chapter 72: The Fateful Encounter Between Denial and Deceit

When darkness meets shadow, light is not born… only threat.

Shao stood before the Black River in the heart of Helheim — where paths intersect between life and death, past and future.

The place was veiled in gray mist, exuding the scent of ash and old blood.

Everything — every particle — whispered his name.

_Shao… Shao… Shao…_

But the whispers weren't a welcome.

They were a warning.

Suddenly, the mist was torn by a flaming sword, and out stepped Loki, the god whose masks had shattered long ago.

He appeared in his true form, with wings of smoky fire and shifting Norse symbols swirling across his body.

"At last, I meet you, child of denial…" he said in a voice like the hiss of cold wind.

Shao calmly replied:

"I no longer seek a name from your world."

Loki approached, a deadly confidence in his smile:

"You are all that remains of our world… and more dangerously, you hold the keys to its end."

In his hand, Loki held a piece of the Gods' Core — rotating and pulsing like a dead heart coming to life.

"I know you carry the final one… the one no god can touch. It is the Core of Denial."

He added slowly:

"I want it."

Shao didn't raise his sword. He asked:

"Why?"

Loki's smile turned dry:

"To destroy this system… then restart it, by my hand, not theirs.

I am the god they rejected, and you're the man who defied them. Doesn't it make sense that we join forces?"

Shao didn't respond, but his gaze carried sorrow.

"Have you ever heard what Socrates once said?"

He answered himself:

> _"The most dangerous lies… are those told in half-truths."_

And in a sudden moment, a blue light burst from Shao's chest — the final core — to meet Loki's.

The forces collided… not with swords, but with intention.

The encounter was a test…

Who holds the right to bear denial?

As the sky cracked and the earth trembled, Loki felt something he hadn't felt in thousands of years:

*Fear.*

And in the background of the battle, a third figure watched…

*Aster.*

She whispered:

"This isn't a struggle between man and god… but between fate and word."