[ that gets him to look up a little more—there's now a way she has his attention that she didn't before. ]

Well—it's not as if the act of dying is very pleasant. While it doesn't stick, it comes with a certain degree of existential trauma that even the most resilient of fighters may have trouble battling.

[ as someone who's died several times, over and over again, it's a lot even for a deity. he doesn't like it, even if the universe had demanded it was necessary. for him, Valhalla was closed to newcomers, and his only option had been striking a deal with Hela to cross his name from the Book of Hel. ]

Those, perhaps, may be the stakes.