Chapter 207 A Fight To Death

A swarm of raven covered Odin's body, as he turned utter black. His spear was gone and his missing eye was replaced by a raven's eye. His whole aura had changed, the him before was angered and desperate to defend his people, but now he screamed of indifference.

"Ratri, you have caused me great pain, your death will not be painless!" Odin said and appeared next to her, his hand going for her head. But Ratri was no fool and dodged before he could end her life. She casted herself into the night and merged with it, hoping to increase her odds in the fight. Then the night merged with her, completely removing the night's embrace from Norse mythology's realm.

She turned blue once more and grew a second pair of arms, then she created several beams of night and hurled it at Odin, who shrugged of her attack and returned in kind.

Thousands of three legged crows flew towards Ratri, while also destroying her attack. They created small spheres of yellow light and launched them at Ratri. Sensing something wrong with the energy, Ratri escaped the entourage and created several swords and threw them at her enemy.

Odin simply swiped his hand through the blades and returned the favor, once more.

Several suns appeared around them, they were warmer then anything Ratri had ever experienced, but she didn't care. "The night is lost from light!" she said and everything turned dark. The darkness didn't loom over the world anymore, it simply became the world. The night, which is the concept that deprives a being from light, also holds power over vision, fear, deception and many more things. Odin had lost his sight and so had all beings inside Norse Mythology, friend or foe.

"Is that all?" Odin mockingly asked and said. "The sun blesses all!" with his word, the whole realm became a beacon of light, driving away Ratri's darkness. Annoyed, Ratri threw her rationality aside and went ballistic. "May darkness take the world, Nyx, the forgotten!" Ratri said and lost herself.

"Yatagarasu, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time! Tell me, what gave you the courage to crawl out of your hole?" Ratri said, her voice overlapping itself. A more feminine voice echoed over her voice, sounding empyrean.

Odin who had been arrogant till now grew stiff and said, "How is that possible? Yatagarasu can't decent through me, how could Nyx decent through you, it doesn't make sense." he marveled, impressed and terrified at the same time.

"We are one of the same, I am Nyx Predoccesor and I am the one who succeeded with what Ratri wished to accomplish, we are one in two. The incarnation of the night, will always be the same, even if we're from different times and pantheons!" they said in union.

Odin wasted no time in talking with them and summoned his spear, then he attacked them, managing to stab Ratri/Nyx through the stomach. Her eyes glister in glee, as she grabbed Odin's spear with her hands and the night started corrupting the blade.

"Do you ever stop to wonder, what is the night? What is an element and a concept? Well, you see, us seventh dimensional can't just throw our shit at the enemy, we have to use our abilities to the fullest. Meaning, even if you are about to ascend, you stand no chance against us, until a certain point of power."

Nyx said and the spear turned to dust. "You see, the night is what it's symbolized as. Decay, fear, monsters lurking in the dark, chaos, death. Many things can be linked to the night, but the most common is the lack of light, which also symbolizes the lack of life, meaning the night is death, the true outcome for all beings but three. If we think of our powers like this, we all of a sudden gain heaps of potential to our concept." Nyx said, sure of herself.

Odin sighed and created a new spear, only to throw it against them, then he said. "You forget one thing, I'm ascending!" as the spear collide against Nyx/Ratri. The attack wasn't strong enough to injure them, but it made Ratri fly back a mere centimeter.

"Impressive" she said.

A legion of monsters started to creep out of her body, as a liquid mist seeped out of her pores. Nightmarish monsters, meant to install fear in the weak, dwelled inside the mist, as it grew closer and closer to Odin. They waited patiently to attack, unable to leave the mist.

Knowing the chances of defeating those creatures were slim, Odin did the next best thing; Odin's body exploded into thousands of ravens, flying in all directions, each one possessing a fraction of his concept.

The ravens left suns behind them, as they circled Ratri's mist. Creating a safe heaven, that couldn't be breached. Then they reformed into several copies of Odin, all with bird like features; but only one possessed the spear.

Ratri was indifferent to his attempts, sure he managed to create a barrier the size of several millions of universes, but at this point, it wasn't an impressive feat.

Contrary to Odin's expectations, Ratri walked into one of the creatures in the mist and then it disappeared, along with the mist it was inside off.

"Rule one, never have light coming from one way, because then you'll have a shadow and that means the lack of light, meaning night!" a distorted voice said behind the Odin with a spear, as its hand pierced his chest and took hold of his spear. Then letting decay run wild on it, destroying the corrupted weapon.

After finishing its monologue, the monster exploded into mist, that spread quickly around them, enveloping the spear and fighting over dominance. All while the monsters from before appeared, including then creature that just blew itself up.

"Aren't my small boys cute? My Night Vermin (aka not abandoned Sun Vermin) are the best after all, almost as cute as me!" the empyrean voice of Ratri bragged, while still standing inside the small prison of light.

"I got to give it to you, that's a neat trick!" Odin said. He had appeared behind Ratri, happy to have rid himself of the monsters. Now he could fight her alone, if only for a moment.

Unlike before, Odin didn't even have a humanoid form, instead he was a three legged raven, bigger than a small planet, about twice earth's size. He towered over the small unassuming Ratri, who looked like a small, innocent bacteria in front of god.

Absolute light fought the darkness, as Ratri and Odin embodied their own side. A ball split into two parts was formed, surrounded by light, that was surrounded by darkness. An odd situation, that expanded beyond the realm of Norse Mythology itself and started effecting the dimensions it was most connected too. As the two entities entered a stare-down, neither accepting defeat.

Ratri was the first to move, her arms deforming and becoming long, slender, sharp limbs. They extended and attacked the raven from every side, more and more coming out of her arms, at some point, it looked like a nest of spikes had formed, as millions of limbs, multiplying every second, attacked the raven; almost like they were night itself, void of any light.

The sharp limbs easily penetrated the pitch black raven, as it sighed. "Your words go both ways, what does the sun symbolize? Light, warmth, safety, comfort and just like the night, fear!" Odin said and he became even brighter then before, casting away all limbs attacking him, as he moved his raven like wings and stared inti Ratri's eyes, with his one eye, still lacking his second eye.

That's until he created a miniature sun inside it and used it as a beam, shooting it at Ratri.

Ratri indifferent swiped her hand against the beam, making it decay to the point of being a lesser radiation, passing harmlessly through the night. "You're growing, very intriguing!" Ratri jokingly said and appeared next to him, bitchslapping Odin's raven head and sending him flying, while his head was fracturing due to the decay. Several swords formed from the destroyed limbs, Ratri had made, and they launched at Odin. Each one carrying the aspect of decay.

"It was a smart move, I have to give you that. You made the inside of this sun akin to a semi realm after fleeing, knowing that those monsters were bad news. Well. That's as far as it goes, I just have to destroy your little balance, by reconnecting them to this place!" Ratri said, as she laughed menacingly. The swords, that originally flew towards Odin suddenly changed direction and went everywhere, all with the same purpose, leaving the realm. They collided agains the light and made it decay enough to leave and come into the hands of the millions of lurking Night Vermin in the mist outside.

Using the opening, the mist and monsters reentered and thanks to just a fraction managing to reach the other side, before the passage closed. All the monster reappeared on the inside, while leaving some behind, not closing the exit.

"Well, I got to say, you somewhat outsmarted me there. Well, sayonara, peace." Odin said, as the raven exploded, creating a warm intense light, that burned some of the mist.

The humanoid Odin's on the outside suddenly merged and a new spear was forged. Then he started fighting the small number of monsters left behind, while creating several layers of suns, making sure to trap them inside, and not have a single shadow. To further ensure that he made himself into a humanoid lamp.

"I won't be surprised if you escape, but hey, I'm simply buying time. Sure, it limits my time left in this world, but I get stronger every second. Increasing my chance of victory and screwing with your stupid "one year plan". Odin said, as he justified his cowardliness.

Ratri hummed and started dancing, as a cold sensation started to spread on Odin's feather like body.

"Night, becomes the harbinger of frost!" as icicles appeared everywhere. The ice started spreading onto the suns, killing the warmth and defeating the light. Like a wave they destroyed layer after layer, until the second last, the strongest. Which Odin was using all his power to hold up.

Unlike before, light was now truing to snuff out the dark, while the cold, abyss-like night tried to escape, bringing forth its chaos onto the world. Billions of creatures could be seen from time to time, as the light somehow managed to reflect them.

An all out war occurred, with no obvious winner started, and quickly became a stalemate. "Night is lost from light!" Ratri muttered once more and the stalemate came to an end, as she broke through, forcing Odin to retreat. Hiding behind the last wall, which was annihilated instantly by the swarm of darkness.

Ratri had completely disappeared into the darkness, as her voice and the empyrean voice uttered. "We simply have to kill you now, instead of in a year!" but the second she said that, a black haired man appeared between the two, a sword unsheathed in his hand, cutting through the fabric of the realm with its presence and even trying to scratch the true dimensions fabric, but it simply budged against them. As the mighty creatures shrugged at its attempt.

"Wow Ratri, look at you going all out, almost. But we can't kill him, there's still a way to continue with the one year plan! We have to do it the traditional way, after all. Don't worry, leave the details to me and just help me subdue him!" Ragnar said and stretched his hand into the darkness.

Somehow it took hold of him, as one creature came out and another spoke from within the dark.

"Not very nice of you Ragnar, we haven't talked for ages and you ignore me. Don't even try saying something like, 'I didn't know you were here' because that's obvious lying, brat!"

"Yeah, yeah, happy to see you again, teach!"