patreon.com/mati6x +3 advanced chapters
The battle between Hela and Odin reached its critical point. The black swords of the goddess of death clashed against Gungnir with such ferocity that the shockwaves cracked the golden columns of the hall.
"Enough!" Odin roared, and his body began to glow with a blinding golden light.
The Odinforce.
Cosmic energy flowed through him like a river of pure power, increasing his strength a thousandfold. Hela's swords were repelled by an explosive wave that sent her skidding back several meters.
Vidar watched with narrowed eyes. There it was. The power he had come to claim.
"That power..." Vidar said, his voice echoing throughout the hall. "That power you treasure so dearly, father, does not belong to you by divine right."
Odin turned toward him, the Odinforce still blazing around him like a golden aura.
"What are you saying, boy? The Odinforce is mine! It is the legacy of the kings of Asgard!"
Vidar took a step forward, and for the first time, a cold smile appeared on his lips.
"No. It is the legacy of sacrifice. Vili and Vé gave their lives so that you could wield it. They gave their essence, their power, their very existence... so that you could protect the Nine Realms. But what have you done with it? Protect? No. You have used it to conquer, to dominate, to impose YOUR order upon the cosmos."
The hall fell into absolute silence.
"The Odinforce combines magical energy, cosmic energy, and the life force of its wielder," Vidar continued. "It is, in essence, the perfect balance between all aspects of power. And you... have corrupted it with your arrogance."
Frigga brought a hand to her mouth, realizing where this was heading.
"Vidar, no..." she whispered.
But Vidar did not stop.
"Every time you use the Odinforce for your wars of conquest, every time you use it to erase entire civilizations from existence, every time you channel it through Gungnir to impose your will... you unbalance the cosmos. And I, as the God of Balance, have come to correct that."
Odin laughed, but there was no humor in it.
"You think you can take the Odinforce from me? I am the All-Father! The power flows through me!"
"I don't think so," Vidar replied, and his golden eyes began to shine with the same intensity as the Odinforce. "I know it. Because that power seeks balance just as much as I do. And you, father... have broken that balance far too many times."
Hela smiled, understanding her brother's plan.
Thor and Loki looked at each other, confused but fascinated.
"The Odinforce has a will of its own," Vidar revealed. "It is not just a mindless reservoir of energy. It can choose. And I... am going to give it that choice."
Odin did not wait any longer. With a roar of fury, he raised Gungnir and fired a beam of pure Odinforce energy straight at Vidar. The hall lit up as if a second sun had been born within it.
But Vidar remained motionless.
He extended his left arm forward, and before the astonished eyes of everyone present, particles of silvery energy began to materialize. First came a faint glow, then a solid structure: a massive, angular shield formed around his forearm, with a geometric design that seemed to absorb light itself. It was not an ordinary Asgardian shield; its surface bore a complex hexagonal pattern, as if it were woven from the very fibers of fate.
The Odinforce beam struck the shield with the force of a thousand thunderclaps.
And vanished.
There was no explosion. There was no clash of energies. It simply... faded into the shield, absorbed like water into dry sand.
"What...?" Odin took a step back, genuinely surprised for the first time in centuries.
Thor tightened his grip on Mjolnir, his knuckles turning white.
"Impossible..." Loki murmured, his analytical eyes trying to understand what he had just witnessed.
Vidar slowly lowered the shield, his expression serene, almost compassionate.
"The misfortune you inflict upon me, father, does not belong to me. This shield gladly accepts it. Every wound you try to cause me, every attack you launch, every drop of Odinforce power you use against me... all of it accumulates. It is stored. Preserved."
With his right hand, Vidar made a gesture in the air. More particles of silvery energy materialized, this time forming a straight, elegant sword. It was not as ornate as Asgard's weapons; its beauty lay in its lethal simplicity. The blade glowed with a cold radiance that made the air around it tremble.
"And when the moment arrives..." Vidar took a step forward. "When my opponent's fortune has reached its peak, when he believes he has won, that he has wounded me, that he has prevailed..."
His golden eyes flared with an intensity that rivaled the Odinforce itself.
"...then all that accumulated damage returns. But it does not return alone. It returns multiplied by the arrogance of the one who believed he could break the balance without consequences."
Odin launched another attack, this time a horizontal sweep of pure energy that would have split a mountain in two.
Vidar raised the shield again. The energy was absorbed effortlessly.
"Every attack you launch," Vidar said calmly, "every wound you attempt to inflict, only increases your own coming misfortune. This is the price of imbalance, father. This is the lesson you never wanted to learn."
Blinded by fury and pride, Odin summoned even more of the Odinforce. His body shone so intensely that the nearest guards had to shield their eyes. He unleashed a rain of energy spears, dozens of them, all seeking Vidar from multiple angles.
Vidar moved with supernatural grace. The shield blocked some projectiles, the sword deflected others with precise, economical movements. And any energy that touched his defenses simply... vanished. Absorbed. Stored.
"Enough!" Thor shouted, unable to bear it any longer. "Vidar, stop! Father, stop!"
But neither of them listened.
Hela watched with a mixture of admiration and anticipation. She understood perfectly what was happening. Every second that passed, every attack Odin unleashed, the All-Father was sealing his own fate.
Vidar finally stopped at the center of the hall, his sword pointed directly at Odin and his shield held firm before him.
"How much more, father?" he asked, his voice soft but relentless. "How much more damage do you want me to accumulate before returning it to you? Because believe me..." his eyes gleamed with a light that was both warning and promise, "when I decide to release it, not even the Odinforce will save you from your own fortune turned into misfortune."
The shield on his left arm now pulsed with a faint but growing light, as if filled to the brim with all the energy it had absorbed. The sword in his right hand vibrated with anticipation, ready to release all that stored damage in a single devastating strike.
Odin, breathing heavily, looked at his son with a mixture of rage, respect, and for the first time in a long while... fear.
Because in that moment, the All-Father understood: he was not fighting a rebel.
He was fighting Balance itself.
Odin stared at Vidar's pulsating shield, and something inside him shattered. It was not fear that consumed him, but the absolute denial that his own son could represent a real threat to him—the King of Asgard, the bearer of the Odinforce.
"NO!" he roared, his voice shaking the foundations of the palace. "I am the All-Father! I am the conqueror of the Nine Realms! I will not be challenged by my own blood!"
The Odinforce erupted around him like an unleashed golden storm. The energy was so dense that the air itself seemed to solidify, distorting reality around him. Odin's eyes shone with blinding white light, completely consumed by power.
"DIE!" he bellowed, unleashing a massive beam of pure energy that tore through the hall like a vengeful comet.
Vidar raised his shield. The impact was cataclysmic; shockwaves shattered the windows and knocked several guards to the ground. But the shield held, absorbing every fragment of that devastating energy.
The shield's faint glow intensified slightly.
Odin did not stop. He summoned Gungnir, and the spear blazed with the combined power of a thousand battles. He hurled it with all his strength, the tip aimed straight for his son's heart.
Vidar deflected the blow with his sword in a fluid motion. Gungnir rebounded and returned to Odin's hand, but the energy of the attack was trapped within the silvery shield.
The light grew brighter.
"Curse you!" Odin howled, losing all royal composure. He was no longer the wise All-Father, but an ancient, furious god who refused to be challenged. "If one attack is not enough, then you will receive a thousand!"
And he kept his word.
Odin began unleashing the Odinforce without restraint. Beams of energy rained down from all directions: explosive spheres of cosmic power, spears of solidified light, shockwaves that shattered the golden marble floor. The throne hall became an apocalyptic battlefield, illuminated by the golden fury of an unbound god.
Hela was forced to retreat toward the columns, shielding herself from the storm of power.
Thor tried to approach, but Loki stopped him, shaking his head. Even the God of Thunder understood that if he intervened at that moment, he would be vaporized.
Frigga wept silently, watching as her husband consumed himself in his own rage.
And at the center of all that chaos, Vidar remained motionless.
His shield blocked. His sword deflected. His movements were minimal, precise, almost boring in their efficiency. There was no desperation on his face. No fear. Only absolute calm—the serenity of one who understands that with every passing second, the scales tilt further in his favor.
The shield no longer emitted a faint glow. Now it shone brilliantly, pulsing with contained power that made the air vibrate. All the Odinforce energy Odin had unleashed, every drop of power, every fragment of divine fury... it was all there, accumulated, waiting.
"WHY WON'T YOU FALL?!" Odin screamed, his voice breaking. "WHY ARE YOU STILL STANDING?!"
Vidar finally spoke, his calm voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.
"Because every attack you throw at me, father, is one step closer to your own downfall. Because your fortune has turned into hubris, and hubris always—always—becomes misfortune."
Odin roared one last time and summoned all the Odinforce his body could channel. His form grew larger, the energy making him seem greater than life itself. He raised both hands, and above his head formed a sphere of power so concentrated it distorted the space around it.
"THIS ENDS NOW!" he bellowed, hurling the sphere with everything he had.
The projectile descended like a miniature sun, meant to erase Vidar from existence.
Vidar raised his shield one final time.
The sphere struck.
And was absorbed.
The shield was now a supernova contained on his arm, glowing with a white-gold brilliance so intense it was painful to look at directly. All the energy Odin had unleashed during the battle was there, compressed, magnified, ready to be released.
Silence fell over the hall.
Odin breathed raggedly, on his knees, his body trembling from exhaustion. He had spent so much of the Odinforce that he could barely remain conscious. The golden light around him flickered weakly.
Vidar lowered the shield slowly and stepped forward. He raised his sword, and it began to absorb all the energy from the shield, channeling it, concentrating it into the blade. The sword sang with a high-pitched hum that made ears bleed.
"Balance must be restored," Vidar said, his voice resonating with an authority that transcended the divine. "All the fortune you have had, all the power you have accumulated, all the damage you have caused without consequence... all of that ends now."
He raised the sword above his head. The blade shone with blinding light, containing centuries of imbalance, all the Odinforce energy Odin had wasted in his arrogance, multiplied by the weight of his own actions.
"This..." Vidar murmured, "is the price of imbalance."
And he brought the sword down.
It was not a physical strike. It was a cut through fate itself.
The released energy did not explode outward. It condensed into a single beam of absolute power that struck Odin directly in the chest. All the accumulated misfortune, all the inverted fortune, all the damage the All-Father had tried to inflict... returned to him multiplied a thousandfold.
Odin screamed.
It was not a scream of physical pain alone, though there was certainly that. It was the scream of the soul—the cry of a god who finally understands he has lost. The Odinforce within him destabilized, writhing violently as it struggled to balance the received damage with the remaining power.
The King of Asgard was hurled backward with such force that he smashed through his own throne, shattering it into a thousand golden fragments. He crashed into the far wall of the hall, his armor cracked, his cloak in tatters, golden blood dripping from his mouth.
The Odinforce flickered... and began to peel away from his body like golden smoke, searching for a new vessel—one more worthy, one who understood balance.
Vidar stood in the center of the hall, his sword still steaming with released power, his shield slowly dissipating into particles of silvery light.
The silence was absolute.
No guard dared move. Hela smiled with savage satisfaction. Thor was frozen, unable to process what he had just witnessed. Loki's eyes were wide, calculating, reevaluating every assumption he had made about his brother.
Frigga ran toward Odin, but stopped halfway, looking at Vidar with a mixture of terror and awe.
Vidar lowered his sword slowly and looked at the Odinforce floating in the air, unclaimed, waiting.
"Now," he said softly, extending his hand, "balance will be restored."
The Odinforce, as if it possessed a will of its own, began to flow toward him.