Dark clouds over Asgard, the loosening seal

Lynn stood in the center of the basement, and the hot breath he exhaled condensed into tiny black ice crystals the moment it left his lips, which then clattered onto the Titanium Alloy floor.

An extreme chill crept up my ankles. This wasn't low temperature in the physical sense, but a Aura of Death capable of freezing cell activity and severing life.

The red lights on the System Panel had merged into a blinding crimson, and the piercing alarm was scraping wildly through Lynn's brainstem.

In mid-air, a nauseating stench was seeping continuously from a black crack no thicker than a hair. The smell, a mixture of rotten mud, withered bones, and the odor of a thousand-year-old mummified corpse, brutally overwhelmed the already strong stench of blood in the basement.

"Want to eat me?" Lynn sneered.

He didn't retreat a single step; instead, he took a step forward and stood directly beneath the crack.

The muscles in his left arm tensed instantly. The Dark Phoenix Mark, which had just been sewn deep into the cells, was provoked, and Dark Gold flames surged wildly beneath his cold, white skin. The powerful heart granted by the Super-Soldier Serum beat like a heavy-duty hydraulic pump, its thumping echoing in the deathly silent basement, shattering the chill that was creeping towards his skin.

Lynn looked up, his dark pupils reflecting the crack crack crackling with eerie blue electricity. He could clearly feel a pair of eyes staring intently at him from the other side of the crack.

Following that extremely cold and domineering spiritual tendril, the gaze pierced through layers of Spatial Barrier and traversed the endless sea of stars.

The deepest part of Helheim underworld beneath Asgard.

Here, the sun never shines, and the air is filled with a thick, almost tangible black fog. Beneath one's feet lies an endless expanse of viscous black water, on the surface of which float the ghastly white skeletons of enormous, unidentified Beast.

Nine dark gold Bronze Pillars, each over ten meters in diameter, are like nine giant swords firmly embedded in the rock strata deep within the Blackwater. Thick Black Chain extend from the Bronze Pillars, crisscrossing in mid-air before finally converging on a protruding black reef in the center.

At the end of the chains, a woman was chained.

She wore a tattered, dark green War Armor, her pale skin covered in dried blood. Her head was bowed, her long black hair, like seaweed, soaked in the black water at her feet, and she remained motionless, like a dead object.

"Click."

An extremely faint cracking sound suddenly rang out in this underground prison that had been sealed for thousands of years.

The water rippled. The woman suddenly raised her head.

It was a face so pale it was devoid of any color, and in its deep-set eye sockets, a pair of pure black eyes burned with a tyranny and arrogance powerful enough to pierce through the Nine Realms.

Hela, the Goddess of Death.

Her chapped lips twitched slightly as she sniffed like a starving Beast.

For thousands of years, ever since that old bastard Odin imprisoned her in this dark and gloomy place, her nostrils have been filled only with the smell of rotting flesh and mud.

But now, an extremely faint yet incredibly violent energy fluctuation seeped in through a tiny crack on the top of the Bronze Pillars.

"This is..." Hela narrowed her eyes, the violence in them instantly replaced by a surge of fervor.

She smelled it.

The scent that drifted in through the crack was so complex and so alluring.

It possessed the madness of Scarlet Magic, the sharpness of spatial distortion, and a Dark Gold flame that even made her heart race. These top-tier energies were kneaded within the body of a carbon-based creature, forming a deadly allure.

No, it's not just energy.

As the Deity who controls death, Hela's perception of souls is more acute than anyone else's. Through that tiny crack, she caught a whiff of the soul deep within her prey.

That man, who lived far beyond countless galaxies, had his body covered with the marks of other women.

Those branding marks were extremely obsessive, insane, and possessive, like a pack of mother wolves guarding their prey, tightly confining the man to their territory.

"Those Midgard bugs are actually fighting over such delicious food?" Hela's hoarse voice echoed in the empty cavern, filled with mockery and disdain.

An unnamed anger surged from her chest.

On what grounds?

She was the eldest daughter of Asgard, the Executioner of the Nine Realms, the absolute ruler of death. What right did those lowly mortal women have to possess such a supreme being?

A man whose very bones exude arrogance and whose very soul screams rebellion deserves only to kneel before her Throne and become her most perfect collectible!

Hela suddenly stood up.

"Splash!"

The thick Black Chain was instantly taut, producing a dull metallic clang.

The Bronze Pillars immediately lit up with dazzling golden Runes. The divine power left behind by Odin was activated, transforming into hundreds of violent golden lightning bolts that mercilessly struck Hela along the Hela.

"Sizzle--"

Large patches of skin and flesh were instantly charred black by the electric shock, and a pungent, burnt smell filled the air.

But Hela didn't even flinch. She stared intently at the tiny crack in mid-air that resonated due to Earth's energy overload, the curve of her lips widening until it finally erupted into a hysterical laugh.

"Hahahaha! The old man's seal has finally been broken!"

She stretched out her pale fingers, ignoring the frenzied lightning strikes, and forcefully dug her hands into the void surrounding the crack.

The fingernail broke off, and black divine blood flowed down the fingertip, dripping into the black water below, instantly corroding and creating a large patch of white smoke.

Ignoring everything else, Hela compressed her immense death Psychic Power into a sharp spike and ruthlessly stabbed it through the spatial rift that Lynn had torn open.

"Get out of my way!" Hela roared at the void, a voice that warned the women who had branded Lynn, and proclaimed the arrival of Deity, "He is mine!"

The violent Psychic Power surged out like a flood bursting its banks, bursting forth through the cracks.

Earth. Baxter Building, third basement level.

The air in front of Lynn distorted violently.

The water vapor that was originally floating in the air defied the laws of gravity under the extreme cold and began to condense rapidly in the air.

The ice crystals squeezed and collided with each other, making a soft "rustling" sound.

In less than three seconds, a pattern made of black ice crystals gradually took shape in front of Lynn's line of sight.

It was a jet-black Crown covered in sharp, barbed spikes.

The moment the Crown took shape, an ethereal, domineering female voice, carrying a strong allure of death, pierced through the starry sky and exploded in Lynn's eardrums.

"Found you."

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable commanding tone, causing the Alloy Wall of the basement to vibrate. The red light on the System Panel flashed wildly, and warning sounds merged into a series of piercing long blasts.

Lynn stared at the black Crown floating in mid-air, smelling the increasingly strong stench of corpses in the air.

He did not panic, nor did he back down.

On his left arm, the Dark Gold patterns lit up again, and his muscles trembled slightly with extreme excitement. He stared at the Crown, a cruel sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Want to be my master?" Lynn raised his right hand, his fingertips glowing with Scarlet Chaos Magic, and grabbed at the Crown without hesitation. "Then let's see if your old bones can withstand my fire."