MTLNOVEL Chapter 34: Brynhildr Evolves.
Once Jack got confirmation that his sworn brothers were not going to be letting him ravage Hag Graef alone, he knew there was a reason they got along so well. While Jack and his Sworn Brothers went wild in the city, Ophis had made sure to plunder every bit of treasure she could find.
She even collected all the souls of the Drukhi that had been killed because their souls would be great fuel for Apophis and Brynhildr. She even made sure to prevent the deaths of the slaves that had been in the city which numbered in the tens of thousands.
Among the slaves were many races, even races of other Pantheons as well even if they were rare. Among the slaves were both Dark and Light Elves, Dwarves, trolls, humans, giants, Devils, and Fallen Angels even if these were rare. After their chains were broken, many were weeping in joy, while others were not so lucky as they had long since been broken.
They just stared off into space with blank looks on their faces. Jack crossed his arms as he gazed out at the thousands of slaves they had freed. He shook his head as he spoke his thoughts out loud.
"Honestly, many of them probably will never recover."
Thor nodded as he glanced at their blank looks. He had seen that look many times and once it got that bad, it was often more merciful to put an end to them.
"At the minimum, they are no longer oppressed. Asgard shall take them in and return them to their original kingdoms and realms if that is possible. For the others, a quick death."
Hearing that made Rossweisse hang her head low.
"Is there truly nothing we can do? Nothing at all."
Thor squinted his eyes as he pondered on this.
"It is tricky, you can erase their memories of this place and everything they ever underwent, but it will remain in their souls. That is not taking into account that the Drukhi don't just torture the body, but the mind and soul itself. The torture they underwent will be a part of them."
Rossweisse gazed out at the many blank-staring slaves and understood what he meant.
"I see."
Jack walked toward her and placed a hand on her head as soon as he did that she rushed into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her tight.
"We did all we could."
She looked up at him with a few tears in her eyes.
"I know, it doesn't feel any less bad."
Jack patted her on the back, but as he was going to keep talking to her, Thor, Vidar, and Baldur looked over at each other. Tyr, Haldur, and Hodr watched as the three approached Rossweisse.
When she heard their footsteps she pulled away from Jack's arms. Thor grinned as he placed his hand over his chest.
"The All-Father and Asgard will do something about this. We have allowed the Drukhi and their mad King to do as they please for much too long. I am sure my Father will agree."
Vidar and Baldur nodded as they would talk to Odin himself. But it seemed that they didn't need to as when Thor finished speaking, the rainbow-colored bifrost slammed into the middle of the ruins of what once was Harganneth. From the Bifrost emerged Odin, Freya, Sif, and a massive army of Einherjar.
Amara who had been hanging off Freya's shoulder jumped off and ran toward her master. Jack grinned as he opened his arms and caught his fluffy friend.
"There is my girl, did you have fun?"
She jumped from his arm back onto his shoulder where she instantly began to rub her face against Jack's. Her black and silver fur was so fluffy that it was addicting to feel her fluff.
Aya, Moka, Akeno, and Rossweisse always found it sweet that such a huge guy like Jack loved his cat. They began to gather around him to watch the spectacle of Odin moving in mass.
Around Odin were several Valkyries including Vera, Helmwige, Ortlinde, Grimgerde, and Schwertleite the Valkyries There were other gods with them, but for Odin himself to make an appearance was a big deal. The All Father stepped forward with his walking stick clacking as he did so. He had a big grin as he looked out at the devastated city.
"My sons, you all really let loose, didn't you?"
Odin shook his head, but when he saw the slaves they had freed. He slammed his walking stick once more as he gave his orders.
"Well done. It has been too long since the Einherjar and Aesir have had a proper war. The Drukhi were going to be a problem so let this be the beginning of that war. First, though, collect the prisoners, and bring them back to Asgard for treatment and healing."
As Odin tapped his walking stick on the ground, several Einherjar moved to begin to move the freed slaves back to Asgard. As the slaves were collected he turned to his sons and Jack.
"Thor, Vidar, Baldur, Tyr, Hodr, Hermod, you boys really are back to your old ways. Adding Jack to your group was like adding fuel to a fire. Not to mention hanging out with a Dragon God."
Ophis waved over at Odin who she had met before. They were far from friends, Odin just happened to run into Ophis during Ancient Times. They had shared a few drinks at a pub, as fellow travelers as Ophis had been taking the form of a man during that millennium,
"Don't mind me, I am just here with my new follower, Jack."
Odin ran a hand down his beard as he heard that.
"You gave Jack your blessing? That is unlike you, Ophis. Your blessing is a big deal, especially for a dragon like him."
Ophis shrugged.
"Consider it an investment for the next generation. Plus, consider me surprised that Jack was the sworn brother of your sons. How did that happen?"
Odin grinned.
"Not much to say, Jack here is the possessor of the Brynhildr. Since he took control of the sword formed from her sacrifice I decided to meet him. After that he began to come to Asgard for training, now he is pretty much part of the family."
Freya standing next to her husband nodded.
"Exactly, if not for his lovely parents, we would have taken him in as our own. Regardless, we are very proud of him."
The more Ophis heard the more she began to find Jack both impressive and kind of annoying. Not only did he have the Abyssal Eclipse Gear, but probably the Sacred Gear with the most potential, but he knew so many important people.
"Well isn't that something? Jack, you should have said you were this close to Odin. Now I can mooch off him, and you. Bring out the mead."
Hearing that made Odin smile like old times.
"Ophis you are welcome in our halls any time. The mead is endless and the feasts will welcome you."
Ophis liked the sound of that as she could get all the alcohol and dessert she wanted.
"Sounds like my kind of people, before I leave here Jack. I made sure to collect all the souls of the Drukhi of this city. While it is not my specialty, I made sure to purge them of all thoughts, feelings, and memories to make them pure."
She reached into her coat where she pulled out a pitch black stone. It was radiating a dark aura from it as the souls of Drukhi were corrupted dark things. Ophis though had used her near limitless power to turn the souls into pure clean souls.
"Harnganeth had a population of around 850,000 Drukhi. Though that should be expected with how brutal their population is."
Tyr felt that was honestly better than expected.
"That is rather a high number, among the Drukhi many children don't even make it to adulthood. Their birthrate is also quite low since there is no love among their people. Military service is also enforced especially since their king Melekith was preparing for war.
As such, not bad especially if you cleaned them properly."
Jack reached down and took the stone from Ophis. He wasn't going to use all of them, but using a couple thousand would be useful. He summoned Brynhildr causing the Demon Holy Sword to appear in his left arm.
Along with it, his entire left arm was encased in silver-black armor. Much like before, the sword remained dormant and pretty much just an indestructible piece of metal. Even the large gem in the base of the blade was inert.
"Maybe if I do this."
He brought the stone that was formed from the souls of the Drukhi to the sword. The moment the stone touched the gem, souls began to be devoured. A stream of souls that had been thoroughly purged and cleansed by Ophis for this purpose began to be drawn into the blade.
These then had their power consumed by the blade itself. Ahramina and Brynhildr through his bond to the blade began to feed on hundreds of souls. Only after almost 10,000 souls were consumed did he feel them not feed on anymore.
He pulled the stone away which had small chunks of it fall off of it. As that happened he handed the stone of souls to Ophis who put it in her pocket.
[Jack, something big is about to happen. I recommend you begin feeding the sword your power.]
Apophis had never steered him wrong before so he did exactly that. He began to channel vast amounts of Mana, Ki, and Divine Energy into the blade which it began to drink in droves. However, this was the exact purpose his Dragon Heart was for which every second produced more energy for him to use.
Everyone began to watch carefully as the sword began to rise in power. They all could feel it, especially Jack and Apophis. The ten thousand souls fed to the sword were consumed evenly between Ahramina and Brynhildr and when all of them were eaten Jack felt power return to the sword.
An ocean of Cursed, Divine, and Soul Energy flooded into his very soul as an explosion of power erupted from Brynhildr. The sword began to lose its silver and bland appearance as its silver metal began to darken.
Crimson glowing vein spread across the sword and up the plates of metal on Jack's left arm. Apophis through her connection to Jack's soul could feel awareness and true thoughts return to the two powerful souls inside the blade.
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A potent dark golden aura began to surge from Jack's body as Brynhildr's soul grew in power and awareness. However, matching her by the second was the dark soul of Ahramina The Evil Spirit that had consumed gods.
The blade continued to transform before it settled into its new form. It was still a curved giant greatsword, but now it looked far more ominous than before. Everyone continued to watch, especially Odin who looked at Jack for answers.
For a few tense moments, he continued to gaze at the sword. He ran his hand down the sword to get a feel for the state of Brynhildr and Ahramina.
"I see, they will awaken very soon. They don't need anything else, just time. After being in that deep slumber returning to awareness is troublesome. Plus, it is not like they are friendly with each other so they are subconsciously fighting each other as they awaken.
Waking up is like taking a step forward while taking two back, difficult."
Odin sighed as he had hoped that this would be the time.
"Oh well, nothing more we can do, but wait."
Jack sent the sword back into his soul as he decided to move on.
"Alright, while we wait, let us go to Hag Graef, for real this time. Let us pillage and rob this auction."
Odin looked over at his sons before sending them off.
"Go on my sons. The war against the rest of the Drukhi will come."
With that said, Ophis waved her hand and she opened up a Dragon Gate leading to the underground cavern where Hag Graef was located.
"Let's go, I want to plunder this auction."
Without waiting for anyone she stepped through the portal. When she was gone, Jack shook his head as he looked at his girlfriends around him.
"Shall we?"
Inner who still was not wearing her rosary grinned as she walked toward the portal.
"Like we would miss it."
Aya began to rub her hands as she walked toward the portal.
"More explosions."
Even Rossweisse was willing to put an end to the Drukhi as they were just parasites. Only the children were innocent, but that innocence rarely lasted.
"Let's put an end to these monsters."
Akeno didn't even have to say anything, she just licked her lips and followed the rest along with Jack and Amara. Thor, Baldur, Vidar, Haldur, Hodr, and Tyr followed after them to get to Hag Greaf. Another Drukhi city was going to fall.
Jack didn't know it, but he was going to find another real treasure at that auction.