Sparking Soul: Ch.26

The world of Hel rumbled as I swung Jarnbjorn down while charging it with the Power Stone, Mangog meeting it with his own punch and the moment Uru met hatred, the very ground below us split and cracked open.

A deafening boom echoed across Niflheim as lightning surged from the Reality Stone and changed the landscape, debris raining down as the two of us pushed the other backwards.

Mangog skidded back as he dug his claws into the ground while I stopped myself with the Space Stone, watching as the monster looked up at me with a bloodthirsty grin across his monstrous face.

“You are no god. You are a lie wrapped in stolen might,” He spoke and I said nothing as I felt the Space Stone humming before the Power Stone surged as well and smirked.

“Very well, then. Let us see how this stolen might fares against you,” I said before I vanished, reappearing below his jaw with Jarnbjorn already cutting deep into his chin.

With a burst of potent violet energy from the Power Stone, the monster was sent ragdolling through the air, crashing through numerous rocky outcroppings before coming to a slow stop.

I pulled myself through space and reappeared above his still form, watching as his body twitched before I frowned as he let out a roar that cracked the ground open.

His body bulged and grew out to twice its size, hatred burning in his eyes as he stood up before lunging up at me. However, I easily made a portal his size both in front and behind me, letting him dive through halfway before cutting both off.

Watching as both his torso and lower body fell to the floor, I stared at the light fading from his eyes while floating down before I sighed as tendrils of dark energy grew out from his wounds and latched onto each other.

It was not regeneration from what I could see as he was pulling at the energy of Niflheim to repair his body, feeling his bloodlust grow with every second as he lifted his head with a growl.

Neither of us said anything as we stared at each other before I turned my head to the side as he vanished, appearing right where I was looking now a quarter of his former size with a clawed hand raised high.

With a roar, he swung it down and I raised Jarnbjorn to meet his attack, the Power Stone easily letting me knock his blow to the side before I activated all three stones while raising the axe high.

“Now, stay the fuck down!”, I exclaimed as I hurled the axe at him, watching as it crossed space in the blink of an eye before stabbing into his chest.

However, that was not the only thing as reality warped around the blow, Mangog vanishing from existence before he was teleported hundred of miles through the realm and crashing into a mountain.

Raising my hand to the side, I vanished and reappeared in front of him, grabbing both Jarnbjorn and him before grinning as I activated the Space Stone.

“Let's take a trip, shall we?”, I spoke as I teleported us halfway through my words, reappearing in the void that is space above Asgard, ripping my axe out before slamming an axe kick into his chest right as I teleported us both again.

The world around shifted rapidly from landscape to landscape as I delivered blow after blow across his body, Mangog crashing through a mountain and into space before gargling as I kicked him into the waters of Morag.

Xandar's citizens sounded horrified as I slammed him into the grassy plains outside of their city before Antarctica's ice shattered as I stomped down onto him.

However, Mangog didn't just stay there and take the blows as his hands wrapped around my body, an amused smile spreading across my face as he leapt to his feet before throwing me deep into the glaciers beneath us.

The ice around us exploded outwards like glass as I was thrown into the mantle of Earth before shooting back out, Mangog swinging a glowing fist down right as I punched at him.

Our clash sent a wave of scorching heat and pure electricity rippling across the ice, destroying and melting everything within hundreds of miles before I pushed his hand to the side and cut it off.

A pained roar erupted from his lips as I spun Jarnbjorn, barrel-rolling over his attempt to swat me away before swinging down and cutting off his other arm as well.

“This does nothing, Odinson! I am Hatred given form! Where it lives, I will return”, He roared as his arms reattached themselves within mere moments, to which I just frowned as both the Space Stone and Reality Stone's energy wrapped around my axe.

“Good. Then I don't have to feel bad about this,” I muttered before swinging upwards, cutting through the very fabric of space itself and everything that it touched.

Mangog's eyes were wide as every bit of sound around us vanished, the monster's skin turning a dark grey as I held up a hand and activated the Space Stone.

In the blink of an eye, the two of us found ourselves back on Niflheim before I activated the Reality Stone, using the Power Stone to boost it even further as a scarlet aura wrapped around the two falling halves of hatred incarnate.

With a frown, I began to rewrite the laws of Niflheim itself, watching as the bone-like trees around Mangog began to grow taller and taller until their branches were large enough to wrap around his body.

“Niflheim, from this moment forth until the day I cease to exist, I forbid you from releasing him. None shall unseal Mangog and should they try, their power will only serve to strengthen the chains that bind him. So I, Thor Odinson, decree,” Lowering my hands as Mangog's body was finally cocooned by every tree around us, I sighed as I deactivated the Infinity Stones and looked to where I could feel the others still fighting.

Hopefully, they're having better luck with Hela than I did with this monster.

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Lightning forked through the dark clouds of Niflheim as Odin stood silent, Gungnir humming with the Odinforce while Loki lazily spun Mjolnir with half a smile.

Hela stood just a few feet away from them, running her hands through her hair to form it into her antlered helm.

“Is there any chance that we can perhaps skip the battling part and continue to where we are discussing this like the civilized gods we are?”

“Odin, Thor and myself are gods. You are but a Jotunn.”

“Yes, yes, I know. I meant it in more of a familial way, sister dearest.”

“What exactly did that blonde ray of nauseating sunshine do for you to go from wanting to destroy Asgard to…this?”, Hela asked, two necrotic swords forming in her hands as Loki shrugged.

“He's quite persuasive when he wishes to be.”

“Hela, I know you do not wish to speak to me-”

“Then you know that I will ignore whatever it is you have to say,” Hela spoke with a roll of her eyes, to which Odin simply sighed softly before stomping Gungnir against the ground.

“Very well. I will do battle with you first before I decide what else must be done,” The Odinforce rippled outwards from his body as the runes along the shaft of Gungnir began to glow, Loki forming his helmet around his head as he began to speed up Mjolnir's rotations.

“Now, there's the father I remember. Cold, distant and deeply fond of threats!”, She surged forward with no warning, Odin stabbing forward and meeting her charge with a flash of white-gold energy that cracked like thunder.

Niflheim shook as Hela moved to the side, her grin widening as she slashed downwards that Odin parried. He twisted it to the side before slamming the butt of his spear into her back, but Hela just laughed as she dug her feet into the ground before spinning around.

'Should I…? No, not yet,' Loki thought as he took a few steps back, watching Odin's precise form of spearmanship while Hela was a storm of blows. Her attacks were brutal yet fluid as each one flowed into the next, the goddess ducking under a sweeping arc of Gungnir.

Launching a jagged necrotic sword at his throat, it bounced harmlessly off a runic sigil that appeared before he swung Gungnir down and she barely blocked.

“How does it feel to face off against the very moves you taught me?!”, Hela hissed and Odin frowned as she swung her weapon to the side before he blocked the following slash at his neck.

“I taught you restraint. You discarded it.”

“You taught me lies and buried me in a tomb!”, She spun, aiming a slash from her second blade at his arm that he easily blocked before kicking her back.

However, she flipped over and was about to rush in only for Mjolnir to crash into her side, sending her skidding across the field before rolling to her feet and staggering backwards.

“What? It seemed like the right time,” Loki said with a shrug as he called the hammer back, smirking at her glare before she roared as she charged in.

Odin, moved like a shadow as he vanished and appeared in her path, unleashing a burst of Odinforce from Gungnir that made the ground erupt in a geyser of divine light that forced her back.

“Shall we fight her properly this time, old man?”

“Try not to embarrass yourself, son.”

“Please, I make chaos look graceful,” Hela growled at their casual discussion before she thrust both hands forward. In response to her command, the ground split as chains of obsidian and bone erupted from the ground.

Odin shattered the first ones that tried to catch him with a sweep of Gungnir while Loki danced in between them with a smirk, lightning arcing from Mjolnir that carved through any chain that got close.

Hela didn't waste any time as she rushed in, swinging her right blade down as Odin held Gungnir up and blocked the attack. A thunderous shockwave shot forward as sparks flew, Loki rushing in from the side as she spun before swinging Mjolnir down.

His eyes widened though as she shattered her blade and caught it, Hela smirking as she spun and threw both him and the hammer into the distance.

The trickster easily grabbed onto an obsidian chain that tried to wrap around him before lightning surged from Mjolnir, Loki landing with a frown as he saw Hela smirking.

Odin reminded her of his presence as he pulled Gungnir back before stabbing at her again, unleashing blast of Odin force that sent her flying back only for the goddess to dig her feet into the ground and shoot forward once again.

“You locked me away like a secret because you feared what I would become!”

“You became it anyway, Hela!”, The man spoke as the runes on his armour glowed bright, thrusting a hand forward and unleashing a wave of searing golden light that made her gasp as it launched her backwards.

This time, she couldn't recover quickly as the blast had her rolling across the ground, the goddess coming to a stop with a cough before black energy curled from her lips.

Odin frowned as Hela stayed hunched over, her antlers cracked slightly before a look of sorrow appeared in his eyes as she let out a hollow laugh, raising a hand to his eyes to push back the tears as he shook his head.

'She's too far gone, Gaia, Frigga. It appears I have lost my daughter entirely.'

“Do you truly wish to do this, daughter? This will end in nothing but bloodshed,” Odin spoke and Hela's laughter as she looked up, death and fury dancing in her eyes as she nodded.

“Fine…Let's all bleed then!”, With a shout, she stabbed her sword into the ground and a wave of necrotic energy rippled across the land, Loki grimacing as hundreds of skeletal warriors dressed in broke Asgardian steel clawed their way out from the dirt.

“Well, this has escalated quite quickly. How do you wish to approach this now?”, Loki asked, raising an eyebrow as Odin simply looked up at the sky before rolling his eyes as thunder drew closer.

“Of course, he has to come in with an entrance,” Loki muttered right as lightning crashed down besides Odin, the dust settling to reveal a frowning Thor holding Jarnbjorn while looking at the warriors around them.

“Well, I must say that Malekith was lying about Mangog being stronger than he was before,” Thor ignored Hela's words as the two looked at each other, looking at his father who nodded as the man took a step back.

“Oh, and look. The All-Father cannot bring himself to kill his first-born so he sends his second-born to do the dirty deed instead.”

“I'm not going to kill you, Hela. In all honesty, I wish for us to work together.”

“Spare me the pity, brother. You know nothing of what it means to be cast aside for good.”

“Aye, I don't I was only banished so that I may learn a lesson in humility, but it was as I saw you fight that I realized…we may have been given the same lessons. However, whereas I had learned to change my ways, you did not.”

“Uh-huh, and what of that one? I myself have not attacked Asgard at all, but this one has and yet he is standing at your side.”

“I'm a bit of a special case. Not a god, remember?”, Loki spoke with a flashy grin and Hela raised an eyebrow while Thor shook his head.

“What Loki is trying to say is that you're not the only one Father has wronged.”

“And what makes you think that I would care for your words?”

“Because it would be child's play for me to rewrite your personality, Hela,” Thor spoke bluntly, making the goddess frown as Loki glanced at Odin's stoic eyes that did not show a hint of emotion.

“With both the Reality Stone and the Power Stone, turning you into a loving and powerful older sister that wishes to help us protect Asgard would be easy, but I do not want to because that would make me no better than the ones I'm trying to stop. Please, let us help you.”

“I do not need your brotherly forgiveness nor do I need your pity,” Hela spoke with a sneer and Thor smiled as he nodded.

“Then don't take nothing but the truth. You were wronged once, cast out and used. You have every right to be furious, but being angry for the entirety of your existence? That won't make this right. It just makes you another tyrant.”

“Do not call me that,” Her voice echoed across the landscape and I nodded as Loki took over.

“Is that not what father became? The tyrant we all hated, the one who made you into this. Hela, you do not have to keep being his mistake.”

“And what am I supposed to be, hmm? The good daughter? The reformed villain? The fallen queen reborn?”, She asked with a mocking smile, but she blinked as both Loki and Thor looked at each other before Loki shrugged as Thor smiled.

“Why not be the one who's free? There would be no chains, no lies and no more hidden history buried beneath golden palaces. Help us protect the Nine Realms, sister,” Thor spoke as he looked at her, a bit of hope dancing in his eyes as he saw her wanting to speak before she hesitated.

“Hela,” Odin began, drawing her attention to him as she went to speak only to for all three siblings to be surprised by the sorrow etched onto his face.

The reason for their surprise was because they have never seen their father show his emotions in full to them and even Thor who had watched the movies was stunned silent as the god spoke.

“I was a fool, Hela. I raised you as a weapon and then feared you when you became more than that. I buried my failure in silence and now I see that my mistake has caused you nothing but misery. I did not fear you, daughter, but I feared what you represented, the truth that Asgard was built on conquest and blood. I was too much of a coward to admit it, but now I can say this from the bottom of my heart. I…am truly sorry.”

“…What…what makes you think words will heal what's been done?”, Hela asked softly, her antlers crumbling to dust and her swords fading as her undead stood silent.

“We don't, but words can stop what will be done.”

“We're not here to erase the past, but to offer you a place in the future,” Loki spoke, Mjolnir held loosely in his hand as Hela looked at the three of them before letting out a chuckle.

However, it was not a hollow one but one that sounded like someone that has been in pain and was nothing but bitter and ragged.

“You miserable fools. You truly believe a broken thing like me can be part of the future?”, She asked and Thor smiled as he shifted through space, appearing in front of her before surprising her as he hugged her tightly.

“You're not broken, sister. You're…just not finished yet,” He spoke and Hela stood silent before Thor smiled happily as the goddess awkwardly patted his back.

“Grand~ Now, let's get out of here, please.”

A/N: And with that, the strongest fighting force in the universe is formed. However, while they were here, what has been happening across the universe?

Who knows? Next chapter: The Hidden Hunt.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!