Hearing Sharky’s words, Odin spoke carefully.
"Until now, I have investigated every possible enemy of Asgard," Odin said.
"Only a few of them are still alive, and none of them seem capable of doing this."
"Father, you are forgetting about the gods," Hela interrupted.
Sharky turned toward her. "Gods? Which gods?"
"Sharky, do you rember the last ti you ca to Asgard? Skarn attacked us." Hela said in a firm tone.
"Yes," Sharky replied. "I rember. And I also rember that Phobos warned to leave Skarn alive. I ignored him, and Skarn died by Astrid’s hand."
His expression sharpened. "Are you saying... you suspect Phobos is involved in this?"
"I don’t just suspect it," Hela replied coldly.
"I am certain it was him. Because of Skarn, my brothers died. Phobos already hated Asgard. And since he warned you and you ignored him, he must have taken Astrid as revenge."
Odin imdiately shook his head.
"That is impossible, I found no trace of Phobos’s aura in the Royal Garden. If he had been there, I would have sensed it."
He continued, his tone steady.
"After you ignored his warning, Phobos fled back to Olympus in anger. He complained to the Olympians and tried to start a war against Asgard, but Zeus rejected it."
"Not only that, Zeus himself was enraged when he learned that Phobos had allied with Skarn and attacked Asgard. Other gods complained as well, and I personally brought the matter before Olympus."
Odin’s gaze darkened.
"As punishnt, Zeus banished Phobos from Mount Olympus and stripped him of his divine privileges."
"From that mont, no one has known where Phobos went."
Hela clenched her fists.
"Father, that only strengthens my point. He was banished. He blad Asgard for everything."
She looked at Sharky. "He must be plotting in the shadows. And Astrid... Astrid must be his target."
Odin sighed heavily. "Even if Phobos is responsible, he has vanished completely. We have no trail, no aura, no realm to search."
He t Sharky’s eyes. "Without proof, we cannot confirm it."
"Tell , where was the last place Astrid was seen?" Sharky said quietly, his voice steady but dangerous.
Sif told him while crying, "She was in the Royal Garden... just before she vanished."
Sharky nodded once. "Then we go there."
In the next instant, he was already there. Space folded, and Sharky arrived in the Royal Garden.
He stood still for a mont, confirming the location. Then his eyes hardened.
He activated the power of Watchhard.
He raised his hand toward the garden. A translucent, screen-like projection ford in the air, rippling with light.
The past began to replay.
---
The vision showed the day clearly.
Hela was in labor, surrounded by Sif, Odin, Frigga, healers, and royal guards. The palace was alive with urgency and hope.
All of Asgard’s attention was focused on the birth of Hela and Sharky’s son, Sigurd Valor.
The atmosphere was peaceful and joyous.
At the sa ti, far from the palace chambers, little Astrid played alone in the Royal Garden. She giggled as she ran through golden flowers, completely unaware of the danger closing in.
Then, a crack split open in reality itself. Sothing monstrous began to slither out. Astrid stopped and turned, confused.
And then— SHRAKKA—!!
The Serpent of Ruin lunged.
Its massive coils wrapped around Astrid before she could scream. Venomous fangs sank into her shoulder, and her small body went limp as she lost consciousness.
The serpent dragged her toward the space and vanished between the folds of realms, leaving behind scorched stone and torn earth.
The two royal guards nearby never even saw it coming. They were struck down instantly, collapsing unconscious to the ground.
Sif entered the Royal Garden monts later, and saw the destruction and fallen guards. In panic she started searching for Astrid. But she was unable to find her.
And she shouted in grief, "ASTRID!!!"
She fell to her knees, breaking down in tears.
Odin summoned Heimdall imdiately. "FIND HER!"
Heimdall strained his sight across all realms, but his face paled. "I... cannot see her."
Frigga’s magic followed, spell after spell cast in desperation. All of them failed.
---
The vision ended.
Back in the present, Sif cried out again seeing this, unable to stop herself. Odin slamd his fist against a nearby pillar. Frigga covered her mouth in shock.
Sharky watched every second in silence. And with every mont, his anger burned colder and sharper.
When the projection finally vanished, he spoke. "Who was that serpent?"
Hearing Sharky’s question, Odin began to explain.
"It was the Serpent of Ruin," Odin said gravely. "It has the ability to travel freely between realms. Once it escapes, we cannot even trace where it goes."
"Serpent of Ruin or whatever its na is," Sharky replied coldly, his voice sharp with fury. "Since it dared to take my daughter, I will find it, and I will shred it into pieces."
He turned toward Sif, who was still crying. He knelt beside her at once, gently cupping her face in his hands.
"Sif... my love," he said softly. "You protected our daughter with everything you had. You searched for her. You never gave up."
He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "You did nothing wrong."
Sif finally broke, sobbing into his chest. Sharky held her tightly, his arms closing around her as if he could shield her from the entire universe.
Nearby, Hela watched in silence, holding newborn Sigurd close to her chest. Guilt and worry weighed heavily on her expression.
"No matter where that serpent hides," Sharky said firmly, his voice filled with resolve, "I will find it. I will hunt it down. And I will bring our daughter back."
He stood up.
Once again, Sharky activated Watchhard and restarted the vision from the exact mont the Serpent of Ruin took Astrid.
The scene replayed clearly, right up to the point where the serpent dragged her into the wormhole.
The vision stopped. Sharky tried again. And again.
Each ti, the mont the Serpent of Ruin entered the wormhole, everything beyond that point vanished. The trail was completely cut off.
Refusing to stop, Sharky changed his approach.
He searched from different angles. He traced residual energies. He scanned the Nine Realms. He probed dinsional rifts, hidden realm pockets, and temporal cracks.
But the result was always the sa.
Nothing.
Every path ended the mont the serpent crossed into the wormhole. It was as if it ceased to exist.
Sif’s voice trembled as she whispered, "Sharky... why can’t you find her? You can see everything..."
Sharky exhaled slowly, forcing himself to remain calm.
Then he spoke with absolute certainty.
"It’s okay, Watchhard has its limits."
He lifted his gaze, power beginning to gather around him.
"I’ll use the Space Clock next," Sharky declared. "Nothing can hide from that."
Sif nodded, her voice trembling. "Sharky... please bring our daughter ho."
He gently took Sif’s hand, his grip firm and reassuring.
"I promise," he said quietly. "I will bring our daughter ho. And whoever took Astrid... will regret the day they were born."
Sharky inhaled slowly.
Then he activated Space Clock.
Ti and space folded at his command, and the scene of the past was pulled back into existence. He brought forth the exact mont when the Serpent of Ruin seized Astrid and tore open the wormhole.
Sharky locked onto the lingering signature left behind by the serpent.
Without hesitation, he followed it, and stepped into the wormhole himself.
When he erged, he was in a different realm.
Ahead of him, the Serpent of Ruin tore open another wormhole and slipped through it.
Sharky followed.
Again and again, whenever the Serpent shifted between realms, Sharky pursued it without pause. Realm after realm blurred past as he chased the trail, Space Clock allowing him to move freely through places no normal being could survive.
He continued following the Serpent of Ruin’s path. Until he reached the cosmic boundary layer, the empty expanse between realms.
There was no ground. No sky. Only endless darkness threaded with fractured light. Ordinary beings could not exist here. But Space Clock powers allowed Sharky to stand firm.
The trail led deeper.
Sharky attempted to enter the sa place where the Serpent’s presence had last vanished.
This ti, he could not. The entry rejected him.
Even the lingering trace of the Serpent of Ruin disappeared completely, as if it had never been there.
It was as though the creature had stepped into sothing unreachable.
Sharky stopped.
He narrowed his eyes and pushed the Space Clock harder, forcing deeper spatial-detection waves into the surrounding void.
Nothing.
He tried again, extending his reach farther, bending space more aggressively.
Still nothing.
Yet he could feel it.
There was a realm there, just beyond perception.
A place without coordinates. A place that erased its own path. A place that could not be anchored by ti or space.
Even Space Clock could not lock onto it.
Sharky went still.
"If Space Clock can’t find it," he said calmly, "then it isn’t part of the mapped realms."
He closed his eyes. And instead of searching harder, he changed his approach.
He deactivated Space Clock and began gathering his Luminara power, the light-based perception that allowed him to sense negative and corrupted realm signatures.
A golden flare erupted from Sharky’s body, spreading outward and illuminating the void between realms like a miniature sun.
Luminara Detection activated.
The darkness recoiled. Almost instantly, Sharky locked onto the serpent’s aura.
The trail appeared like drifting black smoke, stark and unmistakable against the radiant light of Luminara.
Sharky followed it. He moved through cosmic boundaries, crossed realm transitions, and slipped through unstable dinsional cracks without slowing down.
Then suddenly—l
THRUMMMMM—!!!
An invisible force slamd into him. Sharky halted mid-movent.
Before him stood a pitch-black barrier that existed outside space and ti itself.
Sharky hovered there, studying it carefully.
"...The Shadow Realm," he realized.
Under Luminara’s glow, the barrier’s true form was revealed, an enormous circular veil of absolute darkness, a living wall woven from ancient shadow magic.
Sharky understood imdiately.
If he had the coordinates, he could easily enter here. With Space Clock or Luminara, teleportation would be possible.
But he had none.
The Shadow Realm erased its own coordinates from the multiverse grid. Its entrance could not be mapped, traced, or locked onto.
Sharky placed his hand against the barrier.
It pulsed beneath his palm. Like a heartbeat. Like sothing alive was watching him from the other side.
Sharky’s eyes narrowed.
"Fine, then I’ll use sothing else."
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