"Forget it!"
After a long moment of contemplation, Thor finally used Fenris's leg to pull himself back to his feet. The look of dejection on his face suddenly gave way to resignation.
"Without my hammer, I'm nothing more than an ordinary man who's barely stronger than a Midgardian. Perhaps I never should have entertained such unrealistic fantasies…"
"Asgard, the divine realm, the gods—none of those are things someone like me can interfere with anymore."
Thor tugged at the corner of Fenris's clothes. Seeing Fenris still tirelessly staring up at the sky, he said dispiritedly, "Let's go, Fenris. I'm sorry. It was bad enough that I couldn't lift my hammer, but now I've disappointed you, Sif, Fandral, and the others all over again…"
"Go?"
Fenris had watched Thor's resolve get swayed several times in less than a single day. He kept vacillating between extremes, without a shred of conviction of his own.
Fenris turned his head and glanced at him before impatiently shaking off Thor's hand.
"Thor, now I understand why the Allfather banished you and even stripped you of your power."
"What?"
The despondent Thor never expected such cold words to come from Fenris. He stared incredulously at the impatience written across Fenris's face, then pointed at himself.
"What do you mean? Are you saying I deserved it?"
Fenris's words had practically torn open the deepest wound in Thor's heart. His brows furrowed, and anger crept across his face.
"My father thinks so highly of you, and I considered you my best friend in Midgard! You don't know anything! How can you say something like that?"
"Am I wrong?"
Fenris snorted, his voice filled with frustration at Thor's failure to live up to his potential.
"A single message from Loki was enough to make you abandon the promise you made to Sif and the others. And why? Because of a completely baseless suspicion you invented yourself. Because you were afraid!"
"The Bifrost didn't descend, and before we even learned why, you immediately started imagining the worst and decided the entire world had abandoned you. Ask yourself honestly: what makes someone like you worthy of becoming a king the gods would follow?"
"You really should feel inferior, because you aren't the God of Thunder at all. You're just an ordinary man who becomes nothing the moment he loses his hammer. Other than being Odin's son, what do you have?"
"If you're nothing without the hammer, then you truly aren't worthy of Mjolnir."
Fenris placed Mjolnir in front of Thor, his tone brutally harsh.
"Take your hammer and reminisce about your so-called former glory. It was nothing but a false light, as fragile as a bubble that bursts at the slightest touch. In the end, it was all hollow."
Fenris spoke calmly, but every word cut straight into Thor's heart. With each one, Thor's face grew even paler.
Staring at Mjolnir right before him, Thor became so dazed that he lost his footing. He stumbled several steps backward before crashing to the ground.
"I… I'm not…"
Fenris withdrew his gaze from Thor's vacant eyes and miserable expression, then took the familiar Sling Ring from behind his waist.
"Wanda, wait for me."
Asgard was protected by an immense barrier personally established by Odin. Fenris's current strength wasn't enough to open a dimensional portal directly to it.
After all, Odin wouldn't be helping him connect the portal from the other side this time.
But the Bifrost had yet to appear. Instead of wallowing in self-pity like Thor, Fenris would rather give it everything he had and try.
If Asgard truly was in danger, perhaps cracks had appeared in its barrier as well.
"Power…"
Fenris pursed his lips. If only he had some colossal beast capable of crossing the void. Then he wouldn't be constrained at every turn like this.
Complaining was useless, however.
Fenris put on the Sling Ring and quickly concentrated his mind, carefully recalling the subtle sensation of connecting to Asgard with Odin's help the last time.
When Thor saw what he was doing, his previously lifeless eyes suddenly brightened with renewed hope.
"I'm not a coward! I'm Thor! You can do it, Fenris!"
"If you succeed, I'll return with you!"
Remembering the scene when he had met Odin before, Thor clenched his fists and stared at Fenris without blinking.
Crackle!
As time passed, countless sparks gradually appeared in the air. They scattered across the ground, only to quickly fade away.
Fenris clearly sensed the space before him begin to fluctuate. Yet there seemed to be an extraordinarily resilient membrane on the other side. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pierce through it.
After several consecutive attempts, a wave of exhaustion suddenly swept through his mind.
"I refuse to believe I can't do this!"
Just as Fenris forcibly rallied himself and prepared to make one final push against the barrier, the roar of rushing wind suddenly came from overhead.
His ears twitched. With his senses extended to their limit, he abruptly detected an enormous mass of energy rapidly converging above them.
"The Bifrost! It's the Bifrost!"
The strange phenomenon also caught Thor's attention. He abruptly raised his head, and the instant the Bifrost's familiar rainbow light entered his eyes, he nearly burst into tears.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
Thor sprang to his feet and grabbed Fenris. His excitement was impossible to contain.
"Fenris, do you see it? I knew it! My father still recognizes me!"
"That's a relief."
Seeing the situation finally take a turn for the better, Fenris put away the Sling Ring and subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
The Bifrost seemed even faster this time. In the blink of an eye, it descended from beyond the horizon and engulfed Fenris and Thor with a deafening roar.
Fenris instantly felt a tremendous surge of energy envelop his entire body. The next moment, he began floating uncontrollably, accelerating faster and faster.
Boom!
A thunderous roar came from every direction. As the scenery of Earth gradually blurred before his eyes, everything around him soon became meaningless streaks of light.
New Mexico's vast wilderness shrank into a tiny yellow speck beneath their feet. The beautiful blue planet came into view, but as they continued to accelerate, the boundless sea of stars filled Fenris's vision, and Earth grew remarkably small.
"Well? This is the Bifrost. Fast enough for you?"
Thor was in especially high spirits now. He bumped Fenris with his shoulder and chuckled.
"I still can't believe you actually managed to injure Loki while he was inside the Bifrost…"
"It certainly is fast."
Fenris nodded, staring at the stars beyond the Bifrost in amazement.
Since arriving in this world, this was his first time entering the space beyond Earth in such a manner.
A moment later, Fenris's vision blurred, and the solid sensation of ground suddenly returned beneath his feet.
"Nothing compares to the feeling of being back in Asgard."
Thor familiarly pulled Fenris forward. Before he could take more than a few steps, however, a bone-chilling gust of cold air suddenly swept over him.
The familiar, deadly cold made Thor's expression stiffen.
"Frost Giants?"
(End of Chapter)
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