Devouring World Dragon.

Chapter 96 A Little Bit of Residue

Let's go back thousands of years...

"Jormungandr, or rather... Meng, in your eyes, what exactly is fate?"

Upon hearing this, the giant snake, which had already closed its eyes, opened them again. Its cold pupils looked down at the tiny figure beneath it. However, the reason it opened its eyes was not only because of these words, but also because of the voice that appeared in its mind at the same time.

……

"Aaaaaah... Loki, you actually..."

In the final moments before being devoured by the giant serpent, Mimir, screaming in agony, seemed to realize something and struggled to cry out. But before she could finish speaking, this intelligent giant, who had glimpsed almost all of time and space, was swallowed whole by the monstrous serpent along with his three daughters.

Beneath the serpent's enormous head, the frail Loki stared indifferently at everything before him, watching Mimir above him being devoured, and then seemed to mutter to himself.

"Mimi, you think you can rest easy by keeping the entire universe in this endless cycle of time, but as I've said before, what you've gained is nothing more than wisdom that can be understood by common sense. Wisdom is like the ocean, and the wisdom that can be understood by common sense is like a small island. You live on this island, and everything you see, hear, know, and experience is within this island. You claim to be all-knowing, but in my eyes, you are ultimately nothing more than an ignorant fool."

"You only know that time repeats itself infinitely, but you don't know that there is time above time. Time is never just one kind. The being that sleeps at the end of time is already getting impatient... No matter how grand the sacrificial ritual is, if Ragnarok is repeated thousands or tens of thousands of times, it will eventually make that being weary... Mimir, you said that I am destined to rebel against fate, and you are not wrong, because my existence itself is fate, but not the fate you think it is. I am a tool chosen by that being to end all of this."

"You and I... are both merely prisoners of fate."

At the end, Loki paused inexplicably, then murmured something.

Above Loki's head, the massive serpents with their bony peaks on their backs showed no interest in what he was saying. They merely snorted casually, but this dead life could not create a storm with a single breath like it did in life. Instead, it transformed into a fierce, bone-chilling cold.

There was no joy or anger in its empty eye sockets, nothing at all, just a cold and indifferent aura of looking down from above, or rather, this was its true nature.

In Ragnarok, He unleashed His true self, burying in death all His violence, greed, madness, and ferocity as Jormungandr in His battle with Thor. What remained was only His profound indifference and coldness.

It was neither human nor monster, but something essential, like... the sky.

The course of Heaven is constant; it does not exist for Yao, nor does it perish for Jie. It is neither good nor evil, but simply coldly and indifferently overlooks everything.

"Fate? What a boring thing."

A deep voice reached Loki's ears amidst the trembling air, and Loki clearly detected the serpent's sneer. Obviously, in the eyes of this serpent, there was no such thing as fate.

However, Loki didn't seem to care. He chuckled and then said...

"Meng, what is death in your eyes? Are you afraid of it?"

"Death? That's just a long sleep for me, like how humans need rest when they're tired. Death is when I feel exhausted. Life and death mean nothing to me, so why would I fear death? Are you afraid of sleeping?"

He chuckled in a low, mocking tone, his voice filled with deep arrogance and contempt.

Loki then laughed, as if he had already anticipated the serpent's answer, and continued.

"So you can't understand our profound feelings about fate, that irresistible force. You are not afraid of death, nor do you care about fate, because there is no human emotion in you. You are just a heartless beast..."

Finally, Loki looked at the colossal creature before him, composed of countless bone peaks, and gazed inside its body... There was nothing there.

"It's empty."

At the end, Loki chuckled, as if carrying a deeper meaning.

Then, he stretched out his hand, in which was a human heart beating quietly, and said softly.

"Meng, these are your emotions from when you were human. I borrowed them for a while... Now, I'm returning them to their rightful owner."

Before Loki, the serpent slowly lowered its head. Its enormous head filled the entire sky above the Well of Wisdom with white bones, and its empty eye sockets were chilling to behold. Under the serpent's gaze, there was a strange connection between its heart and Loki's own.

"Hehe... Hahahahahaha..."

Unexpectedly, upon gazing at the human heart, the giant serpent let out a low laugh. The laugh gradually rose, and the deafening laughter stirred up whirlwinds, as if mocking it.

"Loki, are you mistaken about something? This stuff is nothing to me than a human's shed fingernail, or like an ape before it evolved into a human liking to pick at lice. It's just a scrap I discarded after surpassing humanity. Why would I care?"

His voice carried a deep sense of arrogance and pride.

Loki looked at him and said.

"A few scraps... huh? Heh, in that case, let's just discard them."

After saying that, he casually drew a rune with his hand, and in an instant, the space around him formed a void. Then, he casually threw the heart into this void that connected countless universes and worlds, letting it drift in time and space, floating to some unknown space.

Loki raised his head, gazing up at the colossal creature before him, a smile playing on his lips.

"I hope you won't regret it someday and have to go looking for it."

Before Loki, the arrogant and conceited monster merely spewed out gusts of cold wind, completely disregarding Loki's words.

"Rumble..."

At the same time, a deafening roar resounded outside the Fountain of Wisdom. It was the vibration caused by the entire World Tree gradually recovering towards that invincible giant. The entire universe trembled, and the invincible giant, who had been asleep for countless millennia, finally awoke.

Last time, his slumber heralded the birth of the world, and this time, his awakening will herald the destruction of the world.

However, at this moment, there are only a few survivors left in this universe.

Loki looked up at the sky above the Well of Wisdom, where he could vaguely see the infinitely vast World Tree, which supported the entire Nine Worlds, gradually transforming into a giant...

(End of this chapter)