The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

"Fine... I will deal with them myself," the king said as he stood up, his destructive aura seeping in every direction.

When he uttered those words, the expressions of every single person in the throne room changed, even those who didn't fully understand what the King or Queens were talking about could feel it from the heavy, intense atmosphere.

It was something truly significant, something that would change the lives of billions, if not more.

Even the Queens themselves felt their faces harden, including Amelia and Lenora.

"My King… what did you mean when you said you will deal with them yourself?" Lenora asked slowly, a bad premonition forming in her mind.

"I mean exactly what you think, exactly what every one of you is thinking… It's time for Annihilation to take place," the Human King replied as he calmly descended from his throne platform, walking along the royal green carpet with elegance and charm before the hundreds of High Humans and his wives.

Annihilation?

That single word sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

What did he mean by Annihilation?

Did he mean he was going to annihilate all the gods involved in this?

The Human King could clearly sense the thoughts running through their minds, and a predatory grin formed on his face.

"I know what you're thinking and you're absolutely right. I'm going to kill… no, devour every single god of the Norse pantheon, at least the ones I don't like," the Human King said.

"I was thinking of conquering the Biblical Heaven, but not anymore. Heaven will have to wait its turn."

The King's face began to distort into something unrecognizable, making everyone feel the crushing weight of the anger in his heart.

"The Norse pantheon has run its course. It's time to end it."

Without another word, he disappeared from the spot, leaving the throne hall in pin-drop silence as they struggled to comprehend the weight of his words.

"Husband is going to destroy the Norse pantheon?" Tiana muttered.

"I haven't seen him this angry in a very long time…" Amelia murmured.

"Wh… What should we do?" Lilith asked worriedly.

"There's nothing we can do… Darling has decided the Norse have lived long enough, then the Norse have lived long enough," Amelia said with a shrug, her expression emotionless, as if it was simply inevitable.

"Which means the Norse pantheon will become part of the Kingdom of Ouroboros. We have work to do," Amaya said.

"Wait, shouldn't we go after Darling? He's going against an entire godly pantheon on his own! Shouldn't we bring reinforcements, an army to fight the Norse?" Akira asked.

"You don't have to worry about that. This isn't the first time Darling has fought against powerful forces on his own and finished the job. This time won't be any different, it's the Norse who will need reinforcements," Amelia said with a confident smile.

"There isn't a reinforcement in the universe that can save the Norse from their impending doom," Lenora sighed.

"Anyway, we should still go after him, right? To watch what happens?" Lillian added, pointing her finger at the young elf. "And we should bring the young elf with us?"

"Yes… do any of you know where he's going? I mean, there are nine realms that make up the Norse pantheon, plus its worlds of hell and heaven. In total, there are twelve worlds in the Norse pantheon," Kathryne said, crossing her arms.

"Thirteen worlds if you include Fólkvangr," Lenora added.

"Freya's world? Freya doesn't really associate herself with the rest of the Norse pantheon, so…" Amelia shrugged.

The Norse pantheon is one of the pantheons with the largest territories, well, worlds in this case.

There are nine worlds that make up the Norse pantheon, and each has its own races that inhabit them:

Asgard – the place where the Aesir gods live.

Vanaheim – the world of the Vanir gods.

Midgard – the world of humans.

Jotunheim – the world of ice giants.

Muspelheim – the world of fire giants, ruled by Surtr.

Alfheim – the world of light elves.

Svartalfheim – the world of dark elves.

Nidavellir – the world of dwarves.

Niflheim – the world ruled by the ancient goddess of death, Hela

Then there is also the heaven and hell of the Norse pantheon:

Valhalla – the heaven of fallen warriors.

Helheim – the hell, also ruled over by Hela

It is said that Niflheim was created under the influence of the intense, hellish cold of Helheim.

Like an extension of it, Niflheim isn't as cold as Helheim, but it is still extremely harsh.

"Alfheim, most likely," Lenora said.

"How did you figure that?" Amaya Kuroyami asked.

"Remember the treaty the High Order made all the godly pantheons sign? The one that prevents them from attacking each other? There's something similar between the nine realms of the Norse pantheon," Lenora explained.

Because each world has different races living on it, wars between the nine realms were once frequent.

To stop this, another treaty was formed between the realms.

As a result, they don't interfere with each other, but if a resident of one world steps into another, the locals will kill them without mercy.

For example: Jotunheim is the world ruled exclusively by ice giants.

If they were to find a human, an elf, a dark elf, or even a fire giant in their world, they would torture and kill them without hesitation.

Even gods are not spared from their cruelty.

So, since she and the others with her, regardless of whether the gods are involved, wouldn't risk taking her anywhere dangerous, Alfheim would be the safest option.

It's the only place they could go without immediate hostility, and it's where they could still carry out whatever they're using mortals for.

Even with the treaty, the gods do still have some control and authority over the worlds, after all, they are the gods of the pantheon.

Worlds like Jotunheim, Muspelheim, and Vanaheim are ruled over by ice giants, fire giants, and Vanir gods, and they are not exactly friendly, especially the giants.

Helheim and Valhalla are out of the question, as they are domains of the dead.

Niflheim also belongs solely to Hela, and the same goes for Fólkvangr to Freya.

The only possible places the elves could have been taken are Alfheim, Svartalfheim, Nidavellir, or Midgard, but each of these worlds has its own native races.

So, most likely, the young elf and the others were taken to Alfheim. If it were humans, they would have been taken to Midgard.

...

Alfheim, The World of Elves.

There weren't many worlds where elves existed.

Two of the most elf-prominent worlds were Yelvera, where Elfie and Arlen were born and raised, and one of the Norse realms, Alfheim.

Somewhere in Alfheim, space began to violently twist before a crack appeared, splintering into thousands of pieces as a rift tore open.

From within it, a figure calmly stepped through, radiating an overwhelming, monstrous presence.

Damian spread his senses in every direction. In an instant, everything within hundreds of kilometers was laid bare in his mind like an open book. But he focused on only one thing, Elfie's presence.

Light-blue energy began seeping from his body, a visible manifestation of his senses, expanding in waves like ripples across water.

Within seconds, his awareness had spread across the entire planet.

He knew everything that was happening, everywhere.

And he finally found her.

Elfie's presence was as faint as an insect's, and it was still weakening.

In the next instant, Damian's body transformed into thick golden lightning.

With a deafening thunderclap, the air itself seemed to explode, and in the blink of an eye, he was already hundreds of kilometers away.

A streak of golden lightning tore through space before abruptly halting.

The lightning coalesced into the figure of a handsome man, his expression terrifying.

Damian looked down at three massive building structures, surrounded by hundreds of guards, each possessing strength on par with low-level gods, though they were not truly divine.

He descended, landing in front of the central building.

His presence immediately drew all eyes to him.

"Who is it? What do you want?" one of the guards barked, as they surrounded him in an attempt at intimidation.

"Who are yo—"

Before the man could finish, his words froze in his throat.

Every guard suddenly felt their bodies being crushed by an invisible force.

Damian raised one arm, fingers splayed, then closed them into a fist.

The pressure multiplied, overwhelming them like a raging ocean.

In an instant, their bodies crumpled like tin cans, bones shattered, and blood sprayed in every direction.

"Insects don't talk," Damian said coldly.

He didn't even bother using [Predation] on them, they were beneath him, utterly useless.

Still levitating inches above the ground, Damian drifted toward the building's entrance.

The massive doors trembled under his power, then crumbled into sand, clearing a path for the king.

Inside, the structure was hollow, save for hundreds of stone altars.

On each one lay an elf, spaced exactly a meter apart, their eyes closed as if dead.

They weren't dead yet, but they would be soon.

Their life force was rapidly fading.

Not just fading, being drained.

Damian's [Eyes of Earth and Heaven] revealed it clearly: the life essence of every elf was being funneled into an ancient, metallic dodecahedron hovering at the building's center, gleaming with an ominous light.

Just then, outside the building structure, an energy converged for a few milliseconds before a group of women appeared out of nowhere.

Amelia, Lenora, Lillian, Amaya, Tiana, Akira, Kathryne, Sia, Selia, Veyla, Avenya, Lea, Leona, Ana, Shiru, Maria, and the young elf Arlen appeared.

"Damn… darling isn't holding back, is he?" Amelia muttered, looking at the hundreds of balls of flesh lying on the ground around the building structures in this nowhere.

"We'd better be careful… elves and dwarves are still under the control of the gods. They might not take it kindly to what darling did to their men," Lenora said cautiously.

"They will still be killed by darling…" Amelia shrugged.

Lenora sighed, and they walked past the balls of flesh, hundreds of men reduced to twisted remains, and into the giant hole in the building.

When they reached the center, they found their husband standing before an ancient, metallic dodecahedron, holding Arlen's sister in his arms.

She looked pale and dead, without any sign of life.