A sphere of light roughly thirty meters in diameter floated three stories above the ground. Its mystical radiance cast a stark white glow over Ymir’s fallen body and all of us surrounding him.
“It’s just like in the Celestial Realm…”
The Light of Creation.
Had the enormous amount of magical power Ymir had been in the process of consuming been released once more upon his death?
Solana and Lu beside me were both overwhelmed by the sight. The other gods and adventurers seemed just as speechless.
The snowy plain was utterly silent as Odin and Freyja stepped forward before us. The Chief God looked up at the fallen giant and planted his spear against the ground like a staff.
“This is the magical power meant for creation, crystallized once more.”
Beneath the sphere of light lay Ymir’s enormous body, nearly forty meters long. The titan was slowly turning into black ash, crumbling away. When chunks of ash broke apart into dust, countless particles of white, shimmering magical power were released from within. The black ash and magical energy were swept upward toward the sphere, as though drawn there by some unseen force.
Still facing away from us, Odin continued speaking.
“Do you remember? Once before, Ymir had his Heart of Frost and Flame taken from him in the same manner. I killed Ymir then as well. Yet he was resurrected, and the end came upon us.”
I exchanged a glance with Solana.
I remembered the story the gods had told us.
“A thousand years ago, Ymir and the others attacked alongside the monsters, right?”
Odin nodded.
His white beard swayed in the cold wind.
“Yes. And the reason for that is happening right before our eyes now. Only by witnessing this scene have I finally understood it.”
The cheers of victory had vanished from the snowy plain.
The black ash and magical power rising from the titan’s enormous body—and the sphere of light, some thirty meters across, greedily absorbing them—gave the scene an unsettling presence.
“The Primordial Titan Ymir possesses a unique ability: he can devour other beings. That ability remains even when his body is shattered into pieces like this.”
Ymir’s outstretched right hand crumbled completely, turning to ash. A vast cloud of black ash rose into the sky, drawing closer to the sphere of light. It was almost as if the ash itself possessed a will of its own.
“If creating matter from magical power is something extraordinary, then destroying matter must be extraordinary as well. Ymir’s enormous body has been transformed into black ash, but his ability to consume magical power and use it to recover remains intact. Therefore, if we simply leave him like this—”
I froze.
I turned around.
Mia-san and the others had stiffened, their expressions grim. The gods looked the same.
I turned back to the Chief God.
“…Eventually, Ymir will regain his strength?”
Odin nodded.
The other adventurers on the snowy plain began murmuring among themselves. Perhaps Odin was somehow conveying the same explanation to every adventurer here through some divine power.
Mia-san stepped forward, the chains around her right arm rattling.
“Hey, God. Are you saying… after everything we fought through, it was all for nothing?”
Odin shook his head.
“No. With his body destroyed to this extent, even if we were to leave this sphere of light alone, it would take Ymir a very long time to resurrect. A thousand years. Two thousand, perhaps—either way, to you, it would be no different from him never waking again.”
I let out a relieved breath.
The scene continued unchanged, ash and light gathering within the sphere of magical power. Even so, a sense of relief seemed to spread among the adventurers surrounding Ymir’s body. If he wouldn’t awaken for that long, then this battle really was no different from a victory.
Solana spoke.
“Odin.”
Her golden eyes turned toward Odin and Freyja standing beside him.
For some reason, the gods behind us also wore slightly grim expressions.
“You have another idea, do you not?”
“Heh. Indeed.”
Odin finally turned to face us.
“There is a way to ensure that Ymir truly never awakens again.”
He pointed toward the sphere of light.
“We carry this sphere to the Celestial Realm and continue the process of creation. Ymir will never awaken, and the ash currently being absorbed into the sphere will become part of the next world.”
Odin’s gaze shifted toward my pouch. The Heart of Frost and Flame that I had reclaimed was resting inside.
Lu pressed her lips together and tugged on my sleeve.
I met my little sister’s eyes. We exchanged a silent nod.
There was no way I could forget what this god had been plotting.
“…Odin. You were trying to create another world and move only the humans you deemed worthy into it. Have you truly not abandoned that idea?”
So that was why Solana and the others had looked so grim.
They were wary that, after seeing the magical power of creation, Odin might resume his old scheme.
The god shook his head, leaning on his spear.
“That is not the case. To begin with, the magical power of creation has diminished. For that reason, it will take an exceedingly long time to create the next world. By the time that world is complete, you will all have been gone for a very long time. And furthermore…”
Odin glanced at Freyja beside him.
“I can no longer wield the power of Creation.”
For that brief moment, Odin’s wry smile stripped away his usual imposing presence.
He looked utterly exhausted.
“To create something, one needs the power to give form to an image born from the heart. Imagination. The will of the Goddess of Fertility toward humanity. The will of a sister to protect her family. As for me, I can no longer muster such strength of will.”
His gray eyes lowered.
I found myself thinking about all the things this man had seen—and kept within his heart.
“You…”
Odin had spent so long trying to find a way to oppose the monsters, almost entirely on his own.
Even the Seal that covered the world, and his plan to escape afterward using the power of Creation, were things he had apparently kept hidden from the other gods.
The way he went about it was something I still couldn’t accept. And yet, in his own way, he had been fighting too.
Freyja placed a hand against her chest and continued for him.
“To create a new world, one needs enough strength of will to imagine what that next world will be.”
Through exhaustion and decline, he had lost his imagination—a power to create. In fact, during his first scheme, Odin had manipulated Freyja and forced her to carry out the creation of the new world. In his next scheme, he had manipulated Lu.
“I have said more than I needed to.”
As Odin lowered his chin, his eyes had already regained their usual sharpness.
“Freyja will carry out the Creation. As the Goddess of Fertility, she will create a world rich with greenery. It will take a very long time, and so the other gods will have ample opportunity to witness the process.”
Thor finally broke into a grin.
“Haha! So if you try anything funny, that means I’m allowed to call down lightning on Odin, right?”
Odin did not smile.
He turned around and looked over the gathered gods.
“You will all need to lend your magical power. So will the other gods currently residing in the labyrinths across the surface world. This is necessary to ensure that Ymir can never be resurrected.”
Thor, the God of Thunder.
Loki, the God of Mischief.
Uru, the God of the Hunt.
Sigris, the God of Medicine.
Each folded their arms, seemingly lost in thought.
Loki, dressed in black robes, lazily waved a hand before beginning to speak.
“…Does that make sense? The thing known as Ymir cannot simply be destroyed. So, while creating another world, we will alter what he is into something else.”
Loki’s eyes gleamed.
“If you wanted to compare it to Ymir returning to the state of an egg, then it would be like cracking that egg open and turning it into a cake.”
“…I don’t know. Is that really the only option? What if Ymir resurrects in the new world we create?”
“He most likely will not.”
Odin pointed the tip of his spear toward the sphere of light.
“I cannot sense the ferocity of that black ash trying to devour the sphere. If anything, it seems as though the ash itself wishes to become part of the Creation.”
I looked over Ymir’s crumbling body. The black ash is indeed drifting toward the sphere of light, but afterward, it simply floated peacefully around the sphere.
It almost looked like a shining star surrounded by a cloud of dust.
Odin added,
“The Heart of Frost and Flame is merely a source of power. Ymir’s memories and will reside within that enormous body that has now turned to ash. Therefore, it is the ash that should contain them now.”
The moment he said “will”, something came to mind.
The words Ymir and I had exchanged during our battle in the void.
I interrupted the two gods.
“Ah, wait! Ymir was hungry.”
But simply devouring things would only leave him hungrier. Because what Ymir was truly hungry for was loneliness. My voice trembled slightly under the attention of the gods, but this was something I wanted them to understand.
“Ymir never had a family or companions. Or rather… he couldn’t have them. That’s why I don’t think he could understand Lu and me—or anyone else.”
During our battle, I think Ymir and I came to understand one thing about each other: that we could never truly understand one another. We were simply too different. Between Ymir and us, there was a cold, desolate void stretching wide open.
But—
“Still… maybe something inside him changed.”
If Ymir wanted to fill that loneliness, then he needed a family. He needed companions. He couldn’t keep devouring things. He needed to create something of his own. Just as Ymir had once created a god.
Ymir had known nothing but the feeling of hunger. But perhaps something had changed within him. Perhaps that was why, now, he wished for Creation.
Loki shrugged.
“So once Creation begins, Ymir’s ash will no longer seek resurrection. Instead, it will wish to become part of the new world. That ash will transform into water, rock, and countless other things in the next world.
But in the end, we can’t really know what he’s feeling, can we? The ash is probably only moving in response to Ymir’s final thoughts. And there’s no way for us to ask him what he was thinking in his final moments.”
I lowered my chin.
“Yeah. I suppose the answer will come a thousand years from now.”
“Good grief. The gods have just been handed one enormous homework assignment.”
Loki threw both hands up dramatically.
We still had no idea what would truly happen from here.
Solana looked up at the sphere of light.
“I, too, sense less fear from the ash than I did before. Perhaps that giant, in his own way, is seeking companions and a family, and is participating in the Creation for that reason.”
Not simply to devour things. But to create something together.
I looked at Ymir as his enormous body continued to crumble away.
“For now, let’s believe that.”
Even if we could never truly understand him, perhaps we could at least have taken a step toward one another.
…By the time Creation was complete, Ymir would already have been absorbed into that sphere of magical power. He probably would never get to see the next world with his own eyes. But that was no different from how we would never see our own distant descendants.
For a while, we simply stood there, watching Ymir’s body crumble into ash.
Lu took my hand. I squeezed hers in return.
“Well then. As for the matter of Creation, that concludes—”
Odin planted the butt of his spear against the ground.
Thud.
The sound echoed across the snowy plain.
“We gods will return to the Celestial Realm. We will likely never descend to the surface again.”
A murmur swept through the adventurers. I looked around at Thor and the others.
Thor, towering over everyone. Loki in his black robes. Sigris in blue armor. Uru in his hunting gear.
And then—Heimdall, the God of the Alarm, clad in red armor.
The words slipped from my lips in a daze.
“…Does that mean we’re saying goodbye?”
Heimdall stepped forward.
He gave a wry smile and shrugged.
“We’ll be watching from the Celestial Realm. But… honestly, I had a feeling this was coming. If we don’t return to the Celestial Realm and recover our strength, the gods themselves may cease to exist.”
Uru, the God of Hunting, took over.
“Returning to the Celestial Realm so soon after finally being freed from the Seal makes me sad, too. But, well… we’ve used far too much of our strength to remain on the surface. And on top of that, we have this little job called ‘Creation’ waiting for us.”
He sighed.
“…A job, huh? Ah… I just hope it isn’t another insanely demanding one this time…”
Sigris, the God of Medicine, smiled.
“Perhaps it was never meant for the gods to lead humanity for so long in the first place.”
“Come to think of it, I suppose the past few months have been the unusual part of the kingdom’s history…”
Loki nodded solemnly.
Thor raised Mjölnir high.
“I swear it on my hammer. I’ll be watching over all of you, too.”
The God of Thunder grinned.
“Hold your head high, Rion. You’re a fine warrior now, aren’t you?”
At first, I had been frightened by the gods. Sometimes I had been confused by them, too.
But now that they were leaving…
The thought of never seeing them again left a dull ache in my chest. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the gold coin. The coin was blank now. There was no one inside it anymore. The flat surface reflected my face, looking as though I might cry, while the morning sunlight flashed brilliantly across its surface.
Odin narrowed his eyes.
“…At first, I gave you that gold coin.”
“I was always the one being helped.”
“That is not so. Through Alarm, you continued working as an wake up caller. You kept using your strength. That is why we have reached this moment.”
The corners of Odin’s eyes softened ever so slightly, and the edge of his mouth curved upward. It was faint, but there was no mistaking it. It was a smile.
“Your own actions are what saved you. Thank you. You showed me what humanity is. What strength truly means.”
The snowy wind tugged at Odin’s beard and robes. The Chief God gazed at the adventurers gathered around us, as though etching every one of them into his memory.
Then he bowed his head.
Deeply.
Profoundly.
“And… I am sorry. I never tried to understand the strength of humans—the strength of adventurers.”
Odin raised his head and spoke with solemn conviction.
“The gods will withdraw their hands from this world. From here on, it is your era—the age of adventure.”
When Odin fell silent, the adventurers around us gradually began gathering around the gods. To say their farewells.
Mia-san went to Thor. Felix-san went to Loki. One after another, everyone went to the gods who had given them strength, saying their final goodbyes.
Lu went to Freyja, and the two embraced. Then Freyka turned her blue eyes toward me.
“Thank you, Luisia-san. And thank you, Rion-san.”
Her smile warmed my heart, as though spring had suddenly arrived in that one little spot.
“You two are strong siblings. You even saved us siblings.”
I wondered if, before long, the global message would announce to the entire world that the gods had returned to the Celestial Realm.
I brushed away my tears and looked at the gods.
“Everyone…”
I wanted to run over to them, too.
I had to say goodbye.
But my legs wouldn’t move.
My eyes burned. My shoulders began to tremble, little by little, and I could barely force any words out. My vision blurred more and more.
“Thank you.”
There was a word for feelings too deep to put into words, but even that wasn’t enough to describe what I felt for the gods. I am grateful beyond anything words could express. They were the ones who had made me an “adventurer.”
All the gods wore gentle expressions. Sigris, the God of Medicine, clad in blue armor, straightened his posture and gave me a dignified bow.
“Likewise.”
As I narrowed my eyes, his blue hair fluttered in the wind.
Uru, the God of Hunting, dressed in his hunting gear, waved a hand.
“Take care.”
True to the god of nature, even his farewell was as light and carefree as the wind.
Loki’s black robes fluttered as he gave an exaggerated bow.
“I said you had no talent for magic, but I take that back. You weren’t half bad at it, either.”
The God of Mischief winked at me. Thor swept his red hair back like a lion’s mane and rested the thunder hammer Mjölnir on his shoulder.
“You fought well.”
Finally, Heimdall stepped forward. His red armor flashed brightly as it caught the sunlight. He held out his large hand, and I clasped it in a firm handshake.
“…No, thank you, boy with the righteous heart. You have carried on my divine artifact, the Awakening Horn Gjallarhorn, very well.”
The horn trembled inside my pouch.
I opened the pouch at my waist and handed the Awakening Horn Gjallarhorn to the god. The item the god had left behind, the one my father had found and passed down to me was returning to the hands of its rightful owner.
Heimdall raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. My father has already passed so many things on to me. This one belongs in the hands of a god.”
Heimdall reached out with his large hand and gently ruffled my hair.
“Good boy. Take care of yourself.”
At the edge of my vision, a golden light flickered.
I caught my breath.
—That’s right.
Because she had been with me all this time, I had forgotten that she was the same as the others. I couldn’t even imagine saying goodbye to her. I wiped away my tears and looked at the goddess beside me.
“…Solana.”
“Rion.”
The goddess and I gazed into each other’s eyes. More than any of the other gods, she had expended her strength to defeat Ymir. If the other gods had lost so much power that they had no choice but to remain in the Celestial Realm—then surely the same had to be true for Solana.
“I want to remain with you. But…”
She looked straight into my eyes, and my cheeks suddenly burned red.
This wasn’t the time to cry.
“…So do I.”
I answered her and took her hand.
My hand slipped straight through hers.
A chill ran down my spine.
Particles of light began drifting from the goddess’s body, dissolving into the air as though they were simply melting away.
“Are you okay?”
“…The loss of my power seems to be progressing faster than I expected.”
The scenery behind the goddess was far more transparent than it had been moments ago.
Odin approached, leaning on his staff.
“…Regarding Solana.”
The Chief God’s voice rang out, carrying a weight so heavy it was almost a sentence.
“She has lost a tremendous amount of magical power. It would not be surprising if she were to disappear entirely. Even if she returns to the Celestial Realm, the effects of being exposed to the cold magical energy within the Ginnungagap will not simply disappear.”
I pressed on.
“Can’t we get Solana back safely? I’ll swear to anything!”
Just like on the day we first met—if a vow could restore the goddess’s strength, then I would make any vow she asked of me.
Odin spoke.
“…There is, in fact, a ‘vow.’ One that the goddess made to you.”
Solana suddenly touched a finger to her chin.
“I… with Rion…”
—I will be with you, no matter what may come.
Those were the words the goddess had spoken to me in the city. Besides the “Kindest and Strongest,” there was one other vow. A promise shared between the goddess and me.
Odin closed one eye.
“The reason Solana is still able to maintain her existence is because this vow—these feelings—have taken form and are sustaining her existence. Which means there is another path besides returning to the Celestial Realm and simply waiting for her disappearance.”
The Chief God pointed toward my pouch.
Inside it was the Heart of Frost and Flame—the Power of Creation.
“Under ordinary circumstances, such a thing would be impossible. But when it comes to repaying what you and Solana have done for us, how could we not make use of it?”
The Power of Creation could bring things—and even their very essence—into existence.
My eyes widened at the possibility he had just presented.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
