Chapter 056 (continued)
Then, like twin flashes of lightning, two more shots rang out. Thor's iron gauntlets—Járngreipr—splintered in an instant, shattering into countless shards that rained down around the arena.
Yet to everyone's astonishment, Xiang Yu abruptly halted his assault. He set his spear upright beside him, lowering his guard as if the battle had already ended.
By all logic, he should have pressed his advantage, driving the Thunder God to his knees while he was weaponless. Instead, he willingly abandoned the perfect opening. Was he mad? Or did he truly intend to duel Thor with bare hands, insisting on a "fair" fight?
"This… what is he doing?!"
Grey tore at her hair, her voice trembling.
Brunhild's eyes widened in equal disbelief. Stripped of both hammer and gauntlets, Thor should have been easy prey. Why would Xiang Yu relinquish this edge? And more dangerously—did he forget that without Járngreipr, Mjölnir was untouchable?
In truth, Mjölnir's destructive force was lethal even to its wielder. Without those iron gloves to shield his hands, Thor's arms would be vaporized the moment he grasped the haft. Brunhild had sent her fourth sister, Randgrid the Shieldbreaker, specifically to destroy Járngreipr and render Thor's hammer unusable.
A sudden shift electrified the Valkyrie's senses: Xiang Yu's bond with his spear had been severed. Did he really believe that mere human strength—unarmed—could fell a god? Such hubris!
Then Xiang Yu's calm voice pierced the stunned silence:
"The thing that restrained your power is gone. Let me witness your true might, god of thunder."
Chapter 057: Mechanical Ascension Failure?
Brunhild had briefed the human champion on one crucial fact: Mjölnir's power was so overwhelming that only Járngreipr could contain its backlash. Once the gauntlets shattered, Thor would be defenseless against his own weapon's fury. That was Randgrid's sole purpose in this contest—to shatter Thor's defense and cripple his divine armament.
Yet Xiang Yu never intended to follow that script. At first, he had held back to gauge Thor in his unaugmented, mortal form—just how much damage a human could inflict. He even dueled Randgrid to study the mysterious bond between mortal and artifact, collecting data with scientific detachment.
But when he faced Thor, something didn't add up. Brunhild's intelligence report must have been flawed. Járngreipr did not merely protect Thor—it bound him.
Each strike he landed provoked a deeper, more savage hunger in Thor's eyes, as if the god craved release, itching to tear off those iron constraints and unleash raw, unbridled power. And yet, he held back—apparently reluctant to risk destroying his own hammer.
Sensing this tension, Xiang Yu shattered the gauntlets outright, and instantly felt the tempest brewing within his opponent. Thor's aura surged, raw and violent, promising a ferocity beyond anything the arena had seen.
Now things were truly interesting.
Xiang Yu readied himself for his own "mechanical ascension," preparing to unleash his hidden reserves just as Thor readied to unleash divine wrath. This was no longer a strategic contest of Ragnarok—it was the purest clash of strength two worthy warriors could demand.
He staged a subtle gesture, enough to startle even Brunhild:
"Hey, Brunhild—did you catch that?"
Grey's jaw dropped. So when he spoke of "restraint," he meant Járngreipr had been suppressing Thor all along? But how could an artifact meant to "protect" also act as a governor on his power?
Brunhild's face darkened as confusion gnawed at her. If all she'd been told was wrong, what other lies lay hidden in the mortal's dossier?
Beneath them, the arena floor began to liquefy, swallowed by Mjölnir's searing heat. Left unchecked, the hammer would bore straight through the stage. The assembled gods—once jubilant at Thor's disarmament—now panicked, believing the Thunder God bereft of means to stop the molten ruin.
"Wha—what is happening?"
Grey shrank into herself, ears pressed against the reverberation of a heartbeat pulsing from within the hammer.
Metal groaned as Mjölnir's casing split, revealing something grotesquely organic beneath—a fleshy core writhing with otherworldly life.
Brunhild's lips turned to a thin line as Thor—eyes blazing with unchained might—murmured to his hammer:
"Finally… you awaken."
She glanced at Zeus. He alone remained unruffled, a smile playing on his lips as though he had foreseen this all along. Their eyes met, and he leaned in, voice laced with mischief:
"Brunhild, little sister," he said, drawing out each word, "that expression tells me you were blind to the truth. Allow me to enlighten you: the legend of Járngreipr and Mjölnir is twisted. The gauntlets do not shield Thor from his hammer—they shield the hammer from Thor."
The Valkyrie's eyes narrowed. Thor's latent power, if unleashed unmoderated, would shatter even a divine artifact in its nursery state. And now Mjölnir itself stirred, growing more monstrous by the heartbeat.
Zeus chuckled as she recoiled:
"Feeling despair, dear sister? Shall I offer you comfort?"
Grey whimpered "It's… over," her voice barely audible.
Brunhild, however, would not yield. "Not… yet," she whispered. "Xiang Yu must have another trick up his sleeve."
Sure enough, Xiang Yu raised a hand—and a massive metal crate materialized behind him. Such summoning was no surprise; mortals could call upon relics from their lives past.
With rumbling gears, thick cables vaulted from the box, snaking around Xiang Yu's arms and legs. They tightened, hoisting him onto the steel lid in a gruesome display.
A wet schhhk echoed as blades embedded themselves in flesh.
Silence fell like a tomb. Even the thunderous applause frozen midair, every god and Valkyrie stared, hearts pounding in a stunned tableau.
Chapter 058: Sacrificing Yourself to Summon… Yourself?
The arena held its breath.
Grey's tongue tangled in her mouth: "Brunhild—sis…"
She'd expected a final gambit, but never this. The image of the champion impaled, bound atop that infernal machine, left her blood cold—and strangely filled her with an uneasy anticipation.
What could he be attempting? Was it suicide? No—Xiang Yu was no fool. The air thrummed with dread and fascination alike.
"What… is he doing?"
Hermes, ever the gentleman, voiced what everyone wondered.
Zeus merely leaned back, fingers steepled. "Who can say?" he mused. "But this will be the most entertaining moment of the contest. Let us watch."
This mortal had discarded divine arms, shattered the constraints on Thor, and now offered himself to a metal box—surely believing its contents superior even to a Valkyrie's transformed artifact.
Such audacity!
He demanded Thor's full might to awaken, and dared claim he, too, could call upon his "true power" in return?
Madness—or genius—the next thunderous crescendo would reveal all.