Ruthless & Decisive

Vitalis' expression suddenly changed, turning from fear to confusion, to madness and greed. Then, he roared: "Hahaha, I, the great and mighty Bulzeebub, have returned." However, the Seven Sin Devil did not have much time to celebrate his revival when he felt the threat of imminent death.

He looked at the dazzling purple light heading toward him and cursed violently. Beelzebub summoned the projection of a horrifying creature with a mouth larger than its entire face, trying to swallow the attack. Unfortunately for him, Vitalis had lost access to his dimension, which also meant losing access to his authority.

Beelzebub can be said to have successfully swallowed most of the attack. However, the damage he suffered was also severe. His right arm and left leg were gone, and purple energy veins ran through his entire body.

"Who did this?" he roared. Unfortunately, the answer he received was that he was being surrounded by more than a dozen purple orbs that formed an encirclement around him. Beelzebub looked at the circles, then at Edward. 'Sorcerer, don't you dare —"

The purple obs launched a barrage of destruction energy, erasing Beelzebub and Vitalis from the face of the universe. Normally, Edward would try to turn his opponent into a specimen to study, but he could not take the risk. He had barely defeated his opponent, so how could he control the latter for a dissection?

"That's one down," Edward muttered, his face paler than the purest snow. He conjured a potion and swallowed it. While recuperating, he finally had the time to observe the situation. He first received a report from Hawkeye regarding the infiltration team's situation.

"It's good that they survived and returned successfully," he replied. As for the remaining situation, Odin was the only one barely holding on. So, he decided to help them first. He once again used the Anti-Life Equation, but this time around, it was on a mass scale. Edward tapped as much of his energy reserve as he could to ensure the spell worked, and it did.

With one move, he controlled half of all the Tier 10 Demon Gods on the enemy side. He ordered the Kryptonian Legion to deal with the people who were not controlled, while ordering the rest to focus on Odin.

Evil Odin calmly watched himself being surrounded. Watch may not be the right word, since both his eyes were missing, leaving empty sockets that created an eerie atmosphere. Adding on his black Asgardian Armor and Black Spear, he was intimidating to anyone.

"You should surrender," Odin said, trying to persuade his variant.

"You have not yet won this battle," Odin said in a gravelly voice.

"I guess you're as stubborn as I," Odin sighed before going on the offensive. Edward ordered his mind puppets to assist before casting healing spells on the Ancient One and Ra. He then joined everybody in ganging up on Evil Odin.

The battle was fierce, with spells, laser visions, and numerous types of attacks. However, the most impressive thing to happen was Evil Odin. he fought against everybody, injuries piling on him every second, but he remained unperturbed. It was apparent that he was not going to fall without a decent fight.

'Something is wrong,' Edward said, controlling himself to focus more on evading instead of attacking.

'His attack patterns are anomalous,' Morgana stated. 'He somehow always evades the most dangerous attacks. Do you want to activate the highest detection mode?'

"Go ahead."

Edward stopped attacking. He raised his staff, and hundreds of magic circles materialized behind. They condensed into a light that entered his eyes and forehead. His eyes turned golden, and he observed Evil Odin closely as if the latter were under a microscope.

"Stop!" Edward yelled, startling everyone.

"What's the meaning of this?" Odin asked. They were on the verge of winning, but Edward asked them to stop. However, the Asgardian King immediately felt something was wrong when he saw Edward's terrible expression.

"We're fighting an illusion," Edward said with gritted teeth. "This bastard most likely acquired the Illusion Authority from his son, Loki. He's been using it to pull a wool over our eyes."

Everyone's expression sank.

"You've figured it out? But so what? Nothing will change," Evil Odin said calmly.

"You've underestimated me," Edward sneered as he used the most complex illusion-dispelling spell he had created. Evil Odin's injured body slowly dissipated without any resistance. Edward cast another spell, and a veil around the Blank Realm seemed to have been lifted, revealing another Evil Odin standing not too far away.

Everyone's expression changed when they saw the world of darkness casually hanging behind him. The bastard had fully materialized his dark dimension. "I never expected this," Evil Odin said, glancing at Edward.

"However, this will not change the final outcome. Now, receive the blessing of death." Odin and the Dark Dimension behind him suddenly released a terrifying black cloud that spread to every corner of the Blank Realm.

'Did this bastard explode his dimension to kill everyone?' Morgana screamed. 'And that power — it's the Death Authority. He must have taken it from his daughter, Hela.'

'Now is not the time for this. We must save ourselves and the others,' Edward yelled.

'I'm on it,' Morgana said as she cast countless defensive spells. She used Time Law to protect Edward with his own, independent, space-time continuum. She used all his Elemental Laws to condense Elemental Spirits created from worlds of Elemental Energy, each ready to act as guardians and even sacrifice their lives to protect him.

Morgana used his Death Law to reject all possible ways of death from his body. She used his Soul and Death Law to create a Soul Substitute for all his damages and injuries. And these were only the best methods.

The wave of death energy wiped out almost all lives in the Blank Realm, with only two people having survived: Edward and Odin. However, neither of these two was in the best shape. Most of Odin's Destroyer had turned black, a sign that the power of death corroded it.

"Meanwhile, Edward was missing his lower torso, and more importantly, his soul was severely injured. Sadly, even Morgana's best effort could not protect her from such a devastating attack.

"How is your situation?" Edward asked.

"My body is fine, but my soul is drier than a million-year-old tree," Odin said with a hoarse voice.

"Better than being injured," Edward sighed. As long as Odin rests and recovers his soul energy, he'll be back in peak shape, but the same cannot be said for Edward.

"At least you're alive," Odin sighed.

"The others are fine," Edward said as he opened his palm to show two small glowing lights.

"You saved their souls?"

"Only a piece, but it should be enough to revive them."

"That's good," Odin nodded before looking in the distance. All the Kryptonians and surviving demons had died. "Why did he use such an extreme measure?" It made no sense for Evil Odin to use such an extreme means, even if he was surrounded.

"He was trying to save his life," Edward replied.

"Oh?"

"Did you see what happened to Vitalis? Your variant probably feared something similar would happen to him with Dormammu. So, he destroyed the dark dimension, eliminating Dormammu's source of power. Then, he destroyed his body to prevent anyone from controlling it, leaving his soul. He's probably hiding somewhere, searching every inch of it for signs of another consciousness."

"Ruthless," Odin commented. He did not know if he could be as decisive as his variant.

"Indeed, which also makes him even more dangerous," Edward commented. It was one thing if this Odin was a madman who had lost his mind in the pursuit of power, but another thing if he was of sound mind and willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve his goal.

"Are you saying we should be wary of his return?"

"I am," Edward nodded. Even with the isolation of their timeline, he was not entirely confident that Odin would not find a way to track and enter their Earth.