Ragnarok (4): The Paradise Invaders
Well then.
"Let's move on to the next part."
"Huh? Wasn't the story over?"
"What I just told you was about the Valkyries stealing souls. Now I'm going to talk about something else."
"Something else... Ah!"
Freya's face lit up as she finally caught on.
"Um, you mean... the illegal trespassing?"
"You catch on quick."
Not just any trespassing, but breaking into the paradise meant for those who passed judgment in the underworld. No way I'd let that slide.
I'd gotten heated about Odin's soul theft and started there, but this was the real crux of the matter.
"Now, tell me everything you know. How did you get in here? What have you been doing? What are Odin's plans? All of it. Everything."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
With her future already pawned to me, Freya didn't resist a bit. She spilled every last detail she knew.
"Migrating the Aesir gods here to avoid destruction? No, this place wasn't made for the likes of you to begin with."
"I was just following orders! That old coot Odin told the other Aesir gods he built this place himself... but he only gave me the barest hint about it, saying I was the only one who should know."
The only one who should know... So he knew exactly what this place was.
"Though he was super vague about it! 'The land cherished by the Life Goddess,' 'a blessed realm beyond death'—always talking in circles like that! That geezer!!! Twisting everything into knots with his cryptic, convoluted nonsense! Acting like you couldn't possibly understand, hoarding all the knowledge while feeding everyone else scraps! And when I'd ask again, he'd just dodge with 'You don't need to know yet'! I help him out of obligation as a fellow god, but all affection's worn thin!"
"Sounds like you've got a lot pent up."
"Of course! If I never had to see that smug, one-eyed fossil's face again, I wouldn't! And now he seems totally unhinged! Ugh! It's like he heard some weird rumor and lost his mind."
Unhinged... Hm. Were my prophecies the ones driving Odin to madness?
"Anyway, Odin carved a path from the Aesir realm straight here. Then he ordered me and the Valkyries to haul supplies, maintain the place, and fortify it into a stronghold."
"Fortify it, huh..."
When I'd first seen the Aesir gods doing something here, I'd wondered if Odin had made a mistake. Maybe while creating a new world, he'd accidentally opened a door to another one—this paradise—and mistook it for his own creation, preparing to migrate.
But if Odin was deliberately making a new world to escape doom and lead the Aesir there, there'd be no need to fortify. Heading to a world just for them? Wasting resources on defenses would be pointless. Better to stabilize and strengthen that world instead.
Yet Odin prioritized fortification. Before fully migrating. Building walls and citadels for defense.
And above all, he knew exactly where this was. He knew this was the realm beyond death.
That's why I couldn't forgive him. An accidental path? I could've overlooked the intrusion. But intentional? No mercy.
Thus.
"The Aesir must perish."
"Huh?"
"Well, their doom was inevitable anyway... but now it'll be as wretched as possible."
Time to kick off the Twilight of the Gods... Ragnarok.
"P-Perish? The Aesir? You're serious?"
"Just tweaking the script of their fated end a little. No need to worry."
And Freya... I'd have other tasks for her later, so I'd spare her the downfall.
"Wh-What about me and the Valkyries...?"
"Don't fret. I said your punishment would be reassignment, so you won't get swept up in the destruction."
The other Aesir? Who cares!
With that, I gave Freya a few orders and began preparations for the gods' twilight.
Freya built a citadel in one corner of paradise and fortified it. Soon after, Odin led the Aesir gods here.
Strutting like he'd created my paradise himself—even naming it Valhalla—Odin's glee showed no trace of the wise god from before. Just a clouded-eyed, one-eyed madman.
Though his skills held true enough to punch through to paradise, somehow.
The Aesir gods, now settled in Odin's so-called Valhalla, breathed easy, free from destruction's fate. They threw endless banquets in the citadel.
Feasting on roast from pigs that revived the next day, guzzling mead from he-goats whose udders flowed with honey-wine.
They had no idea. That no true paradise awaited fugitives like them.
That the sturdy citadel wasn't to shield them from enemies—but to trap them, preventing escape.
And finally, that an army was mobilizing to wipe them all out.
The Aesir's invasion of paradise... unauthorized occupation? Eh, close enough.
Word spread through various gods, eliciting all sorts of reactions.
First, the underworld. Led by the three judges, along with its managers, guardians, and even prisoners promised reduced sentences for valor—they were furious at the occupation of paradise's edge.
Makes sense. Paradise lay beyond the underworld. A reward for those who passed judgment. Deep ties.
They couldn't stay calm. The underworld mobilized for total war.
Next... dragons.
Ceres spread the news. Dragons started indifferent—paradise falling or not didn't concern them much.
But as the tale twisted in retelling, by the time Dragon Lord relayed it back to me: "The afterlife realm being built for dragons in paradise has been seized by Aesir gods."
Hm. Uhm... Hmmm.
Not wrong, exactly? I'd made paradise, Ceres expanded it as a dragon afterlife, and Aesir punched through...
A bit abbreviated, but roughly accurate?
Anyway, dragons got the news—and raged hard.
Those with facts fumed: "Seizing the paradise made by the Primordial Dragon God?!"
Those with distortions: "Squatting in the afterlife the Primordial Dragon God made for us?!"
End result? Dragons. Furious.
Plus: The golems kids mimicked from my Talos. Giants tormented by Aesir antics. The wolf god Fenrir, imprisoned by Aesir.
Gods under Zeus's orders to snatch Odin's Baal fragment. Miscellaneous deities who saw Aesir as thorns.
Hm... Aesir gods. Why so many grudges? Plenty gnashing teeth over them.
Thus, beings of all stripes gathered for one purpose.
The extermination of the Aesir.
"Honestly, couldn't Mom wipe out the Aesir alone? Easier than squashing a bug."
"True, but that'd be no fun."
"No fun?"
I gazed at the Aesir's citadel. Erected like this paradise was theirs.
"I want them to despair. To regret stomping mud into this paradise with their filthy feet, sinking into oblivion."
"Despair, huh."
"Yes. Despair. But I'm too strong to drag them there. They'd vanish before tasting it—boring."
Then I eyed those encircling the citadel.
Dozens of dragons, countless undead, giant gods, wolf gods. Massive golems too.
"But they should suffice to drown the Aesir in despair."
And... I'd prepped one more thing.
