War Is a Dirty Game

Everything returns to nothingness.

As the blinding white light receded like the tide, the figure that had been roaring and standing on the earth had vanished without a trace.

Two purple Dreamflower drifted to the ground, as if playing a hymn to heaven, dancing gracefully amidst holy prayers, before embracing each other and disappearing without a trace before Hela opened her eyes.

Has it disappeared?

Hela, who was drawing her bow and preparing to Hela two birds with one stone, frowned and then turned her gaze to Beckett was still in the air.

The latter was looking up at the last enemy in the arena—the cursed warrior Aura.

Damn it!

Aura cursed under her breath and retreated abruptly, only to have her path blocked by Beckett, who then grabbed her by the throat.

"Tell me, where is Malekith?"

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!!"

Aura wanted to curse!

You've got me choked, what am I supposed to say?!

What kind of weird problem is this!

Before Aura could react, she lost her balance and was tossed to the ground by Beckett like a piece of trash!

Thump!

Dust flying everywhere!

"Cough cough..."

Coughing and clutching her throat, Aura spat viciously onto the ground, right at Hela's feet.

"Despicable Asgardians."

"It is an honor to be addressed by you like that." A black longsword unconsciously appeared in Hela's hand, but it was firmly pressed down by Beckett, who descended from the sky, and she could not move.

"She is my prey."

"You?!"

"First, get out of this godforsaken place. Second, tell me where Malekith is, or you're dead."

Releasing his grip on Hela's arm and ignoring her angry glare, Beckett walked step by step toward the uninjured Aura.

Now, tell me your choice.

Unconsciously mimicking the expression of her adoptive father Thanos from her memory, Beckett's calm tone sent a strange chill down Aura's spine.

"Your His Highness Beckett!"

The blood moon disappeared, and in its place came the surprised voices of Woz and The Other.

Svartalfheim, the place where the Aether are sealed.

Inside the cold, gloomy palace, Malekith, seated on his throne, opened his eyes. Invisible energy gathered before him, and following the initial Elrod, two more purple Dreamflower fully formed around him.

" From Ur and Vilruzz?"

After glancing at the names engraved on the stone slab beneath the roots of the two Dreamflower, Malekith flicked his hand, and the two fully formed Dreamflower were stored in his storage space to accompany the one that had been born on Elrod.

"Your Majesty, Ur and Vilruzz are dead." Not long after Malekith put away the Dreamflower, Algorim, who was in charge of the affairs of the Nine Realms Alliance in his place, hurriedly entered the royal palace.

"I know, the Dreamflower on their bodies have taken shape." Malekith pointed to the magic circle beneath the throne. Of the twelve gray markings, two had already lit up with a purple light.

Algorim opened his mouth, as if to say something, but the words just wouldn't come out.

He dared not refute the man on the throne, even though he had always believed that Malekith was wrong to use the lives of his people to unseal the Aether.

The Dark Elves had been dormant for thousands of years. Only after thousands of years of accumulation did they produce a few powerful individuals whose strength was among the best in the Nine Realms. However, Malekith, after his resurrection, wanted to use them all as sacrifices to completely break the seal left by Bor and unseal the Aether with their life energy.

In Algorim's view, this was a complete waste.

There's no need to rush the unsealing of the Aether. The once peaceful Light Elves of Jotunheim, Vanaheim, and even Alfheim now stand with Asgard, on the opposite side of Odin.

Even without the Aether after its resurrection, Malekith could still rival Odin and buy time by combining these forces.

Once the seal on the Aether weakens further, it can be unsealed. This way, the Dark Elves can obtain the unsealed Aether without sacrificing their current limited high-end combat power—wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

After all, each of these twelve Kurse, who had been given power by Malekith, was utterly loyal to the Dark Elves.

These twelve people still don't know Malekith's true purpose. They still believe that Malekith planted the Dreamflower seed in their bodies and gave them some of the power of the Aether so that they could make good use of this power and try to destroy the twelve key points of the seal on the Aether Sealing Ground.

"You have wavered, Algorim."

Algorim had been silently bowing and preparing to leave the royal palace, suddenly froze upon hearing this.

"Please forgive my hesitation, Your Majesty!"

Without offering any explanation, Algorim knelt instantly before the throne. He understood that all explanations would be futile in the face of Malekith.

"Algorim,"

Malekith rose from his throne, his eyes fixed on the figure prostrate at his feet, devoid of any emotion.

"Do you really think that without the Aether, I, in conjunction with the other major races of the Nine Realms, can contend with Odin?"

"...Your Majesty?" Algorim looked up, his eyes filled with astonishment, as if he were hearing such words from Malekith for the first time.

"Innocent."

"The foundation that Bor laid for Odin is something that those fools in the Nine Realms could never have known. Without the Aether, we are destined to lose this war between the Nine Realms."

"The only difference is the timing."

Malekith, the oldest king in the current Nine Realms Alliance, is extremely pessimistic about the outcome of this war.

Odin's power is on the rise, Asgard's power is unprecedented, and below them is Hela, who has awakened the Death Divinity. In the Nine Realms now, besides him and Laufey, who else has awakened divinity?

"War is a dirty game, and in order to win, we, the underdogs, must resort to even dirtier means."

Malekith clenched his right fist, his expression extremely solemn.

"The sacrifice of Vilruzz and the others was worthwhile, because their sacrifice will bring the dawn of victory to our Dark Elves — the Aether!"

The long years not only healed the wounds that Bor left on Malekith, but also gave Malekith a way to deeply control the Aether.

He is now confident that as long as he can obtain the unsealed Aether, no one in the entire Nine Realms will be able to separate it from him.

The humiliation that Bor inflicted on him back then will absolutely not be repeated this time!

Two more chapters, probably around 1 AM, I'm typing so slowly (__)