Chapter 197

“Phew…”

Fernandez covered his ears and patted Kirhas’s head, who was groaning in pain. He then hung Thunderthrower on his sword belt. Kirhas was in chaos from the cannon fire that had just erupted beside her.

Botan, with his throat torn, collapsed with a thud. Magic and divinity could be seen flowing from his torn neck. Fernandez slowly walked towards his body.

[Huff… Huff…]

Botan was gasping for breath, blood gurgling in his throat. It was a pitiful end for the ruler of the Northern Temple of the Gods. He rolled his bloodshot eyes, looking around.

A shadow fell over him. Fernandez looked down at him, gripping the hilt of his greatsword with one hand. Soon, Botan’s eyes gradually calmed down.

[Stab my heart.]

“You’re going to die anyway. And dying instantly would be too merciful.”

[No. Even if my heart is destroyed, there are ways to survive. But my heart bears the mark of Jormungand. Hurry, stab it.]

At those words, Fernandez frowned and quickly twisted the hilt. The greatsword spun and plunged into Botan’s chest. A crunching sound of bones breaking was heard. And then… the sound of magic being severed.

[Ugh… That’s it… The play is over.]

Botan convulsed for a moment, then raised a hand, groping the air. Though he couldn’t fully understand due to the difference in systems, the magic circuit he drew was a kind of… seal. Botan’s curse seeped into his torn neck.

[I feel better now.]

“What did you do?”

[I anchored myself using my own body. As long as my head isn’t destroyed, I won’t face complete death.]

-You’ve become a lich.

Faijashi chuckled. Liches use a spell to anchor their soul to a part of their body. From that moment, the body biologically dies, but as long as the soul vessel inside the body isn’t destroyed, they become nearly immortal as an undead.

Gian-Kel’s soul vessel was his heart. Most liches store their souls in their hearts. It’s the best place for magic circuits to connect and the hardest to destroy. But with his heart destroyed and his neck torn, Botan didn’t have many options.

Fernandez lifted Botan’s head. With a crunch, the head was torn from the body. Kirhas screamed in horror and turned her head away.

“What’s the point of all this?”

[At least I can prevent Ragnarok.]

“Are you repenting now?”

[No. This was part of the plan. My death… was included in Eda’s plan. Damn it. I didn’t think I’d end up like Mimir.]

Botan grumbled briefly. He looked up at the sky. The hawk was nowhere to be seen. Though he couldn’t fully grasp the situation due to the intense battle, the hawk had flown off somewhere in Yggdrasil and hadn’t been seen since.

If it had gone to Yggdrasil, there was no immediate worry. Yggdrasil was one of the few places in Asgard untouched by demonic corruption. Fernandez grabbed Botan’s head and placed it on the altar, locking eyes with it.

“Explain it to me, step by step.”

[You annoying brat. Run first. Carry me. This place is about to collapse, and we’ll be sucked into the lava below. Down there is connected to Muspel. Before that… run.]

-Kurrrrung!

As he spoke, the ground began to shake. Parts of the steel fortress on the lava sea started to crumble. The balance tipped, and bricks tumbled down like a sandcastle being swept away.

“Kirhas! Run!”

“Yes, yes!”

Fernandez grabbed Botan by the hair and ran. The fortress roared as it collapsed. Right behind them, lava surged, and the intense heat scorched their backs.

It wasn’t easy to pick up speed with a body nearly broken from overuse. Fernandez bit his lip as he ran. He stepped on broken bricks and kicked aside tilting planks.

-Thud!

Kirhas ran like a gazelle. She zigzagged across the rapidly collapsing bridge, constantly glancing back. Every time Fernandez slowed, she looked at him anxiously, hesitating.

The steel bridge connecting the fortress to the ground completely collapsed behind them. Fernandez forced himself to hold onto the bridge, which felt like it would give way any moment, and gasped for breath. Botan chuckled at the sight.

[With that stamina, how can you be called Fenrir?]

“I never had that nickname.”

[Hmm. Didn’t Loki bring you here?]

Fernandez placed Botan on a nearby rock and sat down in front of him. He opened his canteen, took a sip, and handed it to Kirhas.

“Is Loki another name for Loft?”

[Loft is another name for Loki. The Aesir have many names. Mortal. Unlike you, we’ve been called by many names across many generations.]

“And now the great one is just a headless corpse.]

[This was my choice. Fenrir. What’s your real name?]

Botan looked at Fernandez with a strange expression. His uncovered eye held a subtle smile. But Fernandez looked at his other eye, hidden under the eyepatch.

There, he felt an unfamiliar magic. After the corruption of hellish magic had cleared, that eye was likely his true form.

“Our profession keeps names a secret. Tell me your story first.]

[You’re being difficult. Fine. Where should I start…]

Botan looked at Fernandez with a thoughtful gaze. He pondered for a moment, then slowly began to speak.

[It all started with Mimir.]

* * *

The Aesir, strictly speaking, cannot be called gods. They didn’t ascend to godhood by accumulating divinity and ruling over mortals. They were simply a race born strong from the beginning.

Like dragons. They were born with souls equivalent to demigods. Eternal life, strong bodies, endless magic… Days when it seemed they could become anything and do anything.

When they finally created Bifrost, their worldview expanded beyond dimensions. The conquest of Asgard had already been completed a thousand years prior, and now only the long war of conquest with other dimensions remained.

The Aesir, tired of the monotony of life, gladly threw themselves into the conquest. Countless dimensions burned. The fourth realm, known as the Material World. The numerous horizontal worlds tied to that dimension were their…








Under the lust for conquest, he groaned.

The end of that grand war began in a corner of Helheim.

* * *

[There was something called the Fountain of Wisdom. It was a legendary spring that granted all the knowledge of the world… or more precisely, knowledge of the future.]

“The future is not a fixed set of events. You should have known that much, right?”

[Ah, of course. The future is nothing but a tangled ball of threads of possibilities. But isn’t it possible to catch a glimpse of the most probable, perhaps even ‘inevitable,’ aspect of those possibilities?]

At Botan’s words, Fernandez stroked his chin. The ability to perceive reflections of future information is extremely dangerous, always bringing only side effects—an unstable skill. It was hardly a useful ability.

But Botan chuckled.

[Right. Among humans, those who claimed to see the future all ended up hanging themselves. I was prepared to endure that much. Back then… I was bored. Knowing that such stimulating information lay beneath the veil of the future, how could I not try it?]

* * *

“Great King. To drink from this spring… to glimpse the future… a corresponding price is required.”

The giant guarding the spring had told him. Pay the price. At those words, the mighty conqueror smirked.

“You dare speak of a price to me? How laughable. You, who couldn’t even foresee the death of your own kin, dare to threaten me with the future as collateral? Fine. If you guess whether I will kill you or let you live, I’ll play along with your tune.”

“Great King, you will slay me regardless of the truth of the future.”

“Hahaha!”

Botan laughed heartily at the giant’s words. After a long bout of laughter, he raised his spear and pressed it against the giant’s neck. The blade lightly grazed the giant’s throat, and drops of blood fell.

“Your tongue is smooth. Is sparing your life a sufficient price?”

“One eye.”

“What?”

“To see the future, one eye must be left in the future.”

The giant slowly pulled back his hood. Beneath the hood, his face was… covered in burns. One of his eyes was seared beneath a cruel scar. The old giant smiled bitterly with his remaining, withered eye as he looked at Botan.

“Moreover, I knew that you would come seeking me… and that in the process, my kin would be slaughtered.”

“That’s just hindsight. If you truly foresaw all of that, why didn’t you prepare for us?”

“Because it would have been meaningless.”

The giant spoke as he slowly walked into the center of the spring. Botan frowned as he watched the giant’s actions. The giant stood on the surface of the spring and pulled out a dagger that had been submerged beneath the water.

“After all, this world will burn, and dozens, hundreds of worlds will meet the same end. The destruction you, the Asir, will bring is merely the same end arriving a bit sooner. Even if we stopped you, an inevitable destruction would follow. Why should we stop you?”

At the giant’s words, Botan slowly lowered his spear. He sat on a nearby rock and watched the giant.

“The world will end anyway? In my lifetime, I’ve met countless doomsayers of that sort. Why should I trust you?”

“Great King, you will believe.”

He slowly handed the dagger to Botan. The dagger was entwined with a strange magic. Botan felt a divine presence slumbering within the dagger. This was… one of the remnants of a fallen god.

* * *

“Wait, a remnant of the Heavenly Temple of the Gods?”

[Don’t interrupt me. The next part is more important.]

* * *

Botan coveted the divinity slumbering within the dagger. Every spiritual being is given a chance to challenge divinity. But that path was long and arduous, a path of asceticism.

Eternal time did not guarantee perfect success. Botan wanted to become at least more than an Asir. He had no desire to remain merely a part of the giant race, strong and intelligent.

He wanted to become a true god. A god who could reach the Temple of the Gods, challenge the Third Realm, or ascend beyond it—a true ‘god.’

So, without hesitation, he plunged the dagger into his right eye.

* * *

“Didn’t you think to analyze it slowly and prove it through experiments? ‘God of Mages,’ Botan?”

[There was no need to prove it. I could feel an immense power from that dagger. Perhaps not just the Third Realm, but something beyond. A relic created by conceptual beings from beyond.]

It’s hard to explain when you keep interrupting. Botan grumbled and closed his eyes again.

* * *

The Fountain of Wisdom… was a lie. It wasn’t wisdom, nor did it contain the future. The spring itself was nothing but a clear pond, devoid of any meaning. The real thing was this. The dagger submerged beneath the spring… the power slumbering within it… was the true Fountain of Wisdom.

“Guh…!”

Botan dropped the dagger, clutching his bleeding eye as he staggered. Saliva and blood mixed, soaking his beard. Blood vessels bulged and writhed. He glared into the void with bloodshot eyes, gasping.

“Do you see it now?”

The giant whispered beside him. The small spring in the deep valley, the clear water and pristine natural environment—they were no more. Illusions of flames engulfed Botan’s surroundings. Amidst it all, the giant’s whispers thundered like lightning.

“Do you see it, Great King? The sight of thousands of worlds burning and collapsing? Where the future, past, and present intertwine… the sky freezing, the earth burning, the ocean sweeping the surface, and lava covering the sea?”

“Ugh… ah…!!”

It was exactly as he said. The world froze over decades, then burned for decades more. Stars in the sky hid beneath shadows, and amidst those shadows, a meteor shower engulfed in flames rained down.

Bifrost, the bridge between dimensions, had fallen into the hands of demons, becoming treacherous terrain where even the Asir could not tread. The barriers of dimensions twisted into labyrinths, and giants lost within them wailed.

Demons would endlessly rise, craving the blood of giants, and giants would stab their own kin, laughing. Monsters never before seen would arrive, setting the world ablaze.

The end of the Asir… no, the end of the world was in sight.

“If we burn Bifrost… can we stop this?”

“It would only be a temporary fix.”

“What if we sever all dimensions and seal the barriers alone?”

“Sooner or later, even that gap will be breached, and it will burn. We… called this future ‘Edda.’ A terrifying fairy tale told by old men to scare children… How does it feel?”

The giant chuckled. As the illusions faded, Botan staggered, leaning against a wall. He left the giant and departed Helheim.

To the one he trusted most. Not his son, but the jester who had schemed more cunningly than anyone…

In the war between heaven and hell, to protect themselves in the midst of it all…