The ferocious-looking monster surveyed the world of death beneath it, the storms spewing from its nostrils turning into chilling, biting cold winds.
"The realm of death? How intriguing!"
From its vantage point, the entire underworld and human world looked quite similar, only more vast and more desolate. Apart from the wailing wandering souls and the dead with all manner of strange death states, it could even easily see those gods, giants, monsters, and humans it had once devoured, even including the deceased god of light Baldr and his brother, the god of darkness Hodr.
Besides them, in the far reaches of this barren land, there seemed to be some even more ancient presences, seemingly even older than this universe, older than the vast majority of the gods.
Those gods and frost giants who had existed before the birth of the world, yet had perished in that long war between the frost giants and the gods, now all raised their heads, gazing at the monster that had shattered the serenity of the underworld for countless years.
The monster that regarded nothing as worthy was not in the least afraid of the gradual coldness enveloping its body, signifying that it was slowly transforming into one of the dead. On the contrary, it found this extremely intriguing. In the eyes of this monster, who in this realm of death could possibly contend with it? Even if it truly became one of the dead, this arrogant monster was determined to exist as the sovereign of the realm of death, absolutely unwilling to be subservient to its sister.
However, compared to this realm of death, what captivated the great Serpent even more was that giant completely wreathed in lightning.
"Thor! Let me consume you! Your flesh! Your soul! Your power! Offer everything to me!!!"
The great Serpent laughed madly, the colossal creature curled up in the firmament of the realm of death charging towards Thor below, only to be met with the thunder god's feral and dark pupils, and the lightning hammer he swung forth.
"Boom!!!!"
In an instant, the entire realm of death was illuminated as bright as day by the blinding lightning.
…
On the other side, compared to the raw, brute force clash between the great Serpent and Thor, the battle between Odin and the wolf Fenrir appeared far more bizarre and mystical.
Unlike Thor, although Odin did not possess Thor's robust physique and immense strength, as the divine king who created the runes, he could be said to be the god most adept in magic in the entire universe. His contests with Thor often ended with each winning half the time. Precisely because of this, compared to brute force, Odin was more accustomed to fighting with magic.
Knowing the future, invisibility, summoning wind and rain, communing with the dead, seeing through the hearts of men, his words becoming manifest… Even traversing the past and future, through those omnipotent runes, there were few things the divine king Odin could not accomplish.
However, the wolf Fenrir, with whom he battled, could be said to be his bane. The wolf Fenrir, capable of devouring all things, was equally versed in all manner of magic, and happened to be able to see through and break all the magic Odin wove.
The divine king Odin's figure swiftly shuttled between light and shadow, sometimes concealing himself in the wolf Fenrir's own shadow, sometimes hiding in the fissures of space-time, and even suddenly vanishing, making all living beings in the entire universe briefly forget the existence of this divine king, as if this divine king had suddenly vanished from the causality of the entire universe.
But no matter where he hid, that wolf could instantly rend the intangible space, traverse any space-time, relentlessly tracking the traces of this divine king in the chaos of space-time.
Curses, prophecies, astrology, scrying, spells, transformations…
All sorts of magic that would be considered taboo by mortals were woven one after another, yet were all unraveled by this wolf one by one, relentlessly pursuing, until finally, this divine king had no choice but to resort to the magic he used the least and was the most perilous…
Traversing time.
The divine king's figure flickered and vanished on the spot, and the wolf Fenrir also unhesitatingly rent open the void before it, directly chasing after him.
…
Two thousand years ago.
On a tranquil sea, the sun high in the sky, everything seemed so serene. Suddenly, the divine king, covered in blood and gripping the divine artifact Gungnir, appeared above the sea. Without even a moment to tarry, this divine king immediately waved his hand, once again ripping open the void before him and fleeing into it.
But in just an instant, a wolf as large as a man burst forth from where the divine king had briefly lingered. This wolf sniffed the air, then howled and also rent through space again, leaving behind only the huge waves it stirred up.
At the same time, the one-eyed divine king, residing at the pinnacle of the nine worlds, opened his eye. He sensed the auras of those two figures passing through the world he governed. Silently, already understanding that the twilight of the gods was inexorably approaching, the divine king sat alone on his throne, sighing.
…
Six thousand years ago.
In the turbulent heavens and earth, the frost giants climbing the rainbow bridge, inciting the third divine war against the gods, roared, as the thunder god wielding his magic hammer led his army of gods and einherjar to clash with the frost giants.
This divine war, involving the fates and fortunes of countless races, was in full swing when suddenly, a divine spear flew out, directly piercing the chest of that frost giant leader. At the same time, two blurred figures, one ahead and one behind, seemed to flit by, vanishing in an instant.
The death of the frost giant leader immediately emboldened Thor and the other gods. The originally evenly matched battle situation thus shifted, and the gods then roared and shouted, slowly beating back the frost giants.
After the end of the divine war, no one knew who had thrown that divine spear, or even if it was a thrown divine spear that had slain the frost giant leader, because that divine spear was never found on the battlefield, becoming an enigma.
But one thing all the gods knew was that the victory in this divine war directly led to the establishment of the authority of the Aesir gods over the nine worlds. After this, the Aesir gods gradually swept away all the rebellious subjects, laying the foundation for the gods' might to utterly overshadow the nine worlds in the future.
…
The divine king Odin, who had seized the chance to throw the meteor spear but failed to hit the wolf Fenrir, sighed, having no choice but to travel further and further into the more distant and more perilous past.
If one could survey the entire universe from a more macroscopic perspective, one would see a god and a wolf traveling up the river of time, or rather, the timeline, chasing each other, like two serpents coiled around time, going against the flow all the way to the even more ancient and distant primordial era…