Chapter 550 - 546 – COSMIC THIEVES AND THE WORLD SERPENT’S SEED OF DEATH

A suffocating silence blanketed the giant ice crater in the middle of the Northern Sea Trench. The thick smoke left by the collision of two apocalypse-level attacks slowly dispersed, swept away by the night wind carrying fragments of Eitr crystals and purple miasma dust. At the bottom of that tens-of-kilometers-deep hole, two cosmic existences lay helpless.

Jormungandr, the World Serpent, breathed in ragged gasps. Its golden and ice scales were shattered beyond recognition. Every exhalation triggered a small snowstorm, yet its divine aura had already reached its nadir. Across from it, the shadow form of Envy the Leviathan Serpent was no better. Its form had been torn into three dim miasma clumps that trembled violently, struggling to maintain their existence against extinction.

On the bow deck of the Nocture Dreadnought, Sylvia smiled faintly. Her pair of heterochromia eyes stared sharply at the prey laid out below.

"Harvest time has arrived," she murmured.

The tip of her high-heeled boot stepped off the deck, treading upon empty air. The space beneath the soles of her feet immediately hardened, forming translucent steps of pure shadow and darkness crystals.

Persephone and the World Avatar, who stood leaning near her lounge chair, merely watched while smiling. Neither intended to interfere. Interrupting the Queen of Death while she walked to claim her war spoils was the same as inviting a rampage.

Sylvia raised one hand, preparing to swallow both giant monsters into the Domain of Absolute Death.

SRAAAAKKK!!!

The laws of space and time above the trench suddenly screamed. The sound of the cosmic canvas tearing echoed deafeningly far rougher and more destructive than any portal Persephone had ever created. The sky above the crater was forcibly split into two crossed fissures radiating opposing auras.

From the left fissure, a torrent of blackish-red hellfire spilled out, melting the eternal ice around Jormungandr. Twelve giant raven wings unfurled from behind the pillar of fire, followed by the appearance of a man of deadly androgynous charm. His pure white suit stood in stark contrast to the curved black horns on his head.

Lucifer, the Fallen Morning Star.

In the right fissure, emerald-green and golden light flickered chaotically, creating the illusion of thousands of mirrors. From within those shattering mirrors stepped a tall man in a green robe adorned with golden serpent ornaments. His black hair was slicked neatly back, matching the sly smile fixed upon his face.

Loki, the God of Trickery from the Nordic pantheon.

"A pity this beautiful sight must end in tragedy," Lucifer said, his voice melodious and intoxicating. He glanced at the dying miasma clumps of Envy. "As a collector of the Great Sins, it would be improper to let the essence of Envy evaporate, or worse... fall into the hands of a gloomy Queen of the Living Dead."

Loki laughed lightly. He stepped down casually from the air, landing precisely on the snout of the helpless Jormungandr. He gently patted his son’s scales with his magic staff.

"And as a responsible father, well, at least for today I clearly will not allow my child to become a pirate ship’s figurehead or merely a skeleton dog," Loki said casually. "Father is here, Jormy. Let’s go home."

Sylvia’s steps on the air stairs halted.

Her smile vanished without a trace, leaving a flat expression far more terrifying than a mere explosion of rage. The dense cold aura that instantly radiated from her existence forced Persephone and the World Avatar to narrow their eyes.

"Lucifer... Loki..." Sylvia hissed. The air around her cracked from magical distortion. "You think this is a free buffet? Get out of my hunt, before I turn both of you into compost."

Without wasting time listening to a reply, Sylvia’s full Rank 7 Demigod aura exploded.

The Domain of Absolute Death expanded like a tidal wave, stripping all color within a hundred-kilometer radius into monochrome black and white. In the empty space behind Sylvia’s back, hundreds of fist-sized portals tore open.

SYUUUUUT! SYUUUUT! SYUUUUUT!!!

Not spells or stealth curses, but a storm of Chains of Abyss. Hundreds of pitch-black chains of pure death law shot forward beyond the speed of sound, tearing the air with the scream of a death god. The chains were created specifically to lock mana, bind souls, and drag even gods into nonexistence.

"Shit, this woman is insane!" Loki cursed, his sly smile vanishing instantly. His staff spun rapidly, scattering hundreds of illusion clones of himself and Jormungandr across the entire crater.

Unfortunately, the Chains of Abyss did not need eyes. The chains tracked pure life essence and divine aura. Coiling and writhing like breathing black vipers, they destroyed all of Loki’s illusions in one-hundredth of a second before charging straight at his true form.

Beside him, Lucifer clicked his tongue elegantly. His twelve wings spread wide, spewing thick pillars of hellfire to swallow the Queen’s attack.

"Don’t be too rough, Your Majesty," he teased, trying to maintain his dignity.

His boast did not last long. His sin flames were choked out the moment they touched the chains. Sylvia’s death steel pierced his defenses with almost no meaningful resistance.

Even with their cosmic ranks, Lucifer and Loki were forced to retreat. The storm of death chains locked the space around them, pressing both into a humiliating defensive position with no opening to counterattack.

"Loki! Finish it quickly!" Lucifer shouted in irritation, parrying dozens of consecutive chains with the Morningstar sword.

The sleeve of his white suit was torn severely, and divine blood began dripping from a cut on his cheek. "Take your target and let’s get out of here! If the two primordials on that ship decide to step in, we both die here!"

Loki nodded in panic. He slammed the tip of his staff into the ice base, willing to burn a portion of his soul essence to force cosmic teleportation magic. A giant green spatial cloak immediately unfurled, forcibly swallowing the mountain-range-sized body of Jormungandr.

At the same second, Lucifer’s body shattered into thousands of hellfire ravens. The flock of birds dove and seized the remaining miasma of Envy, dragging it into the portal gap from which he had come.

Sylvia’s eyes sharpened. Both of her hands swung firmly forward.

"Don’t even think about it."

The hundreds of chains that had previously spread wildly now focused into a single point, shooting like giant nails chasing the dimensional fissures that were almost closed.

JLEB! JLEB! JLEB!

The sound of massive flesh being forcibly torn echoed, ripping reality. Dozens of shadow chains successfully pierced Loki’s green veil in the final second, embedding themselves extremely deep into Jormungandr’s body.

The hoarse scream of the World Serpent followed by Loki’s panicked groan rang out clearly from beyond the gap, but the momentum of the spatial transfer was already active. A blinding flash of light swept the crater, carrying Loki and his son away without a trace.

Meanwhile, at the other portal, the remaining chains of Sylvia failed to hold Envy. Because the monster was now only an abstract gas miasma without solid form, her death chains passed through emptiness, unable to grasp anything. Lucifer’s brief laugh echoed before his gap was swallowed by dimensional darkness.

The gaps closed with an unpleasant sound of space grinding. The giant ice crater below was now completely empty. There was no carcass of Jormungandr, no Great Sin crystal.

Clean. The war spoils had been stolen right from the palm of the Queen of Death.

On the Dreadnought bridge, Stacia and Celes held their breath. The atmosphere of the ship froze into tension. The crew unconsciously tightened their grips on their weapons. The night sky itself could shatter into pieces if their superior went berserk.

Yet instead of exploding, the choking killing aura from Sylvia’s body gradually subsided. The hundreds of chains still floating in the air crumbled into black dust and were absorbed back into her gown.

Sylvia covered her mouth with one hand. Her shoulders trembled slightly. And from between her fingers, a soft, cynical laugh drifted out.

Persephone walked casually toward the edge of the deck, one eyebrow raised. "It’s rare for you to just let them escape like that, child. If you want, Mother can breach the Nordic territory border right now and drag that trickster god here by the scruff of his neck."

The World Avatar nodded calmly. "Although I normally forbid god-scale battles, I can make an exception this time if you wish to hunt those thieves."

"No need, Mother, Lady Earth." Sylvia turned her body, displaying an excessively bright smile that somehow made the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. "Just let those free couriers work for me."

Persephone chuckled softly. "Free couriers?"

Sylvia stepped back to her lounge chair. With a single finger flick, a steaming hot cup of tea appeared from a logistics portal.

"When my chains pierced Loki’s shield earlier, I never intended to pull the serpent back," she said, sipping her tea slowly. "I used my chains as a giant syringe. Right before they disappeared, I pumped my entire stock of high-grade Zombie Poison directly into its bloodstream and mana circulation."

From the bridge communicator, Stacia’s voice sounded choked. "Zombie Poison?!"

"Very clever, Stacia," Sylvia answered casually. "That serpent is massive, the size of a continent. My zombie poison may need tens or a full hundred years to crawl and rot its divine core. That trickster god may think he has successfully saved his son... but what he is bringing home is nothing more than a time bomb."

She crossed her long legs elegantly. "Once the poison gnaws at its heart, Jormungandr will die, then rise again from within. When that day comes, no matter which dimension Loki hides it in, the Serpent will submit absolutely to me. I will have a continental-scale giant zombie subordinate. For now, I only need to wait for the harvest to ripen."

"Clever," the World Avatar praised. A thin smile bloomed on her lips. "Then what about Envy?"

Sylvia shrugged indifferently. "Unfortunately Envy lost its original physical form. Only abstract miasma remained. My chains found no blood vessels or solid core to inject. Lucifer was lucky today. But well, one world-destroying serpent seems enough as an entertainment prize."

The teacup was set back on the table. Sylvia stared straight toward the pitch-black ocean horizon. There was no longer any irritation, only cold anticipation remained.

"Celes, Stacia. Lower the emergency shields," she commanded with absolute authority.

"Ready, Your Majesty! What is our next sailing route?" Celes replied from the tactical table, her tone unable to hide the relief that the local apocalypse threat had truly passed.

"Return to the original objective," Sylvia said, her hand gently stroking Sol, the dragon-cat sleeping on her lap. "This ocean no longer has any interesting spectacles. Activate all reactors. This newly expanded Earth still hides many continents and mysteries that have not been mapped. Let us see just how vast our new playground is."

The roar of the Mana Crystal reactors trembled the air as they were restarted at maximum power. Slowly, the five giant Eclipse-class ships of the fleet turned their bows, leaving the remains of the Northern Sea Trench ice crater. The Black Star Steel hulls cleaved through the waves and night fog, sailing toward the endless horizon for the next conquest.