Chapter 272: [Ragnarök] Round Nine, A Free-for-All?
Do what?
Proceed with Round Nine of the final battle between humans and gods, Ragnarök?
Was something wrong here?
A slip of the tongue?
Round Eight hadn't even taken place yet, so how could they suddenly jump to Round Nine?
Then, Buddha's announcement threw the gods into even greater confusion.
"What? Round Eight has already been fought?"
"Don't joke—we never saw it!"
"They say history was altered, so we didn't know about it."
"After all, even Odin can no longer be summoned."
The gods erupted into noisy arguments once more, for the revealed truth was simply too absurd—a battle that none of the gods remembered.
Though they were reluctant to believe it, at this point, Buddha had no reason to deceive them.
If the situation were reversed—if the gods had won five rounds and drawn two—then Buddha's declaration might have been seen as favoring humanity.
But the reality was that the gods had suffered heavy losses, and if Buddha still favored humanity, didn't that mean the gods were utterly incapable of securing victory?
If the eighth round ended in a draw, then even if the gods won all five remaining rounds, the final result would still be a tie.
In that case, would there be a tiebreaker match?
Meanwhile, in the Akashic Records Space.
Brunhilde was operating the Akashic System. She wasn't searching for the next human representative but was using the Akashic System to communicate with the Valkyries stationed across various pantheons through their sub-terminals.
In the next moment, a map-like projection appeared, with parts of it ominously colored red.
"Sister Brunhilde, what do these red areas represent?"
Göll asked with a hint of unease.
"Regions invaded by the Primordial Gods," Brunhilde replied, while the green areas indicated zones yet untouched.
Yellow, on the other hand, represented the unknown—areas where the situation was unclear.
Thus, Brunhilde was also sending out commands, hoping all Valkyries across the pantheons would receive her message and prepare to open the Celestial Gates connecting their respective heavenly realms to the human world.
Come to think of it, if the gods of the central heavenly realm needed to return to provide support, but the gates connecting their pantheons to the central heavenly realm were controlled by the enemy and inaccessible, couldn't they use these gates linked to the human world to return and assist?
They could travel directly from the central heavenly realm to the human world, then use those Celestial Gates to return to their pantheons.
No!
These gates were special—exclusively for Valkyrie use.
In the past, the gods frequently interfered with the mortal world at will, often encroaching on the domains of other pantheons. After the establishment of the Council of Gods, such regulations were put in place.
If a god wished to descend to the human world, they could not do so directly from their own pantheon. They had to go to the central heavenly realm and obtain approval from the gods before proceeding to the human world.
Of course, it wasn't entirely impossible to use these Valkyrie-exclusive gates from their pantheons, but the consequence was a weakening of their divine power.
This weakening wasn't one-sided; whether descending from the heavenly realm to the human world or ascending from the human world back to the heavenly realm, a god's power would be diminished.
Only the Valkyries remained unaffected.
This prevented gods from casually traversing between realms through these gates and using their divine power to interfere with the human world.
Additionally, it served as a precaution against the return of the Primordial Gods, ensuring they couldn't immediately breach the human world upon their arrival.
Therefore, even if these gates in the invaded pantheons were seized by the Primordial Gods, they wouldn't be foolish enough to send forces through them to the human world.
Otherwise, if some gods from the central heavenly realm had already descended to the human world to lie in wait, any forces sent by the Primordial Gods would essentially be walking into a trap.
Of course, some pantheons might still have methods to travel directly from their divine realms to the human world without having their power diminished—after all, not everyone would obediently comply.
Nevertheless, with the establishment of the Council of Gods, the number of direct passages to the human world has been significantly restricted across all pantheons.
Returning to the matter at hand, this gate, exclusive to the Valkyries, was originally intended for them to descend and retrieve human heroes deemed worthy of becoming divine weapons.
Thus, this gate holds little practical value for the Primordial Gods, making it unlikely to be their immediate target during an assault.
The hope now is that Valkyries from various pantheons receive Brunhilde's message and prepare to open this gate.
"H-has the war begun?"
Göll's voice trembled slightly.
As she spoke, her sister manipulated several screens into view, the displayed scenes causing a chill to consume her body.
She stared in horror at the screens, watching the brutal clashes unfolding before her.
This was war!
A war among gods!
Suddenly, some of the screens went blank, deepening the gloom on her face.
"Lady Serafall, do you think... our world might also be..."
It was Irina who spoke, her voice equally shaky.
If the war among gods had already erupted in this world, wouldn't their own world—also targeted—have already been invaded by other realms?
"I don't know."
Serafall could only respond bitterly.
She, too, was restless, desperate to know the situation back home, but unfortunately, she could neither return nor establish contact.
If they wanted to know what was happening there, perhaps their only option was to join the battle here and fight their way into the Primordial God's domain to gather information.
"Lord Buddha, uh? What? Are you sure you didn't misspeak?"
The Valkyrie who received the call from Buddha was visibly stunned by whatever she was told.
"I understand!"
After hanging up, Brunhilde's expression turned unusually grave.
"Sister Brunhilde, what did Lord Buddha say?"
"Buddha plans to settle the outcome decisively in the ninth round!"
"Huh? Settle it in the ninth round? What does that mean?"
"Is it a single match to decide everything? Then what was the point of the previous matches?"
"Sister, what exactly did he say?"
The other sisters pressed in astonishment.
"Buddha intends to have all remaining human representatives fight together in the ninth round!!!"
This was the reason for Brunhilde's shock.
"What? So in the final round, both sides' representatives will fight together in a free-for-all?"
"This is clearly unfair to humanity!!!"
The other sisters voiced their indignation.
Changing the rules at such a critical moment—were the gods afraid of losing?
"Not both sides together. Buddha plans to challenge all remaining human representatives alone."
This was the truth that stunned Brunhilde the most.
Was Buddha being this overconfident?
So arrogantly sure of himself?