บท 97: Rune Suppression
Odin's speed was incredibly fast, and in almost an instant, he was in front of the rune. Reaching out to grab it, he unexpectedly grasped at nothing.
The rune, which had been within arm's reach, had disappeared. Odin found himself not in the treasure vault anymore but on top of a distant mountain, far from the Golden Palace.
"Ancient One!"
This time, Odin was genuinely anxious. With a wave of his hand, the Gungnir appeared in his grip. Clad in golden armor from head to toe, a royal cloak materialized behind him, fluttering in the wind, filled with murderous intent.
"Do you realize that's the source power of Asgard? I use it to suppress Hela!"
The rune had just reached Blake, and Odin knew it was too late to go back. Besides, in front of the Ancient One, unless he killed her, there was no way to leave if she didn't want to let him go!
His voice was filled with gritted teeth!
If Hela were to escape, Ragnarok would come immediately. Over the years, Odin and all of Asgard had paid a tremendous price to suppress Hela and delay Ragnarok.
None of the powerful godly essences were allowed to be released. Only Thor, the future king, had been granted the essence of a god.
As for the others, such as the Warriors Three and even Thor's betrothed, Sif, she was merely a goddess of the land and harvest. From her title alone, it was clear she wasn't a character with overwhelming combat power.
All of Asgard's potent godly essences had been compressed into runes by Odin to form the array that suppressed Hela.
Even with all that, facing Hela, who shared the same Asgardian source power as Odin, it still required Odin's own continual reinforcement of power to barely keep her suppressed, especially as he aged and Hela grew stronger.
Now, with the loss of the Fire God's essence, it wouldn't be long before the seals of Helheim would start to stir.
Ragnarok — Odin was far from fully prepared.
So, without hesitation, he adopted a stance of utter desperation.
In contrast, the Ancient One remained calm and composed.
"Odin, I understand everything you've said. If you want to fight to a mutually destructive end and then face Hela breaking free, I won't stop you. But if not, calm down, and let's solve this problem together."
Meanwhile, after Odin and the Ancient One appeared and disappeared again, Thor, although unaware of why his father wanted to stop the rune, knew that if Odin wanted to stop it, it had to be the best course of action for Asgard.
So, as soon as Odin and the Ancient One vanished, Thor, without hesitation, reached out to grasp the rune.
Unfortunately, the rune, imbued with the Fire God's essence, was far beyond what Thor, who had not yet awakened his full powers, could handle.
Before his hand even got close to the rune, an overwhelming fiery force, as if thousands of massive volcanoes erupted at once, surged toward him.
Thor instinctively took a step back, withdrawing his hand.
With just that one step back, all the fiery power disappeared.
"Damn it! I fell for it!"
Thor had been frightened off by a mere simulated spiritual attack from a lifeless object.
Cursing in frustration, he tried to reach out again to stop the rune, but it was too late.
The rune, having scared off Thor, floated directly toward Blake, spun around in front of him, and then drilled into his forehead.
The moment the rune entered his body, Blake's entire aura changed. Although his body was still engulfed in flames, at first, he seemed more like a vessel impervious to fire, with the flames merely flowing across his body.
But after the rune entered, Blake seemed to merge with the flames, becoming fire itself.
"This is... This is the Fire God's source power! How is this possible..."
Thor's eyes were filled with disbelief.
It was said that a long time ago, aside from the All-Father, Asgard had twelve main gods, each among the most powerful in all of Asgard.
Thor's own godhood was one of these, but at some unknown point, all of the powerful gods of Asgard disappeared without a trace.
Only his own godhood and Heimdall's, the God of Light, remained.
No matter how many times Thor asked Odin, Odin remained silent.
Thor had assumed that during Odin's cosmic conquests, they encountered a powerful enemy, and not only were those gods killed, but their godly essences were also destroyed — except for his own, the God of Thunder.
But today, unexpectedly…
That rune just now was actually one of the twelve main gods, the Fire God's essence.
However, why did it appear here, and why did it merge into the body of Blake, an Earthling?
Thor had no idea what was happening. Since he had failed to stop it, he simply sat down quietly to wait for Blake to wake up.
In fact, even if he didn't wait, there was nothing he could do. His Thunder God powers had not yet fully awakened and he couldn't stop Blake's current transformation.
It might be possible to forcibly destroy it with Mjolnir, the hammer of the Thunder God.
But as of now, it was unclear what the earlier events meant for Asgard. After all, Odin had only tried to stop the rune, not to kill Blake outright.
Thor, helpless, continued watching as Blake absorbed the godly essence.
Meanwhile, Odin and the Ancient One had arrived at a mysterious place beneath the Golden Palace.
The space here was somewhat distorted, and a massive black portal emitted an eerie, dark light. The interior of the portal was pitch-black, revealing nothing of what lay beyond or what kind of environment it led to.
Occasionally, the portal emitted terrifying, soul-wrenching wails and howls, making it clear that whatever lay on the other side was no place for rest or relaxation.
Odin, still visibly angry, waved his hand at the portal.
Golden light shimmered, and a massive magical pattern appeared in front of the portal. It was covered with dense, incredibly complex symbols and characters that were hard to decipher.
Golden chains formed of magical energy were tightly wrapped around this magical pattern and the portal itself.
Each chain bore runes similar to the dark red rune from earlier—white and green, representing different laws of energy—runes of the godly essences suppressing these chains, sealing the portal completely.
However, one chain, lacking a rune, had magical energy flickering faintly, with cracks already beginning to form.
It was clear that this chain corresponded to the Fire God's essence rune, which Blake had now absorbed.
Without that rune, this chain had lost its power source and would likely break completely before long.
When that happened, the entire seal would collapse due to this single point of weakness.
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