However, just as his divine consciousness touched the outer "barrier" surrounding Cloud's soul—
Everything changed in an instant!
He felt his invincible Odin-force slam headfirst into what could only be described as a "Wall of Sighs"—formed from countless overlapping universes, impossibly thick!
THRUMMM—!
A force of law even more ancient, more overwhelming, and more unreasonable than the Odin-force instantly rebounded!
What was contained in that force? Even Odin couldn't articulate it.
He only "saw" crimson flames that could incinerate all things, violet flames that could devour gods, the formless fire of Mu Shiki that could sever causality...
He only "heard" the storm-voice of divine judgment, the roar of destruction like the earth's fury, the absolute zero of an ice age descending...
He also "felt" the Mirror Realm laws representing absolute truth, the will of Gaia representing the source of all life...
Countless laws—some he could comprehend, others utterly beyond his understanding—surged like a disturbed hornet's nest, thoroughly enraged by his probing!
They converged into an unstoppable torrent of law, and along the very path Odin's divine consciousness had traveled, they surged back in reverse invasion!
Not good!
Odin's expression changed drastically!
He tried to immediately sever his connection with the World Tree, but it was too late!
That torrent of law instantly shattered all his mental defenses!
And then...
He felt his God-King soul seized by an invisible giant hand.
What followed was a lazy voice, still carrying that nasal quality of someone just woken up, thick with morning grumpiness, echoing directly in the depths of his soul:
"Who is it? It's the crack of dawn—can't a guy get some sleep?"
"Going around scanning everything with your divine sense—don't you know that's rude? You're like some kind of peeping tom!"
"Look at you, all that age, beard gone white, and you still don't know how to act your years?"
"Huh? A one-eyed guy? And you're into that whole 'Odin cosplay' thing too?"
"Whatever, whatever. I can see you didn't mean anything by it. Just be more careful next time, old timer."
"If there's a next time, I'll trace your 'connection' right back to you and pluck out that beard of yours—give it to my Mai as a feather duster!"
WHAM!
Odin felt as if his divine soul had been viciously slapped by an invisible palm!
Then he was roughly kicked out of that state of "divine communion"!
"Pfft—!"
Asgard, the Golden Palace.
The All-Father Odin, seated upon his throne, snapped his eye open, his face flushing crimson as he nearly coughed up blood!
He felt as if Mjolnir itself had slammed into his lower back!
A tearing agony in his soul made this God-King who had lived for millennia involuntarily let out a muffled groan.
Frigga, at his side, rushed forward to support him.
"I... I'm fine..." Odin waved her off, gasping heavily. His single eye was filled with unprecedented shock and lingering fear.
He had just been "disciplined."
By that mysterious man on Earth—the one he'd tried to probe—who had "slapped" him across an entire universe using methods he couldn't even begin to comprehend.
The other party might not have even been fully awake!
What kind of existence was this?!
...
The memory ended.
Odin looked at Thor, who still wore an expression of "my dad is the most badass," and let out a long internal sigh.
Oh, my foolish son!
You have no idea what kind of "daddy" you provoked on Earth this time!
He cleared his throat and addressed Thor in a tone more grave than he had ever used before, delivering his divine decree:
"Thor."
"Yes, Father."
"Regarding the man called Cloud, I am issuing you a directive of the highest level, in my capacity as King of Asgard."
Thor's expression grew serious as well.
He knew that anything making his father use this tone was no small matter.
"From this day forward," Odin's single eye fixed Thor with an intense stare, "under no circumstances whatsoever are you, or any Asgardian, permitted to make an enemy of Cloud."
"What?!" Thor was stunned. "Father! He's just a somewhat special mortal—"
"Mortal?!" Odin's voice rose sharply, carrying a tremor even he hadn't noticed!
"Thor! You are wrong! Completely and utterly wrong!"
"He is no mortal! He may not even be a god!"
"I don't know what he is. I only know that even I, before him, am like an infant in swaddling clothes."
"His existence has transcended the scope of the Nine Realms, surpassed the World Tree's comprehension!"
"He is an existence we must absolutely, absolutely never provoke!"
Odin looked at his foolish son, still frozen in shock and confusion, and softened his tone slightly—though it remained filled with unquestionable authority.
"Listen well, Thor. Forget your pride. Forget Asgard's glory."
"From now on, when you see him, show him the same respect you show me. No—even more than you show me!"
"Find ways to befriend him. Send gifts. Invite him to visit Asgard. Even have your brother Loki serve him tea and water if necessary! Spare no cost to establish a good relationship with him!"
"Because I have a premonition..."
Odin's gaze turned toward the vast depths of space.
"In the near future, a Ragnarök that will sweep across the entire universe—one even Asgard cannot escape—is coming."
"And that man..."
"Will be our only and final hope."
After hearing his father's almost prophetic warning, Thor fell completely silent.
He looked at his father's face, heavy with gravity and weariness, and recalled that bizarre purple-black flame in the German forest—the one that could effortlessly erase a mountain.
His proud, arrogant heart—the heart of the God of Thunder—was finally and thoroughly shattered in that moment.
He finally understood. Those criticisms that man had made about him weren't mockery or contempt.
They were simply the most honest—and most dismissive—assessment from someone standing at the summit, looking down at a "child" still struggling to climb up from below.
He, Thor, God of Thunder of Asgard... in that man's eyes, might truly be nothing more than a child.
...
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