Hela's Inner Thoughts
Lincoln and Valeria raced along the way. The mountain-guarding Snake Spirits didn't even have time to react. When they flew to the palace on Nether Mountain and had just come inside, they saw the palace doors swing open on their own. The two stepped in and found Hela and Youming watching them in surprise, surrounded by several Purple-Red Soft Couches scattered about the room.
"Hela, I invited you so warmly, yet here you are watching Battle Projections with Youming. It hurts, you know. If Vivian hadn't accepted my invitation today, my banquet would have been a pretty low-key affair." Lincoln smiled, making no effort to hide his presence.
"Hmph. You held the banquet in the Material Plane, so clearly you weren't sincere. Why should I go? Now it seems you weren't merely insincere—you planned this all along. Valeria, when did you get involved with Lincoln? And now one of you has refined a Water Sovereign Spark while the other has refined a Wind Sovereign Spark. Did you come here to flaunt your power?" Hela said, her expression dark.
"Lincoln, you've killed Chief Gods time and again. Do you really think you're strong enough not to fear the four of us, and that the Sovereign Pact can't restrain you?" Hela's gaze snapped to Lincoln's face. Her question caught him completely off guard.
"That's not what happened, Lady Hela." Valeria had first lost her Chief Sovereign Clone, and now Hela was grilling her harshly. Her heart was unbearably heavy. She hurried to explain, wanting to reveal the whole truth, but hesitated at the last moment and changed what she was going to say. "The Four Divine Beasts plotted to kill me, and I lost my Chief God clone. Lord Lincoln happened to be there, and with overwhelming force, he