Chapter 367 |
Baldr, son of Odin and Frigg in Norse mythology.
Of course, this is only his identity in traditional Norse mythology; in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this character does not exist—at least not in the single universe where Josh resides.
But this does not stop Loki from knowing the name.
After all, in Josh’s universe, although Asgard does not have Baldr, the god exists in human world mythology, and Loki has seen that.
More importantly, before Loki came to this world, the information Josh gave him included Baldr’s existence.
Of course, Baldr in the Saint Seiya world is not Odin’s son either, but rather a second-generation God Warrior. From the day he was born, Baldr received Odin’s bestowed “Heart of Mercy.” In a sense, calling him a son of god is not incorrect.
However, in the following story, because the villagers in Baldr’s village kept falling ill for various reasons, eventually only he remained as the sole laborer. At that time, he was only a twelve-year-old boy.
Because of this, Baldr repeatedly prayed to Odin for help but was instead trapped in the schemes of the evil god Loki in this world. Eventually, he exchanged the “Heart of Mercy” given by Odin for the immortality bestowed by Loki and finally became a member of the second generation of God Warriors, a henchman of Loki.
Therefore, upon hearing the name, Loki was very interested.
“So you are the cursed child!” Loki said arrogantly, riding a tall horse, looking down on Baldr.
“Cursed child? What do you mean?” Baldr, who had been quietly waiting by the roadside, was stunned by Loki’s words and looked up, asking.
“If I’m not mistaken, the people in this village are either dead or sick, and you are the only healthy one left, right? Do you know why?” Loki’s lips curled slightly as he looked at Baldr.
Actually, there was no need for Baldr to answer. With Loki’s current strength, sensing the physiological status of all ordinary living beings in this village was a trivial matter.
“Why?” Baldr’s face darkened; he had a vague premonition about what Loki was about to say.
Before, he had complained many times about his and the village’s misfortune, but he had never thought it was his own fault.
But now, Loki’s words were like a needle piercing his heart—could it be that he really was a cursed person? Were the villagers falling ill one by one because of him?
“You’ve guessed it already, haven’t you? A curse, a curse cast down by Odin, is why you suffer all this misfortune!” Loki spoke the answer Baldr had already guessed but found hardest to accept.
Of course, this was only Loki’s way of deceiving the boy.
The fact that all the villagers were falling ill and dying was indeed caused by a curse.
But this curse had nothing to do with Baldr; he was simply immune to it because he had been blessed by Odin.
The source of the curse was none other than the evil god Loki, sealed in the temple on the mountain behind the village, the counterpart of Loki in this universe, Odin’s brother—the evil god Loki of this world.
After all, being so close, even though the evil god Loki was sealed, his dark power inevitably affected the surrounding environment, not to mention the seal was already loosening.
Although the true culprit was his counterpart, that did not prevent Loki from sowing doubt in this boy’s mind against Odin so that in the future, he might betray Odin.
“No, impossible. It’s impossible. His Majesty Odin would never curse me!” As a citizen of Asgard, Baldr had been instilled with faith in Odin since childhood and was already a loyal believer. Loki’s words naturally dealt a severe blow to his faith.
“Nothing is impossible. If you don’t believe me, you can leave this village for a while and see if the villagers get better!” Loki did not rush to fill Baldr’s mind with negativity, but once the seed of doubt is planted, then...
If Baldr followed Loki’s advice, it wouldn’t be long before he saw the villagers’ conditions improve—because Loki came here to kill his counterpart.
As long as he succeeded in killing his counterpart, the curse afflicting this village would dissipate.
Even if he failed and the counterpart escaped, Loki could use his divine power to dispel the curse hanging over this village.
At that time, Loki could subtly spread rumors in the village, making it impossible for Baldr not to believe he was the cursed child.
After planting the seed of doubt, Loki did not say much more to Baldr. Riding his horse, he advanced toward the temple behind the village under Baldr’s increasingly doubtful gaze.
As Loki approached the temple, his heartbeat quickened, sensing something inside constantly summoning him.
He knew this was the connection between himself and his counterpart.
In Azeroth, he had never felt this sensation because he had always been in Kalimdor and the Broken Isles, while Loki was in Northrend; the distance was too great.
In fact, he had already felt this sensation when he neared the village, but it intensified as he got closer.
He could even sense the counterpart’s emanation of joy.
“Heh, I hope you’re still so happy later!” Loki sneered, the tentacle sword appearing in his hand as he strode into the temple.
This was a temple of Odin.
But the Odin statue outside was already in ruins.
In Loki’s sight, the entire temple was shrouded in endless dark power.
Following the source of the dark power, Loki soon arrived at a hidden basement deep within the temple.
Inside the basement, besides a black double-eared urn on the altar with a rune attached, there was nothing else.
Without a doubt, the soul of the evil god Loki of this world was sealed inside this urn.
“Come, break the seal, and I will grant you endless power!” ethereal voices whispered by his ear.
Yet Loki was unmoved and raised his tentacle sword.
“A mere sealed loser...Just obediently hand over your power to me!” With a cold snort, Loki’s giant sword transformed into several enormous tentacles that tightly wrapped the sealed urn and instantly shattered the rune seal on it.
As the seal broke, the soul of the evil god Loki inside the urn excitedly tried to rush out and possess Loki.
But the soul had barely appeared before it was bound by those tentacles.
“How is this possible? Who exactly are you?” The evil god Loki was shocked that his soul was bound. These tentacles were physical, so how could they grasp his soul? Even more terrifying, these tentacles were continuously siphoning his power.
“Heh~ Who am I? Don’t you feel it? I am you!” Loki looked at the purple soul trapped by the tentacles of the ancient god and grinned wickedly.