There were no explosive effects, no planets destroyed in sympathetic detonation. Odin gripped Gungnir, which had pierced through Xu Yue's body, pinning him in the void.
Yet Odin's own divine body was continuously collapsing, dispersing and fading into motes of light alongside the shattered Destroyer. Even Gungnir, this divine artifact, was letting out a mournful cry.
At last, Odin looked up at Xu Yue, who was gripping the spear in reverse, golden blood streaming from his Seven Apertures, and let out one final sigh.
"I lost..."
Then, with a bang, his entire figure, along with Gungnir in his hand, scattered into motes of light and returned to the source.
As Gungnir vanished, the savage wound in Xu Yue's chest—without even a trace of blood—revealed the dark-gold heart within, slowly beating despite having been pierced through.
His entire heart, and Xu Yue himself, were filled with weakness, yet it still beat stubbornly.
"Cough, cough... I can afford to lose. But I lost the battle, while you lost your life."
The tiny wounds across Xu Yue's body rapidly healed, but the penetrating wound in his chest showed no sign of recovery. A strange force filled the wound and his heart, preventing Xu Yue from healing.
It seemed this would take even more effort than the previous injury to his source.
Odin had underestimated him, but hadn't he underestimated Odin as well?
He had thought he'd rated him highly enough. He had merely returned the Destroyer without making any improvements whatsoever to Odin's originally aged body, yet this King of Gods had still unleashed power mighty enough to kill him.
If the Limiter had not been lifted at the end to give him a hand, he would either have had to return using Rebirth Authority or deal with death.
After dying in other