Hela was reclining in a chair on her balcony, feeling the warm sun on her skin.

In her hand, she held a large pitcher of mead from which she occasionally sipped.

Hela had been rethinking her life lately.

Pondering questions she never thought she'd ask herself.

Should she seek revenge?

If she was honest with herself, she was so enchanted with her current life that embarking on a campaign against Asgard sounded bothersome and insipid.

Her lips curved slightly before taking a sip from her pitcher.

It seemed she had truly changed. She was still addicted to combat, only the meaning of combat had changed a bit for her.

Besides… now she had only one opponent in mind.

Suddenly, as if the universe was mocking her thoughts, she felt the Bifrost arriving on Earth.

Her expression immediately became more serious, wondering if it was Thor or perhaps Jane.

"Master," said Amelia, quickly approaching Hela.

"What is it?" Hela said, glancing sideways at the woman.

"Ten Celestials are heading towards Earth. Lord Damian went to confront them, but it seems Asgard took advantage of that moment to attack," Amelia said, looking at Hela.

Hela was stunned for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

"Pff," Hela said, laughing heartily as her body was covered in dark energy, creating a combat suit.

"I didn't go looking for him, but he really dared to come," Hela said, laughing.

"Prepare the men and reinforce Madripoor. I'll go ahead," Hela said, flying towards where she felt the Bifrost.

...

Damian was still in space, waiting for the Celestials to approach, when he felt the Bifrost landing on Madripoor.

He immediately turned around and saw the familiar rainbow beam of light.

"That's not very good," Damian said, frowning slightly.

"It isn't," Cortana said, nodding.

The Celestials finally approached and arrived in front of Damian.

The colors of their armor were different, and the patterns varied; some carried staffs while others were unarmed.

Damian tried to communicate, but to his surprise, the ten Celestials began attacking without saying anything.

The Celestials attacked from their heads, hands, or tools, sending a powerful beam of energy towards Damian.

"I suppose there's no need to discuss," Damian said, looking at Cortana, extending his hand towards the rays before making them disappear.

There was a pause where the Celestials were clearly surprised by what had happened.

"Master, I'll remove the Reality Stone covering you, or I won't be able to give my all," Cortana said. Much of the system's power was being used to cover Damian.

"That's fine," Damian said, not caring since they were outside of Earth.

A layer of red energy appeared over Damian's body before it started to break into pieces. When the entire layer fell off, a powerful wave of energy emanated from Damian.

"It's really hard," Damian said, looking at his hands and trying to contain the energy within his body.

"We don't need to fight, leave to another universe," Damian said, communicating with the Celestials one last time.

If possible, he would like to avoid conflicts, knowing there were beings above the Celestials.

Not to mention that the Celestials in front of Damian were quite average; there were much stronger Celestials who could come knocking on his door if he killed ten Celestials.

The Celestials did not move, and the silence almost made Damian think they were considering it.

Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the Celestials made another move against Damian.

They scattered, trying to attack him from various directions.

Damian could only sigh, causing the energy in his body to go slightly out of control.

"Then, let's go," Damian said, advancing towards the Celestials.

Damian reinforced his body, and multiple magical circles appeared on his body surface before he appeared in front of one of the Celestials in an instant, moving so fast it almost seemed like teleportation.

He extended his hand before a large beam of energy pierced directly through one of the Celestials' chests.

The other Celestials quickly began attacking Damian with various methods while the injured Celestial rapidly recovered.

The attacks hit Damian from various directions, generating terrifying energy explosions. When visibility returned, Damian was seen without a scratch.

Damian looked at his body, genuinely surprised. Before creating his sixth magical circle, he was significantly weaker than Arishem when using only his magic.

But now, with just his magic, he was much stronger than the average Celestial.

Cortana, who was behind Damian, was also surprised to see his power, withstanding the attack of nine Celestials without a scratch.

Even so, she still moved her hands to help him. From the void, multicolored chains emerged, quickly chasing the Celestials.

The Celestials moved rapidly, avoiding the chains while simultaneously attacking Damian, who moved at absurd speeds between Celestials, shattering their armors.

"This being turned out to be more than we can handle," one of the Celestials communicated among them.

"No wonder Arishem fell. He was the most powerful of us in this universe," another Celestial said.

"What do we do? Do we abandon this universe?" one of the Celestials said while constantly attacking Damian.

"Maybe he won't let us go peacefully," a Celestial said.

"For now, let's keep fighting. Maybe he'll run out of energy," another Celestial said.

As the battle unfolded in space, the situation on Earth was heating up.

...

At the edge of the city, Ophelia, Carol, and Jen stood in front of an army of three thousand Spartans.

On the other side, an army of one hundred thousand Asgardians glistened slightly in the sun with their golden armor.

At the front of the army, Odin rode a horse while holding his spear.

"Old man, you're a bit far from home," Ophelia said, calmly looking at Odin.

"Is Midgard not part of my nine realms?" Odin said, looking at all the Spartans before looking at Ophelia.

"Do you still have nine realms? You and I know you only have Asgard left," Ophelia said, mocking.

Odin's expression subtly changed, with some anger appearing in his one eye.

"We can still reach an agreement. Surrender to Asgard, and no one will have to die today," Odin said.

"If you don't have the guts to attack, then go back to your gold-covered palace," Carol said, losing patience.

"Hey, I was still enjoying the conversation," Ophelia said with a slight smile.

Just as Odin was about to continue the exchange of words, a figure crashed in the middle of both armies.

"Odin!" Hela shouted, emerging from the dust.

"Hela, you arrived just in time. The information you gave me was very good. You can now return to Asgard and take your place," Odin said, looking at Hela.

"Sorry, but I found something more exciting than playing war with you," Hela said, mocking as gigantic spears condensed from the ground before being sent toward the Asgardian army.

Odin quickly fired his spear, destroying all the spears.

"Why are you stalling? Are there more guests? Let me guess, chubby Zeus and his cronies are coming," Ophelia said, mocking Odin again, having noticed his clear lack of desire to fight.

Odin's expression turned annoyed upon realizing his plan had been uncovered.

Suddenly, alongside Odin's army, thousands of figures began teleporting in with a buzz.

Behind the army, dozens of gods appeared ready to fight.

Their eyes seemed especially drawn to some of the Spartan armor.

"Hela," Ophelia said, looking at Hela.

Hela turned to look at Ophelia before glancing at Carol. Finally, she approached both of them. She dared to attack the Asgardian army alone because only Odin was a threat.

But the Olympian gods, even if they had grown weaker, were still a threat to be reckoned with and had all sorts of strange abilities.

"Who do you want? Odin?" Ophelia asked.

"I want Zeus; we are old acquaintances," Carol said, searching with her eyes for Zeus behind the soldiers.

"Leave Odin to me," Hela said, nodding.

"Then the two of us will take care of the rest of the gods," Ophelia said, looking at Jen.

"And the cold-faced woman?" Hela asked casually.

"She's looking after the girls," Carol said, looking at Hela. She always felt an inexplicable rivalry with that woman, practically like Damian's mistress outside the house.

Hela just gave her a mischievous smile upon seeing her look.

War was imminent, and the tension was quite high.

...

In New York.

Jarvis showed Tony the images of everything happening in Madripoor and outside Earth.

Tony's expression was extremely serious. He had no way of knowing how Damian was doing against the ten Celestials, but it surely wasn't going to be easy for him.

On top of that, the attack from Asgard and the Earth gods had really put them on the edge.

"What do you plan to do? Are you going to help him?" Pepper said, hugging Tony from behind.

"I want to, but you are more important to me. I'm afraid people might take advantage of the chaos to attack us," Tony said. His technology had always been the envy of the whole world.

It wouldn't surprise him if they attacked to steal his suits.

"Sir, a large spaceship has appeared outside the planet. Its course is Madripoor, and it is very likely hostile," Jarvis said.

"It seems Damian is not very popular," Tony said, sarcastically rubbing his hair in exasperation.

"Go, I know you want to. We will go to the shelter with Morgan, we'll be fine. I also have the armor you made for me, and my little mage will protect me, right?" Pepper said, smiling at her daughter, who was watching them.

Morgan just laughed upon hearing her mother.

"Besides, I think you worry too much. If Damian thought he was going to lose, maybe he would have already fled with his family. He had already told you and was prepared for this," Pepper said, stroking Tony's head.

"Sir, a Madripoor ship is approaching the building," Jarvis said.

"What do they want?" Tony asked, standing up.

"They did not inform me," Jarvis said.

On the landing pad atop Stark Tower, a Madripoor ship stopped, and several Spartans quickly disembarked, forming a perimeter. Behind them, a clearly female Spartan disembarked.

"Laura," Tony said, greeting her upon seeing the marks on her armor and recognizing her.

"The king sent me to fetch you and your family in case you want to take refuge in Madripoor," Laura said, nodding to Tony.

"Wow, what an honor. One of the great Spartan commanders came to fetch me," Tony said, sarcastically.

"Shut up. I should be on the front line, not here playing nanny," Laura said, annoyed by this.

"We'll go in a few minutes," Tony said, nodding as he quickly went back inside.

"Honey, we're going to Madripoor," Tony said.

"Fine," Pepper said, nodding before quickly grabbing some emergency bags she already had prepared.

"Jarvis, you know what to do," Tony said before leaving the building.

Tony, Pepper, and Morgan quickly boarded the ship under Spartan protection before the ship began flying swiftly toward Madripoor.

"By the way, did you know a spaceship is also attacking the city?" Tony said, looking at Laura.

"Yes, we're a bit short on manpower, to be honest. Ana and Natasha are not participating in any combat right now as they are looking after the girls. If the situation worsens, one of them might come out," Laura said, nodding with her arms crossed.

"They really chose a good time to attack," Tony said, sighing.

"They're just rats daring to come out because the king isn't here," Laura said casually.

"Only you would call gods rats," Tony said, chuckling.

The ship quickly approached the city, and from a distance, the city's artillery could be seen firing towards the sky.

The city was already filled with different types of extraterrestrials fiercely fighting the remaining Spartans in the city.

People had already taken refuge in the buildings, and unlike previous invasions, they were showing some concern this time.

After all, they could see the massive coalition of armies preparing to attack the city, including the gods.

And Damian was nowhere to be seen.

Damian had always been at the forefront, protecting them from any threat, and now that he was not present, the people were a bit worried.

As long as he was there, there had never been any casualties among the soldiers. Many families feared this time might be different.

The queens themselves would have to face multiple enemies, definitely leaving no time to save the soldiers.

...

In New York, Bruce watched on television the events unfolding in Madripoor.

"Do you want to go help?" Betty said, coming up behind Bruce.

"Yes, it looks like Tony is already there," Bruce said, changing the channel where they showed images of the Spartans arriving at Stark Tower and taking Tony and his family.

"But I don't know, maybe I'd be intruding, and what if they don't need my help?" Bruce said, looking at Betty.

"As far as I know, Damian is a nice person. I don't think he would think you're intruding," Betty said, smiling at Bruce.

"Fine, then let's go," Bruce said, hesitating for a second before nodding.

"That's the spirit, let's go for a new adventure," Betty said, smiling broadly before starting to transform.

Her specially designed clothes stretched as her magic grew with a faint hum around her.

Betty waved her hand, creating a blue portal before stepping through it.

Bruce smiled before following her, his body also stretching.

"Where are we?" Bruce asked, looking around.

"Asia. Even with the current situation, I can't create a portal to Madripoor," Betty said before taking Bruce's hand and flying as fast as she could toward the city.

----

Remember that you can support me and see 10 advanced chapters at patreon.com/Fast_Reader