Thor: God of Thunder #2 (2012)

In the year 893 AD, inside the great weapons hall of Asgard, Thor attempts to lift Mjolnir but is unable to do so. Hefting his axe, Jarnbjorn, he vows to one day make the hammer his, and sets sail on a longship into the Baltic Sea alongside a crew of Norse warriors. As fog closes in, the Vikings grow uncertain, but Thor boasts of his superior senses - not noticing a shadowy figure watching from the mists, standing on the surface of the water. One of the Vikings spots it and is terrified, but by the time Thor turns around the figure has vanished. Recalling the dead Native American god, Thor suppresses his concerns and tells the Vikings to shut up and keep rowing. However, Thor cautions the captain, to row slower until the fog passes. Emerging from the mist, a pale-skinned figure - naked save for a cloak of living darkness secretly follows, eager to hunt Thor and his kin. Three days later, on the banks of the Neva River, Thor and the Vikings face off against a group of Slavic warriors. The Viking chief is eager for battle and plundering, but Thor tells him to stand down as he wants to speak to their gods. Addressing the Slavic warriors, Thor challenges their gods to combat; the Slavs' chief boasting of the combat prowess of Perun the Storm Lord and Chernobog the Black. Another Slav calls out that their gods are coming as a winged horse swoops from the sky. The Slavs are confused by Perun's divine steed appearing without its rider, Thor giving the Vikings leave to attack while he investigates. Noticing the horse is spattered with blood, he mounts it and flies into the clouds - which are spattered with flecks of divine blood. A second winged horse flies towards him, the headless corpse of Chernobog still astride its back. Annoyed at his fun being ruined, Thor wonders whether the Slavic gods killed each other before dismissing the possibility, disquieted by the sensation that he's being hunted. Watching from the clouds, the black-cloaked god-slayer transforms his right arm into a blade of living darkness, decapitating Perun's horse in a single strike. As Thor falls, the god-slayer - his cloak transformed into wings - plunges after him, declaring that Thor now knows the fear of mortality and will soon learn what it feels like to be butchered. Turning in midair, Thor grabs onto Chernabog's flying horse - knocking the corpse off - and charges towards the god-slayer, who mocks his bloodlust. Thor introduces himself to his opponent, who declares his intent to slaughter the entire pantheon. The two clash - Jarnbjorn against the god-slayer's shapeshifting cloak and weapons. Thor recalls an incident in his youth where he learned the difference between war and murder - an Asgardian named Dagr had embarked on a killing spree and been imprisoned. Confused due to Odin having been praised for slaying thousands more, Thor confronted his father. Odin explaining that war was very different from what Dagr had done, as even the greatest warriors never relished killing or fully succumbed to bloodlust, as to do so would be to become a monster. Still confused, Thor had gone to see Dagr - expecting him to be feral and bestial - but had fallen into the mad god's prison. Dagr had not attacked Thor but instead talked about his killing spree with such serenity and predatory darkness that Thor had been terrified for the five hours he'd remained in the pit. Dagr had been executed the following day, dismissed as a mad god, but Thor alone recognized that he was something far worse - seeing the same quality in his present opponent. While Thor manages to wound the god-slayer, he is overwhelmed by his opponent's shapeshifting weapon and knocked off the flying horse - which comes to his rescue just as he is about to be killed. Before the winged horse can catch him, the god-slayer grabs Thor and flies away with him, mocking his inherent divine arrogance with utter contempt. Thor dismisses his opponent as a butcher of gods, snapping that he's seen his enemy's like before. Kicking Thor in the face, the God-Butcher sneers that he hasn't. As he falls, Thor laments that his prayers to the elder gods to never encounter an individual like Dagr ever again have - like most prayers - gone unheard and unanswered. Impaling Thor, the God-Butcher asks what he's the god of, boasting that he's killed countless gods of all sorts. On the verge of passing out, Thor replies that he's the god of thunder, a massive bolt of lightning striking the God-Butcher. In the present, Thor charges Mjolnir with divine lightning and then smashes the beast of living darkness. Thor contemplates that the monster took hours to kill, and that the God-Butcher must have grown considerably in power since their last battle. Bidding farewell to the dead gods of Indigarr, Thor vows to avenge them no matter how long it takes and sets out to Omnipotence City.