The Garden of Eden.
The lady bastion of the dragons, seen as a sacred and mythical place by many....
....and the birthplace of humanity....
Now lay in ruins.
What was once a glorious and ethereal realm full of plants and vegetation from all ages and regions, was now nothing more than a barren wasteland.
A battlefield full of craters, claw marks, and the bodies of monstrous beasts....
But, despite the carnage, the Tree of Yggdrasil, the source and pillar of life throughout every conceivable multiverse and timeline, still stood strong. Pulsing with an ethereal green and blue energy that surged up towards the sky in wisp like trails, it sat in the center of what was once the Garden of Eden....
The sound of raging battle could still be heard echoing throughout the war-torn landscape.
And at the center of it all was a gargantuan, blood red, nine tailed fox that was one fourth the size of the tree of Yggdrasil itself!
The fox let out a monstrous screech-like roar that shook the foundations of the world tree to its very core as it clashed against a similarly massive lizard-like creature with six heads that attempted to halt the massive fox's movements using its large serptantine-like body.
Sitting on the heads of these massive behemoths were two men whose gazes refused to waver from the others.
Their eyes locked in a clash of wills as their armies clashed beneath their feet.
The man standing atop the massive lizard's head was noticeably older with a long, white, flowing beard, a head full of wild white hair, an eye patch over one eye, donning a dark blue robe with gold embroidery, a staff in hand, and two ravens on either of his shoulders. His left eye was covered by a black and gold plated eye patch while his right was left uncovered and was glowing with a dangerous unearthly golden glow.
This was Odin, the All Father, and his rage was palpable of the bulging veins on his forehead were anything to go by.
He was currently releasing enough navy blue mana to suffocate the planet several hundred times over, and it was all directed at the man standing on the massive demonic fox's head opposite of him.
The man who was standing opposite of Odin, looking quite confident with a smirk on his face and his hands in his pockets, was no other than Puck Gier himself.
A mysterious aura that was a combination of gold, white, black, and red, enveloped his body as he stared down the god before him.
Puck's body was covered in gold and black scale like plate armor that left nothing but head in view. He had a massive gold tail with a flaming black tip of fur at the end. Two massive clawed gauntlets donned his hands and the scale like armor crawled up his neck and onto his cheek in three claw marks. His eyes were now more draconic in nature, one being a furious red with a sharp black pupils, while the other being a demonic black with an equally sharp red pupil. A demonic black crown and two massive gold horns completed his look, the crown sitting atop his head and the horns taking residence on his forehead respectively. Multiple red and white runes littered his body and he seemed quite confident in his victory as a massive black and red wave of energy proceeded to tear a trench into the ground not too far away from them.
One could faintly hear the exclamation of "Getsuga tenshou!" could be heard before the wave of destructive energy was released.
This caused a nasty scowl to appear on Odin's face, which in return caused a wide grin to split Puck's own as he quickly threw out a thumbs up towards a haired warrior on his side of the battlefield.
Odin simply scored at this, "Do you think this is a game, mortal?! You have absolutely no idea the damage you are causing!" He snapped angrily towards an uninterested looking Puck.
Puck simply cleaned his ear with his clawed pinky before blowing a bit of earwax off the golden digit, "You started it." He quipped back quickly.
This was the final nail in the coffin as Odin roughly gripped his staff, the cosmic blue and purple energy coming off his body beginning to spark dangerously as he leveled a unholy blade at his mortal adversary.
"That's it. I'm done playing games! Your insolence has gone too far, mortal, and your audacity knows no bounds! If I don't end you now, I'd be a mockery of all the Gods of Olympus!" Odin growled out before raising his staff high into the air.
The sounds of battle suddenly began to fade away as the ground below them disappeared.
It was only Puck in Odin standing in a sea of darkness as the head of Odin's staff began to radiate a horrifying red aura.
Odin suddenly gripping the staff with both hands as his once calm demeanor vanished and was replaced with an ungodly furious look.
"THIS'LL BE THE END OF YOU! YOU WORSELESS MORTAL INSECT! YOU SHOULD'VE STAYED UNDERFOOT WHERE YOU BELONGED!" Odin roared crazily before slamming the staffed into the floor of the void they found themselves in.
A violent shockwave of red energy exploded forth the moment the staff touched the ground and numerous glowing red Nordic runes began to fill the void around them.
Odin's one eye flowed ominously as the golden aura surrounding Puck quickly began to diminish.
"This is your end now, boy. Did you truly think that power is your own? We've been watching you since the day you awakened that miserable ability of yours. Did you truly believe that we didn't prepare any counter measures for when y-?!"
Odin was rudely interrupted as something suddenly slammed into his chest at speeds that he couldn't even begin to track.
Puck watched with a satisfied smirk as Odin's body promptly folded like a lawn chair before it was sent careening and ragdolling backwards before finally skidding to a stop.
His body had lost its familiar godly aura, but his scale like armor, crown, and horns were still firmly in place.
"Thanks, Red. I was beginning to wonder when he'd shut up." Puck spoke over his shoulder to a young man wearing a red red hat that shielded his eyes from view.
A rather large mouse-like creature waved at Puck and Red before giving them a thumbs up and quickly making its way back over to its master's side.
Puck gave the two a small nod as they faded back into the void as if being consumed by shadow.
He let out a small chuckle before making his way over to a slowly recovering Odin, his hands in his pockets as he began to whistle a rather haunting tune that echoed throughout the darkness of the void.
"You know...." He began once he reached Odin's prone body, crouching down in front of him and giving him an emotionless look of pity, "I was beginning to wonder why you gods gave us this power.... Did you want us to have some sense of hope to prevent this inevitable known as Ragnarok.... Or maybe you guys just wanted to see us struggle to the very end.... But now I've finally come to realize after these several long days of being an awakened...."
Puck slowly reached down and grabbed a fist full of Odin's hair and now began to speak in a low whisper as he leveled his face to be with Odin's own, "....I've come to the conclusion that you Gods are just bored and have nothing better to do.... It's kind of pathetic really.... Oh, and also.... Dark says hi."
These last words made Odin's eyes widen to an astonishing degree as he finally realized what had happened.
"W-Wait! D-Don't tell me.... H-He.... Y-You....?!" Odin was at a complete loss for words.
But it made sense.
It wasn't everyday when you realized that the person whom you thought you had complete control over turns out to be using a completely separate system than the one you had set in place....
It was poetic really.
Puck simply smirked as he suddenly stood with Odin's hair still in his grip before throwing a violent punch towards the elderly God's sternum.
Odin barely had time to bring his staff up in time to block the blow, but the force behind it was enough to send his body skidding backwards.
"And just so you know...." Puck began as he watched the deity try to regain his balance.
The one eyed Norse God could only watch on horror as several beings began to rise up from the floor of the void around Puck.
There was a brunette haired kid with tan skin and wearing a red hat, a blue vest, and the same yellow colored mouse creature from before resting on his shoulder.
Then there was a rather muscular young man with salmon colored hair and a white scarf around his neck.
The last person was the most odd looking of the bunch....
He was rather tall and lanky with a head full of spiky black and reddish purple hair, a black choker around his neck, and a strange triangular shaped pendant hanging around his neck....
What made it even worse was the fact that he was currently, and rather ominously, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands as he stared down the God before him.
Puck crossed his arms as he stared Odin down for what would probably be the final time before finally finishing his sentence, "....This was never going to be a fair fight.... Your first mistake was bringing me to this place that was free from the system's influence.... Your second and final mistake was thinking that I was alone." He finished with a wide toothy grin, his eyes beginning to glow an ethereal golden energy that practically lit up the darkness of the void.
Odin's eyes hardened and the staff in his hands turned into a massive gold spear with black Nordic runes carved on its blade. He grabbed the eggs of his robes before throwing it off his body in a dramatic flourish, revealing heavily plated gold and white armor with black fur adorning his shoulders and a furred pelt for a belt/skirt that fell over his golden greeves.
A wide grin split the salmon haired young man's face at this, his fists catching on fire as he was the first to charge towards Odin with a loud battlecry, the ground below him exploding from the force of his take off as his entire body seemed to combust in the middle of his charge.
Taking this as a sign to charge, the young man with the yellow mouse partner was the next one to charge forward, a wide smile splitting his face as he turned the brim off his hat so that it was facing backwards before pulling out several orange and white orbs from his belt, throwing them in the with a loud cry of, "C'mon out you guys!", as several monstrous creatures suddenly burst forth from the orange and white orbs in a flash of blue light.
The tall, lanky, spikey haired man was next as he unceremoniously pulled several cards from his deck before revealing them to, the currently preoccupied, Odin. "Looks like the heart of the cards are with me in this duel! For I summon forth.... Exodia! The forbidden one!" He exclaimed loudly as he revealed the head, arms, and legs of a rather odd looking bronze creature in the cards in his hands. A blinding white light suddenly filled the void as the cards in his hands shot out and actually formed the ginormous creature donning golden chains as it crawled out of a golden Egyptian seal in the air.
Puck simply smirked at this before cracking his neck, "Heh, can't let them have all the fun....now can I?!" He exclaimed closing his eyes for a moment before they suddenly snapped open wide, a humongous crazed grin split his face as a murderous red and gold aura exploded off his body, shaking the foundations of the void to its core as his left eye glowed a dangerous red color and his left oozed a crazed black.
He knelt down in a runner's stance, the void beginning to hum violently as the clash of different energies began to cause reality to fluctuate violently, an ungodly buzz filled the air for a moment before the ground, ceiling, hell even the air itself seemed to crack as Puck exploded forward like a deranged bat from the lowest depths of hell.
And, much to Puck's surprise, he was quickly joined by one Yami Yugi in what could be only described as an outfit befitting a pharaoh, and one Ash Ketchum, his body now coated in a dark navy blue arua as he was quickly followed up by his beloved partner Pikachu.
To be continued~
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~End Chapter 38~
Author's Note: Not my greatest chapter, but I'm glad it's out! 💜
Love you guys! Don't forget to comment, like, and share if ya want~!
I appreciate it and will always respond to criticism and comments! Sorry for the long wait!