Chapter 344 - 344: A New Life

"You will need to die, King Evans."

"...I see."

There was a silence that persisted in the air after Odin"s declaration. Once again, Van was being offered a choice-- a choice that would once again decide the fate of the world. One would get overwhelmed when faced with such a dilemma; Van, however, only let out a short but deep sigh.

"Sure, let"s work together."

"That is a good--"

"But you will be joining me," Van said before Odin could finish his words.

"...What?"

"You will be under my rule," Van looked Odin straight in the eyes. Estrid, upon hearing this, could not help but let out a small smirk, before also looking towards Odin.

"You have heard my King"s demand," Estrid said, "Now it is up to you to make a choice."

"It seems that we are misunderstanding something here," Odin placed his hands on the table, "I am offering you a chance to be of equal authority to me, the king of the Aesir; to fight a battle that would decide the fate of everyone."

"You can"t even defeat a bunch of humans," Van then answered as he once again let out a sigh, "They are currently planning on waging war on you, and yet here you are, seemingly unaware of it."

"The humans do not require my attention; they are but inconvenience that would perish with time."

"Those very humans sent me here, perhaps hoping we would kill each other," Van mentioned, "Perhaps it would be best not to underestimate them."

"Perhaps it is you overestimating them, King Evans," Odin muttered, "They may have killed your child and your beloved, but they are of no match against the might of the Aesir-- the most they could do is leave a scratch."

"The last I heard they killed one of your own."

"That is enough!" Odin slammed his fist on the table, splitting it in half, "You may be the son of the Allmother, but I am still King of the Aesir! I have given you the respect worthy of that, so I advise you to do the same!"

"Hm."

"Lady Estrid, what is the meaning of this!?" Odin then looked towards Estrid, "I thought we came here to discuss the future, but if all I am doing is talking to a child, then we have all wasted our time here!"

Hearing Odin"s words, Estrid shook her head; and as she did so, her facial features started to change-- changing back to her original face.

"I will follow my King"s decision," Estrid then said as she tied her hair into a ponytail, returning her looks to the one that Van was accustomed to before he was transported to the future, "And my name is Athena, please address me as such from now on."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Odin"s eyebrows began to lower.

"It means we are done here," Van said as he stood up from his seat, "Let us talk again when you have reached a decision."

"Did you really think I would just let you walk out of here, boy?" The tone of Odin"s voice began to change as a sort of light began to trail all over his skin, drawing into some sort of tattoo that almost covered his entire body, "I am the strongest Aesir, and I believe I alone am enough to defeat you."

As the pressure in the air began to harden, Van turned his head towards Athena, as if gesturing him to do something. She brought the two of them together, so she should have a plan in case everything goes wrong.

Seeing this, Athena quickly nodded her head as she slightly took a step forward.

"I believe you have grown close to the children in the orphanage, Odin," Athena quickly said, "You are training them into warriors, yes?"

"...What did you do?" And not even a second after Athena"s words, Odin was already suspecting that Athena had done something.

"I poisoned them," Athena let out a small but deep sigh, "If you don"t let us out of here, then the poison would grow active and kill them instantly."

"You think I would fall for such a bluff?"

"Does it look like I am lying?" Athena answered without any hesitation.

"You will not be able to hide from me, I see everything."

"We won"t be hiding." This time, Van was the one to answer, "We"ll be roaming Asgard; One way or the other, sooner or later-- your people will submit to me. I find that I seem to have a knack to make people follow me."

"..."

"And don"t underestimate the humans," Van then said as he gestured to Athena for them to go, "I used to be one of them, after all."

Odin could probably turn this into a battle. But alas, Athena was right. He had grown attached to the children in the orphanage, treating them as one of his own. And so, all he could do was watch as the two disappeared, leaving the gigantic hall that he had made.

He was feeling somewhat agitated as it had been eons since someone last turned their backs on him. However, after a few minutes of silence, Odin burst out into laughter.

The Aesir had become stagnant throughout the years; but with Van"s appearance as well as the humans and giants taking up arms, it would seem that another great war was upon them. Finally, it was once again time for the 9 Realms to see why the Aesir stood at the top.

"Things… are about to get fun," Odin whispered before his laughter once again reverberated throughout the entire hall.

***

"I don"t appreciate what you did, Athena."

Van and Athena were now outside the small city, nonchalantly walking away from it as they conversed, "Evangeline had already been controlling my actions since I was a child… and now you seem to be doing the same by keeping me in the dark."

"I… apologize, King Evans," Athena quickly shook her head, "But I believe the outcome would be best if you are caught by surprise, as you tend to make the best decisions when you are."

"Threatening the King of the Aesir is the best decision?"

"I did not say it was the right one."

"Then you should tell me," Van said, "You"re supposed to be my advisor, Athena; I would need you to decide things for me."

"Only you get to decide, King Evans. I am just here to make sure that your decisions, even the wrong ones, would possibly provide a satisfactory outcome for you."

"Doesn"t that make you more into a janitor, cleaning up the mess I made?"

"...I suppose I am," Athena then let out a small giggle as she walked forward.

"Something is really wrong with you, Athena," Van could only let out a sigh, "Should we really be staying here? I was gathering an army before Charlotte"s son teleported me here."

"That is for you to decide, King Evans."

"...Help me out here," Van could not help but roll his eyes, "How strong are the World Eaters? Would it really be the right decision to devour the Aesir? Or will joining forces with them provide a better outcome?"

"I don"t know," Athena then shook her head, "None of us will truly know until they are here. The only thing you could do now is acclimating yourself in Asgard-- see if you truly wish to absorb them, get to know them."

"...Why would I want to do that?"

"To see that you yourself do not become a monster," Athena then stopped in her tracks as she looked straight into Van"s eyes, "I have made a similar decision when I instigated the war against the Seraph, and I truly regret it in every single second."

"..."

"You may have saved the universe, but at what cost?" Athena continued, "The Aesir are just like everyone else; they laugh, they cry, they love. Perhaps your mother had made a mistake in shaping them so, or maybe it was part of her plan."

"So you want me to live with them?"

"That is up to you; I am just saying, once you truly do defeat the World Eaters by devouring all of the Aesir, you yourself will be seen by those who survived as the only threat left in the universe-- and the cycle would just repeat itself," Athena then once again started walking, "Your daughter would be fine; if anything, with your absence, she would finally get the chance to truly spread her wings."

Van let out a long and deep breath as he looked towards the direction of Midgard. Although he could not clearly see the Branch as it was on the other side, his worries were enough to reach it. But after a few seconds, he shook his head and walked in front of Athena.

"So, where do we go from here?"

"The best way to know a race is through their children," Athena raised a finger, "And children are also the easier ones to indoctrinate…

....What do you think about going back to school, King Evans?"