Those time travelers that year

But what did they hear now? Before the battle even began, this god of doomsday bluntly stated that he was destined to perish, and that this was his fate.

This world is just too absurd and crazy.

However, it was clear that Liliana and Erica, who were present, were nothing more than insignificant ants, a group of dispensable creatures. At this moment, neither Ciel, nor the fire giant who was the god of the apocalypse, nor Odin, who was now on the Rainbow Bridge and had already learned the cause of all this through the power of wisdom and the two crows named "Thought" and "Memory," cared about the two human girls.

“My disobedient self will be slain by you! This is truly a fate that surprises even me!” the fire giant exclaimed. “...Such a clear and precise ending has moved even me, the god of the end times. That is why I am waiting for your arrival here, without even engaging Odin in direct combat.”

"Then, how about we make a deal?!" Charles suggested with a smile. "How about we quietly accept our fate?!"

"Hahaha, how is that possible!" The fire giant laughed. "Even if it's fate... how can you know that fate cannot be changed if you don't try? Even if fate cannot be changed, a true warrior will never back down in the face of fate!"

"You say so, don't you, Odin!" the fire giant roared. "You already know the cause of everything, don't you! Odin, my mortal enemy standing on the Rainbow Bridge, what do you intend to do now? Are you going to fight me, the one destined to end this life of the unruly, or will you stand aside and wait for my demise?"

Boom! A massive bolt of lightning tore through the sky battlefield, silencing everything in its path. The heroic warriors and giants who had been locked in a brutal and relentless fight ceased their battle and separated one by one.

At that moment, Odin's voice came down from the Rainbow Bridge.

"My mortal enemies! We are both disobedient, no longer bound by fate... However!" Odin's voice echoed across the land, reaching the ears of the surviving humans as well. "...Fate has ordained that we two descend here as disobedient, and has also ordained the end of your disobedience. But, as you said, true warriors never fear their destined end—a glorious and magnificent finale is what we, the warriors of the battlefield, strive for!"

"Then let me gloriously meet my own end! As a rebel!" the fire giant laughed. "...And you? Odin!?"

“I will face the victor who survives,” Odin replied in an unquestionable voice. Then, riding his steed Sleipnir, he raised the Gungnir, the spear of eternity, and hurled it across the Rainbow Bridge. The Gungnir, released from his grasp, transformed into lightning, cleaving the sky and tearing open the heavens to reveal a vast expanse of brilliant stars.

That's right, the starry sky. Odin hurled Gungnir, tearing the entire atmosphere apart.

"Against the backdrop of the stars, the surviving victor will claim all glory!" Odin declared.

It felt like a child's game; the once fiercely contested battlefield was over just like that. The heroic warriors and the giants split up on either side, and the fighting ceased, replaced by cheers and shouts—a frenzy celebrating a duel. The commotion was so huge that the surviving humans were completely bewildered by what they had just witnessed.

Above the sky, the Valkyrie soared on her Pegasus.

In the starry sky revealed by the pierced heavens, countless starlight poured down under Odin's divine power, transforming into something resembling a painting. Within this painting were the figures of a fire giant and the Shire.

This was a duel, and the war ended when Charles's servants slaughtered their way across the battlefield and arrived before Surt. The earlier concern from figures like Liliana and Erica was merely a welcoming ceremony.

Because of the Shard, Surtr descended, and because of Surtr's descent, Odin descended as well.

The war was merely a greeting between Odin and Surtr, and also a test for the Shard. They wanted to ascertain whether those who had led them to descend upon Midgard as rebels possessed the courage and strength to confront them. The terrifying fighting prowess displayed by the Shard's servants astonished both rebel gods.

They acknowledged that the Charr were entitled to kill them, and so it became a tradition unique to the Norse – a duel where the victor would claim all the glory and wealth of the defeated, a fight to the death.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ciel told Liliana and Erica the whole story. When they learned that what they saw as a major crisis was actually just a welcoming ceremony for Ciel, the two girls immediately showed expressions of having been played for.

Whether the two of them would truly break down was something Charles had no interest in speculating about. But seeing their utterly dejected expressions after learning the 'truth' made Charles very happy. Indeed! Happiness is built on the suffering of others.

Revealed in the sky, within a curtain formed by the convergence of starlight, the battle between Ciel and Surtr, the King of Fire Giants, was reflected. This was only the beginning. Surtr, who had compressed his body to a height of five meters, wielded a flaming sword, while Ciel, who held a spiral sword, clashed blade to blade, flame to flame.

"Come! Fight! Slaughter!" Surt, wielding his flaming sword, laughed maniacally, completely disregarding the blood still flowing from the wounds inflicted by the spiraling sword. Flames gathered on his blade, then he swung it down, slashing towards Charles.

The spiraling sword firmly blocked Surtr's slash. However, the force of the attack instantly turned the ground beneath Charles's feet into charcoal. Each swing of Surtr's sword brought waves of heat capable of killing any living thing, and also caused earthquakes. Unfortunately, the flames seemed to have no effect on Charles. No matter how deadly the flames Surtr unleashed, they couldn't leave even the slightest scorch mark on Charles's body.

On the other hand, Charles's sword always managed to find the gaps in Surtr's attacks and deliver a powerful blow.

The attack, originally unleashed with divine power, was something even Odin could not underestimate, but no matter how much Surtr expended his divine power, he could not harm the Shar.

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is. This is my end!" Blades clashed hundreds, even thousands of times, their battle turning an area of ​​over ten kilometers into scorched earth. The resulting earthquakes spread wildly outwards, and now it seems the entire Finnmark County has been affected. Countless lives have been lost, and even throughout Norway, violent earthquakes have begun to occur, growing stronger over time and extending across Europe.

Surte, who had orchestrated all of this, paid no heed. He already understood why he was destined to be killed by Ciel. Every clash of blades was, in effect, Ciel devouring his divine power; every wound inflicted upon him was equivalent to his divine power flowing into Ciel's hands.

The demonic sword in his hand could not secure victory for Ciel, and the flames powerful enough to incinerate the world were ignored by him. Furthermore, the divine power he wielded was utterly ineffective against Ciel.

"So that's how it is. This is my death!"

The fire giant, laughing wildly with a sense of relief, slashed down with his sword. The raging flames engulfed the entire sky, even obscuring the starry curtain created by Odin. The flames then formed a bright sun in the sky before falling to the ground.

Unfortunately, this sun, created by Surt's last strength and powerful enough to burn down all of Norway and even affect the whole of Europe, was shattered by a golden bolt of lightning thrown from Charles's hand.

"Why is my power ineffective against you!" As Sharl shattered the sun created by Surtr and pierced Surtr's heart with his spiral sword, the fire giant king of Norse mythology spoke, asking in a low voice, "You are devouring me, I can feel it... Have we ever fought before?"

“That’s right!” Charles replied in a low voice. “...The world is vast. In other worlds, I have also fought a life-or-death battle with you, and I emerged victorious. With you as my stepping stone and foundation, I finally transcended the mortal realm.”

"Is that so!?" As his body crumbled and divine power rapidly flowed towards Sharl, the Fire Giant King of this world revealed an expression of 'I see'. "So, this is the second time I've been defeated by you! Then, take my power as well! Indeed, this is the choice of fate!" And so, the Fire Giant King, who descended from mythology, shattered into countless points of light that were devoured by Sharl. After being pierced through the heart by the spiral sword, he died standing up.

By the time Charles drew his spiral sword, Surtur's body had already turned to ashes. Along with him, the giants who had come to this world with him returned to mythology.

Liliana and Erica, protected by the Knights of Fran, stared blankly at the scene. They couldn't hear the conversation that only Charles and Surtr could hear, but they knew what this scene meant.

The disobedient god Surtur was killed in battle, and a new demon king was born.

458. Not Campione, but Dio che morso.

Campione—the god-slayer, the demon king—this title is bestowed upon those who, as humans, slay gods and seize their power. To humans, these beings, after killing gods, cease to be human. They, like the gods, are calamities, monsters…

Of course, the above is pure nonsense.

When someone holds the detonation button for a nuclear bomb in their hand, probably no one would object to what they say, unless someone disassembles the warhead. Unfortunately, in this world, nuclear warheads are basically impossible to disassemble, and their only fate is to perish together with other nuclear warheads.

This is why those who, perhaps by chance or genuinely possessing the ability, managed to seize a miracle and kill the gods who suddenly appeared, were tolerated by the entire world of magic. Anyone watching these mobile natural disasters roaming around, and then encountering gods who suddenly appeared, engaging in battles that could level a city or affect an entire continent, would first try to appease this nuclear bomb.

However, Liliana and Erica weren't thinking about those things right now; they were thinking about other issues. For example, Europe now had three Demon Lords—three of them squeezed into such a small place. Normally, all the major magic societies in Europe lived in constant fear, praying that these three wouldn't impulsively start a war and turn Europe into ruins.

It's important to know that two of these three are enemies. One of them is a stubborn, mentally unstable old man, and the other is a hyperactive, delusional teenager. Aside from these two, the third guy is a "pervert" (no mistake) who wears the title of a prince but is actually a "stubborn" pervert (yes, a 'minor loli') who's been relentlessly hunting down girls who appear to be 'underage lolis'.

And currently, judging from the situation, it seems quite possible that Europe will welcome its fourth... Oh my god! Why does such a small place like Europe produce so many problematic figures? And why do these disobedient gods always seem to descend upon Europe? Don't they know that the most prosperous and developed country in the world today is the bald eagle across the sea? The most densely populated are those curry-smelling Indians? And the fastest developing country is probably that rabbit in Asia!

Why are so many gods coming to Europe and creating so many demons there? Are they just bored and unhappy to see Europe reduced to ruins?!

However, Ciel had no time to concern himself with Liliana and Erica's devastated feelings. After sending Surtr back to where he belonged in this world, he sensed that with Surtr's return to mythology, some kind of rule in this world had begun to operate confidently.

'Campione's transformation?!' A blinding white light seemed to appear before his eyes, as if he had instantly traveled from Finmark County to an altar. He could feel the last remaining concepts and divine power left behind when Surt died and returned to mythology, surging into his body. But after this altar appeared, existing in the rift between existence and non-existence, those concepts and divine power reversed course, flowing back towards the altar, and then being transformed again before flowing into him.

'Damn it! Don't just take other people's spoils like that!' Quickly analyzing the altar's function, Charles sneered, extending his mind to forcibly stop the altar from absorbing the concepts and divine power left behind by Surt. '...Do you think you have the right to touch what belongs to me?!' If this wretched altar were to convert it, Charles estimated that half of the concepts and divine power he could gain would be forcibly lost. Not only would the concepts become fragmented, but the divine power would also be forcibly transformed into a lower-level power called 'cursed power' in this world.

Damn it, I've spent so much time tinkering with myself, fighting with others for a while, and now I'm going to fight with an old geezer again. And someone actually wants to 'intercept' me, not only taking half of the divine power but also planning to convert the other half into a low-level power.

Are you kidding me?!

It is estimated that, in this way, when the acquired concepts are used, they will not only fail to achieve the same effect as those in the original owner's hands, but will also be subject to various limitations and troubles. Moreover, using a lower-level power like 'curse power' to drive those conceptual powers will further weaken them.

'My things, how dare you touch them as you please?!' He violently shattered the process, his mind reaching out to forcefully pull the concepts and divine power towards him. Interrupted by Charles, the power within the altar accelerated, attempting to contend with him. However, it was quickly slapped back by Charles, who unabashedly unleashed his mental power.

"Eee ...

"Hahahaha!" The same mocking voice of Surt, now back in the world's mythology, echoed. "Pandora! You shameless woman, you miscalculated this time! Hahahahaha..."

'…Take it! My enemy who defeated me twice! Take as much of my power and divine strength as you can, but don't leave a single bit for this shameless woman.'

'Master of this desolate land, is it really meaningful for you to target a weak woman like me like this?'

"Compared to those who killed me on the battlefield, I would accept them taking everything that belongs to me. But I will not allow a woman like you to use your cunning to withhold the spoils!" Surt's voice echoed through the altar, filled with sarcasm, mockery, and undisguised malice towards the woman. "...Not to mention, it's always you, the witch, who's been playing dirty tricks in the shadows, watching the gods lose face. But this time, it's you who's lost face! Witch!"

'you……'

'He's not one of those Campiones you designed for revenge—he's Dio che morso (God Eater)! Hahahaha…'

As Ciel devoured all the concepts and divine power left behind by Surt, the altar, essentially embedded in the rules of this world, suddenly lost its predetermined goal and reluctantly departed under the constraints of those rules. Also departing were Surt, now fully reverted to mythology, and the witch named Pandora, filled with resentment. It seemed this witch harbored a deep hatred for Ciel.

"Tch, don't let me find you, or I'll kill you!" Of course, Charles was also very annoyed by the witch who dared to set her sights on him. If that girl dared to show her face in front of him, Charles would definitely kill her first.

"Looks like that detestable woman finally got her comeuppance!" At this moment, Odin, riding Sleipnir to Shire's side, couldn't help but laugh. "...What an unforgettable story!" Clearly, this world's Odin was fully aware of what had happened at that altar. And judging from the situation, Odin didn't seem to hate Shire, this "Dio che morso," but he was quite displeased and looked down upon a certain witch.

459. Dio che morso VS Odin (Part 1)

"It seems you also dislike that witch!" Shire said, looking at Odin who had come up to him. "...However, according to the myths, I can only say that I brought this upon myself... Of course, if that witch dares to cause me trouble, then there won't be any more trouble for her in the future."

“No god has any goodwill toward that witch!” Odin, the god of disobedience who looked to be nearly fifty years old, said sarcastically as he sat on his mount. “...Even though she wasn’t the one who was wrong first in the mythology, the way she schemed to create the Campione has certainly made all the gods lose face.”

“But as far as I’m concerned, I don’t care about these things.” Planting the Spear of Eternity into the ground, two jet-black ravens flapped their wings and returned to Odin’s shoulders. Odin, with his remaining eye, looked at the Shire and said, “The victor takes the glory and wealth of the vanquished; to me, this is only natural… just like human history, no matter how many open and covert attacks, how many conspiracies and tricks there are in the process. But as long as the victor sits on the throne, then history is written by that victor.”

"Humans are able to defeat the disobedient gods, which is the glory they deserve, and they are naturally able to take everything from the defeated. It is precisely because of this characteristic that humanity has been able to continue to develop, even in this era where mythology has been cut off."

"I don't really think your behavior qualifies as disobedience!"

"Hahaha! I'm getting old, getting old, all I do these days is ramble on and on..." Odin laughed, reaching out again to grasp the Spear of Eternity, pulling it from the ground. "As for being disobedient, I've never admitted to that! I merely came here with the master of the Wasteland... But here, witnessing the appearance of Dio che morso, who is not a Campione, but someone even more dangerous to the gods than a Campione, makes this trip worthwhile..."

"You said I'm Dio che morso?" Ciel reached out and touched the spiral sword, causing twilight flames to ignite. Then, the sword's appearance began to change. Finally, it transformed into a sword with intricate openwork patterns on the hilt, a bright silver blade, and a constantly burning twilight flame on its edge. This was Ciel's flaming sword, Leivadin. Although it was different from the one wielded by Surte in this world, it didn't matter.

Anyway, after obtaining the ID card, Ciel wasn't worried that the power unleashed by this clone would cause the world to kick him out.

"Logically speaking, shouldn't Dio che morso be more dangerous than Campione?"

"After all, one of them was a disobedient god who merely killed you, but I devoured it whole!"

"Is there a difference? Aren't we all just disobedient individuals?" Odin said nonchalantly. "...Compared to those Campiones who relied more on miracles to defeat us, probably few would be content. But a Dio che morso..."

"There are many monsters in mythology that can kill gods like us. Being killed by Dioche Morso is simply because we were not as skilled. Because compared to Campione, Dioche Morso, who is truly on the same level as the gods, is the strongest and greatest enemy!"

Ciel revealed a beautiful, but absolutely dangerous, smile.

"Hey! Do you think I'm prey? Sorry, I'm not Fenrir the wolf..."

“But in my eyes, you are far more dangerous than that wolf that will kill me in Ragnarok!” Odin raised the Spear of Eternity in his hand and shouted, “...So, after all that! Dio che morso, come! Either you devour this disobedient me, or I will take your head back to Asgard in mythology to boast of my bravery to the gods.”

"You will die a horrible death, Odin!"

……

In Liliana and Erica's eyes, the newly born Demon King, who had just killed Surtr, was quickly approached by Odin, who had been watching the battle. This scene made the two girls' expressions change. Having just fought and killed Surtr, they understood that the Shard probably didn't have much power left. But now, Odin, the king of Asgard, had come knocking, making the situation extremely dire.

If Charles falls, their fate might not be good at all. You see, the Norse barbarians have a long-standing tradition of abducting women along with their raids.

However, Liliana and Erica soon realized they had been overthinking things.

After exchanging a few words (too far for them to hear), Odin raised the Spear of Eternity, and Shire raised the transformed blade of his sword. The two immediately began to fight.

In an instant, in Liliana and Erica's eyes, the entire world was filled with dazzling light. That light was a meteor shower, a dazzling display of fireworks. Odin, wielding the Gungnir, the spear that always seemed to hit its mark in mythology, unleashed countless shards of dark golden light in a single strike, like a meteor shower hurtling towards the Shire.

Like an arc of light, it circled around Ciel, heading towards his vitals from all directions and from various angles.

However, all those tens of millions of arcs of light were cut down. Yes, all the rays of light were severed by the blade in Charles's hand. At that moment, dazzling sword light shone around Charles. Of course, this was not some exquisite swordsmanship; it was simply using the sword to cut down all the arcs of light that came close at hand. To achieve this, Charles directly extended his sense of time, unleashing a sword strike at a speed of light in a certain sense.

Speed ​​of light versus speed of light.

Only in this way could they withstand Odin's various tricky thrusts with Gungnir. But that alone was not enough! Shifting the sense of time, Ciel swung his sword, and in the intervals between the falling arcs of light, he also unleashed streaks of fiery sword light towards Odin.

But the attack missed Odin. In that instant, Odin, riding Sleipnir, vanished from the Ciel's sight, as if he had never been there at all. However, Odin did not disappear; he reappeared behind the Ciel, riding on Sleipnir, and thrust Gungnir towards the Ciel's unsuspecting back.

A polygonal golden barrier appeared in front of Gungnir. The barrier was forged from mental power. Even if it was just a clone, Sharl could use this barrier to deflect a nuclear explosion. It was an almost absolute defense.

But it was useless. Facing Gungnir's spear tip, even absolute defense couldn't withstand this divine declaration of absolute accuracy. It could only delay for a fraction of a second, and the barrier forged by the mental power that could deflect a nuclear explosion was pierced through by Gungnir's spear tip.

However, a fraction of a second is enough for Ciel, whose sense of time has been stretched out...

Just before Gungnir's spear tip was about to touch his back, Ciel's flaming sword, Lyvadin, intercepted it. The two divine weapons clashed directly.