Chapter 784: 773

Title: Captured Accursed

The figure was chained to the shackles on the wall behind him. On the surface of the wall, a chained figure was carved out and looked pretty similar to the one on the ground.

This was the end of the mural that depicted Malekith's story.

A chained warmonger who seemed to have been sold off for dog food by his family. Actually, Nik empathized with Malekith.

"Was it delicious?" Nik inquired.

"My defeat?" Malekith inquired with a guttural chuckle.

"Oh, no. The dogfood your family sold you for," Nik smiled. But between comforting the prisoner and poking fun of his possible captive, Nik chose the latter.

The burly body of the dark skin Malekith covered in rags stiffened. The sound of clattering chain echoed as if the man was trying to escape from his shackles while he raised his head. Strands of silver hair still covered his face but Nik now got to see his face. Sharp nose and eyes without pupils but the left side of his face was completely black. He glared coldly at Nik and stated with a grim look.

"I always hated her for that... and then, I killed her. That's what I did to anyone who spoke of that night."

"You killed your mother?" Nik tilted his head in confusion, "After this, I'll have you give me some tips in gutting my father," Nik chuckled, "And an uncle, and an aunt. You know... I won't really kill my aunt. Probably..."

"Enough—"

A sharp pressure appeared from Malekith's shout and he prepared to attack Nik with a violent black swirl of energy only for Nik to grip his hand mid-air and suddenly hold a small metal ruler.

*Thwack*

Malekith's head rung. Something which is possible to dead only in this location. However, he found his thoughts completely captured by a single desire.

'What is going on...' Malekith's gaze turned dazed as he felt Nik clutching the top of his head and pulling his face up. "What..." he mumbled as if hit by a train of cocaine. Still stuttering, Malekith tried to shake his head off but a part of him deep within his very soul just wanted to have his head clutched by the man in front of him.

"Hmm... Lucifer did not have this much of a drastic reaction... could it be that directly enslaving a soul and enslaving a soul when within a body poses different reactions? Anyway, time to get you out of these shackles," Nik smiled.

Malekith did not reply.

In fact, Nik did not truly understand how souls as a being could even exist. After all, souls were different from spirits, or ghosts, or even consciousnesses. According to Sky, a soul is a source of energy, but Nik did not know why a 'source of energy' could possess form and the ability to speak.

Souls can be present within spirits and probably ghosts. Pure, Pavakā, and Virya. These three were elemental spirits and had their own souls.

'Souls... are interesting. This guy is supposed to be a source of energy himself, but right now, he can only be shackled here...' Nik covered the chains of Hel with Eternal Ice. Frost soon gathered over these extraordinary chains but the quality of Ice that Nik now produced was obviously greater.

"Ah! I've Lived!" Malekith shouted with a blissful expression, tears streaming down his eyes which soon vaporized into motes of lights and returned to his 'body'.

"Crackhead," Nik mumbled. He couldn't use the soul ruler to break the ice-covered chain because Eternal Ice itself was extremely hard. Instead, Nik controlled the ice to start twisting, and soon enough, cracks spread across the surface of the chain.

*Klang*

"Get up," Nik commanded and with a stunned gaze, Malekith stood up. The moment he stood, however, made a dagger tumble down from the cloth covering his crotch, making Nik's expression darken.

'He had magic energy... and a sword? This guy must have had a plan to escape. Oh, wait... that shaman said that Malekith cut his soul off. How did he even do that?' Nik looked at the dagger before it was covered in ice and then broken apart once again.

"Just stay put," Nik sighed and transported Malekith into the Dream Core and observed the silent, dazed being for a few moments. When it was finally clear that the 'soul' wasn't simply going to disappear, Nik gave the end of the chamber one last look before shrugging and walking away.

He truly couldn't be interested in Malekith's past except the act of him killing his mother. Studying his experience on this particular matter would be of great use to him.

---

*Fwoosh*

*Crunch*

Stepping on the crisp snowy field, Nik looked at the group waiting for him. Hela was no longer here, instead, Leah looked towards Nik. While others silently waited for Nik to speak up, the portal created over the surface of the Eljudnir disappeared.

"Well, Hela told the truth. Nothing to explore there," Nik smiled warmly as Ignit smashed her tail while resting on the ground.

"Yeah, that's all I have to say. And... last I checked... when did you start asking me so many questions?" Nik huffed and stroked Ignit's nose while watching in amusement as Venom hung through a string within Ignit's nostril.

"About Malekith?" Leah inquired with an exasperated sigh.

"The portal is closed off, right? I'm alive, too... yeah, the right word for you would be adorable," Nik smirked, quoting Loki all over again as Leah blushed with annoyance and embarrassment.

"One task to go. I think, Hela must have found these tasks somewhat challenging and that is why she left it for us but... it's smooth sailing till now," Jennifer was adjusting her hair slightly while looking at her reflection in Angela's Xiphos.

"Your hair is perfectly fine," Angela grunted.

"Aw, thanks," Jennifer smiled.

"Pff, get a room," Loki snorted and smiled towards Leah, "Now when will we have the chance of meeting Brunn?" Her inquiry made Leah feel a little troubled.

Disir alone proved a great portion of strength to the realm but right now, the phantom menace was completely under Loki's control, and even when they eyed Loki from afar, threatening to tear her apart, they couldn't do anything for they had been deceived and enslaved.

The situation with Eljudnir would have been that of Mystery. But from Morgan finding all the dead scorpions, Loki employing the Disir to located the remaining Dark Elf shaman, and then Nik seemingly 'taking care' of a Malekith suspected to be armed with magic, and possibly a weapon, everything really had been a smooth sail!

"Where's that dark elf?" Nik inquired.

"Hela took him away," Janet flew over.

'His soul?' Morgan's voice echoed.

'In your cottage. But don't break it apart. I want to try a few things on this... sentient soul, too,' Nik added.

"So?" Loki walked up to the troubled Leah as she finally admitted with a sigh.

"I don't know. Brunnhilde isn't in the palace but exploring the destruction of the bridge. She collects souls that cannot and are not meant to suffer in Gjoll. Every trip takes her hours.

"So... this Brunnhilde is the last Valkyrie?" Nik inquired.

"Yes," Leah nodded, "But she is strong. Strong enough to threaten the Queen—"

"Bah," Loki cackled, "Hela isn't threatened by Brunnhilde. But the last Valkyrie is favored by Odin. Not to mention her relationship with Thor. The moment he hears something happening to Brunnhilde, he'll come crashing into Helheim with a bolt of lightning."

Leah frowned.

"She is related to Thor?" Nik frowned. He remembered that last time, he needed to use Thor's weapon against him to calm him down. Of course, the situation had changed by now but who's to say Thor won't have some threatening trump card lying around? He is a god. Loki herself is quite ferocious in other ways than just strength and the Realm of Asgard has always been that of war.

"Was," Loki smiled, "But, you know. A dance in bed means a dance of life. Whenever something happens to Brunnhilde, or Sif, Thor come running out. Contrary to his current flame, Jane... yeah, Foster. Jane Foster..." she nodded to herself.

"The Jane Foster?" Janet exclaimed, "I didn't know she was dating Thor!"

Jennifer tried to remember if she knew anything about the woman but she ultimately shook her head.

"You know her?" Nik inquired.

"Yeah. She's a major player and under Shield's radar for some time now but... it feels that the bigger reason is probably because of her relationship with Thor," Janet flew over to Nik's shoulder and perched.

"So... Leah. Hela wants Brunnhilde 'removed' from Niffleheim, right?" Nik inquired.

"She has proven quite difficult to handle, yes," Leah nodded.

"But, if something happens to Brunnhilde, Thor, and possibly, Odin would be alerted, right?"

"Yes," Leah nodded, "Before even the two of them, the first to notice the irregularity would be Heimdall."

"So, here's a question. Can't we use her?" Nik inquired, "This realm is under Hela's rule. There is a stream so poisonous that even souls scream in pain. Even the souls attack others. There are many poisonous snakes and spiders. We can use this woman to lure a majority of Asgardian forces and hurt them where it stings the most."

Loki frowned.

"We cannot do that. First thing, Hela will not allow her realm to be a battlefield. Not to mention the fact that no being in the realm would have any form of benefit by freeing the dead and harming the underworld. It is an unwritten law," Loki sighed.

"So? Are we supposed to wait here?" Angela spoke up.

"If my use is no longer necessary, I would like to leave," Morgan stated. She couldn't wait to start experimenting on another form of living dead.

"Heh! No," Nik smirked, making Morgan look towards him sharply.

"We won't be waiting here. The Queen stated that once you have completed this particular task... I am to lead you into the palace," Leah grunted, extremely unwilling with this task but soon, she turned on her foot and started yet another trek back to Hel.

"Haa... I forgot how comfortable your back is..." Nik groaned in satisfaction as he lied on Ignit's back while the Salamander hissed without much thought.

"We should be allowed to ride, too," Loki narrowed her gaze.

"I can call a few spiders for all of you. But Ignit's all mine," Nik smiled while rubbing Ignit's scale as she snorted puffs of smoke from her nostrils. Too happy to have almost snorted a stream of flame from her mouth.