# 1291
Chapter 1291
Lin Qiye opened his mouth, as if he wanted to protest further, but realized that from beginning to end, he had no evidence to prove Idun's existence.
Bragi's correspondence with "Idun" had indeed been completed by himself alone; "Idun" had never left Bragi's body, and they had never appeared at the same time... From these signs, no matter how one looked at it, Bragi resembled a case of schizophrenia from Doctor Li's notes.
Now, even the panel inside the asylum had automatically changed, erasing "Idun's" name...
As Verdhandi had said, he truly might have been deceived by Bragi's condition. From the very beginning, he had not been one body with two souls, but rather two gods in one body.
From Lin Qiye's subjective perspective, there had indeed been a persistent question.
So far, six deities had appeared within the asylum—the Supreme God Nyx from Greek mythology, Merlin, the progenitor of prophecy and magic in English mythology, Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven of Great Xia who embodied both demon and Buddha, the ancient heroic king Gilgamesh, and the Holy Lord Yerand who had sealed the Cthulhu pantheon on the moon...
Each of these deities, when taken out on their own, was an extremely powerful being, yet among them was mixed a nearly combat-incapable, low-ranking Chief God of Norse mythology—Bragi.
Lin Qiye had never understood why Bragi could appear in Room Three. He had originally thought two deities shared one ward, but viewing it from another angle, if Room Three housed the only deity in the world who simultaneously governed the two laws of poetry and music, as well as youth... everything seemed to explain itself.
All the clues seemed to point to one conclusion—that from the very beginning, "Idun" had never existed.
What existed was only the God of Youth, Bragi.
"Then that crystal just now..."
"In the crystal, there was no soul at all. Urðr and I merely extracted a fragment of the law of youth from Idun's heart, then blended it with a few drops of blood from her cardiac chamber, and fused it into the crystal." Verdhandi spoke calmly.
"This way, Bragi could simultaneously sense both the law of youth and Idun's scent from it, truly treating it as his own wife."
"Why are you deceiving him?" Lin Qiye furrowed his brow. "Even if it's all false, shouldn't we take the opportunity when he can face Idun's death to completely uncover the truth? That way, even if it causes him tremendous pain, he might still be able to pull through...
What you're doing, though it can stabilize his emotions, is ultimately just treating the symptoms, not the root cause... When two hopes in succession are shattered, he truly will collapse."
Verdhandi's eyes gazed complexly at the direction where Bragi was, and she said:
"I know what we're doing is wrong... but I have no other choice.
You saw his condition just now. His emotional state was extremely unstable. No one knows what kind of crazy thing he might do when he awakens from the illusion that Idun is still alive... You must understand, he is currently the only Chief God in the world who governs two laws. If he truly goes berserk, even Thor and Loki couldn't stop him.
You should also know the current situation in Asgard—without a supreme ruler, with two major factions fighting for the throne of the God King, tensions are running high. Such a berserk super Chief God appearing would be like the fuse that ignites a powder keg, completely igniting Asgard's situation.
We have reason to believe that Ragnarök originates from this."
Upon hearing this, Lin Qiye fell silent.
"Since we've predicted this possibility, we must do everything in our power to prevent it from happening, even if the chances of success are slim." A complex glint flashed in Verdhandi's eyes. "Skuld's prophecy of Ragnarök is within the next few days. As long as we can buy enough time, the future could be changed, and Ragnarök could be avoided.
The most direct and effective method right now is to suppress the source of Ragnarök in the prophecy... which is Bragi.
Extracting 'Idun's' soul and nurturing it within the source—this is indeed a lie, but as long as we give Bragi a longer period of time to wait, we can prevent his berserk state in the short term. Once the new God King appears in a few days and Asgard's situation completely stabilizes, even if Bragi discovers the truth and goes berserk again at that time, it won't cause too much impact.
I know this is too cruel for Bragi, but for the sake of Norse, this is the only choice... After the storm passes, I will personally apologize to him. If he wishes, I am willing to pay with my life."
Seeing the resolute determination in Verdhandi's eyes, Lin Qiye found himself momentarily speechless.
After a long while, he glanced in Bragi's direction and sighed deeply.
"Is there truly no other choice?"
"There is none." Verdhandi answered solemnly.
Seeing that Lin Qiye had nothing more to say, Verdhandi looked toward the thunderclouds approaching in the distance and said:
"Thor has returned. You should go."
Lin Qiye looked up at the sky, was silent for a long while, and finally walked toward the forest's edge:
"Take good care of Bragi. Once my business here is concluded, I will come to take him away."
He reverted to the form of Myles, found Si Xiaonan, and the two figures vanished like shooting stars into the distance, disappearing from the valley.
...
Asgard.
Thor Temple.
Lin Qiye pushed open the heavy temple gates and walked slowly inside.
Due to Si Xiaonan's sensitive identity, bringing her back to the temple would inevitably arouse Thor's suspicions, so the two had parted ways on the road—Lin Qiye continued to lie in wait on Thor's side while Si Xiaonan went to the lake to check for any response from Leng Xuan.
As Lin Qiye approached a grand and magnificent hall, several divine silhouettes entered his field of vision.
The War God Tyr had his brow tightly furrowed, frost seemingly frozen between his brows, and the整个人 looked haggard beyond measure. It was evident that the long journey and searching of the past few days had exhausted him greatly.
When he saw Lin Qiye walking in from the entrance, his gaze narrowed. His身形 flashed and he arrived before Lin Qiye in an instant. The terrifying divine might carried an intensely oppressive gaze, pressing down upon Lin Qiye's heart:
"Myles... the assassin wasn't there at all! You lied to us!"
"Enough, Tyr!" Thor sat upon his throne, exhaustion filling his eyes. "This isn't Myles's fault. His prophecy can only locate where the assassin was one hour prior. By the time we arrived, he might have already recovered from his injuries and left that place... He is merely a human, not a god."
Tyr stared fixedly at Lin Qiye's eyes, coldly harrumphed, then turned and walked toward the back.