God of War: Daughter of War

Odin didn't like to pace, he actually preferred to sit down and ponder while appearing to be plotting something, where the people and gods of Asgard would assume it was for their benefit even if it was for his own benefit, but right now he was pacing while considering what had happened since he visited Kratos' hidden home. He had thought he was being smart, as Kratos had done nothing during the three years since Baldur's 'death', nothing but hide in the Woods while Fimbulwinter ravaged the realms, even though Odin had made sure Asgard remained untouched by the dreadful winter. Of course he had been surprised to find that Baldur was actually alive and that the loss of his immortality was what caused the start of the three years of winter everyone had been dreading the start of, but that, and Atreus' search for Tyr, had given him what he had assumed were the tools he needed to stay ahead of his enemies. The plan had been perfect in his eyes, Tyr didn't have any information on Flurry's race and never mentioned sharing tales with Mimir, so he had assumed he was golden and could pretend to be Tyr, while utilizing his ravens to travel to and from locations to maintain his dominance.

What he wasn't expecting was for Flurry to be so much smarter than he had assumed, she had undermined his plans like he was nothing, found holes he didn't even know existed, and then did what Odin had deemed to be impossible, she tore his illusion spell apart and then used it to free Tyr from his prison. The major problem with that was Tyr's existence being a beacon to everyone that still believed in his truth, and Odin knew that the family would likely use that in some manner, in fact he was sure they had before he got reports of the Norse God of War taking to the field again. Then came the business with Freya, as he had crafted an arsenal of enchantments to keep her powerless and contained until Ragnarok was over, but she not only found a way to break them, possibly with Sigrun's help, Flurry had done the impossible as well. The pony had figured out how to separate the area that the binding spell was in and prevented Nidhogg from rushing out to deal with all of Freya's allies, damaging yet another plan of his and utterly destroying it in the end, as if his plans were nothing to her and her intelligence.

Then there was the discovery that Heimdall made for them, that Flurry was actually the Goddess of Death, a being that Odin feared more than anyone else, and her ability to handle Thor in no time, plus his near death, told him not to mess with her, and he had tried to do that while advancing his plans.

He honestly wasn't expecting Thrud to take a liking to Flurry, he figured her Valkyrie follower habits had been a phase, but Thor's daughter had proved that she was willing to follow the goddess that was ruining everything, or at least willing to listen to what she had to say. Then there was the fact that the gods had forged multiple weapons, as Kratos had a new spear and Flurry had a brand new sword that he couldn't quite place, though he only knew of their presence thanks to some of the loyal dwarves that were watching the Lady's forge, which was how he knew of Tyr starting to fight once more. After that he had to deal with Garm being set free, which had been a surprise he wasn't expecting, but based on what he had seen Flurry had found a way to tame the dreadful wolf as well, something that just made everything worse for his plans. While she and her family were distracted Odin had sent Heimdall into Vanaheim to deal with Freyr's rebellion, it seemed so simple and easy to do, even for someone like him, and yet the bearer of Gjallerhorn had been cut down and the horn that started Ragnarok had fallen into the hands of the one person he didn't want it in the hands of.

And that wasn't counting the fact that Thor, Sif, and Modi had departed from his service after he tasked Atreus to retrieve the last piece of the mask, which he did before betraying him, pulling himself and Thrud out of Niflheim with Garm's power, that much he was sure of, meaning the board was on Flurry's side... and on top of that he had felt the death of the Raven Keeper, another thing he wasn't even remotely prepared for.

"What am I going to do now?" Odin asked himself, where he stopped in his pacing and stood by his desk, the one most of his followers saw him at when he let them speak to him in the Great Lodge, because there were ideas and plans in mind to stop his enemies before they were able to use the Realm Towers to invade Asgard, he just had to have them moved into position before Flurry used Gjallarhorn.

As he pondered that very question, however, he froze as he heard something that he didn't want to hear again, it was the eerie whistle that was Flurry's deathly signature, something that sent shivers down his spine despite the fact that he knew that she wasn't nearby, but it only made him worry as Gna and her Valkyries entered his private domain.

"All-Father, there's been a development: there is a rift in front of Tyr's Temple." Gna stated, because she, the two Valkyries that were behind her, and several others had been keeping an eye on the area outside the walls, watching for the arrival of their enemies while their army prepared itself, just as the All-Father commanded after what happened in Niflheim.

"A rift? That doesn't make sense, they have Gjallarhorn." Odin remarked, though at the same time he retrieved his cloak and his staff, which he could turn into a spear at any moment, before approaching the three Valkyries as he used his ravens to move them to the edge of the wall, one of his favorite abilities if he was being truthful since it allowed him to move between the realms with ease.

As he looked out over the area that was between the walls and Tyr's Temple Odin discovered that Gna was correct, there was a small version of Garm's rifts resting in the middle of the realm bridge, and standing in front of it happened to be the one figure he didn't want to see again, Flurry Heart, and he could see the scythe in her hand.

"What is she planning?" Odin commented, because he knew Flurry wasn't stupid enough to come here on her own, as he doubted that she had the power to take on him and everyone else on her own, but that only made him dread whatever she had planned for them, as he was sure it wouldn't be good for him or his forces, "She might be a goddess, but a single person can't hope to bring down the entirety of Asgard."

"Odin Borrson, God of the Sky, also known as the All-Father to the Nine Realms. I have come to accept your surrender, so we can bring an end to Fimbulwinter and stop Ragnarok at long last." Flurry stated, protecting her voice to all of Asgard, as this was part of her plan, to make them think the 'war' would be easily won since there was only one person coming to face the All-Father, even though this was only the start of breaking Ragnarok without destroying Asgard, "I have a deal that not even you can refuse."

"Surrender? She's gone insane! A single person cannot hope to make the might of Asgard bend it's knee." Gna remarked, a fact that was echoed by the two Valkyries that were behind her, showing Odin that they deemed Flurry to be stupid for even suggesting such a thing, while he, however, found himself wondering what she was willing to offer him for him to 'surrender' to her might, "Your words fall on deaf ears, invader. You are but a coward, hoping to win a war without an army to back you, and we shall show you the error of your ways!"

Odin would have criticized Gna for her words, since she was antagonizing the one goddess he didn't want to piss off, but the cheers from the Einherjar caused him to stand down and just watch Flurry, where he found her chuckling, as if she found something about this funny.

"You know, not to sound arrogant or anything, but... well, I don't need an army to deal with you three." Flurry replied, which was the truth, none of Odin's Dark Valkyries were even worth using her full power against, nor did she need an army to kill any of them, and she could tell that her comment had annoyed them, even from where she was standing.

Sure enough her taunt worked as the three Dark Valkyries, without even waiting for Odin to give the command, burst into the air and rushed towards her, where she shifted her stance for a moment and held her scythe at the ready, giving Odin a front row seat to the deaths of his last line of defense as she slashed through the three figures, body parts hitting the rocky ground at the edge of the realm bridge.

"But you know, Odin, if it's an army you are interested in I could oblige." Flurry continued, where she held her empty hand up for a moment before beating the base of her fist against the air itself, as if it was just a wall of some kind, and as she did that Odin was sure she was smiling, meaning he was going to dread whatever happened next.

A few seconds later a number of tears in space, the rifts that Garm used, opened all around the area that Odin had carefully changed over the years in preparation for this day, so he could trap his enemies when Ragnarok came, and the first ones to come out of them were those he were expecting. He found Kratos, Freya, Freyr, Pandora, and Tyr leading the armies of the Nine Realms, those being the dark and light elves, the dwarves, the renegards of Vanaheim, and even two figures that had to be Surtr and Sinmara, a fire giant and an ice giant. That, alone, worried Odin because Surtr was supposed to be the one that would strike down Asgard with his flaming blade, something he seemed to be missing right now, and he found that there were more people around him, a young lady about Atreus' age, Atreus himself, the transformed Garm, a pack of wolves, a large lady he couldn't place, and more, like Sigrun and the revived Valkyries. In fact he found that the undead army of Helheim were among the warriors, almost as if they were serving Death itself, which had frightening implications if Flurry was able to call upon the forces of Helheim, and there were a few dragons as well, bystanders most likely that were drawn to the impending conflict.

That was when Odin found out how wrong he really was, because it wasn't just the forces of the Nine Realms that were in front of him, as more and more individuals emerged from the rifts and more were opened on the lake itself, something that caused him to pause as he found more gods emerging from Garm's rifts. These were gods that he assumed Kratos had killed before he, Flurry, and Pandora left their homeland, as he counted a number of half beast gods, two of them being archers based on the bows in their hands, there was one on a chariot, and all sorts of other gods that he thought were dead. In that moment he understood something terrifying, the gods of the Nine Realms and the gods of Greece were arrayed against him, and he could see Thor among them, talking to someone who had to be Kratos' brother, given his mark and an appearance that was similar to the Greek God of War. In addition to all of that, which now explained why Flurry had been here to call for his surrender, Odin found that there were also a number of ships emerging from the rifts in the lake, full of soldiers while baring a flag that seemed to be from Sparta, showing him that they were allied to Kratos and his family.

As he thought about that, however, Odin found that the ground was shaking every so often and he glanced beyond the army that was answering Flurry's call, where he paled in fear as he noticed the massive beings that were currently making their way towards the temple, beings that rivaled the Giants in size, and near them was a smaller Jormungandr.

"What in the... those are the Titans?! But... but Kratos and his family were said to have destroyed them." Odin commented, as he was alone in the portion of the wall he was on, because the rest of his guards were on the other portions, spread out to keep an eye out for danger, even though this was far more than what he was expecting, causing him to realize something he hadn't thought about before, "Tyr! He must have known I'd look into what happened in Greece and altered things to make sure I would be blind to what was really going on."

It made sense when he thought about it, Tyr must have known about the family's movements and had likely used the last thousand years to make sure Odin couldn't see what was going on in the now godless realm, only for things to happen without him being aware of what was going on. This was just further confirmation that Tyr was planning on betraying him, though now he could add hiding the inhabitants of an entire realm from him, even though he had to wonder where all of the soldiers came from, since he was sure the majority of Greece had been flooded. At the same time he understood why Flurry had been so confident in asking for his surrender, because she possessed the forces of two pantheons and their armies, far too many for him and his immortal Einherjar to deal with, especially when he considered the gods and goddesses that were in front of him. This was almost unfair as he thought about it, he had stacked the deck against any of his enemies and the one person he had been worried about had actually done the same, gathering allies and stacking the deck so much that he realized that there was no way for him to win.

As that thought came to mind he noticed something else that must crushed his will to fight back, there was a jackal headed god, Anubis he realized, who seemed ready for war as well, and behind him, starting to emerge from yet another rift, was yet another army of the dead, from the lands of the Egyptian gods, something that caused him to use his ravens to warp down to the area in front of Flurry.

"It would seem that you've outmaneuvered me yet again." Odin remarked, because he wasn't going to engage in a war that he had no hope of winning, as fighting the forces of the Nine Realms would have been more reasonable and potentially doable, even with Thor being on Flurry's side, but fighting both the Norse forces and the Greek forces made him realize his chances were far lower than before, and Anubis' presence just killed his desire to engage in this war, "You mentioned that you had a deal for me, if I surrendered?"

"Yes, I did." Flurry replied, where she was pleased to see that the intimidation tactic had worked, she was willing Ragnarok without actually going to war, though as she withdrew the special tomoe she and the others had created, while at the same time she noted a shudder of energy behind her as the young Jormungandr was knocked back in time, since the snake hated Thor and the god punched it hard enough to do so, "The offer is simple, Odin: you surrender to us and Ragnarok ends, with no one but your stupid Dark Valkyries losing their lives... do that and I'll give you this crystal, which will give you an incredible amount of knowledge if you swallow it whole... it's supposed to be far more than that mask you wasted time on, but also..."

"Deal. You've won Ragnarok! Einherjar, stand down." Odin stated, because obtaining a treasure trove of knowledge was far too tempting to pass up, especially since it seemed to be beyond what the mask would have given him, and while he knew his forces would be confused by this decision he didn't care, as this was his end goal.

Flurry didn't say anything to that as she found that the Einherjar stood down, just as Odin told them, causing her to hand over the enchanted crystal without delay, because she thought the All-Father would be smarter than this and it looked like she had overestimated his intelligence. Sure enough Odin didn't ask any questions as he swallowed the tomoe, confirming that his greed for knowledge was all consuming, causing him to make such a critical error as her spell took hold of his body, which he seemed to believe was the knowledge flowing into his body. In the next moment he dropped his weapon while he gripped his chest, huffing like something was wrong with him, before he looked up at her while realizing that he should have listened to her entire statement before accepting the item from her, because his decision was coming back to bite him hard in the rear. In the next moment his hands shook for a few moments as Odin found something unusual happening, each of his fingers were starting to shift, becoming more like Atreus' dragon claws, and he found that scales were growing on the back of his hands, teal colored he noticed.

He could feel something inside him changing as the power of the crystal took hold, in fact he gripped his head as his eyes, as the damaged one became usable again, seemed to focus more, like he was seeing the world in a new light, before he fell to his knees and his clawed hands gripped the ground.

"Wh... What did you... do... to me?!" Odin asked, though his body was wracked by pain as he felt his body crack and break in places, bones changing as muscles grew, and he could feel the flames inside him building, something that forced him to ask the figure that was in front of him what was going on.

"I used your hunger for knowledge against you. That's all." Flurry replied, where she watched as Odin growled in pain as the transformation took hold for real, flames surging out of his body as his All-Father attire was burned off, before the flames just formed a barrier around him for a time, exactly as she intended as she pulled out three smaller stones.

Kratos realized what was going on immediately, the spell would transform and break Odin's soul, in fact three soul bits were removed from the flames and were inserted into the three stones, giving each one a portion of the All-Father's soul, while the last one was inside the dragon that Odin had become. Odin was more like Fafnir, in terms of overall appearance, but his body was smaller, no doubt due to Odin's lack of fighting, and his horns were smaller as well, but the look in his eyes told him and all of them that Flurry's spell had sealed off everything that was Odin in the depths of his new body. He and several of the others knew what this was, it was an exchange of sorts, as Odin likely gained all the knowledge he wanted, but there was a price for his shortcut and Flurry had made sure to exact a worthy payment for what the All-Father desired. Now Odin was a nameless mindless dragon, where Kratos knew that this would change at some point when the dragon gained a name and learned how to be the beast he had become, but he was proud of his daughter's efforts to make sure she won Ragnarok in the way she did.

As Flurry asked some of them to approach her, as she wanted to give the stones to the dwarves, the people of Vanaheim, and the Giants, Thor took all three of them and smashed them with Mjolnir without delay, causing her to sigh as she and the others focused on making sure Ragnarok was over, all while wondering what the immediate future held for all of them.