The dust hadn't even settled when the second impact hit.
BOOM!
Cassandra was on her before she could fully recover.
Hela barely got her arms up before a fist, faster than a bullet, slammed into her forearms. The shockwave sent a deafening crack through the air, the pavement beneath her caving in from the sheer force.
Her vibranium suit absorbed most of the damage, dispersing the kinetic energy across its surface, but the sheer impact still rattled her bones. Her feet scraped against the ruined asphalt as she was forced back several meters.
She's fast. Too fast.
Hela had fought Asgardians, aliens, and even superhumans who had super speed, but this was something else. Without her power, she was barely holding her ground. Not to mention Cassandra's suit. Cassandra wasn't just fast, she was precise. Every attack was calculated to break Hela's defense, to crush her before she could counter.
And Shiva was still standing back, watching. Waiting.
Hela barely had time to process before Cassandra disappeared from sight...
Shit!
Hela's instincts screamed.
She twisted just in time...
BOOM!
Cassandra's foot struck her side. Even through the vibranium armor, the impact sent Hela flying, crashing into the side of a flipped car. The vehicle collapsed inward from the force, glass and metal bursting in all directions.
Hela groaned. Her entire right side felt like it had been struck by Mjolnir. The damage reports flashed across her HUD, analyzing the Lazarus-enhanced strength behind Cassandra's attacks.
[IMPACT FORCE: 8.3 TONS.]
[STRUCTURAL DAMAGE: MINIMAL.]
[INTERNAL DAMAGE: MODERATE.]
Damn it.
She was fast, but Cassandra was faster.
She was strong, but Cassandra was stronger.
And Lady Shiva hadn't even joined the fight yet.
Hela staggered to her feet, shaking off the pain. She had to stay mobile. Had to adapt. If she kept taking these hits, even the vibranium would fail her eventually.
Cassandra blurred toward her again.
Hela was ready this time.
Her plasma blades ignited in her hands, humming with deadly energy. She sidestepped the incoming strike, ducked under Cassandra's next kick, and countered with a precise slash toward her side.
SHHRRRRRK!
The blade struck Cassandra's vibranium armor. Sparks flew.
No damage.
Cassandra twisted mid-air, contorting her body unnaturally, her foot lashing out again. Hela barely dodged, Cassandra's boot grazing her helmet with enough force to send another shockwave through the air.
Hela flipped backward, creating distance.
Cassandra landed gracefully, no wasted movement, her cold, unreadable eyes locked onto Hela.
And then...
Lady Shiva stepped forward.
Finally.
Shiva moved with no urgency, her expression impassive, eyes like sharpened steel. She adjusted the wrappings around her fingers.
"I expected more," Shiva said. Her voice was smooth, almost disappointed. "What was that about experience?"
Hela rolled her shoulders. The burning pain in her ribs had faded. The suit was still absorbing and redistributing kinetic energy, but her body could only take so much.
She exhaled, controlling her breathing. "Yeah? Well, fighting enhanced humans with a mortal human body... I like this challenge."
Shiva smirked.
Then she moved.
Faster than Cassandra.
Hela's eyes widened as Shiva's foot slammed into her chest, sending her hurtling back again.
She didn't even see her move.
The air left Hela's lungs as she crashed through another car, her armor groaning from the force.
[IMPACT FORCE: 12.5 TONS.]
[SUIT INTEGRITY: 87%.]
Hela coughed violently inside her helmet. She barely had time to recover before Shiva was on her again.
A fist smashed into her helmet, sending cracks across the HUD display.
Another punch, straight to her gut...
"GHKK!"
Even through the vibranium, she felt it. Felt her ribs almost crack under the force.
Hela swung wildly, her plasma blade aiming for Shiva's ribs...
Shiva caught it with her bare hand.
Hela's mind barely had time to register the insanity of that before...
CRACK!
Shiva twisted, snapping the plasma blade in half like it was a twig.
WHAT—?!
Before Hela could react, Shiva's fingers struck her wrist in a rapid series of precise hits... pressure points. Her entire right arm went numb.
She couldn't move it. 'What the hell?! Through the suit?'
And then...
Cassandra was there.
BOOM!
A double palm strike to the chest sent Hela flying again.
Her back slammed into a streetlight, bending the metal around her form before she collapsed onto the pavement.
Hela coughed violently, spitting blood inside her helmet.
Her body ached.
Her arms shook.
She barely pushed herself up when...
A shadow loomed over her.
Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain stood side by side, looking down at her.
Suddenly...
"Hehehe..." It started with a little giggle.
"Hahahahaha!"
Hela laughed.
Loud. Unrestrained. A deep, guttural sound that echoed through the ruined street. Blood dripped from her lips, staining her teeth crimson, but she didn't care.
Pain. Blood. Desperation. The urge to win.
How long had it been?
How long since she felt this weak? Since she saw her own blood? Since she fought not as a goddess but as a warrior with nothing but skill and willpower?
Shiva and Cassandra watched her, unreadable. They had seen warriors break. They had seen arrogance collapse under the weight of reality. But this? This was different.
Hela wasn't breaking.
She was remembering.
Odin's voice echoed in her mind.
"Again!"
A young Hela, no older than ten, lay sprawled on the golden floor of the training hall in Asgard, panting, her arms bruised from relentless training. She had no powers then. No divine strength. Just her will. And Odin had pushed her beyond her limits.
"Power is nothing without control."
Another memory. Years later. Odin's spear, Gungnir, slicing through the air, barely missing her face as she dodged by instinct. He hadn't held back. He never did.
"Strength will fail you. Weapons will break. But the mind, Hela—the mind is eternal."
And then... another memory. One she had long buried.
Odin standing over her, arms crossed, after yet another brutal defeat.
"You rely on your power too much. That is why you will lose one day."
She had scoffed then. Arrogant. Confident. She was the strongest. She was destined to rule. But now... she understood.
Her power had blinded her.
No wonder she lost to Surtur.
No wonder she had been defeated before.
But now?
Now, she was free. No power to lean on. No divine strength to carry her. Just her mind, her skill, and the instincts drilled into her bones from childhood.
The laughter faded, replaced by something sharper.
Clarity.
Hela pushed herself up, slow but steady. Her limbs ached, her body screamed, but her heart was steady. Her breathing even. The fire in her eyes burned brighter.
She flexed her fingers. The numbness in her right arm was already fading. The nanites were healing her wounds rapidly. She rolled her shoulders, feeling the damage, acknowledging it, embracing it.
She looked at Lady Shiva. At Cassandra Cain.
And she smiled.
"I get it now," she murmured.
Shiva raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"
Hela exhaled. Her stance shifted. No wasted movement. No hesitation. Not the aggressive, overwhelming offense she used before, but something calmer. Sharpened.
Cassandra tilted her head slightly. She could see it. The difference. The shift.
Hela rolled her neck, the tension leaving her body.
"Let's try this again."
Then she moved.
And this time...
She wasn't fighting like a goddess.
She was fighting like a warrior.
Like a daughter of Odin.
Her suit hissed, vents opening along the back and shoulders, releasing built-up heat. The nanites shifted, reinforcing her limbs, surging extra power into her muscles. Her HUD flashed red.
[OVERDRIVE MODE ENGAGED.]
[LIMITERS REMOVED.]
[WARNING: SUIT INTEGRITY WILL DEGRADE FASTER.]
Hela didn't care.
A sharp hum filled the air as her plasma blades reignited... brighter, hotter, deadlier.
She lunged.
Faster than before. Faster than Cassandra.
Her blade slashed, and Cassandra barely twisted away, the edge slicing a thin line across her vibranium armor. Sparks flew.
Hela didn't let up.
She spun, her knee smashing into Cassandra's ribs. The impact sent Cassandra skidding back, her feet tearing into the pavement as she struggled to absorb the force.
Lady Shiva moved to counterattack, her hand blurring toward Hela's throat.
Hela caught it.
Shiva's eyes widened slightly.
A fraction of a second. That was all the hesitation Hela needed.
She twisted, flipping Shiva over her shoulder and slamming her into the cracked asphalt. The impact sent shockwaves through the ground.
Cassandra was already recovering, her hand darting forward like a spear. Hela caught her wrist mid-strike, twisted...
SNAP!
A sharp, brutal dislocation. Cassandra gritted her teeth and her body reacted instantly, flipping away to reset her limb.
Hela didn't stop.
She slammed her boot into the ground, launching forward. A full-force shoulder charge into Shiva's chest sent the woman crashing through a nearby wrecked car.
Compared to Odin's training, this was child's play.
Every strike. Every move. She was faster. Stronger. More precise.
The Overdrive Mode enhanced her reflexes beyond human limits, and her instincts, honed through centuries of battle, made her unpredictable.
Shiva and Cassandra were good.
But Hela was better.
She was winning.
Then...
Shiva smirked.
And Hela felt something cold slither down her spine.
"You think you've won?" Shiva said, wiping blood from her lip. "You're so focused on the fight, you forgot to think ahead."
Hela frowned.
Something was wrong.
Then Shiva tilted her head toward the orphanage.
"All your kills, Goddess. All those dead assassins lying inside?" Her smirk widened. "They have bombs in their bodies. Every single one of them."
Hela's eyes widened.
Her HUD scanned instantly... searching, detecting. She was still a newbie with the suit and well, despite Bruce's request she never trained in it. Now, she was facing the consequences.
[MULTIPLE EXPLOSIVE DEVICES DETECTED.]
[DETONATION IN: 00:00:58]
"They'll explode in five minutes." Shiva paused. "No. Actually… four minutes have already passed."
Hela's heart slammed against her ribs.
One minute left.
She turned, her body already moving, sprinting toward the orphanage.
She had to stop it.
But...
BOOM!
Cassandra tackled her, slamming into her side like a missile, sending both of them crashing through a streetlight.
Hela snarled, trying to throw her off, but Shiva was already there, her heel striking the back of Hela's knee, forcing her down.
"You're not going anywhere." Shiva's voice was calm. Cold.
Hela's vision blurred with rage.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Way!"