Chapter Summaries

Evenson and Sif coordinated with S.H.I.E.L.D. to track down Lorelei, while Evenson arranged for Sarah to investigate a plot involving Project Insight. Their search led them to a bar where the police had become zombies and Sigrun recognized them as Hela's Guard.

• Evenson told Sif that he was ready to join Frigga in collecting the goods, and Sif agreed to report his answer.
• Sif explained Lorelei's powers and gave S.H.I.E.L.D. a collar that could keep her from speaking.
• Evenson revealed that Sarah was hunting mercenaries connected to the Star of Moria so she could meet Black Widow and investigate Project Insight.
• Sif found reports of a jewelry robbery and a motorcycle gang gathered at a bar, and the group headed there to investigate.
• The group found that the police had become zombies, and Sigrun identified them as Hela's Guard as a black longsword flew from the bar.

Coulson’s team fought reanimated corpses outside a bar while McNair and Sigrun proved far more effective than the agents’ guns. Inside, Lorelei revealed how she had escaped into a strange underworld and ended up before Hela, who ordered her to kneel.

• Zombie police officers and a biker gang attacked Coulson’s team, while Tom and James took cover and speculated about how to stop the corpses.
• McNair used a rune-marked revolver to kill a zombie, and Sigrun tore through the attackers, furious that they resembled Hela’s former Guard.
• Tom and James guessed that magic animated the zombies, and the agents looked to Evenson, who remained distracted by the black greatsword and the unfolding Asgardian situation.
• Lorelei ate instant noodles inside the bar, then watched the battle and recognized Sif and Evenson outside.
• Lorelei recounted falling through a hole in Loki’s secret passage into a barren realm where armed fighters battled for noodles, before Hela appeared and commanded her to kneel.

Evenson, Sigrun, and Sif entered a bar to confront Lorelei and learn why Hela had sent her, while McNair’s prepared attack was interrupted by Hela burning the zombies first. Lorelei revealed Evenson’s High Priest title and summoned him to Hela, but their meeting paused while Hela finished eating.

• McNair prepared to gun down the remaining zombies, but Hela set them ablaze before McNair could fire.
• Evenson told Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to stay outside, then entered the bar with Sigrun and Sif.
• Lorelei revealed that a sword wound from Hela had destroyed her enchanting voice, and she taunted Sif about Thor.
• Lorelei addressed Evenson as High Priest and explained that Hela had made her a subordinate after sparing and crippling her.
• Lorelei summoned Evenson to Hela, and Evenson paused his spell to ask through their mental link whether she was ready to receive guests.

Evenson met Hela through a passage and tried to explain her hidden history to Sif, but Hela openly admitted that she had rebelled against Odin and insisted she would claim Asgard by strength. The chapter ended with Hela rejecting Thor’s right to rule and warning that Asgard’s succession would be decided by bloodshed.

• Evenson opened a passage to Hela’s domain, and the two awkwardly discussed the prisoners he had sent her, including the battle royale she had staged for them.
• At Sif’s request, Evenson introduced Hela as Odin and Frigga’s eldest daughter and described her as a forgotten former ruler of Asgard.
• Evenson claimed Odin had hidden Hela’s history to protect his benevolent image, while Sigrun recalled how Odin had used the Valkyries and Hela as bloodstained weapons.
• Sif questioned why Hela had not aided Asgard during Loki’s rebellion or the Dark Elf invasion, and Hela rejected Evenson’s explanation by admitting she had tried to overthrow Odin.
• Hela declared that she was Asgard’s rightful heir because she had conquered its territory herself, and she said Thor would have to win the throne through strength.

Hela pressed her claim to Asgard’s throne while Evenson refused to take sides and Sif realized Thor would not accept the succession. Sigrun revealed her past as a Valkyrie who died in the royal power struggle, and Sif remained caught in that same struggle because of her loyalty to Thor.

• Hela declared that the throne had to be won, while Evenson insisted he would not interfere in the royal family’s transfer of power.
• Evenson pointed out that Sif had no candidate to oppose Hela because Thor did not want the throne.
• Sigrun and Hela recalled fighting together before the royal decree forced the Valkyries to attack Hela, and Sigrun said she still wanted to kill her.
• Sigrun revealed her Valkyrie tattoo and told Sif she had died protecting the royal family during its power struggle.
• Sif learned that Evenson’s Magic had restored Sigrun in an undead state, then admitted she could not leave the struggle because she loved Thor.

Evenson explained why Thor would likely lose to Hela and learned that Hela had taken precautions because Frigga’s reforms suggested she wanted the throne. Hela revealed that Frigga’s lack of royal blood made her a threat to the transfer of royal power, leaving Evenson to grasp the danger she posed.

• Sif worried that Thor would not claim the throne, while Lorelei and Evenson argued that Thor was unfit to challenge Hela.
• Evenson said Hela’s reputation and strength surpassed Thor’s, and that she would regain her freedom within three to five years as Odin’s life waned.
• Sif questioned why Hela was gathering support if she could simply wait for her release, and Evenson asked why she had brought Lorelei into his plans.
• Hela said Frigga’s political reforms had revealed her ambition to seize the throne and make herself Asgard’s supreme ruler.
• Hela warned that Frigga had no royal blood and did not need to sacrifice her blood for the transfer of royal power.

Hela revealed that she wanted the throne but could not bear to fight Frigga, so Evenson proposed that Frigga govern Asgard while Hela led its armies. Hela accepted his offer to mediate, and Evenson hinted that Frigga might gain a higher title than king.

• Hela explained that she had sent Lorelei to deliver Frigga a message by letting Asgardian pursuers capture or kill her, though she had misjudged the current military response.
• Sif considered killing Lorelei, but Evenson said Lorelei's fate mattered less than persuading Frigga to yield the throne.
• Hela told Evenson she planned to conquer a vast empire after becoming ruler of Asgard.
• Evenson proposed that Hela lead armies abroad while Frigga retained her authority and governed Asgard at home, and Hela asked him to negotiate the arrangement.
• Hela returned to the Abyss of the Underworld after promising to reward Evenson, and Evenson told Sif to distinguish an emperor from a king.

Evenson maneuvered between Frigga and Hela’s struggle over Asgard’s authority while warning Sif to stay away from Thor, and the group dealt with Lorelei after subduing her. Sigrun claimed Lorelei for trial in the United States, while John Garrett arrived to investigate the bar as a possible aid to the Death Warrior Project.

• Evenson reasoned that Frigga and Hela’s dispute over status would ultimately depend on strength, and he hoped Frigga’s need for power would deepen her interest in Fel Blood.
• Evenson warned Sif that her divided loyalty could endanger her and Thor, and told her not to contact him.
• Sigrun emerged from the bar after Lorelei was subdued, while Evenson told Coulson that the bar’s supposed corpse-raising ground had empowered Lorelei’s dark arts.
• Sigrun insisted Lorelei must stand trial in the United States before extradition, and Sif agreed to wait through Lorelei’s two-hundred-year sentence.
• Ward watched the bar as John Garrett arrived, ordered his team to measure its signals, and volunteered to be buried there for a test.

Evenson arranged for Lorelei to be tried on Earth instead of being immediately returned to Asgard, and Sif agreed to let her serve her sentence there. The highly publicized trial ended with Lorelei sentenced to 235 years in prison and established a legal precedent for crimes committed with magic and superpowers.

• McNair arrested Lorelei aboard the plane, and she eagerly asked to be taken to an Earth prison.
• Coulson regretted that S.H.I.E.L.D. had not negotiated with Sif, while Melinda revealed that Evenson had been caught tampering with his utility meters.
• General Hogg welcomed Sif on behalf of the US government and invited her to observe Lorelei's trial.
• The President and US officials arranged a highly publicized trial, where judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys competed for attention.
• The court found Lorelei guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced her to 235 years in prison, prompting the creation of the Lorelei First Amendment.
• Evenson nearly smashed his television when he saw that the new amendment treated magic and superpowers as potential deadly weapons.

Evenson questioned Gabriel about Odin after learning that Frigga was reforming Asgard’s laws and consolidating power. Gabriel hinted that she had uncovered a mystery about Odin before leaving office as Sorcerer Supreme and offered to show Evenson, but her hangover left them waiting.

• Evenson returned to Final Doctrine troubled by the new legal precedent for superpowered crimes, while the Eredar Twins celebrated the Black Badge Division’s planned expansion into the BSAA.
• Evenson spoke with the hungover Gabriel after Saloras pointed out that she might know about Asgard.
• Evenson described Odin as power-hungry and told Gabriel that Frigga was reforming Asgard’s laws and taking control.
• Gabriel said Frigga’s actions fit Odin’s character if he was directing the reforms from behind the scenes, but Evenson noted that Odin seemed to be surrendering his authority entirely.
• Gabriel revealed that her old discovery about Odin had been a test for her disciples and invited Evenson to come with her, then collapsed back onto the sofa and asked him to wait two hours.

Evenson and Gabriel found the real Odin living under an assumed name in a New York nursing home, where an illusion spell had left him forgetful and lecherous. After examining the liquor used to sustain the spell, they suspected Loki had hidden Odin on Earth and impersonated him, while Frigga had taken Loki into her custody.

• Gabriel took Evenson to Green Shade Garden Nursing Center, where they found Odin living as Wednesday, or Old Third.
• Evenson and Gabriel watched Odin behave like a confused elderly man and learned that a monthly liquor delivery kept him supplied with his medicine.
• Evenson recognized the liquor as a potent potion that likely maintained Odin's illusion spell.
• Gabriel reasoned that Frigga would not need such a potion to sustain her own spell, leading Evenson to suspect Loki had orchestrated Odin's disappearance and impersonated him.
• Frigga made the fake Odin drink his medicine in the Golden Palace garden, while he regretted returning.

Evenson and Gabriel left Odin’s nursing home, and half a month later McNair and Elizabeth Ashe collected the souls bound to the Saint Vargasa contract. Mephisto learned the contract had been claimed and recruited other demons to help control his enforcer against an organization threatening to kill half the world’s population.

• Gabriel urged Evenson to leave before Odin broke free of the illusion, and Evenson resolved to keep Odin’s condition secret.
• Evenson and Gabriel discussed Odin’s likely reaction to their old duel before leaving the nursing home.
• McNair and Elizabeth Ashe traveled to Saint Vargasa, where Ashe summoned the souls bound to the Soul of Mephisto Contract.
• Mephisto realized the contract had been claimed, then warned Beelzebub and the other demons that an organization planned to kill half the world’s population within two hours.
• Mephisto asked the demons to lend him power so he could make his strongest enforcer obey him again, and they agreed.

Evenson prepared the Demon Heart Warriors and Sif’s Fel Valkyries to invade the Fel Scar Rift and overthrow Hailmondas. After Katerina rallied the forces, Evenson led them through a newly opened portal, while the Eredar Twins quietly guarded his escape array.

• Jialiya defeated five Demon Heart Warriors in a sparring match and warned them that their graduation examination was imminent.
• Evenson told Saloras and Aurelles that he would proceed with the invasion, backed by Agatha’s infiltration, Gernos’s preparations, and Sif’s hundred Fel Valkyries.
• The Demon Heart Warriors and Fel Valkyries gathered at the portal and assessed one another’s strength.
• Katerina, who was Peggy Carter, rallied the warriors by declaring that they would take the fight to the enemy and hunt them.
• Evenson opened the portal to the Fel Scar Rift and led the forces inside as the Eredar Twins blocked his escape array.

Evenson’s party entered the Fel Scar Rift, where Sif and Jialiya saw the scale of the demonic threat and prepared for battle. Evenson instead met with Agatha, his inside contact, and learned that the rift’s defenses were isolated before Agatha introduced the unusual demon Dest.

• Sif and Jialiya surveyed the devastated rift and spotted a demon army, while Sif concluded that the Heavenly Queen’s military buildup had prepared Asgard for this enemy.
• Sif and Jialiya proposed a surprise attack, but Evenson told the group to hide while he contacted an inside agent.
• Agatha arrived and confirmed her identity with Evenson’s code, then reported that Gernos and the Gargan demons were positioned at the Soul Engine and artillery emplacements.
• Agatha explained that she had destroyed the rift’s military communications and isolated Hailmondas, but warned that Lord Kil’jaeden could soon turn his attention to the rift.
• Agatha insisted that Evenson meet a special demon she had brought, and Dest introduced himself as a Beholder.

Evenson recruited the disillusioned eyebeast Dest by promising him new worlds to spy on, then approached Hailmondas with two disguised explosive cases. The blast became Evenson’s signal for his hidden allies to act against the Fel Scar Rift.

• Agatha restrained Evenson long enough for him to meet Dest, who agreed to join after Evenson promised him new places to observe.
• Evenson briefed Dest on the plan and told Sif, Jialiya, and the others to wait for his signal.
• Evenson asked Agatha to arrange a meeting with Hailmondas and brought two large cases as supposed tribute.
• Hailmondas accepted Evenson’s offer to meet and came to the platform outside his fortress.
• Evenson tossed the explosive cases at Hailmondas, vanished, and triggered a blast that Sif and Jialiya recognized as the signal.

Evenson’s force attacked the Fel Scar Rift, using nuclear bombs to wound Hailmondas and a reawakened Soul Engine to prepare the rift’s Fel Cannons. Hailmondas survived and called for reinforcements, while Agatha turned against him and the enemy troops began arriving.

• Evenson’s nuclear bombs devastated Hailmondas’s fortress, while Gernos restarted a Soul Engine and prepared the Fel Cannons.
• Evenson, Sif, Jialiya, Agatha, and their force reached the crater and discovered Hailmondas alive beneath the ruins.
• Hailmondas recognized Jialiya’s Demon Heart Warriors as Illidari, but his severe injuries left him barely able to stand.
• Agatha rejected Hailmondas’s pleas for help and severed his outstretched hand, declaring him a filthy abyssal demon.
• Hailmondas called for loyal Burning Legion reinforcements, and Demon Guards and Wrathguards rushed toward the battle.
• A demon arriving through a teleporter fell from a cliff after finding the portal opened at its edge and facing outward.

Evenson and his allies fought the badly wounded Hailmondas while Sif led the Valkyries and Demon Heart Warriors to delay incoming reinforcements. Peggy Carter joined the battle, and after Jialiya saved her, the two reconciled and prepared to fight together.

• Evenson sent Sif, the Valkyrie Corps, and two hundred Demon Heart Warriors to delay the demons rushing to support Hailmondas.
• Agatha and Hailmondas exchanged taunts, and Evenson ordered Jialiya to send Demon Heart Warriors to attack the Pit Lord.
• Jialiya and the Demon Heart Warriors struck Hailmondas from both sides, while Peggy Carter joined the assault with a focused Eye Beam.
• Hailmondas knocked Peggy Carter from the sky and raised his spear to strike her, but Jialiya blocked the blow and was badly hurt.
• Jialiya revealed that she knew Peggy Carter's identity and explained that she wanted to protect the world; Peggy accepted her hand and called her students to kill Hailmondas.

Sif and Rody led the Valkyries in a defense against a massive demon army in the Fel Scar Rift, while Gernos and the Demon Heart Warriors supported them with bombardment and hit-and-run attacks. The demons reached the Valkyries’ line, and the battle was about to become a close fight.

• Sif positioned her force on favorable high ground, and Rody predicted that the demons would approach along the shortest road.
• Rody revealed that the approaching army contained at least ten garrison units, and warned Sif that the demons’ disorganized charge was still dangerous.
• Sif transformed the Valkyries into their half-giant forms and formed a shield wall, while Rody’s prepared pit swallowed the front of the demon charge.
• Kross called in artillery support, and Gernos ordered forty-eight thousand Fel Cannons to bombard the demon army.
• The Demon Heart Warriors attacked the vanguard with rune-inscribed pistols, Eye Beams, and Fel Rush before retreating behind the Valkyries’ line.
• The demon vanguard reached Sif’s formation as Kross and the Demon Heart Warriors began throwing Fel grenades from behind it.

Rody and Sif's forces endured the demon army's crushing assault until Sargas triggered a landslide and joined the battle, allowing the Valkyries to counterattack. Zirath's arrival threatened their line, but the fighting abruptly ended when Hailmondas fell dead at the top of the rift.

• Sif's Valkyries and their allies were driven backward by the packed demon vanguard as their shields buckled and their warriors suffered crushing injuries.
• Rody signaled Sargas, who collapsed the mountainside onto the demons and attacked with her Spider Demons, seeking revenge on Hailmondas.
• Sif ordered the Valkyries to advance, and their blood-absorbing spears healed their injuries as they pushed the demons back with support from Magic Bats.
• Zirath arrived and burned the Valkyries' front line, but the demons stopped fighting after he looked toward the rift's peak.
• Hailmondas's body fell at the top of the rift, his eye lifeless.

Hailmondas was defeated by the allies who had turned against him, and Evenson used an artifact to stop him from self-destructing and kill him. Evenson absorbed the Fel energy from Hailmondas’s skull, while Sathir claimed the skull and transformed it into a new form.

• Dest attacked Hailmondas with Void Condensation while Sargas restrained him and severed his remaining arm.
• Hailmondas realized someone else had united the demons against him, but Agatha cut open his chest before he could reveal his suspicions.
• Hailmondas tried to self-destruct, but Evenson used an artifact and his preparations to enslave him briefly and prevent the explosion.
• Sargas killed Hailmondas, and Evenson burned away his flesh and absorbed the Fel smoke from his skull.
• Sathir merged with Hailmondas’s skull, reshaping it into a smaller flaming form with Pit Lord-style fangs, and Evenson grabbed him to smooth it.