211

The Corpse of the Celestials

With the end of the civil war, Asgard lay in ruins, and its people were busy rebuilding their homes.

Except for the palace.

It was said that Odin intended to design a new palace, so it was only cleaned and minimally repaired for daily use, with no plans for a complete rebuild yet.

"Forseti, my house also needs rebuilding. Can you have your Shilut help?" a neighbor asked at the door.

"Buzz!" Before Forseti could reply, Shilut, who was eating stones, lit up and turned to look at him expectantly.

"Feed him stones, add three Cortati rubies a day, and bring him back in the evening," Forseti instructed.

Shilut's abilities played a powerful role in house reconstruction, attracting many friends and neighbors.

Forseti asked the neighbors to take care of Shilut's meals, including gemstone snacks each day. As a result, Shilut developed a keen interest in the work of real estate development.

"No problem," the neighbor agreed.

"Go," Forseti patted Shilut's little head.

"Buzz!" Shilut walked off.

A while later, while Forseti was chatting with Eir, an Einherjar appeared outside.

"Forseti, you can fly in space, right?" the warrior asked.

"That's right."

The warrior nodded: "His Majesty has tasked us with collecting the scattered corpses of the Celestials. Since you can fly in space, come with me."

"Collecting the corpses of the Celestials?" Forseti was startled.

"It seems His Majesty is preparing to fertilize the crystal crown," the warrior said casually and walked away.

Forseti was taken aback.

Asgard was a space island with a front and back. The front was where people lived, and the back was an ice crystal wasteland. A towering mountain called the crystal crown stood in the middle of the wasteland.

The crystal crown was connected to the energy core of Asgard, supporting the realm's magic.

Fertilizing the crystal crown involved injecting the energy contained in the Celestials' corpses into it, stabilizing and strengthening all of Asgard.

After the civil war, Ullr's position had become ambiguous. Though he no longer opposed Odin directly, he also showed no intention of supporting him. Due to his ties with Jord, his relationship with Odin was awkward, leading to his semi-exile to guard Asgard's energy core at the crystal crown.

Ullr accepted this arrangement peacefully, probably enjoying the tranquility of the crystal crown. Apart from the garrison, no one else was there, not even a rabbit.

Heimdall, Ullr's son, took over the position of Asgard's gatekeeper, managing the Rainbow Bridge.

...

Under the leadership of the Einherjar, Forseti and the others soon arrived at the Sea of Marmora. A thunder boat was suspended on the shore, with many people already aboard.

Although the Thunder Boat could navigate in space, it looked quite simple. An ordinary wooden boat that, on Earth, would not seem out of place.

Shortly after Forseti boarded, the hull trembled slightly, floated up, adjusted its direction, and shot towards deep space above Asgard.

Soon, large and small planet fragments appeared. This was the planet destroyed in the battle between Odin and Cul.

The exposed core of this fragmented planet was still hot. It was unknown if life had ever existed on it.

"We're here," said Scala, the person in charge of the ship. "There are some corpses of Celestials scattered around here. We'll collect them."

"Yes," everyone on the boat responded.

Immediately, Forseti and the others flew out of the Thunder Boat, heading into the cosmic space where the star fragments and Celestial corpses intermingled.

Forseti's magic floating cloak stirred, flames raging under his feet as he searched around. Soon, he flew to the vicinity of a Celestial's arm.

This arm alone was hundreds of meters long. Forseti marveled at the sight.

He wondered what Celestials ate to grow to such a size.

He approached the broken arm of the Celestial. Some of the Celestial's blood droplets floated nearby, glowing like magma, still hot, resembling the core of the broken planet.

As a pharmacist, Forseti was intrigued by the Celestial blood and decided to collect some for future use.

He collected several droplets of Celestial blood floating in the air. For humans, the blood droplets were more like blood cells, so despite only a few droplets, Forseti used up all his crystal bottles to collect them.

After gathering a few blood droplets, Forseti pushed the Celestial's arm towards the Thunder Boat.

A Celestial arm was as heavy as a mountain. Fortunately, in space, there was no gravity or air resistance. Forseti pushed it for a while and successfully brought it near the Thunder Boat.

The others did the same, pushing the broken corpses of Celestials towards the Thunder Boat, securing them with chains, and dragging them back to Asgard, to the crystal crown.

The crystal crown stood in the ice crystal wasteland on the back of Asgard, crystal clear and dreamlike, emitting strange energy fluctuations.

At this moment, several broken or relatively intact Celestial corpses were suspended above the crystal crown, dragged by several Thunder Boats.

Odin rode the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, standing atop the crystal crown. With a point of the Eternal Spear, golden streams shot out, intertwining with a Celestial corpse, forming a large net.

The Celestial corpse emitted a fiery light, melting into a colorful radiance.

These lights merged into the crystal crown, like a whale absorbing water, and the crown reflected the colors, resembling the Rainbow Bridge.

Forseti marveled at the sight. It was no wonder the Rainbow Bridge was so powerful, capable of destroying a planet. The energy of these Celestial corpses was immense.

That night, somewhere in Asgard's palace.

The palace had not been rebuilt, but it was clean and beautiful. Hela lay quietly on a bed, eyes closed, motionless.

Odin and Scala sat by the bed. Scala placed his hand on Hela's forehead, emitting a gentle glow from his fingers, as if treating her.

After a while, the light in Scala's hand dissipated.

"How is it, Scala?" Odin asked quickly.

Scala shook his head and sighed slightly: "It's still not good. Hela remains unconscious. This isn't a physical problem."