Ch.254 Hela’s Recruitment Pitch

The Mirror Dimension snapped into place, instantly swallowing Ronan and Hela whole.

Even though the surroundings didn't look any different, Hela's sharp senses picked up on something off.

Especially that wall from earlier—the glass-like one that creepily phased right through her body.

It put a flicker of caution in Hela's gut.

Paired with Ronan's words, she warily stopped in her tracks.

Seeing Hela freeze, the grin in Ronan's eyes grew sharper.

This was exactly why he'd insisted Thor hightail it back to Asgard.

The split second the Bifrost dropped, Hela—who'd been airtight up till then—let a tiny crack slip.

As long as she stepped forward, she'd get dragged into the Mirror Dimension by Ronan, no questions asked.

Of course, Ronan wasn't banking on just this one trick.

If Hela dodged this move, he had a backup plan waiting in the wings.

For Hela, Ronan had cooked up a whole playbook of tactics.

"Looks like you've had this planned out for a while."

"If I'm guessing right, Thor was just your bait all along, huh?"

Hela glanced around—everything looked identical to before.

But she caught the subtle differences.

Like how there wasn't a single trace of the Bifrost's landing mark on the ground, or how Thor's presence had vanished out of nowhere.

That didn't add up.

"I finally get why Odin said you could see through people."

"You're not wrong—Thor was my bait, but I was just fishing with a straight hook."

"If you hadn't flinched at the Bifrost, I wouldn't have had my shot."

Ronan chuckled, not bothering to hide his game plan one bit.

Because he knew there was no point playing coy with someone this sharp.

Might as well lay it out and let her stew on it.

"Guess you and Thor are pretty tight."

"He's not much in the strength department, but he's got a solid eye for friends."

A weird smirk crept onto Hela's face.

That smirk was basically screaming that "friends" should really be "thigh to hug."

Ronan didn't let anything show on his face, but inside, he gave Hela a quiet thumbs-up.

You nailed it.

"How about this—I've got a sweet deal for you."

"If you bow down and call me Queen, I'll hand Midgard over to you."

"From then on, you'd be the King of Midgard."

Hela tilted her head, full-on playing the monarch reeling in a rival.

In her mind, Asgard was already her personal playground—she was its Queen.

No, scratch that—she should've been its Queen all along.

Ronan just raised an eyebrow, looking a little thrown.

Yeah, he was genuinely surprised.

From everything he'd gathered, Hela was a total powerhouse—you could tell from just a few lines of chit-chat.

But facing Ronan, she'd actually taken a rare step back.

That didn't vibe with the whole "Queen" persona.

"Don't worry, I'm not some petty tyrant."

"I'm not the type to seal away my biggest war hero after the fight's won and hog all the glory."

Hela didn't name-drop Odin once, but every word was a jab at him.

If she knew the ancient tongue of the East, she'd probably spit out, "When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog gets cooked."

"Nah, I'm not into ruling Earth."

"Compared to being some stressed-out overlord, I'd rather be a carefree high school kid."

Ronan shook his head.

Ruling Earth?

Pass. Who knows what kind of freaks and monsters would crawl out of the woodwork if he actually took over.

In this universe, anyone who's tried to conquer or trash Earth has ended up with a bad case of karma.

Thanos got it worst of all—wiped out twice over.

Oh, and don't forget Conqueror Kang—that guy's probably got a few deaths lined up too.

Hela didn't know what a "high school kid" was, but she caught the rejection loud and clear.

So, the smile on her face faded, and her hands slowly brushed over her head.

Her loose hair shifted in that moment.

A "helmet" like spider legs sprouted up, replacing her black locks.

Yeah, Ronan could only peg that thing as a helmet.

Asgard's got a track record of wild, funky headgear, after all.

Take Loki, for instance.

Guess it really runs in the family.

Scrape!

With the hum of swords, those twin longswords popped back into Hela's hands.

Ronan narrowed his eyes, hands sliding into Kamar-Taj's signature starting stance.

From the movie plots of his past life, most of Hela's fight scenes were up-close brawls.

Even then, Thor and Loki together couldn't take her down.

More than that, even after Thor figured out his whole "God of Thunder" deal, he still had to resort to blowing up Asgard—a kinda anticlimactic move—to take Hela out.

So, Hela's close combat game was no joke.

And that's not even touching the stuff she hadn't shown yet.

Like that space portal she opened when she first rolled in.

Whoosh!

While Ronan was mulling it over, a gust of wind hit his left side out of nowhere.

He didn't even think—his Rings of Raggador swelled up fast, right hand blocking left.

Clang!

A shrill noise rang out.

Before Ronan could even glance left, his right cheek picked up on some serious killing intent.

Same attack, no hesitation—his left-hand Rings of Raggador morphed too, shielding his right.

Same sound, round two.

"See ya."

Hela's voice cut in from behind Ronan out of the blue.

Her right index finger pointed at the back of his skull, the twin swords long gone from her hands.

A beam of light shot from her fingertip, locked on Ronan's head.

Buzz!

But what Hela didn't see coming was this: the second her attack fired, the whole world visibly flipped out.

Sun, moon, and stars spun backward, the ground twisting like a kaleidoscope on overdrive.

That shot meant to drop Ronan in a blink lost its way in the chaos.

Yup, it lost its way!

The energy beam pulled a freaky right-angle turn midair, blasting toward the sky!

Boom!

No, scratch that—now it was the ground.

The energy slug slammed into the "sky," kicking up a mess of dirt.

Before Hela could figure out what the hell was happening, the "ground" in front of her sprouted a forest of spikes.

Transparent spikes closed in from all sides, like Hela was about to turn into a bloody porcupine next second.

Hela squinted, dropping low fast, her right hand slamming the ground hard.

An invisible shockwave burst out from her, blasting those spikes away in an instant!

Bang!

Right then, a size-40 foot smashed into her face full force.

Hela went flying back, just like Thor did earlier.

"Now, round two begins."