Chapter 961: The Traitors.
"Two egocentrics who think they're above everyone else, you and Zeus have a lot in common. It seems that not even a god who sacrificed his eyes for wisdom is exempt from the poison called arrogance," Hela spoke with disdain as she looked at the old man without arms and legs lying on the ground, the famous spear Gungnir was broken next to Odin, golden blood was dripping from his limbs.
Even with so much damage, Odin would not die; do not underestimate the resilience of a God King.
"Well, I thank you, Odin. Thanks to this arrogance, planning your downfall was even easier."
"You wanted to avoid Ragnarok as predicted in the prophecy, but in trying to avoid it, you ended up walking toward Ragnarok."
"How ironic, isn't it? That's why you shouldn't trust prophecies." She scoffed in disdain.
If Odin had been wise enough from the beginning not to unnecessarily antagonize three children who were essentially 'innocent' and only slightly too dangerous, none of this would have happened.
If from the beginning, he had supported the children and not harmed them, none of this would have happened.
... But such a 'what if' will never happen. The arrogance of the gods knows no bounds; most of the problems with pantheons are created by this same arrogance.
With a hand gesture, Hela lifted Odin off the ground and made him float.
"What an annoying glare," Hela said as she looked at the sphere that would destroy this entire dimension if nothing was done.
"Hey, you." Hela looked at the abyssal beast in the distance; the beast looked at Hela.
"Do your job; that's why I brought you." Hela pointed to the energy sphere.
The abyssal creature looked at the sphere, and then it opened a 'mouth' in the region that should have been its mouth, and like a black hole, it sucked all the energy from the sphere.
The moment it ate the sphere, the abyssal creature slowly disappeared from existence, proving that it was here only because of that sphere. This action also proved that Hela knew its plans.
'I've been betrayed...' Odin, despite being in a catatonic state, still had enough wisdom to realize this fact.
'Who...? WHO!? Who betrayed me!?' Odin roared internally.
Seeing this reaction, a rather malicious smile appeared on Hela's face.
"Hela, end this damn conflict now! You've already won! There's no point in killing innocent gods!"
A blonde-haired woman appeared next to Hela while shouting at her almost pleadingly.
Seeing this woman, Odin's only eye widened. "... Idun..."
The traitor he had been searching for turned out to be someone much closer than he expected, someone he trusted almost as much as his wife.
Seeing Odin's shocked eyes, a laugh of amusement escaped from Hela; she completely ignored Idun. "Tell me, how does it feel to know that the person closest to you betrayed you!? What does that feel like, Odin~?"
"Damn witch." Odin looked at Hela with hatred. And this action made the woman laugh even more.
"Why, Idun?"
"... Is he still alive? Stop playing with this piece of shit and kill him already; we have to rebuild this place and stop killing innocent gods!"
These words left Odin even more incredulous; is this the same Idun known for her 'kindness'?
Hela snorted. "There are no innocent gods, Idun."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about; fulfill your agreement now!" Idun growled.
"Fine~, you're lucky, unlike a certain god, I keep my agreements."
Hela looked at her forces, specifically, Leonidas, Julio, and Vlad Tepes.
"Soldiers, begin the second phase, apprehend all those essential gods on the list, and detain all those on the blacklist... Of course, those on the death list remain unchanged. You may kill them."
As soon as these orders were given, like the essential gears of a great machine, all of her soldiers began to carry out their orders.
Leonidas, just as in the beginning, was the first to heed his order; he jumped straight at a god, attacking him with obvious intent to kill.
"You're the god of combat, Tyr, right!? Face me! I want to see how an ant like you fights against a Spartan!"
"Ant...?" Tyr mocked. "You're arrogant, Human. You're not qualified to face me."
"HAHAHAHA! I'll relish crushing your arrogant head into the ground."
"If there's one thing I love the most, it's crushing arrogant people in their own territory." Leonidas' big smile was clearly visible.
"So noisy, you remind me of a friend of mine, Leonidas." Vlad appeared while dragging a god by the hair; the god was in terrible shape, his body was completely broken.
With a hand gesture, a pillar meant for impaling beings was created, and in the next moment, Vlad threw the god Vidar, a god of revenge and son of Odin.
"Cough."
His body was pierced so perfectly that it completely avoided all vital organs; with the resilience of a god, it was clear he wouldn't die from it, which was Vlad's obvious intent.
Vlad clapped his hands as if he had done a good job. "He was quite lively like this when he faced a fun opponent, although he refused to admit that side of himself."
Hearing the sounds of the fight, Vlad raised an eyebrow and looked at Leonidas, seeing the man engaging in combat with Tyr, the god of combat who was also Odin's son; he sighed.
"He's not even listening to me anymore," he shook his head and then went back to doing his work.
From a distant perspective, it was evident that all those being tortured were Odin's children, and all those being killed after the initial war were those who had some intimate connection with Odin or his family... Just like a certain God King from ancient Olympus, Odin had quite a few offspring.
"Do you have to make them suffer, Hela?"
"Of course." Hela's green eyes gleamed with hatred and sadism. "Only Frigga had the pleasure of a quick death. They won't die so easily; they will all be tortured, all will remain alive while I strip away every precious member of their family."
Idun narrowed her eyes. 'Frigga didn't die. She was DELETED, as if her existence had never existed from the beginning.' It seemed that this was the extent of Hela's 'benevolence,' although Frigga had done nothing to her, she was still Odin's wife, so in Hela's eyes, it made no difference, but she was kind enough to give her a quick death.
... A death that completely erased the woman's existence.
"And you, Odin... You will be the last to die..." The smile on Hela's face grew even wider. "Only when you see your daughters debased of their virtues and completely broken. Only when you see your warrior sons lose their spirit and become mere shells of what they once were. Only when you see everything you've built destroyed, that's when you will die."
"Until then... You will be my dog." Hela placed a collar around Odin's neck, a collar with his new name. "Pochi will be a good boy, won't he~?"
"Be a good boy and bark for me."
Odin's face was so red it looked like he might explode at any moment; this humiliation was so great for him, a God KING reduced to a dog with the strange name of POCHI!
His hatred, his anger, his feelings of revenge were so great that if he weren't a god, veins would have burst on his face by now, and he would cough up blood like a certain extinct pantheon known for its deathly procession and extravagant words.
But despite feeling this way, he tried his best to swallow his anger, not to give Hela that pleasure, an attempt he was failing miserably at.
"Idun... Why? Why did you join forces with this WITCH!?" Odin coughed violently when he felt a punch to the stomach.
"It seems that Pochi is an undisciplined dog; he's not listening to his owner. Fufufufu, your punishment will be amusing."
Odin did his best to ignore Hela; he wanted answers!
"It's simple, Pochi... I haven't forgotten."
Idun's words left Odin confused for a few seconds until he recalled a certain incident... The incident where Idun's brother was killed by one of Odin's Tyr. And when he spoke of death, he meant true death; the god didn't just fall into a coma, he truly died and moved on.
An incident that Odin handled very poorly, even by his standards, a horrific incident where the punishment for his son was only a slap on the wrist called house arrest.
Idun's eyes were like a spiral of pure hatred. "My brother's blood will be repaid with the blood of your family; that was the promise I made on that day in the face of your incompetence."
Even hell fears the wrath of an angry woman; these words serve as a perfect example for Idun now, as she didn't hesitate to betray her entire pantheon in pursuit of revenge against him.
Hela laughed as she held Odin's shoulders while looking at him. "Don't be surprised, Pochi; Idun isn't the only one. You've made many enemies close to you without realizing it because of your arrogance."
These words made Odin's eye widen in shock.
"But we won't give away any spoilers now, will we? After all, I'll have the pleasure of rubbing this fact in your face in due time. Until then, stay quiet and silent like a good dog."
A gag appeared in Odin's mouth, forcing him into silence.
"I must say, I'm quite impressed."
These sudden words made Idun and Hela quickly turn around, and when they saw a man in a black suit standing there with short, slicked-back hair, Idun almost had a heart attack.
For a moment, she was completely breathless as she looked at the man's beauty.
A reaction not quite like Hela's, after all, she already knew the man from before.
"Victor A-."
"That surname no longer exists," Victor interrupted.
"...Oh? You decided to change it," Hela inquired.
"Yeah, I need a new last name for my current position. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Hmm, how about Ashburn?" Hela offered.
"Hmm, that one lives near the ash creek..." Victor touched his chin as if evaluating the name. "Not bad; sometimes simple is better. I'll consider it."
"Darling, how about Ashenblood, Elderblood, or AbyssWalkers?" The woman holding Victor's arm spoke, wearing an all-black Maid outfit.
"I liked the second one... Let all fear the Elderblood, huh... Heh, sounds good, I'll consider taking that name... Although Victor Elderblood doesn't particularly seem to fit."
"In that sense, Ashburn is better just in terms of sounding cool, but in terms of meaning, Elderblood is better; after all, you are the beginning of everything, all blood comes from you, the Elderblood." The woman defended her point of view.
Only now did the two women realize that Victor wasn't alone, something they couldn't blame, as Victor alone attracts a lot of attention.
Seeing the black horns and draconic eyes of the woman, they understood completely that she was a true dragon, just like Victor.
"... Hmm, why are you here, Victor?" Hela asked cautiously.
Victor stopped talking to Kaguya and looked at the two women, and then at Odin in his current state; his smile only grew slightly.
A smile that caused a lot of misunderstanding for Odin; he thought all of this was planned by Victor, which he was very wrong about, even Victor himself was surprised by the current developments.
"I must say, I feel completely deceived. I thought you were a feeble, weak woman in need of assistance because of it, so I restored your vitality... A foolish thought; you didn't need my interference." He spoke with a hint of pain in his voice, as if he felt very unjustly treated, his acting was so good that even Hela felt sorry for him.
And even Idun was looking at Hela like she was the biggest evil woman of the century for deceiving someone like Victor.
"W-Wrong…" Hela coughed to regain her voice, and in her mental state, she completely reinforced her defenses.
'This man is dangerous! Just your words alone made me doubt myself!' She thought in a cold sweat. 'And Idun, stop looking at me like that! You are being deceived!'
"You are wrong, Victor. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have the strength to summon my armies, without you this war would have taken a completely different turn." Hela was completely honest, due to her weakened state, she did not have the strength to summon her most important army.
These words made Odin's eyes shine even more with hatred towards Victor, a fact that Victor didn't mind too much, after all, as stated by the woman, he was just a dog now. Not to mention that Victor had no interest in losers... Even though his deities interested him.
"Umu... In this case, since I helped you so much, I ask for the corpses of the gods who died in this war, and who will die in the future thanks to your special treatment." Victor spoke.
"...Well, that's possible." Hela spoke a little uncomfortably, she wanted the corpses to use in her experiments, but she can't deny Victor now, after all, he actually helped her IMMENSELY, even if for Victor it was just a casual gesture, for Hela it wasn't.
Victor laughed in amusement when he saw Hela's face. "Don't worry, Hela. I only have an interest in the corpses of Odin's children, and Odin himself. You can have the rest."
Hearing these words, Hela felt satisfied, even if she wanted to, she couldn't make use of these strong gods, therefore, they are useless to her, she doesn't mind giving these corpses to Victor after she finishes her special treatment.
"That's completely possible, you can have that bastard's corpse."
"Umu, it's good to do business with you." He laughed.
"Now, I have two curiosity, can you satisfy them? Depending on your answer, I may reward you generously." He asked.
These words made Hela narrow her eyes, she knows very well that this devilishly handsome man is worse than the devil, he is the king of demons, and one of the most influential entities today. She has to deal with him wisely.
"What's your curiosity?" She asked cautiously.
"First, how did you access the abyss?"
"Second, how do you have the soul of Vlad Tepes? Wasn't he absorbed by the vampire king?" Victor's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
These questions left Hela momentarily petrified, she hadn't expected these questions. Specifically speaking, she didn't expect the first question, she didn't expect anyone to know about the abyss. Vlad's question was quite predictable considering who he was and how he used the name Dracula backwards as a surname until recently.