Chapter 541 - Consequences

To say that Arnold was pissed was an understatement, unlike any other god, have ever heard. He despite his hatred towards the gods decided to treat them with kindness and respect, and what did he get? Yet another betrayal. 

Arnold had thought after leaving them with the Asgardians, they'll be able to keep everyone in check. But quite the opposite happened. They were the ones who took it upon themselves to try and keep his, their master's, strength in check by sending Surtr away before Arnold could include him in his army. 

No matter how Arnold saw it, it was nothing but an obscene betrayal of trust he had put on both Heimdall and Thor. Well, actually, Arnold wasn't surprised by what Thor did. After all, he had proclaimed that he will not tolerate anything against Asgard so it was obvious that he was acting in the interest of Asgardians.

However, the story of Heimdall was completely different. He, unlike Thor, had sworn allegiance towards him and him alone the minute he was resurrected. And yet that bastard thought it would be okay to betray him just because thor was by his side?

Well, Arnold didn't care about such things anymore. At the end of the day, they were his summons and their acting out was a result of his insufficient disciplining. They fcking wanted to screw him over? Well, they were about to see what happens with those who screw him over. 

As of now, both Thor and Heimdall had been strapped onto the walls of the vault inside Arnold's domain. The same vault where the dead waited for Arnold's command to be resurrected and join Arnold's army as per the need.

Thor's head was throbbing like crazy. Why, do you ask? Well, because he could see Sif's corpse right in front of his eyes. But that wasn't all... a couple of undead were playing soccer with her mutilated head, kicking her all over the place.

Of course, they were not doing it out of their own volition. But they were doing so because they had been instructed to do so by Arnold. Despite his anger, Arnold was still a man of his word. As long as Thor helped him, he wasn't going to resurrect Sif to become her puppet. 

But since Thor had taken it upon himself to play the knight in the shining armour for the Asgardians, it was only fair that the rest of them got to play with something as well. Thankfully, Sif's head appeared to be the best thing to play with at the moment. 

Just seeing the love of his life being treated like that was enough to enrage Thor. But he couldn't do anything. After all, he had been trapped with chains made of celestial gold which had been reinforced by small chunks of Adamantine and then enchanted by earth's best creationist himself. 

As a result, the chain had a peculiar blessing. A blessing to strip away any being of power. The chain took their mana, stat points away as long as they were in contact with the person before using all of that strength and power to subdue them further. Not to mention the incredible amount of pain it caused. 

Arnold was initially planning on using these chains to interrogate any gods he captured alive to get to them to give him the location where Zeus and Loki had been hiding. But testing it on Thor and Heimdall seemed to be a good enough option. 

While Thor was being tortured emotionally. Heimdall was not so lucky. His punishment was much more severe than Thor's as he was the one who said he was first loyal to Arnold and then to anyone else. Yet, he was also the one who effortlessly, without even thinking about it twice, betrayed him. 

Heimdall's punishment was a bit similar to what Arnold had done to him while he was alive. Only this time, it was Natasha who was doing in. Her ways of tormenting one's soul were unparalleled. So sickening that even Arnold would eventually be forced to look away.  That was the case when Arnold had a leash around her neck.

But this time, Arnold had left her to her devices. So one could only imagine the kind of torment she would be putting Heimdall through. This kept going on as slowly the hours turned into days. In the dark room, where time was a constraint that was no longer valid, slowly but surely Arnold was making the two of them regret their choices. 

Finally, the sealed doors to the vault opened up and in walked Arnold, who was closely followed by Talos and Alice. While Thor's bloodshot eyes were still had a will to fight against Arnold after all the sickening things he had seen those freaking undead do to Sif's corpse, his will to rebel against Arnold had disappeared long ago. 

It was the same case with Heimdall. Except for the fact that he didn't have his eyes. In their place were two golden stakes... just like the rest of his body. Natasha, being the depraved one, completely outdid herself this time. 

But instead of reprimanding her or anything, Arnold happily acknowledged her good work before asking Alice and Talos to help the two out of their chains. 

While they were at it, Arnold started talking to Talos. well, actually he was talking to Heimdall and Thor, but right now, Talos was the participant in the conversation. Not them. 

"You don't know much about my father, do you Talos?"

"No, master. I have only ever heard the tales you have told us about him." Talos diligently replied, not looking into his master's eyes. 

"Did I ever tell you about the time he lectured me about consequences?"

Talos shook his head. 

"Well, I think it was a couple of years before the Dungeons started popping up in this world. Back then I was still an idiot, rich brat who thought anything could be solved with money. I mean, we were raised around money so that was all I knew."

He continued, "There was this one guy from school who always bested me at everything. Studies, sports and even gaming. He was a bully too. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and decided to teach that bastard a lesson.

I went ahead and hired professional fighters and told them to roughen the bastard up. I thought they would give him a beating that that'll be it. I never knew they would send him into a coma... nor did I know that he was the only man in his family who was supporting his mother through cancer."

"Long story short. The guy barely made it back alive. But even then he was left wheelchair-bound for life. When my father got to know that I was behind that, he blew up like any decent parent would. Took my college fund away and gave it to the guy's family."

Arnold stood there silent for a bit after that as memories from the old times flooded his head. 

"I even had to spend some time in jail. Not as much as anyone else would have had to if they were in my shoes. But after I got back, my father only ever said one thing to me for the rest of the year... 'Choices have consequences, son'.

"From that moment on, that line had been etched into my head. I hope it's been etched into yours as well... Thor and Heimdall. Don't disappoint me again or I might not be as forgiving as I am now."

Saying so, Arnold left the room, leaving his summons to tend to each other.