All of Asgard was plunged into darkness. No one lit a lamp in the city. Distant mountains lay prostrate in the night, and the entire floating island was as silent as death. The soldiers entered places untouched by the Emperor's radiance and immediately felt the cold, along with a fear that seeped into their minds.
Officers at every level had informed each soldier of the current situation in Asgard: Hela's side included not only the dead, but also old nobles who had once been loyal to her. Thus, they would face not only supernatural walking corpses raised by necromancy, but also well-equipped private forces belonging to Asgardian and Vanir nobles. Since most civilians were now sheltering in the mountains under Heimdall's protection, the soldiers were no longer constrained by the Rules of Engagement. That was a good thing. It meant the army could shell the city.
But Thor had not brought only good news.
Although most vessels at the spaceport had departed carrying fleeing Asgardian civilians, Asgard still possessed a great deal of military equipment: from hovering skiffs suited to carrying an entire squad into assault operations, to airborne gunships intended to provide fire support against ground targets. The nobles' private soldiers might be few in number, but they were all skilled warriors. Private forces armed with such military equipment would certainly cause the human soldiers considerable trouble.
The senior officers who had learned about Asgardian weapons and equipment from Thor immediately made their decisions. They deployed point-defense anti-aircraft weapons on the front line to counter Asgardian aerial fire support. At the same time, they sent soldiers into the city to lay large numbers of mines, blocking the advance routes of the nobles' private forces. Finally, they would shell the Asgardian anti-air batteries marked by Thor on the map, crippling