Warhammer 40 A New Hope

Kratos, who had recovered, was about to fight back when Balder hit him again, and the portal was completely destroyed. The huge rock that fell down crushed Kratos underneath.

"For so long, I thought Odin was looking for you." Balder lifted a huge rock and smashed it on Kratos. "It turns out you're just a big, dumb guy with muscles! He wants the smart guy!"

"I have been holding back all this time, but now, you are useless!"

“Ah ...

[Wrath of Sparta] was activated, the angry Kratos stood up suddenly, punched Balder in the face, and then grabbed his shoulders.

"Take Atreus away!" Kratos shouted to Leman Russ who stood up beside him.

"No! Father! I can fight too!"

Several lightning-filled arrows accurately hit Balder's head, but for him who had an immortal body, it was just a tickle.

"You really should have listened to your useless dad!"

Bang--!

Kratos was kicked away and collided with Leman Russ, and then Balder walked in front of him despite the arrows shot by Atreus.

Seeing this, Atreus pulled out the dagger his father had given him and stabbed it into Balder's arm, but the other party did not react at all and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.

"Oh~ What is this? Is it your cutlery?" Balder looked at the small dagger stuck in his arm without any concern and said sarcastically. "Then you have to keep it well, kid!"

Then, Balder grabbed Atreus and jumped off the cliff on the side. Seeing this, Kratos jumped down without hesitation.

Passing through the thick clouds, Kratos landed on the tail of a giant armored dragon, and Atreus was tied to the dragon's back by Balder.

"Don't you know when to give up?!"

The two men soon began to fight on the dragon's back, their fists landing on each other from time to time, making loud explosions.

But it would be very disadvantageous for Kratos to continue fighting like this. The blessing on Balder protected him and kept repairing the damage he caused, but the damage Balder caused to Kratos was not so easy to recover.

After Balder fired one more heavy blow at Kratos, he knocked Kratos to the ground, and then punched Kratos continuously while he was lying on the ground.

Even though Kratos was more skilled than Balder, he could only raise his hands to block Balder's attacks for a while due to the narrow and moving dragon's tail.

Phew—bang!

Just when Kratos was suppressed, Leman Russ appeared with a jetpack on his back and dragged away Balder who was pressing on Kratos.

"Go save your son!"

Leman Russ's voice faded away. Kratos shook his head, stood up, and ran towards his son on the back of the high-speed flying dragon.

boom--!

However, he had not run a few steps when an explosion was heard in the air, and Balder, whose body was somewhat charred, fell in front of him.

"Saving your kid? It's not that easy!"

Balder stomped his feet, and the flying dragon felt pain, and its whole body began to tilt. Kratos wanted to roll sideways along the dragon's back.

Seeing this, Kratos immediately threw out the Chaos Blade and inserted it into the dragon's left wing, with his whole body hanging on it. But after a few seconds, the sharp blade cut through the dragon's wing membrane, and Kratos inevitably fell from the sky.

In the air, after seeing the ground of the temple, Kratos unfolded his shield and pointed it at the ground. After a crash, the shield in his hand rubbed violently against the ground, producing a large number of sparks, which traveled a long distance before stopping.

Kratos didn't dare to stop for a moment after landing. He immediately stood up and ran towards the teleportation temple not far away. The giant dragon was falling from above his head at this time.

"What's going on? Who is activating the transmission?!"

Ignoring Brok's questions, Kratos rushed into the transporter room, where Baldur was, having activated the Nine Realms Portal.

"You're too late! The lock is complete!" Balder said with his arms open as he looked at Kratos running in. "When the teleportation is over, the weight of Asgard will crush you."

"Ugh——!"

Kratos took advantage of his running speed to pick up Balder in front of him and pressed him on the transporter platform, but Balder pushed Kratos back with a backhand.

"That's it..."

Bang Bang Bang!

Several incoming bombs interrupted Balder's words, and then a huge creature pounced on him, bit Balder and threw him aside.

"Find a way to stop the teleportation!" Leman Russ adjusted the grenade launcher in his hand to full-automatic mode, fired all the bullets in the magazine at Balder who fell to the ground, and said.

"HOW?!"

"You use this thing most often, how would I know?!"

At this time, Balder had already stood up. The continuous bomb attacks did not have much effect on him. The giant wolf that tried to restrain him was also dispersed by a punch when he stood up.

Looking at the rotating Nine Realms Portal and the approaching Balder, Kratos gritted his teeth, inserted the key in his hand into the console, and then slammed it hard!

The disc that was turning towards Asgard was forcibly locked, and the bridge was forcibly positioned at Helheim. The gate on the other side opened, and the cold wind of Helheim whistled in, and a huge attraction came.

Kratos immediately ran to Atreus and held him in his arms, and then everyone was pulled into Helheim by the sudden attraction.

Leman Russ, who was also sucked away, activated the energy shield in time, and then shrunk himself into a ball as much as possible to prepare for the next impact.

He was lucky and did not break several stone pillars like Kratos, but he still inevitably came to the depths of Helheim, which he had never explored before.

After landing, Leman Russ checked his physical condition, then stood up and looked around.

"It's going to be troublesome to go back by myself now~"

619. Each other's past

In the Nordic underworld of Helheim, in addition to the perpetually cold weather and biting winds, there is also the ability to create illusions to cause pain to others.

Atreus and Kratos saw the illusion of Atreus killing Modi in the original plot, the Atreus who was stubborn and did what he wanted.

This was undoubtedly a big shock to Atreus, especially since he could not deny that if it weren't for what Leman Russ did to him before, he would have most likely become like that.

Afterwards, the father and son saw a vision of Baldur, an illusion in which his mother Freya, the witch who repeatedly helped Kratos and his son, cursed her son Baldur when Baldur had not yet gained immortality.

Because there was a prophecy that Balder would die, which would lead to Ragnarok, Freya, who doted on her child, cast a curse on her child, making it so that nothing in the world except mistletoe could harm him, but as a price, Balder would lose all perception of the outside world.

Unable to feel temperature, enjoy delicious food, or taste fine wine - the price of not being hurt or dying is that Balder will live like this forever.

At that time, Balder begged his mother to lift the spell. He was unwilling to live like a walking corpse, even though he would die one day in the future after the spell was lifted.

But Freya refused. On the one hand, she didn't want her child to die. On the other hand, the magic was not so easy to remove. You must know that from the subsequent plot, in order to ensure that the magic on Balder would not be so easily removed, Freya should have tried her best to clean up all the places where she knew there was mistletoe. This was also the reason why she reacted so much when she saw the mistletoe arrow on Atreus.

Being rejected by his mother, Balder was a little angry. He immediately grabbed her neck and raised his right hand to kill her. However, at that time, Balder still had some feelings for his mother Freya, and finally he couldn't do it - this is what Balder regrets the most now, and now he hates his mother to death.

On the other side, Leman Russ from another world also saw a vision about him.

That was the vision he had when he duelled with Horus...

. . . . . .

Horus had a duel with this brother when Horus was corrupted by the power of the Four Gods of the Warp and led his fallen chapter in rebellion against the Emperor.

During the duel, Leman Russ deliberately allowed himself to be injured by Horus, and used this brief opportunity to pierce Horus with the Spear of Russ, which was given to him by the Emperor and could "reveal the truth to those pierced by it", which gave the Warmaster a moment of clarity.

For the sake of their previous relationship as brothers, Leman Russ pleaded with the awakened Horus, hoping that he would give up this rebellion, but the latter refused.

The duel continued, and Leman Russ was unable to defeat Horus. After being defeated by the powerful Fallen Primarch, he escaped with the help of hundreds of Space Wolves, but he also fell into a coma until the end of the Siege of Terra.

Now this scene was replaying before Leman Rus' eyes. His own illusion pierced Horus' chest with the Spear of Rus in his hand, and then he tried to wake him up, but the other party refused.

Later, Leman Russ did feel some regret for this. If he had chosen to kill Horus directly or made other choices, would these problems have avoided arisen?

He might not have missed the Siege of Terra, his father would not have spent tens of thousands of years on a torture device that even the Dark Eldar would have called cruel, and the entire human empire would not have become "sustainably ruined".

Yes, Leman Russ regretted not being able to participate in the Siege of Terra, which is why he later chose to lead his team into the Warp to find the so-called "Tree of Life" that could help the Emperor stand up again.

But only one thing.

"...I admit that I did regret it. I regretted not killing Horus at that time. I regretted missing the Siege of Terra. I regretted not being by my father's side when he needed me the most, but..."

"I think even if I have to do it again, I will still try to awaken Horus' consciousness. After all, we are brothers..."

"And I was just about to say this, your illusion is not high-definition at all. I can't tell who is who, and I don't feel involved at all."

"Let's go. If I remember correctly, I have to find a boat to go back with you. Otherwise, I can only wait for that guy to find me."

"I don't want to stay in this icy place for too long."

～～～～～～～～～～～～～

There are ships in the Norse underworld of Helheim, and not only that, there are also pirates here.

When Leman Russ successfully met up with Kratos and his son who had also come near the ship, and together they drove the ship towards the Temple of Tyr, they encountered a pirate ship consisting of Undead Warriors and Plunderers wandering nearby.

Regardless of who the pirate ship wants to plunder, it is also worth considering what they, as undead warriors, can plunder.

Leman Russ and Kratos, who were in high spirits, cleared out the enemies that attacked them without much effort, and then another illusion appeared before their eyes.

It's Kratos's.

The one from the Greek period appeared in front of the three people, and then the other side, the Greek god - Zeus appeared on the opposite side.

At that time, Kratos, who was overwhelmed by anger, had almost no communication with Zeus who appeared. He went straight up and beat up the god who was nominally his father, with murderous intent.

This scene is actually the final battle between Kratos and Zeus. After fighting with Zeus about five times, Kratos finally seized the opportunity to kill the last Greek god, bringing everything to an end - this is also what Kratos least wants Atreus to know.

Kratos was thus immersed in memories of his unbearable past until Atreus came to remind him: if he didn't move on, the boat would crash into the mountain.

Bang--!

The boat still crashed into the mountain, but the three of them still arrived near the Temple of Tyr safely.

The three of them were silent because of what happened before. Kratos didn't know how to explain everything that had just happened to his children, and Atreus was waiting for Kratos to explain everything that had just happened, if he wanted to explain.

As for Leman Russ... he was in charge of watching the show.

This awkward silence lasted until they discovered the stone tablet with Tyr engraved on it.

The stone tablet revealed that Tyr had used magic to travel to other different pantheons. Mimir said that he did not recognize the symbols representing other pantheons, while Kratos only recognized the symbols representing Greece.

"The eye should refer to Egypt, the three magatama should refer to the side that has a good life, and the three circles should refer to South America." Leman Russ said as he looked at the stone slab in front of him. "That's all I know."

There was clearly something wrong with what Leman Russ said, but he didn't look like he was lying - in fact, he really only knew what these symbols represented, and he really didn't know anything more.

This conversation eased the atmosphere between Kratos and Atreus. After obtaining the information hidden by Tyr, everyone successfully found the elevator to the teleportation hall and let it take them slowly up.

"You saw..." Kratos said. "Don't you want to ask something?"

"What did you see?" Atreus responded.

"That old man, and... me..."

"...I saw nothing."

Atreus' answer was somewhat beyond Kratos' expectations, but it was also a good result for him. At this time, he slowly looked at Leman Russ standing between them.

"What's wrong? (pointing at himself) Can I ask?"

"．．．NO"

620. Abnormal Charge

The three of them returned to Midgard safely, and unexpectedly obtained a new way to go to Jotunheim.

Kratos showed the creation information obtained from the stone wall to Brock in the temple and asked him if he could make it. The other party's answer was very direct: I can't.

Brock is good at making weapons, but what Kratos has in his hand is obviously not a weapon. In comparison, Sindri is better at making this kind of thing, and there is also a problem with the materials.

However, he had barely finished his words when Sindri appeared before him with the necessary materials in hand, and invited him to forge the item together.

As mentioned before, there are no irreconcilable conflicts between the two brothers. The key to their reconciliation is just who shows goodwill first and who is willing to send the signal of "let's reconcile" to his brother first.

Seeing Sindri who was willing to get the materials for him even at the risk of dirtying himself, Brock was stunned for a moment, but then he smiled and took the materials from Sindri's hand.

The dwarf craftsman brothers who once forged Thor's hammer and Leviathan's axe now began to cooperate again. In front of Kratos and others, they used the materials brought by Sindri to forge what Kratos needed.

After getting what he needed, Kratos immediately prepared to go to Tyr's secret room to get what they needed to allow them to go to Jotunheim in another way. It was also here that Leman Russ said he was leaving.

"Can't you continue with us?" Atreus asked.

"In some ways, your going to Jotunheim has little to do with me, although I actually want to go to the so-called giant kingdom to take a look, but..."

"You have seen Balder before, and he will not give up, so I need to go back and get some weapons."

"Don't worry, I will wait for you here in the temple. If there is still time, I will also go to Jotunheim."

"Let's leave it alone for now, little one."

After saying goodbye to Kratos and Atreus, Leman Russ walked out of the temple and took out his communicator.