bookpower Chapter 94: When in Asgard
Chapter 94: When in Asgard
Eidolon P.O.V.
Royal Palace of Valaskjalf
"The problem is that the Aether is feeding on Jane's lifeforce, and we don't know for how long she can withstand this debility." Frigga says as we walk through the fancy hallways of this fancy palace. There's a lot of gold around here, and I don't think it is normal gold.
She voices her worries while holding Jane's hand to comfort the poor woman. She really passes that nice auntie vibe, now I really despise Loki a little more. If she treats us, poor mortals, like that I don't believe she would mistreat him, so he really has no reason for his betrayal beyond his own feelings...
He is already rotten in the core.
Frigga's words and actions help Jane a little. But I'm the type that believes one action helps more than a thousand words, like anyone with good sense.
I step forward a little, to reach the duo of Mother and Daughter-in-law that are walking side by side.
"Excuse me..." It's the only thing that I say before touching Jane's shoulder.
I have a lot of powers that can do the same, but I decided to use Gold Experience's stand power. Probably the most efficient lifeforce bestowal that I have in my belt of powers.
I'm careful to just give her a smidgen of lifeforce to not overwhelm her body, it's better to start slow. I can ask later if she needs more.
"Wha- Oh, I feel... better." She checks herself in surprise. After two bursts from the Aether, she was obviously tired, but it disappeared just like that. "What did you do?" She, and everyone else, turn to look at me.
"If we don't have a solution, we can at least patch things up... Without a cure, we treat the symptoms." Very common in medicine "So I just gave you a little lifeforce. As long I continue, you will not die, it will buy us time too." I explain
"That's excellent." Frigga smiles brightly "The more pressing issue is solved like that. I was already going through my memories to find some spells that could do the same."
"Thank you, my friend. This put my mind at ease." Thor clasps my shoulder.
I just shrugged, it's a little uncomfortable to be thanked so directly like that. I remember Saeko teasing me about it.
"Don't think much about it... Part of a hero's job is exactly giving peace of mind to people." I say dismissively before addressing a little more serious issue that can happen in the future "The thing is this is just a temporary measure. We know little about the Aether, maybe he will need more and more lifeforce, and Jane may not resist the 'transfusion'. We bought time but we should still hurry up." I say
Maybe I'm worrying about them too much, but my overthinking mind can't help but consider all the ways things can go wrong.
"That's true, but don't worry. With my husband working on it, it will not take long." Frigga nods and then smiles "Just enjoy what Asgard has to offer." She says to calm down Jane
I decided to try another method, approaching Jane again I talked with her body "Oy Aether, I have much more lifeforce thatn her... Why don't you come to my body, huh?" I put my hand on her shoulder again and shook her a little, nudging the Aether to jump ships "C'mon~"
"..."
"..."
"..."
The rest look at me strangely and after some time I give up. Raising my hands in the air, my palms horizontally to the ceiling I shrug my shoulders again.
"Well, it cost nothing to try... And I was testing its sentience."
Frigga giggles a little behind her mouth like a mother who saw a toddler do something silly and cute "It was a good try and we really never know. You would be surprised how many times difficult problems can be solved very easily if you think a little outside the box."
The rest also laughs a little.
"Now I don't know if the Aether is dumb and only acts on instincts, or if is smart and knew that was a trap." I can't help but consider the options.
I think is the first option... But is better to keep an open mind.
Eventually, Frigga and our group parted ways. She is going to the library, and I wanted to follow her... It's the library of Asgard, it must have a lot of interesting books there and using the "friend of Thor" status, I think I would be able to read almost everything.
But Thor offered to give us a tour around the palace and promised that I could check it later.
"The Library will not go anywhere, my friend. Come, let me show you some more interesting places. "The God of Hammers unsurprisingly is not a fan of books.
"Like the Mead Hall? Or the Training Yard?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
He only smiles brightly while guiding us through the palace.
But our path is suddenly blocked by a batch of people walking in cuffs, being guided by some Aesir guards and...
"Lady Sif!" Thor greets the woman warrior warmly.
The dark-haired blue-eyed female warrior turns to look at us.
"..." Tch, just my type... Damn, Xena and Diana. You did irrevocable damage to my psyche.
"Thor..." She also opens a smile when she sees him but her face stiffens a little when she spots us.
Well, I don't want to gossip but... I would say that her face stiffened when she saw Jane.
"Ooooh~" Darcy appears to have noticed the same if the way she is poking me with her elbow is anything to go by.
And if we noticed... Yep, Jane is also frowning.
Only Thor appears to be oblivious to the sudden mood shift, chatting happily with his old friend, and I think ex-lover. I heard some stories...
But Thor is not dumb... He is using one of my techniques... "Play Dense". Well done, Thor. Well done. I underestimated you.
"You know them..." Thor turns a little to point at us "This is Jane, Eidolon, and Jane's assistant, Darcy." He introduced us.
"You don't need to add the 'assistant' part every time, you know?" Darcy huffs
"Well met." Sif nods at us, and her eyes appear to purposefully avoid Jane, and decides to focus on me "I remember you from Loki's folly... Thor said a lot of good things about you."
"Probably all an exaggeration." I wave my hand
"No need to be humble, Heimdall also shared your exploits during that battle. I have to say that is a more than excellent display." She retorts, complimenting me.
"Is that so?" But I can only think about the Heimdall part. Tch, I hate it. But okay... It's not like they will reveal my identity or something if he is even interested in it.
"Yes, I hope we can exchange points and spar in the future."
"I will be abusing Thor's hospitality for a while, so it will be my honor." I nod "By the way... those people..." I gesture to the line of cuffed people walking behind her.
"I'm taking those rebels to the dungeons. There, they will wait for the Allfather's judgment." Sif answers easily
"Dungeons, huh?" I scratch my chin "Can I accompany you?" I ask while looking between her and Thor "It's okay to refuse, I don't think is right for a guest to wander around those forbidden places either. But in this special circumstance, I can only ask..."
"It will be no problem. Not the first place that I would choose to start this tour, to be honest" Thor says, accepting my request without a problem.
"I'm just curious..." I say.
Secretly I am looking around the horde of prisoners, they are much more numerous than shown in the movie. Thousands of them...
In the plot of the movie, I remember that there's a "Trojan horse" hidden between those prisoners, but I can't find him even with my eyes. Did he already go? Or it's another batch coming?
I think the safest way is to keep an eye on the Dungeon entrance then, hence why I asked to accompany Lady Sif.
"Follow us." The warrior woman nods in a more serious way and leads us together with the prisoners.
We go down into the depths of the palace, and every area becomes less fancy and more Spartan, but my eyes can still see that the seemingly normal walls are made of incredible materials and filled with enchantments.
"You want to see it, here we are... But there's nothing fun here." Sif turns to say to us as the other Aesir guards lead the batch of prisoners even lower "The most dangerous criminals are on this upper parts."
From our high view, we can see a lot of cells where the walls are made of some golden light instead of iron bars.
"Shouldn't the most dangerous be lower?" Darcy asks a fair question.
"Down there is more spacious, here the enchantments are stronger." Sif explains "Even if you escape the cells in the lower levels you will have no choice but to escape through here. So we guard much heavily this floor."
"I see..." I nod and check the cells "I see some familiar faces..." I comment casually and give Thor a side glance
His face is complicated while he stares at a particular cell.
Then like he decided something, he started walking to the said cell without saying a word.
After the rest of us exchange some glances we follow him.
"Well, well~ Look who deign himself to grace us with his presence..." And drawled voice talks from the cell "What I owe the Son of Odin and the Future King of Asgard this gift that he bestows upon me?"
"Loki..." Thor says in a grave tone as he stops in front of Loki's cell.
"Thor..." The God of Lies says in the same tone of voice, a way to mock his step-brother. His green eyes leave Thor for some moments as he swept over the rest of us "I have to say, brother. In the past, you surrounded yourself with better company." He does some shots at us.
I obviously ignore him... for now. It's Thor's moment to confront his brother.
"I don't think so... In the past, I had a snake in my circle." Thor says while staring at Loki unblinking.
It seems the two are used to exchange barbs. I'm only half interested in what they are gonna talk about, I look around to see the other one that I know...
She is glaring murder at me.
"You are gonna get wrinkles..." I say to Amora, who is Loki's neighbor in this prison.
Shouldn't the two be far from each other? Maybe they hate each other now so it doesn't matter.
"You upstart mortal." Amora says through gritted teeth, her eyes blazing with fury.
"You are the one that was under my feet last time..." I say in the same tone of voice. An even and calm sound of voice, the type that you use when you want to annoy an angry person with your calmness.
"When I get out here. I will slave you and make you kill everything you hold dear." She threatens with a vicious expression.
"Is that so?" I ask in an even tone, still calm...
Till I'm not... I suddenly return her glare with a glare of my own.
!!!
These cells prevent magic from inside out but no prison is perfect. Meta-powers from the outside still work, even with the preventions against space manipulation.
Amora wheezes as my arm appears in front of her, coming from a wormhole, and starts squeezing her neck. That's the limit, only an arm. More than enough to kill her... The scary thing is that the mantle covers my body, so no one saw it coming. Everything went from 0 to 100 too fast.
"If you are so hellbent on vengeance... maybe I should kill you here and now." My voice is cold, and the surroundings are hit by my aura and Will. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed how the people were affected too, my friends and the prisoners.
"Argh! Gah!" Amora claws my arm and tries to open my fingers, but it's like they are locked in space. I wait and wait... Till she notices her efforts are futile.
I wait till I can feel her start to accept death... and release her, letting her fall to her knees, a mess of drool and snot trying to recover her breath.
"But I will not overstep my boundaries..."I look down at her with disgust "This cell is your safe haven, Amora. If I were you, I would not leave it."
I put some countermeasures on her so that she couldn't catch me off guard in the future.
Seeing her still glaring at me, despite the fear in her eyes, I decide to mess with her a little more.
Humming I take a plaque from beneath my mantle and write some words with my fingers and put it in the top of her cell.
"...pfft!" Everyone's eyes go wide upon seeing the plaque before they start laughing. They tried holding back a little, but they couldn't.
"What? What did you do??" Amora asks annoyed, from her cell she can't see what I wrote.
Obviously, no one is gonna tell her, it's much funnier this way. Seeing her desperately asking why they're laughing at her only makes the situation funnier.
Sif is the one that laughs the loudest, it seems she has some grudge against Amora. Thor, you dog!
By the way, in the plaque is written...
Auda City
Population: This Bitch
"It seems that you are a jokester too..." Loki's voice cuts our good mood, making me look at him.
"Better than you... And your mother..." I say "...after all, she spent 9 months to make this sad joke that is you."
"Pffft!" Darcy puts her hand in front of her mouth and hides behind Jane to laugh. Jane on her part closed her eyes and tried her best to control herself, her trembling shoulders a sign of her struggle.
Thor and Sif, and even other prisoners are not that considerate. They openly laugh at Loki.
The God of Mischief's face falls, like most bullies, he can't bear to be the butt of the joke.
"Your mortal words don't affect me..." He is saying before I interrupt.
It's not a pleasant experience for Lady Sif, his stick is already specialized in being painful and he attacked a weak spot... He feels a little bad. He has this habit of going for the throat, it's an easy way to end fights quickly, or at least lower his enemy's combat prowess considerably.
Because this is a spar, he doesn't press his advantage and allows her to wheeze her way to recover.
"*Cough* *Cough* That was unpleasant" She clears her throat while the spar is paused.
"He puts his stick on her throat... Sexy~" Eidolon hears Darcy whispering to Jane, which swats her silly friend away "Hey, the camera!"
"Again?" Eidolon asks calmly
"Again." Lady Sif nods strongly, putting a more careful tight stance.
"Then I start this time..." He raises his stick and steps forward... and disappears from his spot.
"!"
He reappears at her side, crouched down and with the stick already in position to strike. A good observer would notice that he is using her shield as a blindspot.
Lady Sif is not any normal human and noticed that quick enough to drop her shield to block the strike that was flying at her legs. Her arm trembles at the impact but she pushes on and goes to bring her sword arm down on him.
A mistake... *PAH* Her sword arm was suddenly struck.
Eidolon is already behind her, he reappeared in the air behind her and with a spinning motion hit her forearm. She looks up to see his smooth spinning movement continue and he disappears again because he doesn't need leverage to move.
"!" Her eyes widen as her senses get sharp, and her body shouts Danger.
Without even moving her head, her pupils move to the edge of her eye to see the tip of his stick slowly approaching her left cheek.
This time is her turn to spin around herself to dodge... Not completely because her cheek was scratched. She jumps a little away from him to "reset" the fight.
She is breathing a little heavily, her body and mind working overtime to keep up with him.
"Good instincts..." He praises
The exchange was brief but not less impressive, catching the eyes of even some Aesir who were training or simply passing by.
Fandral, a guy who also focuses on speed, even whistles in amazement at the display.
"Be careful." He warns her before resuming his assault.
What proceeds to happen can't be called anything less than a beatdown.
Eidolon would never pull the punches just because his opponent is a woman and Sif would get angry if he did it. He is not using everything, but you can say that he is nothing holding back with what he is using...
The observers almost feel like they are watching some sort of bullying, Eidolon appears and disappears around Sif like he is playing with her, leaving after images and strikes. It's like there are ten of him and she is lost trying to keep up with it.
But is beautiful to see, to the inexperienced midgardian women is a super cool display that almost looks like a show, to the others, they can appreciate and admire his technique and abilities.
To put in perspective the difference between the two Fighters... Never once did their weapons clash.
Eidolon fights efficiently.
Yes, sometimes he can do something fancy to have fun, but if you break down his fighting style, one would notice that is very basic.
Hit and not get hit.
Isn't this how fights should go? It doesn't matter how strong your opponent is or his tricks... If you hit and not get hit, you will eventually win.
That's how he can easily deal with monsters like Red Hulk and Abomination. They are absurdly strong, but they are still dealt with by him pretty easily.
The spar gets a little heated, it seems Eidolon is planning to end things by overwhelming Lady Sif. From the outside, it's almost like she is surrounded by a Dome of Eidolons.
Right at the moment a strike takes her off balance, he appears in from of her, his body almost touching the ground and he kicks her chin Rock Lee style. The first time in the battle he hit her with anything other than his stick.
She was sent in the air and *Swish* *Pah* *Whoosh* *Pah* she was swiftly hit by Eidolon after images multiple times to make her open her guard.
In his mind, he praises her again. She kept her guard up even in the most disadvantageous situations... She really is a hardened warrior.
But is not enough... Her body is exactly where he wants and how he wants, a little horizontal to the ground. He reappears one last time above her with a powerful thrust of his stick, he hits her stomach and sends her flying to the ground.
"Guh!" *Boom*
She makes a small crater when she hits the ground, making Jane and Darcy gasp at the sheer brutality of the act. But only they seem remotely worried.
Eidolon on his part smoothly lands on the ground and calmly starts walking to the center of the crater. There, he finds Lady Sif breathing haggardly with her arms spread in all directions. It's possible to see red marks from where he hit her all over her body... Where is not covered by armor, of course.
There are even red marks on her beautiful face! Eidolon truly lives up to his title as an Advocate of True Gender Equality.
He extends her hand at her "Well fought." He says
"You're annoying..." She complains but takes his hand anyway.
He chuckles because he understands the meaning of her words.
He helps her stand up and starts healing her.
"Aaaargh... So frustrating..." She still seems to complain.
Thor approaches them while guffawing "I told you." The rest followed after him.
"I would not like to be in that situation." Fandral shakes his head
"I'm more of a head-on guy... So me neither, I can't even think of how to deal with that." Volstagg nods.
"? Am I missing something?" Jane asks confused, it is almost like they talked about something and she didn't hear it.
"Hm, I guess is hard for you all to see." Thor appears to notice the problem.
"?" Darcy and Jane look confused
"It's the feints!" Lady Sif growls a little and spats annoyed.
The rest of the Asgardians laugh, leaving Darcy and Jane more confused.
Eidolon finally steps up to explain "As I fight, I use subtle ways to feint and trick her senses. It can be a little annoying to be on the receiving end of it..." He says, his eyes showing a little of amusement
"A little?!" Sif snaps again "There are moments that you disappear, then there's two of you, an attack that doesn't exist, and then an attack out of nowhere!" She is almost huffing while Thor and others laugh.
"So, using your super-speed? Must be hard then..." Jane tries to understand. It really sounds unfair to fight against someone so much faster... She remembers some displays of the speed of Eidolon, like catching bullets or saving people before they even notice that they are in danger.
"It's not only that." Sif sighs again, still frustrated
Eidolon chuckles and decides to elaborate further "It's like this... You can't see because it's very subtle but I use some powers to give confusing signs. The premise is that normally people on our level have Enhanced senses, they don't simply trust their eyes to fight, they can hear my movements, feel the wind moved by me on their skin, smell me, and even use some sort of sixth sense to feel danger..."
Then he clicks his fingers and makes some transparent Eidolon appear around him "This is only for you to visualize. I can move the wind in my shape to make it like I'm attacking her from behind, I can become intangible so that I won't move the wind, and I can create some heat in a certain position to simulate a living being, I can make sounds too. Her eyes see one thing, her ears hear another, her instincts say another... that's how I subtle fight people on our level."
"Ooh." Now Jane and Darcy appear to understand.
Imagine Eidolon becoming intangible and not having presence till the moment of the impact, and the enemy distracted by his countless feints. He stops their momentum, tricks their senses, aims for their weak spots... Really a terror of a closed-range fighter.
That's how Eidolon fights subtly against his enemies. He is really a creative person when the topic is using his powers.
"That's why I called him annoying." Lady Siff huffs again, but she doesn't appear to hold any grudge. Even punching the hero playfully, a punch that he lets pass over him because he becomes intangible again "Ugh, annoying." She rolls her eyes seeing his eyes look at her playfully. The rest laughed because she almost lost her balance and fell.
But is all in good sport, in truth... She thinks that she improved a lot in this fight. Eidolon hit her exactly on her weak spots, showing her bad habits and weaknesses, helping see them through the pain. The guy is a low-key good teacher.
"And you all mocked me because I was hit a lot by him." Thor shakes his head
"Not only that!" Fandral raises his finger in interjection "He beat you like an unruly child. Admit it!" The rest also started joking about it
"How could that be? I gave him the most damage." Thor argues he can't let them mock him and get away with it. "I took his arm!"
"Well, I kinda sacrificed it to take the Mjolnir away from you so that I can end the fight without hurting you..." Eidolon chimes in
Sif and the rest say "Oooh~" Throwing wood in the fire.
"Well, I was being controlled and I just reawakened my godhood." Thor shots back
"And we are in the middle of New York, so I held back." Eidolon adds
Each comeback makes the onlookers say "Ooh". None of the two wants to back down. They are still playfully smiling while they brag about their own prowess in a good-natured way.
"Huhu." "Haha." They laugh seeing how childish they are, each convinced that they are the stronger between the two.
It really looks like a casual banter... But there's something in the air... Like inflammable gas that only needs a spark to...
*BOOM*
And the spark happens!
The two punch each other at the same time, and their fist connects with the other cheek. The shockwave was huge and almost sent Jane and Darcy flying, but Eidolon's mantle held them.
Thor and Eidolon are sent back sliding on the ground, but there's an obvious amusement on their faces.
"Only way to solve this." Eidolon comments with a chuckle
"I was thinking exactly the same thing." Thor smiles
*Boom*
Once again they advance and punch each other.
Different from the previous technical battle that Eidolon displayed, this one is just a pure brawl. There's no technique... Scratch that, it doesn't seem that there's a single thought behind this fight.
The two are simply punching each other without putting any effort into dodging.
"Are they crazy??" Jane shouts horrified.
She is watching her boyfriend being punched with blows that are shaking the training yard, those sounds and shockwaves belong in a warzone.
"This is so cool~" Darcy on the other hand is enjoying the moment while being the camerawoman.
"They look like two bilgesnipes fighting..." Lady Sif shakes her head
"No grace at all." Fandral does the same.
Volstagg on the other hand just laughs heartily, holding himself back from joining. He will remember himself to ask Eidolon for a spar in the future.
*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*
The two go like that for some time, none of them giving an inch. Finally, Thor decides to go to the next level...
He extends his hand and the sound of something cutting the air echoes...
The Mjolnir flies to his hands and he smiles while waiting for Eidolon to do something similar.
"Pulling the big guns, huh? Okay then... I also wanted to test this one against you..." He makes a motion with his arm and suddenly he is holding an axe with his hand.
An axe with some glyphs and inscriptions a little familiar to the onlookers... The Leviathan Axe.
The two laugh and throw their weapons at the other at the same time... Axe and Hammer fly at high speed and clash against each other.
The sound is deafening and the flash of blue light almost blinds the audience.
......
A.N.: Hello there.
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