Chapter 250: Ragnarök's Eighth Round—The Divine Side is!!!
The outcome of the seventh round of the final battle between humanity and the gods, Ragnarök, was—a draw.
Although it was a draw, in the eyes of many gods, the King of Heroes had actually held a slight advantage.
After all, the God of Destruction Shiva was eliminated first, followed by the King of Heroes.
Thus, in the view of some gods on the divine side, this round was effectively a defeat for the gods.
Now, half of the thirteen rounds had already passed, with six rounds remaining.
In other words, for humanity to achieve victory, they only needed to win one more round!
"Next, if humanity secures just one more victory, this Ragnarök battle will be won by humanity,"
Rossweisse stated.
"Huh? That can't be right, shouldn't it be seven wins for victory? We've only won five so far,"
Irina thought Rossweisse had misremembered and offered this reminder.
"No, Miss Rossweisse is not wrong, Irina~"
"Huh? Then wouldn't that be six wins? How does that count as victory? Le Fay~"
Irina was thoroughly confused.
"Because the possibility of a draw exists, if humanity wins the next round, they will achieve victory in Ragnarök,"
"I don't get it."
"Since there are only thirteen rounds in total, and six remain, if humanity wins just one more, only five rounds will be left. Even if the divine side wins all of them, humanity would still have one more win,"
Le Fay elaborated in detail.
"Oh, I see. So for the gods' side to win, they must win all six remaining matches," Irina said with sudden understanding.
"But there's also another possibility—where the gods' side neither loses nor wins in the upcoming matches. That would be a draw. If two more draws occur, it would still count as the gods' side's defeat," Sefaira stated.
Even if the gods' side won all four remaining matches after two draws, it would still mean failure.
Therefore, if two draws occur, the subsequent matches would become meaningless and unnecessary.
"There's another scenario: if one more draw happens and the gods' side wins the remaining five matches, then Ragnarök would end in a draw," Rossweisse added, presenting this possibility.
"If such an outcome were to occur, it would truly be the worst-case scenario, as it would mean all thirteen matches must be fought."
The one who said this, Le Fay, wore a face full of worry.
Fighting all thirteen matches meant more powerful beings would die.
"That's not even the worst of it. Just like in sports, if it's a tie, there's an overtime match."
Serafall spoke these even more troubling possibilities in a sighing tone.
After these words, everyone fell silent.
Suddenly, some nearby gods' conversations left them stunned.
Wait, nearby gods?
Yes, originally, human and god spectators had their own separate rest areas.
Correction—it would be more accurate to say they occupied the open spaces outside the arena, ignoring each other and naturally splitting into two zones.
Now, there was no such clear distinction anymore; in fact, some humans and gods were even confronting each other.
Of course, it wasn't a physical fight like in the arena but more of a battle of wits or debates.
So, what news from the nearby gods' conversation left them so shocked?
It was said that a major god's pantheon headquarters was in trouble—those who had escaped from the Demon Star had infiltrated it, causing massive chaos.
If this continued, their headquarters might be taken over.
"Hmph, is this really the time to go back? To make me miss the upcoming [Ragnarök]? To have me watch a replay?"
"But, but it seems like there's been an appearance—"
The god reporting this suddenly cut off, no—lowered his voice so much that they couldn't hear.
"Hmph! What is ours, we will take back, just like in the old days. But this time, it won't be about driving out those rotten remnants of the past—it will be about ending them for good!"
The responding god radiated an unusually terrifying killing intent, startling the surrounding gods. Some seemed to understand something, their eyes turning fiercely savage.
"Even if we can't become one of the thirteen representatives to unleash violence in the arena,"
"It's not like there's no chance."
"After so long, we can finally experience slaughter once more."
For a moment, the entire rest area was filled with an abnormally savage and murderous aura.
So, Serafall and the others realized that some gods had already grasped that the Primordial Gods had begun to move.
But they had prioritized [Ragnarök] above all else. Even if their headquarters fell, even if their pantheon was destroyed, as long as it didn't interfere with the [Ragnarök] battle, they would press on rather than immediately reclaim what was lost.
This was the pride of the gods! One could call it their self-respect!
"So, who will be next?"
"If we lose one more match, or tie two, we lose."
"So, who do you think will be next?"
"I'll go."
"Step aside, don't embarrass the gods!"
"I think it's highly likely to be that guy, Shiva."
Thus, one by one, they agreed.
"Shiva?"
"This one is a bit different from the mythology in our world."
Rossweisse and Serafall didn't say much more.
In their world's Buddhist pantheon, the highest chief god is Indra.
But here, it's this Shiva, and it seems Indra doesn't exist.
Correction—he does exist, called Indra, but he didn't join the Buddhist pantheon; he remains a deity in Hindu mythology.
This is one of the differences in the myths between the two worlds.
Judging from the discussions and attitudes of these gods, this Shiva appears to be an existence on the same level as Zeus and Shiva.
Therefore, the divine representative for the eighth round of the final battle between humans and gods, Ragnarök, is highly likely to be him.
Speaking of which, calling this confrontation "Ragnarök" is somewhat accurate in a certain sense.
After all, the gods of this world might truly experience their own Ragnarök precisely because of this so-called Ragnarök confrontation.
Because they are about to face a second mythic war that will sweep through all pantheons!