"Odin."
An indifferent voice sounded out.
I ignored the excruciating pain my body was in and opened my remaining eye, peering through my hair that was matted with dried blood.
On the crest of the hill below me stood a group of seven women.
The one who spoke had blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, her curvaceous figure was shown off in a subtle, yet highly arousing manner by a set of military garb centered around the color black, and she possessed an aura of stoic indifference.
"Bridget," My voice cracked due to the recent lack of use my vocal cords had experienced, but I continued on, "It's been a while..."
"It has," Bridget responded flatly.
"Still as cold as ever I see. It's not like that’s unexpected really, but it is starting to get tiresome at this point, even for me. But that's beside the point; I assume you’re here because you want me to undo the Seal and put an end to this tortuous cycle?" I looked at her and asked.
"Why ask a question you already know the answer to; have known the answer to for countless Cycles? Besides, you know as well as I do that it is indeed time to bring this endless cycle of death and rebirth to a close. It’s been decided by people higher up on the food chain than you or I that this world is where Ragnarok shall conclude. That all internal feuds and debts between you Asgardians shall be officially settled." She spoke directly with a continued air of frigidity and indifference.
"Is that so..." My voice trailed off as I raised my head up, with some difficulty, towards the horizon above.
The sun had just begun to rise and the sky still possessed a purple-ish red hue
I thought back over the countless lives I had experienced since that fateful day in Yggdrasil.
Then I thought back over the life I had been living until a few days prior.
In that life, I was born as Sven Orrinson to Hannah and Stefan and had an elder sister named after the Jotun Skadi, who I now realized was in fact the current incarnation of said Jotun, and one of my three wives.
Like me, she had pitch black hair and eyes.
We lived in a frontier village with our parents named Dawn. Dawn was established in what was known as The New World, around 2 years prior to Skadi's birth.
Our parents were veteran battle mages who often led excursions into The New World's depths.
Through the efforts of them and many others, the village had quickly developed into a large-scale trade city that defended against countless Beast Tides of varying strengths and gathered resources from many of the surrounding regions.
I had shown great talent in the practice of magic and combat from a young age, as had my elder sister.
When I reached the age of 10 my parents sent me to learn at the branch of ‘The Eye’ which had been established in The New World.
‘The Eye’ was an organization of people who followed Odin's (Or rather my) teachings and often wandered across the world in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. They often took in apprentices from various regions in order to impart their knowledge to younger generations, while simultaneously preserving the teachings of old, and furthering the standards of Viking civilization.
I was one such case.
The temple my parents had sent me to was located just a few hundred miles northeast of Dawn in the center of a massive basin surrounded by above-average-sized hills.
The hills reached such a height that they could almost qualify as mountains and very dense amounts of Mana and Origin Qi congregated here.
I was placed under the tutelage of Siegfried, the temple's head Battle Mage, and Scholar.
He was a great teacher, but more than that he was a great man who was like a father to me, possessing both extraordinary courage and honor.
I made many friends in the temple over the course of my 10-plus years here, and my parents and sister often came to visit me, filling my years with happiness.
But by far the brightest spot of all was Savannah. She was Siegfried's adoptive daughter and my fiancee.
She had been left on the temple's doorstep as an infant that was only a few days old 20 years ago.
She was the definition of beauty, possessing a fair complexion, silk-like strands of fiery-red hair, and amethyst-colored eyes. Her figure was slender yet curvaceous and she exuded an inborn sense of nobility and grace.
But just days prior to Bridget's arrival, ‘Laughing Hell’ had attacked and reduced the temple to ruins, slaughtering the people I considered family.
Laughing Hell was an organization loyal to the doctrines of Loki, and the sole purpose of its members was to bring Chaos to the world.
The method they had chosen to achieve this was the tearing down of the current world order and the reduction of our society to ashes, and they were willing to go to any length in the pursuit of this.
Their goal in attacking the temple had been to capture Savannah as she was in reality the daughter of Laughing Hell's current Envoy.
Her mother had vanished alongside her familiar and midwife just a few days before giving birth to Savannah. The Envoy had used tracking Magic in an attempt to find them, but his wife had cast a cloaking spell to cover their tracks. As a result of this, he could only issue orders for Specters to search for them relentlessly before one of them eventually tracked Savannah down at the temple.
When the Envoy was alerted of her location he immediately sent out a group of Battle Mages led by a High Priest to destroy the temple and return with Savannah in hand.
And as a result; here I was, bound to an ash tree with grievous wounds covering the entirety of my body. My pitch-black hair matted to the sides of my face with my own blood, and the shaft of an arrow protruding from my right eye.
As I looked back over the past and ruminated over Bridget's statement an immense sense of exhaustion overcame me. In that instant I wanted nothing more than for this endless cycle to come to a stop, but as I was currently I didn’t have the ability to undo the Seal.
I had lived countless lives, and this wasn't the first time that I had felt like this.
But, I had never once actually endeavored to undo the seal for fear of inciting action from either the Worldguards or The Angelic Order.
But now that Bridget stood before me, and I thought about the fact that Savannah was actually the current incarnation of my first wife Frigg, and the future that may be awaiting her back in Laughing Hell; my very Soul quaked as my Anima screamed out in rage.
My Soul suddenly overflowed with Divinity as my prior sense of exhaustion was wiped away. Newfound strength began to course through my body as my Soul fused with my Flesh, transforming me back into a Deva.
I experienced a fiery pain that was countless times worse than what I had felt earlier. It felt as if countless ants were gnawing on my nerves and I resisted the urge to scream out in pain as Divinity continued to course through me, breaking down my body and rebuilding it.
After a while Origin Qi began to flow out of my cells in an endless stream as my pain was gradually soothed.
My mind quickly sobered up and I struggled against the chains binding me briefly before ripping them to shreds and falling down onto the ground below.
I then rose to my feet and reached up to wrap my hand around the shaft of the arrow penetrating my right eye. I released a small groan as I yanked the arrow out with a single fluid motion.
I squeezed my eye shut as I allowed my Divinity to restructure it similarly to the way it had the rest of my body.
"Before I commit to undoing the seal I must ask; what rules have been established for this final battle, and what forces have been dispatched to oversee it?" I looked over at Bridget with my remaining eye.
"21 Worldguards and 7 Angles have been dispatched. Us Worldguards have split into 3 groups each led by a single Palace level figure. The eighteen Worldguards under us consist solely of Generals. The group of Angels consists of a recently Ascended Cherubim and six Thrones." Bridget explained perfunctorily.
Both Worldgaurds and Angels possessed hierarchies consisting of 9 Ranks/Orders. Palace and Throne Level Figures were the 7th Order for both groups. General figures matched with Dominions to create the 6th Order, and Cherubims paired with Bulwarks to create the 8th Order.
From this, it could be seen that the Angels had dispatched a disproportionally larger amount of their high Ranking figures when compared to the Worldgaurds.
"The Angels sending so many more 7th Order figures than the Worldgaurds could be waved off as it being that they simply have more at their disposal than you all. But, them dispatching an 8th Order figure as well makes no since. Why would they place so much effort into overseeing this final battle? The same could be asked of the Worldgaurds in fact. Why would you all send out 18 Generals and 3 Palaces? Given the current situation it seems excessive to say the least. Especially considering the fact that even at our peaks not many Asgardians would dare to initiate conflict with any Worldguards or Angels given the status of your organizations." I looked at her in confusion, but my expression suddenly turned into one of trepidation as I thought back to certain rumors that stemmed from this World's European Nations.
"You are correct in your assumptions," Bridget interjected as if she could hear the thoughts that I did my best to suppress, "An incarnation of God did in fact live on this world but that is not the only reason behind the Angels dispatching an 8th Order figure here. That Cherubim actually originated from this world a few hundred years ago, as such they came here of their own volition. The circumstances are actually similar for the rest of the Thrones and quite a few of the Worldguards that have been assigned to oversee the following events."
A feeling of incredulity spread through me as I asked, "Just what Realm is this for it to not only be picked as the location for the final battle between us Asgardians, but for a Cherubim to Ascend from such a place, and God's incarnation to actually dwell here?"
Bridget's stoic expression wavered briefly as she spoke with reverence, "The Human Realm or as you know it Israel, the land Adam and Eve were originally banished to after they ate the Forbidden Fruit, The Second Homeland of the Human Race. But of course, that title refers specifically to this Realm or Universe as it will eventually be entitled; while the world/planet that we are currently on and the galaxy surrounding it serve as a direct entrance to both Eden and The Heavenly Realm. Now that I have told you this, I assume you understand that it is imperative that your battle here does not devolve to the state it reached back in Yggdrasil and a few other worlds prior to this?"
As Bridget continued to speak her voice once more became cold and a frigid aura spread outwards from her body, causing crystals of ice to condense in the air.
My gaze filled with solemnity as I responded, "I do."
"Good!" Bridget's frigid aura receded like a tide as she nodded her head in acquiescence.
