Maxime burst through the gardens with Freyja at his side, his new divine speed making the frozen landscape blur into white streaks. He could feel the difference—Level 15 wasn't just numbers. His muscles responded with explosive power, his reflexes anticipated movement before it happened, his senses painted the world in crystalline clarity.
And his new passive—Divine Radiance—was already working.
Every valkyrie within visual range turned toward him, even those engaged with Chang'e's spectral beasts. Their eyes widened, weapons lowered fractionally. The effect wasn't control—it was magnetism. They wanted to look at him. Wanted to approach him. Wanted to—
Thunder cracked across the sky.
A bolt of lightning struck the ground fifty meters ahead, throwing snow and frozen earth skyward. When the debris cleared, a figure stood in the crater.
Thor.
He was massive—easily seven feet tall, built like a mountain given human form. Red hair and beard braided with golden rings. Eyes that crackled with electrical current. He wore no armor, just leather pants and a vest, as if he considered protection beneath him.
And in his right hand, Mjolnir hummed with barely contained power.
[THOR — LEVEL 42]
[GOD OF THUNDER, STRENGTH, AND PROTECTION (NORSE)]
[STATUS: EXTREMELY HOSTILE]
"Freyja." His voice was thunder made words. "Step away from the intruder."
Freyja raised her rainbow blade, positioning herself beside Maxime rather than away from him.
"No."
Thor's eyes widened fractionally.
"You dare defy—"
"I've been in that cage for three thousand years because of your father's paranoia." Her voice was cold fury. "So yes, Thor. I dare. I defy. And if you want to stop me, you'll have to kill me."
Mjolnir sparked.
"Don't make me do this."
"Then don't."
Maxime stepped forward, inserting himself between them.
"We don't want to fight."
Thor's gaze shifted to him, and those electric eyes narrowed.
"You reek of stolen divinity. Three fragments, integrated without proper consecration. You're an abomination."
The word stung more than it should have.
"I'm trying to survive."
"By pillaging the remains of a god who deserved his execution?" Thor hefted Mjolnir. "By gathering allies to challenge the Council? By breaking into Asgard itself?"
He took a step forward, and the ground trembled.
"Surrender. Come to Valhalla. Face Odin's judgment. Maybe—maybe—he'll show mercy."
"Like he showed Freyja mercy?" Maxime's hands clenched. "Locking her up for millennia because she loved the wrong god?"
"She refused to surrender Eros' fragment! She chose him over Asgard!"
"Because Asgard chose fear over justice!" Freyja's voice cracked like a whip. "You murdered Eros for the crime of being powerful. You call that justice?"
Thor's expression hardened.
"I call it survival. He would have enslaved us all eventually."
"You don't know that."
"I know what I saw." Thor pointed Mjolnir at Maxime. "I saw gods abandoning their duties. Marriages dissolving. Wars starting because mortals desired what others possessed. Eros turned the world into chaos."
"No," Maxime said quietly. "Eros revealed the chaos that was already there. You just couldn't handle it."
For a moment, Thor looked genuinely angry.
Then he attacked.
Mjolnir flew.
Maxime's new reflexes saved him. He dove left, the hammer passing so close he felt its electrical discharge singe his hair. It obliterated a fountain behind him, reducing marble to dust.
The hammer reversed course mid-flight, returning to Thor's hand.
"Last chance. Surrender."
Maxime activated Divine Radiance.
Light erupted from his skin—pure, brilliant, overwhelming. Not destructive yet, just there. Flooding the battlefield. Turning twilight into noon.
Thor staggered, eyes watering.
"Cheap tricks!"
He threw Mjolnir again, but this time Maxime was ready. He channeled mana into his legs and moved—faster than he'd ever moved in either life.
[MANA: 455/475]
He appeared ten meters to the right, the hammer sailing harmlessly past.
But Thor was already charging, fist cocked back.
A punch caught Maxime in the ribs.
[DAMAGE: 78 HP]
[HP: 322/400]
The impact lifted him off his feet and sent him flying. He crashed through a frozen tree, splintering it, before slamming into the ground hard enough to crater the earth.
Pain exploded through his chest. Broken ribs, definitely. Maybe internal bleeding.
[WARNING: SEVERE INJURY SUSTAINED]
[REGENERATION ACTIVE BUT SLOW]
Thor was already closing, Mjolnir raised for a killing blow.
Then Freyja was there.
Her rainbow blade met Mjolnir with a sound like the world splitting. Light and lightning clashed, throwing both combatants backward.
"Touch him again," Freyja snarled, "and I'll gut you, nephew."
Thor's expression shifted—surprise, then something like hurt.
"Aunt Freyja, please—"
"I'm not your aunt anymore. I renounced Asgard the moment I stepped through that barrier."
She helped Maxime to his feet, and he groaned as his ribs ground together.
"Can't... can't beat him," he managed. "Too strong."
"Not alone, no." Freyja's eyes scanned the battlefield. "But we're not alone."
She was right. Chang'e and Xochiquetzal had finished with the valkyries—or rather, the valkyries had retreated when Thor arrived. Now both goddesses were sprinting toward them.
"Four on one," Freyja called to Thor. "Think you can handle those odds?"
Thor's jaw clenched. He looked genuinely conflicted.
"Father will kill me if I let you escape."
"Then you have a choice to make."
For a long, tense moment, Thor didn't move.
Then lightning flashed, and a new voice boomed across the battlefield.
"NO CHOICE REMAINS."
A raven the size of a house descended from the sky, and perched on its back was a figure in dark robes, face hidden behind shadow. But the voice was unmistakable.
Odin.
The All-Father himself.
[ODIN — LEVEL 47]
[ALL-FATHER, GOD OF WISDOM, WAR, AND DEATH (NORSE)]
[STATUS: EXTREMELY HOSTILE]
Maxime's blood turned to ice.
Odin dismounted the raven, and reality seemed to warp around him. Power—raw, ancient, terrifying power—radiated from him like heat from a furnace.
"Eros." The name was spoken with infinite contempt. "Or whatever pale shadow wears his skin. You trespass in my realm. Steal my prisoner. Defile my laws."
He raised his staff—Gungnir, the same weapon that had killed the original Eros.
"I killed you once. I can do it again."
Nyx appeared from the shadows, still pale and weakened but standing.
"Over my corpse."
Odin's single eye turned to her.
"That can be arranged, Primordial."
This was it. This was how they died. Level 47 versus a battered Level 15, two exhausted goddesses, and Nyx at half strength.
They were fucked.
Then someone laughed.
Not from their group. From behind Odin.
A figure materialized from nothing—tall, lean, with sharp features and eyes that shifted color with every blink. He wore mismatched clothing that somehow looked deliberately chaotic, and his smile was a knife's edge.
[LOKI — LEVEL 39]
[GOD OF MISCHIEF, LIES, AND FIRE (NORSE)]
[STATUS: ???]
"Well, well." Loki sauntered forward, circling Odin like a predator. "The All-Father himself. Come to execute another threat to his precious order. How... predictable."
Odin's expression didn't change.
"This doesn't concern you, Loki."
"Doesn't it?" Loki gestured at Maxime. "Eros reborn. The god who made the mighty Zeus wet himself with fear. And you're just going to kill him? Again? Where's the poetry in that?"
"Poetry is irrelevant."
"Everything is relevant!" Loki's smile widened. "Besides, I'm bored. Three thousand years of the same tired politics. The same alliances. The same tedium. This—" he gestured expansively at the standoff, "—this is interesting."
"Stand aside."
"Make me, blood-brother."
The words hung in the air like a challenge.
Odin's grip on Gungnir tightened, but he didn't attack. Couldn't, perhaps—the blood-brotherhood oath bound him as much as it bound Loki.
"You would betray Asgard for... amusement?"
"I've betrayed Asgard for less." Loki's eyes locked with Maxime's. "Besides, I like him. He's got that same suicidal audacity I appreciate."
He snapped his fingers.
Reality twisted.
Suddenly they were elsewhere—a dark space between spaces, where the ground was made of stars and the sky was endless void.
[LOCATION: LOKI'S POCKET DIMENSION]
[STATUS: TEMPORARY SANCTUARY]
Odin and Thor were gone. It was just Maxime's group and Loki.
"There." Loki dusted his hands. "That'll hold for about ten minutes before Odin breaks through. So talk fast."
Maxime clutched his broken ribs, staring at the trickster god.
"Why are you helping us?"
"Already told you. Boredom." Loki examined his nails. "Also, I really do hate Odin. And watching him scramble to stop Eros' return is delicious."
"This is a trap," Nyx said flatly. "You're going to betray us the moment it's convenient."
"Probably." Loki grinned. "But not today. Today, I'm genuinely curious to see how far you can push this rebellion before it collapses spectacularly."
He waved his hand, and a portal appeared—shimmering and unstable.
"That leads to neutral territory. Outside the Norse realms. Go now, and you might actually survive."
Freyja stepped forward, eyes narrowed.
"What's your price, Loki?"
"Price?" He laughed. "No price. Just a promise."
His eyes found Maxime again, and this time there was something sharp beneath the humor.
"When you challenge the Council—and you will—I want a front-row seat. Deal?"
Maxime didn't trust Loki. Not even a little bit.
But the portal was there, and Odin would break through any second.
"Deal."
Loki's smile was radiant.
"Excellent. Now run along, little gods. And do try not to die too quickly. I have so much popcorn prepared."
The pocket dimension shuddered. Cracks appeared in the void-sky, and through them, Maxime could see Gungnir's tip, stabbing reality itself.
"MOVE!" Nyx shoved him toward the portal.
They dove through—Maxime, Nyx, Freyja, Chang'e, Xochiquetzal—tumbling into brilliant light.
The portal collapsed behind them.
They materialized in a field of grass under a normal sky—Earth's sky, Maxime realized with shock. Somewhere temperate. Somewhere safe.
Behind them, the portal's remnants fizzled and died.
No pursuit. No thunder. No Odin.
They'd escaped.
Maxime collapsed onto the grass, his broken ribs screaming. Nyx knelt beside him immediately, her hands glowing faintly as she tried to accelerate his healing despite her own weakness.
"Idiot," she muttered. "Taking a punch from Thor. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking 'don't die.'"
"Nearly failed at that."
Freyja stood nearby, rainbow blade still drawn, scanning the horizon for threats.
"Where are we?"
Chang'e looked up at the sun, calculated its position.
"England. Somewhere in the countryside. Far from any divine territory."
Xochiquetzal sheathed her swords.
"We should move. Find shelter. Odin will be searching."
"Agreed," Nyx said. "But first..."
She looked at Maxime.
"Three fragments. Level 15. You're getting stronger."
"Not strong enough." He winced as his ribs slowly knitted together. "Thor almost killed me. Odin would have. Without Loki—"
"Without Loki, we'd be dead." Freyja knelt on his other side. "Which means we owe him. And owing Loki is... complicated."
"He said he just wanted to watch."
"He lies." Her expression was grim. "Loki always has an agenda. We just don't know what it is yet."
Maxime closed his eyes, exhaustion crashing over him like a wave.
Three fragments down. Five to go.
An army of gods mobilizing against him.
Odin personally hunting him now.
And somewhere in the background, Loki pulling strings for his own amusement.
[QUEST UPDATED: ASCENSION INTERDITE]
[FRAGMENTS: 3/8]
[ALLIES GAINED: FREYJA (LEVEL 36)]
[ENEMIES ALERTED: ODIN (LEVEL 47), THOR (LEVEL 42)]
[TIME UNTIL COUNCIL ARMY MOBILIZATION: 12 DAYS]
[RECOMMENDATION: ACQUIRE MORE FRAGMENTS RAPIDLY OR SEEK DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION]
Twelve days.
Twelve days until an army of fifty gods came for him.
And he was Level 15.
"We need a plan," he said, opening his eyes.
Nyx smiled grimly.
"We need a miracle."
Freyja looked between them, then laughed—dark and slightly unhinged.
"Lucky for you, I know where we might find one."
Everyone turned to stare at her.
"Aphrodite," she said. "The Greek goddess of love. She has a fragment—I'm certain of it. And she's... complicated with Ares."
"Ares sworn neutrality," Nyx pointed out.
"Exactly." Freyja's smile was sharp. "Which means Aphrodite might be feeling neglected. Vulnerable. Willing to bargain."
Xochiquetzal raised an eyebrow.
"You want to seduce information out of Aphrodite?"
"I want Maxime to." Freyja's eyes glinted. "He's got the Charism now. The Divine Radiance. And Aphrodite has always been a sucker for pretty faces with tragic backstories."
Maxime's stomach twisted.
"You want me to manipulate her."
"I want you to survive." Freyja's voice was hard. "The old Eros wouldn't have hesitated. He'd have charmed Aphrodite, taken the fragment, and moved on. Can you do the same?"
Maxime looked at Nyx. Through their Link, he felt her conflict—she understood the necessity, but hated the idea of him becoming too much like the old Eros.
"I'll do what I have to," he said finally. "But I won't lie to her. I won't pretend to be something I'm not."
Freyja studied him, then nodded slowly.
"Fair enough. Honesty might actually work better anyway. Aphrodite can spot deception a mile away."
She offered her hand, helping him to his feet.
"Rest today. Recover. Tomorrow, we plan the approach to Aphrodite."
Maxime nodded, letting Nyx support his weight as they started walking toward the distant tree line.
Five more fragments.
Twelve days.
And a growing certainty that no matter what he did, someone he cared about was going to die.