Dragons begin with courage

"One minute."

A calm voice rang out. Chu Tianjiao straightened his bleeding body, the golden light in his eyes burning brighter than ever before, like two small, burning suns.

"Word of Power: Time Zero"

Domain, fully unlocked!

Centered on his feet, countless enormous, precise, and complex pale golden gear phantoms, beyond the limits of human imagination, appeared out of thin air, layer upon layer, and began to spin with a roar! They meshed and rotated, emitting a deep and grand hum, as if a giant machine that controls time itself had been forcibly activated!

Within the realm, all movement, except for Odin, suddenly came to a standstill. Deadpool, leaping forward, froze in mid-air; raindrops, once splashed, hovered like beads; even the propagation of sound became slow and viscous. Only the massive array of gears silently and resolutely reversed the flow of time, attempting to buy the black sedan carrying hope a meager sixty seconds.

"One minute..." Blood trickled from Chu Tianjiao's mouth and nose, but his voice remained as steady as a rock, "Just one minute."

He gripped the longsword tightly with both hands, the blade humming under the strain. Accelerated by the zero-time acceleration, his figure blurred, and in the next instant, stepping on the suspended raindrops and the frozen dead body, he transformed into a streak of light tearing through space and time, flowing against the torrential rain towards the high and mighty god—

They launched an attack!

Human bodies, wielding swords against gods!

Odin seemed to move slightly. He simply turned the tip of his spear, which was pointing at Maybach, toward the oncoming, burning streak of light.

The gun is fired.

There was no loud bang, only a muffled sound as if space was being pierced and laws were being trampled. The pale lightning that wrapped around the gun barrel condensed to its extreme in this thrust, transforming into a beam of light that annihilated everything.

The light of blades clashed with the gleam of spears.

Snap! Snap!

First, the long sword in Chu Tianjiao's hand, the Divine Sword Murasame that had accompanied him in slaying countless monsters, shattered inch by inch from the tip of the blade, like fragile glass! Next, the Time Zero Domain that he had been maintaining with all his might, those huge golden gear phantoms, shattered into countless points of light like a mirror struck by a heavy hammer!

Finally, it was himself.

The charging figure flew back even faster than it had gone, like a stone that had been thrown, crashing hard into the heavy concrete pier of the viaduct!

Boom!

The bridge pier was dented, and spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly. Chu Tianjiao was embedded in the center of the cracks, blood gushing from every corner of his body, instantly staining the area red. He slid to the ground, struggling to stand up, but could only barely support himself with half a broken sword, each cough bringing out large gushes of bloody foam.

His Time Zero Domain completely dissipated, the frozen Deadpool resumed his movements, and the rain continued to fall, as if the earth-shattering confrontation just now was merely an illusion.

Odin remained seated atop his giant horse, spear tip lowered, lightning concealed. From beginning to end, He seemed to have made only one insignificant parry.

"Cough... It's not over yet..." Chu Tianjiao spat out a mouthful of foul blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. Although the golden light in his eyes was dim, it had not been extinguished. The thin dragon blood in his body was boiling wildly under the pressure of death, emitting a mournful cry of unbearable strain, forcibly gluing together the broken bones and torn muscles.

He staggered, then stood up again, dragging his almost broken body, and raised the broken sword.

"kill--!!!"

The hoarse roar was drowned out by the wind and rain. He pounced again, the blade flashing swiftly and decisively.

Then came another, predictable, devastating impact. He was hit harder, more violently. The overpass railing shattered, steel bars twisted and snapped. He crashed into the puddles like a rag doll, splashing water high into the air.

Time and time again...

In just a minute or two, he was on the verge of death, lying in the cold water and rubble, his body twisted at an odd angle, only his chest rising and falling weakly. Rain relentlessly pelted his face, washing away the blood and revealing the paper-white skin beneath.

One minute is the limit for Maybach, not for Dad.

"Looks like... this time... I really have to break my promise..." His unfocused gaze seemed to want to look in the direction the Maybach had left, but he only saw a blurry curtain of rain. "Well... I've lied to you... so many times... one more time won't make a difference..."

He slowly closed his eyes, awaiting the final end. The Dead Servants had regrouped, their golden pupils glowing greedily and coldly in the darkness.

however--

Buzz—! ! !

The deep, violent, and all-too-familiar roar of the engine came from afar, tearing through the rain and slamming into his eardrums!

Chu Tianjiao suddenly opened his eyes, a final, astonishing glint of light bursting forth from his dim golden pupils. He strained to turn his head toward the direction from which the sound came.

The blinding xenon headlights cleaved through the darkness, and the black Maybach, which should have been driving away, roared and accelerated wildly like a vengeful beast breaking free of its restraints, rushing straight back towards this battlefield of gods and deadpools!

The back seats were empty; Chu Zihang had placed Lu Mingfei at the entrance to the overpass.

In the driver's seat, Chu Zihang bit his lower lip hard, blood seeping from between his teeth. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face was a mixture of rain and tears, displaying only a near-mad determination.

He did not run away.

He is back.

"Ha...haha..." Chu Tianjiao choked on a mouthful of blood, but then chuckled softly. The laugh was weak, yet filled with boundless relief and joy. "Wife...our son...is a real man..."

"Charge them—!!!"

Chu Zihang's roar merged with the engine's fury! The Maybach seemed to ignite with an invisible flame, launching the most primal and savage charge of human creation toward Odin, toward that mountain-like divine body!

Almost simultaneously, the figure on the ground, which should have been exhausted, burst forth with its last and most brilliant golden light! Chu Tianjiao used his broken sword to cleave through the water in front of him, using the force to leap up. His broken body transformed into a blood-red meteor, running parallel to the roaring steel beast!

Father and son, one inside the car and the other outside, launched a desperate charge against the gods with their mortal bodies! Their roars drowned out the thunder, like the most tragic yet soaring battle song that the human race could utter when faced with an insurmountable force!

A barely perceptible ripple seemed to flicker in Odin's golden pupils. He raised Gungnir once more, and this time, the lightning gathered on the spear was more dazzling and violent than ever before, as if it had absorbed all the energy of the surrounding rainy night!

"Fear is the nature of living beings," the deity's voice remained indifferent, yet seemed to carry a hint of...appreciation? "And courage, that is your swan song. It is still pleasing to the ear."

The spear was raised high, aimed at the charging vehicle and the person. Destructive lightning began to compress and condense, and the space where the spear tip pointed was slightly distorted and trembled! The power of this strike was enough to completely erase this section of the viaduct, along with everything on it, from the map of Nibelungen!

However, just as Odin was about to unleash this deadly spear—

His movement paused almost imperceptibly.

Those golden pupils, burning with world-destroying lightning, passed over the roaring hood of the Maybach, over the crazed youth in the driver's seat, and over the blood-red figure charging desperately outside the car...

The image is frozen in the back seat of the Maybach.

The place was originally empty, but now there is "one person".

A man sat upright in the back seat, his head slightly lowered, his face obscured by the shadows inside the car and the flashing lights of the highway outside the window. His posture was extremely upright, his back straight, his legs crossed, and his hands casually resting on his knees. It was neither tense nor relaxed, but rather a natural composure that comes from being in a position of absolute control.

It was as if he hadn't suddenly appeared on this death train heading towards divine punishment, but had been sitting there all along, calmly waiting for a certain moment to arrive.

In the final second before this destruction, at the heart of this vortex of rage and chaos, his very existence constituted an extreme contradiction and anomaly.

Odin's eternally burning golden eyes flickered noticeably, a rare occurrence, and his arm, gripping the spear, seemed to freeze for a moment. His gaze was fixed on the figure, and his deep, majestic voice, for the first time carrying a trembling question, pierced through all the noise, resounding directly within the carriage:

"...It's you?"

The man in the back row slowly raised his head.

The shadows slipped away, and the face was still not fully visible. All that could be seen was a faint, yet chilling, curve at the corner of the mouth.

He spoke, his voice low, even carrying a hint of lightness, completely out of place in this apocalyptic scene:

"Hey, God."

Then, he snapped his fingers lightly.

"Open Sesame".

boom!!!!!!

It wasn't thunder, nor was it a crash.

It is light that is pure to the extreme.

Centered on Odin, an endless, all-consuming blazing white light erupted without warning, instantly engulfing the golden divine lightning, the ferocious Death Servants, the shattered overpass, the roaring Maybach, and all the eyes on and under the vehicle that were watching this scene.

The entire Nibelungen region lost all color and outline in this inexplicable white light.

It was submerged in white light, becoming a void of pure white.