Odin's voice was very calm. It was calm to the point that Peter even suspected he had misheard. However, the exhaustion revealed within that single eye, and the aura of twilight emitting from his body would not lie.
Furthermore, the warning from the Kenbunshoku Haki within Peter's mind had also vanished. This explained that Odin had indeed retracted his hostility.
Beholding him in this manner, resembling an ordinary old man, Peter hesitated for a brief moment, yet still chose to hand Gungnir out.
Odin smiled toward him, subsequently extending his hand to receive Gungnir:
"Having it indeed makes a person much more relaxed."
Odin leaned on Gungnir; it seemed doing so could make him significantly more at ease. Peter did not open his mouth, merely waiting quietly for Odin to open his own mouth.
Odin walked slowly to the edge of the Bifrost. Looking at the deep starry sky beneath his feet that was so profound its bottom could not be seen, what surfaced within his single eye was a succession of ferocious and malicious phantoms.
"I shouldn't have awakened at this time."
"The Odinsleep is my method for prolonging my life, but every single time I awaken ahead of schedule, it causes severe backlash to my body."
After a brief moment of silence, Peter asked a very sharp question:
"So... how much longer can you live?"
Hearing this, Odin was not only unannoyed, but on the contrary, he smiled:
"You Midgardian are bold instead."
"Maybe a year, maybe two years, who knows?"
Having spoken to this point, the spearhead of his words suddenly turned:
"Do you know why I had to severely punish Thor, and even banish him to Midgard?"
Peter cast a glance toward Thor, who was about to rush over from a distance, before opening his mouth to say:
"He is still too childish, not even knowing where exactly his power originates from."
Hearing this, Odin first nodded his head, yet subsequently shook his head again:
"This is merely a secondary cause..."
"When I was young, I was once just as impulsive as him, embracing the thought of spreading my majestic name throughout the Nine Realms as I campaigned east and fought west, sealing one powerhouse after another.
Until now, when I am old and decrepit, increasingly feeling those seals I once applied loosening day by day, I finally realized how massive a mistake I committed back then."
"After I die... many existences will revive."
Hearing this point, Peter's pupils contracted slightly. During his previous life, when watching the movies, he had consistently been unable to understand Odin's actions, even thinking that Marvel had simply blackened this All-Father out of commercial considerations for the plot. But looking at it now, matters were not thus.
Laufey, Hela, Fenrir, Surtur, Jormungandr... These terrifying existences were sealed one by one by Odin, serving as proof of his journey of slaying monsters and leveling up. But when he dies, the seals on these fellows wouldn't deactivate one by one according to an orderly sequence.
It was just like when singers were young, and their capabilities were strong, writing songs without weight or restraint; once they age, even if they squeeze their throats, they cannot sing up to those notes anymore.
If he didn't allow Thor to immediately grow to a degree surpassing him within the limited time, once Odin dies and the seals of those terrifying existences deactivate altogether, Asgard's ending was almost predestined.
"So, you want me to act as his nanny?" Peter asked straightforwardly.
Odin was clearly choked up again, and only after a brief moment did he lose his smile and say:
"I feel using 'ally' to describe it is more appropriate... I know what you are thinking; I won't let you exert effort for nothing."
While speaking, Odin tapped his Gungnir. Immediately following, two items floated before Peter. Those were a section of a tree branch and a block of iron ingot.
Peter could more or less guess what these two items were. A branch of the Yggdrasil and Uru metal! These two were the raw materials for Gungnir; theoretically speaking, as long as a suitable blacksmith could be found, he could forge a divine artifact comparable to Gungnir!
Hmm, although losing fifteen to ten thousand, what was obtained isn't much different either...
At this thought, Peter didn't hesitate either, directly storing these two rewards into his Nano Ring:
"Deal!"
"Father!"
Right when Peter had only just stored his rewards properly over here, Thor rushed over carrying Loki, his face blending an anxious yet excited mood:
"It's my fault. I failed your expectations, and also failed to manage my younger brother well..."
Hearing that Thor did not point fingers at his own wrongs, but instead gathered all the responsibility onto himself, Loki's frame couldn't resist trembling, lowering his head as he didn't dare to look into the eyes of the two.
"Rise." Odin first assisted Thor up, subsequently looking toward Loki as he opened his mouth to say:
"Child, lift your head."
Loki's eye sockets were completely red, yet he gritted his teeth, staring deathly at the tips of his own toes.
"I said, lift your head."
This time, Loki finally lifted his head. Within that pair of eyes that were still brimming with a faint red color, complex emotions were fully written: guilt, fear, unwillingness, grievance, anger... all twisted and stirred together.
"Punish me." Loki's voice was hoarse. "Locking me into the dungeon is fine, banishment is fine, I accept it."
Odin did not speak. He merely looked at Loki in silence. After a long while, he only then opened his mouth slowly to say:
"It was my mistake."
A stream of words as light as a feather caused everyone present to be stupefied. Loki's expression instantly froze even more: "What did you say?"
"I said it was my mistake," Odin repeated a turn, this time his voice slightly lower, "I shouldn't have concealed your life experiences. Perhaps telling you the entire truth right from the absolute beginning would instead have been a better course of action."
Loki wanted to say something, but his throat seemed to be plugged by something, unable to spit out even a single word. Beholding him in this appearance, Odin continued:
"Perhaps you might already not acknowledge me as a father within your heart, but I still have to say..."
"Enough!"
Loki suddenly let out a low roar. What was upon his face was not anger and resentment, but an out-and-out breakdown.
"On what basis do you apologize to me? On what basis?!"
"I almost destroyed the entire Midgard! I betrayed Asgard!"
"I committed so many bastardly deeds, yet you... you actually say it was your mistake?!"
Odin did not answer. He merely stood there, quietly enduring Loki's roaring. Thor wanted to step forward, yet was stopped by Odin with a glance.
"You should scold me." Loki's voice was trembling. "You should punish me, lock me up, banish me to the most remote corner of the universe..."
Loki backed away while speaking, seeing that he had already backed to the edge of the Bifrost.
"I lack the qualifications to accept your apology, and I also lack the qualifications to stay in Asgard..."
Having finished these words, his body tilted backward, plunging right into that endless void beneath the Bifrost.
"Loki!!!"
Thor pounced forward violently, attempting to stop all of this, yet was still a step too slow, only able to look helplessly as a corner of Loki's dark green cloak skimmed past his fingers.
"You idiot, why do you do it every single time..." Having spoken to this point, he turned his head violently, looking toward Odin as if grasping onto the final life-saving straw:
"Father, Loki he..."
Odin let out a long sigh, his entire being appearing as if he had aged another ten years:
"He won't die. He will find his own dwelling place beneath the Nine Realms, as well as... a path belonging to his own."
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