Stupid Odin

After the Hati incident, Downs was certain that these forces were best drawn out and dealt with in advance, for it to truly count.

Simply killing a puppy version of Fenrir was unlikely to weaken the power of Ragnarok.

In the epic, Asgard was besieged by the five great demon clans, and the blame, after much consideration, actually fell on Odin and the gods themselves for their foolish actions.

After the Aesir gods gained dominion over the world, they indulged in daily drinking and merrymaking, using the offerings from the mortal realms to create the flourishing and magnificent realm of Asgard, while neglecting the lives of mortals.

As Fenrir grew larger, the gods simply exiled him to the Ironwood, and only when Fenrir's size became terrifying did the gods frantically try to remedy the situation.

They failed to complete the conquest of the Vanir, and the Vanir even raised a Jormungandr in the sea without interference. Wasn't there a sense of lazy governance in all of this?

The unrest in the underworld was due to two reasons: first, the gods loathed Hel's ugliness and exiled her; second, Odin created Valhalla, endlessly intercepting souls and disrupting the cycle of souls between the living and the dead.

Odin killed Ymir but left Surtur unchecked, which was another blunder.

Finally, except for Thor, almost none of the Aesir gods were willing to go to the icy Jotunheim to slaughter the frost giants who opposed the Aesir, to the point where the frost giants had become so numerous that they had established their own nation.

In the epic of Ragnarok, aside from the intrusion of chaos forces, it was essentially a large-scale karmic retribution for the Aesir gods sowing evil seeds and reaping bitter fruit.

Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun. The high-intensity disaster in the eyes of bystanders was simply a group of irresponsible individuals digging holes and not filling them, accumulating small misfortunes into great disasters, ultimately brewing a shocking calamity.

Of all the great demons, the only one that could barely be considered not the fault of the Aesir was the Nidhogg, the poisonous dragon that devoured the roots of the World Tree. This creature was stuck in a spatial rift and would not emerge until the appointed time.

If I remember correctly, it was Nidhogg who killed Freyja.

"My position as God-King is too difficult!" Downs lamented as he stroked the hilts of the nine divine swords, as if playing with a group of adorable little animals.

At the same time, his divine gaze once again traversed the void and landed on Jotunheim.

There, a heartbroken Loki suddenly felt a terrifying palpitation.

His lover, Angrboða, also lost all color in her face: "My dear, did you feel that?"

"Yes," Loki nodded heavily, then made a silencing gesture, thinking he was being discreet.

Unfortunately, his lover did not have his sharp mind and instinctively stroked her abdomen, where a new life was being conceived.

This was like some people with insufficient social experience who, when overly nervous, would habitually touch the place where they kept their valuables.

Loki naturally took her hand and placed it on his face: "It's okay!"

Loki was very perceptive. After a while, when he felt that the gaze had probably shifted away, he took his lover's hand, looked her in the eyes, and solemnly said: "Don't think that Sköll was let go. Odin is no longer reliable. He can betray our descendants once, and he can betray them countless times."

"What do we do?" Although the giantess was very dissatisfied with the God-King Downs, with her limited intelligence, she couldn't think of any good solutions.

"If our children are destined to be tainted by chaos, then none of them will survive. Our best option is to secretly give birth to them and then quickly send them away."

Angrboða's heart was breaking. As a mother, her tolerance for her children was boundless, and she didn't even care if her children were humanoid.

Her wisdom never matched Loki's, and she listened to whatever Loki said. Since Loki instructed her to do so, she would comply.

Three days later, Angrboða, feeling the first pangs of labor, informed Loki. Loki left illusory clones of them both in his palace and secretly took his lover to Midgard.

In a seaside cave, Angrboða gave birth to her and Loki's second child.

The moment Loki saw the child, his heart sank.

Not humanoid again?

It was a gray-white snake, already five meters long at birth. Although slender, this was not what a giant's offspring should be.

Loki immediately understood that this was likely another instance of the chaos influence that Downs had mentioned.

The 'small' gray snake raised its head and calmly gazed at its parents, who were so different in shape from itself. Although it felt strange, a clear soul link connected it to its parents.

Loki sat cross-legged on the ground, letting the seawater soak his ornate clothes: "My child, can you understand my words?"

The gray snake obediently nodded.

"My child, I have decided to name you Jormungandr."

The gray snake was visibly excited, and this small gesture made it clearly feel that its connection with the world had become even closer. This emotional surge was also transmitted to its parents.

Angrboða kissed her child forcefully, crying and saying: "Mommy is sorry for you. Perhaps your birth into this world is a mistake. Because you are a symbol of chaos, the damned God-King Downs will hunt you down in the name of guarding 'Order'."

Jormungandr was a little confused, but soon it showed anger.

Loki was first despondent, then his gaze became firm, and he said in a deep voice: "Jormungandr. We cannot protect you as you grow. The only thing you can do is hide in the deep sea and accumulate your strength. Understand?"

Jormungandr nodded again.

Loki's voice had become sharp: "Whether it is Order or Chaos, when you have accumulated enough strength, you can contact Sköll, the offspring of your deceased brother Fenrir, and then confront the Aesir. If the gods still refuse to acknowledge your existence, then overthrow the damned rule of the Aesir."

The giantess was a little timid: "Loki, overthrowing the Aesir, is that possible?"

Loki clenched his fist: "We must try even if it's impossible. They killed our son and our grandson. Perhaps such actions are correct in Downs's eyes. But have the Aesir considered our feelings? They have left us with no choice!"

"Yes!" The giantess grasped Loki's hand, her eyes also becoming firm: "I was originally afraid of having children. Now it seems that we need more powerful children."

"Yes."

The deterioration of Loki's relationship with the gods did not happen overnight.

During peacetime, Loki played too many pranks, offending every Aesir god equally. And Downs executing Fenrir and killing Hati was merely the breaking point in Loki's relationship with the Aesir.

Since the gods loathed him, and even Odin did not protect him, Loki naturally had to seek a way out.

Perhaps it was because Downs had not spoken definitively and had not pushed things to the extreme that Loki had not yet finally decided to break with the Aesir.

This was only temporary.

Loki, who desperately pursued his own happiness, ignored the big picture, and did not care about the struggle between Order and Chaos, was only a matter of time before he embarked on that path of no return.