dkrc Chapter 1996: Everything Odin Saw in His Dream; Mortals' Instinctive Fear When Facing Gods
Chapter 1996: Everything Odin Saw in His Dream; Mortals' Instinctive Fear When Facing Gods
Chapter 1996: What Odin Saw in His Dream; Mortals' Instinctive Fear When Facing Gods
In the dream, Loki's eyes no longer held the shifty and cunning of the past, but instead possessed a deep wisdom and resolute majesty.
He was no longer a prince, but a radiant king.
As the dream unfolds, Odin's "vision" follows the threads of fate, revealing more fragments.
He witnessed how Loki, with astonishing skill, stabilized the somewhat turbulent Asgard caused by his "sudden departure," and further integrated the power of the Nine Realms.
Facing his nemesis, the Frost Giants, Loki launched an overwhelming campaign, conquering all of Jotunheim with absolute power.
He saw his powerful and rebellious eldest daughter, Hela, break free of her seal and return with the Annihilation Legion and her desire for the throne.
Loki in the dream did not back down. In the name of the God-King, he gathered all the power of Asgard and launched a fierce battle against Hela.
Ultimately, his companions murdered Hela.
Although Hela is destined to resurrect, this also means that she will no longer pose a substantial threat for the foreseeable future.
Under Loki's rule, Asgard was reborn from the ashes.
The light of the Golden Palace shone even further, piercing through nebulae and dust, like an ever-burning beacon in the Nine Realms.
Asgard's fleet has been revamped, incorporating technologies traded from dwarves and even unknown civilizations, making it even more powerful.
His patrols extended far beyond his own time, suppressing rebellions, mediating disputes, and protecting the territory.
Under Loki's leadership, Asgard's prestige and power seemed to have reached a height that even Loki himself had not fully achieved at his peak.
However, at the end of the dream, the scene suddenly turned dark and oppressive, filled with the smell of iron and blood.
Odin saw another war, a galactic war of unprecedented scale and far greater ferocity than any previous conflict.
Countless stars were extinguished in the flames of war, and the massive fleet was transformed into a graveyard of steel. The roars of the gods and the wails of mortals echoed through the void.
Asgard's enemy, the Titan who sat on a floating throne, with a purple face, a gigantic body, and eyes burning with cold and obsessive flames, made Odin feel a chill and tremor from the depths of his soul.
In the dream, Loki led the entire Asgardian army in a fierce battle against Thanos's army in the starry sky.
Odin saw Thor, his brave and fearless son, wielding Stormbreaker, his body wreathed in unprecedentedly violent lightning, fighting fiercely in the enemy ranks, unstoppable.
He saw the valiant Asgardian warriors fall in droves before the overwhelming Chitauri army, the ferocious Vanguard, and the elite of the Dark Order, defending their homeland and honor with their lives.
The Golden Palace also appeared to have been attacked, and the magnificent building collapsed amidst the gunfire.
And Loki.
In my dream, Loki stands amidst the stars.
He wielded the power of the Reality Stone, unleashing power that even Odin found terrifying.
With an almost artistic manipulation, he combined the power of the Reality Stone with the divine power of Asgard and his own authority, displaying a power even greater than his own.
Loki even attempted to directly "modify" Thanos's very existence, but the Titan seemed to be protected by some powerful will and force, and the distortion power of the Reality Stone was stubbornly resisted and dissolved.
The outcome of the war becomes blurred and turbulent in the dream, as if countless possibilities are intertwined and colliding.
Odin saw a "pyrrhic victory" in which the Asgardian fleet suffered heavy losses but dealt a heavy blow to Thanos's army; he also saw a "mutually assured destruction" in which both sides were almost wiped out and the starry sky was turned into a desolate graveyard.
Even at the edge of one of the deepest and most hazy dream fragments, Odin vaguely sensed that a force from a distant dimension, whose aura was incompatible with the current universe, had intervened and "overshadowed" the course of the war.
Let everything come to an abrupt end, the ending shrouded in an unknowable mist.
Odin suddenly opened his single eye, the golden pupil still reflecting the shock of the dream and endless exhaustion.
He was breathing heavily, his immense divine power became chaotic, and the runes in the secret chamber flickered, barely managing to stabilize his nearly collapsed life force.
"Loki, King."
He whispered hoarsely, with an incredulous mix of emotions.
The combination of these two words was a scene he would never have imagined before, and would have even subconsciously denied.
But in the dream, the figure sitting on the throne, with calm eyes, decisive decisions, and leading Asgard onto another path, was so vivid and so believable.
That kingly demeanor and sense of responsibility, that deep and complex protectiveness of Asgard, even in some ways, made him more suited to the role of a god-king than Thor, on whom he placed his high hopes.
At least in the possibility revealed by that dream, Asgard continued, and even under Loki's leadership, moved towards a more powerful and influential state, rather than heading towards the inevitable "Ragnarok" prophesied in the past.
Is it a prophecy?
Is it a reflection of reality from a parallel universe, a crossroads of fate where different paths were taken, projected into his consciousness through the relaxed spacetime barrier during his slumber?
Or perhaps it was his own vast, ocean-like divine power and wisdom that, during his long slumber, unconsciously roamed the shallows of time and possibility, and accidentally captured a fragment that was close to "reality".
Odin didn't know.
All he knew was that the impact of that dream shook some of the beliefs he had held for thousands of years.
"Thor, my son."
His gaze seemed to pierce through the thick walls of the secret chamber, through the magnificent halls of the celestial palace, and into the central courtyard, where Thor was enjoying a brief moment of peace with his beloved.
He seemed to see Thor wielding Mjolnir, invincible on the battlefield; he saw him filled with justice and compassion, yet also capable of bringing Asgard into unnecessary trouble due to his overly rigid nature.
His original plan was to entrust the throne and the responsibility of protecting the Nine Realms to Thor.
He believed that Thor's bravery, integrity, and unwavering devotion to the light would enable him to protect Asgard's glory and peace, just as Thor himself had done.
But that dream, that of Loki who led Asgard down another path of prosperity, albeit one fraught with war, served as a mirror, reflecting the mistakes he might have made.
"Maybe I've been wrong all along?"
His obsession with "bloodline" and his belief in "Asgardian orthodoxy" inadvertently stifled another possibility for Loki, and perhaps closed a path that would have allowed Asgard to avoid the shadow of "Ragnarok" looming over the Aesir gods.
Is that so? Odin pondered.
A question then arises.
How did Loki gain Asgard's approval in the dream?
As the son of a frost giant, his bloodline should not have been recognized by Asgard.
Moreover, in the lingering perception of the dream, Odin seemed to sense an extremely pure "Odin Power" from that "God King Loki," even purer than his own.
It's not just about the strength of divine power, but also about the purity of its essence; it's a resonance that's intimately connected to the origin of the World Tree of Asgard and the core rules of the Nine Realms, a resonance as if bound by blood.
The reason he overlooked this was that he thought he might have misjudged the situation.
How could there be a purer "Odin power" than that of him, the father of all gods?
Not to mention that Loki doesn't have Odin's blood at all.
Was the dream wrong? Or was it a hallucination caused by the confusion between his divine power and consciousness due to his long slumber?
Or perhaps the unknown force from beyond the dimension that forcibly "overlaid" the outcome of the war not only interfered with the war's ending but also fundamentally "affected" Loki's existence in a way he couldn't comprehend even earlier.
Exhaustion surged like a tide, not physical exhaustion, but a weariness from the depths of the soul after the divine power sustained life and consciousness bore too many shocks.
Confusion, like a fog, shrouded this once mighty father of gods who ruled the nine realms and decided the fate of all beings.
The persistence of the past, the plans for the future, and the drastically different expectations and arrangements for the two sons all seemed to crack in the face of that incredibly real dream.
He slowly closed his one eye, no longer trying to think about that troubling question.
The secret chamber fell silent again, with only the faint glow of the runes and Odin's heavy, slow breathing.
His slumber must continue; it is the only way for him to maintain his life.
But this time, his slumber was no longer peaceful.
Fragments of a dream, the phantom of Loki as king, Thor's honest smile, confusion about bloodlines, and worries about the future of Asgard.
Various thoughts, like tangled vines, grew deep within his dormant consciousness.
Perhaps, when he wakes up again, he will make some different decisions than before.
Chat group.
An ordinary group owner: "The task ended slower than I expected, but also faster than I expected."
An ordinary group owner said: "Well, from the very beginning, this Thanos isn't as oppressive as the last one."
An ordinary group owner said, "But after the enhancement, the sense of oppression became much stronger."
An ordinary group owner said: "But as oppressive as it may be, in terms of strength, this Thanos is most likely stronger."
Both were high-difficulty time-traveling missions, but the last mission was completed much faster than this one.
The fundamental reason for this is that, as participants last time, their strength was far inferior to that of the transmigrator.
The speed at which he was instantly killed meant that Bai Xuan's attack speed was naturally even faster.
However, the fact that this mission lasted a long time does not mean that Thanos is weaker than "Observer Zero". In fact, in Su Yunqing's opinion, Thanos is likely stronger than "Observer Zero".
This was true even for Thanos before he used the system's power to enhance himself.
After all, even among galaxy-level systems, there are differences in strength. The so-called system of "Observer Zero" is simply the condensation of its own abilities, without any other external cheats, but Thanos is different.
Thanos has the Infinity Stones.
As the embodiment of the rules of the Marvel universe, the Infinity Stones possess power that is not diminished in the slightest, even in other Marvel universes.
How could Thanos, who wields six Infinity Stones, possibly be weaker than "Observer Zero"?
The fact that he was able to fight Rick and Grey Wolf, who were wielding the Star Cup, for so long shows that if Rick and Grey Wolf had been there last time, "Observer Zero" might not have needed Bai Xuan to intervene.
Himouto! Umaru-chan: "Thanos after being enhanced by the system feels completely different."
Himouto! Umaru-chan: "If the previous Thanos was as terrifying as Rick, then the enhanced Thanos feels like he's on a whole new level."
Himouto! Umaru-chan: "It's like a mortal facing an undefinable god, a fear that comes from instinct."
Umaru nestled in the comfortable sofa, clutching potato chips, but she had no appetite at the moment.
The scene from the live stream where Thanos's aura underwent a dramatic transformation kept replaying in her mind.
That feeling made her heart flutter, even across endless worlds.
Although Thanos was already very powerful before the enhancement, far surpassing her in strength, the enhanced Thanos gave people an indescribable sense of fear, a feeling of dread that "should not exist" that arose from the depths of the soul.
It was a fear that transcended the balance of power and touched upon the differences in the level of existence. It was like a lower-dimensional being accidentally glimpsing the tip of an iceberg of a higher-dimensional being. It was incomprehensible and indescribable, leaving only an instinctive fear and the urge to escape.
She felt that if she had been there, she probably wouldn't have been able to stand up, and her thoughts would have been paralyzed by the indescribable pressure.
At the time, she even thought Thanos was more terrifying than Bai Xuan.
But it turned out to be just my imagination. How could Thanos possibly be a match for Bai Xuan?
No matter how much he strengthened himself, he only reached an astonishing level under the blessing of that "system," which is why the aura he exuded was so terrifying, so oppressive, and so "abnormal."
But what exactly is Bai Xuan?
That is the world lord who holds the authority of an entire world, a being who is close to the will of the Marvel universe and even has a certain degree of authority, even under the rank of "Son of the Gods".
Even among the strongest beings at the single-universe level, Bai Xuan is one of the most powerful.
If it weren't for the limitations imposed by the world's strength, I wouldn't be surprised if he reached the level of the multiverse someday.
The reason they didn't experience the same direct, soul-chilling sense of oppression as Thanos was simply because Bai Xuan consistently restrained his power in front of them.
His power is not leaked out in the slightest to oppress others, and his form of existence is so advanced that they cannot perceive its "abnormality".
Just as humans don't usually feel how "terrifying" the Earth's gravity, atmospheric pressure, or the sun's rays are, because all of these are the most natural and fundamental parts of their living environment.
Only when "abnormalities" such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and solar storms occur do people realize with horror the terrifying power of nature.
To them, Bai Xuan was, in a way, like "nature" itself, the "foundation" upon which they depended for their existence in the chat group.
Although it's a bit embarrassing to say this, they've always relied on Bai Xuan.