That one sentence from Rod hit not only one of Odin's sore spots, but Loki's as well.
The former had at least lived long enough to be able to talk openly and shamelessly about visiting prostitutes, so he had long since abandoned any concern for dignity.
Loki, however, was a different story. At that moment, all he wanted was to tear Rod's mouth apart.
He really knew how to hit where it hurt.
With that, two daggers appeared out of thin air in Loki's hands, and he drove them viciously toward both sides of Rod's abdomen.
What an upright mage.
Rod was genuinely startled.
Still, he had been prepared. The instant Loki moved, Rod answered with a straight kick.
Rider Kick
The Rider Kick could be unleashed instantly, but without first striking the proper pose, its power was only a little stronger than an ordinary kick.
Loki clearly had not expected Rod to refuse to dodge. When Rod lifted his leg, Loki weighed the pros and cons, steeled himself, and continued aiming for Rod's kidneys. To his surprise, two flower-petal shields blocked the strike. His daggers pierced through several layers, but then stopped cold in midair, no matter how hard he pushed.
And in that brief opening, Rod's kick sent Loki flying off the ground. His whole body shot upward and slammed into the ceiling.
With a loud bang, the entire room trembled violently, and fine cracks spread out from the point of impact like a spiderweb.
A moment later, Loki crashed back to the floor with another heavy thud.
Even though it was only an avatar, the body was still far tougher than normal. After taking Rod's kick, he had not suffered much actual damage.
But Loki's face twisted with even greater fury.
"You damned mortal! I am a great god!"
Before he could finish, Loki saw a large, imposing shoe sole rushing straight at his face.
Unable to react in time, he took the kick head-on and was launched through the window.
Taking advantage of the fact that Loki's avatar was reeling, Rod rushed forward, bent down, grabbed Loki by the ankle, then heaved him off the ground and smashed him repeatedly into Kuoh Academy's lawn from side to side.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Terrifying impacts echoed through the air as two enormous craters were pounded into the ground with Loki's body.
Rias and Akeno had originally intended to step in and help, but after seeing that scene, they took several steps back instead, afraid that if Rod kept going, Loki's blood might end up splattering onto them.
Odin wanted to tell Rod to take it easy, but he knew Rod probably was not in any state to listen right now, so he swallowed the words.
Forget it.
Loki had already committed a grave offense by leaving Asgard without permission and trying to stop him from setting Ragnarok in motion. Taking a beating was hardly undeserved.
Meanwhile, after slamming Loki dozens of times, Rod felt the body in his hand go limp. Only then did he stop and toss him aside.
After all, this was just an illusion-made avatar. No matter how brutally he smashed it, it would not harm the real body.
Boring.
Still, looking at Loki curled up on the ground and staring blankly at life, Rod could not help but sneer.
"What a weak god."
Odin: "..."
That sounded a little unpleasant to the ears.
Loki struggled to his feet, glaring at Rod with pure hatred, as though he wanted to brand this mortal who had humiliated him so thoroughly into his soul forever.
At the same time, his body was growing more and more transparent. Rod's combo just now had clearly pushed the avatar to the brink of collapse.
"Odin, I will be back! I will not let you succeed in leaving the Norse realm and dealing with other mythologies!"
At that, Rossweisse, who had already changed from her suit into a Valkyrie battle outfit, issued a stern warning.
"Lord Loki! If you have objections, you should raise them properly in a public setting! What you did here is an abuse of authority! Once we return to Asgard, I will report your conduct to the proper authorities, and you will be punished for what you did today!"
Punished?
Loki glanced down at his own battered state. Had he not already been punished enough?
Odin deserved to die.
The Valkyrie deserved to die.
That human deserved it most of all.
With that thought, Loki's figure became completely transparent and vanished from everyone's sight.
"He got away. Go after him!"
Rossweisse immediately activated a Rune spell to track Loki's whereabouts.
But Rod shook his head.
"Don't waste your effort. That Loki just now was only an avatar. His real body should be far away."
Hearing that, Rossweisse reluctantly stopped casting.
Loki had lurked in the corner of the Occult Research Club for that long, and she had not sensed a thing.
If Rod had not shown up and seen through Loki's illusion, then if Odin had actually been attacked, things could have turned much worse.
"What is going on? Why would Loki come here to attack the god-king? Isn't he a god of the Norse mythological system too?"
Once the crisis had passed, Rias could not help asking.
"Hmph. He's just an immature hothead. It's normal for young people to act rashly."
Odin stared toward the place where Loki had disappeared, his voice low and thoughtful.
Still, everyone could hear the heaviness and faint sadness in his tone.
Rias could more or less guess why.
In truth, this situation was not so different from the entanglement between the current Maou government and the Old Maou faction. Even though both sides were enemies, her brother still could not bring himself to wipe out the Old Maou faction completely. He had even agreed to let Katerea found her own nation.
Loki was much the same.
Even knowing that Loki meant him harm, he was still a god of their own pantheon. Naturally, Odin did not want anything to happen to him.
"Lord Odin, after what just happened, I need to contact the other gods of our homeland immediately and seek new support."
Rossweisse said firmly.
Odin nodded and did not refuse.
After all, the fact that Loki had dared come here alone meant he had enough confidence that he could kill him.
Though Odin's overall strength was above Loki's, as a chief god he could not act recklessly. And if anything happened to him, the already unstable Norse faction would fall completely into chaos.
He could not afford even to be wounded.
At that thought, Odin could not help murmuring to himself,
"Could it be that my desire to ally with the Biblical faction was wrong after all?"
Rod said nothing. In the end, this was still the Norse faction's family business. His job was simply to protect Odin from Loki.
The internal affairs of the Norse gods were for them to settle themselves.
Rod had no intention of involving himself in politics of any kind. Not only was it troublesome, but if handled badly, it would only leave him covered in filth.
So even being a god-king was not such an easy thing.
"Loki will very likely attempt another sneak attack. So until he is arrested, Lord Odin, you had better not go wandering around again, especially not to those indecent places."
Rias said.
"Indeed. Since Loki was able to lurk right beside us this time, next time he might disguise himself as a geisha. If that happens, those of us outside might not have time to react at all."
Hearing that, Odin's eyes lit up at once.
Loki disguised as a geisha actually did sound rather interesting.
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