chapter 21

Ragnarök.

The prophecy that foretells the end of the norse pantheon.

One day, Fenrir will break his chains.

Then, his two children sköl and hati, will devour the sun and moon.

Afterwards, Loki would free himself from his shackles, and lead all the giants to war on Asgard.

Finally, surtr, king of the fire giants, would destroy Asgard with the perfect sword that he had been forging for millenia.

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Towering, massive, giant.

Those three words described surtr well.

Here he stood, so he was the one who struck thrym.

He was taller than thrym, by around 20ft. He stood with his two handed, ashen longsword pointing to the sky, the sword that would end Asgard.

"The blade is wonderful. For only a prototype, this is close. Only a thousand more years or so and I'll finally be able to destroy that realm." Hmm. It's pointless to attempt to use my fire blade against surtr.

If I had to guess, he wields Primordial fire. My zanpakuto's fire will likely be useless against him.

"A fair assessment. The only way my blade will reach him is if you manage to absorb a piece of his Primordial fire. But to do that, you would need to touch him. Even if you are a dragon, that is still Primordial fire." Mereoleona gave words of caution.

Fair ones.

But that didn't mean I wouldn't try.

"Lena. Things have escalated much more than i expected. I'm afraid I'll have to send you away." It was my first time using this technique, but I understand vaguely how it works.

"Eh? Walter?! Why am I gettin all shadowy?" Before any more words could be spoken, lena was gone, leaving only surtr and I.

"A curious technique. Well, it seems I have a worthy opponent to test this prototype on." The flaming sword only got hotter as his words and eyes matched the fire of battle. I could only look up at him, the roof had naturally been blown away just from the shock wave of his blow.

I sheathed Mereoleona. No point fighting fire with fire.

I held sujin firmly in my hands. Brushing up on my kendo could be a good idea.

Surtr raised his sword up high, the air ignited into explosions of flame as it soared through the air. The chain reactions against the beautiful snowy white sky.

Beautiful.

I side-stepped the massive blade foretold to end Asgard, it sank into the floor as if a pin through paper.

I grabbed the flat side of the blade as surtr pulled it back up.

"A powerful blade. It could definitely end my life. But a god slaying blade is useless if it never reaches your opponent." A swift strike of my blade against the metal, only a one handed strike, but still not even a crack.

"As true as that statement is, the residual heat from my blade burns through all." The ground beneath me started to crack, throwing off my balance.

Surtr took that moment and swung, his speed was incomparable to his previous swing. If his last swing was a lackluster swing, what is a full powered one like? I need to reduce his strength somehow.

Well, that's one way.

"Sankt zwinger!" The five orbs were launched towards the giant of muspelheim, soaring through the air.

Surtr pulled his blade back up, slashing through three of the power stealing orbs and readying his left arm to shield the remaining two.

Clearly unaware of their true purpose.

The blades smashed against his flames, clearly misunderstanding them.

"Are you that weak? No... something is off, I'm not the most adept in sensing, but something is missing. You stole something didn't you? What a scoundrel." I honestly expected him to notice, stealing someones power is awfully hard to miss.

Granted, I redirected all that stolen power into mereoleona. No need to let it cook my insides.

He raised his blade once more, this time, I could tell there was no holding back. A beacon of pure flame shot high into the sky, burning away any and all snow.

Hmm. I see only one way to respond to this.

With kendo.

The blade in my hand, felt so natural in my grip. I let it all out, both my reiatsu and magical energy all came pouring out like a flood.

I've seen it before in the anime, and with zaraki's monstrous talent, I think it's possible.

Hoh, deep breaths. In, and out. Calm yourself. And strike with all your might!

I swung. And thats when I saw it happen.

Surtrs "perfect blade" shattering right before my eyes. Not only that, flames burst out from my slash. A straight vertical slash from shoulder to pelvis.

"Hmm. A failed prototype." Amazing. A zanpakuto, a weapon that cuts souls, barely even affected him. How hilarious. Quite the durable fellow.

"You've given me much needed data on where I needed to improve. I thank you." Strange. I... don't see on how he could improve his blade from just that fight.

"Well... I'm no blacksmith. I can't understand one."

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"Ha.. haha! HAHAHAHA! He beat surtr! That... is wonderful! My blood is boiling! I cannot wait for his return! What will he ask for, and how can I get a fight from it?"

"Oh no. Seems like odins invested in the lad now."

"Yes, it would seems husband has become entranced in his bloodlust. I worry for the child. Even after what I've heard." With Odin at the height of his power, they had reason to be worried.

One of the most powerful things in the world, is a god who is at the peak of his worship.

Able to contend with even a dragon God.

But even then, the devastation that such a fight would bring, it would devastate miles of land.

They watched surtr disappear into a land of lava and molten rock, through a flaming tear in the air.

Walter did too, but he didnt care anymore, until the numerous flaming giants started pouring through the tear. What happened next could not be described as a fight.

But a one sided slaughter.

"A parting gift for the improvements I know I need to make."

Something seemed to shatter at the realisation that Walter had.

Foreign troops, invading foreign soil in the sake of fighting.

It reminded him of how most wars started. Had he just started a war? All while trying to prevent one?

Blades of water tore through the fire giants, their deaths were already sealed within the steam rising from their wounds.

What more could Walter do? What else could he break?

In the pursuit of peace, Walter had murdered a monarch and left his people without a leader, fought surtr in his courtroom, further desecrating the monarchs home and corpse.

And yet, he was seeking peace?!

"The lad is lost. You told me he was a peacekeeper, no? It's seems that his actions have come into perspective. The lad has realised what a mess he's caused and can think of nothing else to do than lie in it." Odin giggled, then chuckled before turning into bellowing murderous laughter.

Numerous runes were drawn in the air with superbly accurate penmanship.

Space itself seemed to tear open a gateway to the very courtroom that Walter was wallowing in. Odin slapped a firm hand on his shoulder, pulling him through the rune made portal.

"You've done well Walter. You proved yourself a worthy fighter. You prevented a war between jotunheim and Asgard. Be proud." The gap being maintained by runes snapped shut as the Primordial runes disappeared.

Primordial runes. Unlike normal runes where you must string together lines of runic language to make a coherent sentence that is imbued with Odin's power, Primordial runes imbue the users power onto reality, so long as the user is strong enough.

Primordial runes are limitless, the only limit is the user.

Walter just wanted to be a man again. A normal man.

But now, he was in too deep. To give up now, would be abandoning the people who put their trust in him. He would never break their trust, never again.

"Now, tell me, what do you want as a reward?" The grin on Odin's face certainly didn't bode well for Walter's well-being.

"It's a lot to ask, but I have two requests." The all-father was surprised, what could his request be to take two things?

"Then tell me."

"The first. I want to meet the dwarves that made mjolnir." So he wants to meet brok and sindri? That makes sense for anyone who knows of them, he likely wants to get a weapon forged by them.

"Why. And don't dodge the question or I will not fufill your request." Walter stared Odin in the eyes, his dead fish eyes meeting Odin's eager eyes.

"There's a man i must kill. He is by far, the greatest threat to my cause. Killing him by normal means won't work, so I wanted to have them forge a specific weapon. One-"

"That can kill him. Alright, I understand. But what about your second request?"

"I think I can guess what the lad wants. You're lost aren't ya? So, your second request is likely something like, i want Mimir's head. No?" Walter stared at the severed head.

"You're exactly right. As expected of the worlds smartest man..." the last part was a mutter, but everyone present still heard it.

"That second request. Quite the expensive favour. I'll give you Mimir on a condition. The condition that you, will fight me. No holding back!"

"Fine."

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"Lena? What are you doing back without Walter?" Melascula asked curiously from her seat on the couch, no removing her eyes from the shogi board against tenjiro.

"He sent me back after fighting some giant people. " Everyone's gaze shifted to her, making her somewhat uncomfortable.

"Walter's mental state is rapidly deteriorating. Leaving him alone is unwise." Ophis spoke up from her seat next to Melascula.

"That... is partially my fault. I tempted him when he was vulnerable." Melascula spoke up and the usually boisterous tenjiro still sat in unusual silence.

"Ophis. You and I are going." The zero squad officer spoke up, deciding the matter himself.

There was no questions.

And as the opening to the frozen forest appeared, tenjiro spoke.

"We'll bring him back in one piece." The two went through the gate, shutting and leaving a vacuum of science.

"Well, anyone want to play shogi?"

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There were many thoughts in the mind of Walter Newgate.

Why? Being the greatest of them all.

Why did all this start? Why keep doing this? Why fight?

Why?! Goddammit WHY!?

What was the point anymore?

"Was it all a lie? That you love me?" Her words hurt so much, I want to see her smile again.

That's why I keep doing this.

I pulled out my zanpakuto, the shikai already released, the heat from my right blade pressing against the water of my left.

A burst of steam carpeted the room entirely. I activated the Almighty to receive a pounding headache.

Ah... Odih was said to see the future, wasn't he? He's messing with my sight.

Before I could gather my bearings, Gungnir came flying at me, impaling me through the heart.

Ah... so familiar. Reminds me of... Well, no time to mess around it seems.

As my body fell to the floor, another took its place, leaping at odin through the steam. Surtrs primordial fire humming in Mereoleona. Gungnir came flying back through the air, no.

I dropped sujin and grabbed gungnir. It was one very unhappy spear. It shook in my hand, desperately trying to escape my grasp.

No, no, no.

That will not happen. Sensing through the fog, I bisected odin with a flaming strike.

Somethings wrong.

There was no resistance as my blade tore through him. There would've been, if it was real.

Real... what is real, and what is fake?

I... can't fucking tell.

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Been reading about Sigmund Freud lately, interesting guy.