Odin's smile faded slightly. He remembered the Towering Black Being's words that, in the proper order, he and his brothers would have worked together to end Ymir.
A unified effort, sharing the burden and the cost.
The original script.
But would they have? Or would the price have been distributed among them, each losing something precious? Vili sacrificing his clarity? Ve surrendering his stability? All three of them diminished instead of one transcending?
His grip tightened on the Void-Splinter Spear and the First Flame's blade. Perhaps Adumula's choice had spared them that shared loss.
Given Odin alone the power to act, the freedom to choose, and the burden that all three might have gotten.
Stripping him of his heart, engraved the sin of killing his best friend, and made him a Sinner.
He turned away from his sparring brothers and continued walking.
The landscape shifted, and new figures appeared.
Reinhard's attention sharpened.
