206 Gods And Monsters (4): Days Gone

"I do not care. As long as you don't get in my way, you are free to do whatever you want. Though, you are welcome to try and attack me." Thor did not take well to the interruption, and that was why he offered the intruder to come at him.

Naturally, Ikarus didn't take up on it. If he did, he would be facing four people that wouldn't hesitate to bring him down. Besides, his job was not to fight the Thunder God but to motivate him together with the other wielder of lightning.

He wished he would get fewer suicidal missions from his Master, but that guy could be quite scary when he wanted to, so it was best to just go with whatever he ordered, even if that led to his eventual death.

"No, no. My Master says he will be quite happy to provide you with more Gods to face if you let me help you." That got Thor's attention. He had planned to smash the birdman's head in at the first opportunity for interrupting his fun, but this changed things.

"What's more, since he is disappointed in someone's performance." He looked at Seth from the corner of his eyes. "He said that he would like to gift you his most prized possession."

The Æsir God easily noticed the small flinch of his polymorphed foe, as well as how his claws dug into the durable floor. The intensity of the stare he gave the winged man didn't elude his eyes either. 'Hoh... So that's how it is. Without realizing it, you have already gifted me something invaluable.'

"Do not talk to me in riddles, human. If you are to enlist the help of a God, you better state clearly what you have to offer." In truth, he could care less about what it was, but if it made his opponent give a better fight, a little acting was something he was willing to do.

"Ah, yes. My sincerest apologies. If you come out on top, my Master will be happy to gift you Surtr's weapon: Laevatein, The Sword Of Ragnarok with a ribbon included if you so like it."

...

A dead silence enveloped the Labyrinth. Asterios and Khronos had their eyes widened in shock, while Seth's glare intensified so much that lightning was starting to form in front of his pupils. Meanwhile, the party that could have been more affected by the news merely raised an eyebrow.

'All the fuss only for it to be that thing? Hah... Pathetic would fall short to describe this idiot. Leaving aside the veracity, what is there to be shocked about? It is only a relic of the past at best.' The last part was directed at his initial opponents.

'Moreover, Sword of Ragnarok? There is a limit to how ignorant one can be. I am willing to bet only the cat knows its true nature considering I couldn't feel any greed coming from him when its name was spoken.' His thought process was simple, but it didn't make it less accurate. Laevatein was able to end all life, but what weapon wasn't able to? Its purpose was to end the Age of the Gods and it succeeded. But in the modern era? It was useless. A God would accomplish the same just by throwing his powers around and without the contradiction of using a Divine-Slaying weapon while being a Divine being themselves.

If they didn't need it, but still wanted it, and yet it was not because of greed to accumulate more power, then you could arrive at a simple conclusion—one that he would keep for himself. Even so, that did not mean he would not take advantage of it.

"Laevatein, eh? Why not? I saw the Summoning Circle in the sky to call another Lightning God when I arrived here. Having that would be useful to have an advantage." A lie, but it did not matter. In a normal situation, he would have been easily found out. And yet now, the mind of his opponent was clouded.

It didn't take long for the fruit of his meager effort to bear fruit as Seth turned around to focus all of his hidden anger on him. He stood on his hind legs, carefully getting his allies off his back as he reverted back to his human form.

'What do we do, Master? Although we still have the numerical advantage, Ikarus didn't demonstrate all of his skills before, and a single distraction against that God could lead us to our doom.' Asterios' worries were not out of place. Even so, the solution was a simple one.

'I will deal with Thor myself... but I will need a bigger space than this or you two will get caught up on our attacks. You two should be able to deal with Ikarus while I take him to the deepest parts of the Labyrinth.' He was annoyed with the declaration of the redhead just now.

Thor was fool enough to try to reason with him in his maddened state; when his mind was plagued by chaotic thoughts of murder and destruction after he had killed Anjed with his own hands, bringing him to the edge of insanity as a result.

He was willing to bring him back from the madness even if that meant Thor would half-kill him. Unfortunately... he hesitated at the last second. That gave way for Seth to sink his poisonous fangs into the Thunder God, striking him dead.

The Egyptian God didn't remember much from that time. However, there is something that he recalls vividly. Just when he was about to devour his friend and acquire his powers, something stirred inside him, making him freeze and giving enough time for Odin to come and retrieve the corpse of his son.

Never, even to this day, Seth had understood the look the Allfather had given him that day. It was not one of hate, but of pity. The mad God might have looked terrible for him to not even be sad about the death of his own son, one that he favored greatly.

Much later, once he recovered his sanity, he found out thanks to Amaterasu that Odin had managed to revive Thor with methods unknown to herself, but his powers were not the same after his resurrection.

Yet, even after knowing of his friend's revival, he didn't dare to face him after what had transpired. It was only when he heard about Ragnarok beginning that he let go of his misgivings and immediately rushed to Scandinavia to gain access to Yggdrasil's Nine Realms.

However, the journey was not unimpeded. He had to cross the territory of many Pantheons to get there, and while some simply didn't care when they noticed he wasn't going to do anything to them and others were too afraid of him, some insisted on fighting due to his 'insolence' of trespassing their grounds.

As even punching them in the face would take much of his precious time, he ignored them completely, paying no heed to the injuries sustained as he didn't bother to defend himself, only focusing on getting there as fast as possible.

Eventually, and after many hurdles, he was able to arrive at a cold land consumed by war. There, he was able to meet someone that had long forgotten him and was able to convince them to open a path to Asgard with the help of his Authority over everything foreign.

The landscape changed from snow to fire and with that, he knew that everything was in its final stages. Understanding all of them were doomed, he grabbed the person that came with him and threw them back to the path they came from before closing it to prevent them from getting back; all the while muttering an apology for ruining their life that went unheard.

He then ran. Ran as fast as he could despite his wounded body to the distant sound of thunder, sending the dead back to Helheim and crushing Giants in the process.

However, Fate seemed not done mocking him. His mind, which had been plagued by worry froze the moment he arrived at where his friend was, only to see him being impaled by Surtr's Laevatein. He arrived neither early nor late. He just did it at the 'perfect' moment to see the act.

Just when he was about to unleash all of his strength on the Fire Giant, Thor noticed his arrival and immediately struck him with the last of his strengths with a powerful lightning strike no question asked.

His blow was not a simple attack. Odin had recently died at Fenrir's claws and had given all his control over his conquered Realms to Thor before passing away. Effectively, his attack was meant to banish Seth from the place he now owned before the black-haired man would do something crazy.

It was difficult to rank Gods in terms of power as there were many factors to take into account, not just raw strength. Even so, they belonged to the top five, despite having to share their position with a few others. Precisely because Thor knew the extent of his might, he also knew that it was not worth getting almost killed for a war that was already lost.

He was forced to watch Real by Realm how the destruction caused by Ragnarok unfolded as he was being expelled at supersonic speeds back to the 'real' world, unable to do anything but become a spectator on a show he could oversee but not participate in.

In the end, all of Seth's efforts ended in nothing. They were meaningless. He didn't have a journey that left him rewarded. No, it just left him empty. So much so that an outsider hearing the tale would just ask themselves "That's it?" and be left with a sense that something was lacking.

In fact, he was left worse than when his trip started. That's why he couldn't let anyone, not even Thor himself have that weapon. It did not matter if it was not the same—it didn't have to be... Laevatein was the only thing... the only physical memory left of his friend after Mjölnir was broken into pieces.

He would get it and stab Surtr, that hiding coward until his flame body turned to ice, and then use the fragments of frozen rock as a tombstone in the makeshift grave he made in remembrance of his friend.

At first, he wanted to stab himself in front of it and perish together with him, but that was not something he could do now. As selfish, as greedy, and as disloyal as it sounded... He had a family waiting for him now. He couldn't afford to die. It was a mistake he made once; he couldn't possibly make it another time.

The days they had would have to be buried in favor of a new age. That's how the world works; an eternal cycle of death and rebirth.

For that reason, Seth could not delay it anymore.

His right hand extended to the side as his trusted spear materialized. He swiftly grabbed it, twirling it around as a way to warm up.

However, before he launched himself at Thor, his Servant stopped him. 'Wait, Master. I have a better way.'

Seth watched Berserker from the corner of his eyes questioningly, but the Servant was in his own world trying to concentrate.

Finally, the black-haired man, as well as the other three individuals felt a shift in the world around him. Seth instantly felt around twenty percent of his reserves go down the drain, and he would soon find out why.

A bright light emerged with Asterios as the center, rapidly expanding in all directions. Everyone that was facing him covered their eyes unconsciously to prevent the blindness. When it stopped, their expression changed to one of wonder.

Gone was the Labyrinth, and in its place was the outside world. However, it was not the mist-covered buildings of London that greeted them, but a completely different sight.

A completely blue sky with the sun shining strongly upon them; a green hill where they were standing; the unmistakable sound of the waves, and a distant, port city with a giant statue of bronze at the farthermost part. This sight seemed alien compared to what they have been working with before.

Of them, only Thor was stranged by the landscape. Ikarus, Khronos, and Asterios were aware of this place thanks to their Greek origin, while Seth had heard of it thanks to foreign invaders.

There was no doubt about it in their minds, this was a Reality Marble on its own level; one that took them to the place that worshipped the Sun God Helios: The Island of Rhodes.

Asterios then whistled loudly while looking at the sky, causing them to follow his gaze. At first, nothing seemed to be happening, but after a few moments, small black dots appeared on the sun—dots that grew bigger with each passing second.

Shortly after, four horses with flaming manes pulling a chariot came down, descending at incredible speed and circling them all before stopping next to Berserker. The temperature immediately went up by a few degrees with their existence, and with a powerful neigh, they announced their presence.

"I will leave the rest to you, Master." Asterios grabbed Khronos, earning a 'Hey!' from the man, and jumped on the chariot, his sight now set on Ikarus, who was looking with narrowed eyes at the newly-born God.

"Aethon, Eous, Phlegon, and Pyrois, after him!" The four horses complied, raising their front legs before starting galloping to the winged man at great speeds.

"Talk about a bad match-up. This might be a joke from the fates." Despite his complaints, he did not wait to take action, swiftly turning around and escaping to the ocean on the other side of the island. He might have come here for orders of his Master, but that didn't mean he was suicidal by choice. That city was as good as gone the moment those two warmongers started fighting for real. He was definitely not going to stick around and be caught in the aftermath.

Left alone, the two Gods stared at each other for a few seconds before Thor spoke. "Give it up, just accept your death so I might continue my hunt. At the very least, you entertained me a little, so I will make it painless."

"That Asterios... He did something unnecessary..." Seth ignored the Thunder God as he looked at the ground with his thumb and index finger on his chin; his look one of slight displeasure.

"I understand what you mean, fellow War God." The redhead continued, uncaring for how he was ignored just now. "It is not quite there, but this place simulates a part of the Age of the Gods. We got a boost in our powers, but the difference remains."

"Yes... You are completely right." Thor paused. Something wasn't right.

He blinked for just a millisecond, but that was when everything happened. An extended arm collided with his neck, almost beheading him were it not for his Divine Psyche, and sent him flying to the harbor.

Smooth skin was gone, and in its place stood hard scales made out of molten rocks. Eyes that were clear before had become red pits where magma flowed, imitating a crying motion, and a normal and ordinary mouth had become a furnace filled with lava. The changes could be described as... monstrous; which wouldn't be far from the truth.

"Nothing has changed... I can still obliterate you, Thor. If you underestimate me once again, it will cost you!" The earth quaked, the ocean stirred and waves crashed into the land with violence while winds picked up as the previously sunny sky was covered by dark thunderclouds.

In the distance, the Æsir God exited the turbulent waters where he had been thrown into. His dampened hair covered his face, but even that couldn't hide his glowing, golden eyes.

Superbolts sundered the earth, destroying the city as easily as stepping on a bug, yet the man continued unhindered as if strolling through an empty street.

One of those lightning bolts actually struck right in front of him, but that was not any common one, for it carried his characteristic weapon.

'Ah... I have been waiting for so long... since that fated battle.' He grabbed Mjölnir, the giant white hammer with similar yellow lines to those on his face as he faced the killer of Gods with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Let's kill each other, shall we, Seth-Typhon?"