At the peak of the Asgardian Palace.
Thor and Hela's battle had reached a fever pitch.
Without Mjolnir, Thor was steadily driven back beneath Hela's nearly inexhaustible power of death and the Nightsky Sword.
He was covered in wounds.
In his despair, his consciousness seemed to be drawn away.
It sank into a strange green field shrouded in mist.
His father—Odin—
stood there calmly, his face bearing a pure kindness and wisdom Thor had never seen before.
"Father!"
Thor dropped to his knees, his voice filled with pain and confusion.
"Without the hammer... how am I supposed to defeat her?"
Odin slowly approached.
His illusory hand gently rested on Thor's shoulder, his voice like warm sunlight.
"My son, listen to me. Your divine power never came from that hammer."
Thor abruptly looked up.
Odin's gaze seemed capable of seeing through everything.
"The hammer only helped you control your power. It was never the source of it.
True power lies here—"
He gently pointed at Thor's heart.
"—within yourself, in your determination to protect everything."
He looked into the distance, his tone growing profound.
"And Asgard... was never a specific place."
His gaze swept across the golden plains, as though piercing through time and space.
He saw those frightened yet hopeful people aboard the ship.
"Where the people are, there is Asgard."
The words rang like a great bell.
They scattered the last of the fog and dependence in Thor's heart.
The illusion faded, and Thor suddenly opened his eyes!
There was no longer any uncertainty in his gaze, only surging thunder!
Without the hammer to guide it,
an incomparably immense power of lightning erupted from within him.
Golden lightning coiled around his body.
It made him look like the true sovereign of thunder!
"Aaargh—!"
He let out a roar that