Invasion!

With the meeting concluded, the chamber had fallen into a hushed stillness. Odin had eventually left with Frigga to discuss the details of the Aether and the looming threat of the Dark Elves & the Convergence, while Thor took Jane back to the med bay to check up on her.

Maxim and Hela remained, standing in the golden corridor outside the Chamber in silence, their faces expressionless.

Then, Hela turned her head slightly, the faintest smirk forming on her lips as if the heavy conversation that just occurred never happened.

"You know they're coming," she said, voice as smooth as velvet but as cold as a blade, her eyes sparkling with a excitement.

Maxim's expression didn't change. His eyes remained forward, scanning the hallway, but she had his attention.

"The Dark Elves are far too proud to ignore this moment," Hela said, beginning to walk beside Maxim as her long cloak trailed behind her like ink across paper.

"Those ancient fools are far too arrogant and too bound to the Aether to ignore it's calling. War is coming to Asgard, what a welcoming party am I right?" Hela asked, finally waiting for Maxim's response.

He just tilted his head, a faint gleam sparkling in his eyes as he responded, "Then let them come, this is your opportunity."

Hela raised an eyebrow, paying full attention to Maxim as he continued, "With the Dark Elves' descent onto Asgard, it'll need more than honor and thunder to defend itself. It will need fear, power & ruthlessness, and a queen who remembers how to rule with blood and death."

Hela stared at Maxim for a while with an unreadable expression, but behind those cold, calculating eyes, the fire of eagerness to be crowned Queen of Asgard burned brighter than ever.

"Will the Asgardian people reject the Daughter of Odin who slaughtered the Dark Elves to save them from death? NO! They'll praise you, worship you, sing your name in songs and toast to your legends. This is your moment."

~BOOM!~

Just as Maxim had spoke, a gigantic explosion wrecked all of Asgard, and the shield that surrounded the magnificent golden realm shattered like glass. 

Simultaneously, dozens of Dark Elven Harrow Ships streamed through the skies towards the palace, dodging barrages of laser cannons as some of the ships crashed into various buildings, making them collapse.

Maxim looked at Hela, who now had a cold smirk on her lips as she morphed into her combat gear, "Go kill em." He said, and she leapt into action.

****

~BOOM!~

Before one of the ships could reach its target, a Necrosword smashed into and through it, completely obliterating the engine and sending the ship crashing to the ground, where it thankfully was stopped by Thor from crashing into any more Asgardians.

Still, Hela leapt from the tallest spire of the Palace she had found herself at, her body graceful and deadly as she plummeted through the air.

Her cloak flared behind her like wings of death. In each hand, she conjured more of her signature Necroswords, the air warping around them with destructive potential as she grew more powerful every second she remained in her home.

With an earsplitting cry, she hurled both weapons toward the oncoming vessel.

They struck true.

The impact rippled across the ship's hull like a black explosion of anti-magic, disrupting its outer defenses and tearing through metal like paper. One blade pierced the ship's power core, detonating a chain reaction of collapsing energy fields.

From below, the Asgardians witnessed something incredible.

The great ship of the Dark Elves veered off-course.

Its trajectory shifted just enough to spare the palace. It howled through the sky like a wounded beast and slammed into the fields outside the city with a deafening crash that sent waves of dust and shattered earth rising for miles.

Hela landed at the edge of the crash site, her heels striking cracked stone. The Goddess of Death had arrived.

Behind her, golden-armored Einherjar were rallying to the gates. Panic and awe rippled through their ranks as they watched the mysterious woman take the front lines to protect them. Whispers grew. Some turned into cheers.

And Hela only smiled.

She began walking toward the wreckage.

From the torn remnants of the ship, several figures emerged, twisted and blackened soldiers clad in segmented armor, glowing faintly with corrupted aether-energy. Each one wielded a blade humming with malice.

Behind them, Malekith descended from a levitating platform within the ship, regal and silent. His flesh had grown darker since his awakening. The Aether pulsed within him now.

"You..." he said with an amused sneer, looking upon Hela with cold eyes. "You're not part of this tale."

"No," Hela responded, her tone deadly calm. "I'm the end of it."

They lunged at the same time.

Metal met conjured blade, corrupted energy clashing with death incarnate. The earth cracked beneath them. Hela spun into Malekith's guard, blades slashing, dancing, cutting through foot soldiers who dared approach.

Malekith parried, striking back with bursts of Aether-infused shockwaves that tore through nearby statues and shattered the skywalk beneath them.

But Hela kept coming.

She was tireless, a living storm of destruction, and unlike anything Malekith had faced in his ancient lifetime.

—

Meanwhile, chaos spread through Asgard.

The crash had not been clean. Smaller ships, escape craft and mobile breaching pods, had scattered from the Ark during its descent.

Furthermore, prisoners of Asgard had been released from captivity.

Kronans with warhammers carved from moonrock.

Sakaaran berserkers, remnants of ancient gladiator pits, chemically enhanced to the brink of madness.

A trio of Yrd war-priests, whose flesh shimmered like liquid mercury, and whose limbs transformed into serrated whips and lances.

Even two R'malk'i constructs, floating consciousnesses of crystal and light contained within energy-mech suits that buzzed with alien symbols.

And amidst them all, in the shadows…

Maxim stepped forward. He didn't run, didn't speak. His presence moved like fog across the battlefield, quiet, patient, inevitable.

One Sakaaran berserker spotted him and howled, rushing with a chainblade raised.

Maxim vanished before the blade even fell.

The Sakaaran's head hit the ground a second later, the body collapsing as Maxim reappeared behind him, black mist swirling from his limbs. His eyes gleamed through the darkness like dying stars.

Another Kronan raised his massive hammer, shouting war cries that shook the air as he charged forward to strike Maxim.

This time, Maxim decided to test the strength of Doomsday. He smashed his first forward and it connected with the massive hammers of the Kronan, exploding the Hammer upon contact and sending the wielder flying backwards through multiple walls due to the residual force.

"Nice," Maxim commented, watching as another pack of Kronan's charged towards him, but he simply raised his palm upwards and a dome of inverted gravity formed midair.

The done caught their weapons before they could swing them down, and then with a simple flick, the air compressed with a deafening snap, flattening the warriors like they'd been struck by the hand of a god.

A Yrds priest attempted a surprise attack from behind, shifting into a spear as it lunged toward his back, but Maxim simply caught the spear, and snapped it like a twig using his strength.

He motioned his hand and used the Mind Stone's power, increasing the density in area surrounding the Yrd. All of a sudden, it crashed onto the floor, the pressure increasing as its bones were crushed and soon, only its obliterated body remained.

An approaching R'malk'i construct opened fire from above, raining down bolts of searing energy.

Maxim immediately summoned Yamato and slashed forward, and the bolts of energy were sliced to nothingness, while a slash of pure demonic energy continued onwards towards the construct, destroying it.

The remaining R'malk'i constructs saw that and tried to flee, but Maxim's foot rose and tapped the ground, and with a barely audible boom, the area behind him collapsed into a miniature black hole, sucking the R'malk'i into an oblivion no science could explain.

When the dust settled, Maxim stood alone among bodies and wreckage, the scent of vaporized matter thick in the air.

Above him, the sky rippled with distant thunder and the flicker of lighting from Thor's battle far in the city's heart. But it was Hela's display that drew Maxim's gaze again, her deadly silhouette carving through Malekith's elites atop a staircase of broken glass and stone.

And Maxim smiled.

From afar, he could already see it, Asgard watching, realizing who had protected them when their king hesitated. Who had stood at the front, blade in hand, and faced the void without flinching.

This wasn't just a battle.

It was a new legend!