Chương 76: Hela Odinsdottir
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
Sorry for the delay, I was struggling through some issues, including the death of one of my kittens, my grandma's health issues, and my own mental health. I'm back, although probably not completely healed, but I'm here.
For making you wait so much, two chapters today!
This is the first one! Read on!
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You know, when I first landed in the past, I had never even wondered if I would ever see, let alone meet a God, or a Goddess. And now, I can say that I have met two Goddesses.
First Bast, who was at least agreeable to a peaceful conversation, and now this one. Hela Odinsdottir, the Goddess of Death. And judging by the dark black sword in her hand, she did not consider peace as an option.
"Surrender the items you have stolen from my Soldiers, surrender the animals that they hunted, and then surrender yourself, in that order. I might make your death a quick one then." Hela says, the sword tip resting on the ground, while she herself casually looked at her nails.
And let's not forget that there are seven more soldiers, all of them holding what's definitely the Berserker staff in their hands, and two females.. maids, or maybe servants, both of whom held bows and arrows. One of them, funnily enough, looked reluctant at having to threaten me.
Judging by the pointed ears she sported, and the fair skin, she was an Elf of Alfheim. She's gorgeous, no doubt, but when you're facing the Goddess of Death herself, you can't afford to be distracted.
I keep staring at Hela, thinking up plans, and ask, "Can we talk first? I think I would like to defend my actions before dying."
I can't run, Asgard will follow me wherever I go. I don't have a single clue over the Magical talents of Hela, but she did manage to create a Portal from Helheim to Earth, exactly where Odin died, which means she can at least track her father's magic/life force.
But, she did it after 1000+ years of imprisonment. She could have learned this talent in those years.
But still, fleeing is an option which I will put on the background for now.
But.. I cannot even hope to defeat her, she's Hela! I might.. MIGHT.. be able to fight her for a minute or two, stall her even. But defeat her? Knock her out? Hell nah. I could probably take the others down, but Hela? Not a chance. Not even if I use all my current talents.
As for surrendering myself? Yeah, that's not happening.
First thing to know, if Hela is the Crown Princess, then Odin is the King, and he's in his 'Conquer everything that moves, preferably through a bloody war' phase. Besides, as Hela just said, she's just going to execute me.
Hela chuckles at my question, and says, "Your actions were witnessed by the All Seer himself, mortal. You defeated three of our Einherjar, stole their armour, and stole the weapons from them and the four other Einherjar that lost their lives fighting the animals and your tiny witches. Choose, a quick death, or a death filled with pain."
So, my anti Scrying tattoo doesn't work against Heimdall? Damn. I will get right to modifying it once.. if I survive this debacle that is.
"Your Einherjar started it!" I say after sighing, while not choosing my method of death. "They attacked the animals under my Protection, and when my friends tried to rescue the animals, those men had the gall to attack them too! If anything, I just took reparations owed to me by those Asgardians."
Hela frowns, a bit annoyed at my talk, and says, "You talk too much, mortal."
Well, fuck you too.
She then turns towards her soldiers, annoyance plainly visible on her face, and says, "Make it quick, but keep him alive. We need the weapons he has stolen and the location of the animals."
Well, at least I'll get to steal more weapons before she kills me. I do have to wonder though. Will I survive being killed by her, or will the Goddess of Death status mean that even my 'Time Travel' and 'Healing factor' given immortality will fail to protect me?
As the seven Asgardian Berserkers stomp towards me, spreading to surround me and prevent my escape, I see Hela turn her back to me, completely dismissing me. Waving her hand, she conjures a pitch black throne made of the same material as her swords, reminding me of a certain Iron Throne, and sits down on it, the two Archers staying at her two sides, subdued.
I've got to learn what their story is. They're probably prisoners of war, knowing Asgard's current rulers. One woman is from Alfheim, but what about the other one? She looks normal, so probably just an Asgardian woman who doesn't like violence or something. Or a daughter of some noble who didn't agree with Odin.
I don't get to think more on that, as the soldiers attack me, as one. Seven Berserker staffs approach me at high speeds, aimed at my head, neck, shoulders, knees, and gut, leaving me no place to dodge, and no way to defend myself from all those hits.
Or so they probably believe.
With a simple snap of my fingers, I turn the Time slower on, directly at 50x speed, and leisurely walk forward. One by one, and careful not to touch them directly, I pluck the Berserker staffs out of their very slow moving hands, and store them in Nowhere. I do the same for the daggers on their person, and then, punch all their foreheads with my Prati Kavach covered fist. They will be unconscious when I resume the normal flow of time. The momentum will ensure it.
Whatever I may have done, I don't ever regret making the newer Time Slower out of Magical Silver. Just by using Runes, I could speed my own perception of time by up to 100 times. And not a single grain of the Sands of Time were used in this.
The Berserkers slowly move in the direction of my punch, while I stay in the middle of the circle they had created by surrounding me, and turn the Time Slower off. Immediately, the seven Berserkers snap their head backwards with a tremendous force that sends their bodies flying backwards, and become unconscious. All of this happened within a single moment for those not me.
I smile at Hela, who straightens up on her throne, looking a bit intrigued now, and say, "I would have loved to stay and talk, Goddess of Death. But I have some amazing items to study. So.. farewell, and may we never meet again."
Saying so, I manipulate my Magic to enter the apparition tunnel. Unfortunately for me, as soon as I start the process, I am forced to abandon it when two items speed towards me at once.
A Necrosword, thrown by Hela at tremendous speeds, and an arrow right behind it, just a bit slower than Hela's sword.
I stop the Apparition spell and immediately summon my two swords to my hands, slashing them at the two weapons aiming to kill me. With a loud clang, the Necrosword hits my Orcrist and is thrown away from me, hitting a small rock, while the arrow is simply thrown upwards. The diversion of the Necrosword is still enough to completely crush the stone, while the arrow flies up a small distance, and then starts falling downwards.
As the arrow reaches my face level, I spin around to gather more momentum and slam the flat side of my sword on its blunt end, sending it flying back towards the woman who had thrown it at me, helped along by my Telekinesis. Unsurprisingly, it is caught right before it can hit the surprised Light Elf woman in her left eye by a fast acting Hela Odinsdottir.
Her reaction speed is something else, that's for sure. I just wasn't sure that she would even save a servant of hers.
And I had to stop my Apparition. If I hadn't stopped then, the arrow and Necrosword would have come into the tunnel with me, and stabbed me in my neck while I was in transit. They were just that fast. And Dobby knows how that would have gone.
I look at Hela, a bit annoyed, and get ready to defend at a moment's notice. This time, however, I am much surprised when she just looks at me, the arrow in her hand still, like I'm a puzzle.
"You're different. You're stronger than those other mortals, and you have Magic. Tell me, are you a Seidhr?" Hela says, as she sits back down on the throne.
Seidhr, a word for the Mages that were present in the Icelandic regions when Asgard first came here. They mostly practiced Seeing, but they were known to manipulate the elements too. And when Bor and his son Odin came here, with their fancy Magic, and stronger Elemental manipulation, the Seidhr began worshipping the two Gods.
I look at her in suspicion, looking out for the next attack to come, and say, "I might have some ancestry there, but no. I am what's called a Mage."
"And your strength.. Mage.. is this something you were born with?" Hela asks, now twirling the arrow in her hand, while the elf woman finally comes out of her shock at her almost-death.
The other woman was still pointing her bow at me, an arrow nocked, but she looked afraid of everything. I could tell that while she knows how to use the bow, she hadn't used it to kill any sentient beings yet.
"Why do you want to know?" I ask, wondering if she wants the Ritual to enhance strength or something. "However I have it, it won't work on you anyway."
If I was born with it, it's of no use. And if I did it through a Ritual, it still won't help her. Whatever Rituals enhanced my strength to where I am now, will have a barely noticeable effect on someone like Hela.
Hela hums, and says, "So you got it externally then. Which means a Ritual of sorts that only works on mortals. Pity." She shakes her head, and then crosses her legs one over the other, making my eyes subconsciously go there.
Hey, she might kill me anytime she wants, but I'm not blind.
Hela is a fucking Goddess, and she's bloody beautiful. Black hair, green eyes, skin tight green and black armour, and makeup that makes her look.. emo. She also looks like a 30 year old mortal woman, and her face is similar to what I remember the movie actress being (only obviously younger), who was a bombshell even in her 50s.
And then there's her height and strength. She's just a bit shorter than me, her body slim, but definitely muscly, showing that even without her Divine strength, she is not some useless woman.
As I said, Hela is a fucking Goddess, and it's not just because of her title.
And she can also kill me in like.. 10 minutes, if I use everything in my arsenal.
As I try not to ogle her, she says, "Well, you're of no use to me then."
And then, uncrossing her legs, Hela stands up, the arrow in her hands discarded to the side. She says, "Don't interfere, Elf. I will kill him, and then we can discuss your inability to deal with a simple mortal."
The elf in question ducks her head down, and drops her hands, the bow now resting on her back. The other woman simply takes a step back, not saying anything even as she disarms herself.
Hela is the one who has all my attention, though, as she takes a few steps forward and stops. She conjures two swords in her hands, and says, "Come on, mortal. I don't have all day. Show me what you can do, and if you manage to impress me, I might just take you for a pet."
A pet? To Hela?
I scowl at her, and bringing my swords to my side, I disappear from my position. Appearing above Hela, I swing both my swords down on her head.
CLANG!
Unsurprisingly, Hela blocks that hit with the lone, left sword raised upwards, her hand not even moving a little bit due to the astronomical strength difference.
Hela slashes her right sword upwards to cut me into two, and I spin around it, letting it pass by my face harmlessly, and in that same motion let my Prati Kavach covered right leg speed towards Hela's face, while still in the air.
Hela drops the sword in her left hand, and catches my leg by my shin. Her right sword once again speeds towards me to skewer my guts, but suddenly, she is forced to stop it in order to defend herself.
The Prati Kavach that was around my foot lengthens in front of my toes, and extends into five nail claws. Only these ones are far, far bigger than my normal nail claws, by at least ten times the size. As they try to stab her face, however, Hela leans back, stopping her attempt at stabbing me, and throws me behind her, from over herself.
I stop myself mid air, floating up using my Telekinesis, and scowl, as the bones in my right leg heal back up. Hela's hold on my leg had broken the shin bones, while rupturing multiple muscles and the tendons. If I had landed on the ground while in this situation, I would have been in some amazing amount of pain. Even now, only my pain tolerance, thanks to all the pain I've already been through, has stopped me from crying out loud.
That single touch, however, is enough for me to recognise exactly how wide the power difference between us is, and that I have no chance if I hold back even a little.
Hela looks at the Prati Kavach now on my right arm and the swords in my two hands, and says, "Those are some amazing artefacts you have there, mortal. Pity they won't be able to save you."
And then this time, Hela attacks, by starting to run towards me. While running with a smirk on her face, she waves her hand and throws five conjured Necroswords at me, all of them speeding faster than sound.
Raising my swords, my leg healed once again, I hit them all away, one by one, and jump towards Hela, aiming to stab her face once again, while taking a deep breath. Hela and I meet mid air, our swords hitting each other with a loud clang, and I smirk, seeing the wide eyed look on Hela's face when I don't even move back a little.
My swords.. or the Light Magic in them, negates all the force exerted upon them by Dark weapons. This same thing happened when I had fought Kuronin, when Ljosverd had blocked all the hits by him without showing any weakness to it.
Taking advantage of her surprise, I exhale all the air I had taken in. When I breathe out, however, instead of just air, a wave of bright red flames exit out of my mouth, covering Hela completely.
Newton's third law sends me shooting backwards, and I land on the ground. I see Hela slam down on her back, the red flames covering her full body and the ground surrounding her, but I don't let down my guard even a bit. She's Hela, the Goddess of Death. Fiendfyre, while probably causing her some discomfort, is not enough to kill her.
Sure enough, something flashes green inside the rampaging flames, and an explosion of Wind and Magic erupts out of that point, snuffing the flames out.
Hela, without even a little bit of damage, looks at me with a scowl on her face, and says, "You.. you seriously thought that attacking the Goddess of Death with the flames of Hell would harm her?"
Well.. not one of my finest moments.
So, Fiendfyre is out. But it is not the only trick I have.
I bend my knees, and start running full speed towards Hela, my swords still in my hands. I swing both towards Hela, but Hela turns to the side to dodge them. I keep attacking her, and Hela takes a few steps back, just dodging.
It shows the difference between a mortal and a God, when even when I was one of the strongest mortals alive right now, and probably one of the best swordsman alive, Hela still dodged all my attacks with grace, all the while looking bored.
Suddenly, something hard strikes my stomach, and I find myself flying back towards the woods. As I finally stop, my back hitting a large rock, I don't get even a moment's respite, when I am forced to dodge six swords speeding right behind me.
The swords hit the rock I had stopped on, causing it to completely shatter. As my body heals, I am once again forced to jump away, when Hela tries to skewer my heart with her Necrosword.
I keep jumping, with Hela throwing multiple swords at a time, mixing it up with attacking me herself every once in a while. All the while, I try to get inspiration, or an opportunity to trap her. But so far, there were no holes in her fighting style that I could realistically take advantage of.
As I try to jump away from the most recent personal attack by Hela, however, I find my legs stabbed by something that came out of the ground itself. Already knowing what it is, I don't even look down, but raise both my swords to prevent Hela from slashing my arms off of my shoulder.
Hela smirks, as she tries to push her sword down bit by bit. But the handy enchantment on my swords negates most of the force exerted by her swords, leaving me to just try and hold her own strength back. Suddenly, however, Hela drops her swords, and conjures something else in her right hand, slamming it right on my face.
I don't even get to be surprised at the item she just conjured when it hits my face, crushing my nose, bending my skull in a way it shouldn't and ripping me through the Necroswords holding me in place. I fly backwards, my swords no longer in my hands, as my wounds make me bleed from everywhere, my skull definitely fractured in multiple places.
As I crash down on the ground and skid to a stop, I immediately groan internally, feeling my danger sense flare up to warn me of something dangerous. I immediately create a portal underneath me, that drops me a couple miles away from my position, and that much further away from Hela and her stabbing tendencies.
I don't even bother to try and find out what danger was coming towards me, before I close the portal back down, and lay there on the ground, breathing hard, while my wounds heal slowly.
This is taking far too much time.
With a pull on my Magic, I summon my swords back to my hands, and use them to channel the Light and Healing Magics into my body, to speed things up. Within 20 seconds, I find myself back in top form, wondering what I could even do.
I can't go to Sanctuary just yet, because I don't want to bring Asgard's attention over there, and I can't flee anywhere else either, not until my Anti Scrying tattoo is changed, enhanced. I could probably go to Kamar Taj, but I doubt Master Ayesha will appreciate me bringing my troubles to her.
Which means, I have to stay here and fight. Try and survive.. or fake my death, which.. I have some plans over how I might be able to do that.
Suddenly, I see something in the clearing I had found myself in, and I see a dark green smoke take form, with shades of black inside it. The smoke then shapes itself into a circle, and then.. into a portal. I resign myself to not getting to flee anyway, because now I have confirmation that Hela can actually create portals to wherever I am.
Sighing, I stand up, and see Hela walk out of the smoke like portal formed from her own Magic, with a familiar item in her hands. Familiar in the sense that I've seen it even before it smacked me halfway across the forest.
The mighty war hammer.. Mjolnir.
Flipping the hammer in her hand, as the portal closes behind her, Hela says, "You're smart, mortal. You know when to flee." She then smirks, as the Magic around us starts to become a bit too cold for my tastes, and says, "But you cannot escape Death, mortal."
My wounds now completely healed, and my strength completely returned to me, I say, "Look, Hela, Goddess of Death. The Soldiers from before were hunting a family of Magical Creatures, who were under my Protection. I was oath bound to protect them, and take reparations for whatever harm your Soldiers caused. I understand you Asgardians are big about Oaths and all."
Hela snorts, and says, "I don't care, mortal. You insulted Asgard, stole the property of Asgard, and your little animals and those tiny witches caused the death of three Asgardian soldiers. And that.. means you are an enemy.. unless you would like to tell me where those tiny witches are?"
This time I snort, like hell am I giving up my tiny witches. "I think I would rather have another bout with you, Goddess of Death."
"Admirable, but sooner or later, we will find them. Even now, the All Seer is busy looking for those witches, and when he does.. Well, Asgard has no need for witches, but we won't say no to more indentured servants." Hela says, shrugging casually.
My eyes narrow, and my face hardens on those words. I really hope my Wards are stronger than my Runic tattoo, or else Sanctuary is already in danger. But now I know, I definitely need to fight. Either until Hela believes me dead, or until I actually die.
But.. I can't do it with just two swords. I need to use my Magic too. Especially when Hela has the bloody Mjolnir in her hands.
Still glaring at Hela, I move both my hands, and bring the two swords, the Orcrists, together. As soon as they touch one another, the metal shifts, as the swords go from two to one, and form into the straight long sword.. the Glamdring.
I hold the Glamdring in my right hand, while I keep my left hand open, and start running towards Hela. Hela stays in her spot, not even bothering with seeming vigilant, but when I swing my sword towards her neck, Hela leans back just the same, while swinging the hammer upwards, aiming for my chin.
I raise my leg up, and knee Hela on her elbow, messing with her aim, and causing the Hammer to miss my head by a large margin. In the same motion, I extend my leg, the Prati Kavach once again covering the foot, and slam it into the arm.
Hela had expected the hit, and my kick barely causes her arm to move. I, however, hadn't meant the kick to actually attack her, but I used it to push myself back. Waving my hand, I manipulate the ground to rise up, and send a few large chunks of Earth at Hela, while I start preparing another spell.
Hela uses her hammer to smash the rocks to pieces, while a sword conjured in her left hand does the same. But when the rocks stop coming, I send my spell at her.
A dark brown coloured curse, meant to destroy castle walls hits Hela on her torso.. and immediately splits in two as it goes to the back, now diverted at an angle. The curse hits the ground, and the power behind it destroys the trees, and the ground where it hit, forming two patches of treeless land with a large hole in the middle.
I widen my eyes, seeing it happen, something that I definitely hadn't expected. What the fuck is her armour even made of?!
I duck, letting a sword pass through the place my head used to be, and immediately bring up my arm to hit an incoming weapon. Unfortunately, where my swords are perfectly capable of negating the force behind Hela's Necroswords, they cannot do it to something that is not.. Dark.
And Mjolnir, despite its owner's inclinations, is definitely not Dark.
As Mjolnir slams into Glamdring, as I try to slash it upwards, it pushes the sword backwards instead, and sends me skidding backwards. And then, it retreats, returning to Hela's waiting hand.
I start running when I see Hela ready the hammer for another, stronger, throw, and appear in front of Hela, my sword raised. This time, Hela blocks the sword strike with the hammer, and sends me off balance to the side, the hammer now in front of my face.
Hela swings the hammer towards my face, and I lean back, awkwardly doing the Neo-bullet-dodging pose, and using the blind spot provided by Hela herself, slam my left fist on her chin. The red coloured fist slams into her chin, as the spell I had stored within it explodes out of the fist.
This time, I find myself once again surprised, when the Dark bludgeoning curse splits in two as soon as it touches Hela's skin, and flies wide towards the skies. Hela, meanwhile, is forced to just tilt her head upwards thanks to just my strength, while the spell has absolutely no effect on her.
What the fuck? So it's not just her armour.. it's her? What the fuck are Asgardians made of, that Magecraft spells don't even take effect?
A Bludgeoning curse, and the Wall Breaker both went wide as soon as they touched her? They at least should have exploded on her and sent her back. They fucking cause actual damage to dragons!
Shaking my head, I jump backwards, and channeling the Crimson Energy within the Prati Kavach, swing my sword towards Hela once again. This time, when Hela blocks my hit once again, I see her hand get pushed back just a bit.
I don't get much satisfaction from that, however, since even with Cyttorak's Crimson Energy, I can only push her hand back a bit.
Hela suddenly pulls her hand back, making me overextend, and kicks me on my chest. The Prati Kavach had covered it in time, so I don't feel much pain, but the hit does manage to send me flying backwards.
I flip in the air, and stab the sword into the ground to stop myself.
"Your Magic.. you've never fought an Asgardian before, have you? Or any other God." Hela says, chuckling. "Mortals are not meant to harm Gods, Mage. Your Magic, your life will always be inferior to ours."
So, Magic doesn't work. Or more accurately Magecraft doesn't work against Hela, and probably the other high level Asgardians. But if I know my Hierarchy right, Asgardians are not at the top of the food chain. And I have access to spells that can definitely damage, or at least bind those at the top.
Sorcery.
I once again start running towards her, while Hela looks at me, content with letting me run towards my death. But right before I reach her, I disappear from my position and appear right behind her, my left arm touching her back.
"CRIMSON BANDS OF CYTTORAK!" I yell, channeling the strongest version of that spell that I can safely cast without gaining the ire of the demon in question.
Immediately, dark crimson bands appear from my hand and spread around the Goddess, covering her torso in one moment, and her limbs in the other. The explosion of Magic causes her to get pushed forward by a bit, as Mjolnir drops down on the ground when the Crimson bands take hold of her right arm.
Within a second, Hela is completely covered by thick Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, top to bottom, leaving only her nose and eyes free, so she can breathe, and see. The Bands prevent her from even moving, while tightening around her with every movement she makes.
I keep my left hand there, breathing hard, and raise my sword to her neck. A small space opens up within the bands, giving me enough space to touch my sword on her neck, causing her to stop struggling at once.
I say, "Give me your word, as the Princess of Asgard, that you won't come after me, or my Elves, and I will let you leave here, alive."
I stay behind her, one hand holding the sword to Hela's neck, while the other holding on to the Crimson Bands binding her. I feel her anger, at either getting caught in something like this, or at me threatening her into compliance, and I manipulate the bands to open a space in front of her mouth.
She gasps first, finding herself able to open her mouth once more, and says, "You.. are making a terrible mistake.. mortal."
I tighten the bands some more, look up, and say, "I can feel it, you know. The Bifrost charging up. If I feel it activating, your daughter won't have a head anymore. Let's see how she stays alive after that."
It was a guess that Odin himself was watching over this fight right now. Not something I'm sure of, but when the Princess of your Realm is caught in someone else's trap, you don't wait to call your King, her father. You do it immediately.
I hear mumbles, and turn my head towards Hela, whose mouth was once again covered by the Crimson Bands. Keeping my sword stable, I open up her mouth once again, allowing her to say, "I said.. I don't need anyone to come and rescue me.. mortal."
Something cuts through the Bands holding her arms together, and then..
CRAAAACKKKK!
The Crimson Bands all shatter, as Hela uses her brute strength to break out of the strongest Binding spell in a Sorcerer's repertoire. She immediately spins around, dropping the Necrosword that she had conjured to cut through the Bands holding her arms together, and summoning the hammer to her hand.
I cover my torso with the Prati Kavach as I jump backwards, even as I conjure the Shield of the Vishanti in front of me to block her hit.
Hela conjures another large Necrosword to stab it into the Shield of the Vishanti, and uses the mighty Mjolnir to send it deeper inside, breaking the spell. And then, as I wince from the backlash of two broken spells, one after the other, Hela slams Mjolnir into my chest, before I can even raise my sword to defend myself.
CLANG! CRACK!
Within a moment, the Prati Kavach breaks from the force of the hit, not able to defend me against the full might of the legendary hammer Mjolnir, being wielded by the second strongest Asgardian alive.
Before I even start mourning the death of my Relic, the hammer strikes my chest, stabbing some pieces of the Prati Kavach into my body, and sends me flying miles away from Hela. I gasp, as I unwittingly spit out a lot of spittle and blood, as my bones stab into my heart.
I force myself to work through the pain and keep a tight hold of my sword, using it to speed up my Healing speed, while at the same time activating the Time Slower at 50x. My body is fully healed before I even drop down on the ground, thanks to the sped up time, and I immediately slam my hands down on the ground.
Hela, who had run after me with a furious look on her face, is forced to jump up, when the ground shatters underneath her, as thousands of orange wisps of Magic erupt out of the craters. They all attack her, trying to stab into her body.
The Spiky mists of Munnopor immobilise anything they stab into, and multiple stabs cause the victim's Magic to be completely bound. Which.. for Asgardians like Hela, means taking away most of her strength.
Hela uses her hammer to great effect, using it to destroy one tendril after another, while at the same time cutting them with her conjured swords.
I know that she is not an easy enemy to defeat, however, and I point my palms at her. A white Tao Mandala is formed in front of both my arms, and they start shooting white diamond like crystals at Hela.
The Crystals of Certain Death.
Now, Hela is forced to defend herself against both the Crystals, and the Mists, but annoyingly enough, her hammer can dispel the Magic within both of them by a single hit each.
For a minute, I keep both those spells active, and I start to feel the drain on my Magic. While I can usually go for a few days without needing to rest while using my Magic, it depends on the enemy I'm fighting. And Hela.. is not something any normal Sorcerer can fight against.
Even still, I knew I could go on for at least three more hours.
"ENOUGH!" Hela yells, as dark green and black coloured Magic explodes out of her body.
This explosion immediately causes all the Spiky Mists of Munnopor to dissipate, as the spell loses its form. Meanwhile, an enraged Hela slams the hammer on the ground, sending a shockwave of Dark black Magic towards me.
Clapping my hands together, I conjure the gateway to the Mirror Dimension to absorb the Dark Magic, and send it towards Hela to send her inside the Mirror Dimension. Hela raises her hammer, and swings it upwards, using it to fly above the Mirror Dimension's gateway, and then swings it towards me, sending both her, and the hammer flying towards me.
I raise my hands, palm facing towards Hela's angry face, and right before she reaches towards me, I create a portal in her path that opens up exactly next to her face. The Hammer, Mjolnir flies into the portal, exits out near Hela's head, and her own attack strikes Hela on the face, sending her skidding into the ground.
Taking this opportunity, I once more conjure the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind Hela.
Unfortunately for me, Hela's Healing factor is far, far superior to mine, and she jumps back up to fight, allowing her to dodge the Bands before they can bind her.
"DIE ALREADY, MORTAL!" Hela yells, as she shatters the bands using Mjolnir.
"Mortal this, mortal that. They don't teach you any other words in Asgard?" I quip back, while holding my nervousness out of my voice.
Hela.. by just being angry.. had made Apparition completely impossible. Her Magic was so dense, that just by whatever amount she was leaking, she prevented Space from being bent by using Magecraft. I know.. I've already tried multiple times.
But as it's already established, her Magic is not superior to the Dimensional or even Universal Magic, which means while difficult, I could still create portals.
Angered by my words, Hela throws the hammer towards me and starts running forward. I duck down to let it pass, and meet Hela head on with my sword, Glamdring in hand. As we fight with our swords once again, with me suffering more than a few cuts and slashes, I see Hela twitch her hand.
I wasn't an idiot, however, and I already knew that part of Mjolnir's gifts. It returns to its user when called upon.
Right before it can hit me, I create a portal once again, causing the Hammer that was aiming for the back of my head to appear out of the portal right in between Hela and I, making it once again strike Hela on her face.
I immediately jump up, feeling her Conjuration Magic at work once again as Hela sends a dozen Necroswords flying towards me. Completing my spin, I slam Glamdring into her shoulder, slashing through the skin, but stopping at the bone, my strength not enough to do that yet.
As I start to pull back, however, Hela grabs me by my neck, and before I can do anything, she conjures another Necrosword that cuts through my shoulder, separating my right arm from my body.
"Fuck!" I gasp out, through the pain of my neck being crushed, and my arm being cut off, as Glamdring falls down on the ground, tip first.
And then, she stabs the same sword in my chest, right into my heart.
---
I gasp as I open my eyes, taking a deep breath in, as the spell expels my mind from the copy of my body fighting Hela, and into my real body.
When I had sent the Mirror Dimension trap towards Hela, I knew she wouldn't be caught by it. She's too fast for that. And since I didn't have a way to actually defeat her, I had thought up a plan. A plan to fake my death, and make the Asgardians stop looking for the Elves, and for me.
The plan.. create a perfect copy of myself, and have Hela kill it, while enraging her enough to have her make it quick. I created the copy using the Images of Ikonn spell, making it so it was a perfect physical, Magical, as well as Astral copy of myself.
Meanwhile my true body was sent miles and miles away, into a house in a small Maya village, where the Maya Sanctum stood. I didn't send it to the Sanctum, since I didn't actually need any form of interference by Master Ayesha, even if I would have appreciated it if she did interfere somehow.
The protections surrounding the Sanctum and the village it was in, were enough to hide the goings on from higher eyes, especially Gods like Heimdall. Or so I hope. But, considering that I couldn't feel the formation of the Bifrost here, I can safely say that I'm safe.
My copy was killed by Hela, stabbed by her Necrosword, while my spirit and my mind came back here, to my true body.
Suddenly, however, I cough loudly, and put my hand up in front of my mouth. Already dreading it, I shakily bring my hand in front of my eyes and look at it, finding blood. I stand up, barely managing it, and look around. But no matter where I looked, I didn't see any enemy.
I drop down on the ground, feeling two swords stab into my chest, but when I look down, I still find nothing. I do, however, sense Hela's Dark Magic coursing through my body, through my Magic. I try to call upon my connection to the Light Dimension, or even the Light Sword, but Hela's Corruptive Magic was preventing me from accessing any sort of outside help.
"Blergh!" I spit out some more blood, as my body starts losing strength, and my wounds stop healing.
It was also causing my Healing factor to fail spectacularly, making the two stab wounds in my chest bleed out a lot of blood.
I drop on my back, just breathing, my strength slowly losing weight.
My plan was foolproof, or so I had hoped. Hela killed the copy, but it seems her Magic was strong enough to follow me here. And here I had hoped to live a very long life.
Slowly, I close my eyes, knowing that I won't be opening them ever again. I was dying, and I could feel it. I could see Death itself looming over me, and there was no running from it. The Goddess of Death had demanded it, and Death had delivered.
I close my eyes, breathing for the final time, wondering.. is this it?
---
Hela POV:
Hela stares at the mortal who had given her so much trouble, as three swords stick out of his chest. He was a good fighter, and made her work for her win despite his mortality, but in the end, he is a mortal, and she.. a Goddess.
She had noticed that his body could somehow heal from a manner of wounds, and while she had first attributed it to the Magical sword made of the unknown alloy, she later realised that the sword just prevented her Deathly Magic from harming him. The Healing was his own.
And so, she had done something to prevent him from healing ever again. She had let her guard down purposefully, allowing him to strike a single hit. And while he was trying to separate her arm from her body, his mortal strength unable to achieve it, Hela had taken hold of him, and cut off his own arm, separating the man from the sword.
She could have prevented the Portal from being formed, she could have disrupted the Magic within it while it was forming, but she needed the mortal to start regaining hope. She wanted to crush him, see the hope die in his eyes as she killed him.
He had used her own hammer against her, and she did not like it one bit. He not only insulted her and Asgard, he used her own Divine weapon against her. And that.. was unforgivable. That had sealed his fate.
And so, she allowed him to land a single hit, to make him regain hope.
She then stabbed him with her sword, one filled to the brim with her Divine Necrotic Magic. She might not be able to use Runes like her father could, but she was still a Goddess, and her command over her own Magic was Absolute.
The Necrosword had prevented him from healing back up, but he was still healing, albeit slowly. And so, she had stabbed him two more times, both the new swords also being Magically infused.
Unfortunately for her, he died far too soon for her liking. She would have liked to make it long, slow, but alas, mortals are far more delicate than the enemies she was used to fighting.
And now, with him, she had also lost the Berserker Staffs, swords, armours, daggers, and even the animals that he had stolen from Asgard.
Glancing at the sword that had stabbed itself into the ground, Hela wonders over the metallic alloy it was made out of. She hadn't seen anything like it before, not even in Nidavellir. While it was nothing in front of her Mjolnir, or her father's Gungnir, it was definitely one of the strongest alloys she had ever seen.
It was only the inexperienced maker that had caused it to lose to Mjolnir. If the alloy was shaped by the Dwarves, she knew that it would be a weapon comparable to Mjolnir. And it was wielded by a Mortal, and used by him to cut into her.. a Goddess. Her blood was still adorning the blade, from when he had tried to cut her arm off, and a wave of Hela's hand causes the Blood to disappear.
Hela approaches the sword, and touches it to pick it up. However, as soon as her hands touch the sword handle, the sword flashes in a bright yellow light, burning her hand a bit, and disappears from the spot.
Scoffing in disgust, Hela turns her back on the now dead man and the spot his sword was just in, and with a snap of her fingers, causes the body to explode into a burst of flesh and bones. She then looks up, and orders, "Open the Bifrost!"
Within a couple seconds, the bright beam of Rainbow coloured light of the Bifrost slams down on her, and takes her away. She glances at the young gatekeeper of Asgard, Heimdall, and orders, "Bring my useless maids here too, bloody Elf couldn't even take down one Mortal. And start looking for those tiny witches that the mortal called Elves. They must know where the mortal hid his stolen wares."
---
While Hela leaves Midgard, someone else appears out of a blue glowing portal in the forests behind the Maya Sanctum. The hooded person looks around, and finds the one she is looking for on the ground, laying on his back.
She waves her hand, causing the body to be lifted into the air, and walks through the portal, taking it with her.
"I have finally found you… brother."
---
A/N: As you might expect, Mason is dead, but not really. You'll see later, in the next chapter. No, the story is not dropped, at least not yet, since I do have plans until at least Mason is back in his own time, and I have written almost till that time already, on my Pat-reon.
(If anyone is going to follow me there be sure to go for only the lowest tiers, I already have more money than I know I can handle, don't give me more. Seriously. Don't.)
Is the fight with Hela believable? She's much stronger than him, but Mason has far more tricks up his sleeve. The final part was a last ditch effort on his part, and a 'just in case' method by Hela to make sure he doesn't heal.
Many people will ask, why didn't he do this? Why didn't he use portals more, why didn't he try and escape, why didn't he use more spells? Well, most of the answers I've already shown in this chapter itself, the rest will be answered in the next few chapters.
Thank you for your support, your patience, and your understanding!
Tata!
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