Ikuta wakes up and has some food , he goes to Penia's trial door . Which was where he started exercising , the trials were about the struggles of poverty that were recorded in the past times . He was glad everything inside was real and carried rocks to the walls to protect the city .
There wasn't anything about solving a problem but he cleared the trial faster than he thought and was led to three doors , he took the third one that led him back to the room " Huh that was easy "
He grabbed Gungnir to locate that what he was looking for was inside Plutus's reward room . Ikuta went inside to find a brightly glowing indigo ore and grabbed it " Perfect " He said with a smile on his face and heard a voice .
" Hey , kid over here ? " " Huh someone around " Gungnir pointed at the voice which was a big broad sword " Yes you kid " " The sword is talking " " I'll have you know it's me Stork the legendary blacksmith "
" What I thought you were died " " I thought I was too when that weird thing showed up " Ikuta thought that the blacksmith somehow survived the denier's power .
" Before I get you one question did you have a father or a mother ? " " Weird question I did have a mother who told me that I was born after a war , why of all things you ask me that "
Ikuta grabbed a picture of Claire and showed it to him " You mean like this " " What how is she still alive ? " " Very long story Stork , I honestly don't want to say this but Harkness already told me that but you know that weird thing that showed up ? "
" Oh yeah they somehow easily killed my friends I didn't even notice how it happened but Penia , Plutus and Aristaeus just disappeared the moment they appeared I'm not sure how I survived " " I know what that weird thing is , you called it the destruction right ? "
Stork was surprised to learn that Ikuta knew what he called it " How do you know I called it destruction " Ikuta took a deep breath " I already said it's a long story "
Ikuta started telling Stork about the denier which he called Father and relates Harkness's discovery that they were siblings at different times because their parent created them and told Stork more about the denier .
" I can't believe it " " So can you tell me what kind of ruins you made it's so weird first it made illusions and then it made me give and then there was Penia's harsh trials and Plutus's just rewards " " I made them so that they could enchant their powers into the ruins "
Ikuta thinks about the other kinds of gods but for now , he needs to look for the violet light that's in the same realm " Okay then you don't happen to have a spatial pouch with you right ? " " What for ? "
" I want to get all these treasure " " Don't bother with that I have another solution for that " Stork confidently said , Ikuta followed Stork's instruction and opened a room .
" Wow secret room " " Exactly little bro , now I had planned to add souls into weapons but I can't do that right now so you will have to follow my instructions "
Ikuta followed Stork's instructions and finally , he started the mechanism " All right now the sword that I'm currently inhabiting can use a remote activation which I've been enchanting but I had to exhaust most of the magic stored inside it "
" Wait do you know that this is covered by soil and plants ? " " Oh that could be a problem " Ikuta remembers his race and smiled " No worries I'll grab the snow globe before it gets buried " Stork had some doubts but having heard the stories Ikuta told him he instructed him to add another mechanism to help .
" Good now with the light set up all we have to do is leave and activate the mechanisms remotely " Ikuta leaves the ruins and Stork uses his sword body to activate the mechanism to shrink the structure .
Runes starts to glow from the inside of the structure and finally , it shrinks and covers itself in a protective glass which signals Ikuta to throw Gungnir and grab it .
The vegetation and soil on top fell and filled up the hole , while someone watching smiled at them .
Ikuta used Gungnir to look for the violet light " So you also sent your soul out of your body ? " " That's how I lived although sitting around as a sword , it was boring like that , I used to be able to talk to several dead souls in the underworld which was how I was able to learn , too bad nobody is coming to this realm because nobody dies here "
Ikuta held the structure inside a snow globe which Stork calls the Temple of Plenty or just cornucopia " You know Aristaeus ? " " Yeah he was one of my friends along with Dionysus among the other gods who are in the underworld heck I even know the daughter of Loki and the world serpent "
" Do you know where Loki is ? " " Yeah I even know that Nari was also trapped in his remains never to be reunited with his older Ragnarok-bringing siblings unlike Vali who had been turned into a wolf and died "
Stork continues ranting about thinks related to Loki but not Loki himself " I swear Odin was probably like this wolf will kill you and you think you can change the possibility that it was your actions that made it possible for Fenrir to try to kill you "
Ikuta assumes that Nari was likely inside the Mimic right now because of the consumption ' I might be able to get Hel to my side ' " By the way Loki goes by a different name now "
" He does ? " " Yes pretty sure being the trickster god and being the father of world-ending children gave him quite a bad reputation so he abandoned his old name " " So where do I find him ? "
" Not sure he has been gone for a while why are you looking for him " " Because it would be good if I could bring him to Hel " " That could work Loki did make sure that Baldr was dead so that the dead don't have to be so depressing "
" So he was supposed to be a good father ? " " Yes despite all of the problems he had caused he was still a good father why do you think he has two wives one married and a mistress yet neither of them had a problem with the trickster ? "
They enter a forest with no animals but plenty of bugs " Oh by the way Arachne had followed Aristaeus here so let me call her out " Stork used the sword's magic to call Arachne while Ikuta continues to follow the direction Gungnir .
Some bug monsters started appearing and Stork stopped yelling " Oh she's coming " Ikuta moved away from the insect monsters and finally a giant spider came " Stork ? You look different " " No the sword is Stork " Stork said " This boy Ikuta is just someone who happens to find my ruin he is very amazing "
Arachne looks at Ikuta " Hmm I can't really tell if he is this young " " The bees told me about you " " Forget about that , I'm just calling you because he has Gungnir's spear and Hermes's powers and even the aegis "
Arachne scorns hearing the word " Sorry , I shouldn't do that if Athena is already dead so what if he has the powers and treasures of god ? " " We can leave "
" Stork ... Are you stupid ? " Arachne said " It's okay we don't need to use Gungnir it's just something I use to pass the spatial distortion of Ginnungagap "
" Oh of course you can use the portal mechanism on my ruins " Ikuta was surprised to hear that he had something like that " And you told me to shrink it ? " Ikuta asked " Well I wanted to see if the ruins still worked "
" You don't have to be mad at Stork someone else should do it " Arachne said " Just resize it like normal it's not like it can't stand on its own " Ikuta grabbed the globe looking at the structure " By the way it has a convenient function to be able to show how far it will resize "
" I mean it is the only way I can make a portal home but first I need to find something violet " " I can help tell me what it is ? " Ikuta opens Odin's eye and peeks at it " It's a piece of violet wood and it's inside a cave with some webs and "
Odin's eyes narrows to look at it " Is this your house Arachne " " I do have a piece of violet wood come on hop on my back and let me take you two there "
Arachne brings them and reaches the place " Oh this is the right one is okay for me to have it ? " " Why not it's not like I don't have a shortage of it " " Alright now you just have to resize my building " " Yeah but would it even let me go to other realms ? " " Sure where do you wanna go ? "
" I need to go to Muspelheim , Vanaheim , Aflheim and then go back to Nfilheim to get blue " " Well I got them all in the ruins " Ikuta looked up " Is there a sun here ? " " Yep most realms do " Ikuta wondered if he was mistaken to assume that there was no sun and asked .
" Are the suns and moons really gods ? " " Nope the suns are too big " " But Nyx exists maybe she's why there are no sun gods " " Yep a few stories just don't match with our current world " Stork said .
With three lights gathered he resized the structure and went in leaving Stork and Arachne at the ruins . Ikuta walked to Muspelheim feeling the same height on him ' good thing it didn't burn anything '
His eye opened to inform him of the locating a red burning charcoal , he could tell this place would easily be sold because of the fuel but the problem was the carbon footprint .
He looked around the burning realm of primordial fire , he saw many charred skeletons that remained burning and wondered if they had the same kind of fate as how the ice giants that were frozen .
The eye told him that the souls were still alive and he looked around wondering why they were like this " Why is this place on fire ? " He puts that thought aside and finds the charcoal that was glowing red .
He grabbed it feeling how warm it was ' It's hot ' he looked behind him to see the distant swirling portal that led back to Stork and Arachne and saw someone come out . He quickly hides but not without Odin's eye cramming information into him .
' Another otherworlder ? ' he already knew that he had to kill this man who thought calling himself Surtr was a good idea ' he even has the seed of madness in him , maybe that's what Hera is using to control '
He avoids "surtr" knowing his abilities don't contain scouting his location , preparing Gungnir to fly out of the realm because of the destructive power of Surtr and didn't want to lose Hestia's limited blessing ' Wait the eye said he is looking for a sword '
He thinks it might be related to the sword that the real Surtr has ' So the real Surtr died at ragnarok ' The eye gave him some information about how Surtr burned Yggdrasil before Yggdrasil disappeared .
Ikuta could tell the threat that lay in this otherworlder ' I have to keep his power away from Yukina ' Ikuta wondered how he could deal with Surtr , he brought out batteries filled with the frost of Niflheim .
' I think the best idea is to fight as soon as possible ' " Where is that kid ? " Ikuta wrapped Niflheim's frost in darkness and threw it at Surtr . Surtr didn't see the incoming attack and was hit " Ack "
He felt the freezing cold at his left arm and turned to look at where Ikuta was hiding " So you're over there " Surtr blasted the fire into him and Ikuta used the Aegis to shield it " That's Hina's power " " And that fire isn't yours "
Ikuta knew how to use the Aegis it was no different than the runes , Surtr closed his eye to avoid looking at it " How did you survive the petrification ? " Ikuta wasn't gonna answer and summoned Harkness's umbrella pointing it downwards .
" That's a secret " he tapped the umbrella on the ground to produce a pillar of darkness . Hearing it Surtr blasted fire towards Ikuta and with the advantage of this realm . Surtr opens his eyes only for Ikuta to use the Aegis , he closes it hoping to avoid being petrified and fires shots at Ikuta .
Ikuta used the dark flame to send the fire away and wondered what he could do . He knows that Surtr believed the power of petrification was still present in the Aegis and yelled " AEGIS " he thinks of how he could kill Surtr and somehow feels some kind of anger .
At the house , a few Voidlings were growling at the painting more specifically at Surtr . Ikuta noticed it and turned to the location of the painting that was in " Can you help me ? "
The voidlings who were growling at Surtr immediately pounced into the painting distorting space and opening a portal " AEGIS " Surtr clenches his own eyes even more and the voidlings started attacking .
Ikuta buffed them with white magic giving them more fire resistance that they already have . One leaped and kicked him to another while Ikuta kept screaming Aegis . Another voidlings swung its claws to slam Surtr to the ground and Ikuta used that chance to bring Gungnir through his body .
" Calm down " he told the voidlings who wanted to end Surtr's life , Ikuta planned to discover the reason for their anger through Surtr's memories " I'm not finished "
Surtr ignited his body and Ikuta pushed the voidlings away while he pulled out the burning Gungnir which he quickly shared his blessing of Hestia using Hermes's thieving power .
Surtr struggles to get off the ground leaving the charcoal ground with fire " I've turned planes to fuel so why won't you DIE " Surtr erupts with flames and Ikuta quickly blasts ice keeping any Voidlings from harm .
" RUN " Surtr frees himself from the ice " Bad match Kid " the ground glows and erupts with fire , Ikuta looks at the voidlings knowing that Surtr doesn't even consider them as a threat and the eye tells him more about what he just said about turning planes into fuel .
Ikuta creates a sword of ice and darkness " I'd still win " they both sprinted toward each other and exchanged blows , Surtr was filled with confidence in his granted power while Ikuta's was backed by years of training .
Surtr strikes with fire and Ikuta strikes with technique and a sword that can handle his strength . Ikuta slowly gets the upper hand and Surtr erupts his flames again .
Ikuta was annoyed how this was likely to become a competition of stamina and while Surtr had the advantage because the realm the amount he could exert was still limited the same way Ikuta's stamina is limited to how much lifeforce .
' But I can change it ' " Aegis " Surtr quickly closed his eyes and Ikuta swung his sword passing Surtr and slashing his eyes " Argh , That's dirty " " Even though you burned worlds " Ikuta said with a low voice .
Surtr turned to Ikuta and blindly slashed down at Ikuta . Ikuta easily dodged and saw that there was no fire in his bleeding eyes . Surtr feels his disadvantage immediately goes full power .
His whole body was covered with flame but his eyes were bleeding without any fire . Ikuta had to narrow his eyes at the bright light and watched the Voidlings shake with fear .
" I can still fight " Surtr's seed of madness made him spew fire toward Ikuta , he heard the voidlings' movements and aimed for them too . Ikuta was about to do a decisive blow but remembers the destruction he caused when he raced Hermes and thinking of the realm's stability he held back and chose the harder option .
" Slowly but surely " Surtr turned to Ikuta , Ikuta used the seeing dark spell and removed all the light seeing only Surtr's body and the voidlings as well as the ground but not any fire " Aegis " he felt Surtr blast fire and move from were he felt an increase of heat .
Surtr felt something wrong whenever Ikuta said Aegis , all his fire seemed to not hit a thing " Aegis " He used both hands and short a big blast of fire and felt it hit near the estimated place he heard Ikuta yell . Ikuta grabbed the edge of the light barrier and used it to move out .
Surtr tried everything to shoot out flames but every move was easy to read for Ikuta . As Ikuta got closer he clenched Gungnir protecting it with frost and stabs through Surtr's eyes and through his skull .
And with one last effort Surtr blew out all the primordial fire of Surtr out before succumbing to the pain of scalding and Gungnir through his head .
Odin's eye's told Ikuta Surtr was dead " Finally that was hard " having to avoid breaking the realm and igniting his own body for the friction of the speed he might achieve while also protecting the Voidlings was difficult .
He went to them and pats them " You did good thanks for distracting him " he guided them back to the portal while taking the seed of madness and Surtr's flame and soul to see Stork still around and a tiny spider
" You're back and safe " Stork said surprised " Yep also don't mind them " Ikuta threw each of the voidlings a piece of frozen lifeforce water " Okay next is Vanaheim "
" Wait kid you have to be careful about these otherworlders " Stork said " I already know what they are like they have seeds of madness that makes them easier to control by Hera and they probably destroyed a lot of worlds " Stork was surprised at how much Ikuta already knew .
" Wow that's a lot more than I knew " " They might have a secret base somewhere outside and I think they destroyed their homes for it " Stork looks at the voidlings " They do look new " " Yeah I'm planning to get as many surviving Voidlings as possible "
" What a hero " Ikuta smiled " Nah that's too hard " Ikuta looked at the other portal and went through them visiting the last two realms to get the light and returned to ask " Do the otherworlders have some way to talk to each other ? "
" I don't know I'm not an otherworlder " Stork said " They probably have their own place to talk " Ikuta looked at the hourglass and decided to extract Hina's soul and extracted both of their memories from their souls .
" Amazing , soul magic is a really hard magic to learn " Ikuta nodded and used the aegis to see the memories " This is useful " He saw how Surtr destroyed worlds and Hina was very passive in the use of her abilities only doing it for personal desires like getting ingredients for makeup .
' So otherworlders conquered different worlds that came from Ginnungagap's seeds of creation but they also have seeds of madness which they don't know about ' " What if they have traps here ? "
" What are you talking about " Stork asked " It could be possible I have been evading these otherworlders all the time when they visit they never really come to this forest because it's all bugs I found that they hate tiny critters so I made sure to hunt the big ones and cultivate the small ones "
' So that's why we see big bugs running when you are around but not small ones ' " They ended up being cannon fodder though but thanks to that the trees kept growing which I would periodically chop off or the otherworlders would come and take them " Arachne said .
Ikuta looked at the trees and wondered if he could bring them home " Stork can we shrink this entire forest " " I mean I can but more importantly why do you want that ? " " Well so that we could let some fruits grow " " Are you gonna do the same to Vanaheim and Alfheim ? " Ikuta thinks " Can I "
" I mean if you have enough mana to draw the runes " " Well I am gonna have to use it for more is there enough mana ? "
" You did give quite a lot of mana for the building but it would be more than enough to shrink this forest I have a better formula if you only want to move the forest once so I can save more mana for the ruins " Ikuta remembers the snow globe and wonders if Stork's formula has to do with the ones at home .
Harkness was watching the place with the dark eye and watched Claire and Louis start replacing all the globes with identical versions of them ' Why are they doing that ? ' she observed that they packed all the globes and took them away wondering what was going to happen to them .
In ginnungagap , worlds suddenly start appearing " Now there are no snow globes containing worlds at the house " but while the worlds appeared the otherworlders searched through every one of them to see which one of them was theirs .
Harkness could feel one otherworlder at the midnight mansion ' So that's what mother did to them ' Harkness used the dark flame to appear in the mansion and beside a chest ' If that's the case I'll have to deal with her myself '
The door behind her opens a girl with a golden bow shot at her " Huh I was sure someone was here " The girl with Apollo's bow looked at the chest and opened it , no matter how bright the arrow was it didn't shine in the chest .
She reached down to feel it only for Harkness's darkness affinity to forcibly enter her " What ? " she struggled to get it away but the affinity latched into her arms . She grabbed the arrow to stab it only to see that the arrow had a dark tip " ahhh "
Harkness grabs the Pandora box that contains a bit of her mother's powers and the defender's soul that the power was attached to ' There's a bit of a hole here ' Harkness mends it a little bit and the girl's body moves under Harkness's strings .
' But with this bow , he should be able to get the cyclop brothers' favor , I might go down with him ' she got answers from the girl learning that she was here to investigate whether this was the world they came from or not .
' I don't know if Hera is still alive bringing more otherworlders here but I'll have to watch out in case she does unless she runs out of powers to bestow ' Harkness gathers more information from the girl learning more about the otherworlders .
While Arachne stays on Ikuta , he shrinks the entire temple of plenty and finishes drawing the runes for shrunking the entire forest into a small globe " I'm sleepy " he yawns ready to got to sleep inside the slik bed that Arachne made using the silk she had gathered .
" What a soft silk " " I know if only I'm human enough to enjoy it " Ikuta looks at Arachne and promises " I'll try to look for one " Arachne smiles internally " Thanks " " if only I could get my body back "
" Shut up and be grateful you didn't end up like those three " Arachne said and Stork remembered when the three gods were simply having fun with him only for that to appear .
Plutus , Penia and Aristaeus disappeared in the blink of an eye , he saw the thing that was present at the exact same moment they disappeared and destroyed his body but not his soul which was transported to his latest sword .
He had been trapped until Arachne came back and couldn't believe that Aristaeus was dead and didn't even glance at Stork's direction .
Arachne took some time away from the ruins and just when she was about to forgive him Hina appeared fearing the Aegis power that Athena used to imprison Medusa she avoided it trapping Stork inside his ruins hoping to keep Hina from his place .
" Yeah Little bro do you know how to undo it ? " " I can but I don't think I want to use it " " Why ? " " Because it's like giving someone else the pain I used Pandora's box for Harkness but I feel very guilty doing that so now I'm just gathering as many souls that were bad and using it on them "
" I see so if I help you gather the bad souls you would be able to free mother's power from them ? " " Yeah I could but the problem is a god's soul is very powerful " " Oh you don't have to worry about it , after all my friends were very minor deities "
" Amazing how it is their weakness that becomes your advantage " Arachne said " I'm going to sleep good night guys " Ikuta yawned and went straight to sleep hoping he could finish the Bifrost by tommorow .
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