She-Thor helped the frontline soldiers fend off the enemy assault, while Loki and Sif began organizing the people's evacuation. There were secret passages in the palace, built under the supervision of old Odin—the very same Odin whom Bor claimed had no Asgardian spirit.
At Frigga's command, everyone sprang into action. Only Thor remained still. Troubled by heavy thoughts, he sat alone to one side in a daze.
After sitting there for a while, he suddenly rose and headed outside.
"You're not really planning to do that, are you? The price is no small one. We could ask your Earth friends for help. I'm sure they'd be more than willing." Loki appeared beside him at just the right moment and spoke calmly.
"We can ask others for help this time, but what about next time? Loki, tell me—is Asgard already at the point where it can only survive by relying on outsiders?" Thor disliked Loki's tone. He pushed his brother aside, left the hall without informing anyone, and silently made his way toward a corner behind the Royal Palace, where a concealed passage lay.
After passing through it, he entered an area suffused with golden light. Thor had found this place because it held tremendous symbolic meaning for Odin. When they had been young, the God King had told them of his own experiences as stories.
This passage connected to the core of the World Tree. Compared with an extraordinary existence like the Heart of the Universe, this core was ridiculously lame, but it represented the true origin of Asgard's Nine Realms.
The core floated within the heart of the tree as a mass of pure energy. It seemed to possess its own life, its own breath. It was not surprised by Thor's arrival, merely "watching" him in silence.
This core