And when Odin returned to Asgard, only a dozen or so minutes had passed. That vast allied army composed of giants and monsters was still in a state of chaos over the unexpected collapse of the Bifrost, the giants filled with undiminished rancor roaring, standing on the Midgard continent exposed by the receding waters, they angrily uprooted those mountains and hurled them at the realm of the gods overhead.
The mountains they lifted left behind cratered, pockmarked scars on the earth, and these massive scars gradually filled with water in the downpour, turning into enormous lakes.
And those monsters capable of flight soared into the gloomy sky, attempting to launch a relentless assault on Asgard. However, before those walls taller than mountains, their attacks seemed so feeble, they could hardly even fly over those sturdy, towering walls, let alone contend with the numerous gods and einherjar warriors atop the walls, who were drawing their bows, nocking their arrows, and hurling their spears, shooting down those monsters one by one.
And indifferently observing this predicament before it, the Serpent finally grew impatient.
"ROAR!!!!!!!!!"
It raised its head and roared, its colossal body allowing its gigantic head to directly reach the clouds above. With an earth-shaking boom, it collided with the vault of the sky, and before its immense might, even the firm firmament shattered with a resounding crack, smashed open with a massive hole.
This behemoth whose body spanned the universe merely casually swung its head, then with its vertical serpentine pupils, larger than lakes, larger than mountains, it coldly and indifferently looked down upon the realm of the gods below it - Asgard, looking down upon those gods who before it were as insignificant as ashes, as specks of dust. Then this monster opened its abyssal jaws that seemed poised to devour heaven and earth, revealing countless sharp fangs standing like mountain peaks.
"Crunch…"
It abruptly snapped its jaws shut, fiercely biting down on that vast continent suspended in the sky, like a beast when hunting would tightly bite its prey it wished to capture, not letting it escape. Only, beasts hunt prey, while this behemoth was hunting an entire continent.
The sharp and sturdy fangs grinding intensely against that vast continent, almost entirely constructed of gold and silver, emitted a creaking, groaning sound, sparks flying everywhere.
However, this behemoth abruptly exerted its strength, the countless muscles on its body twisting into ropes, its crimson vertical pupils filled with unrestrained savagery and ferocity. Accompanied by the Serpent's unbridled wild laughter in the air, it dragged the entire realm of the gods, slowly pulling it down towards the earth.
"Rumble…"
In the sea below, following the Serpent's violent movements, countless tsunamis and giant waves surged. And that vast continent, weighing who knows how many trillions of tons, wrapped in an indescribably immense force, collided with the sea of clouds, grating fiercely.
"Hiss…"
Beneath the continent, the air currents that could not escape were violently compressed under this immense pressure, emitting a string of thunderous sonic booms. At the edges of the continent, the flames that ignited from the intense friction with the air formed a sea of fire surrounding the entire landmass. And further away, the turbulent hot air currents whipped up enormous storms, making the already gloomy vault of the sky even more chaotic.
And at the same time, on the tall walls surrounding Asgard, those gods and einherjar, more insignificant than specks of dust before the Serpent, shouted in panic, frantically shooting their arrows and hurling their spears, desperately trying to block this savage Serpent's attack on Asgard.
However, those weapons, more minuscule than grains of sand, aside from inflicting some moderate wounds on the Serpent, making it even more brutal and violent from the pain, were nearly useless.
At this moment, that all-devouring demon wolf also followed its sibling's actions. Howling, it opened its massive jaws, its upper jaw touching the sky, its lower jaw touching the ground, and in one bite, seized the other side of Asgard. The two equally colossal, magnificent monsters exerted their strength together, just like that dragging the entire sky realm down towards the earth.
"RUMBLE…"
Amid the tremendous roaring that resounded through the entire universe, Asgard, one of the Nine Worlds, was forcibly dragged down to Midgard, the human world, by these two ferocious, brutal monsters. When the two heavy continents collided, the thunderous boom and earth-shaking impact was like Mars crashing into Earth.
As heaven and earth collapsed, mountains and rivers were displaced. All the rivers and all the mountain ranges, along with countless giants and monsters, were obliterated in this unprecedented massive collision.
In this moment, the realm of the gods fell to the human world…
And in this collision, those countless frost giants, fire giants, the dead, serpent folk, monsters in the sea, on land, in the sky, all roared and cheered, cheering for the fall of the gods. And the black dragon gnawing at the World Tree circled in the sky, emitting a joyful cry.
This sound of impact, as if proclaiming to the entire universe that the death knell of Ragnarok had tolled.
…
And at this moment, on the walls of Asgard, the one-eyed divine king gripped his divine spear Gungnir in his hand, completely ignoring the shaking walls beneath his feet. And behind him stood the chief gods of the Vanir and the Aesir.
Ragnarok was not merely the twilight of the Aesir, but decided the ultimate fate of the entire universe. Whether Aesir or Vanir, they had no choice but to unite.
On one side behind him stood the many gods. Thor of thunder, Tyr of war, Vidar of forests, Freyr of fertility, Njord of the seas, Heimdallr of the sky, Hermod of the gods' messages, Forseti of truth and justice, Bragi of poetry, Ullr of archery, Delling of dawn, Dag of day, Magni of strength, Modi of courage, Od of summer, Vali of winter… And on the other side stood the many goddesses. Queen Frigg, Sif of the earth, Gefjon of prophecy, Freya of love, Idunn of youth, Nott of night, Skadi of winter, and the numerous valkyries.
Whether god or goddess, at this moment every deity was clad in bright, glittering armor, weapons in hand, leading those millions of einherjar warriors and numerous elves, their gazes blazing as they looked down upon the many monsters and giants below the walls.
And the divine king Odin silently looked down at the vast army below him that had gathered all the monsters and evil forces in the entire universe, an army of unprecedented scale, never to be seen again.
In that unprecedentedly vast allied army, filled with countless frost giants, fire giants, serpent folk, sorcerers, undead, monsters… In that immense army numbering in the millions and billions, were the souls of innumerable fornicators and murderers. These evil and depraved dead and sinners had all been released from the nether realm by the death goddess Hel in this ultimate decisive battle to declare their rebellion against the gods.
And at the same time, Loki, who led this vast allied army, his form long twisted and no longer possessing his former handsome appearance, also looked at him, his slitted pupils filled with only coldness. Looking at him, Odin was silent.
Did he regret it?
He had regretted it.
Whether for realizing Loki's revenge against him, or for this former brother turning against him, this one-eyed divine king clearly understood that he indeed regretted it.
But even if he could do it over, he would probably still choose the same path. Because he wanted this universe he had created to exist a bit longer. For that, he was willing to pay any price. Even if he did his utmost, even imprisoning Loki, he had only pushed back this time by a few thousand years…
At this moment, countless giants were surging towards this realm of the gods protected by tall walls, while the numerous einherjar warriors stood on the walls, desperately drawing their bows and shooting their arrows, trying to stop the advance of these giants.
As far as the eye could see, from the furthest reaches of the horizon to the foot of the nearest wall, from the ground to the sky, giants and all sorts of strangely shaped monsters swarmed forth from all sides like a flood towards this fallen realm of the gods, stretching as far as the eye could see.
The sky had long turned utterly gloomy. In this world that had lost the sun and moon, the gloom was terrifying.
And the divine king looked down upon all below him, took a deep breath, the air filled with only coldness. Raising his divine spear Gungnir high, he abruptly hurled it towards the giants below the walls…
The battle of Ragnarok that would decide the fate of the entire universe had begun.