Chapter 438 - World Tree (3): True Enemies (Part two)

"What about her?" Loki mumbled as he got off the remnants of his throne.

He looked like a shell of his former self. Unlike Zeus, he was looked so frail that even the slightest breeze could have knocked him out. His overflowing black hair was hidden under a crown that looked like it had been stomped on by elephants or similar gargantuan creatures for thousands of years. 

Yet there was something in his eye that not even the strongest of the gods had... a thirst for revenge. Especially ever since he had got to know that the Immortal one was not as immortal as everyone thought he was. Zeus was also aware of this fact but they were the only two who knew about the Immortal One's secret. A secret that could have them crowned as the overlord of the universe or doom them to the underworld forever.

It all happened when the last time Immortal one killed both Loki and Zeus. Usually, when a God was killed, two things would happen. One, the 'dead gods' would be converted into a form of energy and it would take them a lot of time to slowly shape them back to their former selves. And two, they would lose all of their memories from the previous life and would slowly regain them back as time progressed. But these things only happened in the case when a higher god died. If any lower godly entity died, they would have to wait to be resurrected by the higher gods.

This, however, did not happen the last time Loki and Zeus were killed. Instead of losing their memory, they ended up gaining all of their memories from their past lives. They did not know why or how that happened, but they did and as a result, they also got to know about how the immortal one was the one who had destroyed and recreated the universe hundreds of times... and had killed all of the gods during those times as well.

But they got to know something else as well. Every time Shiva destroyed a universe and recreated it, a part of his soul died with it. And he had done that so many times now, that he can only do it maybe one more time and after that, he'll be gone forever or maybe gone for a while till his energy was reformed as it did with the other higher gods.

That was the reason why Shiva, someone who didn't care about the game of gods till now, suddenly wanted to participate in one. Through the competition, he had hoped to look for an heir to carry on his legacy. Or in other words, he was trying to create a newer version of himself who could rule over the universe in his stead. This was his first and the last shot to do things right and that's why he was so desperate as well.

However, Zeus and Loki both knew no one would believe them even if they informed the other gods about it. They would probably end up getting exiled from their own domains and would most definitely be killed by Shiva because they knew too much. Thus they decided to keep their mouth shut and destroy the last sliver of hope Shiva had for his future. Rather than attacking him themselves as they knew even in his weakened state, the Immortal One was more than capable enough to kick their godly as*es ten times over before breaking a sweat.

Neither Zeus nor Loki knew why the immortal one was destroying and recreating the universe. But they didn't even care about it. All they knew was to put an end to the drama along with the one who had killed them and for that, they needed to put an end to the one who was set to inherit the Immortal's will and throne.

That's why they hatched a plan along with Loki's Lesser god sister, Hel and her aides. Hel agreed to take the job as soon as she heard it was a ploy to eliminate the immortal one and under her influence, the other lesser gods agreed as well.

Since the Higher Gods weren't allowed to step foot on earth, Zeus and Loki needed help from the lesser gods. This was because the Earth was too fragile to host a godly figure who had not been birthed there.

But the lesser gods were not bound by this rule because their universal presence wasn't as large as the Higher gods. But to even the odds for the game's sake, the lesser gods were not allowed to know the identity of the contestants other than their Vassals, unlike the higher gods. It was done so that the lesser gods won't be able to influence the competition in any way possible.

Either way, Loki and Zeus promised to help Hel and sent her to earth along with a bunch of other lesser gods to locate and kill the Immortal one's vassal. But they were instructed to not do it too soon as Shiva might get another Vassal then. Also, if their plan of sabotaging the competition was revealed they would probably permanently lose their lives.

Thus they had to time it perfectly or else their plan could have backfired on them. So they waited for Arnold to grow a bit while using their vassals to do their dirty deed. But Hel's first paladin got overconfident and died as a result. Hel wanted to act by herself to kill Arnold but she was stopped by her brother, who also happened to be her father in one of the other universes.

Hel tried to persuade Zeus and Loki to give her permission to get rid of Arnold right then and there because she had noticed his abnormal growth. She had seen something that the others failed to see. But the duo refused because it was 'too soon' and making a direct move against Arnold would make the Immortal One suspicious of them. However, by the time they thought the moment to kill the Immortal one's paladin had arrived, it was already too late. Arnold had become far too powerful for the vassals to handle on their own.

As a result, they decided to sent in Tiamut, who equally hated Shiva for her own reasons. They knew she was the one who could defeat Arnold and she did... for a moment. Then Arnold did the impossible, something no human had ever done... he killed a demigod all on his own. That was the moment Zeus and Loki realised they had given Arnold far more time than they should have. Their caution had not turned into their foolishness and thus they decided to jeopardise all of Arnold's moves following that incident.

But no matter what they did, they always ended up aiding him rather than stopping him. They put Arnold through hell and yet he came out victorious as no one could even touch him. So now, they needed to do the last thing they could do to stop him... pit him against someone whom Arnold would never hurt in his wildest nightmares... his sister, who was the vassal of Loki, one of Arnold's true enemy.