I created a small box and placed the eye I had extracted from Odin inside it.
With this, I was able to gather all of Baal’s body parts… Hm.
First of all.
“Stop just gawking and come over here already.”
I casually gestured, and simultaneously, two gods who had been hiding far away and spying on me and Odin were pulled right in front of me.
To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that their location and the space in front of me swapped. Anyway.
“Hermes and Ares, right?”
“Mars! It’s Mars!”
“Ah, sorry about that. This one hasn’t fully recovered yet, so his mind is a bit scattered.”
Hermes quickly grabbed the back of Ares’ head and pressed it firmly. Hmm. Mars… well, whatever the name, it doesn’t matter.
“I won’t ask how you sneaked into this battlefield. You probably slipped in among the others.”
After all, there were plenty of people who came from outside into Paradise for this war. Even those from the Underworld, which is directly connected, couldn’t easily enter Paradise, so I personally opened the gate for them. The same goes for other places.
“The reason you two came in here is… this, right?”
I showed them the box I held in my hand while speaking, and Hermes and Ares didn’t reply.
Well, just seeing the slight movement of their eyes gives me a rough idea.
“I know what you’re worried about. You’re concerned that since you couldn’t offer this piece of Baal to me, you won’t receive the ten-year reprieve, aren’t you?”
“Since you already know, let’s cut to the chase. We won’t make the shameless request to give us the piece of Baal. We simply ask: now that you’ve received it, could you grant us the ten-year reprieve?”
Hermes bowed respectfully as he spoke. Hm. Reprieve.
Well, giving that much doesn’t really matter.
“I’ll grant you the ten-year reprieve. As for what happens afterward, it’s something you’ll have to handle. Go tell Zeus that.”
I put the box I was holding into my embrace as I spoke.
“If you don’t want to end up like Odin, you’d better behave yourself.”
At my words, Hermes and Ares looked at Odin, who was lying on the ground.
The foolish god who lost his remaining eye, his ravens that once acted as his eyes to observe the world, and even all his wisdom.
“Well then… Since there’s still cleanup to do, you uninvited guests should leave now.”
“Ah! Just a moment!”
Hermes tried to say something, but it was too late.
The figures of the two gods disappeared from Paradise in the blink of an eye. I roughly dropped them somewhere near Olympus’ territory, so they’ll manage from here.
Now then.
“It’s time to clean up.”
If we had fun smashing things around, we should tidy up neatly at the end.
I looked at Odin, who had become a blind god wriggling on the floor.
I didn’t kill him outright, though. Hmm… Hmm…
Should I kill him? Or make him suffer so much he wishes he were dead?
It doesn’t really matter either way. Hmm.
I grabbed Odin’s head, which couldn’t even rise properly, and lifted it up.
Odin, who can no longer see ahead, whose wisdom has completely vanished, and who has been consumed by madness.
To such an Odin, I asked in a low voice:
“Odin. Do you wish to live?”
In response to my question, Odin remained silent for a moment. Though his eyes are gone, his ears should still work fine, right? Is he deliberately not answering?
Well, if that’s the case, I might as well just kill him cleanly.
But after a short while, Odin moved his lips.
“Kill me…!”
Ohoho! Isn’t that the line we love to hear from captured knights? It would get extra points if preceded by “Ku ku ku!” But let’s skip over such trivialities for now.
“You desire death?”
“Yes. Rather than living after losing everything, just kill me.”
Hmm. You want to die, huh? That’s what you’re saying?
Then…
“No.”
“What?”
“Why should I do what you want?”
I levitated Odin into the air. The weak remnants of a god who lost everything, including the spear he once held tightly.
This frail old man barely worthy of being called Odin anymore.
Right. Since the fall of the Aesir began with this one, let’s bestow upon him a new name.
“I shall take the name ‘Odin’ from you. Since your actions led to the downfall of the Aesir, I’ll give you a name fitting as its starting point.”
“N-no! Stop it! Stop it, I said!”
“Loki. I shall engrave the name ‘Loki’ onto you. On you, who lost all wisdom, I’ll overlay the false image of a deceptive god.”
By coincidence, there was no god named Loki in existence, so overlaying this name would cover Odin’s presence.
Isn’t it quite interesting? The wisest god and leader of the Aesir becoming a god of deceit and fraud, the very cause of the Aesir’s downfall.
Though I considered naming him after a blind god since he became sightless, that deity was actually an excellent warrior, making it awkward to assign the title.
Thus, the name given to the instigator of the Aesir’s collapse became Loki.
Having lost all wisdom, only shallow tricks and lies remain. And because of these, he became the one who caused the Aesir’s downfall.
“You will continue to live, perpetuating lies upon lies. You’ll wander forever in darkness without ever catching a glimpse of light. The name ‘Aesir’ will only be passed down to a select few, and your foolishness will be blamed as the reason for their fall.”
“Stop! Please stop!!”
“Rejoice. You have become the one who led all the gods who followed you to ruin. Many will refer to this series of events as Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods, and fear it.”
Odin, now Loki, curled up in agony and screamed, but his cries couldn’t drown out my voice.
“Loki. You are a creation of falsehood. Having lost your divinity, you will merely drag on a life unable to die. You will accomplish nothing. Nothing you do will be truthful. You will never behold even a fraction of light. Should you ever see light, it will mark your final moment.”
I bound Loki with curse after curse. Losing divinity, he became a mere existence crawling on the ground.
That was the punishment I, who once was Odin, bestowed upon Loki.
Rather than a peaceful death, a painful and miserable life awaited him.
“Just kill me! Please kill me!!!”
“Now, live on. Endure an endless life filled with suffering and sorrow. Cry out to me for forgiveness every day. When your screams reach my ears again, I will judge whether to end your life.”
And thus, Loki lost his divinity and was sent to the land, becoming an entity capable of doing nothing but deceive others.
Now then, let’s check back in about a thousand years.
I picked up Gungnir, Odin’s spear lying on the ground. Hmm. Even though it’s a spear imbued with divine power, it shouldn’t be handled carelessly…
After securing Gungnir, I surveyed the battlefield in Paradise where the fighting had ended.
Hmm. Let’s separate this area and set it aside for now. Such a scene isn’t fitting for Paradise. Let’s allocate it as part of the afterlife for dragons… While we’re at it, let’s arrange it to protect Paradise in a surrounding form… Hmm. I’ll think about that later. Cleaning up is the priority now.
With that, I lightly flew toward the victors of the battle.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“That’s how the gods bearing the name Aesir disappeared due to Ragnarok.”
At the Dragon Priestess’ words, I stopped writing in my notebook.
“Ragnarok…?”
That name rang a bell from somewhere.
It was definitely…
“In the giants’ mythology, I remember seeing a name like that…”
“Giants? Of course, it makes sense. A giant god participated in that war and informed everyone.”
Although I don’t recall the details, I believe it was about the gods being destroyed by the giants.
While investigating that content, I vaguely remember coming across the name Odin…
“Was that actually a real event? I thought it was just boasting by the giants?”
“It is boasting, but not entirely. The giant god didn’t do everything. The giant god only received a portion of the thunder god’s divinity as payment for participating in the war.”
“The thunder god… Wasn’t that the father of the giants?”
“Yes. That god, originally possessing aspects of lightning, became stronger after gaining part of the thunder god’s divinity from the Aesir gods… But let’s move on; that’s a story for another time.”
The Dragon Priestess cleared her throat slightly and continued speaking.
“Thus, due to the twilight of the gods, Ragnarok, the Aesir gods disappeared. Of course, some gods survived, but most either changed their names or entrusted themselves to other gods to survive.”
“So the current Divine Hall consists of those surviving gods?”
“No, not quite. Isn’t there one left?”
At the Dragon Priestess’ words, I nodded slightly.
Ennead, Lokapala, and Aesir.
With those three gone, the one remaining is…
“Olympus…”
“Exactly. Those guys survived.”
The Dragon Priestess smiled faintly as she spoke.
“The Olympians rejoiced at surviving. With all the other divine factions gone, they believed there was no force comparable to them anymore.”
“But I don’t recall hearing the name Olympus…”
“That’s because they disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
The Dragon Priestess said it as if it were obvious.
“They were erased by the king of gods they sought to establish.”
“The king of gods… Baal…?”
“Technically, it was the soul that used to be Baal, but humans should know that name well.”
The Dragon Priestess smiled faintly as she spoke.
“Rychlen.”
A name known by every human, the hero chosen by humanity.
