“Fenrir.” Hela called out in a low voice.
The giant wolf raised its head, its amber beastly pupils burning like two lamps in the night.
“Tell me, did I do something wrong?”
Fenrir did not answer.
It simply leaned its huge head forward and rubbed against Hela’s hand.
The action carried a nearly gentle comfort, but Hela knew Fenrir would not give any answer.
It knew its role was not to give answers, but to accompany.
Hela took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and the white figure she met on the plain that day surfaced in her mind.
That slowly spinning die, that purple palm, those words about conquest and destruction, and that impressive discourse about the “true face of the Universe”.
“Chaos, war, destruction, devouring—these are not errors that need to be corrected, but the true face of the Universe’s operation.
So-called peace and order are nothing more than a layer of self-deceiving gauze.”
She opened her eyes, and in her green eyes, the ripples of hesitation had calmed, replaced by a layer of resolution as hard as ice.
“I’ve had enough.” Hela’s voice echoed in the empty cave, “I’ve had enough of his conservatism, and enough of his concession.”
She took a deep breath.
“I don’t want to wait anymore.”
Then she raised her head, her dark green eyes gazing into the void.
“Asat Pramad.”
The voice calling this name was not loud, yet it carried an unquestionable certainty.
She knew that person was listening, and she had known from the very beginning that person had not left Asgard and had been watching her from the dark.
“Asat Pramad, I know you are there, come out and see me.”
The cave fell silent for a moment.
Then, in the shadows toward the cave entrance, a white figure slowly emerged.
Asat Pramad walked out of the darkness, his white tailcoat shimmering with a cold luster in the dim green light.
The purple palm on his neck held up a slowly spinning die, and the crack symbols on the die’s face emitted a faint purple light in the dark.
He stopped about ten steps away from Hela, leaned forward slightly, pressed his right hand to his chest, and made an elegant greeting posture.
“Very glad to see you again, Your Highness Hela.” Asat Pramad’s voice was calm and composed, carrying a composure as if he had anticipated this moment long ago.
“I knew you hadn’t left.” Hela stared at him, complex emotions churning in those dark green eyes, but the ultimate undertone was an unshakeable determination.
“So you saw it all.” Hela said, and it was not a question.
“I saw it all.” Asat Pramad nodded, “Every argument between you and your father king, I saw it.”
The corners of Hela’s mouth twitched into a complex expression, hard to tell whether it was mockery or relief.
“Then you should be clear about my current state.”
“Naturally.” A hint of seriousness carried in Asat Pramad’s voice.
“You are fed up with waiting, fed up with being suppressed, and fed up with the divine domain you should have inherited being governed by someone with a conservative posture.
You want change, and you have made up your mind to achieve this change yourself.”
Hela gazed at him.
This existence from beyond the Nine Realms, this bizarre visitor without a head, this You-Know-Who who appeared at her most angry and unwilling moment and extended an olive branch—right now in front of her, calmly recounting her thoughts.
“I agree with the last proposal.” Hela said, her voice resolute without any hesitation.
“I won’t wait any longer, Odin is old, he doesn’t understand what Asgard truly needs, Asgard needs a king who is younger, more powerful, and possesses a greater heart for conquest.”
Asat Pramad’s die stopped spinning.
“Congratulations, Your Highness.” He said, “Congratulations on finally making up your mind.”
“I don’t need congratulations.” Hela’s voice grew sharper, “I need practical help, I need the soldiers you showed last time.”
Asat Pramad looked at her quietly, purple light flowing across his die face, and the crack symbol seemed to become clearer than before.
“No problem.” He said.
The moment these two words fell, deep within Asat Pramad’s consciousness, the system light screen quietly lit up.
[Villain Action Record: Host successfully guided Hela to make a rebellious decision, and the Asgard royal civil war is about to be triggered.
Nature of Action: Manipulating hearts and minds, subverting order.
Scope of Impact: Nine Realms level.
Expected Long-term Consequences: Extremely severe.]
[Villain Points + 500,000]
Asat Pramad’s die face flickered slightly.
Fifty thousand points, plus the 178,000 accumulated previously, he now had nearly 720,000 villain points on hand.
It was more than enough to exchange for three thousand Void Rangers.
He opened the system store, found the Void Rangers exchange item in the strategic resources category, the exchange price for each Void Ranger was 180 points, and 3,000 Void Rangers required 540,000 points.
The numbers on the system interface jumped rapidly, 540,000 villain points were deducted, and at the same time, behind Asat Pramad, on the empty ground between him and Hela, one dark crack after another silently split open.
From those cracks, one black figure after another walked out.
Void Rangers.
The most basic combat unit of the Antimatter Legion, their figures were similar to ordinary humans, but pitch-black all over, with blurred edges, like black silhouettes cut out from paper.
Their outlines would occasionally fluctuate on the basis of humanoid shapes, as if briefly losing form between the alternation of matter and antimatter particles, and quickly re-stabilizing.
Beside them were corresponding spherical objects, which were baryons and antibaryons, used to stabilize the Antimatter Legion’s antimatter energy state and prevent anti-particles from escaping and annihilating.
Void Rangers had no face, no facial features, only two faint specks of light vaguely visible in the blurred head outline, which were the residual energy release when matter and antimatter particles annihilated.
Their movements of walking out of the cracks were neat and uniform, with no extra actions, no extra sounds, and the footsteps echoed in the cave like the same drumbeat striking countless drum skins.
One, ten, a hundred, a thousand…
Three thousand Void Rangers formed a neat square array behind Asat Pramad, their pitch-black figures casting deeper shadows in the dim green light.
Hela’s gaze swept over that silent army, her eyes gradually changing from initial curiosity to scrutiny, and from scrutiny to satisfaction.
She could perceive the terrifying energy contained within these Void Rangers; that bizarre state of matter and antimatter particle balance made even her feel a dangerous sense of oppression.
Every Void Ranger was like a bomb that could go out of control at any time, but at the same time, as long as they could be properly restrained, they would be the sharpest and most terrifying weapons.
“Very good.” Hela said, the brief two words containing full recognition, “Very good.”