"Hiss..."
"That hurts a little..."
Laufey's attack contained nearly all his power. Beyond the extreme cold of the Casket of Ancient Winters, the highly concentrated beam had even pierced through Fenris's vaunted defenses with ease.
His thick, rugged hide could withstand Stark's weapons without suffering so much as a scratch, yet the beam had now blasted a horrifying hole straight through it.
Frost spread through the scorching flesh surrounding the wound. Beginning with countless microscopic cells, it covered every corner of Fenris's body from the inside out in the blink of an eye.
Agony surged through his entire body. Soon, Fenris could no longer feel the pain or even sense his own body. He merely curled his arms inward mechanically, his sharp claws scraping across his frozen, rigid flesh with a piercing screech.
Fenris could clearly feel his mind growing sluggish. Even his thoughts began to slow.
"I'm not actually going to lose this, am I...?"
Fenris lowered his head. Even after striking him, Laufey's attack had not stopped. Instead, it continued pouring forth with ever-increasing power.
The horrific wound in his chest was gradually expanding. Although he had already lost all sensation, he could clearly see the terrifying struggle taking place there. His flesh was constantly regenerating and healing, yet it still could not prevent the beam from rapidly devouring more of his body.
"Let's see how much longer you can endure!"
In the distance, Laufey held the Casket of Ancient Winters aloft as he slowly flew toward Fenris.
The raging white beam continued pouring from it without pause, on the verge of penetrating Fenris completely.
If freezing this creature solid had failed to kill him, Laufey refused to believe the freak could return to life after being crushed and destroyed piece by piece.
The vacant numbness on Fenris's face filled Laufey with excitement. His eyes blazed crimson.
"Good! Good!"
He immediately poured even more power into the attack, and Fenris felt the impact intensify almost at once.
Fenris had relied solely on his body to endure Laufey's overwhelming assault for this long, but he had already been pushed to his limit. The sudden increase in force sent his mind reeling.
Crash!
His massive body swayed several times. Then his foot slipped, and he finally came crashing down.
The few remaining buildings in Asgard instantly collapsed around him, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air. The white beam skimmed over Fenris's head before plunging into the ground nearby.
Freezing air exploded outward as a bottomless pit of ice formed. The surviving Asgardians who failed to escape in time were instantly blasted apart, scattering across the ground as chunks of bloodstained ice.
"Oh?"
Seeing Fenris finally collapse, Laufey cautiously put away the Casket of Ancient Winters. He shot across the ground, grabbed the helpless Loki and Frigga, then stepped forward and transformed into a blur.
Moments later, he appeared in the air above Fenris.
Amid the devastated landscape and widespread ruins, an enormous creature lay pinned beneath the remains of several buildings.
Fenris's once-majestic body was now covered in dust and debris. The row of thick, razor-sharp dorsal spines along his back had lost almost all their blue radiance.
"You knew you couldn't defeat me, so why come back and risk your life fighting me again?"
Laufey watched Fenris's vertical pupils gradually widen before becoming dull, unfocused circles. He shook his head regretfully and sighed.
He casually tossed Loki and Frigga aside, allowing them to collapse limply to the ground. Then he slowly descended from the sky and landed before Fenris.
Frost Giants stood more than twice as tall as Asgardians, yet Laufey appeared remarkably small beside Fenris's fallen head.
Laufey reached out and slowly touched Fenris's skin, which was covered in a thin layer of ice. Although Fenris's vitality was no longer as powerful as it had been at his peak, the remnants of life beneath Laufey's fingertips still left him deeply astonished.
Huff!
A blast of hot air erupted from Fenris's nostrils and washed over Laufey.
Laufey's body stiffened. Without changing his expression, he withdrew his hand and looked up into Fenris's enormous eye.
"If you had chosen to run, I could never have stopped you. You had nothing to do with Asgard, and I had no desire to keep you here."
"Why?"
Laufey genuinely did not understand.
As soon as the words left his mouth, heavy coughing came from beneath the ruins nearby, followed by a weak voice.
"Someone like you will never understand the answer."
Crash!
Several collisions rang out in succession as a small hammer suddenly burst out of the ground. An instant later, Thor braced himself against the shattered walls and painfully dragged himself from beneath the ruins.
His gaze swept over his mother and brother, both nearly unconscious, before settling on Fenris's battered body. The light in his eyes dimmed once again.
"Brother?"
Hearing Thor's voice, Loki struggled to raise his head before slowly turning toward him.
"Of course a brute's friends would also be brutes. I never should have expected anything from either of them..."
In his current condition, Thor was in even worse shape than Fenris had been moments ago. What was the point of crawling out? Laufey would simply put him down in two moves.
Laufey did not even bother turning around when Thor appeared. He merely waved a hand, and the moisture surrounding Thor instantly condensed, imprisoning him in solid ice.
"No!"
"Shh."
A large chunk of ice formed inside Thor's mouth, swelling his cheeks and forcing him to swallow his final cry of defiance.
"I knew it..."
Loki was not surprised in the slightest. He closed his eyes in resignation.
Things had already reached this point, so there was nothing left to fear. If he stretched out his neck, perhaps Laufey would at least grant him a quick death.
"What a remarkable enemy. Unfortunately, you could never serve me."
Laufey's gaze never left Fenris. His voice was filled with unmistakable regret.
"Asgard continues producing powerful warriors one after another, while Jotunheim has only me. If only you had chosen to stand beside me."
"But now that I think about it, Odin has a madwoman for a daughter, a brute for one son, and a self-important fool for the other. Looking at it that way, I suppose there is no reason for me to feel so bitter."
He seemed to be muttering to himself. When he reached the end, he suddenly laughed.
Laufey slowly floated into the air, then extended a palm toward Fenris's eye. White light gathered in his hand as terrifying energy spread across it.
"At this angle, the beam will pass through your eye socket and penetrate your brain directly. I hope it will not cause you too much pain."
Victory was already his. With the Casket of Ancient Winters in his possession and his overwhelming power suppressing everyone present, there could be no more unexpected reversals.
Casting aside all distracting thoughts, Laufey felt the darkness within his heart disappear. The grand undertaking he had dreamed of for countless years was finally about to be fulfilled.
"Farewell, Midgardian."
(End of Chapter)
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