The standoff lasted for less than three breaths.
The moment Hela’s blade pointed at Odin’s chest, all sound on the battlefield seemed to be sucked away—the shouts of killing, the clashing of weapons, the crackling of Fire burning, all instantly became distant and blurred, as if separated by a thick layer of Water curtain.
Then, Hela moved.
She did not shout or roar, but lunged forward in a posture akin to a smooth dance, her dark green divine power dragging a long afterimage behind her.
The longsword pieced together from metal fragments drew a sharp screech in the air, and the green light on the blade dyed the night sky into a dim abyss.
Odin’s reaction was likewise extremely fast.
The Eternal Spear flipped in Odin’s hand, and golden divine power surged from the shaft like a tide.
His body leaned back slightly, and the tip of the spear swept upward from below, precisely blocking Hela’s descending blade.
“Clang——!”
That loud crashing sound was more piercing than all the battle horns combined.
The golden and green divine powers collided violently at the intersection of the spear and sword, and the generated Impact spread outward with the two as the center.
Several layers of stone slabs on the ground were lifted, and the nearest row of Asgard soldiers were blown away by the air wave, crashing into the stone pillars behind them while rolling, and instantly lost consciousness.
After Hela’s sword was blocked, she did not withdraw her hand.
Instead, she took advantage of the rebound force to rotate her body, drawing an arc in the air with her longsword and slashing toward Odin’s neck from the side.
Odin’s pupils constricted slightly.
He quickly turned to the side, erecting the shaft of the spear.
The blade slashed against the shaft with a harsh screech, sending Fire sparks flying in all directions.
Her left leg swept out horizontally, the tip of her boot carrying dark green divine power as it kicked toward Odin’s calf.
Odin blocked downward, inserting the tail of the spear into the ground to block the kick, but the immense force still made his body sway slightly.
Hela gave Odin no chance to breathe; her offensive was as dense as a rainstorm—chopping, slashing, lifting, and piercing, every attack seamlessly connected.
The speed grew faster and faster, and the power grew greater and greater.
Dark green light churned around her, making her figure look like a constantly shifting ghost Shadow in the night.
Retreating while defending, Odin wielded the Eternal Spear so swiftly that not a drop of Water could leak through.
The golden light formed a flowing barrier, blocking all of Hela’s attacks three inches away from his body.
But Hela was also constantly advancing.
Her footwork was flexible and swift, stepping into the blind spots of Odin’s defense with every step, forcing him to continuously retreat.
“Can you only hide?” Hela’s voice carried undisguised mockery.
“The old you would have turned such an opportunity into an offense, but now you only hold your spear and guard there.”
Odin did not answer.
His breathing was accelerating, but not because of exhaustion, rather because of something much deeper.
He was suppressing something.
The massive golden divine power within him was like imprisoned tide Water, forced back down every time it wanted to break through the embankment.
He did not want to kill Hela.
Even at this moment, even though she had led the Death Legion to break through the gates of the Golden Palace, he still did not want to kill her.
But Hela was different.
Every sword stroke of Hela carried killing intent, and there was no hesitation in her eyes.
Her only goal at this moment was one—to defeat Odin, force him to abdicate, and make him admit that she no longer needed his guidance.
“Father!” Hela shouted loudly, bringing her longsword down with gathered strength.
The dark green light on the blade surged to unprecedented brightness, and a turbulent stream of energy spewed from the gaps between the fragments of the sword, as if the entire weapon had transformed into a solidified lightning bolt at this moment.
Odin raised his spear to block.
The golden and dark green lights exploded between the two, and the entire plaza in front of the Golden Palace was cracked open by this energy Impact.
Gravel splattered in all directions, and dozens of Death Legion soldiers closest to it were swept into the Impact, instantly turning into dust.
The stone slabs under Odin’s feet shattered into a cobweb pattern, his knees bent slightly, and the Eternal Spear emitted an unbearable creaking sound under the immense pressure.
Hela hovered mid-air, holding the sword with both hands.
All her divine power was poured into the blade, continuously pressing downward.
Her dark green long hair danced wildly in the energy storm, and her green eyes burned with a fervent light bordering on madness.
Odin clenched his teeth tightly, golden light flowing in his eyes.
The light on the Eternal Spear began to condense at an accelerated pace; he could feel that Hela’s divine power was still climbing, and her strength had grown far too much stronger than when they last fought side by side.
“Hela…” Odin squeezed the name out from between his teeth, “You…
have gone astray.”
“Gone astray?” Hela let out a short laugh, “I have simply finally figured it out!”
The light on her blade surged once more, pushing Odin’s body down a few more inches.
The two remained deadlocked like this in the center of the plaza, golden and dark green lights alternating in brilliance, resembling a silent tug-of-war in progress.
The battles of everyone around them subconsciously slowed down their pace.
No one dared to approach the core area of that energy storm; whether they were Asgard soldiers or the Undead Warriors of the Death Legion, they were instinctively retreating.
Outside of this father-daughter duel, the entire Golden Palace had turned into a boiling furnace.
The army of the Death Legion poured out endlessly from the underground passages.
Those Undead Warriors with dim green Fire burning in their eye sockets stepped in neat and mechanical paces, like a dark green tide flooding every inch of the Golden Palace.
Their weapons shimmered with a dull luster in the night, and every swing took away the life of an Asgard soldier.
“Hold the defense line!
Do not retreat!
Warriors of Asgard, behind us is the Golden Palace—we have nowhere left to retreat!”
A general clad in golden armor stood in the center of the defense line shouting loudly.
His sword was stained with the dark green blood of the Undead Warriors, and there was a deep crack on the armor of his left arm, exposing the bloody and mangled wound beneath.
“For Asgard!”
Responding to him were earth-shattering shouts.
The warriors of Asgard burst forth with astonishing combat effectiveness in a desperate situation.
With their backs against the city walls of the Golden Palace, they formed a circular array.
Shields were layered on top of each other to form a solid barrier, and spears thrust out from the gaps between the shields, piercing through the approaching Undead Warriors one by one.
But the number of the Death Legion was simply too large.
The Undead Warriors had no pain and no fear; for every one that fell, three would take their place.
The dark green tide battered the defense line of Asgard wave after wave, and every Impact took away the lives of dozens of warriors, and the defense line itself was constantly shrinking, growing thinner and thinner, hanging by a thread.