The black Maybach became a bolt of lightning tearing through the rain. Inside, the air was heavy as dead water.
Chu Tianjiao slumped against the driver's seat, emotions tangled. He'd been ready to die—but the one who forced him onto the road of escape was… himself.
He glanced at the three silent youths in the backseat. He didn't know them.
But there was no time to ask.
That man named Ashen One had stayed behind for them—covering their retreat under a god's gaze.
Even after witnessing the impossible way Ashen One resurrected, Chu Tianjiao still believed that before Odin, any struggle was only a stalling tactic.
He owed a life.
A life he might never repay.
The cabin stayed silent except for the engine's howl and the tires' roar through standing water.
That silence was finally broken by fifteen-year-old Chu Zihang, voice shaky with disbelief and fear:
"Dad… are we safe now?"
Chu Tianjiao tried to pull his usual reassuring grin—
But when he turned his head, the smile froze.
"No!" he snapped, eyes locked on the scenery racing by. "Three or four minutes already! At this speed we should've broken out long ago. Why are we still inside the Nibelungen?!"
He whipped his head back toward the rear. Beyond human sight, his Golden Eyes saw it clearly—
The battlefield behind them still burned.
"Odin's being held back. Why is this happening?"
—
Back on the battlefield—
Odin watched the figure climbing up again and charging.
"Do you really think you can kill me?!" Ashen One's roar had been pounded into pure beast-fury by death and rage.
A beam tore through him again, half his chest evaporating, charred organs exposed to cold air—
He didn't even flinch. Dragging the ruin of a body, he leapt with suicidal resolve, sword crashing down toward Odin's skull.
"Impossible to kill… impossible to crush… this is not a dragon. Not anything known." Odin struck once more, annihilating him into a firework of flesh.
Yet his gaze slid back toward where the Maybach fled, and in the depths of that cold single eye, a rare trace of calculation surfaced.
Throw Gungnir.
One blow and the car, its passengers, all of it would be ash.
But…
That vessel packed with energy beyond even a Dragon King—he could not predict whether a fatal strike would become a trigger.
That uncertainty delayed him.
And in that delay—
Inside the Maybach, the three youths' minds lit up with a rapidly loading interface:
[Dimensional Chat Group — Emergency Notice]
[Detection: Dimensional adaptation, Phase One complete.]
[World-rule restraints解除… energy-system compatibility corrected.]
[Warning: Unpredictable threat encountered. Major system misjudgment confirmed.]
[Compensation protocol activated: Injecting this world's base energy system — "Dragon Blood · Word Spirits" template.]
[Compensation method: Group-mate-only Lucky Boost Draw!]
[We apologize for the inconvenience. Enjoy your draw.]
After the system rattled off its wall of text, Stelle suddenly opened her eyes.
Her power was back.
She glanced at Kevin and the Doctor.
"You stay in the car. I'm going back to help."
"Open the door!" she shouted to Chu Tianjiao.
Chu Tianjiao wanted to say going back meant death—
But when he met the girl's burning resolve, every word got swallowed.
He understood.
Just like Ashen One had stood before them, this girl had made her choice.
Click.
The lock popped.
Wind and rain flooded the cabin.
Without hesitation, Stelle leapt out—at over two hundred kilometers per hour.
She drew a dangerous arc through the air, landed solidly on the slick road. The inertia gouged two long scars into the asphalt.
Next second—
Crackling arcs of energy burst around her, and she became a meteor tearing through the rain back toward the fight.
If staying behind powerless meant waiting to die… then now that she could fight, she would go save that man who had covered them with his life.
"Hold on, Ashen One!"
"It's my turn to save you!"
—
Inside the car, Kevin felt his blood boil. Shame and heat surged into his skull.
"Even a girl's willing to go back…"
"Kevin! What are you hesitating for?!"
He remembered the dream he'd buried since high school—the dream of becoming a hero.
"Heroes…" he roared, jabbing the [Draw] button.
"They don't abandon their companions!!!"
He didn't even look at the result before turning to the Doctor.
The Doctor had already lifted his head.
Under the hood's shadow, his eyes met Kevin's blazing stare.
No need for words. The Doctor nodded once, voice calm and absolute.
"Together."
"I have no ties. Nothing to lose."
A simple statement, heavier than any speech.
Kevin barked, "Stop the car!"
Screeeeech!
The Maybach skidded to a halt.
Chu Tianjiao twisted around.
"You two… are going too? You'll die!"
"Maybe," Kevin admitted, smiling anyway. "But if I don't go back… I'll be haunted by nightmares for the rest of my life."
The Doctor put his hand on the door in silence.
Seeing their resolve, Chu Tianjiao's face twitched.
Then he sighed… and grinned like a madman.
"So it still ends up like this."
He turned to the passenger seat, ruffled Chu Zihang's hair, and lowered his voice.
"Son. The rest of the road… you handle it yourself."
"I've still got… some unfinished business."
"Don't look like you're at a funeral," he forced a light smile.
"Like your old man's definitely going to die."
Chu Zihang's face went white.
Fear, worry, the terror of never seeing his father again flooded his chest—
Then something molten broke free.
He looked up, eyes burning, and spoke clearly:
"Dad…"
"I don't want to spend my whole life running from nightmares like a coward!"
Chu Tianjiao exploded. "No! You have to go!"
Chu Zihang trembled—then slowly nodded, head dropping.
"That's my good son," Chu Tianjiao breathed in relief. "Remember—drive. Use auto-pilot if you have to."
He didn't dare look back.
So he didn't see—
The moment he stepped out, Chu Zihang raised his head.
No tears. Only frozen, terrifying resolve.
He opened the door and stared into the rain at his father's retreating back—and the two strangers charging into death.
"…Sorry, Dad," he whispered. "I still can't do it."
He couldn't leave.
He would rather die there beside his father than live a life shackled by abandonment.
Maybach, let's charge one more time…
Just as Chu Zihang was about to jump back in and ram the Maybach into the battlefield—
A sun rose inside the Nibelungen.
Stelle, sprinting first, slammed into an invisible wall—
BOOM!!!
A tsunami of heat blasted over her.
The shockwave hit like a hammer; she flew back, grunted, and twisted mid-air to land, carving trenches in the road before she stabilized.
She snapped her head up.
"What the hell was that?!"
In her mind, the chat group spammed messages:
[Linker of the Fire] "SSR power is surging through me!"
[Linker of the Fire] "I'll make this Odin bastard feel what unstoppable strength is!"
[Linker of the Fire] "Brothers! Watch closely!"
[Linker of the Fire] "This move's gonna be cool!"
[Linker of the Fire] "Word Spirit — RHEIN! Activate!!"
An absurd explosion detonated right at the core of the battlefield.
Light and heat swallowed the world. A white flash devoured sight, then came the storm-force shockwave and a fire hurricane that wanted to burn everything into nothing.
Farther away, Kevin and the Doctor were plastered to the ground, faces scorched by the heat. Ahead of them, Chu Tianjiao stared at the blast, face dark.
"High-risk Word Spirit… terrifying output—Odin? No, that can't be right!"
Kevin and the Doctor, for a moment, were grateful they'd been slower.
At the heart of the inferno, cracks spider-webbed across Odin's body.
He locked his eye on the figure laughing in the flames.
"Hahaha!" Ashen One's wild laughter ripped through the blast.
His body burned like fuel in a furnace—flesh warping, charring, peeling away.
Yet there was no pain in the laugh. Only manic joy.
"Undead! Suicide god-skill—Rhein!" he bellowed, arms spread.
"What can stop me now?! Who else wants it?!"
He stabbed a finger at Odin, roaring like a king being crowned:
"For the birth of the New King—fire the celebratory salute!!!"
Odin stared at this lunatic bathing in his own burning flesh, at those eyes crazier than any flame—
A cold dread gripped him.
"Madman!" he snarled.
Before, this fight was "troublesome."
Now?
This thing was a bomb that exploded if you breathed on it.
Ashen One stepped out of burned ash like a demon strolling from a forge.
Bones blackened—then wrapped in newborn skin.
He opened his hands, savoring the power, and his grin split wider.
"What's wrong? So even a god bleeds?"
Odin wanted to answer—
But his pupils contracted.
Next second, he mounted his horse and fled in grand retreat.
Ashen One's blazing, insane gaze pinned his back.
He inhaled—
And roared after him:
"RHEIIIIIN—!!"
But no blast came.
By the time Odin vanished, Ashen One staggered. The grin collapsed into exhaustion.
"Coward… doesn't even realize this time wasn't enough."
"…I'm really at my limit this time…"
His body toppled like a puppet with snapped strings.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (168 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (180 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (110 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (170 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (68 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (110 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (60 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (100 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (50 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (50 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (50 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it