-Broadcast-
Thor, no longer wanting to listen to Korg's endless chatter, seemed to realize there was something fundamentally wrong with the corridor and ran forward with determination. As soon as he disappeared from the screen, he reappeared from behind Korg.
Korg, already familiar with the situation, remained unconcerned. "I wonder if you're interested in my plan? Do you think you might be interested?" he asked, looking at Thor as he ran up from behind him again.
Thor was puzzled by the circular corridor. "You...how did you..."
Korg knew what was confusing him and explained it casually. "Ah! Yeah! Everything is a circle! But not really a circle! More like a freaky circle!" His explanation was difficult to comprehend, but Thor understood the basic concept as he looked at himself and Korg in the corridor ahead.
"This is completely illogical!" Thor exclaimed.
"Yeah! Nothing makes sense here, man! The only thing that makes sense is that nothing makes sense!" Korg replied.
Thor remembered the championship battle the Grandmaster had mentioned. "Has anyone here participated in the Grandmaster's championship match?"
Korg pointed to a corpse at the side of the corridor and called out, "Doug was there! Doug!" The corpse did not respond. "Oh! Unfortunately! Doug is dead! That's right! Everyone who participated in the championship match is dead!"
Thor pointed at Korg. "What about you? Your body is made of stone!"
Korg spread his hands and said calmly, "Stones also have life!" As he spoke, a small stone fell from his body. "Look, another one is dead!" He then explained why he was still alive: "Yeah! I don't fight in championship matches, I only fight in those warm-up matches! To stir up the crowd and stuff!"
At this point, he finally processed Thor's question and looked at him with horror. "Wait! Wait a minute! You're not going to fight him, are you?"
Thor said calmly, "Yes! That's right! I'm going to fight him! Kill him and get out of this damned place!"
Korg waved at Thor. "Doug used to say the same thing! Goodbye, Doug II!"
The scene shifted to Asgard. Hela walked through the palace, which was now filled with the corpses of Asgardian soldiers who had tried to stop her. Skurge followed her closely.
As they walked, Hela couldn't help but ask, "Doesn't anyone remember me? Haven't you all studied history?" She arrived at the palace and looked up. The murals on the ceiling were completely different from what she remembered, and she realized something. The ceiling depicted the Rainbow Bridge, Odin with the Frost Giant King Laufey, and Frigga with a young Thor and Loki, all portraying what seemed to be a peaceful and beautiful realm.
"Look at all these lies! The garden parties? The peace treaties? Odin... you're so proud of everything you've built! Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" Hela angrily hurled several Night Sky Swords at the mural, embedding them in the surface. The mural began to collapse, frightening Skurge so much that he quickly bent over, protecting his head.
When the dust settled, Skurge looked up and was surprised to find that there was another layer behind the mural on the palace ceiling. Hela looked proudly at the mural behind it, which revealed the true face of Asgard during its conquest of the Nine Realms. The center of the new mural still showed Odin holding a scepter, but the overall color of the painting had changed to a dark crimson tone. Above, one could clearly see Odin and Hela charging toward enemies on their warsteeds.
Hela recalled the events of that era. "We were invincible! I was once Odin's executioner! I was the architect of Asgard's imperial glory! Worlds fell before us one after another!"
The mural depicted Hela wielding Mjolnir and Odin holding Gungnir, with countless soldiers following their lead. In another corner of the mural, Hela was shown riding the giant wolf Fenrir, gazing ahead with an invincible expression.
"But... at that moment! Because my ambition exceeded Odin's! He banished me! Imprisoned me! Treated me like a rabid dog, isolated from the world!" she continued. "Before this! The highest honor of Asgardian warriors was to lay the foundation of this throne with their heroic sacrifice!" Hela glanced at the throne before her, her eyes filled with disdain and irony toward Odin's revisionist glorification.
-Real World-
Tony watched Thor disappear and reappear from behind, commenting: "It looks like there's not only a problem with time, but also with space!"
Banner analyzed: "If this planet is really located at the center of cosmic pathways as previously stated, then this situation is indeed very likely to occur!"
Star-Lord explained: "Yeah! Did you see the wormholes in the sky of that planet? These wormholes affect each other, making the time and space there no longer stable!"
Tony understood his meaning: "So... That's why Loki stayed there for several weeks, while Thor, who was only slightly slower than him, arrived several weeks later!"
"The Contest of Champions... sounds quite interesting!" Unlike the Thor on the screen who was eager to return to Asgard, the present Thor felt no pressure. Instead, he developed some interest in this so-called Contest of Champions. He had already recognized that the portrait on the tower was his friend from the past, Beta Ray Bill. Since Beta Ray Bill could win the championship, he was no exception now. However, the most urgent task was solving the problem of Hela first, but Frigga didn't want to see the siblings killing each other. Odin knew that this would happen sooner or later, just like Ragnarok would come eventually. It could only be delayed, but it would arrive inevitably.
"Asgard's prosperity is also built on mountains of corpses and seas of blood!" George Stacy shook his head. As the mayor of New York, he was no stranger to this kind of reality.
"This kind of thing is inevitable. Didn't we also have to fight through mountains of corpses and seas of blood during the Civil War?" Peter Parker sighed.
Although their history was relatively short, it could be seen from modern history that the establishment of any empire was bound to be bloody. And they also whitewashed themselves like Odin, calling themselves the beacon of the world. It was essentially the same principle, so many people weren't surprised.
Thor naturally understood this principle. After all, he had fought for many years, annihilated countless enemies, and had blood on his hands. Although from his perspective he was suppressing rebellions, the enemies he killed didn't see it that way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~