'Father, I…I need to talk to you about something.'

Kratos turned to face his son Atreus. He had been looking at the mural depicting him and Atreus burning Faye, Kratos's wife. He kept his face stoic as he listened intently to what his son had to say.

'There are other Giants out there, and I've gotta find them. I think I know where to look, but…They're my responsibility…I need to do this alone. I-I don't want to do it alone, but…I need to…It's hard to explain.'

Kratos did not need Atreus to explain.

'Does it frighten you?' he asked his son. It took a moment for Atreus to answer.

'Yeah.'

'That is why you must do it.'

'Like you taught me, yeah.'

'We survived today because of your choices. Who to trust. Who to call friend.'

Kratos put both his hands on Atreus's shoulders, kneeling down so their faces were equal.

'Son. You are ready.'

Kratos saw tears begin to brim in Atreus's eyes, as Atreus put both his hands on Kratos's neck, pulling him in. Both closed their eyes as their heads connected softly with each other.

'Remember our promise,' Atreus said, as the two broke away. Kratos got onto his feet, standing tall over him.

'Loki will go. Atreus,' he put one open palm on his chest, over his heart, 'Atreus remains.'

Atreus could not hold back his tears as he suddenly hugged Kratos. Kratos returned Atreus's hug, and they hugged for a while. Atreus wiped the tears from his eyes when they broke off their hug.

'Take care of everyone,' Atreus said.

And so, the two of them had parted. Atreus journeyed from the Nine Realms, looking for the Giants that had gone into hiding. Kratos meanwhile stayed in the Nine Realms to undo the damage Odin had wrought, with the aid of Freya and Mimir. In time, he would soon become known as Kratos, the God of Peace. After a lifetime of suffering, Kratos had finally earned his redemption.

Five years had passed since Ragnarok. It was Kratos who had started the event that would lead to Asgard's destruction and Odin's death. It was not by Kratos's choice, however. Kratos had tried to avoid war with Odin, not wanting to destroy the Nine Realms the same way he had destroyed Greece in his pursuit of revenge. However, Odin's manipulations and actions would end up forcing Kratos's hand. After a battle between the All-Father, Kratos, Atreus, and Freya would slay him. When the time came for their vengeance, however, none of them were able to go through with it. They had stopped Odin's madness. That was all that mattered. But it was not without loss. To ensure their escape, Freyr, brother of Freya, would sacrifice himself holding back Ragnarok.

Brok, a blacksmith, and a close friend to Kratos, was also slain by Odin out of desperation to get a mask. Sindri, his brother, would become stricken with grief and became hostile to his former friends. Sindri had attended Brok's funeral, in Svartalfheim, and vanished when Brok's pyre was burned. That was the last time anyone had ever seen him. He had made no contact with them since then. Kratos, Freya, and Mimir agreed to maintain Sindri's house until he returned.

Kratos's breath was mystified by the winter air as he strolled through the forest. He was going on a journey with Mimir, looking for ingredients for Freya's spells. Going on an adventure made him reminisce about all his time with Atreus. Some small part of him wished he could go back to those days when he and his son would discover new things, and help people with their problems, discover valuable items. It was when he stopped near a fallen log that Mimir spoke up.

'Brother, you seem troubled. Something bothering ya?'

Kratos made a low growl, bowing his head.

'I…I miss him, Mimir.'

'Aye,' Mimir replied, knowing he was talking about Atreus. 'So do I, Brother. So do I.'

'I…I sometimes find myself wondering if I've prepared Atreus enough for what lies beyond the Nine Realms.'

'Brother, he survived bloody Ragnarok. If he can survive that, he can take care of himself just fine. You've trained him well, brother.'

'Yes…So you've told me.'

Kratos went on for a while, eventually coming upon some footprints. He knelt and inspected them. They were medium-sized and appeared like they belonged to a human. They seemed to lead deeper into the forest. He followed the footprints until he came upon a clearing, where the track ended. The forest was dead silent here. No sign of life could be seen.

A low growl caused Kratos to turn, where he saw a grey wolf come out of the clearing, followed by several more. Kratos pulled his Leviathan Axe from the strap on his back. The axe's head became frozen in ice as the wolves surrounded him. A fight was inevitable.

The wolf in front made the first move, charging at Kratos with bare teeth. Kratos swung his axe and decapitated the wolf, its head rolling away as its body collapsed to the ground. Another wolf tried to attack him and got an axe plunged into its side for its trouble, bleeding out from its injury. Two others attacked at the same time; Kratos threw his axe and killed one, before gripping the other's head and snapping its neck with a sickening crunch. Another wolf charged with an aggressive bark and aimed for the leg. Kratos held out his hand, and his Frost Axe flew out of the dead wolf and returned to his hand. He swung and took off the head of the wolf that charged him.

He turned just as a wolf lunged at him and bit his arm. Kratos roared as he struggled to throw the wolf off, throwing punch after punch. The wolf held on, its jaws strong as its teeth sunk into his flesh, blood seeping from the wounds.

An arrow suddenly plunged into the wolf's neck. The wolf yipped as it fell from Kratos's arm, becoming limp and dying. Kratos inspected the arrow that stuck from the wolf's neck, finding that it looked familiar. He turned to the direction the arrow came from and came face to face with the archer.

For a moment, Kratos hadn't recognized him. He had definitely gotten taller, more older, and a bit more muscular. He wore a yellow tunic that seemed a tad loose on him, along with brown trousers and black boots. A faint black beard grew on his face, and his hair was slightly longer as well. And yet, there was no denying that it was his son that he was looking at.

'Son?' Kratos asked. Atreus made a small smile, before leaping off the log he was on and running into his father's arms.

'Father!' Atreus said. His voice had gotten slightly deeper. 'It's good to see you again!'

Kratos froze for a moment, before he returned Atreus's hug, tears beginning to brim down his cheeks.

'Atreus…'

The two of them walked together through the forest, being careful when stepping through the dense vegetation of the forest floor. The canopy above nearly blocked out the winter sun, leaving the place dim.

So, Atreus,' Mimir said. 'How has your search for the Giants been going since last we've talked?'

'Surprisingly well,' Atreus said. 'I've found a few of the Giants. Though the others have been difficult. I've found no leads on where to find them. It's like they don't want to be found.'

'They're afraid of Odin finding them,' Kratos hypothesized. 'Not realizing he is dead.'

'Yeah, I think so,' Atreus conceded. 'So, what have you two been getting up to in my absence?'

'We've been busy, lad,' Mimir replied.'

'Fixing the damage that Odin caused, with Freya's help,' Kratos explained.

'I'm glad to hear that. What about…Sindri?'

'He's, well…'

'He hasn't spoken to us for five years now,' Mimir explained. 'None of us know where he's gone. We've been maintaining his house, in case he ever returns.'

'Oh. I see. Do you think he'll ever forgive us?'

'I…' Mimir said, before going silent.

'It'll take time,' Kratos said. 'But we will leave him be, let him mourn how he wishes. In time, he may want to reach out to us. Hopefully.'

'Hopefully,' Atreus said. 'I hope he's forgiven me.'

The three of them eventually came upon a building. It seemed abandoned and looked decrepit in some places. The door inside had been practically knocked off its hinges. Atreus and Kratos stepped carefully into the building, avoiding the cobwebs that strung the place.

'Man, it seems no one has been in here for years,' Atreus observed.

'It seems that way,' Mimir replied.

The two of them eventually came upon what seemed like a library. Bookshelves filled the room, containing hundreds of decrepit and old books. Atreus noticed a particularly old-looking one on the ground and picked it up, blowing the dust off of it.

'What did you find?' Kratos asked.

'It's called "The Record of The Four Holy Weapons",' Atreus said, before opening the book and beginning to read. Despite its old age, it surprisingly still held up well.

'The book details another realm,' he said. 'There's this prophecy about these "Waves of Destruction", that will destroy the realm. The only way to stop this from happening is to summon four Heroes from other realms to help defend this one.'

Kratos had turned to face Atreus, listening intently as Atreus quickly flipped through the pages.

'It mentions this princess,' he went on. 'The book says she is horrible, manipulative, and obsessed with the other heroes, pitting them against each other.'

Atreus continued flipping through the book, eventually reaching the four Heroes.

'There's the Sword Hero, who is active and powerful. Then there's the Spear Hero, who values and protects his friend. The Bow Hero has a high sense of justice. And then the Shield Hero's-'

Atreus went silent. The pages that were supposed to describe the Shield Hero were completely blank.

'What happened to the other pages?' he asked. Suddenly, beams of bright light began to surround Atreus, as the book rapidly flipped through the rest of the pages. Atreus found himself lifted through the air as he was about to be teleported somewhere.

'Father!' Atreus called out, reaching for Kratos.

'Atreus!' Kratos yelled back, running to Atreus to try and grab him.

Kratos grabbed onto him just as the light consumed them completely. They held on tightly to each other as they found themselves falling through the light, with seemingly no end in sight. It felt like a while later that they finally landed with a thud. When they got their bearings, they found that were on a cold, marble floor. The two of them sat in a bright glowing green circle, in what looked like a cold, dark room.

'Where the bloody hell did we end up now?!' Mimir asked.

'Fantastic! The summoning was a success!' A male voice said nearby. Kratos and Atreus quickly scrambled to their feet, facing the one who spoke. They saw several people, all dressed in robes. They all wore hoods over their heads, save for a male who stood in front.

'Brave Heroes, won't you please save our world from pure evil?' the man in front said.

Kratos immediately reached for his Leviathan Axe, just as Atreus made to reach for his bow.

'What?' three other people said. Atreus turned and saw the other heroes that had been summoned. The one on his immediate left was a tall, blonde man, wearing red clothing and holding what looked like a spear. The man next to him was shorter and wore blue clothing, with long black hair, and holding a sword. Next to him was another male wearing what looked like deep green clothing, with long brownish hair that nearly covered his blue eyes. He wielded a bow.

'Who are these guys?' Atreus asked his father. 'And where are we?'

'I do not know,' Kratos said back to Atreus. It was then that Atreus noticed something strapped onto his right arm.

'Is…Is that a shield?'

'Please, oh brave heroes, our world is in dire need of saving,' the robed male asked.

Kratos glared at the robed people as he reached for his Leviathan Axe. Some of the robed people took notice of Kratos, and visibly quivered, seemingly intimated by his appearance.

'Can we trust them?' Atreus whispered to his father. He checked himself and was relieved to find that he still had his bow on him.

'Until we know for certain, keep your distance,' Kratos replied.

'What do you mean, dire saving?' the bow hero said.

'The story is long and complicated, but in short, you four are the Cardinal Heroes, summoned here to save us. Our world is in a fragile state, and teetering on the brink of destruction, so we summoned you here. So please, we beg you oh heroes, please save our world.'

'Hold up,' the holder of the Spear said. 'Are you saying we have no choice? What if we don't want to?'

'Yeah, you bought us all here without our consent, don't you feel the least bit guilty?' the one with the Sword said.

'And what's more, if you throw us back to our homes once we save your world, then all of our work will be for nothing,' the wielder of the Bow added.

'How willing are you to accommodate our requests? Depending on your answer, we may become your enemies, instead of your allies.'

'Hræsvelgr's EGGS these three are full of themselves…' Mimir muttered to himself.

'Yeah, they're not only taking all of this in stride, they're already demanding respect and rewards,' Atreus replied. 'Kinda like what you were like, Father.'

Kratos only made a low growl in reply, still untrustful of the people who had nearly taken his son from him.

'P-please, heroes, just hear us out,' the man in the robe said. 'We have been pushed to our limit. We had no choice but to summon you all. Please, allow us to bring you to the King of Melromarc, you can negotiate more with him.'

The other three summoned Heroes simply stood around, eyeing the robed people suspiciously. They didn't seem convinced one bit.

'What do you guys say?' the spear wielder said.

'I'd say we hear them out, at least. They must be desperate if they summoned us here,' Atreus replied.

'Seems like we have no choice,' the bow wielder said.

'Alright, fine, we'll consider your offer,' the sword wielder said.

'Doesn't matter who we talk to, our demands won't change,' the spear wielder added.

The summoned heroes followed the robed men out of the room. At least some of the robed people eyed Kratos with suspicion, and a little bit of fear at his intimidating appearance. At least a few did a double take as they noticed the decapitated head of Mimir that hung from Krato's hip. As they were led up the stairs, they got a good view of the world that they had been summoned to.

'Wow, the outside looks beautiful,' the bow wielder said.

'Guess we really are in another world huh?' the sword hero replied.

'The air feels so fresh. It's better than the winter back in Midgard,' Atreus replied.

'Judging by the climate, I'd say this is a Mediterranean Climate,' the sword wielder added.

The heroes were eventually led into the throne room, where the king sat on a grand throne. The king glanced at all of them as they stood in front of him, but glared at Kratos and Atreus.

'So, you young men are the four Cardinal Heroes of ancient legend,' he said. 'This is the Kingdom of Melromarc, and I am her King, Aultcray XXXII. Please, identify yourselves.'

The Sword Hero was the first to go up.

'Ren Amaki. I'm 16 and a high school student.' The Spear Hero was next.

'I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, College Student, 21.'

'I suppose I'm next,' the Bow Hero said. 'I am Nozomu Okaya. I'm still a Second Year Middle Schooler, and I'm 15.'

'Guess I'm last,' Atreus said. 'My name is-'

'Good,' King Aultcray said. 'Motoyasu, Ren, and Okaya.'

'Hey, king!' Mimir shouted. 'Aren't ya forgetting someone ya knob?!'

Everyone gasped in shock, muttering to one another as they suddenly took notice of the severed, talking head that hung from Kratos's hip, their eyes widening in shock. None of them had ever seen something like this before. The king glared at Kratos and Atreus and frowned.

'Oh, yes. Forgive me,' he said, in a voice that dripped with venom.

'Hey, talking head,' Okaya said. 'You can't just say "Hey King"! Show some respect!'

'What are we supposed to say then, "Your Majesty" or something?' Mimir replied.

'No, Your Majesty sounds too formal,' Ren added. King Aultcray got their attention by clearing his throat.

'King is fine,' he said.

'Whatever you prefer,' Atreus said, before stepping forward. 'My name is Loki. Champion of the Jotnar. Or you can call me Atreus. This is my Father.'

He gestured to Kratos, who only made a low growl. King Aultcray eyed Kratos suspiciously, frowning as he shifted in his seat.

'Now then, I suppose I must explain why we bought you here,' King Aultcray went on. It was as if Atreus wasn't even in the room.

'Is he ignoring us?' Mimir asked incredulously.

'Our beloved country of Melromarc and the surrounding world is heading to certain doom,' King Aultcray explained. 'There is an old apocalyptic prophecy of a highly destructive force. This force has come to be known as "The Waves". If the calamity of these waves is not stopped, then our world shall surely be destroyed. Every country here has an ancient device called a Dragon Hourglass. These devices can predict the coming of a Wave.'

'An hourglass that predicts Apocalypses? How does that work?' Kratos suddenly chimed in. King Aultcray frowned as he eyed the ashen man, his patience beginning to run thin.

'We still do not know exactly how these Hourglasses work,' he replied. 'Only that they are connected to the Waves. The previous Wave occurred not too long before you were all summoned. We were only just barely able to fight the wave off, between our knights and adventurers. However, each subsequent wave will worsen in severity. And if our calculations are correct, the next Wave shall begin in less than a month.' King Aultcray sighed as he gripped his armchairs firmly.

'We severely underestimated the potency of the waves,' he said. 'After we actually experienced the first one, and barely survived, we realised we had no choice but to summon the Four Heroes. So we followed the legends and summoned you four. But now we have no time to lose.'

'Call me crazy, but I think this sounds like that book you read,' Mimir told Atreus.

'Yeah, this all sounds kind of familiar,' Atreus conceded.

'Alright, I think we get the gist of it, but don't think we're gonna walk away from all of this empty-handed,' Ren said.

'Of course not. Once you've repelled all the waves, we shall reward you most handsomely,' a noble standing next to King Aultcray replied.

'Well, we seem to have no choice but to work with you,' Motoyasu said.

'And don't think we're gonna let you push us around,' Ren added.

'Yeah, we won't tolerate you looking down on us,' Okaya said.

'Yeah, like these guys said,' Atreus said, right before he caught a quick glance at Okaya. They had only locked eyes for a mere moment, but Atreus had been left uneasy. There was something about Okaya that didn't sit quite right with him.

'If I can trust that we have reached an agreement, I ask that you check your statuses,' King Aultcray said.

'What's a "Status"?' Atreus asked.

'Are you really that dense? It should've been the first thing you noticed when you got here,' Ren replied. 'Don't you see the icon on the lower right corner of your vision?'

Atreus looked to his lower right and saw a small icon like Ren said.

'I do now,' he said.

'Put all of your attention on that.'

Atreus did, and immediately, his status opened up.

Atreus found himself confused. In his vision suddenly appeared a small, black box, transparent. He stared at all the numbers and words that lay within the black box. At the top left corner of this box was his name, "Loki". But everything else he struggled to understand, such as "Max HP" "Attack" and "Defense".' It also displayed the icon of a shield, next to what appeared to be something that read "Lv.", along with the number "1". He stared at his status for a while, trying and failing to understand what it all meant. He also noticed the name of his father, under something that read "Party".

'Only level 1. That's really concerning,' Okaya said.

'Yeah, no kidding. Who's to say if we can even fight like this?' Motoyasu replied.

'What…What is this?' Atreus asked.

'It is called status magic, an ability exclusive to the heroes,' the noble replied.

'So where do we go from here? What's the first step?' Ren asked.

'You must set out and go on adventures, and upgrade these weapons you have been equipped with,' he answered.

'So you're telling us these aren't already maxed out?' Okaya asked.

'Yeah, my Shield isn't even really a weapon,' Atreus said.

'Can we just wield other weapons until these become useful?' Motoyasu asked.

'I suppose we'll have to figure that out as we go,' Ren replied. 'Regardless, we've got a lot of training ahead of us.'

'We'll have to level up, hard and fast,' Okaya said. 'Then if we feel like we're ready, we'll party up and-'

'One moment,' the noble said. 'I neglected to mention. You each must journey separately.'

'And why is that?' Atreus said.

'It is said by their very nature, that the Legendary Weapons repel one another. If you try to work together, it will apparently hinder their development.'

'That seems…Widely impractical,' Mimir observed.

'Seems like he's telling the truth,' Atreus asked, upon getting a prompt about the four legendary weapons.

'Since the sun is about to set, rest here for the night, and set out tomorrow. In the meantime, we shall gather the best of the best to form your parties.'

The summoned heroes had been given a room, within the upper floors of the castle. Down a hall nearby, a group of nobles were talking to each other about the summoning.

'I heard that the King summoned the Four Cardinal Heroes here,' one said.

'All four, in Melromarc? Are they sure about this?'

'Then, that means the Shield Hero is here.'

'I also heard someone else was summoned alongside the Shield Hero. A man of white skin.'

'Really? But that's impossible! There were only meant to be four that were summoned. Why is there another one?'

Meanwhile, Atreus, Kratos, Mimir, and the other three Heroes were all sitting in a room.

'I guess when you're a Hero of Legend, you get special treatment,' Motoyasu said.

'The girl who led us here was kinda cute too,' Atreus observed.

'And though the food did taste weird, it was sumptuous,' Okaya said.

'Yeah. Hey, doesn't this all look like a Video Game?' Ren asked.

'Cause it is a Video Game! It looks exactly like Emerald Online,' Motoyasu replied.

'Never heard of it,' Okaya replied.

'Seriously? It's huge!'

'What are you talking about? Everything about this looks like a VRMMO called Bravestar Online.'

'Really? This looks almost similar to a Video Game a friend of mine plays called Albion Online,' Okaya observed.

'The hell's a "Video Game"?' Mimir asked.

'Yeah, what's that?' Atreus asked. All three heroes turned to Atreus, Mimir, and Kratos, raising their eyebrows.

'Seriously? You don't know what a Video Game is? Do you live under a rock, or something?' Motoyasu asked. 'Right, let's sort this out. Ren, do you really mean an actual literal VRMMO?'

'Yes', Ren replied.

'You do know where he's going with this, right?'

'I've heard about it in a book, once,' Okaya replied.

'Well, let's compare general knowledge; Who's the current Prime Minister of Japan?'

'What's a "Prime Minister"?' Atreus asked. The others sighed, shaking their heads.

'It's okay, you three can sit this one out,' Motayasu said to the Father and Son duo. 'Alright, on three; One, two…'

'Fumio Kishida,' Ren said.

'Naoto Kan,' Okaya said, rising from his seat.

Junichiro Koizumi,' Motoyasu said.

All of them froze, completely shocked at the different answers. Okaya sighed and sat back down in his chair.

'Only one explanation,' he said. 'We all come from alternate versions of Japan.'

'Right? And they all sound nothing like each other,' Ren observed.

'So, you all come from different versions of this "Japan"?' Kratos asked.

'I would've thought we had come from different time periods, but that doesn't seem to be the case,' Motoyasu replied. 'What about you? Where did you come from?' he asked Atreus, Kratos, and Mimir.

'Oh, um…' Atreus said. 'We come from a place called the Nine Realms. As you can imagine, there are nine realms in total. There's Midgard, our home realm, Alfheim, the realm of the Elves, Svartalfheim, the realm of the Dwarves. Then there was Asgard, which was destroyed due to Ragnarok-'

'Alright, we get it,' Okaya said. 'Obviously, you three come from a world that isn't Japan. That probably explains why you don't know what a Video Game is.'

'I just assumed it was because you were the Shield Hero,' Ren said.

'Ha! You too?' Motoyasu asked.

'Well, yeah, it was the only conclusion I could make.'

'I guess that makes three of us, then,' Okaya said.

'What are you talking about?' Atreus asked.

'How do I put this?' Motoyasu explained. 'Well, in our worlds, the Shield…Fucking sucks.'

'What?!' Atreus asked, incredulously.

'The Shielder class was very weak,' Ren explained. 'Their attack stats were abysmal.'

'A friend of mine was always going on about how useless they were. I think they mentioned something about the Shielder Class getting removed in an update.'

Atreus looked at the three of them, completely dumbfounded.

'But my Father has a shield, and he's really strong.'

'Yeah, keep telling yourself that,' Motoyasu replied, pitying Atreus.

'A shield is far more useful in a fight than you think,' Kratos said suddenly. 'Used properly, it can defend against anything.'

'Even if I can't attack with a shield, I still have my bow, right? I'll just-OUCH!'

Atreus had grabbed his bow from his shoulder. A powerful jolt exploded from his hand the moment he grabbed it. His bow flew out of his hand and landed on the ground.

Everyone stared at the bow, in shock. Atreus stared at his bow, confused, before he grabbed it again. Like last time, a powerful jolt forced the bow from his hand. He tried a third time and got the same result. Okaya, out of curiosity, grabbed Atreus's bow. There was no jolt this time.

'What's going on?!' Atreus said. An alert showed up in front of Atreus that read:

Weapon Violation: The Legendary Hero shall not, with intent to fight, use any weapons other than the one assigned.

'Weapon Violation?' Atreus said.

'Interesting,' Okaya said. 'It appears that we cannot use any weapons other than the ones we've been assigned with. In Loki's case, he can only use shields.'

'That sounds…Highly impractical,' Mimir observed. Kratos took the bow from Okaya, leaving him dumbfounded that he couldn't use it.

'So I can't even use my bow?! How am I supposed to fight with only a Shield?!'

I guess you're stuck with shit attack stats then. Sorry,' Motoyasu said. Atreus sighed, slumping into his chair.

'Oh well. Even if I can't fight, you can fight for me, right Father?'

Kratos stared at Atreus for a moment, before nodding.

'Yes,' he replied.

'Well, it's getting pretty late,' Motoyasu said. 'We should get some sleep. We need to rest up for the big day tomorrow.'

'Yes, let's,' Okaya said.

'Night everyone,' Mimir said, as they all went into their separate rooms, retiring for the night.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading the first chapter of my crossover fanfic. This fanfic is going to get really dark down the line. Feedback is highly appreciated.