Chapter 309: Family Matters

13th May 2013, Svartalfheim

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

Odin must have understood the dangers that Malekith truly represented with the Reality Stone in hand and created a giant glowing runic array that immediately immobilized the leader of the Dark Elves.

Malekith's forces watched in a mixture of fascination and worry, and the Aether slowly started leaving his body as he screamed in pain. When it was halfway towards Odin, giant black swords filled with dark energy materialized and attacked the Asgardian army. In this attack, over half of the attacking force was decimated. Odin needed to stop his attack on Malekith to properly defend himself.

I knew this type of attack. I was very familiar with them when I fought their owner and Odin recognized them as well, as he looked worried for the first time since the fight began.

A portal filled with green and black materialized itself, and a woman stepped out of it. It was one that I recognized, one that Odin recognized. Hela was here, and with this, the plan almost went out of the window.

She looked at her father and gave him a grin, "Well, Odin. Long time no see."

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(Thor Odinson POV)

Thor felt alive during battle. He felt a thrill when he defeated his enemies with his bare hands. The God of Thunder was born for battle, and he knew it. Some of the happiest moments of his life were during the quests that his father had assigned to him in his youth. It was a dream of Thor's to fight alongside his father for the glory for Asgard.

What a fool he was.

War was not glorious, it was not kind, it was not noble. It was death. His father was right, it was foolish to seek out war. This just put the Prince's foolish declaration of war on Jotunheim a few years ago into perspective.

And yet, as he looked at the bodies of his friends and comrades, he didn't feel glory, noble, or anything really. Everything was going relatively well in the assault on the Realm of Shadows. Malekith was being slowly pushed back by his might and that of his father. The Dark Elves were taken by surprise and the plan was working. The Morrigan had stayed behind to make sure that the portal would stay open. Apparently, it needs to stabilize due to the chaotic nature of the convergence. The spell needed to recognize the pattern to stay open independently, something that the Morrigan was currently doing on her own.

And yet, even without her involvement, Asgard was prevailing. Everything was going well until a dark woman appeared and killed half of their forces in a single attack. In mere seconds, Thor lost the comrades he had, including Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. He was not the only one to look horrified by that fact. Tens of Thousands of brave Asgardian soldiers were slaughtered as if they were nothing.

After this attack, the entire battle froze. Dark Elves and Asgardians alike were frozen in terror at the attack and stared with horrified expressions at the woman who caused it.

The woman radiated power and malice and was particularly focused on his father. She gave him a cold smirk and spoke up, "Well, Odin. Long time, no see."

To Thor's astonishment, his father recognized her, "Hela. How did you escape your prison?"

"You mean the hell that you condemned me to? Your own daughter, your own heir. You called me monstrous, old man, and yet I don't hold a candle to you."

Wait, what? That woman was Odin's daughter, his sister? How did he not know about her before now? How did no one know about her for that fact? The All-Father having a child, an heir, should be something that would be publicized, not hidden. After all, the realm of Asgard would cheer should its king have an heir.

Odin sneered at her, "You wished to enslave billions of lives, spread nothing but death and misery throughout countless worlds. You were caught before you barely even started, and I had to save you myself. You dishonored me, my name, and that of my ancestors, which is why you were banished."

"Because I tried to imitate you?"

"No, foolish daughter. I conquered the nine realms to bring stability in an era of constant war and bloodshed. You only wished to continue your endless war, your endless slaughter. I have failed you, daughter, and I regret many things in my old life. Your banishment is not one of them."

That seemed to anger the woman even further. Thor was just frozen in shock at the revelation. His father hadn't denied it. This woman truly was his sister, and she had been banished for her actions. He had never heard of her before, and it was clear that she held a great deal of resentment towards their father. Thor couldn't help but wonder what she had done to warrant such a punishment, and what her true intentions were. Thor had never imagined that his family had such a dark past, and he couldn't help but question everything he thought he knew about his father. He'll need to talk to him about this when this battle is over.

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Seemingly ignoring his daughter's rage, Odin continued, "But betraying your home, your people, to these Shadows? Do you even know what they are, what they did to me, to you, to everyone?"

"I don't care. If I get to kill you, then I'll suffer what you put me through tenfold with a smile on my face."

Hela sent spikes of these swords at her father who banished them away with a wave of his hand. Malekith used this distraction to escape his confinement and regroup. Odin gave Thor a serious look, "Thor, I know that you have a lot of questions, and I'll answer everything after the battle. Hela is too dangerous for you to deal with alone. Fight Malekith, while I'll hold Hela back. We'll need the Morrigan's help to deal with her."

The God of Thunder nodded, pushing away any thoughts of his newly discovered sister and focused on his opponent, Malekith.

The leader of the Dark Elves seemed to have recovered and regrouped his forces for a final charge on the dismayed Asgardian forces. His army did surpass Malekith's in numbers, but they were horrified by the deaths of their comrades. Thor did not have the time to encourage them with a speech that would rouse their hearts and give them back their courage by fighting for their home. And so, he needed to do it with courage.

He needed to end this as quickly as possible, to help his father. The entire plan hinges on a final attack that would need as much of Odin's power as possible, and the All-Father was obviously holding back against his daughter. Thor didn't know if it was because Hela was his daughter, or because of the plan, and he didn't care. Odin did seem to be on the back foot for now.

Malekith charged, and Thor took a deep breath. The Morrigan had taught him much, but most of all, she taught him control. The God of Thunder dropped Mjolnir and raised his hand. Immediately, clouds started to gather in the dead realm of Svartalfheim and Thor was hit by a bolt of lightning. Everything slowed down and the God of Thunder felt rejuvenated.

Time itself felt slowed down, and the world was moving in slow motion. Thor knew what he wanted and immediately ran towards the enemy forces, killing one Elf after another. In what must have looked like a fraction of a second to everyone else, for Thor it was an eternity. In this single attack, the entire charging line was gone, except for Malekith.

Still not satisfied with the state of his enemies, he raised his hand, and the gathered clouds rumbled. A veritable gigantic dragon made of lightning appeared from the sky, just as his teacher taught him, it flew down, razing hundreds, if not thousands of Dark Elves who were immediately vaporized from any contact with the ethereal beast. Until the beast stopped, returned to the heavens, and gathered into a gigantic beam of pure lightning that fell from the sky and created a giant shockwave, killing any Dark Elf outside of the realm of the shadows.

Well, every single one except Malekith, who was still reforming his body thanks to the Aether, although, it was taking him too long to reform, "that was an impressive attack, Odinson, but you'll have to do much more if you want to kill me."

Thor gave him a smug smile, "That was not supposed to kill you, Malekith. It was supposed to inspire the Asgardian army."

With a gesture, Thor summoned his mighty hammer, raised it in the air, and bellowed, "FOR ASGARD!"

As Thor started charging the leader of the Dark Elves, the rest of Asgard's army, who was gaping at his display of power, bellowed back, "FOR ASGARD!", and started charging the remnants of the Dark Elven forces in the realm of the shadows.

As for Thor, he leapt into the air, almost flying and sent a concentrated beam of light towards the still regenerating Malekith. The Dark Elf did try to shield himself by creating a shield of darkness that swallowed the attack, but then Thor ran at him with a Thunder Punch and threw him away. He then generated ropes of lightning that he used to summon the Elf back.

With most of his control over the Aether focused on regenerating, Malekith barely had any left to attack the God of Thunder who kept bombarding him with one attack after another, slowly disintegrating parts of his opponent which were slowly being regenerated.

By the end of the barrage, Malekith was barely more than a few limbs connected entirely by the Aether. Focused on healing himself, the leader of the Dark Elves did not see Thor charge at him with a hand filled with lightning, which was letting out a high-pitched chirping sound, similar to that of a flock of birds. In barely a fraction of a second, Thor had appeared in front of his enemy, his hand going through his chest.

Malekith let out a mocking laugh, "What was that supposed to do?"

Giving him a smirk, Thor answered, "This."

Suddenly, the lightning in Thor's hand became blinding in its intensity, and Malekith started screaming. He was being torn inside out, getting disintegrated by the lightning one cell at a time. Even the Aether itself had shattered for a second before reforming.

Malekith was dead, and Thor used the Aether's destabilization to use the small artifact that his father had given him. It was a metallic structure that absorbed the red chaotic artifact safely. Slowly, the artifact started glowing red, until none of the Aether remained on the outside.

With his main enemy done, he needed to help his father. He ran towards his supposed sister who kept sending her conjured swords at his father. The King of Asgard looked like he was in a sorry state, and yet Thor knew that he was holding back immensely, only shielding with his runes without using any of the true power of the Odinforce.

Thor needed to protect his father, so he sent a bolt of lightning towards his sister, who easily blocked it with a projected black shield.

She gave him a cocky smirk, "Is he supposed to be my replacement? What a disappointment."

Odin replied back, "The only disappointment here, Hela, is you."

"Then watch him die for your sake, Odin."

The woman snarled and sent dozens of black blades at him which he destroyed with his lightning. He summoned Mjolnir and sent it at her. The woman, Hela, actually grabbed the hammer and froze it in place.

Gaping at the scene, he uttered, "That is impossible."

The woman smirked at him, "Oh honey, you have no idea what's possible."

With a squeeze of her hands, cracks started appearing on the hammer, until it was destroyed, releasing an explosion of lightning. Whatever was left of the hammer was a few pieces of Uru metal. Thor tried to deny it by trying to find his bond to his hammer, but he found nothing. Mjolnir was dead.

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