Marvel: AS A PRINCE IN ASGARD

Asgard's vast archives contained countless records of cosmic empires, their wars, their collapses, and their ascensions. But Ragna, too preoccupied with strengthening himself against the looming threats of Ragnarök and Thanos' eventual snap, had never spent much time sifting through the thick, ancient tomes of history.

The universe was too vast, civilizations too numerous to count. Even Asgard's great libraries likely held only fragments of the infinite stories scattered across the cosmos.

Though he was an Aesir Prince, Ragna's understanding of many intergalactic civilizations mostly came from the memories of his past life. But unlike the scripted events he once knew, he now found himself in a real, living universe—one that did not necessarily follow the narrative he expected.

Still concealed through light refraction, Ragna and Valina continued to track Carol Danvers and her group, waiting for her to reveal the coordinates of Mar-Vell's hidden laboratory.

But when they witnessed Nick Fury and Carol Danvers suddenly choosing to forgive the Skrulls, and even deciding to help them, Valina couldn't hold back any longer.

She clenched her fists, her voice dripping with contempt.

"Are they all brainless pigs?" she hissed.

"Trusting the Skrulls?"

"The same Skrulls who attacked them, tried to kill them, and nearly succeeded?"

She scoffed, her frustration building.

"And what about Tofa?" she continued. "An entire planet wiped out by the Kree fleet not long ago—because Skrulls were hiding there!"

She sneered, mockingly parroting Carol's logic.

"Oh, but that's not the Skrulls' fault, right? It's all the Kree Empire's fault! Right?"

Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Gods, could they be any stupider?"

She turned toward Ragna, her irritation barely contained.

"Are you sure she really has some 'unimaginable power' within her?"

Valina's fingers twitched, itching to rush out and punch Carol Danvers in the face.

Ragna nodded slowly, also perplexed by Carol and Fury's decisions.

If the Skrulls had never fled to Tofa, the Kree wouldn't have targeted it in the first place.

Yes, the Kree Empire were executioners, but the Skrulls were far from innocent victims—they were, at the very least, accomplices to the massacre.

Even worse, Carol herself admitted that, in order to blend in and escape detection, Skrulls had killed countless people on Tofa—assuming their identities, erasing their existence.

No matter how he looked at it, the Skrulls bore greater guilt than they pretended.

But Valina couldn't attack now. Instead, she vented her frustrations aloud.

As a former Valkyrie, a warrior who had fought to protect her home, she found Nick Fury and Carol's reckless naivety unbearable.

Then there was Dr. Wendy Lawson—or rather, Mar-Vell, the rogue Kree scientist.

"Good kill."

When Valina learned that Yon-Rogg, leader of the Kree Starforce, had killed Mar-Vell, she almost jumped with joy.

"Keep your voice down," Ragna muttered, raising an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Valina to react so strongly.

Valina's face twisted in disgust.

"That woman was a traitor!" she spat.

Though she harbored resentment toward Asgard's royal family—particularly Odin, for some of his decisions—her loyalty to Asgard had never wavered.

Mar-Vell, however?

"She betrayed her own race, her own empire, just to help their former enemies!"

Valina shook her head.

"Did she think herself noble? A savior?" she sneered.

"By the gods, was she really a scientist? How could she be so stupid?"

Valina shot Carol an incredulous look, doubt creeping into her expression.

"What was she thinking?"

Her voice rose with each word, her anger seething.

"What 'justice' exists in a war between civilizations?"

"Individuals can have justice, but entire civilizations? There is no 'right' or 'wrong.' Even the dumbest Asgardian berserker understands that! But this 'brilliant' scientist doesn't?"

She exhaled sharply, her tone dripping with disdain.

"The Kree Empire sent her to Midgard to study the Tesseract—one of the Infinity Stones!"

"And what did she do?"

"She developed a light-speed engine—not for her own people, but for the Skrulls!"

"She betrayed her own nation and empire—for a dying race of shape-shifting parasites!"

Valina's voice dripped with venom.

"Oh, but the Skrulls' children and elders are 'innocent,' aren't they?"

"And what of the countless people they murdered just to assume their forms?"

"What of the countless civilians who died in the Kree-Skrull War?"

She clenched her fists.

"She was a traitor. And traitors deserve death!"

Ragna listened quietly, her words resonating more than he expected.

Back when he had first watched these events unfold in his past life, he hadn't given it much thought.

But now—after spending five hundred years in Asgard, watching Odin and Hela wage conquest after conquest, plundering entire civilizations to fuel Asgard's power—he understood.

Valina's words echoed an unshakable truth:

"Individuals may have morality—but entire civilizations are driven only by survival and conquest."

The real universe had no room for idealistic notions of 'right' and 'wrong.'

Everything—everything—was about power, expansion, and ensuring one's civilization endured.

Ragna sighed, shaking his head.

Meanwhile, Valina had turned her frustration toward Nick Fury.

"And that ugly-haired Midgardian—Nick Fury—how does he suddenly trust the Skrulls?"

"Not only does he forgive them, but he partners with them?!"

She scoffed.

"Did he already forget that they tried to kill him?"

"And let's not forget—one of them impersonated his superior officer and infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

Valina shook her head in disbelief.

"Doesn't he realize how dangerous their shape-shifting abilities are?"

"That the Skrulls could easily infiltrate Midgard, replacing key figures and destabilizing the entire planet?"

"How can he be so blind?"

She clenched her teeth.

"A bunch of stupid pigs."

Ragna, however, wasn't so quick to dismiss Nick Fury.

He narrowed his eyes, watching the young agent carefully.

Fury wasn't naive.

Far from it.

If anything, his actions suggested something else entirely.

Ragna smirked slightly.

"No… Nick Fury isn't an idiot."

He pieced things together—Fury's sudden rise, his ability to gain the Skrulls' trust, his rapid climb through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ranks.

It was obvious.

"He's using them."

That was the key.

Fury had no blind faith in the Skrulls. He was manipulating them, ensuring that if they stayed on Earth, they would owe him.

And in the future, that debt would give him a powerful, hidden asset.

Ragna chuckled.

"That's why, after this event, he went from a low-ranking field agent to Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in just six years."

His eyes gleamed with understanding.

"Nick Fury… is very crafty."