Want to read ahead? Join my Patreon for just $7 to get early access to all upcoming Chapters!
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations
─────
Chapter 574: Never Bend the Knee
In the distance, Frigga pushed herself to the limit, raising her hands to cast a brilliant magical barrier that desperately shielded the last group of terrified civilians.
Watching the blood-soaked backs of her two sons fighting side-by-side, her eyes instantly turned red.
But she didn’t shed a single tear.
She knew better than anyone present that crying right now would serve absolutely no purpose.
The only thing she could do was hold this life-saving barrier for just a little while longer.
Heimdall cleaved through several lunging Berserkers, shattering them into bone fragments with a single swing.
He turned around, letting out a throat-tearing roar.
"Everyone!"
"Make a run for it!"
Loki finally slammed both hands down onto the Tesseract.
A blinding blue light crawled frantically up his arms.
He clenched his jaw, his teeth grinding audibly.
"I’ve completely lost my mind!"
"I can’t believe I’m playing the good guy for you idiots!"
"Shut up and focus!" Thor roared sharply.
Loki screamed back until his voice went hoarse. "I’m already doing it!"
The light of the Tesseract surged to its absolute maximum.
Deep blue spatial ripples blasted outward from the edge of the Bifrost, like a tear being forcefully ripped open by the sheer might of heaven and earth—stretching longer, tearing wider.
Large beads of cold sweat broke out across Loki’s forehead.
He desperately locked the coordinates to the main expanse of the Bifrost, forcefully dragging the other end toward the evacuation channel.
Two distant points in space were violently folded together by absolute power.
A massive, blue spatial portal materialized between the royal plaza and the distant Bifrost.
Through the portal, the wide, crystalline expanse of the bridge was clearly visible.
They could see the absolute safe zone.
They could also see the elite Asgardian guards who hadn’t yet been slaughtered by the Berserkers.
Heimdall didn’t hesitate for half a second.
"Go! Now!"
The terrified civilians surged frantically through the blue portal like a tidal wave.
The elderly were strapped tightly to the backs of strong soldiers.
Children were hugged closely to their mothers’ chests.
The wounded gritted their teeth, supporting each other as they broke into a frantic sprint.
Frigga stood by the edge of the portal, waving her hands to maintain the magical barrier, desperately holding back the undead that swarmed toward them like rabid dogs.
A little girl tripped and fell heavily in front of the portal in sheer panic.
Frigga immediately bent down, pulling her up with the utmost gentleness.
"Don’t be afraid, child. Keep running straight ahead."
The little girl cried and nodded vigorously, stumbling into the portal.
Hela’s expression finally darkened to the absolute limit.
She couldn’t care less whether these ant-like commoners lived or died.
But she would absolutely not tolerate these prey escaping from the palm of her hand.
Asgard was her kingdom alone.
The living, the dead, the land, the throne—everything here was hers to absolutely dominate!
"Loki."
"Hand over the Tesseract!"
Hela thrust her right hand forward.
A vast ocean of Death Magic instantly coalesced in the air into a sky-obscuring black giant palm. Radiating an aura of absolute destruction, it grasped directly for the Tesseract.
Thor roared and charged forward, smashing his lightning-wrapped fists heavily into the black palm.
Lightning exploded violently.
The giant palm paused for merely a fraction of a second before continuing its crushing descent, bearing down with overwhelming, inescapable pressure.
Kaido burst from the rain of black blades like a demon god, half of his massive body completely dyed in dark crimson blood.
Using every ounce of his strength, he slammed his shoulder into the side of the giant hand, his Conqueror’s Haki erupting without holding anything back.
The massive hand violently swept backward, blasting Kaido and Thor away simultaneously with terrifying force.
Thor smashed into a distant pile of rubble like a cannonball.
Kaido’s massive frame snapped a thick black spike in half as he crashed, spitting out a massive mouthful of thick blood.
The Tesseract in Loki’s arms experienced an incredibly strong gravitational pull, nearly flying out of his hands.
He hugged the cube desperately, his knees slamming hard onto the unforgiving stone slabs, his entire body dragged frantically forward across the ground by the intense suction.
The massive blue portal began to violently shudder and warp.
A few civilians near the edge who hadn’t made it through screamed in despair.
Loki struggled to lift his head, staring dead at the high-and-mighty Hela.
He could clearly see what was hidden deep within Hela’s eyes.
It wasn’t recruitment.
It wasn’t even a simple threat.
It was absolute possession and subjugation.
She wanted everyone here to kneel at her feet like dogs.
Loki had kneeled before.
In front of that terrifying tyrant named Thanos.
In the face of absolute power and suffocating fear.
The memory of that humiliation disgusted him to his core.
He loved to lie, loved to carelessly play with people’s hearts, and loved finding new and creative ways to cause trouble for Thor.
But he, Loki, absolutely never wanted to kneel to anyone ever again!
Loki’s gaze instantly turned exceedingly ruthless. He pressed his hands firmly against the Tesseract, the blinding blue light casting his face a deathly pale white.
"This time."
"I, Loki, will absolutely never bend the knee to anyone!"
The Tesseract’s light pierced the heavens, erupting like a supernova.
The violently shaking portal was forcefully torn open wider.
The last batch of civilians was shoved through by Heimdall with everything he had.
Frigga also quickly retreated to the edge of the portal, though she didn’t step across the boundary just yet.
She turned her head, looking deeply at Odin in the distance.
Odin still stood like a pillar holding up the sky in the center of the plaza, gripping Gungnir tightly to suppress the surging deathly aura of the leylines.
With one glance, he understood exactly what Frigga’s eyes conveyed.
The two supreme rulers of Asgard gazed at each other across the sky filled with the flames of war.
Not a single unnecessary word was spoken.
Thor roared as he crawled out from the rubble, the violent lightning once again exploding around him.
Kaido also stood up straight, leaning on his battered weapon. The black blades lodged in his body were forcefully squeezed out by his powerful muscles, dropping to the ground with nerve-grating clinks.
Hela raised both hands high, preparing to step onto the battlefield herself and seize the Infinity Stone.
However, at that very hair-raising moment...
The Tesseract suddenly began to vibrate in an incredibly bizarre and violent manner.
Loki’s expression changed drastically.
"Wait!"
"These are absolutely not the coordinates I set!"
The image on the other side of the blue portal began to wildly twist and distort.
The familiar, broad expanse of the Bifrost vanished completely.
In its place was a violently burning sky over a city of steel.
Skyscrapers pierced the clouds.
Billowing black smoke blocked out the sun.
An immensely massive spatial rift, glowing with a deep blue light, hung high above the clouds like the eye of doomsday.
Countless Chitauri alien soldiers riding flying chariots were screaming past in the distance.
Immediately following that, a massive, mountain-like Leviathan let out a deafening roar. It shoved its terrifying, nightmarish head right through the portal, its thick steel-plated scales violently grinding against the edges of space, producing a screeching sound that made everyone’s scalp go numb.
Loki completely froze in place, his mind going entirely blank.
Thor was also dumbstruck, paralyzed with shock.
Only Kaido stared dead at the steel behemoth drilling its way out from another world. He bared his bloodstained teeth, letting out a crazed laugh of absolute ecstasy.
"Hahahaha! What the hell is this thing?!"
─────
Support this fanfict by leaving Positive Review, Comments, and Power Stones.
For Advance Chapters:
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations