บท 257: Chapter 254
Almost an hour ago.
Hela and Odin had begun to fight.
Knowing the wide range of Hela's attacks, Odin did everything possible to fight while moving away from his army.
Odin seemed to be constantly forced to retreat by Hela as he blocked her attacks with his spear.
They had moved dozens of kilometers away until Odin finally put more strength into his attacks, and this time he was no longer repelled.
''We're already far away, now what?" said Hela, knowing her father's goal from the beginning.
"Join me to defeat Damian," Odin said, looking at Hela.
"I thought you never joked," Hela said, chuckling.
"I'm sure you don't want to be under his total control. The system hasn't affected you yet, but it's still trying, isn't it?" Odin said, himself still resisting the system's control.
"You're wrong, the system has already absorbed me," Hela said, noticeably surprising Odin.
"What!? But how?" Odin said, unable to believe it.
"With how weak I had become in Hel, what did you expect?" Hela said mockingly, after all, it was Odin who sacrificed his own power to weaken her.
"I see, that explains your behavior. He really used the system to make you susceptible," Odin said, clarifying his biggest doubt about Hela's change.
Odin, who thought Hela would be surprised, only saw her laugh slightly.
"I thought that at some point too," Hela said, smiling slightly.
"But after understanding a bit of what Damian is like, I realized he wouldn't do that," Hela said.
"You think—" Odin said, looking at her as if she were a fool before being interrupted.
"I don't think he wouldn't dare or has some moral restraint, but he wouldn't do it. It would be... boring," Hela said, smiling.
"Boring?" Odin said, confused.
"That's right, Damian, unlike you, is strong enough to achieve what he wants without having to manipulate his daughters or conspire," Hela said, looking at him.
"I was just your weapon during the conquest of the nine realms. After that, I was no longer useful. You never treated me as your daughter but needed me for your dirty work."
"You are weak, right here," Hela said, touching her head.
"Now, let's finish this battle before Damian or someone else comes to steal my prey," Hela said, smiling as she conjured two swords in her hands, enjoying Odin's contorted face.
Surely no one had ever said something like that to him.
Hela let out a slight laugh before launching at Odin with her sword pointed directly at his heart.
Odin quickly swung his spear, making the lower part strike from below at Hela's attack before swiftly hitting her chest with the same part.
Hela skillfully dodged before getting as close to Odin as possible, her weapons transforming into daggers.
She knew that the weakness of a spear was simply getting as close to your opponent's body as possible, putting him in a much more passive position.
Hela continuously cornered Odin while he tried to defend himself, Hela was so close to him that attacking was difficult.
With no other choice, Odin could only generate an explosion of energy around him to create some space between him and Hela.
"You've become slower and weaker since then," Hela said, looking at him.
"It's been 12 thousand years, have you forgotten?" Odin said, looking at her.
"Of course, I haven't forgotten," Hela said with annoyance as spikes made of magical obsidian emerged from the ground, turning the entire place into a fortress of thorns.
From the larger spikes, smaller ones appeared, pointing towards Odin.
With a slight tremor, they shot quickly at him.
Odin spun his spear, creating a glow of energy around him that easily repelled the giant spikes sent by Hela.
Hela smiled slightly, remembering their fight thousands of years ago, this time it would be different.
Hela's hands made a gesture as if something was emerging from the ground.
From the ground beneath Odin, two hands quickly grabbed his feet before pulling him underground.
Odin reacted quickly and exploded the energy around him to free himself.
Stepping back a bit, he finally saw what grabbed him.
Two zombies in armor with green eyes, the energy they emitted was identical to Hela's spears, so he couldn't detect them.
Surrounded by spears with the same energy, it was almost as if they were invisible.
The zombies also seemed very resistant as they weren't even hurt by his energy explosion.
Seeing that their sneak attack had failed, the zombies hid back underground, waiting for another opportunity.
"I am the goddess of death, not of weapons," Hela said, mocking his slight surprise.
Hela quickly became more aggressive, shooting small swords with the movements of her arms that went directly toward Odin.
Odin spun his spear downward, causing a dark energy laser to destroy the blades coming toward him while simultaneously attacking Hela.
A triangular obsidian shield appeared in front of Hela, repelling the laser before she moved her hands forward, making the triangle shoot in Odin's direction.
Odin quickly dodged to the side, but hundreds of spears were already coming his way, blocking all his paths.
Suddenly Odin turned to block a stab from Hela, who had slipped in taking advantage of his attacks while his back glowed, protecting him from the spears.
Odin stepped back a bit from Hela's attack, demonstrating her physical superiority.
Hela's spears continued to harass Odin while she constantly tried to cut him.
Odin responded by using powerful magical attacks to free himself from Hela's assaults.
As time passed, the battle grew more intense, Hela's spikes were everywhere, rising into the sky where both were fighting.
Odin was being heavily harassed, unable to let his guard down even for a moment or he would be pierced by one of the spikes.
Hela didn't let him breathe either and constantly attacked him.
In the past, their physical strength was quite similar, with Odin being slightly superior.
But now, for some reason, Hela was stronger than him.
As time passed, Odin had to admit he was getting more anxious.
He could slightly feel his army decreasing in number, as well as the other gods.
Clearly, his side was losing the battle.
He couldn't feel Damian's situation as they were too far, and he had to use all his energy against Hela.
But the fear that suddenly Damian would appear before him started to grow in his heart.
....
In the underground laboratory.
Thanos began to advance slowly towards Carol, then started trotting and finally running.
Carol saw the madness in Thanos's eyes fixed on her, assuming she was his last attempt to turn the situation around.
It's a shame she had never been a damsel in distress.
Carol smiled before running across the floor, her body glowing slightly.
Thanos's heavy footsteps echoed as he approached Carol, his body quickly feinting and with surprising agility for his size, tried to hit Carol directly in the face to knock her out.
Carol was a bit surprised by his quick movement but still managed to react, crouching slightly before jumping and hitting Thanos's jaw.
Thanos quickly tried to grab her while Carol was in the air, but she swiftly kicked Thanos's abdomen while doing a backflip.
Thanos quickly advanced to hit Carol, but this time she blocked with her forearm.
Seeing this, Thanos quickly tried to grab her wrist.
Carol reacted and grabbed one of Thanos's fingers as he gripped her fist.
Just when Carol felt excited, sensing a strength competition coming, Thanos suddenly lifted her by the arm before striking her abdomen with his other arm.
Carol was surprised but quickly blocked the punch, kneeing him before extending her other leg and kicking Thanos in the face.
A small cosmic explosion in her hand immediately made Thanos release her as he looked at his slightly burnt palm.
"If you play dirty, I won't play with you," Carol said, annoyed.
"You think this is a game?" Thanos said, looking at her.
"What else is it?" Carol said, putting her hands on her hips with a smile.
"An attempt to save the universe," Thanos said.
"Oh? And what does attacking us have to do with saving the universe? As far as I know, we do pretty good things for normal people," Carol said, looking at Thanos.
"There are more planets besides Earth, the universe is finite just like its resources, if—" Thanos said.
"Yes, let me stop you right there, the universe is finite but also constantly expanding thanks to the Celestials, who are actually our enemies... but those are details," Carol said, smiling awkwardly at the end.
"If the Celestials continued doing their job, the universe wouldn't stop expanding and hence its resources," Carol said.
"And what about the people who will be born and suffer from the lack of resources? Children will die of hunger, and there will be wars over resources until finally, all life on the planet perishes," Thanos said.
"Since when do you care so much about people? As far as I know, you massacre planets without mercy," Carol mocked.
"It's better a quick and painless death than dying in suffering. Their hatred focuses on me instead of on their own race, which would have happened in a war over resources. What I do is precisely called mercy."
"Their hatred for me will unite them and make them better."
"You're good," Carol said, looking at him; he could be quite persuasive.
"So, what's your big plan? Why do you need the stones?" Carol said, curious.
The rest of the group behind Carol, who were expecting to see an exciting battle, were speechless to see Carol talking, especially when she almost seemed convinced by Thanos.
"I will use the power of the 6 Infinity Stones to randomly eliminate half of the living beings in the universe, with fewer mouths to feed, the universe will prosper," said Thanos.
"Whoa, and what happens in... let's say, 500 years, people will reproduce and there will be overpopulation again, what then?" said Carol.
"Let's suppose you do it again, what happens when you die? In the end, everything will return to its course," said Carol.
Thanos fell silent at Carol's words, he hadn't thought about what would happen after his death, and although he had a fairly long life, he was definitely not immortal.
"Do you see? It seems you haven't thought things through well; I think you would only cause senseless slaughter," said Carol, shaking her head as she saw he was speechless.
"I'll figure something out," said Thanos, quickly regaining composure and looking at Carol.
"Don't look at me like that; I'm afraid I can't play with you anymore," said Carol, shaking her head before looking to where Damian had appeared.
Thanos was surprised before following her gaze and being surprised to see Damian; his heart skipped a beat just seeing him.
"Is everything okay?" Carol asked, smiling at Damian.
"Everything's fine," Damian said, nodding with a smile.
"Then why haven't you come to give me a hug?" Carol said, approaching Damian with a smile.
"Maybe later," Damian said, skillfully avoiding her hug.
"I knew there was something wrong with you; you're leaking a bit of energy," Carol said mischievously.
"Let's talk later," Damian said, sighing, not wanting others to see his current form; he hadn't been able to return to normal.
"Why haven't you taken care of him?" Damian asked, looking at Thanos.
"I was just conversing about life with him," Carol said, smiling.
"You destroyed my home; it's not a very good first impression. Anyway, I suppose it's alright to eliminate you now; with you dead, everything will find a new path," Damian said, raising his hand toward Thanos.
"Wait, why don't we capture him?" Carol said, looking at Damian.
Damian immediately fell silent; it was the second time he had heard that same thing that day.
"Why?" Damian asked, looking at her.
"I just want to show him that he's wrong. I wonder what expression he'll have when he finds out after massacring so many planets," Carol said, looking at Thanos.
"Sigh, are you the villain, or is he?" Damian said, shaking his head.
Thanos couldn't help but feel really uncomfortable hearing their conversation; he had always been feared and respected. Being treated now in this way, as if he were something that could be easily killed or captured, made even with his calmness feel anger.
He quickly stepped toward Damian with the intention of attacking him; immediately after taking the first step, his vision suddenly darkened before falling to the ground.
"How was the fight against the Celestials? Did it end too soon or would I like to give it a try?" Carol said, smiling.
"There were some accidents as you may have noticed, or it really would have taken me a bit longer," Damian said, smiling at Carol as he cradled her cheek.
"Cough, we're still here; shouldn't you at least take them to a cell or something?" Tony said, approaching Damian and pointing to the two unconscious figures.
"Laura, I leave it to you," Damian said, looking at Laura.
"As always, you tend to leave your stuff to someone else," Laura said, shaking her head.
"Maybe there's a reward after the task," Carol joked before gently hitting Laura's shoulder.
Laura just rolled her eyes inside the helmet before lowering the alert level in the lab, with Damian's presence.
Soon people would come out to fix the elevator and the things that had been destroyed.
"I appreciate you coming," Damian said, looking at Tony, Wanda, and Pietro.
"You practically kidnapped my family," Tony joked.
Damian waved his hand, creating stairs to the shelter where his daughters were.
"Those stairs lead to the shelter; I still have a small thing to do, so go ahead," Damian said, smiling.
"Hm, don't take too long," Carol said, nodding, stealing a kiss from Damian before heading to the stairs.
See you later,'' Wanda said and nodded towards Damian with a smile.
"Hm," Damian said, nodding as he watched the group leave.
He didn't want to meet anyone until he could control his current form; Carol had to protect herself with her energy to be able to kiss him.
Surely he would hurt his daughters if they tried to hug him.
He quickly disappeared from the place before teleporting to Hela.
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