Chapter 265: Our Arms Forge Everything, Reaching the Heavens
There were only two possibilities for failing to shatter the destiny created by the opponent's divine throne.
One was that the price paid wasn't sufficient.
The other was that the opponent's divine throne artifact was a higher existence than the Spear of Destiny, making it immune to destiny's interference.
So which type was it specifically?
Odin didn't know, only realizing that if he truly wanted to shatter this destiny, the price he'd have to pay might be too costly.
Although he failed to shatter it, this allowed him to glimpse Quirinus' secret.
His earlier Gungnir hadn't missed its target or passed through an illusion.
Gungnir had genuinely pierced through his body—it's just that the wound instantly healed the moment it was created, creating the illusion of having pierced through a phantom.
The reason for this instantaneous recovery was that the current Quirinus spanned multiple timelines.
In other words, the present Quirinus was a special existence centered on the present moment, straddling both past and future.
Existing in this manner, no matter what attacks the present him sustained, he could instantly recover using power from either the past or future.
The reason he possessed infinite energy was because he could reflect power existing in both past and future, then converge it at the present moment, achieving infinite amplification and obtaining limitless power.
Quirinus having become such an existence could be said to be nearly invincible.
Unless Odin could simultaneously attack his past, present, and future selves, preventing him from converging past and future power to instantly heal himself.
However, launching simultaneous attacks across past, present, and future was nearly impossible.
What Odin could do was either attack the past, attack the present, or even attack the future—all were possible.
But he couldn't execute them simultaneously!
Unless Odin himself also became an existence spanning past, present, and future.
But he couldn't achieve such manipulation like his opponent.
And before he spanned multiple timelines, hadn't Gungnir passed through him?
That moment was the best opportunity to kill him.
If Gungnir hadn't directly passed through his body but instead remained lodged within it, how could the wound heal then?
Moreover, such a situation might even cause him to bring about his own destruction.
Because isn't he constantly reflecting the past, future, and present? Thus achieving instantaneous self-repair as well.
If his body is obstructed by a foreign object, preventing the wound from healing immediately, it would be reflected into the past or future, then reflected back through the past and future.
In this way, the infinitely reflected wound would instantly shatter his body, leading him to self-destruction.
So, is Quirinus now invincible?
That couldn't be said either, because Odin also knew this state couldn't last forever.
"Spanning multiple timelines, but you can only maintain it for ten minutes!"
This was the intelligence he had learned at a cost.
"Correct, indeed no more than ten minutes. Beyond that, my body would collapse, but ten minutes is enough!"
The other party wasn't wrong.
"Indeed, I've seen that my fate is to be killed before your state ends."
In the mere ten-plus seconds of their dialogue, Odin had evaded countless attacks from his opponent.
Evade?
Hadn't he already destroyed the fate of being hit by the opponent?
So, there was no need to evade, because the opponent couldn't aim accurately.
But inaccurate aiming didn't mean he couldn't be harmed at all.
The opponent directly detonated the light spears upon reaching his vicinity.
Thus, Odin still needed to defend against the shockwaves from the explosions.
So, was there truly no solution?
Dragging it out like this was nothing but a desperate struggle.
No, there was still one method, which was why Odin was guiding the Spear of Destiny.
Guiding it was equivalent to a human missile being launched, requiring someone with a laser designator to direct it to hit the target.
Odin needed to lock the direction for the Spear of Destiny; otherwise, without guidance, relying solely on paying the price for the spear to directly hit his desired fate would be beyond what he could afford.
So, he was now performing a reversal operation.
As if summoning two past versions of himself, this time he was sending the Spear of Destiny into the past.
Previously, the Spear of Destiny had briefly traveled to the past to destroy the moment when Quirinus used the divine throne.
That journey, including the act of traveling to the past, was purely achieved by Odin paying the price for the Spear of Destiny to go to the past.
But this time, sending it to an era further back—not just a few minutes ago, but thousands of years ago—couldn't be done purely through paying the price. It simply wasn't enough; his entire being wouldn't suffice.
Thus, he needed to actively employ a spell to send the Spear of Destiny to the past, reducing the cost he had to pay.
"Then, prepare to meet your fate."
It seemed Quirinus also sensed some crisis, as he halted his light spear attacks.
In response, Odin's expression turned grave. The upcoming attack would undoubtedly be unprecedented.
Quirinus suddenly soared high into the sky, as if reaching the edge of the night before stopping.
He spread his arms wide, as if embracing the night sky.
Light surged from his body, and an unusual circular magic array unfolded.
In this starless, moonless night, it looked like a golden full moon.
"Our arms pave the way to the heavens."
In an instant, the eternal night of Helheim, this starless world, saw its dark sky torn asunder by a colossal, glowing pair of hands that seemed to truly rend the heavens apart, revealing a brand new nightscape.
It was a starry sky shimmering with countless points of light.
However, beneath such a beautiful starry night sky, Odin felt an unprecedented threat of death.
With a wave of his hand, countless Rune Glyphs formed defensive arrays above him.
These arrays were not conjured in an instant.
Since the beginning of the eighth round of battle, he had been constructing and storing vast numbers of defensive arrays.
Now was the time to unleash them all.
The moment he released them, the starry sky began to descend!
The brilliant starlight transformed into a deadly meteor shower.