Chapter 321: The Divine Maiden Causes a Catastrophe (Part 2)

"So you ended up in Hela's realm of death?"

That's right. When I opened my eyes, I found myself on a wild, lifeless land saturated with the familiar scent of death. Soon after, I met Hela…

A column of blue smoke rose slowly from the ground, blackened fumes swirling over the earth's surface; countless shattered bones and debris were washed ashore by the River of the Dead. When Loki woke, he saw a mass of black smoke before him, coalescing into a woman clad in a black robe.

"Look who it is—the noble second prince of Asgard," the woman's deep, hoarse voice echoed in Loki's ear.

The instant Loki turned and saw Hela, he felt himself enchanted… Wait, how could he be enchanted?

Loki stepped back two paces, shook his head hard, and Venom's voice sounded again in his mind: "Yes, you are enchanted."

"What are you up to now, Venom?"

Venom gave no answer to Loki's question; he merely muttered to himself: "Beautiful death—this is the scent. The death I've sought for so long… my beloved…"

Loki was utterly baffled—and why Venom had suddenly fallen for someone else must be traced back to his first host, Deadpool.

As everyone knows, Deadpool's girlfriend is Death—yes, that abstract entity, Death.

Earlier, when discussing power tiers, we mentioned the five conceptual deities of the universe: Annihilation, Death, Infinity, Eternity, and Galactus.

Deadpool's goddess, Death, is one of these five—she is a conceptual being with no physical form; her manifestations are all products of human imagination. Clearly, the image Deadpool conjured in his mind was the goddess he obsessively pursued.

The love triangle between Thanos, Deadpool, and Death need not be elaborated—suffice it to say, both Thanos and Deadpool believed themselves to be Death's true lover. Thanos cursed Deadpool with immortality to prevent him from seeing Death, for as long as Deadpool couldn't die, he could never reach her. Deadpool's reckless self-destruction, meanwhile, was all an attempt to find someone who could kill him, so he could reunite with his goddess, Death…

Deadpool was utterly obsessed with Death, and as a symbiote who had once bonded with him, Venom had absorbed this emotion.

Though the goddess before him was not Death but Hela, every aspect of death in the entire universe carried the aura of the goddess Death—and Hela's realm of death was no exception.

If even the real thing was out of reach, wasn't it perfectly natural for a symbiote like Venom to seek a substitute?

Deadpool's obsession with Death had been perfectly inherited by Venom. The moment he saw Hela, he was certain he had fallen in love with her.

It didn't matter that Venom had fallen for Hela—he was a symbiote, and he still had a host…

"So you…" Strange looked at the girl Loki with a complex expression, his words trailing off.

Loki's expression could only be described as utterly lifeless; her voice was stiff as she said: "I tried to stop him. I failed."

"But…" Strange rubbed his temples. "Alright, even if Venom fell for Hela, he still couldn't have gotten to her—she's the ruler of the underworld, a cosmic demon. He shouldn't have been able to…"

Shiler turned his body, placing a hand on Strange's shoulder, and nodded: "He could."

Loki added: "I don't know why, but he really could."

If it's hard to judge how charismatic Venom becomes after falling for someone, consider an equivalent: how irresistible would Venom be if he fused the essence of Stark and Bruce Wayne after truly falling in love?

Put it this way: if there were a divine position in this universe for seducing women, Venom—having merged Stark and Bruce Wayne—would have already ascended to a multiversal level, had Peter and Eddie not dragged him back by the heels.

Of course, this also relates to Hela's condition. The title "Ruler of the Underworld" sounds grand, but in truth, she's merely imprisoned on a barren, lifeless land, surrounded only by skeletons and undead, and has been locked away for years.

Hela is a sentient, intelligent being—she couldn't possibly remain untroubled by loneliness. Even if her hatred for Odin once outweighed her emptiness, she still must have craved some distraction.

Loki's own qualities need no elaboration—he is extraordinarily beautiful, so much so that nearly every woman in Asgard is enamored with his appearance. Combined with the inner essence of Bruce and Stark, Loki's charm in seduction becomes god-slaying—and he happened to appear just as Hela was lonely and bored. The two were instantly infatuated.

"Hela told me her story with Odin. I learned she is Asgard's eldest daughter, my sister, and Odin's enemy. I couldn't… I couldn't…"

"You chickened out, didn't you?" Shiler asked bluntly.

Loki's expression remained rigid; she refused to admit it, only defended: "It wasn't my will. I only wanted to leave that place as soon as possible…"

On the throne of the realm of death, Hela lay reclined, while Loki leaned down, his hair falling onto her shoulder.

Just as they were about to draw closer, Loki suppressed the screaming symbiote within him, yanked off Hela's cloak, channeled his divine power, and vanished in a violent explosion.

As with all victims Loki had ever deceived, Hela's furious roar echoed through the realm of death: "LOKI!!!!!!"

"Alright, this definitely counts as a massive blunder—angering the Ruler of the Underworld…" In the reception room, Strange shook his head.

But Loki still wore a blank expression: "It's worse than that."

Loki, having used the cloak and divine light to teleport back to Earth, had barely exhaled when he found himself surrounded by omnipresent death energy.

Hela nearly burst forth from the underworld, appearing on Earth to hunt down this vile thief who had betrayed her affections and stolen her cloak.

At first, Loki was chased frantically, but soon he realized Hela could not directly enter Earth—she seemed to fear some force.

Even if she couldn't come herself, the omnipresent death energy triggered the reanimation of skeletons and corpses, constantly harassing Loki.

Loki couldn't properly control the divine light within him, so he couldn't resolve these troubles. He also knew he couldn't bring these skeletons and undead into densely populated areas—otherwise, the Sorcerer Supreme would make him regret it.

In the end, he had no choice but to summon her at the mark she had left behind, and negotiate with her.

Loki returned the cloak to Hela, sincerely apologized, and promised her certain privileges at the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Hela had lost nothing. She knew she couldn't cause chaos on Earth, and with Loki's sincere apology, she reconsidered—and let it go, taking the cloak back to the realm of death.

But there exists in this world an emotion called: "Biting your tongue makes you angrier the more you think about it; stepping back makes you feel you've lost more."

The rage of being deceived was a fierce emotion Hela hadn't felt in a long time. This emotional upheaval stirred up her other feelings as well.

In the short span of intense emotional swings, Hela could not calm down after returning to her realm—her mind was filled only with Loki's face.

Was it true love? Not really. More like the frustration of a duck slipping from one's grasp. And even as a princess of Asgard, Hela had always been absolute—only Asgard's warriors circled around her. When had she ever endured such humiliation?

After much thought, Hela decided she couldn't let Loki off so easily. You said you loved me? Then come to the realm of death and keep me company.

"The First Evolution"

Thus, Loki—who believed he had escaped death—was once again hunted endlessly by Hela.

Loki was truly exhausted by her. First, his power was insufficient to pull off his old tricks; second, he knew he was in the wrong.

To abandon someone mid-sex, then steal their cloak—once this got out, he'd be utterly ruined across the Nine Realms. Every goddess in Asgard would slap him the moment she saw him.

Unable to confront Hela head-on, Loki could only seek other solutions. At last, Venom, having finally come down from his infatuation, offered him a thoroughly vile suggestion: "Why don't you turn into a woman?"

For the first time, Loki was rendered speechless by someone else.

But he had to admit—logically, this was the fastest and most effective method. If he could snap Hela out of her infatuation, she'd likely stop harassing him.

Moreover, Loki himself was not opposed to becoming female—and the reason traces back to his life in Asgard.

In Marvel's official canon, Loki's gender is fluid—meaning, whether he becomes Ma Lei or female is perfectly normal. But this added trait feels forced.

If one must offer a plausible explanation, it's because Loki deeply resented Asgard's Viking-style hyper-masculinity.

To Asgardians, every man should be like Thor: powerful, rugged, muscular, bearded, wielding a shield in one hand and a spear or great axe in the other, charging into battle with war cries, gorging on meat and guzzling ale.

Conversely, they despised men who didn't fit this mold—like Loki. They considered wearing robes, wielding staves, casting spells from behind the lines as women's work, unworthy of Viking warriors. Thus, Loki was an outcast in Asgardian society.

In contrast, the Queen of Asgard, Frigga—the greatest mage of the Nine Realms—was deeply revered, for Asgardians believed she had accomplished everything a woman could: caring for her husband, loving her son, and wielding immense magical power.

This stark contrast made Loki consider becoming female. So when he actually did, he felt no revulsion or aversion—only novelty and the thrill of defying convention.

Thus, with the aid of divine light and Venom, Loki transformed into a divine maiden.

At the same time, Loki received good news—and bad news—

The good news: Loki had become female.

The bad news: Hela doesn't care about gender.