Valhalla Saga

ED: StellarRain

Morning was approaching.

While watching the sun rise from the walls of the castle, Odin didn’t in the direction of a nearby noise. It was because he already knew who these familiar and peculiar footsteps belonged to.

“Father.”

Thor stood next to Odin and watched the sunrise with him. Naturally, He thought about the battle in Olympus while watching the sun pushing away the night in the horizon.

Odin was in a similar state of mind. However, he spoke of a different thing instead of reminiscing about Olympus.

“All day yesterday the sound of thunder was noisy. So you arrived from the sky and Heracles from the ground at the same time? It must have been terrible.”

Thor and Heracles appeared on the same battlefield to slay their enemies so it must have really been a nightmare for the enemy.

Thor grinned as he cracked a joke and Odin frowned in response.

“But it was also pleasing.”

Thor sat next to Odin at a moderate distance. He was still huge even though he was sitting on his butt.

“It became clear with what happened yesterday. They are avoiding you and Heracles.”

Odin said casually but Thor didn’t miss those lines. There were many times that Odin said important words like now.

“DOesn’t that mean that they don’t want to fight against me or Heracles as the battlefield is wide?”

Odin smiled brightly at the end of Thor’s pondering. Thor thought that he had the correct answer but soon realized that he was wrong.

Odin would have still smiled like he did no matter what Thor said.

“That’s possible. But my son, I got a different feeling.”

Odin’s only eye closed. He thought of everything that happened since the attack of Memphis and Maya and spoke.

“You and Heracles are certainly strong. You are the strongest warriors that represent Asgard and Olympus. But it doesn’t mean that they don’t have any strong beings at all. The God of sun of the Maya, Quetzalcoatl, and Set of Memphis will be able to face you plentily. But they aren’t stepping forward. It’s like they are afraid of meeting you even by coincidence- no, they are reluctant and are only standing on a far battlefield.”

Blatantly speaking, he felt that they were avoiding Thor and Heracles. Even though they should know that it would be impossible to destroy and burn down Olympus or even block the connection path between Asgard and Olympus.

“Are they planning on destroying the sacred forces of Olympus and weaken their entire force?”

Thor came to another conclusion once again but Odin still shook his head.

“Destroying the sacred force is certainly an efficient method but it takes too much time. But of course, a long war could be just what they are hoping for. It’s not that we know their forces clearly.”

The war had merely started ten days ago. In addition, there were many things they couldn’t know yet such as the scale of the forces invading from beyond the connecting path and if Maya and Memphis still existed.

But Odin could sense it as the God of war.

The enemy had some kind of plot. There was something they were hiding besides that they could see.

“I shared a conversation last night with Zeus.”

“About the capacity of the enemy?”

“Of course we talked about that but we focused more on a principle.”

Odin turned to look at Thor for the first time since the conversation started.

“The words Nyx said.”

The last thing the Goddess of Night Nyx said before she disappeared.

“She said that the end was nearing and that was the reason she stepped out to act in such a hurry.”

She had said that it was to bring and end to everything with her own hands before it got dirtied by the hands of others.

Then, what was the end she talked about? Was the end of Olympus really nearing? If that was the case, the one that would induce it was the Kingdom of fire?

“The end Nyx talked about isn’t the Kingdom of fire?”

Thor asked directly. Odin looked at the sky again without nodding or shaking his head.

“That is possible. We thought like that until now but how should I put it... the Kingdom of fire is certainly strong. The alliance between the ones that want to destroy the world are driving back Olympus and the Temple at a scary rate. But... What would have happened if it was the Olympus before the mess that occurred due to Nyx? If all the 12 Olympians were alive and they didn’t suffer any injury?”

The current Olympus was actually half destroyed. Ares and Poseidon died due to Tae Ho’s hands and Artemis got greatly injured and also lost great heroes like Achilles but that wasn’t everything.

In the first place, half of the 12 Olympians such as Hera, Hephaestus, etc. received severe injuries by Zeus and Nyx even before Tae Ho entered Olympus.

That was the reason Olympus was weakened now. But regardless of that, they were still fending off against two worlds that had turned although they had the help of Asgard.

Odin thought. What would have happened if Olympus was at its best state? If it was Olympus that was overwhelming the beings that wanted to destroy the world compared to Asgard or Olympus.

“Wouldn’t they be stopping the attack of the Kingdom of fire even without your help, mine or Asgard’s?”

Thor nodded unconsciously. It was like Odin had said.

Because of that, he couldn’t understand Nyx’s actions. It was because he couldn’t draw the picture of Olympus getting destroyed by the hands of a third party.

“Father, are you saying that what Nyx feared... no, the ‘end’ she spoke about isn’t the Kingdom of fire?”

Odin smiled under his beard and shrugged his shoulders as Thor pointed out that truth by his senses.

“I wonder, but I did think this. Was the end she talked about the force of the Kingdom of fire... or the strength of a particular force? Doesn’t it have another meaning behind it? If that’s also not the case, there’s something we don’t know about yet left in the Kingdom of fire.”

There were plenty of possibilities for it to be the latter. But even if that was the case, Odin thought that the end had was quite different to what he or Thor thought about, and it wasn’t simply pointing at the Kingdom of fire.

“It’s hard.”

Odin laughed out loud as Thor frowned like there was a cramp in his head.

“Well, that useless complicated remark could be a joyful game. In the first place, the beings that want to maintain the world can’t understand the beings that want to destroy it. It’s really regretful the absence of Loki. If it was him, he would have been able to understand Nyx’s thoughts more clearly.”

He spoke unconsciously at the end and Thor took a deep breath. He turned his eyes to the sunrise to not look at Odin and said.

“I also miss him.”

He hadn’t known the truth before Loki died.

He had cursed him for more than a hundred years saying that he was a traitor.

That’s why he was embarrassed and pained. ANd he kept feeling resentful towards Odin that had hidden that truth from him.

Odin let out an empty laughter. He pushed away his thoughts about Loki and organized the story.

“Whatever the case, the important thing is that we are blocking them well. If we are loyal to our role of anvil, the hammer would step forward.”

“You are talking about Tae Ho... so the new master.”

Thor looked at Odin again and he asked playfully.

“Are you disappointed that you are not the hammer?”

Thor was called the God of hammers sometimes by the humans of Midgard.

Thor turned to look at Mjonir that got fixed back by Hephaestus and spoke while grinning.

“It would be a lie if I said I didn’t. But I also believe in our new master. I believe in him.”

Because he saw the battle in the mount of Olympus. He was along the one that defeated Heracles and overcame Nyx in the end.

“Today’s battle will start soon.”

“The sound of thunder will be noisy today too.”

Thor stood up and held Mjolnir tighter. Odin faced the morning that had driven away the darkness completely and smiled with his only eye.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

No matter what the enemy was plotting, they would still fight side by side like always.

Odin turned his gaze and looked at the direction Asgard and the Temple was at.

&

Morning also came in Asgard.

Heda got infuriated(?) at the fact that her waist was dislocated after sleeping and kept nagging while looking at herself in the mirror and Adenmaha pouted all day.

There was a small fuss but it really was a small one.

The last day before they departed to the Temple passed peacefully and quietly.

Nidhogg practiced moving her original body while Hraesvelgr and Echidna observed her and Tae Ho checked the power of Kalsted all the morning that had become his completely.

Everyone at the residence of Idun enjoyed a feast made by Heda and in the afternoon, they moved to the main palace to see Freya.

“I told you to rest but what were you thinking about when you stayed up all night?”

Freya clicked her tongue looking at him as if he was pitiful and shook her head.

Tae Ho scratched his cheek as he got embarrassed and answered.

“I slept a bit in the afternoon.”

Tae Ho got an inexhaustible body as he put his hands on Kalsted’s saga but it didn’t mean that he had no mental exhaustion at all.

He felt exhaustion inevitably when he used his saga a lot, received Adenmaha’s cold gaze all day or heard Heda’s scolding filled with love.

Freya smiled bitterly at Tae Ho’s poor answer and turned to look at Idun, and Idun evaded her eyes.

“Well, anyways. I was the one to say that you shouldn’t leave behind any regrets before you left for a long time.”

Freya summarized things moderately and acted like Odin. She went straight to the main point instead of hitting around the bush.

“The preparations for the dispatchment is going well. You can depart tomorrow morning immediately. You should take the documents like the list when you return. And take this too.”

When Freya clapped her hands, a Valkyrie that was on wait at a side handed over a really big wooden box to Tae Ho.

“Unnie, what is this?”

Freya just gestured with her chin to open it instead of answering.

Tae Ho couldn’t see its contents because it had some special magic on it so he gulped dry saliva and then opened the box.

“It’s a clothe you wear inside. You obtained a mount and a weapon in a day, right? That’s why you should also get an armor.”

She hadn’t been planning on making it a set for him be it a coincidence or not but the appearance was quite good.

[Top of fate]

It was clothes that had an awkward and enormous name. It was white colored and really light, and it was clothes that looked like a shirt to wear inside just like Freya had said.

‘So a shirt is an underwear in the west?’

Tae Ho thought of something absurd and then spread the clothes.

Freya said.

“It was made by the three sisters with the threads of fate. Even if it looks like this, it should be stronger than any armor you have right now.”

“Really? Are you confident about that?”

Tae Ho became able to use Kalsted’s strongest armor when he reached a 100% in the synchro rate. Freya got mad as Tae Ho asked with round eyes.

“Leave it if that’s not the case. Why are you acting like that with something like this? ANyways, wear it under your clothes. Verdandi said that Skuld really overdid it just to make this.”

“Skuld-nim?”

“Yes, based on their words, you are our only hope. It seemed like Skuld saw many more things from the threads of fate than Urd or Verdandi... but she fainted as soon as she completed the clothes and it seems like she wasn’t in a state to converse.”

Tae Ho blinked when he heard that two days passed since she fainted.

“Uh... is she really fine?”

“Urd and Verdandi say that she’s fine. She looked like she was really exhausted for having poured too much strength in the clothes... but I don’t know either as I didn’t see her directly. But if something big had occurred, Verdandi would have told me honestly. That’s why you shouldn’t worry too much.”

Freya spoke in a light tone. Tae Ho nodded as he would only trouble Freya if he kept worrying.

“I will wear it well. Send my thanks to the three sisters too.”

“Right.”

“Unnie, we will return now.”

Idun stood up and said as Tae Ho closed the wooden box. Freya was the one to blink this time.

“You will leave now? Why don’t you eat something?”

“We decided to eat dinner in the residence with everyone. Why don’t you come rather? THat would be good. If you are with us Heda won’t nag while we eat.”

Freya’s eyes became sharp as Idun clapped in a good mood.

“Just why did you do that no one other than Heda is nagging all day. Huh?”

“Ehehe?”

Idun just laughed in a cute way and Freya burst out of laughter. It was because it was the first time to see Idun act in a cute way like this.

“Right, let’s go. I don’t want to eat alone either. I should also escort the hope of Asgard.”

Freya rose up from her throne.

And on that night.

WHen the next morning came.

The army being led by Tae Ho headed to the Temple.

< Episode 68 – Descent of the immortal God (4) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~