Marvel: What If Thanos Adopted A Saiyan?-Chapter 190 - 191: Lothar the Scumbag, Dormammu Sealed

The atmosphere within the Dark Dimension had turned utterly bizarre.

Odin, in a towering rage, unleashed every ounce of his fury upon the sole remaining enemy, Dormammu. The power of Idealism, a force rooted in will and belief, now radiated with terrifying intensity from the King of Asgard.

With his strength surging to new heights, Odin drove Dormammu into the ground, literally and figuratively, leaving the dread lord of the Dark Dimension struggling to even lift his head or draw breath.

"ODIN, YOU BAST—!!!"

Beaten to a pulp, Dormammu finally seized a narrow window of opportunity. At the steep cost of having part of his essence sealed away by the Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto into an interdimensional graveyard, he exploded outward in fury, shaking off Odin’s relentless assault, and even knocking back Thanos, who had been pressing the advantage.

This is hell, Dormammu thought. Pure, unrelenting hell.

If I’d known it would turn out like this, I never would’ve granted that follower a fraction of my power.

Without that power, he wouldn’t have sensed the Eye of Horus.

Without sensing the Eye, he wouldn’t have known that both Thanos’s son and Odin’s daughter were in Egypt.

Without knowing they were in Egypt, he wouldn’t have sent himself to kidnap Lothar and Hela.

Without that kidnapping, those two might still be clueless inside the Time Training Ground.

And if they were still in there, Odin wouldn’t have witnessed what he just saw.

And if Odin hadn’t seen that scene...

Then he wouldn’t have exploded with such godlike fury.

And if Odin hadn’t exploded with godlike fury...

I WOULDN’T BE GETTING BEATEN TO A PULP RIGHT NOW!!!

"Odin...?"

As the time-limited boost from "Idealistic Energy" began to fade, Odin’s breathing gradually calmed. Agamotto, responsible for sealing Dormammu, swallowed hard and softly called out to him. [TN: Don’t know what the hell is that energy.]

"I’m... fine."

Agamotto: "..."

Thanos stood silently, his massive blade in hand, eyes lowered in meditative calm. But when he looked up at the projection of Dormammu still lingering overhead, a grin tugged at the corner of his lips, a smile he couldn’t quite suppress.

His boy had grown up. And now, he was... chasing cabbage. The proud father was pleased.

But what Lothar did next made that smile freeze in place.

...

"What... are you doing?"

Midgard. The lands of the North.

Snow drifted gently. The north wind howled.

As the column of divine death-energy that had pierced the Nine Realms finally faded, Hela stirred from the sea of memories she had witnessed through Lothar’s soul, only to snap awake and bite his lip, hard.

"You’re asking me what I’m doing?!"

"Lothar! That’s MY question to YOU!"

"WHAT do you think you’re doing?!"

"HUH?!"

Hela, who had never in her immortal life been lip-bitten by another living being, was now fuming. Twin blades in hand, she pointed them at Lothar, ready to deliver a death sentence.

But Lothar easily blocked her strike with one hand.

"I’m using your power to repair my soul. Got a problem with that?"

Face cold, Lothar brushed the blood from his lip where Hela had bitten him, his voice steely.

This had been his backup plan all along.

His soul was currently too unstable to endure the stress of his Super Saiyan form. So instead of hesitating, he’d simply let loose in battle, and then used Hela’s death divinity to restore himself afterward.

He’d even accepted the cost: that Hela would see into his memories during the process.

And as for the lip bite? Honestly, if time hadn’t been so tight, Lothar would’ve preferred full-body contact.

Inside the Time Training Ground, simply holding Hela’s hand had granted him a miraculous recovery rate. So what if their physical contact increased?

"You’re saying... what you just did was totally fine?"

Hela’s eyes narrowed, focused on the man before her, now utterly restored, without a single fracture on his body. His soul, once brittle and incomplete, now radiated stability even as he maintained Super Saiyan form.

Her gaze sharpened dangerously.

"I don’t think there’s a problem."

Lothar casually crushed the blade she had aimed at him to powder, making his stance clear.

So what if he held her hand? So what if they kissed? So what if he increased their contact surface area? What’s the issue?

"Well I think this is a HUGE problem."

Hela’s glare burned like wildfire. The more unapologetic Lothar looked, the more volatile the divine energy in her eyes became.

"You think this has nothing to do with me?" she asked, teeth clenched.

Lothar responded with bold indifference. "I made a trade, my memories for your power. I’d say I got the short end of the deal."

But he’d had no choice. Right now, only Hela’s death divinity could restore his fragmented soul. So if he had to take a loss... so be it.

After all, his father had once said: "Learning to lose is part of growing up."

"Wonderful."

Hela laughed, not out of amusement, but from sheer rage. She swallowed her fury like broken glass.

She wasn’t Lothar’s match. That much was obvious.

So even though the explanation he offered sounded like pure "scumbag logic," she had no counterargument.

In the end... might makes right.

"You two are simply, unforgiv—"

"Shut up!" ×2

Just as the battered cultist managed to stagger upright and prepare to speak, both Lothar and Hela simultaneously launched their attacks.

Lothar’s energy blast bored a hole through his chest.

Hela’s flying blade twisted into his heart like a drill.

The would-be speaker, Cuba, collapsed with his final words unfinished.

Huh?

My power... it increased?

As her emotions began to settle, Hela suddenly sensed something strange.

During the process of restoring Lothar’s soul with her divine essence of death, her own power had also... grown significantly.

...

"You’ve raised quite a fine son, Thanos."

Back in the Dark Dimension, Odin’s face had turned as black as a starless pit after hearing Lothar’s entire "theory."

Thanos calmly slashed Dormammu again, the dread lord still writhing against Agamotto’s seal.

"Hela’s death divinity stabilized Lothar’s soul, a soul this universe had refused to recognize."

"That... I hadn’t predicted."

"And that’s why your son acts like this after taking advantage of my daughter?!"

Odin jabbed Dormammu with Gungnir, eliciting another wail of pain from the fallen dark god.

"To be fair, your daughter benefitted as well," Thanos added, pointing to Hela, who now stared at her own palm in deep contemplation, fully aware of her new power.

SHUNK!

Dormammu, trying to sneak away, got speared again by Odin, this time through the "kidney."

"Thanos! Odin! Agamotto!!"

"Mark my words!!!"

"You had BEST hope I never break this seal!!!"

"Because if I do, I will personally grind your sons, daughters, and successors into MEAT PASTE!!!"

With a final, shrieking roar of humiliation and rage, Dormammu was sealed away once more.

But for a being as close to immortal and indestructible as Dormammu, the concept of sealing was never permanent. Only... delayed.

"You’d better not let me out."

"Or I’ll show them what true cruelty really means!!!"

"Cruelty!!!"

"—uelty!!!"

"—ty!!!!!"

His howl echoed across dimensions, a sound filled with fury, shame, and defiance.

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