Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 96 A Little Bit of Residue

Let's go back thousands of years...

"Jormungandr, or rather... Meng, in your eyes, what exactly is destiny?"

Upon hearing this, the giant snake, which had already closed its eyes, opened them again. Its cold pupils looked down at the tiny figure beneath it. However, the reason it opened its eyes was not only because of these words, but also because of the voice that appeared in its mind at the same time.

……

"Aaaaaah...Loki, you actually..."

In the final moments before being devoured by the giant serpent, Mimir, screaming in agony, seemed to realize something and struggled to cry out. But before she could finish speaking, this intelligent giant, who had glimpsed almost all of time and space, was swallowed whole by the monstrous serpent along with his three daughters.

Beneath the serpent's enormous head, the frail Loki stared indifferently at everything before him, watching Mimir above him being devoured, and then seemed to mutter to himself.

“Mimi, you think you can rest easy by keeping the entire universe in this endless cycle of time, but as I said, what you have gained is nothing more than wisdom that can be understood by common sense. Wisdom is like the ocean, and the wisdom that can be understood by common sense is like a small island. You live on this island, and everything you see, hear, know, and experience is on this island. You claim to be all-knowing, but in my eyes, you are ultimately nothing more than an ignorant fool.”

“You only know that time repeats itself endlessly, but you don’t know that there is time above time. Time is never just one kind. The being that sleeps at the end of time is already getting impatient… No matter how grand the sacrificial ritual is, if Ragnarok were to repeat itself thousands or tens of thousands of times, that being would eventually grow weary of it… Mimir, you said I was destined to rebel against fate, and you were right, because my existence itself is fate, but not the fate you think it is. I am a tool chosen by that being to end all of this.”

"You and I... are all just prisoners of fate."

At the end, Loki paused inexplicably, then murmured something.

Above Loki's head, the massive serpents with their bony peaks on their backs showed no interest in what he was saying. They merely snorted casually, but this dead life could not create a storm with a single breath like it did in life. Instead, it transformed into a fierce, bone-chilling cold.

There was no joy or anger in its empty eye sockets, nothing at all, just a cold and indifferent aura of looking down from above, or rather, this was its true nature.

In Ragnarok, He vented His true nature, wielding the violence, greed, madness, and ferocity of Jormungandr, all of which He destroyed in His battle with Thor, burying Him in death. What remained was only a profound indifference and coldness.

It was neither human nor monster, but something essential, like... the sky.

The course of Heaven is constant; it does not exist for Yao, nor does it perish for Jie. It is neither good nor evil, but simply coldly and indifferently overlooks everything.

"Fate? What a boring thing."

A deep voice reached Loki's ears amidst the trembling air, and Loki clearly detected the serpent's sneer. Obviously, in the eyes of this serpent, there was no such thing as fate.

However, Loki didn't seem to care. He chuckled and then said...

"Meng, what is death in your eyes? Are you afraid of it?"

"Death? That's just a long sleep for me, like how humans need to rest when they're tired. Death is when I feel exhausted. Life and death are meaningless to me, so why would I fear death? Would you be afraid of sleeping?"

He chuckled in a low, mocking tone, his voice filled with deep arrogance and contempt.

Loki then laughed, as if he had already anticipated the serpent's answer, and continued.

"So you can't understand our profound feelings about fate, that irresistible force. You are not afraid of death, nor do you care about fate, because there is no human emotion in you. You are just a heartless beast..." In the end, Loki looked at the enormous creature in front of him, which was made up of countless bone peaks, and stared into its body... There was nothing there.

"It's empty."

At the end, Loki chuckled, as if carrying a deeper meaning.

Then, he stretched out his hand, in which was a human heart beating quietly, and said softly.

“Meng, these are your emotions from when you were human. I borrowed them for a while... Now, I'm returning them to their rightful owner.”

Before Loki, the serpent slowly lowered its head. Its enormous head filled the entire sky above the Well of Wisdom with white bones, and its empty eye sockets were chilling to behold. Under the serpent's gaze, there was a strange connection between the heart and Loki.

"Hehe... Hahahahahaha..."

Unexpectedly, upon gazing at the human heart, the giant serpent let out a low laugh. The laugh gradually rose, and the deafening laughter stirred up whirlwinds, as if mocking it.

"Loki, are you mistaken about something? This thing is nothing more than a human's shed fingernail, or like an ape before it evolved into a human liking to pick lice. It's just a scrap I discarded after surpassing humans. Why would I care?"

His voice carried a deep sense of arrogance and pride.

Loki looked at him and said.

"A little bit of residue...? Heh, in that case, let's just discard it."

After saying that, he casually drew a rune with his hand. In an instant, the space around him formed a void. Then, he casually threw the heart into this void that connected countless universes and worlds, letting it drift in time and space, floating to some unknown space.

Loki raised his head, gazing up at the colossal creature before him, a smile playing on his lips.

"I hope you won't regret it someday and have to go looking for it."

Before Loki, the arrogant and conceited monster merely spewed out gusts of cold wind, completely disregarding Loki's words.

"Rumble..."

At the same time, a deafening roar resounded outside the Fountain of Wisdom. It was the vibration caused by the entire World Tree gradually recovering towards that invincible giant. The entire universe was shaking, and the invincible giant, who had been asleep for countless millennia, had finally awakened.

Last time, his slumber heralded the birth of the world; this time, his awakening will herald its destruction.

However, at this moment, there are only a few scattered survivors left in this universe.

Loki looked up at the sky above the Well of Wisdom, where he could vaguely see the infinitely vast World Tree, which supported the entire Nine Worlds, gradually transforming into a giant...

(End of this chapter)