Beginning Of Multiverse Saga-Chapter 547: Finding Astrid

"...Move," Sharky said quietly.

"No." Her gaze burned with defiance. "If you want the child, you will only reach her over my dead body."

With that, she lunged at him with full force.

The moment she launched forward, ancient chaos surged from her body like a storm unleashed. Time-serpents coiled out of fractured space, their translucent bodies twisting through the air as they snapped toward Sharky’s throat. Shadow-whips lashed from her palms, tearing through the ground and splitting the sky with shrieking force. Toxic illusions bloomed like poisonous flowers, distorting reality, while ancient curses layered themselves upon him one after another.

Each strike was precise. Each attack was lethal.

But Sharky did not retreat.

A radiant Luminara shield unfolded around him, white-blue light forming a flawless barrier that shattered the time-serpents the instant they made contact. Crystal chains erupted from beneath his feet, binding and crushing the shadow-whips before they could coil around him. With a mere thought, his telepathic force shattered the toxic illusions, dispersing them like smoke before a gale. The ancient curses disintegrated upon touching his aura, unable to anchor themselves to his existence.

He stepped forward.

Calm.

Unhurried.

As though walking through rain.

Echidna’s pupils contracted. For the first time, a flicker of disbelief crossed her face.

She poured more power into her attacks, her serpent-tail smashing the earth, her voice chanting forbidden syllables that had once shaken Titans.

It was useless.

Sharky closed the distance in a single instant.

His fist ignited with condensed luminous power, not violent in appearance, yet terrifying in density. The surrounding space trembled as though unable to withstand the compression of such force.

BOOM!

The strike landed.

The impact did not merely create sound—it created silence afterward.

Echidna was hurled downward like a fallen star, crashing into the ground and carving a deep crater into the ancient stone. Shockwaves rippled outward, splitting cliffs and scattering debris across the desolate realm.

Dust slowly settled. Echidna lay at the center of the shattered earth. Her breathing was uneven. Her hands trembled against the cracked ground. Blood traced the corner of her lips.

Yet her eyes, her eyes still burned with defiance. Even in defeat, the Mother of Monsters refused to bow.

Supporting herself with trembling arms, she forced her body upright, her serpent-tail carving deep grooves into the fractured earth. She stared at Sharky as if he were both her greatest enemy and the only existence in her world.

"I won’t let you have her."

Her voice was hoarse, but the resolve within it was unyielding. She spat out a mouthful of blood and laughed bitterly.

"If you want Astrid... you’ll have to kill me."

The wind seemed to stop at those words.

Sharky stood a short distance away, luminous energy still flickering around his clenched fist. He knew clearly that with a single thought, a single strike, Echidna would vanish just as Deimos had—erased without a trace. Before stepping into the past, before witnessing the fragments of a timeline where she had once stood beside him, he would not have hesitated.

But now everything was different.

Memories rose within him like an unstoppable tide.

He remembered the first time she had abandoned her monstrous form and appeared before him as a breathtaking woman, pride hidden beneath vulnerability. He remembered the divine stone she had entrusted to him without conditions, without suspicion. He remembered her following him into the fractures of time itself, choosing him over chaos and instinct. He remembered her warmth, her closeness, the nights where trust replaced hostility and distance. In that lost timeline, she had loved him openly. In this one, she did not even remember why her heart trembled in his presence.

The glow around Sharky’s fist flickered.

For the first time in a long while, his hand trembled.

He had erased gods without blinking. He had crushed divine realms as if they were sand. Yet standing before this wounded woman, whose memories had been severed by time, he could not take that final step.

Killing her would be simple.

Living with it would not.

Sharky slowly lowered his hand, the luminous energy dissipating into the air. His gaze remained sharp, but beneath it lay something far more dangerous than rage—conflict.

For the first time since beginning this relentless journey, he did not know what choice to make.

Suddenly, a brilliant wave of light erupted from Astrid’s small body. The glow was not violent nor destructive; instead, it was warm and gentle, like spring sunlight breaking through winter clouds. Countless sparkling motes drifted outward, bathing the shattered battlefield in a soft radiance that felt almost sacred.

Sharky’s expression changed at once.

Echidna’s pupils shrank sharply, and for a brief moment disbelief flashed across her face. Then, to Sharky’s surprise, she began to laugh.

It was not the hysterical laughter of madness, nor the shrill cry of a cornered beast. It was hoarse, weary, yet filled with a strange satisfaction.

"I did it... I fulfilled the order..."

Her body swayed as she spoke, exhaustion weighing heavily upon her, blood still tracing faint lines at the edge of her lips. Yet there was triumph in her eyes.

"Now you can take her. My role is complete."

Sharky’s brows furrowed, his gaze turning sharp and dangerous. "What did you do to her? Who ordered you?"

Echidna’s smile deepened, though it was weak. There was something cryptic within it, something that made the surrounding air feel heavier.

"You’ll find out soon..."

Her voice was quiet, almost gentle.

Before Sharky could question her further, she slowly stepped back. Her serpent-tail relaxed against the fractured earth, and the chaotic aura that had once raged around her gradually faded into stillness. She lowered her head, no longer summoning curses, no longer preparing to fight.

Echidna offered no resistance at all.

Sharky did not hesitate for even a single breath.

The moment Echidna ceased resisting, he stepped forward and lifted Astrid into his arms. Her small body trembled as if she feared this was only another illusion, but the instant she felt the familiar warmth of his embrace, she clung to him desperately. Her tiny arms wrapped tightly around his neck, fingers gripping his clothes as though afraid he might disappear again.

"P-Papa..."

Her voice was choked with tears.

Sharky’s chest tightened. He held her firmly, one hand supporting her back, the other gently cradling her head. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat slowly replaced her panic. Relief surged through him like a tide breaking through a dam he had held shut for far too long.

He had crossed realms.

He had shattered gods.

He had overturned timelines.

All for this moment.

For the weight of his daughter safe in his arms.

He did not look back at Echidna. He did not ask another question. Whatever scheme lay behind her words could wait. Right now, nothing in the heavens or the abyss mattered more than Astrid’s safety.

With a single thought, he activated the Space Clock.

Time around them folded inward.

Light condensed into a blinding flash.

And in the next instant—

Sharky and Astrid vanished from the realm, leaving only fading ripples in the air where they had once stood.

The golden skies of Asgard trembled slightly as space folded open above the palace courtyard. A ripple of light descended like a falling star, and in the next instant, Sharky stepped out from the distortion, Astrid still held securely in his arms.

The guards froze in shock.

Then Sif saw them.

For a heartbeat, she did not breathe.

"ASTRID!!"

Her voice broke as she rushed forward, abandoning all composure befitting a goddess. She dropped to her knees the moment Sharky lowered the child, pulling Astrid into her embrace as though afraid the world might steal her again. Tears streamed freely down her face, soaking into her daughter’s hair as she held her tightly.

Astrid clung back, sobbing softly, her small fingers grasping at her mother’s armor.

"I missed you... Mama..."

Sif could not speak for several moments. She only pressed her forehead against Astrid’s, trembling with relief and gratitude.

Hela approached slowly from behind, Sigurd in her arms. The sharpness that usually lingered in her gaze softened as she looked upon the reunion. A faint warmth touched her expression—rare, gentle, almost human.

Sharky stood there watching, the tension that had coiled inside him for so long finally beginning to unwind.

He exhaled slowly.

Astrid was home.

Safe.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the storm inside his chest quieted.

---

Moments after Sharky vanished with Astrid, the shattered ground remained faintly illuminated by the lingering ripples of Space Clock energy. The distortion in space had not yet fully settled; threads of golden light still flickered like dying embers across the fractured stone.

Then, the surrounding shadows deepened. From within the thickening gloom, a figure slowly stepped forward.

He was tall and slender, yet his presence was impossibly oppressive, as though the weight of countless endings followed in his wake. His skin was blacker than the cosmic void, cracked with glowing red fissures that pulsed faintly like the heartbeat of a dying star. Within his eye sockets swirled twin eclipses, each containing the silent collapse of galaxies.

A cloak woven from living shadows draped over his shoulders, whispering in hushed, distorted murmurs. With every step he took, light bent unnaturally around him, as though even illumination feared to touch his form.

His aura was not explosive, nor did it roar or blaze like the fury of common gods. Instead, it remained utterly silent—so silent that the surrounding air seemed suffocated by its presence. It was the kind of quiet that did not bring peace, but dread; the kind that descended just before the end of all things.

He stood there without releasing a single surge of power, yet the shadows instinctively withdrew from him. The ground beneath his feet darkened, not from force, but from inevitability.

This was Moros.

The Primordial God of Doom.

An existence born before Olympus ever rose into the heavens, before divine thrones were carved, before order was established among gods. He was older than the Titans, older than the first wars, older than the very myths that mortals whispered in fear.

The embodiment of inevitable fate—the one whose prophecies had never once failed to manifest.

Even the air seemed to shrink away from him.

Echidna, who moments ago had stood defiant before Sharky, now knelt upon the fractured earth without hesitation. Her serpent-tail curled submissively behind her, and for the first time, fear—true fear—flickered across her face.

"My lord Moros..." she said, her voice trembling despite her effort to remain composed. "I have fulfilled your order."

The shadows around Moros stirred faintly, as if acknowledging her words.