The Nine Realms… the World Tree's lowest layer.
Niflheim…
At the World Tree's roots, gnawing sounds echoed.
A massive black dragon tore at the roots with fervor.
Thud… thud…
"Still working so hard."
A raspy voice emerged from the black mist.
Another enormous shadow stepped slowly from the haze.
"Why are you here in Niflheim, not chasing your sun?"
Nidhogg paused its gnawing.
Its wings spread, revealing a colossal frame.
Nearly blotting out the sky.
A single flap could stir a storm.
Its wingspan stretched thousands of meters.
Yet, before the World Tree's roots, it seemed insignificant.
"The World's seed has formed."
"Even if you snap these roots."
"The World Tree won't perish."
"The gods can use the seed to forge a new world."
Skoll, the sun-chasing wolf, spoke calmly.
"I know that better than you."
"If you came to say that, you can leave."
Nidhogg replied coolly.
It was allied with Skoll.
Their goal aligned: destroy the Asgardians and unleash Ragnarok.
"Do you think your beasts can seize the World Tree's seed?"
"I have confirmed news."
"Odin sought aid from the Sanctuary."
"A powerful Gold Saint has entered the Nine Realms."
"Targeting the seed."
"When gods face gods, a Gold Saint's strength... "
"You know how formidable they are."
Skoll roared, baring its maw.
Nidhogg was mighty.
Even Odin, the god-king, feared it.
Among first-tier gods, it was top-tier.
Skoll felt immense pressure speaking to it.
But it had to come.
"A Gold Saint?"
"Mere bronze humans."
"Have you grown so weak?"
Nidhogg eyed Skoll with disdain.
In the era before the Nine Realms,
When the world was forged,
All gods dwelled in one realm.
Nidhogg had seen Athena's Saints then.
The first Gold Saints, clad in Hephaestus-forged Gold Cloths,
Were formidable.
Golden humans had boundless potential.
Even gods feared them.
The eighth sense was their norm.
Those Gold Saints matched gods in battle.
But now?
Nidhogg sneered mockingly.
Earth's gods waged endless wars.
The Heavenly Realm's gods clashed in chaos.
All vying for Earth's secrets.
The legend of a secret above the gods.
Nidhogg cared little for today's Gold Saints.
"Don't underestimate him."
"From what I know, this Gold Saint rivals the golden humans."
Skoll's claws scraped the ground, uneasy.
"Oh?"
"Where'd you hear that?"
A warrior rivaling the golden humans?
That meant near-divine power.
Such a being warranted some attention.
"News from the demon realm."
"Not long ago."
"That human used the Gold Cloths of the Twelve Zodiacs to form a grand array."
"He summoned the sun of the Mythological Era."
"Sealing the evil gods and beasts still active on Earth."
"And he stormed the Underworld."
"Defeated the demon god Beelzebub."
Skoll shared its intel.
Without the demon realm's report,
They wouldn't know this human had entered the Nine Realms.
Skoll produced a drop of Kaiser's blood from his Underworld battle.
Though sparse and stripped of divinity and vitality,
It could still mark a person.
This was the last drop, preserved through refinement.
"Interesting."
"Hm?"
Nidhogg eyed the blood, encased in power, on the ground.
"One of my dragons died."
"A seventh-sense dragon."
"Interesting."
"Your human has reached Midgard's human empire."
Nidhogg's blood-red eyes turned toward Midgard.
"Don't worry, I'll send my beasts to handle it."
"Your task is to join your brother and devour the sun and moon."
"Free your father."
Confirming the news, Nidhogg dismissed Skoll.
"Don't lag behind, Black Dragon King."
Skoll lowered its head, retreating.
Its form vanished into the mist.
"Golden human?"
"Interesting."
Nidhogg grinned.
A spark of amusement in its tedious gnawing existence.
"You heard me."
"I want that human's corpse."
Nidhogg said calmly.
"Roar!"
A bone dragon spread its wings.
Necrotic energy surged.
Peak eighth-sense Cosmo pulsed.
Nidhogg's mightiest servant.
Its bones, bathed in endless death, gleamed black and sharp.
Each bone a weapon of unmatched strength.
"As you command, Black Dragon King…"
The bone dragon's low soul pulse echoed.
Its massive form vanished from Niflheim.
Meditating in the human empire, Kaiser jolted.
A sensation.
Like being struck by lightning.
"Is this… my instincts warning me?"
Kaiser's brow furrowed.
He didn't understand why this feeling hit so suddenly.
He'd barely fought since entering the Nine Realms.
Brunhilde had handled everything.
But now, his instincts were screaming a warning.
He'd been targeted.
Possibly exposed.
Someone knew he was in the Nine Realms.
And they were coming for him.
"Interesting."
"Is there some tool in the Nine Realms to track humans?"
"Who could it be?"
"Vanaheim?"
"Loki?"
"Or…"
Kaiser's mind raced through the Norse pantheon.
He couldn't pinpoint who.
But he was ready to choose a battlefield.
Not the human capital.
Home to nearly a billion humans.
The capital and its nine satellite cities.
Vast.
A battle here would bring unthinkable losses.
"You're going out?"
Brunhilde looked at the open door, surprised.
Kaiser, to stay hidden, rarely ventured out.
"Hiding my identity doesn't matter anymore."
"I've been targeted."
At his words, Brunhilde set down her teacup.
She looked at him, silent but questioning.
"Just now, during meditation."
"A powerful sense of danger broke my focus."
"My instincts are warning me."
"I don't know what went wrong."
"But clearly, I'm exposed."
Kaiser sat across from Brunhilde.
"What's your plan?"
Brunhilde didn't question the warning's validity.
At their level, instincts about danger were reliable.
That wasn't the issue.
She wanted to know Kaiser's next move.
"I'll leave the capital for now."
"Too many humans live here."
"You know our power."
"The Nine Realms aren't the gods' domain."
"Despite the Asgardians' blessings."
"They're far weaker than Earth's forces."
"If we fight at our level."
"The capital and its nine cities won't survive."
Kaiser shared his thoughts.
"I'll go with you."
Brunhilde stood.
"No, you stay."
"Your task is to lead the empire's forces to find the World Tree's seed."
"As for me, don't worry."
"Any foe I can't handle, you can't either."
Kaiser smiled faintly.
Brunhilde's strength was indeed formidable.
A demigod.
Yet she was only on par with Olympus's demigods.
Far below Kaiser.
Brunhilde fell silent.
She knew Kaiser spoke the truth.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"I promised to take you to the Sanctuary."
"And my power rivals gods."
"Unless a first-tier god steps in."
"Killing me is nearly impossible."
Kaiser smiled.
He spoke with ease.
"Alright, we'll split up then."
"Be careful."
Brunhilde agreed with his plan.
A day later, Kaiser, dressed as he was when he entered the city,
Slipped out of the capital's main gate.
Silently, unnoticed except by Brunhilde.
"They're definitely after me."
Kaiser chose a direction at random.
Moving swiftly.
Yet the sense of being marked lingered in his heart.
He knew his pursuer had found him.
"Interesting."
"How did they mark me?"
"A god's power?"
Kaiser couldn't fathom how he'd been tagged.
After much thought, he attributed it to divine authority.
He settled on a vast grassland as his battlefield.
No human presence for thousands of miles.
Perfect for a fight.
Having chosen the location,
Kaiser meditated.
Tuning his state.
Another day passed, and he sensed thick necrotic energy approaching.
Whoosh…
His eyes snapped open, divine sight tracing the deathly aura.
"It's here?"
"Such dense necrotic energy?"
"From Helheim or Niflheim?"
Kaiser stood, calmly awaiting his foe.
Moments later, a massive bone dragon landed before him.
"Bone dragon?"
"Who are you?"
Kaiser spoke first.
Seeing his foe, he had a hunch.
Such potent necrotic energy, plus draconic nature.
Clearly, he'd been targeted by Nidhogg, the Black Dragon King dwelling by the World Tree's roots in Niflheim.
But Kaiser was curious.
He'd had no contact with Nidhogg.
Not even in the same realm... how had it found him?
And why now?
Kaiser was puzzled.
"You're the golden human Skoll spoke of, who defeated the demon god Beelzebub?"
"Already at late eighth sense."
"Worth my trip."
The bone dragon seemed to confirm Kaiser's identity.
"Oh?"
"The Underworld?"
"Where'd you get that intel?"
"The demon realm's as annoying as ever."
Kaiser was surprised.
He hadn't expected the demon realm to be linked to the Nine Realms.
Necrotic energy swirled.
The bone dragon vaporized the blood used to mark Kaiser.
"That's…?"
"My blood?"
"I see."
Kaiser sensed his own aura.
That drop of blood was from his Underworld battle.
Back then, he hadn't yet unlocked his full potential.
"So you tracked me with my blood."
"My carelessness."
"I didn't think the sun I summoned in the Underworld failed to burn it away."
"Leaving such a flaw."
"But dealing with it now isn't too late."
Kaiser gave a wry smile.
His Cosmo began to surge.
"Mortal, you court death!"
The bone dragon's soul quaked, roaring.
Necrotic energy and black Cosmo rose.
The lush grassland turned into a deathly domain.
"Come, show me your strength."
Kaiser raised his right hand, beckoning lightly.
"Die!"
A massive necrotic orb formed in the bone dragon's maw.
A black beam shot out.
Hum!
The Cloth Gem on his chest gleamed.
The Libra Cloth's lines traced over Kaiser's body.
Clang!
Metal rang out.
The Libra Cloth fully adorned him.
"Galaxy Explosion!"
He unleashed Gemini's ultimate technique.
Though Kaiser seemed relaxed,
This bone dragon was a peak eighth-sense foe.
Its bones, forged like divine metal, had no weak points.
A tough opponent.
Kaiser didn't dare underestimate it.
His Cosmo formed a galaxy.
It erupted from his palm!
Golden energy clashed with necrotic power.
Boom!!
The earth quaked, split, and stones vaporized.
"Roar!"
The battle erupted.
In the human capital, Brunhilde gazed into the distance.
Two immense Cosmos collided.
Both far surpassed her.
One was familiar... Kaiser's Cosmo.
"You'd better win."
Brunhilde sensed the bone dragon's greater power.
But recalling Kaiser's confident look, she chose to trust him.
Necrotic energy and stellar streams clashed, dissipating.
Revealing a scorched, brown earth.
Whoosh!
A Cosmo-forged sword materialized.
Kaiser vanished in a blur.
Clang!
"So hard!"
His sword struck the bone dragon's wing.
A massive recoil caught Kaiser off guard.
This bone dragon was absurdly tough.
"My body, tempered by eons of necrotic energy."
"Is stronger than divine metal."
The bone dragon roared.
Its claws and wings lashed out.
Clang… clang clang…
Kaiser met it head-on.
Despite the size gap, they clashed in melee.
Both moved with blinding speed.
The bone dragon's massive frame didn't hinder its agility.
Sparks flew in the air.
Each clash rang with piercing screeches.
Boom!
In their final collision, Kaiser sent the bone dragon crashing.
It landed far off.
"Damn, it's tough."
Though he had the upper hand, the bone dragon was unscathed.
"How are you this strong?"
The bone dragon couldn't believe it.
It had lost in raw power to a human.
***
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