Chapter 53:

It stood to reason that Markus had random encounters with deities laying all of their troubles at his feet. His deceased uncle had blamed him for the theft of his giant glowstick. His undead uncle blamed him for the theft of his overgrown night cap. Again, his deceased uncle had somehow seen it fit to blame him for attacking and disrespecting the power of Olympus. After that, the Fates show up and blame him for fucking up most of their well-made plans and schemes (something that he took full pride in).

And now, he had fucking Odin himself coming down from Asgard to blame him for something that's again out of his control.

Markus' eyebrow twitched as he glared heavily at the All-Father, surrounded by his Valkyrie. "Alright, time! Timeout! Time right the hell out!"

All motion from the Norse beings halted as they stared at the son of Poseidon, looking at him in confusion. "Okay, now that I have you're attention," he started to say. "Now, let's talk like civilised beings, and discuss what has been going on; what are you blaming me for?"

One of the Valkyries stepped forward, looking like she was going to skewer Markus herself, only for Odin to step forward, eye narrowed.

"Do not play games with me, Markus Henderson!" His voice boomed, the echoes rolling off of Markus' back as he clenched Wavebreaker in his hand, nerves rattled. "I know that it is you who snuck into Asgard and entered into my own personal vault! I will have your head for your theft against me!"

Markus gritted his teeth. "And what the hell did I even steal, huh?!"

"My own personal scroll of magic!" Odin thundered, his divine power starting to roll off of him. "You thought a feeble beginner of magic could hope to get away from me?! A god of magic?!"

Markus bristled at the insult, emerald eyes flashing. Feeble beginner?! That limp-dick, dipshit motherfucker!

"Look, I swear on the Styx that I didn't steal shit from Asgard!" he announced quickly, hoping against all hope that Odin would accept it. He should, after all. Markus didn't know much about other god kings, but not all of them would be like Zeus, right?

Apparently, his logic was flawed, as Markus' instincts screamed at him. Immediately, War God Speed Impulse was activated, and Markus narrowly moved out of the way, Gungnir sailing past him by a few inches.

Markus placed Wavebreaker back into his pocket dimesnion, Kusanagi replacing the previous weapon in his hand. Even with his War God Speed Impulse, he was only just able to react to the spear being thrown.

Odin's spear flew back into his hands, the god's face bristling with anger as he glowed with even more power. "I will parade the halls of Asgard with your bloody corpse, boy!"

Dozens upon dozens of magical attacks formed from thin air around the Asgardian king. Pure, raw magic was formed without any incantation, trailing after the son of Poseidon at break-neck speeds.

Narrowing his eyes, Markus placed several magic barriers that took the brunt of most of the attacks, his super speed doing its job in helping him dodge the rest. He just had time to fully process all of this before a powerful burst of divine energy was shot from the tip of Gungnir.

BOOM!

Markus' ears kept on ringing at the massive shockwave produced by the godly weapon, not sure exactly what it hit. He pointed the tip of Kusanagi at him, following up with his own bolt of golden lightning. Just as the bolt reached him, it seemingly rebounded off of the space near Odin, not touching him at all. Markus grunted as he let his own lightning hit him, the sparks splashing harmlessly off of him.

"Grand Smasher!" the demigod chanted, blue magical circles appearing before him and firing thick blasts of blue energy at Odin, who simply smacked the attacks away with a simple swing of Gungnir. The magic beams veered to the side, detonating and destroying large chunks of land and settlement.

Odin scoffed. "Like I said..." A twirl of his spear followed after, the casual action pissing Markus off. "A baby such as yourself should not bawl so loudly against the adults in the real world, boy!"

Markus snarled. "I already swore on the Styx that I didn't steal anything from you!"

"And you think that a Greek oath would have any place in Norse affairs?!"

The rhetorical question made Markus almost facepalm at his stupidity. Matters that were important in the Greek pantheon didn't mean shit with other pantheons. Inter-pantheonic laws and that.

"In that case..." Markus muttered, cracking his neck. "Yūrei Idō."

Suddenly, Odin's remaining eye was suddenly punctured, drawing a loud cry from the Aesir. Blood - a surprising red even darker than normal blood (A.N. - I don't know what colour the blood of the Norse gods is. I don't have any copy of my Magnus Chase books on me, and I just know that ichor is exclusively for Greek gods. If I'm wrong, I'll go change it) - gushed from his wound as his Valkyries tended to him, some brandishing weapons at him.

Not wasting an opportunity, Markus dashed forward at super speeds, sword sparking with lightning. Just as he reached the god, Odin bellowed. It took him a few moments to realise that that bellow wasn't a normal one.

Instantly, a rune of burning golden light formed in the air: ᚱ.

Frowning, Markus' eyes went wide as the distance between the two seemed to somehow extend. The space between him and Odin kept on extending so much that - while he realistically knew that Norse magic was taking place - it seemed like a few centimetres turned into miles.

Some sort of spacial magic? Markus queried, switching Kusanagi for Yamato. The runes lighting up, Markus slashed the very space behind him, opening up a rift in space. Coating himself in a pseudo-God Trigger - in which his cells weren't saturated but merely coated in divine energy - he jumped into the rift.

Time and space seemed to distort in his vision. For the real world, only one or two seconds passed. But for Markus? It seemed to stretch on to minutes, and then approached an hour. His body was assaulted by streams of space that seemed to cut at his body, his divine power the only thing keeping him from being ripped apart molecule by molecule. Ever so slowly, he slashed at a particular opening in space, in which he jumped out of.

Fortunately for him, the opening led to the exposed back of Odin, who still hadn't properly recovered from Markus' earlier spell. Dismissing the God Trigger cloak, Third Gear sprung to life as his hair stood on end. The boost in speed allowed Markus to slash at Odin and his Valkyries at multiple angles, the strikes so fast the Valkyries only were able to blink, before blood entered their field of vision.

All of them collapsed, finding themselves either headless of dismembered. Only a select few were bisected cleanly.

Odin himself received the most slashes, cuts adorning his body as he groaned.

"Note to self," Markus spoke to himself, Kusanagi replacing Yamato. "Don't ever try that trick again."

Snarling, the cuts on Odin's body steamed, before they quickly knitted themselves together, healing rapidly. His crushed eye also seemed to regenerate as well, the organ glaring daggers at the demigod.

With an aggressive wave of his hand, Odin launched a wave of force that slammed into Markus' body, launching him backwards at a tremendous speed. His flesh rippled as he was hurled back like a cannonball, smashing through several trees, over a farmland and into a small suburb, busting through a house of mortals eating dinner. Markus was finally released from whatever spell Odin had performed, being thrown into the side of a SUV and making quite the dent in it. He fell from it with a groan, picking himself up.

"What the shit?" he grunted, coughing out some blood. "That motherfucker just plowed me through a whole neighbourhood!" He groaned as he used the dented and alarm blaring SUV to get back to his feet. Blinking, Markus turned to the house he shot through, seeing the mortals look at him in shock, awe and fear.

Markus sighed. "Don't have time for an explanation." A quick application of the Mist, and the family appeared docile, allowing Markus to manipulate their memories of what had just happened. Done with that, he applied Third Gear again, pushing both it and his bubbling kinetic energy to their limits. Stepping out of the house and moving a safe distance from it, Markus burst off in a small sonic boom, compressed due to the concern of the nearby mortals.

His body was now much more experienced at handling his energies than when he raced against Hermes. Now, he could move at the speed of light easily. There was no destructive trail behind him, for if there had been, the planet would have been shredded - or at least scarred - moving at the speed of light across its surface. Sometimes, Markus loved being a demigod. It gave him the ability to flip the middle finger to physics and do crazy shit.

Back with Odin, the Aesir only had a while to fully recover from Markus' onslaught. He'd surveyed the damage done to his Valkyries, but before he could do anything, his body was wracked with an unexpected pain from his torso. He didn't even have time to process just what had hit him, before he flew at incalculable speeds, producing a shockwave that obliterated the space around him, including the bodies of the Valkyries, the duck statue and any other surroundings nearby.

Odin yelled in pain as he was blitzed by powerful and fast attacks, too fast for him to follow. As he neared the ground, a hand grabbed his neck and sped him along at high speeds, making his flesh ripple as he was flung like a rag doll through several buildings, monuments, trees, statues and more objects that Odin had no time to recall. The Aesir didn't know how long he was attacked for, compared to how long it actually was.

As what felt like the tenth sonic boom impacted against his body, rattling his divine body yet again, Odin had had enough. With a mental shout of 'Tími, halda!', his magic took effect and halted time for a short while. He panted, channelling his magic throughout his entire body to heal the grievous injuries dealt to him by that wretched demigod. As his eye socket was healed and clear of any blood, he found the demigod with his fist outstretched, going for another punch.

Odin assessed his bearings, dealing with the information around him. It looked like he was somewhere in Asia. A quick scan had him realise that he was in Shanghai, in China. The fact that he was essentially knocked across most of the globe and found himself here made Odin slightly respect the son of Poseidon... before it was squashed by his unyielding rage. He was motionless in the air, about a few feet off of the ground. Several mortals walked around, blissfully unaware of the battle taking place, or the fact that time had stopped.

After a few minutes of healing himself, Odin forced himself to plant his feet on the ground, standing upright. Hefting Gungnir, he gathered his divine energy into one point, building up more power. After gathering the essential power, he unleashed it towards the demigod in a massive explosion, his time spell shattering as a result.

The ground exploded from the pure power of the blast, blowing away any nearby mortals and erasing them into ashes. Screams filled the air as the mortals were caught unaware of the entire battle, dying in the blink of an eye. The shockwaves produced blew apart and destroyed buildings, clouds, and life, disintegrating them all.

Markus couldn't help but cry out in absolute agony as his entire world was blinded by pain. He didn't know what had happened exactly. He was thrashing Odin, until his vision was filled with nothing but white. He couldn't recall anything, only the searing pain all over his body, particularly the right side of his body. Clenching his teeth with tears forming in his eyes, he tried to recollect his bearings.

Pushing himself out of the shock and pain that he was entering, he tried to survey the situation at hand. He was lying in some rubble, blood coating most of the wreckage. He presumed that it was his own. Using the blood and liquids in his body as a detector, Markus scanned the damage done to his body. He winced, taking note of the right side of his face having major scar tissue and bleeding profusely, the multiple broken and shattered bones all over his body, the punctured and ruptured organs, and... oh, he just noticed that his right arm and leg were disintegrated, the ends of the stumps where his limbs were already cauterised by the heat of the divine energy from Odin.

That... that wasn't good. If he took a picture of himself right now, he'd look like crushed raspberries.

"Surrender yourself, demigod," Odin's voice boomed out, reaching even Markus' damaged ears. "Lest you face more of my wrath."

If Markus could grit any of his remaining teeth, he could. All of this pain, all of the pain, the blood, the tears... for him being falsely accused again? He tried to think of a plan, as pain-riddled as he was. Odin was better than him in magic. It was a tough pill to swallow, considering that Markus prided himself on many things about himself; magic being one of them. But it was the truth.

Not only that, but he was definitely more powerful than the Olympians, a fact that he'd felt confident on even without him using God Trigger. His mind was running blank trying to think of a strategy, mostly because it was too filled with pain. But he realised that if he didn't do something soon, he'd die.

Markus could faintly hear Odin's voice, the god standing above him. "Do you see the depths of your foolishness, boy?" Odin asked rhetorically, Gungnir being raised up in the air to finish the job. "Interrogating you is pointless. You clearly refuse to submit. As such, I will take care to extract the information from your cold, pitiful corpse."

As Odin was about to bring his spear down, Markus had already gathered the necessary magic for what he was about to do. Inches away from death he may be, he was still able to instinctively call upon his magic. And he had enough for what he intended to do. A dimensional portal opened beneath his body, wide enough to capture Odin as well. The two fell in, rubble and debris falling with them.

Sensing the approaching danger, Markus wrapped his destroyed body in a cocoon of magic, barely defending against the lunge of Odin's spear. While this did shatter the barrier and send a painful shock through the demigod's body, it did launch him farther away from the god, allowing him some breathing room. Markus landed painfully on the ground, crying out in agony as fresh tears of pain erupted from his eye-sockets.

Odin landed on the ground, far away from him. He raised his spear to attack Markus from afar, only to twirl it around, deflecting crimson blasts of energy that were shot from all around him. His lone eye went wide at surveying the enemies before him. "Demons," he muttered in confusion, seeing the nightmarish creatures prowling towards him.

Markus gave a pained grin, coughing up blood. He was lying in a remote place that he had known about in advance, having made it as he'd come across this dimension.

Across his many, many pocket dimensions, he had discovered other types of worlds that went outside of his reach. Worlds that he could access with his dimension magic. There were a few that he had discovered but never really explored properly. This one (aptly named, the Demon Realm) was one of them.

Markus had only ventured into this realm once, during the training with Susanoo while he trained with Dalf. Once he had explored the realm, he had promptly high-tailed out of there. Back then, he was weaker than he was now. He had foolishly thought that the demons here were like Zerith. Strong, but wear them down and he'd defeat them. He almost chuckled at how stupid he was back then.

Many of the demons here were resistant to magic. Or at least, mortal magic. High-class magic - performed by powerful gods, for example - wasn't exactly tested on them. Markus didn't know why, as the demons of his own world were. They made a majority of the Greek monsters he had fought in his life look like babies in comparison, rivalling even some of the more powerful Olympians.

Markus had vowed that - unless he received more powerful spells - to not enter the Demon Realm at all. But desperate times called for desperate measures. And he was pretty fucking desperate now. He channelled magic into the ritual circle he had crafted from his own blood - guess there was something good about bleeding and being on the literal verge of death. Thankfully, Odin was still held up by the demons.

"Invocatio: Anima Captura: Liga Daemonium! (Invoke: Soul Capture: Demon Binding!)" Markus casted, the magic circle lighting up. Near his vicinity, demons were drawn towards the circle, like light being caught in a black hole. They headed towards the magic circle - which was now bigger than Markus' body - and thus Markus himself. He gritted his teeth as demon after demon was bound to his body, the pain wracking his destroyed body.

And yet, this wasn't without benefits. Bright red energy bubbled over the stump that was his right arm. Suddenly, a new arm started to form. The bones were recreated, quickly followed by the veins and muscle. As the skin started to reform over the new limb, Markus' eyes glowed a blood red. His Devil Bringer appeared in a flash, more demonic-looking with more demons being absorbed.

The tattoos on it lit up and was more bulkier, becoming more pronounced as he gained more power. Instead of his normal scales, armoured plates started to appear on his face. His canines elongated into fangs. As Markus transformed, his body started to heal itself of all its injuries. His body liquefied, the altering of his shape allowed more of his more grievous injuries to be healed, including the stump that was his right leg.

Soon, everything that he was were no longer human. As he absorbed what looked like the twentieth demon, he stood, his form much more bigger than a regular Greek monster. His muscles were larger and more developed, but now they weren't made out of tissues of skin or muscle. He was covered in black, deep and dark red spiked plates that resembled his muscles.

Instead of his usual scaled face, Markus' face grew more thinner, almost skeletal. Horns - much more bigger and more menacing than before - sprouted from the sides of his head. From his back, large, scaled wings sprouted, looking like a gargoyle's own. The colour of obsidian clashed with the dark red, creating a menacing contrast.

Rearing his head back, the newly demonic Markus let out a deep, menacing roar.

With Odin - who had slaughtered quite a number of demons - his eye widened at the sound of the roar. He had managed to blast away a large number of demons, before a scaled fist collided with his face, sending him flying. He let out a grunt as he tried to regain his position in the air, only for his eye to widen as he looked at Markus, who grinned maliciously at him.

"Your greed knows no bounds," Odin sneered. "You would turn yourself into this... this abomination... for pow- Urgh!" Odin grunted as Markus stabbed him with the Kusanagi from behind, the godly blade wreathed in demonic black lightning. The Markus in front of him faded away.

Illusion? Odin grunted in thought. No! It's- "Argh!" A yell of pain erupted from his lips as Markus blasted him with more lightning, kicking the god downwards towards the ground. He managed to land on his feet, kneeling to inspect the wound. Looking up, he saw the now visible red sky spark with black lightning.

Eye widening, Odin spun Gungnir like a windmill, deflecting the sudden onslaught of black lightning. However, he couldn't deflect all of the attacks. The sky literally exploded with noise and power as Markus gathered all of the lightning gathered at one point; the tip of his sword. A funnel cloud of lightning, black water and violent winds started to form around the sword, Markus' body glowing with a demonic might.

Smirking, Markus bellowed out, " Θεόςέκρηξη! (Godblast!)" Slashing his sword down, a humongous blast of storm energy headed straight for the Asgardian king, faster than even he could track.

Odin was about to prepare to defend himself... only for his eyes to widen at another trail of magic flowing around. A very large trail. Suddenly, lines upon lines of magic started to form, runes immediately springing into life as Markus' spell came into existence. Before Odin could counter, a giant sea of hellfire instantly sprung into life, the very air bursting with such force and heat that it literally melted out of existence, destroying the molecules on the ground.

Markus' Godblast spell joined in on the destructive power, connecting with the sea of flames where Odin was. As it connected, Markus' vision went wide as the very ground and space exploded with extreme destructive force, producing fiery heat and power that knocked him out of the air, his wings struggling to regain altitude. Feeling that his wings would fail, Markus put up a barrier and produced enough moisture to vapour-travel to a safe location, thankfully free of any demons. It looked like many of them were destroyed by the amount of magic placed into both attacks.

Markus' eyes picked up on the sudden pick in energy, tracking the scorched and destroyed field. With a powerful force, the sea of hellfire was blown away, revealing the scorched, bleeding and weakened Odin, levitating on a platform of magic and leaning on Gungnir.

Markus was about to charge towards him again, only for time to stop through Odin's command. The Aesir panted, puking out more and more blood as he collapsed to his knees, magic being channelled through his body to heal his grievous wounds. He was about to continue, only for the sound of glass shattering to ring through the air.

Odin's eye widened as he felt his time magic break. Impossible! he mentally gasped, only for Markus' ferocious roar to be his answer. Gungnir was raised in time as Kusanagi clashed against it, the platform of magic and the remaining hellfire obliterated by the godly weapons colliding.

Markus opened a dimensional portal behind Odin, slashing at the god and getting a nick at his side. Odin fell through, muttering through Old Norse so quickly that his words became a blur. Dozens upon dozens of magical circles appeared behind the Aesir, Norse runes of light flying through at breakneck speeds.

His eyes taking note of the dimension of ice that they were in, Markus casted his own spell. "Ionioi Hetairoi: Jigoku no Jūjigun! (Army of the King: Hell Crusade!)!"

Instantly, hundreds - no, thousands of weapons immediately appeared behind him, each one tipped with different elements; hellfire, uncontrollable shadows, swirling black water, and deadly curses. Markus fired each of his weapons simultaneously, colliding with Odin's onslaught of spells in a dazzling display of light, force and power.

The shockwaves and massive amounts of light and power didn't bother the two combatants, as Markus flew towards Odin in the midst of all of this, Kusanagi meeting Gungnir in an epic clash. As Markus fought against the Aesir, he hissed at the narrow misses produced, the tip of the spear hacking at his armoured plates. He hissed even more at seeing that he was receiving more wounds than Odin was.

Pouring in on the speed, the sound barrier became an afterthought as Markus suddenly slashed and hacked at Odin, his mind and body becoming a literal whirlwind of death. As Odin made a swing with his shaft that Markus dodged, he yelled out as a force of power pushed him off course. Holding out his hand, stray lights flew from his hand and surrounded Markus, who didn't have enough time to dodge.

Clenching his fist, Odin watched as Markus was consumed by the spells. A loud BOOM! rang through the dimension as he panted, trying to give himself more time. However, he didn't receive that, as the giant maw of an ice dragon seemingly swallowed him up. Through the crystallised prison he now found himself in, Odin watched in annoyance as he saw more ice sculptures form; dragons, eagles, even ice giants. The latter sculptures paled in comparison to the fabled Frost Jötnar in terms of size and power, but they were no less impressive.

With a bellow, Odin freed himself from the ice dragon, ice shards being flung around. He looked around, scouring and scouring, until he found Markus floating a distance away, commanding the ice sculptures he had created. Odin pointed his spear towards the demigod, firing off a bolt of divine energy, only for an ice eagle to intercept the blast, disintegrating upon contact.

With a mental command, the remaining ice sculptures either flew or leapt upwards, combating the Asgardian while Markus went over how to kill him. It was a tough pill to swallow, but Markus admitted that Odin was better than him in magic. While he had more raw power, Odin's spells far outclassed his own in terms of versatility and sheer usefulness. Not to mention that he felt that Odin was somehow using either advanced space magic, or time magic. He suspected the latter, since the former would've impacted the battle more visibly.

He sighed, wondering how he was going to go about this. He could see Odin shredding through his ice sculptures with ease. Growling, Markus mentally commanded the sculptures to converge upon the god. If they couldn't kill him, they could at least bind him. More and more sculptures were formed, ganging up on Odin. While the first few waves were obliterated, more kept on coming. Eventually, the ice giants grabbed hold of him, bringing him down lower and lower.

The ice sculptures started to coat more and more of Odin's body, making him grunt as he deseprately tried to free himself. Eventually, he was trapped in a block of ice. Smirking, Markus opened a dimensional portal behind the Aesir, using Yūrei Idō to knock him through. He flapped his wings, following after the frozen god as they were transported to a dimension that Markus personally enjoyed.

Several cracks surrounded the ice, before Odin shattered it with pure strength. He was about to use Gungnir again, only for Markus to gain on him, grabbing his face and tossing him towards the massive expansion that was the ocean, diving after him.

Markus didn't bother withholding his vicious smirk at all, rejuvenated by the blessing of his heritage. Odin must've seen it too, because he tried to move away from him. Scoffing, Markus started a deadly combo of sword swings, slicing through the waves and hacking at the god brutally.

The thing he loved about this dimension was its environment; whereas his own dimension (and thus Earth as a result) had roughly seventy percent of water covering the planet, this dimension had ninety percent of its surface covered by water. The ten percent was filled with small amounts of vegetation, but no animals... which was surprising.

Odin finally had enough of getting attacked and swung the shaft of Gungnir at Markus, who caught the weapon. Reeling him in, Markus gave a satisfying headbutt that practically cracked Odin's skull with a loud CRACK! Markus did it again, the sickening and bloody CRACK! reverberating across the ocean. Markus' damage was healed by the water, while also strengthening him, making Odin's punishment more painful to bear.

After the tenth CRACK!, Markus was sure Odin's skull was fractured. He threw the Aesir by the shaft of Gungnir downwards, sinking down deeper into the abyss. Markus commanded the entire weight of the ocean to converge unto Odin's position, and used it to crush the god deeper into the surface. The sensation - which Markus was able to accurately sense - felt like several dozen mountains crashing upon a person at once.

Odin's body was practically submerged in the earth deep below, going deeper and deeper as he was blasted with the force of the ocean. His body was practically destroyed, his bones severely fractured, and his magic at an all-time low. He had taken too much assault from Markus, his arrogance and foolishness making him pay the cost of underestimating him.

It seems like I will have to use my full power, Odin muttered, his body heating up due to the power flowing through his body. It's unfortunate that I am far away from the Nine Realms altogether, but this will have to do!

Just as Odin was about to be bombarded again, a wave of divine energy blasted from his very being, pushing away most of the water and even blasting Markus back, who popped out of the water to stand on it. He frowned as he noticed Odin rise out of the water, his wounds healed. But that wasn't the troubling thing. The Asgardian king had power rolling off of him in waves. Markus could literally taste the amount of power he was giving off.

The god's appearance had also changed. He was decked in gold and crimson armour, which coated his lower body completely and gave off the regal air that the demigod had promptly ignored. His white hair fell behind his back neatly, trimmed and cut to perfection. He wore no crown, but there was no need. Anyone with eyes could tell that Odin was fit to rule by appearance alone (A.N. - Similar to his Marvel counterpart's attire, but with red instead of where most of the blue is).

"So, he's really going all out, huh?" Markus muttered, gathering his own divine energy and enriching his cells with said energy. Due to the fact that he was standing on water - as well as having been submerged in it not too long ago - Markus was able to enter God Trigger much more quickly than normal. The usual explosion of power clashed with Odin's own, the battle of willpower being exchanged. His crown of black thorns adorned his head, his emerald green eyes having the deadly Omega symbol inside of them. Markus' runes glowed along his own power coming into existence.

The two beings simply stared at each other, before they disappeared in a burst of speed. Being the faster of the two, Markus was able to quickly gain the upper hand in their clash, magic coaled around their very bodies. Space rippled as their respective magics clashed, opening rifts in the dimensions Markus had opened.

Runes coated Odin's body as he chanted in Old Norse, while Markus spoke rapidly between Greek, English, Japanese and Hindi, their respective spells and runes clashing so fiercely that time and space were massively affected. As they fought, Markus noticed that they kept moving across the spacial plane so many times that what he saw looked like blurs. He could barely make out most of what he saw, but what he did see amazed him; a burning rainbow bridge, a golden city of divine origin connected to said bridge, Olympus itself, the sky, and different cities that blurred too quickly for Markus to take note of.

Kicking Odin through the Antimatter Dimension and appearing behind him, Markus didn't expect Odin to appear unfazed and pierce him through the shoulder, his ichor-reddish blood dripping from the wound (he'd figure that out later). Thus, Markus had to banish him to another dimension while a quick liquefying of his body fixed his wound up.

Seeing that Odin broke out of his pocket dimension again, Markus kicked him downwards, making him land onto the continent (Australia, maybe?), causing a massive trench to form. The continent was in ruins, but that was a given when godly beings battled on the mortal plane. The winds howled and raged, the lightning and the thunder danced in sync with each other.

Odin and Markus finally were able to stablise themselves, both beings suddenly shooting at each other with full force. The ground below them shattered as they fought and the skies above them cleared of clouds by the sheer shockwaves of their blows. Nearby cities felt large scale earthquakes of magnitudes of up to eight or nine on the Richter scale, whereas the whole continent felt the force of their blows.

The two did away with certain spells, relying instead on their trademark powers. Whenever Odin used Gungnir, Markus used Kusanagi to blast a wave of storm lasers. They stopped going through different dimensions, their magic dwindling and being kept in use for close combat instead.

Markus stabbed his sword in the ground and sliced upwards, the rubble blinding Odin and allowing him to get the edge on him, disappearing and reappearing in multiple locations, blood pouring from different wounds on Odin's body. He disappeared, running across the planet at breakneck speeds only to immediately bisect the god in half, blood splattering everywhere.

Just as Markus was so sure of his victory, he felt magic warping around Odin. Time was being rewound around him as he watched him pull himself back together instantly. The demigod had a twitching eyebrow as he glared at his opponent. "That's just bullshit," was all he managed to say. Who the fuck rewound time to save themselves from death?! ... Well, his grandfather could possibly do it, so who knows?

Though Odin had saved himself from death, the magic took quite a toll on him. His aura was diminished slightly as he panted harshly. The runes coating his body were losing more of their power, and many of his injuries weren't healing.

Markus grinned. "Getting tired, old man?"

"Jest all you want, boy. That will not save you from my wrath!" Odin bellowed, more power being summoned to his weapon. "I will incinerate you!"

Markus chuckled. "You'll die trying." Raising Kusanagi, Markus charged towards the Norse god, his opponent doing the same. Just as they were about to collide, an object fell into the space between them, followed by a powerful flash of light.

"All conflict shall CEASE!" Poseidon bellowed, his trident stabbed into the ground and a massive shockwave of earthquake energy blasting off of his form, blowing the two beings back slightly.

"Wha - Dad?!" Markus exclaimed, shocked. His father was wearing the regal clothing the last time he'd seen him, but now had power rolling off of him. Something that Markus had never felt from him before. Nothing compared to his own power, of course, but nonetheless impressive.

"You!" Odin bellowed, pointing Gungnir at Poseidon. "What are you doing here, Earthshaker?! This doesn't concern you!"

"You attack my son!" Poseidon bellowed, blue energy pouring off of his body. His sea-green eyes glinted as he dared daggers at the Aesir. "You have no grounds to say whether this concerns me or not! You will pay dearly for this attack, Asgardian!"

Odin scoffed, a sneer on his face. "And you believe that you can stop me?! None of you pathetic Olympians have the power to oppose me!"

"True, Poseidon may not..." another familiar voice commented as all three beings looked up, seeing the god floating downwards. "... but I do." Susanoo glared at the Aesir, his power dwarfing both Poseidon's and Odin's. "Odin, I don't know why you seek to involve yourself with my champion, but I shan't allow this."

"What are you doing here, Susanoo?" Poseidon questioned, confusion on his face. "And what do you mean by 'champion'?"

Susanoo turned to the god with an amused glance. "It sounds exactly as it does, Poseidon. Your son came to me in pursuit of power, and I gave it to him in the form of being my champion."

Poseidon turned a sharp glare towards Markus, who had the decency to look sheepish. "Really?"

"In my defence, I had hurdles in the form of Zeus, Titans and Kronos to deal with," Markus admitted, dropping out of God Trigger. He turned to look at Odin. "What do we do about him?"

"I vote we kill him," Poseidon suggestion instantly, the points of his trident lighting up with power.

Susanoo scoffed. "You Greeks. Always so eager to kill whatever is in your way."

"Like you are against it?" Poseidon questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The Shinto god said nothing, making Poseidon smirk smugly.

"Your son stole from my vault in Asgard!" Odin bellowed bringing attention to him. "I will not stand for this!" He paused as Poseidon hefted his trident while Susanoo flexed his power.

"I see. Any problem you have with Markus, you have with us. Would you like to resolve this like actual deities, instead of trying to kill demigods?" Susanoo questioned, a furious look in his eyes.

Odin paled slightly, his power diminishing to almost nothing.

"I thought so," Poseidon answered, raising his trident to strike. Markus hefted his own sword, eager for the bloodshed. Just as they were about to act...

"Stop!" a voice called out, making Markus groan. Can't we just get through this without any more gods butting in? he questioned internally.

A goddess appeared at the side of Odin. She was beautiful, extremely so. She had long flowing brown hair, pale green eyes and wore a tunic with Old Norse written at the hem, a red cape falling over her shoulders. While she donned a simple appearance, it was her crown that gave away her position. The goldish-brown crown with a teal orb at the centre signified her position as a queen.

"Frigg!" Odin exclaimed, looking at the goddess in confusion. "Why are you here?"

"To stop you from making a huge mistake!" Frigg answered, looking frantically at Poseidon, Susanoo and Markus. "Lords Poseidon and Susanoo, my apologies for my husband's actions against Markus Henderson!"

"Apologise?! He-" Odin was about to bellow, only to fall silent as his wife gave him a quick glare that surprised him in ferocity.

"You have it all wrong, Odin! Markus Henderson had nothing to do with the theft on Asgard!" Frigg exclaimed, getting Odin to gape.#

Markus threw his hands in the air. "Thank you! Gods, why are god kings so stubborn and hard-headed to deal with?!"

"Wish I had the answer," Susanoo muttered, before looking at Poseidon. "Hopefully, your son doesn't have to kill you for your pantheon not to be destroyed."

"Oh, ha, ha!" Poseidon barked, glaring at him for his words.

"Then who was it, Frigg?!" Odin exclaimed, a wild look in his eye. "Heimdall viewed Markus Henderson sneak into Asgard and blatantly steal from my own treasury!"

"Wrong," Frigg denied. "Markus Henderson had no idea how to enter Asgard, much less steal from a library that he has no knowledge of. No, this was the work of someone else. Someone we had thought was locked away."

"Who?" Susanoo questioned, curious. Frigg answered by holding up her hands, producing an image from her power, big enough for all of the people present to see. What they all saw was a dark, damp cavern with jagged rocks. The image focused on a stone slab with what looked to be... Markus almost gagged at the sight of severed entrails. From the ceiling of the cavern hung what looked to be the body of a snake, although the head was severed from the middle, purple blood seeping from the opening.

Markus frowned, Susanoo had a somewhat knowing look on his face, while Poseidon had a grim look. It was Odin's expression, however, that was the most expressive. His eye widened as he whispered, "Loki..."

"Wait, Loki?" Markus blinked. "God of mischief, magic and lies? The horny guy?"

"Yes," Frigg nodded, but then frowned. "'Horny'?"

"Read a lot of Marvel comic books," Markus answered, shrugging. He then frowned. "Wait, he's the one behind the theft?"

"Yes," Odin answered grimly. "But that's impossible! He wasn't supposed to be freed from his prison until the day of Ragnarok! And there have been no signs of those times coming yet, so how?"

"My guess is Father's doing," Poseidon offered, stroking his beard.

Markus blinked while the other deities turned to look at the sea god. "Why is Kronos your first guess? It literally could be anyone?"

"Father had gotten assistance from some of the Egyptian magicians and Norse magics. He had to have gotten the information from somewhere." He looked towards Frigg. "I doubt there's any stray Norse magician who seeks revenge against you, is there?"

"No," Frigg answered. "The only one that comes to mind is Loki. I wouldn't believe it, but since he's free of his prison..."

"I assume that Kronos is helping Loki, along with his other allies from outside the Greek pantheon," Susanoo summarised. "If that's the case, what spells Loki steal from Asgard in the first place?"

Odin sighed heavily. "Not many spells were swiped. I'd know, since my magic is connected to the great treasury. But there was one particular spell that was ripped away from it. A resurrection spell that I had been... planning to use."

"Resurrection - you can bring back the dead?" Markus questioned, confused. "Don't you have the rules of... uh, what's the Norse land of the dead?"

"Helheim," Frigg supplied.

"Thank you. Yeah, that?"

Odin scoffed. "I am a god of death, boy. It is well within my right to bring back the dead if I so wished. The fact that you doubt my power shows that you have no respect for your betters."

Markus sneered. "Considering that I have the title of 'God Slayer', I'm not really known for respecting gods. All that power, and you were still duped by one god."

Odin growled, the clear warning in Susanoo's and Poseidon's eyes being the only reason he didn't attack.

"What were you trying to resurrect?" Poseidon asked, anger glinting off of his face.

Odin sighed. "I was trying to revive most of the Jötnar that were roaming Jotunheim. For reasons that I do not have to explain myself to you for." He said the last part while glaring at the non-Norse trio. "But now, it seems like my endeavours are going against me." Looking towards Poseidon, he tilted his head. "Lord Poseidon, I humbly ask your of your help in thwarting the Titan king Kronos' schemes and Loki plans."

Poseidon, though not looking happy, also titled his head. "Lord Odin, I have heard your plea and have decided to agree to your call for aid. Provided that you help us in the oncoming war against my Father, Kronos. Who has undoubtedly allied with more Norse foes."

Odin gritted his teeth, but decided to agree to the terms. "I agree."

Nodding, Poseidon turned to look at Markus. "Son, I-"

"No," Markus quickly said, pointing at the god. "No, no, no! I am not getting roped up in this Norse bullshit! I already had to deal with a dumbass Asgardian king because someone had to lose all sense of reason and attack me! Hell, no!"

"Would you say that even when your pantheon is being directly attacked?" Susanoo questioned, an eyebrow raised. "It makes sense that you have to join, as both Poseidon and Odin can't interfere, due to them being gods. As such, it'd make sense for you - as well as a collection of einherjar and Valkyries - to join forces."

"But... you..." Markus growled, gripping his hair. He turned to Poseidon. "But why am I the only one to be offered up in this quest?!"

"Because currently, you are our strongest demigod," Poseidon answered, a frown on his face. "Not to mention that, currently, you are also the only one who knows of the existence of other pantheons. Something we can talk about later." Markus winced at that. "It's not fair, true, but it'd be better if only a single demigod joined in on this quest. There'd be much less death and blame thrown from our side, with war being averted. And even then, you're unlikely to die, as you're too powerful."

Markus sighed. "Logic, I fucking hate you. Alright, I'll join. Quick question, how long can my Norse allies be assembled, and where are we going?"

Odin butted in this time. "I will have a select amount of Valkyrie and einherjar ready in less than an hour. But the actual quest will start much later. As for where..." Odin's eye narrowed. "You're best bet would be to start in Helheim."

...

...

...

Well, damn. This is awkward.

Yeah, so... I didn't expect for this to come out after so long. Reason it did take so long was because I wanted my other stories to grow and flourish. And while that worked... this story paid the price.

Super sorry to fans of the story for taking so fucking long (yeesh, five months?!), but I should start updating more regularly. Well, fingers crossed.

Hoped y'all liked the fight with Markus and Odin. Just wanna make something clear; if Markus hadn't entered God Trigger, then Odin would've won the battle. At least, magic-wise.

I hope I don't need to explain myself as to why. BUT since I know someone will ask why, short summary is that Markus has had only roughly two years (and a bit) to study magic. Odin, on the other hand, has millennia. Other reasons were present, but that's the main one.

With the Norse section being added, I'm definitely considering adding God of War elements to it, as I've been anxiously waiting for this segment. Lots of fun later on.

Also, reason I had Odin say Helheim rather than Jotunheim is because my DxD fic had my OC go to Jotunheim, so I kinda want to keep things different. Don't worry, he will go there eventually, just not yet.

I'll just move onto Guest reviews:

1) Not a bad idea, but I'm not sure it'd fit.

2) Yes, and it's already explained.

3) Don't worry, things will be fixed between the two soon.

4) Yeah, sorry. Just too lazy to list all of the names. That's the assumption everyone makes, as the elder siblings do tend to be more powerful than the younger siblings, even though the latter are usually the kings.

5) True.

6) That's true. And (magic aside) killing the Norse would be much harder to deal with due to Ragnarok.

7) Thanks so much for the compliment. Love the praise, seriously.

8) Thanks

9) Thank you.

10) It's explained

11) Thanks. And I do understand, but I put the harem because I'm a huge pervert with a wild imagination. And true, no one would have a harem in real life. But fanfiction helps. And while he seems godlike (it is in the description so you can't say you weren't warned) he will meet more harder challenges later on.

12) Time dilation is both. It honestly works. And it's not like I'm gonna pull it out too much.

13) I will.

Okay, with that done, I'm off. Sorry the chapter was so short after such a long wait, but I'm a little rusty. Hope to get back into the groove.

Thanks to all those who f,f,r and r the story. Love y'all.

Read and Review!