Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

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Eve was indeed right in her assumptions. While the reverberation of Adam's exploits spread only to a few parts of the universe, specifically the regions that had been tied to him by the threads of Karma, those few places were perhaps among some of the most important; the reason was also quite simple… as Adam had unwittingly managed to make and form contact with quite a few mighty entities in the minuscule time that spanned after his awakening.

One such mythical and mighty entity was a being of great renown, even when taken into consideration in the ginormous scale of the entire universe.

An old figure who was both respected as a god of war and feared as a cunning man willing to go beyond any and all bounds to obtain victory, even if that meant sacrificing himself for just savoring the taste of being a victor even though it would be shortlived.

Presently, that very same old man was sitting tiringly close to the roots of a marvelously large tree. The roots themselves seemed gigantic while the tree was so tall that it seemed to have pierced the heavens themselves.

His surroundings, the place he was resting upon, seemed to undulate under the light, vacillating between reality and illusions, switching sometimes between a beautiful place with a warm lake to a place devoid of life and filled with the energy of death.

Opening his only remaining eye, the other one hidden beneath a black eyepatch engraved with a powerful golden luster and engravings of languages and meanings unknown, the old man looked at the Horizon with lethargy, his vision falling on the island of Lyngvi— the place where Fenrir had left himself imprisoned, awaiting the fateful day when he would break free and swallow the sun once more.

'How many times has it been now?'

Odin thought, his mind tired and spent, his brows filled with weariness, and his eyes filled with the vicissitude of time immemorial.

He had seen too much and experienced much more. He tried again and again to change the destiny that was bestowed on his Patheon, the curse that forced him to repeat the same days again and again, with no way to escape from their assigned fate.

An eternal life in a sense, a life he would have never wished for, nor would he want even his worst enemies to suffer. On top of all that, he was also burdened with being the only one of the few in his Pantheon who remembered everything throughout all the cycles.

"Mimir, my dear old friend. Do you believe that I might be going crazy?"

Close to him, resting on the table above the lake, was the decapitated head of a man with a long beard and a wrinkled face, horns with golden engravings protruding from his bald head.

As the being was called, the brows of the head furrowed slightly before the eyes opened, blinking ever so slightly, once, twice, thrice, before opening wide as though they had been savoring the slumber, the world of dreams, before being thrust into the reality once more.

Fully awake, the eyes moved around before settling on Odin, a mocking light flashing in those dreary eyes of the decapitated head,

"Dearest old friend, are you perhaps about to lose your head as well?"

Odin observed Mimir for a while and then sighed before mumbling, "I have forgotten that your sense of humor had been pretty dubious all along."

"And I remember that your sense of humor can make people laugh their heads off. Like you did to me. Hehehe~"

Odin decided to ignore Mimir altogether. He was one of the rare entities who could remember things happening on repeat like Odin himself. While there might have been some hatred and ill feelings between them in the past, by now… such contrived and useless feelings had long since been put behind them in the long passage of time..

After firing a few more stupid jokes, Mimir finally spoke with a hint of seriousness in his voice,

"Even though I was asleep, I have also felt it. Something broke down. Someone was cut off. The string of destiny was affected in a way… in a way beyond everything I could have ever imagined."n/(.(-(.((---1-.n

What was Fate? What was Destiny?

Those were indomitable concepts, power that went far beyond the high and mighty gods themselves, power… that could not be fought against or protected from no matter what. At least, that was the preconceived notion of those abstract concepts.

Odin in the past never believed in such foolish concepts and beliefs. Nay, it could be more fitting to say that he refused to accept such a concept.

So to fight them, he reunited the three Norns sisters under his control.

To observe the illusory paths of Fate, he sacrificed his Eye and obtained Knowledge beyond what was deemed to be possible for him.

To increase his chances he did not hesitate to cut the head of his friend and seal his soul through foul means to keep all the knowledge of Mimir at his disposal.

One could say without a shadow of a doubt that he did everything he could have to change the so-called Destiny of his existence. The destiny of doom that his Pantheon had to face.

Did he succeed?

The answer was all too evident for all to see. It was not even worth a guess.

He might be able to alter the future. Change events, affect the moment things were supposed to transpire…

However, in the end— he could never change Fate itself. Nor his own, nor others. Nor the doom of his Pantheon, nor the neverending cycle of their misery.

It didn't matter how, when, or where, Fimbulwinter would always precede Ragnarok— the end of Asgard.

Odin was destined to die at Fenrir's hand. Then Fenrir would die to Vidarr.

Freyr and Surtr would die fighting each other.

Thor and Jormungandr would die fighting each other.

While Loki and Heimdall would die at each other hands after Loki managed to wreak havoc in Asgard with his daughter Hel.

In a way, it was admirable how a single god managed to single-handedly cause the entire destruction of their Pantheon… just because of his mischief.

If this was all, Odin would have accepted it. This would only mean that he had lost. And the loss had bore him the end of his Pantheon.

But why? Why did they have to repeat this moment again and again for all eternity? What sin did they commit?

Because he imitated Him? Because he also tried to bring forth a new Dawn of Humanity? [1]

Was it such a great taboo to touch anything that He had done?

He did not know. He did not wish to know either.

What he did know though— was that he refused to give up.

Even if he was cursed, he refused to revive this moment eternally with no way of escaping.

Prisoner of Fate he may be.

Slave of Destiny he may be.

But he was not the only one in this boat.

He was not the only one to suffer.

There were other prisoners like him. Others were still fighting and wished to break free from the chains that were binding them through eternal suffering.

Odin stood up, two crows flying up to him.

He could not leave Valhalla. He could not even leave the roots of Yggdrasil. The moment he did, he would lose all his memories until he came back to this place once more and started the endless cycle of beginning and end.

"Hugin, Munin, my two little friends. Fly. Follow the branches of Yggdrasil, ignore the eagle at the top, and reach beyond to enter the Library of the First Sinner. Meet her… she seems to have something to propose…"

The two crows, his greatest and most loyal allies, cried out before flying away through the roots of the World Tree.

This may be his last chance.

This may also be his greatest attempt at breaking through his miserable Destiny.

He did not know yet. But he would not give up.

For he was Odin, The All-Father.

[1]: In mythology, the three brothers Vili, Vé, and Odin, are the creators of the first man and woman. The brothers were once walking along a beach and found two trees there. They took the wood and from it created the first human beings; Ask and Embla. One of the three gave them the breath of life, the second gave them movement and intelligence, and the third gave them shape, speech, hearing, and sight. Further, the three gods gave them clothing and names.

(AN: I have given many ties to the Norse myth to Adam. Funnily, Adam beat Fenrir kinda and Cecilia beat Sutr kinda. The place to heal Cecilia is in Idunn's place. He works in a bar called Wild Hunt. Well, you get the gist.

Well, Vol 7 is near its end. It will end on ch 474. It all started on CH 302. Damn. Nearly 200 chapters. This took a little longer than I would have liked. Initially, I should have finished Vol 7 in October. But because of the small pauses and lower release rate. Well, thing happened. Anyway, after the end of the volume I think I will do one or two Interludes chapters. Then I will start Vol 8. Vol 8 main theme is France. I have high hope for this volume. It will most likely be shorter than Vol 6 and 7 because I plan to condense it more and focus on the events with a very few divergence. Anyways, this all. Tomorrow I will ask the usual question about your impressions.)