Asgard's vault of heaven was the same as ever, unchanged for ten thousand years, like a sapphire polished by giants.
Eternal daylight flowed above the clouds, and golden radiance passed through the floating Bifrost Bridge, casting bands of brilliant color across the square of the divine realm. In the distance, temple spires pierced straight into the sky. Wind chimes forged from starlight hung beneath the eaves, and the sound they made when they swayed could soothe the exhaustion of warriors.
The giant branches of Yggdrasil stretched across the heavens. When dew condensed on its leaves and fell, it became shooting stars connecting the Nine Realms. On the ground, roads paved with Asgardian magical metal glowed with a warm luster. Every brick and stone was carved with ancient runes that slowly shifted under the light.
Suddenly, the air at the center of the square tore open. A golden portal surged like liquid sunlight, and the energy along its edges rippled outward.
Harry stepped out from within. His modern clothing looked completely out of place beside the dazzling divine realm around him.
He raised a hand to steady the bangs ruffled by the air current and looked toward Asgard ahead. At the place where the Bifrost and deep space intertwined, fine purple-gold sparks burst and scattered.
Harry had only just stepped out of the portal when a sharp whistling sound rang from the distant horizon. A white line crossed the still-blue sky and descended toward him.
Thor put away his hammer and landed beside Harry, kicking up a burst of dust. He quickly walked to Harry's side, his expression anxious.
"Harry, do you know where my father is? Not long ago, I returned from a campaign beyond Asgard and discovered that my father had vanished. Even when I asked my mother, she only smiled and never told me where he had gone.
"Asgard relies entirely on my father's reputation to hold everything together. If Asgard loses him, the Nine Realms will definitely fall into chaos again."
Harry looked at Thor's tightly clenched fists. His knuckles had gone white from the force, and even the patterns on his bracers seemed to have been pressed inward.
Harry raised a hand and set it on Thor's shoulder, comforting him.
"I haven't been on Earth recently, so I don't really understand the current situation there. But I know someone who should know where All-Father Odin is."
Before he finished speaking, Harry had already waved his wand and drawn a golden portal. Through the other side, the star chart on the dome of the Sanctum Sanctorum could be faintly seen, and the scent of sandalwood mixed with old pages drifted through the air.
"Come with me."
He stepped forward first and entered the portal, arriving inside the New York Sanctum. Thor followed close behind.
Inside the Sanctum, Strange was hovering in midair and turning pages. Floating magical objects formed complex astral tracks around him.
Hearing footsteps, he turned his neck and looked over.
"Visitors without an appointment, and two of them."
Hearing Strange's words, Harry raised an eyebrow slightly and teased, "Oh? Since when do I need to report in advance before coming to the New York Sanctum?"
The familiar voice reached his ears, and Strange immediately woke from his meditation.
His body slowly descended and landed on the floor. Then he opened his eyes and looked at the two figures before him, especially Harry, who was wearing modern casual clothes.
"It's you, Harry. You look very relaxed. No wonder you handed the position of Sorcerer Supreme straight to me back then. So you only wanted to find yourself a servant to handle magical affairs, didn't you?"
Strange's tone sounded deeply resentful, and his expression was no different.
Harry felt a little embarrassed. He sat on a nearby stool and said sheepishly, "Heh. In the vast majority of universes, the role of Sorcerer Supreme was always your responsibility. Whether I was there or not, it would have been the same.
"Besides, compared with the Sorcerer Supremes of other universes, you're far more relaxed. At the very least, I can block all kinds of threats from other universes for you. You don't even need to face Dormammu personally."
"But before I had even properly inherited the position of Sorcerer Supreme, I still fought Dormammu," Strange said.
Harry took a sip of tea and did not respond.
Even now, Strange still did not know that the battle had only been a test. Dormammu had not truly been Dormammu either, but Harry playing the part.
After some small talk, Harry began discussing the real matter. He pointed at Thor beside him and said, "Today's main character isn't me. It's Thor. He has something to ask you. I think you should already know."
Strange turned his gaze toward Thor as well.
Thor had long been unable to hold back from asking Strange about All-Father Odin's whereabouts, but he still understood basic etiquette. While Harry and Strange were chatting, he had restrained himself and not interrupted them.
Now that their conversation was over, he could no longer bear it. He slammed his palm heavily onto the nearby stone table and said excitedly, "Wizard, I need to know where All-Father Odin is!"
His hair fell in front of his eyes, hiding the anxiety in them, but it could not hide the tremor in his voice.
After losing All-Father Odin, Thor, the God of Thunder who had once feared nothing, finally realized his own weakness. Without his father, he no longer had that solid confidence behind him.
The Sling Ring on Strange's fingers suddenly burst with emerald light. The light resonated in the air and became a flowing screen, like a sliced-open fragment of space-time.
In the image, a grassland was soaked in amber dusk. Wind rolled golden-red waves of grass forward, and a distant stone circle cast long, thin shadows, like spears left behind by the gods.
An aged figure appeared in the image. Odin sat on a sun-warmed rock, his white hair lifted by the wind and tangled with the heads of grass into a silver-gold net. He had removed the golden helm and armor of the God-King and wore only a rough cloth shirt. His bare feet rested on the warm soil, and he was turning a clay wine cup in his hand.
Several deer passed by him, their noses almost brushing against his knees. Yet he merely raised a hand and gently stroked their antlers. There was not a trace of throne-born majesty in his movement. He looked more like an old man who had finally laid down his burdens.
"Norway, the Hardangervidda Plateau," Strange directly gave Thor the exact answer.
"When he went to Norway, he came to the Sanctum to see me once.
"He was very tired. His body had already aged to its limit. I'm afraid he doesn't have much time left.
"During these final days, he wants to forget all pressure, forget Asgard, forget the throne of the All-Father, forget everything, and let himself relax a little."
The physique of the Asgardian gods was very special. At the end of their lives, they were also at their most powerful.
Odin immediately sensed Strange's observation. He raised his head and looked into the void, a faint smile appearing on his aged face. Then he lifted his clay cup in a distant toast.
That scene made Thor's breathing suddenly stop. It was a side of Odin he had never seen before, not the All-Father, but simply Odin.
Thor's knuckles went white at his sides. His Adam's apple moved twice, but he could not say a word.
He hastily said goodbye to Harry and Strange, then rushed out of the Sanctum and headed toward Norway.
He could not wait to see his father. He had so much he wanted to say to him.
But just as he rushed out the Sanctum doors and was about to fly away with Mjolnir, Harry's hand clamped onto his bracer like an iron vise.
"Wait, Thor. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"I need to see my father quickly. He's in terrible condition right now. I want to stay beside him and keep him company," Thor said.
Harry shook his head and reached behind him, tearing open a golden rift. Wind from the other side of the portal swept grass toward them, carrying the damp scent of soil and rain.
"No matter how fast you are, are you faster than a portal? Don't panic. Odin should still have time. You'll definitely be able to see him."
Thor slapped his own forehead and said in surprise, "Right, Harry. I was too anxious."
Then he suddenly grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him through the portal with him.
After they stepped through the portal, the wind of the plateau lifted their clothes. In the distance, the stone circle cast a fierce silhouette under the dusk, and dew on the grass clung to Thor's long hair, refracting the fading daylight.
Odin sat on the rock ahead. The wine in his clay cup swayed with amber ripples.
Hearing footsteps, he slowly turned back. The golden light of sunset passed through his thinning white hair and carved deep furrows into his face.
"My son," he said, raising his wine cup, his voice mingling with the wind like an aged barrel of wine. "You arrived three hours earlier than I expected."
Thor's face flushed. As expected of his father, he truly understood him. If Harry had not stopped him and he had relied on Mjolnir alone, it might have taken him a few more hours to reach this place.
Thor slowly walked to Odin's side. He wanted to clench his fists and question him, yet he also wanted to embrace his father. In the end, he only said gruffly, "Father, Asgard…"
Before he could finish speaking, Odin interrupted him.
"Thor, my time is short. In these final moments, please allow this five-thousand-year-old man to be selfish for once. I don't want to think about anything related to Asgard anymore.
"What I hope for now is only to see you, Loki, and Frigga."
Mist gathered in Thor's eyes. He raised his head, refusing to let the tears about to fall spill over.
Then he turned to look at Harry behind him, casting him a pleading look.
Harry understood his meaning instantly. He summoned two more portals and brought Frigga and Loki over separately.
When the two appeared, they were confused at first. But when they saw All-Father Odin sitting by the cliff, they immediately understood what had happened and walked toward him with complicated expressions.
Harry consciously walked off into the distance. It was better to stay away while their family spoke.
Harry did not know what Odin's family said to one another, but when Thor appeared beside him again, Harry noticed that his eyes were red, as if he had been crying.
Looking farther back, the figure of All-Father Odin, whose aura had grown more terrifying even as he neared death, had disappeared.
It seemed the God-King who had ruled the Nine Realms for thousands of years had finally passed away here.
Queen Frigga walked to Harry and bowed in the unique etiquette of Asgard as she thanked him.
"Thank you, Harry. Thank you for allowing me to see Odin one last time.
"Asgard will never forget the kindness you have shown us."
Even Loki beside her looked at Harry with a complicated expression. At this moment, Loki's body was still female. He was filled with hatred toward Harry, but because of various reasons, that hatred was not as strong as it should have been.
That made the look Loki gave Harry contain far too many emotions, enough to send a chill down Harry's spine.
Harry liked pure girls. As for someone like Loki, who had changed sex, Thor could have that one.
At that moment, the surrounding wind suddenly reversed, and the faint smiles on everyone's faces were crushed by a bone-piercing chill.
A pitch-black crack split open in the sky. Countless black chains hung down from within, and the sound of their links colliding was like a funeral bell from Hell.
Frigga's face instantly went deathly pale. She had clearly realized what was happening, after Odin's death, Hela, the Goddess of Death, had finally broken free!
A figure slowly walked out of the crack. Her black robe spread in the wind like the wing membrane of a bat, its edges covered with bone spikes glinting with cold light.
Hela's skin was as pale as a shroud, and when her crimson lips parted, they revealed a smile colder than a viper's. Her fingertips casually toyed with a falling lock of black hair, while her nails were as black as ink.
The moment Hela appeared, she swept the people around her with an openly malicious gaze.
In the end, her eyes settled on the place where Odin had passed away, and she sneered.
"So he's already dead. What a pity. I still wanted to watch him die."
Thor had also learned Hela's true identity from his father by now. He watched her warily and said, "You must be Hela. I am Thor, son of Odin."
"Really? You don't look like him," Hela said, her eyes full of disdain.
Loki sensed the tense atmosphere and had no desire to fight this madwoman, so he smiled and tried to ease the situation.
"Wait. We can discuss this. I know you're very unhappy about being sealed away, but…"
Clearly, Hela had no interest in wasting words with Loki. She condensed two blades in her hands and floated in the air, looking down at Thor and the others. Then she gave an order.
"No. The only choice left for you now is to kneel."
"Wait. What are you saying?" Thor frowned tightly, staring hard at the woman who was his sister in name.
Loki noticed Thor's reaction and immediately realized what this fool was preparing to do, so he quietly brought Frigga behind Harry.
Although he was very unwilling to admit it, Harry should be the strongest person present.
He could protect his mother Frigga very well.
Meanwhile, Thor and Hela's conversation continued. Hela's expression remained calm as she repeated herself.
"Kneel."
Anger appeared on Thor's face. He swung Mjolnir in his hand and laughed mockingly.
"I don't think I only have one choice!"
He suddenly threw Mjolnir toward Hela. The hammer shot out with a howl that tore through the air, white lightning coiling around it in the shape of a giant dragon. Everywhere it passed, the air was burned into crackling trails.
"Hela! Taste the wrath of Thor, God of Thunder!" Thor roared.
Hela stood in place without moving. The instant the hammer's shadow reflected in her scarlet pupils, she suddenly raised her hand, spreading her fingers like an eagle's talons.
The moment Mjolnir struck her palm, all the lightning abruptly went out, as if devoured by an invisible black hole.
"Impossible!" Seeing that Hela could actually catch Mjolnir, Thor cried out in disbelief.
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