Heavenly Palace, Asgard.
The Bifrost Bridge's teleportation point.
Odin appeared, casually tossing Loki aside. He weakly fell from the eight-legged divine horse he once rode across the Nine Realms, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Thud!
The majestic Divine King's armor mercilessly collided with the ground.
Heimdall, the Guardian God of the Heavenly Palace, clad in golden armor and a horned helmet, looked at his aging and disheveled king. He called out, wanting to step forward and help him.
"Your Majesty..."
He possessed eyes that could see through the Nine Realms, clearly witnessing the entire sequence of events. He knew how dire the situation of Asgard's Divine King had become.
"I'm not so old that I need assistance." Odin, still seething with unextinguished anger and having regained some of his youthful stubbornness, flatly refused. He shakily stood up from the ground and sat on the edge of the Bifrost Bridge's control platform.
"Do your job. Send those Frost Giants, who were scared witless by a mere monster, back to where they belong."
Heimdall obeyed, teleporting the remaining Frost Giants back to the cold, dark Jotunheim.
Loki, lying on the ground with terrible bruises still on his neck, said nothing. He had never seen Odin so old and weak before. The pallor and ashen color on his face were akin to a dead man's. He stared blankly, like someone who had caused a great disaster and was at a loss.
"Father." "Divine King."
Thor and Sif appeared from the Rainbow Passage and bowed.
"I shouldn't have defied you earlier."
As soon as he appeared, he hesitated, his brows furrowed with remorse. He set down Thor's Hammer, knelt on one knee, and said apologetically.
He shouldn't have called his father foolish and senile earlier.
"That's no longer important, Thor, raise your head."
Odin's old and weak voice came.
Hearing the voice, Thor looked up, his face filled with alarm: "Father, what happened to you?"
Only then did he see the state of his powerful and majestic father: deathly pale, like a flickering candle in the wind.
Odin Sleep only began after he was banished to Midgard. He didn't know Odin had become so aged he needed to fall into slumber.
"Divine King!"
Sif and the others gasped in disbelief.
The Warriors Three—whether it was the broad-minded and honest Volstagg, the dapper and elegant Fandral with his two small mustaches, or the taciturn and gloomy Hogan—were all greatly alarmed, their mouths agape, unable to speak.
In their past impressions, Odin had always been high above, infinitely majestic. They had never seen him in this state.
"Thor, you were right earlier, I am old.
Life always has an end, even for a Skyfather like me."
Perhaps it was the last time he could speak to his son. The anger on Odin's pale face gradually faded, replaced by a sigh of emotion.
"No, Father, it's all me..."
"This is not your fault."
Interrupting Thor's sorrowful self-reproach, he looked at Sif and the others.
"You may leave. I wish to speak with my sons alone."
...
Heimdall, Sif, and the others obeyed and left, arriving on the Bifrost Bridge.
"It must be that Midgardian."
Hogan clutched his faintly aching chest, growling.
Wiping the dried blood from the corner of her mouth, Sif frowned, recalling that figure, a hint of alarm in her eyes: "I remember his name was Ron. Midgard actually has someone who can resist the Divine King's power."
She and The Warriors Three felt uneasy when Loki temporarily took the throne, worried about the safety of Thor, who had become mortal. They wanted to go to Midgard to protect him. When they arrived here, they found Heimdall frozen in ice, and Loki had used the Bifrost Bridge to bring an army of Frost Giants to Midgard.
She and the others were prepared for a fierce battle with the Frost Giants and getting injured. They did get injured, but it was due to the energy ripples from Ron and the Divine King's confrontation.
"The Divine King had already entered Odin Sleep earlier. Forcibly breaking out of Odin Sleep and then engaging in a major battle, his body..."
Volstagg's voice was heavy.
"Discussing the King behind his back is not the conduct of a subject."
Beside them, Heimdall, leaning on his longsword, spoke with a hint of sadness in his usual serious expression.
The others looked at each other and wisely fell silent.
...
Inside the Bifrost Bridge control room.
Odin first explained what had happened to his body and why he had become so weak, not wanting Thor to think it was his fault.
"Father, don't speak anymore. What you need to do now is rest."
With deep worry in his eyes, Thor was extremely anxious. He looked at his father like this, at a loss, not even daring to reach out to support him.
It was as if Odin, the Divine King who once conquered the Nine Realms, had become a fragile piece of porcelain.
"No need, my son, my time is running out."
Odin clearly understood his own condition. Even entering Odin Sleep immediately would be futile. His lifespan was short. His aged voice rasped.
"If I remain conscious, I can live for at most another month. So, from now on, I will enter a long slumber and never wake up. I should still be able to live for another year and a half."
"But... but Father, what's the point of that?"
Not expecting the situation to be so serious, Thor was heartbroken and confused.
What was the difference between dying in a long sleep and dying immediately? It would be better to spend his last moments conscious with his Mother and everyone else.
"The meaning is that the later I die, the greater the chance Asgard has of surviving Ragnarok."
Upon his death, his eldest daughter, Hela, would be immediately unsealed. Odin wanted to delay as much as possible, giving his highly anticipated eldest son time to grow.
"Father..."
Hearing his father discuss his death again, Thor could not suppress his grief, his heart filled with guilt and hatred. He hated that their last meeting had resulted in him defying and angering his father.
Their next meeting would be a permanent farewell.
"Listen, Thor, after my life comes to an end, you will be crowned King. You must protect Asgard through Ragnarok."
He looked at his son, raising his aged voice, slowly speaking in a tone of lament and prophecy.
"Ragnarok? Is Ragnarok really happening?"
Thor's face showed difficulty as he instinctively said: "I... I don't know if I can do it."
If Ragnarok was real, it was a mythical doomsday that no one in legend could resist, where all Norse gods would die in the catastrophe.
"You can do it, Thor.
Your potential surpasses anyone in Asgard's history, surpasses me, surpasses your grandfather!"
Looking at his son, who was still lacking confidence at such a critical moment, Odin couldn't help but feel a hint of urgency, gritting his teeth and shouting.
"After I die, the Odin Force will be passed to you through our bloodline. Then you will discover what potential you possess."
Thor was born to him and Gaia, the Mother of the Gods, possessing potential beyond the Norse gods.
The divine power accumulated by the Asgardian royal family over several generations, by the time it reached his aging self, was an extremely vast power. Even when he was young and strong, this powerful divine force would have been a slight burden.
But Thor was different; he could easily bear this power. He just might need a certain opportunity and time to awaken, activate, and master it.
"Thor, finally, I want to tell you my conjecture about Ragnarok: it might come from your sister."
Odin looked increasingly aged, without a trace of divine might. His eyes were cloudy and dim, like a dying man barely holding on.
"Sister? I have a sister?"
Thor, who had always believed himself to be an only child, didn't react.
"Actually, not one, but two."
"Two?" His sadness intensified, leaving him even more stunned.
"But... forget it."
Mentioning that sorrowful matter, the Divine King did not want to speak further. Thor's other sister, Audreyf, died in an attack shortly after birth. That was the most infuriating event of his life.
Under the Divine King's overwhelming rage, the ten realms connected by the World Tree were even reduced to the current Nine Realms.
"I sealed your sister Hela in Midgard.
After I die, you are not allowed to open the Bifrost Bridge to Midgard again!"
He used his remaining strength to firmly grasp his son's wrist, staring intently into his eyes as he spoke.
"This can delay the arrival of Ragnarok. If it still cannot be avoided in the end, remember one thing—Asgard is... is never a place."
His eyes were sorrowful. As he spoke, he could no longer hold on. Disregarding Thor, who was confused and shocked by a series of events, he collapsed unconscious onto the ground beside him, entering his final Odin Sleep.
"Father!"
Thor cried out in grief and anger.
He turned his head and glared fiercely at Loki, who was dazed and unable to accept the truth. Mjolnir flew into his hand.
"Loki, it's all your recklessness.
You caused Father, who had to clean up your mess, to become like this. I'm going to kill you!"
...
Asgard's Divine King, Odin, once conquered the Nine Realms. Countless people within the Nine Realms feared him, hated him, and any news related to him spread quickly.
Especially in his later years, many people longed for the day the Lord of the Nine Realms would pass away.
When the news of Odin falling into a long Odin Sleep spread, countless people within the Nine Realms secretly clapped their hands in approval.
This news even spread throughout the Universe. As a veteran military overlord of the Universe, although Asgard had stopped expanding after ruling the Nine Realms, there were still many legends about them within the Universe.
It was astonishing that Odin had encountered a powerful being in Midgard within the Nine Realms who could resist him, and using divine power had caused damage to his already aging body.
Could a remote Planet in the Milky Way Galaxy actually have such a powerful being?!
"Odin? An unknown Earth powerhouse?"
In the Dark Quadrant, Sanos, known as the Mad Titan, showed a sinister smile on his face upon hearing that Odin would not be long for this World. However, he was then slightly intrigued by the newly emerged powerhouse on Earth.
The only powerhouses he knew on that Planet who could make him wary were Ancient One and Odin.
Now one of them was gone, but had a new one appeared?
"Divine King of the Asgardian, your peaceful death in bed would be the greatest injustice to our brutally murdered citizens of Heaven. I, Angela, will take your head!"
In a space tavern somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy, upon hearing this news, an orange-haired woman in beautiful battle armor, with mysterious, spiritual-like ribbons floating around her, coldly wiped her sword.
Having recently left Heaven, she began planning an assassination in Asgard.
Earth, a certain pocket dimension.
In the sealed, dark Netherworld, a disheveled woman with tattered clothes, her eyes seemingly hiding countless wailing dead souls, revealed a chillingly sinister expression. She let out a low, crazy laugh.
"Old man, you seem to be getting weaker and weaker. My time to regain freedom is not far off."
"When I break free, I will make the Nine Realms, and even the entire Universe, float in a sea of blood once again!"