[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 272 - Asgard's New Heir: Hermione Granger

The smile on Thor's face went stiff.

He wasn't worried about the others, Odin himself had placed the eligibility enchantment on Mjolnir, and the number of beings in the entire universe who qualified could be counted on one hand.

But this was Hermione. Someone who had a talent for doing things that had no business being possible.

Who knew what she'd picked up wandering around the universe and back?

A flicker of unease moved through him, but he'd just finished his whole speech about worthiness in front of Tony and the rest of them. Showing weakness now was out of the question.

"Of course," Thor said, forcing easy confidence into his posture. He gestured toward Mjolnir with a magnanimous wave. "Go ahead. Try it."

"I can really take it?" Hermione confirmed.

"Go on, go on." He waved again, leaning into the generosity.

Hermione took two steps forward, stopped in front of the hammer, then turned to look back at him. Her eyes were bright. "I'm really going to take it, you know."

"Oh, just take it already!" Thor said, and felt his confidence slip.

Hermione stopped teasing him. She turned to face Mjolnir.

She didn't reach for the handle. Instead she stepped back half a pace, her wand appearing in her hand, and with a light flick she murmured: "Accio Mjolnir."

An invisible force seized the hammer.

The hammer didn't move. Hermione did, the recoil yanked her forward and she stumbled, barely catching herself.

"Pfft—" Tony choked on a laugh. Pepper shot him a look and he swallowed it immediately.

The others wore expressions of elaborate, barely-contained amusement. Even Hermione, it seemed, didn't have a special trick for this one.

Thor quietly exhaled. The smile returned to his face, more genuine now.

See? Not just anyone could lift it.

Hermione steadied her footing. Her expression held no trace of embarrassment.

She hadn't expected a single Summoning Charm to unravel Odin's magical restriction. That wasn't the point. What she'd needed to confirm was that the charm had worked, the spell had taken hold of the hammer. It just hadn't been strong enough to drag it anywhere.

She walked to the table's edge, extended her pale hand, and ran her fingers slowly along the hammer's surface.

Runic script. She knew that, too.

With that as her foundation, breaking Odin's magic came down to one thing: enough power. Her current Level Six magical strength probably wasn't enough to stand against Odin alone, but who said she was only working with Level Six?

Hermione took a slow breath, gripped the handle, and for just a fraction of a second, a faint purple light flickered at her palm and vanished.

She leaned in close, brought her lips near the hammer's head, and in a voice no one else could hear, she spoke clearly:

"Restriction... release."

This was the second time she'd used a breaking spell on Mjolnir.

The first time had been in New Mexico. It had failed. She'd nearly been struck by lightning.

This time was different.

The moment the words left her mouth, Mjolnir lurched into a violent tremor.

The runic script blazed to life across the hammer's surface, flooding the room with a blinding blue light. Something vast and ancient and utterly sovereign awakened from within it, a power that pushed back against the intrusion, furious and unyielding.

Hermione felt it clearly. A formidable will reaching through the runes, pressing against her magic, trying to force her out.

"It moved! The hammer moved!"

"Oh my god, it's glowing!"

"Come on, Hermione!"

The Avengers, who had been lounging around watching with detached amusement a moment ago, were all on their feet.

Every single one of them had tried to lift Mjolnir. They hadn't made it glow. They hadn't made it tremble. They hadn't shifted it a single millimeter. And now Hermione had placed her hand on it and said something, and it was shaking like it was trying to tear itself apart.

The room held its breath. Every eye locked on Hermione and the hammer rattling beneath her hand, faces stretched between anticipation and raw tension.

Thor's expression had gone completely wrong. The ease drained out of him entirely, replaced by shock, deep, genuine, can't-process-this shock. His mouth fell slightly open. His throat moved like he was trying to speak and finding nothing there.

This was impossible. Father's magic couldn't possibly,

Then the palm of Hermione's hand erupted.

Purple light burst outward like a wave, flooding over the hammer and swallowing it whole. Driven by both the Power Stone and her full Level Six magic channeled at once, her spell drove through the runes without holding anything back.

The blue light on Mjolnir's surface flickered wildly, once, twice, three times, making a last desperate stand.

It lasted less than a second.

Then it went dark.

The trembling stopped.

Everything went still.

Hermione straightened up slowly. She wrapped her hand around the handle. She lifted.

Mjolnir, heavier than a mountain, immovable even by the Hulk, rose from the table like it weighed nothing at all, carried smoothly up above her head.

"..."

Dead silence swallowed the room.

Everyone's eyes were wide. Their mouths were open.

A few seconds passed.

"Oh YEAH!"

Tony snapped out of it first. He let out a full-throated whoop.

"That's what I'm talking about! Hermione!"

"I knew it! I always knew it!"

"That was insane!"

The silence detonated into noise. Cheers crashed through the room and kept going.

Everyone was thrilled, and the looks they aimed at Thor were pure, uncut schadenfreude.

That's what you get for the whole worthiness lecture. Backfired, didn't it?

Thor stood frozen, completely stupefied.

He stared at Mjolnir hanging in Hermione's grip, the hammer he knew better than anything in the universe, the hammer that had never belonged to anyone but him, and felt his understanding of the world quietly crack apart.

Mjolnir had been lifted.

By someone who wasn't him.

How.

Hermione gave the hammer a small, thoughtful toss, catching it by the handle, and turned to look at the petrified god beside her. She blinked, expression perfectly innocent.

"What was it you said? Whoever can lift this hammer is worthy to inherit the throne of Asgard?"

Thor's face went rigid.

"That's right, Princess Hermione!" Tony launched himself into the fray immediately. "The new Princess of Asgard has arrived!"

"We welcome the Princess." Natasha offered a bow.

The room dissolved. Everyone fell over each other paying their respects to Hermione with exaggerated reverence, absolutely delighted with themselves.

Thor looked at the chaos merchants cackling around him. He looked at his hammer sitting in Hermione's hand. A cold sweat broke across his back.

On pure instinct he stretched his hand out and reached for Mjolnir with his mind.

The hammer didn't move. Didn't twitch. Didn't acknowledge him at all.

Something in his chest dropped.

Had he actually lost his hammer to someone else?

No. Absolutely not.

Thor's brain kicked into gear. He stepped forward and raised his voice over the celebration. "Wait! Even if Hermione lifted the hammer — even if she's worthy — don't forget that I can lift it too! I am also a rightful heir of Asgard!"

He drew himself up to his full height. "By the laws of succession, I am first in line. Hermione has to rank behind me."

"Oh?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. She looked at him, at his absolutely desperate, will-not-concede expression, and something turned over behind her eyes.

A very bad idea had just occurred to her.

➤ Next: Ultron on the Run