Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Sigh—

A sweet breeze drifted over the skies of Niflheim, enshrouding the world in a pale red mist. When Laine stepped across the boundary, what he saw made him think for a moment that he had come to the wrong place.

The original land of mist was cold and bleak. As one of the realms that existed before the World Tree was born, it was the polar opposite of Muspelheim, the realm of ice and fire, enshrouded in thick fog all year round.

Snow and ice coated the land of Niflheim; there was no light, no warmth, only the Hvergelmir Spring—the world’s first fountain—winding its way through.

This place was supposed to be a forbidden zone for life, inhabited only by the race known as the ‘Nibelungen.’ But now, the original inhabitants were nowhere to be seen, and in front of Laine, everything appeared so ‘vibrant with life’.

Brightly colored plants bloomed across the earth, swaying gracefully in the wind. Animals and birds flitted through the woods, occasionally drinking from the rivers along the paths. If not for the intertwined black and red hues on the horizon, Laine might have thought he had come to the Chaos World of the Second Epoch, where All Spirits lived upon the earth unaffected by various natural disasters and monsters.

“It looks really harmonious; too bad it’s all just an illusion…”

Though the sight before him was so lifelike, Laine was not deceived. From the perspective of Spirituality, this seemingly normal scene did not have a single normal aspect. Every being before him, including the animals and plants, was indeed alive, but only in their bodies. Their consciousness, however, was eerily similar and unified.

Or more accurately put, they did not have their independent thoughts and had instead become part of a broader collective consciousness.

Their principal consciousness…

Laine raised his head. In the center of Niflheim, a massive tree that connected heavens and earth unfurled its crimson leaves, swaying in the gentle breeze.

“Boom—”

“Laine, what are you still looking at?”

The sky resounded with a voice—that of Erebus—which was clearly aware of the tear in the barrier and had noticed Laine’s presence.

And the source of the sound was the giant tree above, where another slender branch had pierced the space, burrowing directly into the distant obsidian sky.

To call it a ‘tree’ didn’t do it justice, it was more like a living being in the shape of a tree. At the center of the land, surrounded by innumerable lives, Laine saw the origin of everything.

It was not merely a root segment, but a complete, true colossal tree. Its roots penetrated the earth, and its trunk supported the heavens. Six enormous branches danced in the wind, appearing both magnificent and perfect.

Each of its branches, every leaf vein, seemed to follow the golden ratio in a natural beauty that attracted all life unconsciously. Yet on its trunk, a glaring wound disrupted the integrity of its structure.

This was why it was considered a ‘living being.’ Material like flesh at the site of the wound constantly surged out, attempting to fill the gap, but to limited effect. Furthermore, liquid resembling blood continued to flow from the wound, falling into the roots, pooling in a poisonous spring, then dispersing through twelve rivers across the entire land of mist.

At that moment, Laine felt the Eye of Odin in his sleeve yearning and dreading; it had drawn from the World Tree’s essence and also from that otherworldly high-ranking power. Although they might have had a common origin, they were now two separate entities.

“I knew it… the death of a world isn’t going to spawn anything good!”

Laine’s expression grew stern as, accompanied by Erebus’s call, the large and vibrant tree seemed to also notice another Outsider. Although It had no eyes, at that moment, It still ‘looked’ in Laine’s direction.

As the ‘tree’ ‘watched,’ birds, beasts, fish, and indeed every living thing around Laine, including the river water, the mist in the air, the whole world, turned to ‘look’ at him. Such a sight could drive mortals insane and even render ordinary Deities speechless with Fear, but Laine remained unmoved.

In the Spirit Realm, he could do something similar.

“This scene is so out of sync with classic mythology. Compared to this, my Spirit Realm looks like a pure land.”

With a cold laugh, Laine’s robe flared, and a faint black light in a circular motion instantly swept across a hundred miles, reducing everything it touched to dust. However, at the same time, the owner of the ‘gaze’ from the unknown sent a special force that acted directly on Laine’s body, ignoring space itself.

His divinely infused flesh pulsed once, but then instantly settled back to calm.

This was the power of [Life] on the material plane, though manifested in an abnormal way. Clearly, no matter what changes had occurred, the ‘tree’s’ predecessor was indeed the body of the World Tree Yggdrasil. Thus, It wielded an incredibly fearsome authority in the realm of [Life]. However, It was facing another Deity who equally mastered both [Life] and [Death].

Where their authorities intersected but their powers were not vastly different, Its invisible influence on Laine naturally had no effect. Correspondingly, Life and Death would also struggle to harm the giant tree in return.

Hum—

Seemingly realizing that its attack had been nullified, another intangible thought swept through the world. Laine felt as if he were hearing someone speak, at first one or two voices, then thousands, and finally billions. This was not an illusion; it was indeed the calling of all the deceased lives in Niflheim.