Chapter 54: End of the Prologue

Canute's blade has pierced Askeladd close to the heart. The fighting stops, Thorkell watches grimly, and Thorfinn catches the falling mercenary before he strikes the floor. Askeladd congratulates the prince on his first kill, then spits blood. Nearby soldiers celebrate their royal heir avenging his father, while a nearly fainting Canute is propped upright by Thorkell, who reminds him to stand tall for the spectacle staged in his name.

Thorfinn frantically insists they can escape and mend the wound, but Askeladd tells him to quiet down and finish him off, since they are enemies and his own time is spent. He asks whether the boy has ever considered what he will live for once his target is gone. Thorfinn cannot answer, and Askeladd laughs softly at how lost he is. His final counsel is to let go of the grudge, to press past the horizon Thors reached, because that is his real battle. With the words be a true warrior, son of Thors, Askeladd dies.

Canute pries his own fingers from the hilt and approaches. He tells Thorfinn he will not beg forgiveness and that the young man is free to leave. Broken, Thorfinn slashes Canute's cheek before Thorkell slams him down. The prince halts the soldiers, calling the shallow cut a fair price and declaring Thorfinn no ally of the traitor. When Floki tries to steer the aftermath, Canute lifts the crown, sets it on his own head, and proclaims himself ruler of the military and England. He suspends the campaign against Wales, delays the handing out of rewards, and dismisses the assembly. Dragged off, Thorfinn stares upward as memories flood back, and his short sword is left abandoned on the ground.

Askeladd dies from Canute's thrust after delivering his last words to Thorfinn, telling him to move on and surpass Thors. Thorfinn, denied his revenge, strikes Canute across the left cheek and is subdued by Thorkell. Canute spares him rather than execute him. Seizing the moment, Canute crowns himself, wresting command of the army from Floki, cancels the invasion of Wales, and postpones the distribution of lands and spoils. The final panel closes the War Arc on Thorfinn's discarded dagger.

The fifty-fourth chapter concludes the War Arc, the story's prologue, and appears in Volume 8. Its content was adapted in Episode 24. The closing pages sweep through a montage of faces from Thorfinn's past, including Thors, Bjorn, Ragnar, and the childhood moment when Thors handed him the very blade now left behind.