Peter's grip on his staff faltered. His eyes, those faintly glowing gold irises. widened for just a second before pain crashed through him like a tidal wave. His hand shot to his chest, and the staff clattered to the ground, vanishing in a shimmer of light as he staggered backward.
"Peter!" Susan's voice was sharp with panic.
Sable was already there, catching him by the shoulders before he could hit the marble floor. "What's happening?!"
Peter's breathing turned ragged, harsh, shallow gasps as if the air itself had turned to fire in his lungs. His veins pulsed faintly gold beneath his skin, flickering erratically like broken circuits.
Susan knelt, pressing her hands to his face. "Peter, what's happening?"
He trembled, sweat dripping down his temple as his eyes burned molten gold again. When he finally spoke, his voice wasn't just his own. Anansi spoke with him.
"It's... him," he rasped out. "I can feel him moving through the void."
Odin's brow furrowed. "Who?"
Peter's breathing steadied slightly, though his hands still shook. His tone grew heavier, colder, every word weighted with divine dread.
"The one who hates the gods," he said softly. "The one who kills them."
Thor's expression hardened. "Speak plainly, brother."
Peter slowly lifted his gaze, and for a moment, the shadows seemed to darken around him.
"Gorr," he said. "The God Butcher."
The name alone sucked the warmth from the room. Even the fire in the great hall dimmed.
Odin stiffened at the sound, eyes narrowing. "That name has not been spoken in an age."
Peter pushed himself up with Sable's help, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Yeah, well," he muttered, forcing a shaky smirk. "Might wanna start saying it again."
Susan's face was pale, her voice trembling. "Peter... who is he?"
Peter's expression turned grim, almost hollow. "A mortal once. A man who lost everything and decided every god in the universe deserved to die for it. He found a weapon that gave him the power to make it happen."
He swallowed, eyes distant as if he could already see the trail of blood across galaxies.
"He's killed pantheons. Gods of light, of war, of death. I stopped him once, we stopped him once, but I guess that wasn't enough."
Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened. "Then he has come to finish what he started."
Peter's eyes flickered gold again, the faint hum of his divine essence resonating in the air. "No," he said, his tone low, dangerous. "He's come because he felt me wake up. The god he wanted dead the most. The god he couldn't kill."
Odin's gaze was heavy with old understanding. "He will come for you first."
Peter nodded slowly. "Yeah," he murmured, summoning his staff back into his hand with a flash of gold and black energy. The runes on his arm burned faintly as he spun it once, anchoring it into the floor. "Then let him find me waiting."
Susan stepped closer, gripping his arm. "Peter, you don't have to face him alone."
He looked at her and Sable, his face softening for just a moment before the mask of resolve returned.
"I know," he said quietly. "But I might have to be the one who ends him."
Lightning cracked somewhere beyond the palace walls, distant, but getting closer
---
Susan and Sable stood close, their hands still hovering near Peter as if afraid he'd collapse again. His breathing had steadied, but his expression... it was the same cold, distant stare he used to have when remembering Uncle Ben or May. Except this time, it was worse.
Susan was the first to break the silence.
"Peter," she said softly, "who is this Gorr?"
Sable's silver eyes narrowed. "You said he kills gods. All of them?"
Peter nodded slowly, leaning against the staff as the golden light around him dimmed. His voice was low, almost reverent, but edged with disgust.
"Yeah. All of them. And not for power, not for glory. Just because he believes they shouldn't exist."
He looked down at his hand, the faint golden glow pulsing beneath his skin.
"He was born on a nameless world. No light, no water, no mercy. His family died starving, one by one — his wife, his children. All while he prayed to gods who never answered."
Susan's eyes softened with sorrow. "Oh, Peter..."
He continued, his tone flattening, hardening.
"When his last child died, something inside him broke. He cursed the gods, out loud. His people turned on him for it, said he was blasphemous. They exiled him to die in the desert."
Thor grimaced. "And yet, he lived."
Peter's lips curled into something between a frown and a bitter smirk.
"Barely. He was crawling through the dust when two gods fell from the sky, one golden, one black. Both dying. One begged for help."
He paused, meeting Susan's gaze.
"And Gorr realized that the gods were real. They just didn't care."
Susan swallowed, looking shaken.
"So he killed them?"
Peter nodded again. "He took the weapon from the black one, the All-Black, the Necrosword. A living symbiote older than the universe itself. It bonded to him, and for the first time, he wasn't just a man anymore. He became something else, something that could kill gods as easily as you breathe."
Sable crossed her arms, her voice calm but sharp. "So this Gorr has a symbiote?"
Peter's eyes flickered, a shadow of the symbiote's own black sheen crawling under his skin.
"Not like mine. Mine's a reflection of me. His..." Peter shook his head. "His is a wound in creation. It feeds on hate, despair, and faith turned sour."
Susan took a step closer, her tone trembling with a mix of sympathy and fear. "But why would he come here? Why now?"
Peter looked toward the golden windows, where thunder rolled beyond the horizon.
"Because Anansi's awake," he said. "Because I'm awake. Gorr and I, we've met before. He thinks gods are a disease. And now that he knows I'm here, he's coming to finish his crusade."
Thor's expression darkened. "Then we shall meet him with the fury of Asgard."
Odin's voice rumbled from the dais. "The Butcher is beyond rage, beyond reason. His faith is his weapon. Even death could not hold him, it seems."
Peter turned back to Susan and Sable, his tone quieter, more human.
"He believes the gods exist only to watch mortals suffer. That if he kills every last one, the universe will finally be free."
Susan frowned deeply. "And you stopped him before?"
Peter's jaw tensed. "Barely. He built something called the Godbomb, a weapon to kill every god across time itself. It took the combined might of Odin and me to stop him. We shattered the weapon, sealed Gorr himself in the Void, and thought that was the end."
Sable's eyes narrowed. "Until now."
Peter nodded. "Until he felt me
wake up."
The silence after that was heavy, suffocating. The fire in the hearth guttered, shrinking as though even the flames were listening.
Finally, Susan reached out, touching his arm. "Then we'll face him together. You're not the only one who fights gods."
Peter looked at her, then at Sable, her silver gaze unwavering. For a moment, the hardness in his face softened.
Then he straightened, lifting the staff once more as faint golden threads of web shimmered around him.
"Then we'd better prepare," he said. "Because Gorr doesn't sneak in the shadows. He arrives in screams."
Outside, the clouds blackened, and something moved among the stars a shape like a blade cutting through the void.
The God Butcher was coming.
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