Aboard the Celestial mothership, Thor
is shocked at his first sight of the Celestial known as The One Above
All. Hero (formerly the Forgotten One) informs Thor that they have
been teleported there to continue their battle. Thor considers taking
on the Celestial to have the greater priority but Hero slugs him
anyway. Hero has been instructed by his master to spare Thor if the
God of Thunder agrees not to interfere with the Fifty-Year Judgment;
Thor refuses and the fight resumes, making a bit of a mess of the
ship. Hero tries electrocuting Thor which only refreshes him for
continuing to fight....
Meanwhile, in Asgard, Odin broods over
Thor's predicament (shown to him by Mimir) as Karnilla, Queen of the
Norns, appears, having just learned that the All-Father sacrificed
her beloved Balder the Brave to stave off Ragnarok (issues #274-278)
and is she ticked off. Odin explains briefly that Balder is in the
twilight state between life and death and that he is more concerned
with Thor's situation. Then Mimir shows him Sif battling a Storm
Giant on her mission for Odin: she seems to be losing when she fires
a fragment of the divinely-granted Odinforce through her sword,
knocking the giant out. She enters the cave guarded by the giant to
find...the Destroyer. Odin also sees the Warriors Three captured by
Fafnir; Fandral hurls his sword into the dragon's eye and the monster
responds by unleashing his flaming breath on the warriors....
Karnilla doesn't care and demands Odin restore Balder to life; he
pleads the safety of Asgard and under her threats and Mimir's
goading, he vanishes....
Back aboard the Celestials' ship, Thor
continues his fight with Hero: when his foe hurls a gyroscopic globe
(a gigantic ball of glass), Thor deflects it toward The One Above All
who disintegrates it. Hero seizes Thor's hammer but is unable to lift
it; Thor rains down a series of violent blows on Hero so that his
enemy is subdued and the Thunder God is able to reclaim his hammer
and prevent his transformation back to Don Blake. Thor then threatens
The One Above All with Mjolnir, demanding to know how the Fifty-Year
Judgment may be prevented....
In Olympia, Thena and Ikaris debate
whether to continue waiting for Thor or take action; Zuras decrees
that the waiting time is over and so the Eternals prepare for the
ritual of the Uni-Mind....
Thor strikes against The One Above All
but his attacks do nothing to the giant Celestial who merely swats
him away. As the enraged Thor prepares to strike once again, the
Celestial holds out a hand, an image forming in the palm: Thor sees
his father Odin swearing allegiance to the Celestial Arishem during
the time of the Third Host, one thousand years earlier....