Chapter 530 - Ragnarok Begins (1)
A couple of years had passed after Arnold turned Thor into his summon when a bomb was dropped over him by the former. It was regarding what the other gods were planning and things did not look good for them.
"Dragons and Demons? The gods would really reconcile with their worst enemies just to get rid of me?" Arnold blurted out.
All of them were back on earth where they were discussing their next move. Arnold and his summons were not the only ones included in the talks. Leaders from all the worlds Arnold had conquered and the earth was there with him as well.
It was a unique and nerve-wracking experience for the humans to sit around the table with Gods and monsters together. In hindsight, Arnold was the only one who could have made some like this possible. However, now was not the time to admire his strength and capabilities.
After all, they had more important matters to discuss... like the gods deciding to make their move. Thor already knew about their plans and had informed Arnold about it as well. He did so for his own greed, but he knew if he did not help Arnold, he could kiss Sif bye forever.
However, none of them had thought the gods would be able to do something like that in a matter of mere years. It was completely unprecedented, to say the least. Dragon, Demons and God, all three of them had their own reasons to hate each other.
Arnold looked towards Heimdall who was not looking him in the eyes anymore. It was Heimdall who told him that most of the differences between them were irreconcilable. After all, all of them had bloodied their hands with each other's blood at one point or another.
But Heimdall's prediction had proved to be wrong for the first time. Something must have prompted the gods to force such an alliance among each other. And Arnold knew exactly what it was.
In the last two years, Arnold had been relentlessly capturing world after world. Thus both his, primal power and universal influence had increased manifolds. He wasn't a god yet, but he was still stronger than most of them. His expanded list of summons was a 'living' proof of that.
From the gods of Egypt to the gods of Japan, Arnold had killed, resurrected and tamed dozens of gods. As of now, there were only four spots left in his initial list of 30 summons. Just to name some of them, Arnold's forces now included the kinds of gods like Raijin and Anubis, just to name a few.
His forces were strong enough to invade worlds and rule over them without any problems, but they were in no shape or form enough to fight the combined army of gods, dragons and demons. As for why Dragons and Demons were helping the gods... Arnold knew the reason pretty well.
He had killed Tiamut and when... turned the legitimate dragon queen into his pet. As everyone knew, dragons are prideful creatures who would rather die than bow their heads in front of anyone else, let alone a human. So, by siding with the gods, they might be trying to get revenge for the 'disrespect' Arnold had shown to them.
As for the demons... when it was no secret. Demons hated Arnold. He had already slain quite a lot of them. So even if they would have to tolerate the gods, they would not leave any opportunity to kill him.
The more they thought about it, the grimmer things got. In the end, there wasn't much Arnold could do bout them. But as it is said, when one door closes, another one opens up. There was a ray of hope in the clouds of defeat and despair.
Not all the gods agreed with the decision to make an alliance with being they have spent their entire lives either fighting or hating. Especially Asgardians. Dragons and Giants were two species they hated with all of their beings. Dying by Arnold's hands was a much better option than teaming up with them.
This essentially made Asgard an ally from being an enemy. But that wasn't all. The way Arnold had conquered the worlds and gods alike, had made almost all of the lesser gods follow his command as well. representatives of both of these groups of gods were also sitting there in a meeting with the rest of them.
In fact, they were the ones to inform him about the alliance along with a certain piece of positive news as well.
"Olympus has been divided. Hera and Zeus are officially out of wedlock for the first time in... eh it doesn't matter," said Baldr, who had been crowned the new prince of Asgard considering Thor's absence and Vale's critical condition, "What matters is that Olympus is not as strong as they once were and Hera's side wants to aide you in the upcoming battle."
Arnold got silent as he heard those words. They were both comforting and troubling at the same time. It was safe to say that Olympus had fallen. But then why the hell did he feel as if Zeus had only gotten stronger?
Baldr seemed to have read his mind and with the help of Mimir explained everything that had happened in the last two years on Asgard. In a gist, things were happening as the giantess had prophesied they would...
Loki had disappeared overnight and the gates to hell had been sealed off from the inside. Which meant one thing... Loki had been colluding with the demons and the army of hell. As it was said in the prophecy.
As a precaution, the gods of sun and moon, Sol and Mani, had been hidden away in a safe location by Asgardians. Odin had ordered them to do so because the events of Ragnarok would get kicked in once both Sol and Mani died. As Baldr gave Arnold that information, everything started to make sense.
"Loki isn't the only one trying to make Ragnarok happen. Zeus is in on it as well. That's why he is not worried in the slightest even after losing his pantheon." Arnold mumbles left everyone there utterly shocked, "They don't only want to get rid of me, but everything that stands in their way. They want to rebuild the universe in their image.. That has been their plan since day one."