Just call me Thor

Chapter 565: What was Nathan’s ID?



Void Maelstrom

Neither the arrival of the Fifth Demon God nor Apollo seemed to affect Thor.

Or rather, they didn't even notice him.

Even after the butterfly appeared, it made no further moves, simply observing the unfolding situation in silence.

The sky darkened.

Maxen looked up at the dim heavens, sensing something stirring behind the veil of shadows. "Thor, maybe we should stop digging?"

He couldn't shake the hollow feeling in his chest, a vague unease, as if something important was missing.

Mike paused, scanning the surroundings. He didn't put down the shovel in his hand but instead let out a helpless chuckle.

"It's too late."

Maxen blinked, confused. "What do you mean, 'too late'?"

"The Fifth Demon God is here. Oh... and Apollo's here too."

Following Mike's gesture, Maxen finally noticed the distant figures.

"But the most important thing is..."

Mike pointed above the void, his smile tinged with resignation.

"It's here too."

Mike could feel it-the presence of the Supreme Demon God.

He knew it all too well.

That entity wanted to kill Mike. And it wanted to kill Apollo even more.

With such heavyweight contenders present, the next steps of this situation were no longer in Mike's hands.

If digging up the monument was forbidden, Apollo would have stopped him.

But Apollo hadn't done anything.

That meant he allowed it.

And permission meant it was possible.

Still, the deeper Mike dug, the stranger it felt.

Nathan... was unbelievably strong.

This seal, created centuries ago, still required Mike to expend significant effort to break it.

Just how powerful had Nathan been back then?

Mike even began to suspect that Nathan's talent wasn't just top-tier SS-grade but one of those near-SSS-grade abilities that fell just short of perfection.

After an entire day of work, Mike finally broke the seal and reached the bottom of the monument.

A sphere of black light emerged, and Mike easily absorbed it into himself.

As expected, the compatibility was incredibly high.

But instead of feeling joy, Mike froze, his mind blank.

Because...

At the bottom of the monument, he saw a familiar symbol.

The moment his eyes landed on it, Mike's thoughts came to a screeching halt.

How could this be?

Impossible!

Why... why was there an ugly heart here?

Why was the final mark on Nathan's seal... an ugly heart?

"What's wrong?"

Maxen stood at the edge of the pit, looking down at Thor, utterly confused.

"Nothing."

Mike looked up, forcing a grin to mask his true emotions.

He didn't know how to explain this to Maxen.

Or rather, Mike decided not to tell him at all.

Beneath his black hair, his eyes carried a faint sadness, the kind that couldn't be put into words.

Like a child who had been wronged but had no one to confide in, he could only bear it silently.

"Are you sure it's nothing?"

Maxen, ever the optimist, didn't notice anything unusual.

Mike denied it again. "It's nothing."

But Maxen noticed something alarming. "Wait... why are you crying?"

Thor... crying?

Was he about to die?!

Maxen panicked.

"Happy tears," Mike said, his tone light and joking. "I finally have 1.1 times your combat

power."

He was still spouting nonsense, pretending to be carefree.

Of course, he knew this wouldn't fool Maxen.

So Mike offered a more plausible explanation.

"It's just a side effect of overusing my talent."

This time, Maxen bought it.

Mike's talent was tied to his eyes, so it made sense for there to be side effects.

Taking a deep breath, Mike casually stored the monument in his inventory, making sure Maxen didn't see what was at the bottom.

Maxen: ???

He was stunned. His eyes widened as he craned his neck.

"Didn't you say it was mine?!"

How was this a fifty-fifty split?!

This was the most rebellion Maxen dared to show against Thor.

"Relax, I'm just holding onto it for you... I mean, it's heavy. If you carry it, it'll slow you down

when we need to run. What, you think I won't give it to you?"

Mike's tone was righteous and confident.

"Do you really think I'd stoop so low as to covet your stuff? If I wanted something, is there

anything I couldn't get?"

Maxen thought about it and realized Thor had a point.

Besides, it was just a monument. It wasn't worth falling out with Thor over it.

Nathan was coming back soon anyway. Whether there was one more monument or one less

didn't really matter.

Beneath his black hair, Mike's eyes dimmed. A bitter thought crossed his mind.

"I think I know what Shadow Nine lied to me about..."

If he could, Mike would rather not know.

He was smart, but in this case, he wished he could stay ignorant.

[This matter...]

The Eye of Truth clearly knew something.

But it didn't dare speak. On one hand, it involved the Supreme. On the other, revealing it

would only harm Mike, offering no benefit.

"It's okay. I don't blame you."

When Mike saw the ugly heart at the bottom of the monument, he understood everything.

In his mind, countless fragmented details pieced themselves together, reconstructing the

truth.

The facts had always been right in front of him.

Shadow Nine had simply used the simplest sleight of hand to deceive everyone.

And for certain reasons, those who knew the truth were willing to cooperate with Shadow

Nine in perpetuating this lie.

In fact, this lie wasn't even meant to deceive Mike.

It was meant to deceive Maxen and everyone else who didn't know the truth.

Only two people had ever brought this up to Mike.

Calderon and Apollo.

The former had spoken of it in his dying words.

The latter, too proud to lie, had stated it plainly.

Without them, even with the Eye of Truth, Mike might never have uncovered the deception.

Because in this lie, Shadow Nine hadn't told a single falsehood.

Every word he'd spoken to Mike was true.

This was a lie woven entirely from truth-a lie that had persisted for centuries.

Its brilliance lay in the fact that it contained not a single lie.

Mike had never thought to ask one simple question:

"What was Nathan's ID?"

Mike had never asked.

And Shadow Nine had never told him.

Today, he finally knew the answer.

Why had the Human King Nathan, with his unparalleled achievements, left no trace in the

Tower of Truth?

Why had Nathan's name appeared in the Void Maelstrom?

Why had Shadow Nine, with his talent, been able to dominate the Abyss?

Why had Shadow Nine stolen the Supreme Mark, seeking to ascend to the Supreme position?

Everything made sense now.

Mike closed his eyes slightly, biting his lip to keep the tears from falling, to keep Maxen from

noticing anything was wrong.

He sniffled.

But inside, his heart was bleeding.

Mike sighed softly in his heart.

"So it was you all along, Morpheus."

===

Supreme Abyssal The elderly trio climbing the mountain knew exactly what they were doing.

They were heading for the summit.

They had to see it for themselves.

Shadow Nine needed to get close enough to reclaim Nathan's talent.

They had already made it halfway up the mountain, but the remaining half was proving to be

pure torture.

The higher they climbed, the harder the journey became.

And now, they had run into a small problem:

Shadow Nine was done for.

Crimson from head to toe, Shadow Nine lay slumped on Afterskin's back.

When other members of the Guardian Shadow turned into Blood Shadows, they would lose all

sense of reason, becoming mindless killing machines.

But Shadow Nine was different.

When he became a Blood Shadow, he was utterly useless-a broken shell of a man who could

only be carried by Afterskin.

It wasn't that Calderon didn't want to carry him; he simply had a more critical task.

The outskirts of the summit were now swarming with countless demon creatures.

These creatures didn't dare approach the mountain itself.

But they weren't above causing trouble.

Snowballs, rocks, and chunks of ice rained down from above as the demons hurled them with

malicious glee.

They laughed and jeered, mocking the climbers, hoping to see them stumble, collapse, and

fail.

Most of the projectiles missed due to the distance.

But when they hit, the results were devastating.

Afterskin's right calf had been struck by a rock, leaving a small hole. No blood seeped out-

the wound had frozen solid the moment it appeared.

And so, the three of them trudged forward, struggling against the relentless assault.

"Take Shadow Nine and go ahead!"

Calderon punched an incoming chunk of ice, shattering it into pieces. His knuckles were crimson, his long hair disheveled.

He walked behind Afterskin, shielding him and Shadow Nine from the onslaught.

But the closer they got to the summit, the weaker his talent became. Every step forward was a

battle against his own limits.

In Calderon's arms, a chess piece labeled [ECA] glowed faintly, slowly healing his injuries.

Without this piece, Calderon would have collapsed long ago.

Afterskin wanted to keep moving forward.

But his legs were completely numb, frozen to the snow and ice. He couldn't move an inch,

whether forward or backward.

"Don't... don't move..."

Shadow Nine, barely clinging to life, whispered weakly.

"Stop... now..."

He also had a chess piece in his possession, but it was useless against the side effects of being

a Blood Shadow.

Calderon, still fighting off the barrage, spat out a string of insults.

"Shit Nine, you're such a piece of shit, aren't you?!"

Normally, Shadow Nine would have fired back with a sharp retort.

But this time, he ignored Calderon's taunts.

"The... sun..."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The setting sun cast long shadows across the mountain.

Afterskin noticed the shadows and realized what Shadow Nine was trying to do.

He sighed, his voice tinged with helplessness.

"There's no time..."

The sun was moving too slowly. It would take hours for the shadow of the man at the summit

to reach them.

Afterskin glanced back at Calderon, who clearly wouldn't last that long.

Afterskin himself was in even worse shape-half of his body had already turned into an ice

sculpture.

"This is my fault."

Afterskin sighed again, his tone filled with regret.

"I've always had terrible luck."

"Don't talk nonsense..."

Shadow Nine, still slumped on Afterskin's back, whispered hoarsely.

"If it weren't for you back then, I'd have died here too..."

Some people only speak the truth when they're on the brink of death.

Just as despair began to set in, Afterskin's vision blurred. For a moment, he thought he was

hallucinating.

The shadow... was moving!

Afterskin lifted his head, squinting against the blinding sunlight.

What he saw would stay with him for the rest of his life.

A colossal demon god, bound in chains, was trudging forward.

Every step it took seemed to drain every ounce of its strength.

The chains were wrapped in black flames-essence.

And the other end of the chains was connected to the sun of the Supreme Abyssal.

What was it doing?!

That demon god was burning its own abyssal source, sacrificing everything, enduring the

agony of the sun's flames... all to move the sun just a little closer.

Realizing what was happening, Afterskin knew he had to act.

He looked at the direction of the shadow, took a deep breath, and muttered under his breath:

"Three, two, one... here we go!"

With every ounce of strength he had left, Afterskin hurled Shadow Nine forward.

The shadow was light.

And Shadow Nine, in his Blood Shadow form, was even lighter.

This was the final relay.

The sun moved. Shadow Nine flew.

And finally, Shadow Nine landed in the shadow.

The moment they touched, Shadow Nine vanished, completely merging with the shadow.

A streak of black drove out all traces of crimson.

From the shadow, a middle-aged man slowly rose.

Shadow Nine stood up.

Having reclaimed part of Nathan's talent, Shadow Nine closed his eyes and took a deep

breath, savoring the sensation of power returning to his body.

It had been so many years since he'd felt this strong.

"Only one use, huh..."

Shadow Nine murmured to himself.

"One... is enough."

"Fuck you! Stop acting cool and hurry up! I'm about to die here!" Calderon, half-buried in snow, cursed loudly, frantically signaling for help.

To buy Shadow Nine enough time, both he and Afterskin had pushed themselves to the brink

of death.

But they believed-no, they knew-that as long as Shadow Nine reclaimed Nathan's talent,

everything would be resolved.

Their faith in him was absolute, almost blind.

Because this was the strongest talent in human history.

Bar none.

Shadow Nine stood on the mountainside, his hand resting on the hilt of his short blade,

gazing down at the Supreme Abyssal.

In that moment, he seemed like a Supreme Being himself.

It felt like he had returned to that day.

To that battle.

Nathan's final words appeared before Shadow Nine's eyes:

"I will use my flesh and blood to guard this land..."

Two hundred years had passed.

Shadow Nine tilted his head slightly, looking toward the summit.

There, a man sat quietly.

The man's lips curled into a faint smile, almost serene.

He was smiling. Shadow Nine was smiling too.

But he didn't close his eyes.

Shadow Nine knew. Calderon knew. Every top-tier human powerhouse knew.

It was this man's death that had made reconciliation between humanity and the Supreme

Demon God impossible.

No surrender. No retreat.

A war to the death that had raged for centuries, until the very end of the world.

Even if it meant the destruction of everything, there would be no regrets.

A fire. A hatred.

It had burned in their chests for centuries, threatening to drive Shadow Nine mad.

Unyielding.

Blood.

Hatred.

"Die!"

Shadow Nine opened his eyes, as if transported back to that earth-shattering battle 297 years ago.

When the Archdemon forcibly opened the Supreme Abyssal, and Human King Nathan went to

face him.

After that battle, Nathan never returned.

Everyone knew Nathan had died.

But no one knew the price the Supreme Demon God had paid.

It had been forced into a 161-year slumber, unable to stop Ares' rise, unable to interfere in the

Abyss.

When the Supreme Abyssal reappeared, the world had already changed.

This was the 161 years Nathan had bought with his life.

Shadow Nine opened his mouth, his hoarse voice echoing across the Supreme Abyssal.

The shadow of that battle 297 years ago once again loomed over the Supreme Abyssal.

Countless demon creatures trembled, paralyzed by fear. They knelt. They prostrated themselves. They begged for mercy.

Too late!

Fear! Run! Scream! Crawl! Beg for death, but find no escape!

And then, Shadow Nine spoke softly:

"Tell me... do you have nightmares?"

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