After receiving their newly forged weapons from Nidavellir, Kagura and her companions bid farewell to the Dwarven King Eitri and left the legendary realm behind.
The kingdom of the Dwarves would continue to thrive. The devastation wrought by Thanos had been completely erased—wiped away by Kagura.
It was the power of the Infinity Stones, yes—but more than that, it was Kagura's will.
As he watched the Earth fleet depart once again and gradually disappear into the distant stars, Eitri kept his gaze fixed on the fading figure of Kagura.
After a long pause, he let out a deep sigh.
"A wise young lady… Perhaps only someone like you is truly worthy of wielding the Infinity Stones. Only in your hands can they reveal their true strength… their true value."
He paused again, murmuring to himself.
"But even so, the Infinity Stones remain the most powerful artifacts in the universe. Possessing just one is enough to elevate a civilization to dominance across the cosmos. They'll always be a source of chaos and war."
"Kagura Hitomi… when that time comes, what choice will you make?"
[Jump drive activated.]
As the stars outside stretched into long streaks of light, Kagura led three starships from Earth into another hyperspace jump.
This time, their destination was Asgard—the divine realm she had once glimpsed only briefly.
Upon returning from Nidavellir, both Thor and Loki had received powerful new weapons forged just for them.
These artifacts, personally selected by King Eitri himself, were far more powerful than anything they had used before.
And clearly, the two were enamored with their new toys—like kids handed the ultimate action figures.
"Stormbreaker! Hey, Loki! Look! It's STORMBREAKER! Isn't it cool?!"
Thor was practically glowing with excitement on the bridge of the Hyperion.
He waved his new weapon around like a child showing off his favorite toy.
"Check out the smooth arc! The wild, heavy design! The material practically pulses with raw power!"
Clearly, Thor was extremely satisfied.
To him, the mighty Stormbreaker in his hands made his old hammer, Mjolnir, seem like a dainty toy for wimps.
"By the All-Father… all these years… what the hell was I swinging around before? THIS is what a real weapon should be! This is what a warrior of Asgard deserves!"
"Okay, okay, give it a rest. I'm exhausted just listening to you."
Loki yawned and rolled his eyes. "You've been rambling this entire trip. Can't wait to see you get slapped into orbit when we run into Hela."
"Hmph. Hela?" Thor grinned confidently. "This time, I'll crush her skull with one swing!"
But as he dramatically brandished his axe, the blade went wildly off course—shink!
A loud crash echoed across the bridge as Stormbreaker sliced through several holographic panels, sending sparks flying everywhere.
'BZZT—!'
Kagura shot Thor a deadly glare.
Thor instantly froze, his expression turning sheepish.
He rubbed his palms together awkwardly and averted his gaze.
Under Kagura's silent but furious stare, Thor slinked back to his seat and plopped down with a loud thud, even buckling his seatbelt without being told.
"Hmph. 'Crush Hela's skull,' huh?"
Loki chuckled coldly, stroking the surface of his mistletoe-tipped magic staff.
"To deal with someone like Hela—someone who can regenerate endlessly and is practically immortal—you'll need my weapon. That much is obvious."
A smug smile crept across the God of Mischief's face.
"Looks like I'll be the one saving Asgard. Oh, what a marvelous feeling!"
'Tch…'
He looked like he had everything planned out from the start.
You two may be completely different races, Kagura thought, watching the Asgardian princes bask in their own ego—but your personalities are scarily similar.
As she observed the two overly proud "gods" puffing up with every word, Kagura could only shake her head helplessly.
At that moment, she truly didn't know what kind of expression she should make in response to these two who were inflating faster than the speed of light just because they got new weapons…
…
With a bit of time left before the fleet arrived at Asgard, Kagura decided to take a short break.
It was the perfect opportunity not only to rest but also to quietly think through her strategy for the coming confrontation with Hela—and potentially, the entire Asgardian army.
The hyperspace jump aboard a Macross-class interstellar cruiser was fully automated.
Even in the event of unforeseen complications, a dedicated crew onboard was responsible for monitoring, managing, and responding to any irregularities.
Meanwhile, the quantum supercomputer VEDA remained online around the clock.
Overseeing every detail of the mission and ensuring that these three Earth-made starships—humanity's first venture beyond the solar system—would reach their destination safely.
With command temporarily delegated to the bridge officers, Kagura returned to her quarters for some much-needed rest.
Rest was essential.
Mental fatigue wasn't like her "core energy"—something you could measure.
Left unchecked, it would quietly pile up, slowly overwhelming her until she lost her sense of direction.
Yes, the silver-haired girl was powerful. But that didn't mean she was strong.
In fact, no matter how you looked at her, Kagura was nothing like a so-called "strong woman" in the traditional sense.
Beneath her burning ambition, what she felt most often was a crushing pressure—especially now, in the midst of this interstellar journey.
After all, this was something humanity had never experienced before.
(Star-Lord doesn't count.)
This journey through the stars might one day become a textbook example—a defining moment in humanity's history of space exploration.
Even including her past life—where she had died from being hit by a car—this marked the first time Kagura had truly left Earth, left the solar system, and headed toward the unknown reaches of the cosmos, entirely by her own will.
(The time she was forcefully pulled away by celestial convergence doesn't count either.)
Right now, Kagura and the other human crew members were confined within the limited living space of just three starships.
Even though the ships had been designed with the psychological toll of prolonged deep-space travel in mind—even though she'd made sure they were as spacious and livable as possible—that looming sense of isolation couldn't be completely eliminated.
It would inevitably begin to gnaw at the crew over time.
Out here, there was no Rhodes Island Industries, no surplus of supplies.
No Iron Man.
No Captain America.
No Griffin Security.
Not even Cortana, who had always been by her side.
Because of the tight quarters and limited resources, every task on the ship had to be executed with maximum efficiency.
Waste of any kind had to be avoided.
Every potential problem needed to be anticipated in advance, along with a carefully prepared solution.
The last thing Kagura wanted was to test the Dark Forest Theory firsthand aboard a Macross-class warship.
Compared to the immense pressure of survival and the burden of representing humanity's first step into the stars, the battle against Hela didn't seem all that intimidating.
In fact, it felt more like the grand finale of a heroic symphony—something inevitable, something she could prepare for.
Looking at it clearly, the cost of reaching the stars was unimaginably high.
It was like sailing alone across an endless ocean in a fragile little boat.
As expected, with the current level of human civilization in the Marvel world, reaching out to the stars still seemed like an impossible dream.
Fortunately, Kagura's technology was far beyond that norm.
Her ships were capable of extremely fast hyperspace travel.
Because of this, the journey hadn't taken too long.
There was no need—for now—to worry about complex concepts like "starship societies."
The crew's mental state remained stable, and they could still treat this mission as a long expedition rather than a generational voyage.
But as the fleet neared Asgard, this maiden voyage of human civilization into the starry sea would soon reach its ultimate trial—in that dazzling, divine realm.
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