Chapter 554 A Friend's Hand

Zeus was getting thrashed as he had never been before. Well, actually it was his second time in all the lives he had spent when he was being toyed with like this. Although the gods had their hands filled with taking care of the undead and Loki's illusions, none of them could keep their eyes away from the part where Arnold was literally manhandling the former king of Olympus.Â

Zeus was getting more and more desperate as seconds turned into minutes as Arnold kept beating the living crap out of him. No matter what he tried, he could not put a dent on Arnold's armour, let alone harm him.Â

"Why is this happening!?" Zeus roared in rage as bolts of lightning kept colliding with Arnold's armour, only to get absorbed by it, "That bastard Thor was able to put you in a desperate situation, yet why can't I do the same!?"

Arnold didn't respond and wrapped his hands around Zeus' neck, putting him in a chokehold... Slowly squeezing his life out of him. By this time, it was clear that Arnold was simply toying with Zeus, after all, Zeus' strongest weapon had proven to be useless against Arnold and without that, there was nothing the greek god could have done to him.Â

In midst of fighting against Fenrir, Baldr was suddenly hit with a realisation. As far as he knew, only one thing could have nullified the effect of Zeus' lightning bolts... Uru metal. During the fight between Thor and Arnold, Arnold was able to shatter huge chunks out of the majestic hammer.Â

Although he later repaired the hammer, there was no way a creationist like Arnold would have been able to resist the urge of using the rare material. Which meant... Arnold's armour was not only made of Adamantine but also contained Uru metal that was responsible for the absorption of Zeus' lighting bolts.Â

"Did he-"Â

"Took you long enough to guess." Odin smiled at his son, "Although that metal wasn't meant to be harnessed by a human, I guess someone like Arnold can put it to much better use than Thor. Enough gawking at him, we have our own troubles to deal with."

In front of them, Fenrir was growling as blood dripped between his canines, and no, that wasn't his blood but the blood of Odin's steed whom the wolf had killed. He had already fought with the All-father once before and knew it very well as long as Odin had his steed, he was damn near invincible.Â

So, he dealt with the horse first... just like it was said in the prophecy. But there were errors. By now according to the prophecy, Odin was supposed to call forth the warriors from Valhalla, but that was no longer a possibility. He had already used them during the battle of Muspelheim.Â

After skipping that step... there was only one thing remaining for him. That was to perish by the jaws of the wolf. But Odin wasn't gonna make it easy for Fenrir just because the prophecy mentioned so. Horse or no horse, he was still the All-father for fuck's sake.

If he had to inevitably go down, he was taking the damned wolf with him. But the next moment it did not seem to be possible.Â

A couple of moments passed and Fenrir began to grow bigger and bigger. His presence was already monumental on the battlefield, but now it had become insurmountable. It wasn't anything like Odin had felt before.Â

"Once a puny god, always a puny god..." Fenrir snarled with a smile on his face. He stopped growing in size when he was about the size of his brother Jormungandr, "What are you going to do now, All-father?"

"I have slain countless giants in my lifetime pup." Odin quickly regained his composure, "And today, I'll add another one on the list."

Although Odin sounded confident in his abilities, he was sweating buckets. Not because he was scared of the wolf, far from it. It was just that Jormungandr's poison was finally getting to him. It had severely weakened his reflexes and that was part of the reason why his steed fell in battle.Â

If only someone could have taken care of the serpent, things would have been much easier. For a moment, Odin contemplated the possibility of momentarily leaving the battlefield and healing up. But he knew if he backed out now not only would he endanger the humans there but also deal a heavy blow to the resolve of his fellow gods.Â

With being left no other choice, Odin grasped his sceptre with all his strength and was about to charge in when someone reached out to him from behind. The next moment, snow started falling all over the battlefield and the temperature dropped drastically.Â

"It took a while for you to get here," Odin mumbled with a smile on his face as all the poison in his body was actively sucked away, "Shiva."

"I never knew you were expecting me here. It's been a while, friend." Shiva responded with one of his signature enigmatic smiles while staring at the battlefield, "Looks like he has done everything like it was supposed to happen. Excellent, today might be the day all of us attain true freedom."

"I'm really getting fed up with all your riddles, you know?"  Odin shook his head before embracing his one true friend with a punch to his chest, "but eh, whatever, tell me what to do and I'll make it happen."

"Oh no no, you're mistaken." Shiva playfully shook his head, "It's not my battle. Not yet at least. But I guess I can lend you a hand or two."

Saying so, Shiva exhaled all of the air in his lungs before quickly breathing in all of Jormungandr's poison as if it was some snack for him. The air was fresh and breathable again. All of those who had been poisoned were back to their feet as if nothing had happened there.Â

The next moment, something landed next to Shiva's feet with a loud bang. It was Zeus' crippled body. His limbs were bent in weird angles while his skin seemed to have been turned inside out. All in all, he no longer appeared like the glorious god he was but a mere excuse of a living being.

"You're early." Arnold barked at the god whom he was the vassal of, "'He' will not appear for a few hours at the very least."

"I just wanted to enjoy the show for once, is it too much to ask?" Shive sarcastically replied.Â

"...just don't get in my way."

"Wasn't planning to."