Axel heavily patted Thor on the head.
Thor, though irritated, refrained from complaining. He took two steps back and shook his head dejectedly.
"I am sorry. My sister's power was simply too strong, and we had to destroy Asgard to cut off her infinite divine energy.
"Asgard always honors its debts. Once this war ends, I will search the cosmos to find an artifact worthy of compensation."
Hela, staring at the collapsing realm, turned her head toward them.
Surrounded by exploding landmasses and rising magma, she gritted her teeth.
"This was my home! And yours too! You useless old man and you pathetic brat... you are utterly devoid of conscience!"
With a wave of her hand, a massive torrent of dark blades reformed, surging toward Odin, Thor, and Axel.
Axel glanced at the cloud of converging swords, unbothered, and made a single swift motion.
Before Hela could react, her vision shifted, and Axel's hand clamped firmly around her throat, lifting her off the ground.
She grabbed his wrist, trying to force his fingers open.
Her strength, capable of shattering divine metal, could not budge his grip.
Within seconds, her face turned dark red from lack of air.
Axel looked at her with a smirk.
"Are you blushing? You look younger in person than I expected."
He casually freed his left hand and struck her chest, testing her balance.
"Not bad. Feisty, too. Thor, since your realm is gone and you cannot pay me back, I will take her as compensation."
"You arrogant bastard!" Hela spat directly at him.
Axel raised his left hand and swung.
The heavy blow shattered her head, instantly reducing it to a spray of tissue and blood that showered the burning terrain below.
He released his grip on her throat, wrapped his arm around her waist, and waited.
In the distance, Bruce, Lex, Clark, and Tony simultaneously raised their hands to their foreheads.
Wanda swallowed nervously and shifted her stance.
As dark magic coalesced, Hela's head began to regenerate.
The moment her sight returned, she realized her lower body was pinned against his side.
Fury flared in her eyes.
"You are dead!"
"Is that so?"
Axel struck her firmly across the lower back, sending a jolt through her spine that made her freeze.
Odin stepped forward, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"I am the Allfather, Odin. My son Thor stated that we owe you a debt.
"If you are willing to accept my daughter in place of what was promised, I will not stop you.
"Just... go easy on her. Her temper is the result of my own failure as a parent."
"I am teaching her right now," Axel replied, tightening his grip on her armor.
Hela thrashed, but Axel slid his hand under her suit, finding the structural line along her spine, and drove his fingers straight through muscle and skin to grab the bone.
Hela let out a sharp shriek as her body went completely limp.
Axel casually tore two vertebrae free from her back, letting blood spill onto the ground.
The bones instantly regenerated inside her body, but Axel held the two extracted pieces aloft, tapping them against her cheek.
"Your bone density is surprisingly high. Does it look better than standard livestock?"
The dark blades hovering in the air responded to her distress, raining down on Axel.
The blades shattered against his golden armor in a deafening barrage of metallic clangs.
Axel tossed the extracted vertebrae toward Lex.
"Lex, these divine bones won't disintegrate. Take them for analysis and see how their biology differs from ours."
Lex caught the bones and examined them with interest.
"Two vertebrae won't be enough for a full structural analysis. If possible, I need a complete skeleton."
"Fair enough," Axel said.
"If you need material, you just have to ask. Let's get you a proper sample."
He reached into her back once more, gripping the major muscle groups along her spine, and ripped a long strip of tissue free.
Hela screamed, her curses turning incoherent from pain.
Axel dropped her onto the ground, pinning her neck under his boot so she couldn't maneuver.
Bending down, he secured his grip on both ends of her exposed spine and pulled with steady, immense force.
With a wet tear, he extracted her entire spinal column.
Hela's body buckled before collapsing into a helpless state, her nervous system completely disrupted despite her regenerative abilities.
Axel held up the spine, calling out to Lex again.
"Here is the main structure. We'll have the rest of the skeleton gathered soon."
Hela, lying prone beneath his boot, could barely form words.
"Kill me... just kill me..."
"You still have plenty of energy left," Axel noted, pressing his boot down slightly harder.
He reached down and tore a heavy section of muscle from her hip.
Hela gasped, her screams growing hoarser.
Axel glanced at the specimen in his hand.
"A bit too much force. But tell me, do all Asgardians have tissue density like this?"
He stuffed the mass of muscle into her mouth to keep her quiet, but her rapid regeneration was already forcing her jaw to repair itself.
As her arms twitched and reached upward to fight back, Axel grabbed both of her wrists and pulled them straight up, snapping her shoulders completely out of their sockets and tearing the limbs free.
He tossed the arms toward Lex.
"Hold onto those. A full skeleton takes time."
From behind Wanda's protective energy barrier, Selina yelled across the clearing.
"Axel! Must you be so brutal right in front of us?"
Axel patted the back of Hela's armor, chuckling.
"My wife is getting impatient. Let's finish the primary components."
Ignoring Hela's muffled groans, he reached into her lower torso, gripped her pelvic structure, and ripped the remaining core bones free.
The trauma rendered Hela entirely motionless on the ground, her body completely failing to maintain structural support as her divine magic struggled to keep up with the damage.
Axel lifted his boot from her neck.
Hela spat out the tissue gagging her mouth, tears streaming down her bruised face.
She pulled her chin back, trembling violently against the ruined ground.
"Stop... stop!" she sobbed, her voice cracking entirely.
"I yield! Stop doing this to me! You are a monster... an absolute monster! Just stop!"
=≠=
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