Accompanying the Phoenix - Chapter 66

“When the old gods are forgotten, they do not die—they wait.”In the year 1025, the Viking Age wanes.Iceland bows to Christ. The Althing governs by law. And the gods of old fade to whispers.But in the far Westfjords, something stirs.Vetrulfr, a former Varangian captain and exile, returns from the East with foreign gold, forgotten warcraft, and a hunger no man can name.He comes not in peace, but to raise Ullrsfjörðr from ash and ice; building walls, carving runes, and waging war on behalf of a dying faith.From Reykjavík to Aachen, rumors spread: a ghost walks the North once more. Some call him the son of Ullr. Others, a wolf-cloaked demon.But all will know his name.and when the Valkyries call, he will answer.

“Is Fate the excuse of the forsaken, is Free Will the delusion of the chosen?”Such was a question that Xavier, the Demon King, never had the chance to ask himself. As he lay defeated, awaiting his death, he wondered about the wretched life he lived.'The hero who killed me, the one who held the same ambitions as me. We both wanted good for the people, for the world. We are both two sides of the same coin, yet, fate decided that he will be the one the light will shine on.Perhaps it was me too, perhaps it was my karma for flowing the rivers of blood with my sword. But still... It was fate that squashed the humanity in me first!Damn fate, if I had one more chance, I would've lived for myself more, I wouldn't have taken this arbitrary role of being a necessary evil... This world, this game of destiny... It can burn to ashes for all I care.'As he sunk into the cold embrace of death, a certain [REDACTED] heard his dying wish with amusement and cast their die, reversing the wheel of time one last time and going all in on him on a risky gamble with the stakes of their world.

In 2026, the world froze over in an apocalyptic ice age.Dean Winters, a man struggling to survive, is betrayed by his lover, his best friend, and the very group he kept alive. Left to die alone in the frozen wasteland, his life came to a bitter end.But death does not claim him. Instead, it hurls him back to a time before the apocalypse began, with every memory intact and a mysterious superpower known as Tyrant’s Ledger. The first of its kind to awaken among humanity, it allows him to perceive numerical values that reveal whether a person is hostile or friendly, and whether an object, location, or resource is spoiled, corrupted, or lethally dangerous.This time, with his newfound power, Dean won’t just survive. He will crush anyone who stands in his way, gather the powerful under his banner, take revenge on those who betrayed him, and rise from the snow as a true Winter Tyrant.

At the far north of the Atherno Continent, in an unknown village, Kyrian was born as a mere mortal. Weak, insignificant, and destined for oblivion.But he was anything but ordinary. Upon opening his eyes for the first time, they revealed an absolute white eyes without pupils or irises… and with them, an inexplicable innate talent.The ability to see what no one else could.His eyes didn’t just see the particles of spiritual energy, they could steal them. And more than that.Whether intentions, laws, concepts… everything before his vision could be taken by his eyes.When he stole his first Sword Intention, his eyes awakened to the path of the blade. Upon taking the Intention of Ice, another ocular pair was born.With every new stolen intention, his eyes changed, and new ones appeared.Kyrian does not hide them from the world, no, heeding his mother’s last wishes. He uses his gift without fear, with only one goal.To become strong by any means.