The moment the consciousness of the God of Fear entered the T-800's body, something immediately felt wrong.
"This… isn't a human vessel!"
He realized it at once. The body he had possessed wasn't flesh and blood—it was metal, a mechanical frame.
"A humanoid machine?! Damn it—this brat set me up!"
The God of Fear tried to withdraw his essence, but before he could, strange glowing runes flared to life all across the T-800's metallic body.
The Rune Script of Asgard.
Forged by Odin the All-Father himself—these were the sacred Runes of Binding. They manifested as divine chains, wrapping around the invading consciousness, sealing it completely.
"No… impossible!"
It was only now that Cul—Cul Borson, the Asgardian God of Fear—realized he'd fallen right into Balder's trap.
"Damn you! Damn you!"
His roar echoed through the machine's mindspace like a storm.
But then—
"You underestimate what it means to be a god, child."
Even in his fury, Cul sneered. Machine body or not, as a divine being, he could still seize control of it—reshape it into a new hammer, a "Man-forged Mjolnir" if he had to.
He began to invade the T-800's systems, attempting to overwrite its consciousness.
Suddenly, the android's eyes snapped open. The crimson glow in its optics flickered, as if fighting an unseen battle.
"Protect… Sarah Connor…"
Cul froze for an instant.
"A mechanical body with its own will? What in Hel is this thing?"
Even after thousands of years, this was something he had never encountered.
He needed to take control—now.
But before he could, Balder moved.
In a single stride, he stepped through the roaring energies and walked directly toward the hammer at the center of the ritual.
"No! Don't you dare—don't you dare!!"
Cul raged within his prison. He knew exactly what Balder intended—to use the unclaimed Fear Power to ignite his divine awakening.
But the Runes of Binding held firm, locking Cul's essence inside the T-800.
Balder stepped closer, until his entire body was engulfed in the black torrent of divine Fear Power.
And just then—silence.
Cul's enraged voice vanished completely.
Balder stood immersed in darkness, arms spread wide, drawing the rolling waves of Fear Power into himself.
Then, from the swirling mass of divine energy, a shadow began to take shape—an old, spectral figure, cold and mocking.
"Tsk, tsk… naïve little godling."
"You thought I didn't know your plan? You used Asgardian energy to bait me, lured my consciousness into that machine, bound me with Odin's runes, and now you want to use my unclaimed power to evolve?"
The shadow's grin widened.
"Clever—but not clever enough."
"That was only a fragment of me. A secondary consciousness!"
"And now, this perfect Asgardian body of yours… will be mine!"
Laughing madly, the dark torrent surged forward, plunging into Balder's very soul.
And then—
"What?! Why—why is there no soul here?!"
The voice trembled with disbelief.
Outside, the air cracked open like glass—
And a figure stepped out of the void.
Balder.
He glanced at the suspended illusion of "himself" still floating in the storm and smirked.
"Old fool. You really thought I'd underestimate someone who's lived for millennia?"
The body within the Fear Power shimmered—and dissolved into light. It wasn't real. A phantom body, laced with runes of sealing.
Inside it, the black, wraithlike essence of Cul was thrashing wildly, trapped once again.
Balder swept his gaze across the scene—one fragment of Cul bound within the T-800, and the main consciousness sealed inside the phantom.
"Let's see you split your soul a third time."
With that, he stepped once more into the sea of Fear Power—this time with his true body.
The flood of divine energy surged into him, crashing against his radiant Light Power. The two utterly opposed forces—Light and Fear—clashed violently within his divine core.
Explosions of divine energy rippled through his body. Flesh tore. Light and darkness shredded him apart again and again.
But floating above him, the Divine Idol of Faith shimmered—pouring endless faith energy into his breaking body, mending it every time it fell apart.
Destruction and rebirth, over and over again.
Balder's expression never changed. His gaze remained calm, detached—as though the body that kept disintegrating wasn't even his own.
Time became meaningless.
Through countless cycles of annihilation and renewal, his divine form began to transform—his Light Power slowly absorbing fragments of Fear Power, evolving into something greater.
Creation through destruction. Rebirth from ruin.
Then—
Clang.
A sound like chains breaking resounded through the void.
Balder's eyes opened.
From his gaze burst two blazing pillars of godlight that tore through the heavens, leaving gaping scars across the sky itself.
He could feel it—his power, countless times greater than before.
A faint smile curved his lips.
"At last… the Sub-Skyfather realm is mine."
In that moment, in the vast universe of Marvel itself, Balder, the God of Light, took his first true step from mortal struggle into divine supremacy.