Everything returned to nothingness.
As the blinding white light receded like a tide, the figures that had still stood roaring on the ground moments before had vanished without a trace.
Two purple Dreamflowers drifted to the ground, as if playing a hymn to heaven. They danced gracefully amidst holy prayers, then embraced and disappeared without a trace before Hela's opened eyes.
"Gone?"
Hela, who had drawn her bow and nocked an arrow, ready to hit both flowers, frowned. She then turned her gaze to Beckett, who was still in the air.
He was looking up at the last enemy on the field – the cursed warrior Aura.
"Damn it!"
Aura cursed inwardly as she retreated, but Beckett blocked her path and seized her throat.
"Tell me, where is Malekith?"
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!!"
Aura wanted to curse him out!
How could she speak with her throat choked?!
What kind of nonsense was this!
Before Aura could react, she lost her balance and was thrown to the ground like garbage by Beckett, who casually tossed her aside!
Thump!
Dust flew!
"Cough… cough…"
Clutching her throat and coughing, Aura spat viciously onto the ground, right at Hela's feet.
"Despicable Asgardian."
"It's an honor to be called that by you." A black longsword materialized in Hela's hand, but it was firmly pressed down by Beckett, who had descended from the sky, rendering her immobile.
"She is my prey."
"You?!"
"First, leave this cursed place. Second, tell me where Malekith is, or die."
He released the hand pinning Hela's arm, ignoring her glare, and walked step by step towards Aura, who was unharmed.
"Now, tell me your choice."
Unconsciously mimicking the expression of his adoptive father, Thanos, in his memory, Beckett's calm tone sent an inexplicable tremor through Aura.
"His Highness Beckett!"
The blood moon vanished, and with it came the voices of Woz and The Other, filled with surprise.
…
Svartalfheim, the land where the Aether was sealed.
In the cold and dim palace, Malekith, seated on the throne, opened his eyes. Invisible energy coalesced before him. Following the initial Elrod, two more purple Dreamflowers fully formed beside him.
"Url and Vilruzz's?"
Glancing at the names carved on the stone slabs beneath the roots of these two Dreamflowers, Malekith raised his hand, collecting the fully formed Dreamflowers into his storage space, where they joined the one born from Elrod.
"My King, Url and Vilruzz are dead." Not long after Malekith collected the Dreamflowers, Algorim, who was handling the affairs of the Nine Realms' united army in his stead, rushed into the royal palace.
"I know, their Dreamflowers have already formed." Malekith pointed to the magic circle beneath the throne. Two of the twelve dim markings had lit up with purple light.
Algorim opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the words caught in his throat.
He dared not refute the man on the throne, even though he always believed that Malekith's use of his kin's lives to unseal the Aether was wrong.
The Dark Elf race had been dormant for thousands of years, accumulating strength for millennia, only to produce a few powerful individuals whose strength was renowned throughout the Nine Realms. Yet, the resurrected Malekith intended to sacrifice them all as offerings, using their life energy to completely break the seal left by Bor and unseal the Aether.
To Algorim, this was a complete waste.
The unsealing of the Aether did not need to be rushed. Jotunheim, Vanaheim, and even the once-peaceful Light Elves of Alfheim were now standing with Asgard, opposing Odin.
Even without the Aether, the resurrected Malekith, by uniting these forces, could have stood against Odin and bought time.
He could have waited for the seal on the Aether to weaken further before unsealing it. This way, he could both avoid sacrificing the limited high-end combat power of the Dark Elf race and obtain the unsealed Aether. Wasn't that the best of both worlds?
After all, these twelve cursed warriors, whom Malekith had empowered, were all loyal to the Dark Elf race.
These twelve still had no idea of Malekith's true intentions. They believed that Malekith implanting Dreamflower seeds in their bodies and granting them some of the Aether's power was so they could use this power well and strive to destroy the twelve key points of the Aether's seal.
"You are wavering, Algorim."
Algorim, who had silently bowed and was preparing to leave the royal palace, froze upon hearing this.
"Please forgive my wavering, my King!"
Without any attempt at defense, Algorim immediately knelt before the throne. He understood that any excuse was futile before Malekith.
"Algorim,"
Malekith stood up from his throne, his gaze devoid of emotion as he looked at the figure prostrate at his feet.
"Do you really think that without the Aether, I could contend with Odin by uniting the other major races of the Nine Realms?"
"... Your Highness?" Algorim, hearing such words from Malekith for the first time, looked up with astonishment in his eyes.
"Naive."
"The foundation Bor laid for Odin is something those fools in the Nine Realms could never comprehend. Without the Aether, we are destined to fail in this war for the Nine Realms."
"It's only a matter of time."
As the eldest king among the current Nine Realms coalition, Malekith was extremely pessimistic about the outcome of this war.
Odin's power was on the rise, Asgard's national strength was unprecedentedly strong, and below them was Hela, who had awakened the Death Divinity. In the Nine Realms today, besides himself and Laufey, who else had awakened Divinity?
"War is a dirty game, and for us, who are on the weaker side, we must use even dirtier methods to win."
Malekith clenched his right fist, his expression extremely solemn.
"Vilruzz and the others' sacrifices were worth it, because their sacrifices will bring a glimmer of victory for our Dark Elf race—the Aether!"
The long years had not only erased the scars Bor had left on Malekith back then, but also brought Malekith a method to deeply control the Aether.
He was now confident that as long as he could obtain the unsealed Aether, no one in the entire Nine Realms, absolutely no one, could separate it from him again.
The humiliation Bor had inflicted upon him back then would absolutely not happen again this time!
Two more chapters, probably around 1 AM. Writing so slowly (_)
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