Chapter 16

Losing Myself

The final match of the Tournament of Helheim, 1 millennia ago

Hel fell to her knees exhausted, the intense match she just had left the Norse Goddess unable to stand on her own two feet. The tournament had been the first time she ever properly used her deceased brother's souls for combat aside from her training with Hades, and the whole experience had taken a toll on her. But now all her effort and labor had come to fruition, in spite of being the underdog of the entire tournament, the Norse Goddess of death had somehow managed to defeat some of the most prominent and powerful Underworld Lords and be one of the last two contenders participating in the final round.

And after a grueling final battle of epic proportions, the match finally ended with Hel as the victor, and thus earning herself the honorable position of being the new Queen of Helheim, a title highly coveted by all of the contenders of the tournament that had now somehow ended up in the hands of the least likely of them all, many of Helheim's denizens spectating the match wore looks of shock and amazement as the judge declared Hel the tournament champion, while others cursed their bad luck after losing a whole bunch of their cash from the day's betting pool.

As Hel continued kneeling in her spot whilst still in disbelief, coughing could be heard from the other side of the arena as her opponent who was knocked unconscious during the battle began to stir as they started to regain their consciousness.

Izanami groaned as she slowly sat up, the Underworld Lord had taken quite the beating during her bout with Hel. Izanami knew that the Norse Goddess was skilled, seeing as she was trained by Hades himself, but she still thought that her victory was assured since she was older and more experienced. How wrong she was, Hel's sheer strength and power had completely dominated their match, it didn't matter how experienced the Shinto Goddess was, it had only taken just a single weaker version of Hel's Howling Blazer to knock her out for the count and allow Hel to achieve victory.

"Fufu, oh well, I guess it's my loss in the end, well played darling, that was QUITE the spectacular match, you were a VERY formidable opponent indeed!'' Izanami chuckled lightly as she slowly got to her feet and walked over to the tired Norse Goddess to help her stand up as well.

Hel coughed as she leaned on her Halberd for support, "Thank you Lady Izanami, you were an equally powerful foe as well."

"No need to call me ' Lady ' anymore my liege, AFTER ALL you being champion of the tournament does means that you are now the NEW Queen of Helheim and my superior! So you can just address me without any formalities from now on." Izanami replied in a bright tone, unlike some of the other contestants, the Shinto Goddess took her defeat in stride and didn't mind losing the opportunity of gaining the status of a Chief God.

"If you don't mind me asking though," Izanami continued,"What ARE your plans for the future now that you're the new queen?"

Hel was rather taken aback with this question,"W-well I, uh..." She stuttered as she tried thinking up a response while Izanami awaited her answer with raised eyebrows.

Suddenly Hel's expression hardened as she remembered the sole reason why she had even chosen to take part in this tournament in the first place, to enact her vengeance on Odin for the death of her two brothers.

"War," Hel said softly with dark resolve, "My first act as Queen of Helheim would be to declare WAR against Asgard."

Izanami's face was a mixture of shock and intrigue, "D-did I hear you right my queen? WAR? Against ALL of Heaven? That would be SUICIDE on our part!"

"No, not ALL of heaven, just ONE part of it, Asgard. The place where that tyrant ODIN rules over." Hel replied.

"Well I suppose that isn't AS suicidal as taking on all of heaven," The Underworld Lord said, "But still, declaring war on any part of heaven goes COMPLETELY against your position as Queen of Helheim. You're supposed to CONTROL the demons and monsters that reside in this realm and prevent any possible wars between Heaven and Helheim, not START one!"

Hel gritted her teeth,"You don't understand, my two brothers, Jormungandr and Fenrir, they're both DEAD, murdered, because of Odin's paranoia and ruthlessness. He destroyed my FAMILY, destroyed my LIFE, and now he will pay for EVERYTHING he has done." the new Queen of Helheim snarled angrily.

Izanami sighed as she folded her arms across her chest, pursing her lips and gazing upon Hel with a look of pity,"Yes I've heard of that incident, Odin received a prophecy warning that you and your siblings would eventually come to menace the heavens, so he had your brothers killed and planned to do the same to you were it not for Lord Hades' intervention."

"Then you should understand my motivations for this war, the time for Odin to pay for his crimes is LONG overdue. And now that I have control over Helheim, I can FINALLY make that happen."

Izanami shook her head,"All I'm hearing is that your mind is so clouded with hate, that you plan on making a rash and reckless decision without properly considering the consequences of your actions and who they might affect."

"That's not true!" Hel protested,"Odin is the only person who is going to die in all of this, my actions aren't going to hurt anyone else at all."

Izanami raised an eyebrow,"Really? What about all the soldiers on both sides who will be fighting one another to the bloody end before you can even reach Odin's throne room to confront him? What about all the relatives of all those soldiers who will inevitably lose their lives on the battlefield? And what about the common people of both realms who will not expect there to be a war between themselves after centuries of peace between Heaven and Helheim? Do you mean to tell me that THEY won't be harmed in any way in your quest for vengeance?"

"W-well, I..." Hel tried thinking of reasons to counteract Izanami's arguments, but she knew deep down that the Shinto Goddess was correct, as much as she wanted to convince herself that no one but Odin and herself would get hurt in her quest for vengeance, there was no denying that others would inevitably be affected as well.

"It's not too late though, unlike me, you still have time to choose to abolish this silly plan of yours. This tournament," Izanami said while gesturing to the audience full of demons, monsters and Underworld Gods, "was meant to help select the strongest being amongst us all to lead Helheim after Lord Hades' death. I hope that you understand that you have not just won the tournament, but the responsibility to lead and serve them as he once did as well."

For the first time, Hel finally realized what winning the tournament and subsequently becoming the new Queen of Helheim actually meant. She hadn't the slightest clue on the role and responsibilities of a ruler, yet here she now stood as Helheim's new sovereign.

As Hel allowed the weight of her new responsibilities to finally sink in, a memory that she had long tried to forget suddenly surfaced in her mind. Fenrir's last words to her before his demise at the hands of the Aesir, "Don't try to avenge me... I don't want you to die as well... I want you to live properly... Promise that please..."

Fenrir and Jormungandr had sacrificed their lives in the hopes that she would be able to live a normal life without the threat of the Aesir coming after her, how would they feel now, if they saw her sully their memory and last wishes if she chose to lead an army against the very god they had given their lives to protect her from? As these thoughts swirled around in Hel's mind, she felt herself sink deeper into guilt, shame and despair.

Seeing the now silent Hel, Izanami gave her a gentle pat on the shoulders before helping to lead her out of the battlefield, "You're lucky that the audience weren't able to hear our conversation, if they did, you wouldn't have the opportunity to second guess yourself like you are now." The Underworld Lord said as the two of them walked.

"I haven't the faintest idea on how to be a good ruler for those people." Hel admitted as she stared at the ground in shame.

Izanami giggled, "Don't worry, as Underworld Lords, me and the other contestants in the tournament are also required to act as your advisors. Most of us respect strength, and by winning the tournament you've already got that covered, and most probably won't hold a grudge against you for winning. So if you ever need help, we're willing to provide it."

Hel smiled at this, "I can't thank you enough Lady Izanami, for both your wise words of advice and willingness to help me."

"Think nothing of it my queen," Izanami replied, "I am merely doing my job, also need I remind you again that you no longer NEED to address me by lady anymore? You are the queen after all." Her remark caused both goddesses to share a laugh as they made their way to the nearest infirmary.

— A few moments prior to the present timing —

The sound of layers of ice being crushed was deafening. As Hel lay badly wounded on her sides, she felt fear and panic grip her heart tighter and tighter each time the commotion grew louder. As the God Butcher savagely tore through each remaining layer of ice with his own two hands. It seemed that defeat was assured for Hel, she had heard Ra telling Heimdall to end the match prematurely. Even though Hel knew that the Egyptian God didn't think much of her or her abilities, that was still a whole other level of condescending for him.

But even Hel could now see the severity of the situation, here she was trapped within her own safety bunker as an unstoppable force of pure hatred made its way closer and closer towards her. Her left arm was completely useless after the massive strain she had placed on it even though she had already sustained countless injuries, meaning that it was unlikely that she wouldn't be able to use her transformative abilities anytime soon.

Hel sighed, "Well I guess this is it, survived the mighty All-father of the Norse Pantheon only to get snuffed out by some homicidal Greek maniac"

As she said this, the Queen of Helheim accepted her fate and curled herself up in a ball on the ground, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of the God Butcher smashing through layers of ice getting louder and louder as she awaited her doom.

"Seriously sis? You're not giving up THAT easily?" Hel jolted awake as a familiar voice which she had not heard for many years made itself known, looking up she saw three glowing orbs seemingly appear out of nowhere in front of her. The ones on the left and right, which were green and silver respectively, she knew all too well after years of training to use them as the souls of her deceased brother. However what was shocking to her was that during all those years of using them, she had never ever heard of or knew that they could speak.

"C'mon sis," Spoke the silver orb who Hel knew was Fenrir's soul, in the now faint but still humorous voice that Hel loved, "Where's that good old fighting spirit of yours? The Hel i knew would NEVER willing come inside for dinner without a fight!"

"I must be hallucinating." Hel reasoned to herself as she rubbed her eyes with her arm before looking up again and seeing that the floating orbs were still in front of her.

"Maybe," Fenrir's soul replied, "But it doesn't change the fact that you gotta get up and win this."

"I can't, that guy is too strong. '' Hel said in a sorrowful tone, "I'm sorry Fen, but I really can't, I made a promise to myself that I would ensure you and Jormy's souls live on within me, but I guess I broke that promise as well..." As the Queen of Helheim said this, silent tears slowly streaked down her face.

"Sister... Don't... Cry." The green orb that was Jormungandr's soul finally spoke in an attempt to console his younger sister.

Fenrir's soul snickered, "We made a promise to you too didn't we Hel? That we would ALWAYS protect our little sis from anything. And we intend on keeping that promise, even if we're just remnants."

Suddenly a gruff grunt interrupted Fenrir, who turned around to the third soul in the bunker who had made the noise, an icy blue orb that seemed to glow brighter than the other two. Hel's tears stopped as she looked up at this newcomer curiously, she was pretty sure she hadn't accidentally absorbed anyone else's souls besides her brothers, so who was this third individual?

"Yeah yeah I know time isn't exactly on our side but give a soul space to talk to his sister after such a long time, ya frozen geezer!" Fenrir replied in an annoyed tone before turning his attention back to Hel

"Uhm... Fen? Who is that? Cause I don't remember absorbing anyone else's soul besides you and Jormy's..."

"Oh him? Yeah turns out that we weren't the first souls to use your body as a host, apparently this old timer over here did it WAY before we died, in fact I think he has been here ever since you were BORNED. Meet Ymir, he's the reason you have those crazy ice powers, and also the reason why you're gonna be winning this match!"

"Uh, okaaaaay... I'm way too tired to question that first part," Hel said, her brain was already so overloaded with the fact that she was speaking to her dead brother's souls that she didn't even want to know about this third soul that had apparently been living within her body rent free since her birth, "but how is he going to help me win?"

The blue orb gave another grunt which Fenrir helpfully translated for Hel, "He says you just need to hold your arms out and let us take care of the rest." The orb said, "Trust me Hel when I say you should listen to him, he's your LAST shot at victory."

Before Hel could reply or make any further inquiries, the ear splitting, "SMASH!" Was heard right outside the bunker, indicating that the God Butcher had finally broken through all but one layer of ice separating the two of them.

"GAME OVER, QUEEN OF HELHEIM! I hope you're saying your final goodbyes inside that hidey hole of yours! CAUSE TIMES UP!"

Hel sighed as she heard the God Butcher's scream, "Screw it." She said before mustering what little strength she still had left and lifted up her arms.

"Good Luck... Sister..." hissed Jormungandr's soul before it flew straight into the Queen of Helheim's left palm, Hel instantly felt a surge of energy as she absorbed her brother's soul once more.

"You got this sis! Never forget that me and Jormy will always be by your side!" Fenrir cheered before he too was absorbed into Hel's right palm, which was followed by her feeling another surge of strength.

Finally the only soul left was the blue orb Fenrir had called Ymir, Hel looked at the soul skeptically, "Exactly how long have you been using my body as a host?"

The blue orb let out a low chuckle before speaking in a deep and ancient voice, "Well young one, let's just say that without you, my soul would have been lost to Niflheim many millennia ago. So take this assistance from me as my long overdue repayment."

With that, the blue orb flew towards Hel and the soul was absorbed into her body upon contact. However, unlike with Jormungandr and Fenrir, Ymir's soul was absorbed not into Hel's arms, but rather her chest instead.

As soon as the process was finished, Hel felt a burst of primordial energy unlike anything she had ever experienced before, her eyes flashed an icy blue as her entire body began to glow from the inside. Cracks began to form on the icy walls surrounding her as the bunker struggled to contain Hel's newfound strength, and with a mighty "BOOM!" Hel exploded out from within its confines in a blizzard of ice and snow. However the form that the Queen of Helheim now took as she emerged from the snowstorm was drastically different from how she was before.

(Present Timing)

As the raging blizzard subsided, the audience of the Valhalla Arena recoiled in fear and awe at the titanic creature that towered over them all.

The creature was a gigantic monster that many recognized as a Jotun. However, unlike regular Jotuns, this one's skin was the same rotting dark gray color that once covered Hel's left arm and side of her face. And jutting out of various locations on its 160 foot tall body were clusters of Helheim Ice spikes, all brightly glowing with pure primordial energy. Her arms on the other hand had taken on a more familiar appearance, her left arm was replaced once again with a long winding snake tail with bright green scales, albeit much thicker and longer than before. Likewise, her right arm now had silvery gray fur covering it, with the now massive head of Fenris, whose fangs had completely regrown, growling and snarling at the God Butcher gazing upwards in shock.

The Jotun's head resembled a skull, with no nose and gaunt, skeletal features, its eye sockets were deep and empty. Though in each was a glowing orb of different colour acting as its eyes, with the one on the left glowing a brilliant green, while the one on the right glowed sliver. As it exhaled, the sheer freezing temperatures radiating from its body froze the breath escaping from its lips. And sprouting from atop its forehead and reaching high into the clouds were two massive devil like horns that were made out of carved chunks of Helheim ice.

Finally, in the center of the giant's enormous rib cage-like chest, located right in between each set of ribs surrounded by a large cluster of ice spikes was Hel. Her entire being, save her body, head and a small part of her arms, seemed to be one with the giant, rooted into its gray skin like an extremely tiny conjoined twin. The Queen of Helheim's eyes were closed, but her face was one of determination and resolve as she readied to re-enter the fray whilst controlling this new Jotun form of hers.

The sheer size of the Jotun was nothing short of impressive, were it not for the current battlefield's large area, it would have probably destroyed the entire Valhalla Arena the moment it finished its transformation. The giant took a step forward, as its foot made contact with ground, giant ice spikes burst forth from within the battlegrounds, covering the entire battlefield once again with dozens of beautiful craggy mountains of ice. The sheer amount produced even threatened to extend into the seats of the spectators, causing many of the people seated in the front rows to recoil in horror as they saw the walls of the arena beginning to be covered by frost.

A fearful Heimdall looked up to the God's VIP section where Ra stood, the Sun God now wearing a surprised expression as he rubbed his chin clearly intrigued by this new development. With a sigh, the Egyptian God waved his hand, giving Heimdall the green light to continue the match rather than end it.

"Uh... Ok... So..." The Watchman of the Apocalypse stuttered as he struggled to resume his commentary, "W-Well folks, after another unexpected turn of events, the match WILL NOT end prematurely! The Queen of Helheim had CLAWED her way back from the brink of destruction, rocking a TERRIFYING, TITANIC NEW FORM! Look at that GINORMOUS creature standing in the arena right now! And you all thought JASON'S transformation was scary!"

Getting over their shock, the gods in the audience cheered loudly at their fighter's revival and new form.

"YEAH HEL! SHOW 'EM WHAT YA GOT!"

"I don't know what the HELL just happened! But you better use that thing to teach that guy a LESSON!"

In the God's VIP section, Huitzilopochtli and Amaterasu looked towards Izanami, hoping that the Underworld Lord could provide an explanation on what had just occurred. However, even she wore a confused and amazed look as she surveyed her queen's new form.

"Lady Izanami, what the HELL just happened with Hel down there?" Said Huitzilopochtli as he began to shiver slightly, the sheer freezing temperatures radiating from the Jotun's skin was making even a mighty Sun God like him feel cold to the bone.

"I… am just as lost as you are, Huitzilopochtli." Izanami replied as she gazed upwards in awe.

Meanwhile, the God Butcher who now stood between the giant's enormous feet, was absolutely livid. With a roar of fury he launched himself up into the air with a claw raised above his head, black smoke beginning to gather at the tips as he screamed in rage, "WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUCK! WHY WON'T YOU STAY DOOOOOOOOOOWN!"

As he said this, the black smoke surrounding his claws turned solid, transforming them into long wicked blades of black steel. Screeching a chilling battle cry, The God Butcher brought his hand down, raking his claws across the giant's torso. But to his shock, he saw that as soon as his claws touched the giant's decaying skin, they became brittle and fragile as they froze over and soon broke into thousands of tiny fragments, causing him to recoil instinctively.

The God Butcher gave another howl of fury as he charged straight towards the Jotun again, this time his scorpion tail extended forward and began to rapidly strike at the giant's skin. However this only yielded similar results, the God Butcher felt a chill run up his spine as he saw his stinger was now completely frozen like his claws before. And before he could even curse or scream, a splinter of cracks exploded across that entire segment of his tail, before it too crumbled into pieces.

While the God Butcher seethed and cursed at the loss of his stinger, he failed to notice the large snaking form of the giant's left tail-arm looming right behind him. And before he knew it, the God Butcher found himself once again wrapped up in the deadly embrace of the Queen of Helheim's massive coils.

As he felt himself lifted upwards, the God Butcher found himself under the piercing gaze of the Jotun, as it tightened its grip around him, slowly constricting him tighter and tighter. The God Butcher screamed in fury as he struggled, and with each time he opened his mouth though, his screams slowly turned into snarls, his yells into howls. Until eventually the only thing that came out from within his throat were animalistic growls and screeching as he struggled even harder against his confines.

Suddenly the jaw bones of the skull that was the God Butcher's helmet slowly widened and split open, and with a jerk of his head downwards, the God Butcher placed the topmost coils holding him within them before quickly snapping them shut, piercing through the scales and flesh as he delivered a mighty bite.

With a roar of pain, the Jotun loosened his coils, causing the God Butcher to slip through its grasp and drop towards the ground below. But before he made contact, the God Butcher unfurled his wings and soared into the air again, settling atop one of the highest ice spikes that was facing in the direction of the giant.

Once again, the jaw bones of the ram skull on his head began to split open, causing many to realize with a start that somehow the skull had effectively merged with Jason's own head beneath at one point, and was now his new morbidly horrifying face. The God Butcher let loose another battle cry, causing the crowd to cover their ears as the ear splitting shriek echoed throughout the battlegrounds, children cried for their parents and fully grown men shivered in fear as humanity gazed at their fighter's descent into madness.

On the god's side, Calais and Zetes lowered their heads, though their former friend had not yet lost the battle, the Boreads knew that Jason was now well and truly lost forever. Meanwhile Athena by their side simply shook her head, disappointed with how things had turned out.

Back on the battlefield, the God Butcher leapt off his perch and soared through the air, avoiding the giant's incoming attack which shattered the ice spike he was just standing on. In his palms he began to generate balls of smoke which he then started flinging at the giant one after another. Shards of ice began to rain down on the battlefield as the attacks made contact with the numerous ice clusters on the giant's body.

In response to the God Butcher's attacks, the Jotun gave a low annoyed growl as it began using the hard scales on its left tail-arm to shield its chest from the projectiles thrown, whilst simultaneously waving its right arm around to try and catch its opponent with the jaws of the wolf head attached to it.

However, Jason was far too quick for even Fenris to catch, and so instead. The Jotun took a deep breath, sucking all the air around its head into its mouth, before its head backwards and holding its breath for a moment or two as it slowly turned towards the general direction of the flying God Butcher. As soon as it locked on to its target, the giant then opened its maw and unleashed a massive thunderstorm of ice and hail that swept across the arena and threatened to knock the God Butcher to the ground.

"HAILSTORM OF HELHEIM!"

The God Butcher swerved from left to right, barely avoiding the chunks of ice that were raining down upon him. However, his luck soon ran out and a particularly large block of ice made contact and knocked him to the ground with a hard, " THUD!"

Humanity gasped seeing their fighter hit the ground so roughly, but the God Butcher would not go down so easily as he already began to pick himself up from the floor. Seeing this however, the Jotun quickly pressed its advantage by sending its right arm surging down towards the God Butcher, Fenris on the end having its jaws opened wide, ready to catch him within its deadly bite.

"FANGS OF THE APOCALYPTIC WOLF!"

Seeing the incoming jaws that were quickly descending upon him, the God Butcher gave a scream of fury as he spread his wings in a mad dash to escape the approaching attack by flying into the air once again.

With a thunderous "CRASH!" The Jotun's right arm buried itself into the ground below, before slowly being lifted out, revealing the massive crater that was left behind from the powerful impact. The audience quickly got up from their seats, peering into the arena trying to see whether or not the God Butcher had met his demise.

To the god's shock and humanity's relief, the God Butcher was nowhere to be found within the crater. Instead he was once again in midair, his wings beating weakly to keep him in place. However as the audience got a closer look, they were horrified to see that the God Butcher had not escaped unscathed. For below the God Butcher's knees were nothing more than bloody stumps, the Jotun's attack had completely ripped off the God Butcher's lower legs and hooves. Both of which were now being chewed up and swallowed by Fenris, who had a tiny splatter of blood smeared on its lips.

The God Butcher gave a howl of pain and fury, his eyes blazing with hatred and malice as he looked down to see the droplets of blood drip from his wound towards the floor below. The fires of hate and vengeance he now felt in his soul was so strong, that it overpowered the sheer pain and agony of having his legs torn off.

Returning his gaze to the towering giant in front of him, there was only one word running through the God Butcher's mind, "KILL!"

Using his wings, the God Butcher soared higher than he had ever had before whilst the audience watched in awe, his arms held above his head once again as black smoke began to gather into a large sphere. Similarly, numerous eyes appeared all over on his three pairs of wings glowing with power as the God Butcher attempted to execute his powerful God Killer move once more. However, this time, he was aiming for a certain area on the Jotun's body.

Though his mind had descended into madness and savagery, the God Butcher still held some measure of self awareness and strategising. After noticing that the Jotun had chosen to use just its right hand to swat him out of the sky whilst using its left to defend its chest, the God Butcher had come to the realization that the giant was in fact trying to protect the immobile Queen of Helheim that was rooted in the center. Leading him to the conclusion that directly attacking Hel's own body would be the key to taking her down once and for all.

And so as the power of his sphere of destruction and angelic wings reached their zenith, the God Butcher threw back his arms, preparing to launch his mighty offensive move. However as he prepared to throw his smoky projectile at his foe, the God Butcher heard the crowds of spectators gasp loudly, as well as the chilling, and all too familiar sound of a certain wolf head beginning to charge itself up with icy blue energy for its Howling Blazer attack.

Turning his head quickly to right, the God Butcher was horrified to realize that somehow, the wretched giant had somehow managed to stealthily lift up its massive right arm without him noticing, and was now aiming it directly at him! On the end of the Jotun's arm, Fenris had its mouth wide open as blue energy began swirling inwards, its eyes glowed blue once again as its fur stood up on ends. The sheer amount of energy that was being charged up within Fenris' mouth caused the wolf head to begin to vibrate vigorously as it prepared to unleash its destructive attack with a bone chilling howl.

However this time, the God Butcher realized, it wasn't just Fenris who was charging up for an attack. Looking up towards the Jotun's head revealed that it too was beginning to charge up for an attack with blue energy swirling into its gaping maw, while the glowing orbs in each of the giant's eyes socket now burned brighter than ever after the green and silver orbs had transformed into two large flaming balls of icy blue fire as it prepared to fire at the God Butcher below.

"THE FROZEN GATES OF HELHEIM UNLEASHED: HOWLING SOULS OF THE DAMNED!"

And with that, two powerful bright blue beams burst forth from both Fenris' and the Jotun's jaws, blazing directly towards the defenseless God Butcher.

Unlike the last time, the God Butcher had absolutely zero chance to dodge Hel's beam due to being in the middle of executing his own attack, as well as for the fact that the beam was coming from two different directions! And so he took the full force of the mighty beam straight to the chest which sent him flying all the way down into the side of the arena walls with a loud, "CRASH!" and "BOOM!" Creating a massive new hole in the side of the arena and causing unfortunate spectators close to the crash site to scream in terror as smoke began billowing out from within.

"OH MY GOODNESS! Hel in her new Jotun form has BLASTED Jason POINT BLANK with her DEVASTATING beam attack and sent the God Butcher CRASHING into the arena wall! Something tells me that the match has finally REACHED ITS CONCLUSION!"

However Heimdall's commentary was not exactly the case, for as the Jotun lumbered over to inspect the crash site and see if her opponent was truly dead. Everyone was shocked to see a figure shoot out from within the darkness and latch itself on top of the area of the giant's chest where Hel was attached with great effort.

The somehow still alive God Butcher now loomed over the seemingly unconscious Hel, his body was charred and burnt to an extensive degree, the furs on his arms and claws were either singed or burnt away completely, leaving behind raw patches of flesh. Whilst the once beautiful white feathers on his wings were blackened and burnt, with the golden finish on the tips losing all its luster and appearing melted and waxy. His armor was also in a terrible state after being hit, his golden breastplate was destroyed, showing off even more of his burnt skin, and his war skirt now more closely resembled a loincloth.

However, even though Jason had lost his legs, tail, armor and humanity, and was barely clutching on to life. HIs undying hatred for the gods still remained as strong as ever as he loomed over the Queen of Helheim, eyes filled with malice and claws outstretched as his determination to kill one last god overtook every last remaining amount of sense in his mind.

"DIE!" Were the only actual proper words the God Butcher was able to groggily spit out of his bloody mouth before he devolved back into animalistic snarls and howls as he raised his right hand ready to deliver the finishing blow.

However, the God Butcher's mind had become so focused on killing the Queen of Helheim, that in his tunnel vision, he had completely forgotten what would happen if his body were to make direct contact with the skin of the giant.

Almost immediately, ice began to form all over his left hand and thighs which were directly holding on to the giant's body as he attempted to finish off Hel, slowly the freezing temperature of the Jotun's body caused the ice on his arm and thighs to spread all across the entirety of his body while he could do nothing but watch on in horror. Till eventually, only the God Butcher's head, upper right torso and arms were still free to move.

Turning his attention back to Hel, the God Butcher's true face, though still covered by the ram's skull, obviously wore an expression that was nothing short of furious as he desperately attempted to bring his arm down on the Queen of Helheim and strike her dead. Unfortunately for him, he was much too late as the ice finally covered his right arm as well, before slowly starting to consume his torso and head as well.

As the God Butcher could do nothing but seethe in fury at his demise, Hel's eyes slowly began to open as she blinked a few times before looking pityingly at her fallen opponent, her lips forming a sad smile as she silently watched his neck and head freeze over as well, till only his eyes still full of fiery hate were the only part of him that still remained unfrozen.

"May you damned soul find peace, Jason." Hel whispered. The growing frost finally covered his eyes as well, leaving behind an eerie life-like ice sculpture of the God Butcher caught majestically in the act of preparing to strike whilst still clinging to the giant's chest with his right claw outstretched high above his head ready to be brought down upon Hel's head.

As the Queen of Helheim continued staring into her opponents frozen eyes, perhaps worried that he might somehow unfreeze himself and finish the job, she was relieved to see that the raging fires of hate that once burnt so violently within his eyes were now finally extinguished, replaced by pupiless icy blue orbs that showed absolutely no more signs of life underneath.

With a sigh, Hel blew a gentle breath of air from her mouth onto the ice sculpture that was once her opponent, and though it wasn't powerful at all in the slighted, the blow somehow caused the sculpture to shift and crack from its position above her, before slowly toppling off its perch and plummeting straight towards the ground below as the crowd watched in absolute silence until it landed on the ground and broke into countless pieces with a mighty, "CRASH!"

The loud echo that resounded through the arena from the fall, as well as the small shards of green that began floating out from within the pieces of ice and disappearing into the sky above, made one thing abundantly clear to all those watching the match. The God Butcher, or rather Jason, was now truly no more.

Suddenly, a loud cracking sound was heard from the other side, as everyone's heads turned,they were horrified to see that Hel's Jotun form had now also been transformed into a massive icy statue and had a vast spider web of cracks spreading all over its body. The spectators could only gasp loudly before the towering form of the giant came crumbling down onto the arena floor as well, causing them to recoil in their seats, surely both fighters hadn't perished in the fight!

However their fears were soon put to rest as from the large chunks of ice that was once the gigantic Jotun, a now completely revitalized Hel clawed her way out and stood strong atop the mound of ice. The Queen of Helheim seemed to have been completely healed of any injuries as there appeared to be no more gaping wounds or bruises on her body, save of course for the decayed appearance of her left face and arms that she already possessed before the match.

Leaning onto her Halberd that had somehow reappeared in her hands for support, Hel gave a small smile towards the gods VIP section where an elated Izanami was already clapping feverishly for her friend. Before raising an arm into the air, which was met with loud cheers and applause from the gods side of the arena.

As the gods continued celebrating Hel's victory over the God Butcher, Heimdall slowly raised his Gjallarhorn up to his mouth to announce the results of round 2, "W-well ladies and gents! After a tumultuous battle of frost and fury, it would appear that it was HEL! Whose mighty transformations and skills were able to SNUFF OUT the fires of hatred within Jason's dark soul! In turn! The gods have secured ANOTHER victory over humanity! For the victor of Ragnarok round 2 is NONE other than the QUEEN OF HELHEIM HERSELF! HEL!"


Ragnarok Round 2

Hel vs Jason

Winner: Hel

Deciding Move: The Frozen Gates of Helheim Unleashed: Howling Souls of the Damned

Time: 29:15


The Gods take the second round of Ragnarok as well! I swear I tried my best not to make the winners of each round and exact copy of the original manga, but I've already planned out each round and its victor in advance, so apologies if anyone feels like it is getting too predictable guessing which side will win each round.