Brynhildr's face lit up with joy.
Odin was finally willing to compromise, thus avoiding the worst possible outcome.
She had seriously considered what might happen if Odin insisted on protecting the two monstrous wolves.
Now it seemed that at least on the surface, the Aesir gods remained relatively united.
In the Palace of Silver, Thalos and his sons listened to Brynhildr's report.
Tyr asked doubtfully, "Odin obeyed just like that?"
Nowadays, few of Thalos's sons still referred to Odin as Second Uncle.
Thor said proudly, "What else could he do?"
Thalos, seated upon his throne, smiled and said, "Thor, you really don't understand your Second Uncle at all."
"Father, you mean he'll pull some tricks? Hmph! I have no such Second Uncle," Thor said bluntly, making no effort to hide his disdain.
Thalos's smile held a hint of helplessness. "Watch carefully. If the two wolves he hands over are the same size, then fine, he's still your reliable uncle."
And if not?
That was a dangerous question—Thor didn't even dare to ask aloud.
Thalos sighed, "Although this world isn't purely black and white, when caught between two sides, and the time comes to choose, you must never imitate Odin—half measures will only offend both sides. Thor, no matter what you see, as long as there are two wolves, bring them back to Asgard!"
And as Thalos had predicted, when Thor led a group of giants to take custody, he was met with an enraged, berserk Hati—and a smaller "giant wolf" about a head shorter, its shoulder height only around 10 meters. It cowered in the corner of the ice cavern, trembling as if terrified of Hati's overwhelming ferocity.
Thor looked stunned.
Vali, who was responsible for receiving them, asked coldly, "Is there a problem, Cousin Thor?"
"These are Sköll and Hati?"
"Yes!" Vali answered stiffly.
"Then there's no problem." Thor recalled his father's instructions. He raised his hand, and naturally, his brother, the mighty Manny, along with a host of giants armed with massive steel forks and iron-plated clubs, began subduing the fearsome chaos wolf.
Hati, despite having grown incredibly strong, with a shoulder height equal to a five-story building, was still no match for Manny, let alone when reinforced by a band of super-strong giants.
When the two wolves were dragged across the Rainbow Bridge into Asgard, they unsurprisingly caused an uproar across the divine realm.
Mortal god-servants and goddesses crowded into the square before the Golden Palace, curiously examining the two chaotic beasts.
Only Thalos stood on the Golden Palace balcony, watching coldly.
In Thalos's eyes, Odin's maneuver was utterly foolish!
Violating the God-King's strict decree, secretly raising chaotic wolves for personal gain—such an action would be considered treason in any dynasty. Only someone as arrogant as Odin, who fancied himself a creator and Thalos's brother, would dare commit such defiance.
Now that he had been caught, Odin could only side with one of the major factions.
He either had to cast aside his pride, kneel before Thalos, sob his heart out, play on emotions, and beg forgiveness; or else, go all-in with Loki, betting everything on some monstrous creation that could overturn the Aesir's rule of the Nine Realms.
Instead, Odin foolishly tried to appease both sides—and ended up offending both terribly.
Even if Thalos didn't retaliate now, the other gods would never forgive Odin for this in the future.
Odin had ruined a perfectly good hand. Who else could he blame but himself?
Thus, it's true: character determines destiny.
"Bor, Bestla, your parenting skills are truly awful!" In the whole world, only Thalos could criticize his adoptive parents so bluntly.
Over in Asgard, after the last Vanir invasion had reduced the first district emerging from the Rainbow Bridge to ruins, Thalos forbade rebuilding there.
Instead, the area was transformed into a vast square spanning 400,000 square meters.
The whole square was paved with large, sturdy slabs of stone, appearing extremely open and empty, with only a series of sculptures around the edges, commemorating the Aesir's glorious conquest of the Vanir.
Now, it seemed, the poets under the god of poetry Bragi had found new inspiration—
The terrifying roars of the giant wolves shook the sacred land, yet none of the spectators felt fear. Instead, they were filled with excitement.
Thalos had not publicly revealed that Odin had secretly raised chaotic wolves, so officially, the story was that Thor and his team had captured the ferocious chaos wolf, Hati, in Jotunheim!
Hati was terrifying, but to the residents of Asgard, who were accustomed to seeing giants, it was nothing too extraordinary.
In any case, it was proof of order triumphing over chaos.
At that moment, Thor, wielding his thunder hammer, slowly rose into the air and proclaimed in a booming voice:
"Our world is under invasion from chaos! But as people of order, we will never allow such a thing to prevail! Now, let me show you what a chaotic monster truly is!"
At his gesture, attendants rolled forward piles of corpses—descendants of Fenrir.
Seeing the wolves who had inherited their power yet been slaughtered enraged Hati even further. He roared violently, gnashing at his chains. But when thousands of tons of wolf carcasses were laid before him, he performed a shocking act—he began devouring the corpses, creatures that could be considered his offspring!
"Ugh! How disgusting."
"Beasts will always be beasts."
The goddesses pointed and whispered disdainfully.
Normally, wolves would not attack companions, especially those from the same pack. However, they did not hesitate to eat their dead.
Even to the battle-hardened gods of Asgard, this cruel behavior seemed excessively savage.
Yet amid the audience's cursing and mocking, something unexpected happened.
Hati's body suddenly swelled up as if inflated, and within less than a minute, his shoulder height matched that of the tallest giants.
What the hell!
Matching a giant's height meant the giants no longer had a size advantage over Hati.
Hati's sudden growth made the smaller fake Sköll beside him appear even more pitiful.
"Ah! It's getting stronger!" Manny shouted in shock. He and the giants tried desperately to drag Hati away from the wolf corpses.
Although the cursed iron collar tightened horrifyingly around his neck, Hati continued ravenously devouring the flesh and blood of Fenrir's descendants. Coagulated blood and bone shards splattered around his gaping jaws and intertwined fangs.
This brutal scene deepened the Asgardians' fear of him.
"Gods! Aren't you going to do something?!" the god-servants cried out in panic.
When they had escorted Hati here, Thor and his team naturally hadn't brought along the massive Thviti rock. This meant they could only rely on the gods' and giants' strength to restrain the chaos wolf.
And now that Hati's strength had suddenly surpassed them, they were starting to panic.
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