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Chapter 445 - Ragnarok (3)

A barrier of white light collided with the storm.

Rumble—!

An explosion that surpassed sound shook everything in its surroundings. Gaia could be seen biting her lip anxiously among the blinding light particles.

“Is this all there to your oh-so-great will?!” Odin shouted and aggressively swung down Gungnir.

Gaia crossed her hands and blocked the spear. She gritted her teeth.

“Odin... I... I trusted you.”

It was far in the past, but Odin used to be Earth’s guardian deity. Although their opinions differed, Gaia never thought Odin would cause Ragnarok. The price of her trust had been one too hefty to pay.

“You... You are also a father! So why...?”

Gaia recalled Zeus’s dead eyes. She bit her lip aggressively as her insides churned and she teared up.

Odin stared at the crying Gaia in silence. It was so baffling that it wasn’t even funny. “You’re the one who started it f—”

‘Wait.’

An inexplicable sense of uneasiness swept over him as he pointed Gungnir in rage at Gaia. He looked at Gaia, filled with so much anger that she was trembling.

‘Why is she... so angry?’

Odin knew very well that Gaia deeply treasured her children, but her reaction was illogical.

‘She didn’t expect me to kill Zeus?’

That was impossible; she had beheaded Thor and sent it to him. How could she not have expected him to behead Zeus and send his head back to her after doing such a thing?

‘No, wait...’

Odin’s expression stiffened. He lowered Gungnir and bit his lip.

‘Why didn’t I realize it sooner?’

An enormous sense of regret replaced his boundless rage.

‘I should have realized from the moment Zeus came to see me.’

No, he had many other opportunities to realize it, even during his current battle against Gaia.

The answer was simple— even the stupidest person alive could have figured it out. He could not even make an excuse that he was tricked; this was his blunder and his alone.

‘Thor... wasn’t killed by Gaia.’

It was obvious with just a little thought. Considering Gaia’s personality, there was no way that she would have beheaded an envoy requesting a peaceful resolution and sent the head to Odin. Not only that, but she would never have sent Zeus to him as an envoy if she had killed Thor in the first place. Odin had not managed to figure out such a poor scheme.

“...”

Odin closed his eyes. Thor’s severed head floated around him like an illusion. Just imagining it filled him with rage.

‘It must have been... because of my rage.’

Odin had lost his mind the moment he saw Thor’s head. He lost the ability to think with reason and his sense of judgment had clouded. He averted his gaze from the truth that he could have reached with just a few hours— no, a few minutes of thinking.

‘These are nothing but excuses.’

Odin bit his lip and shook his head. It was cowardly for him to blame his blunder for Thor’s death. He was the one at fault.

“It seems I am the one who needs to pay,” Odin mumbled in sorrow. He lowered Gungnir and looked at Gaia. “Gaia.”

“What is it?”

Gaia glared at Odin, confused by Odin’s sudden change in behavior.

“How much do you know about the God of Splendor?”

Gaia narrowed her eyes due to the unexpected question. She thought for a moment and then answered, “The God of Splendor is my child as well as my hope.”

“...”

“He is a hero who is giving his all to protect this world from chaos... unlike you, Odin.”

Odin closed his eyes. “Gaia, there is no reason for us to fight.”

“What?” Gaia’s eyes widened.

There was no reason for them to fight? There was no nonsense more absurd than this.

“How dare you say that... after you brutally murdered my son Zeus?!” Gaia screamed in genuine fury.

Odin continued calmly, “Listen to me.”

He then let go of Gungnir entirely to show that he had no wish to fight. The spear enveloped in a storm slowly dropped to the ground.

Gaia stared at Odin, who was slowly walking toward her, in confusion. “What are you scheming... Odin?”

“You are being deceived by the God of Splendor.”

“What?”

“He is not the hope of this world, much less a hero who is trying to protect it from chaos. He is—”

Whoooom!

As Odin was about to continue, an unfathomable amount of demonic energy surged from him. Black demonic energy condensed around his hand that had let go of Gungnir.

“What the—”

Swoosh!!

Odin’s eyes widened. Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, a blade made of condensed demonic energy shot toward Gaia.

“Ah...”

Gaia had momentarily let her guard down because Odin had let go of Gungnir, so she was unable to react to the black blade completely outside of her expectations.

Splash!!

Red blood splattered, a long slash wound from shoulder to belly button forming on Gaia.

“C-cough!” Gaia collapsed as she clenched her wound. She looked up at Odin in resentment and muttered, “Odin...”

Swoosh!

Another black blade formed on Odin’s hand and shot toward Gaia again. Gaia shut her eyes tightly before she realized it.

Boom—!!

A deafening sound rang out. Gaia had scrunched up instinctively, but she did not feel the pain of a demonic energy blade penetrating her. She slowly opened her eyes.

“My child...”

“Lady Gaia.”

The one who had blocked the demonic energy blade to protect Gaia was Oh Kang-Woo, the hero covered in radiant light.

He looked down at Gaia and said sorrowfully, “I told you... not to listen to anything that Odin says.”

“I-I’m... s-sorry.”

Gaia lowered her head and clenched her wound tighter. She could not find any words to explain herself since she had already known that Odin had joined forces with Bael.

“No. I... I should have arrived sooner,” Kang-Woo shook his head and embraced her.

He slowly placed his hand on Gaia’s wound. As one would expect from a Top-rank goddess, her wound that looked fatal was being healed at an incredible rate.

“Focus on treating your wound. I... will face Odin,” Kang-Woo stated.

“B-but...”

“Lady Gaia.” Kang-Woo smiled faintly and grabbed her hands. “I have been the one... in your care all this time.”

“I... have not done anything...”

“No, that’s not true.”

“...”

“If not for your sacrifice, we would not have been able to stop the Demon of Prophecy when he first came to Earth.”

In terms of the result, she was unable to stop the Demon of Prophecy from crossing to Earth, but the Triad would have long since fallen if Gaia had not sacrificed herself.

“I would not be here today either if you hadn’t created Guardians in preparation for the time of prophecy.”

Gaia had always done her best to protect Earth as well as the Triad. Considering how restricted the gods were in involving themselves with the physical realm back when the Law of Titans was active, it was no exaggeration to say that Gaia had protected Earth at the risk of her annihilation.

“This time,” Kang-Woo declared as he tightly held Gaia’s hands. “It is my turn to protect you.”

“Ah...”

Tears welled up around Gaia’s eyes. She could feel Kang-Woo’s warmth through his hands, healing her. She was getting unbearably tired for some reason.

“My... child...”

A single tear trickled down her cheek. She lost consciousness once the tear dripped down.

Deathly silence fell once Gaia passed out.

Odin stared at Kang-Woo as he frowned and said, “So this is how you have been deceiving Gaia all this time.”

Causing one’s energy to be emitted from someone else’s body was truly an astonishing ability. When the first demonic energy blade shot out from Odin’s hand, even Odin himself wondered if he had been the one who attacked Gaia without realizing it; that was how flawless the ability was.

‘With such an absurd ability, no wonder Gaia would be fooled.’

Kang-Woo smirked. “I deceived Lady Gaia? What nonsense are you talking about? People would think I’m the God of Lies or something if they didn\'t know any better. The one who made that cowardly attack was none other than you, Odin.”

Kang-Woo glared furiously at Odin, the old god who had joined forces with Bael. Although it had been long in the past, he should be embarrassed of himself as Earth’s former guardian deity.

Odin stared at Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly. He was not perplexed because of Kang-Woo’s bullshit that he had joined forces with Bael; what perplexed Odin was that despite knowing the full truth, the fury he could feel from Kang-Woo was genuine.

‘Is he altering even his own emotions and memories?’

If that were not the case, nothing else could explain the God of Splendor’s genuine fury. A chill ran down Odin’s back.

“You’re insane.”

Odin had no other way to describe Kang-Woo. He stared at Kang-Woo with trembling eyes.

“You’re right.” Kang-Woo snickered. “I didn’t want to do this either but you see, if I don’t do this...”

He sounded somewhat desperate. Intense thirst and hunger tore him apart. If he didn’t fabricate the truth and wear a mask of lies...

“I wouldn’t be able to beat that son of a bitch.”

Kang-Woo couldn’t care less about good or evil. He trampled on ethics and morals. Friend or foe did not matter either, nor did whether or not he had to writhe in suffering or cry out in despair. As long as he got to eat and become stronger, as long as he could get stronger and come out victorious, none of it mattered.

“Do you remember what you told me when we first met?”

Kang-Woo heard Balrog’s voice.

“You said that whatever there is blocking your way, it does not change what you have to do.”

Keep moving forward.

Forward, forward.

Forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward.

While devouring everything in the world.

Far higher than what anyone has ever reached. A place where he could devour the chaos of the gods, the otherworldly invasions, and even Bael whom Kang-Woo had never managed to defeat even once!

Kang-Woo aggressively gritted his teeth.

“Haaa,” Kang-Woo sighed deeply.

He closed his eyes and raised his head. The sound of bones cracking echoed. Goat horns sprouted from his forehead. He opened his eyes with horizontal pupils and yellow irises pointed right at Odin.

Kang-Woo smiled, the corners of his mouth ripping to his earlobes and sharp teeth sprouting from between his lips.

“Now, it’s time for a feast.”