The witch and the sage wasted no time in assaulting Aesir with everything they had. There was nothing that the demigod could do but take the punishment. All the while, the rest of the group looked on with hope.
After a particularly brutal attack that sent Aesir to the center of the platform, Bayonetta and Balder began dancing and chanting to create a Fusion summon. Ribbons of dark hair and golden feathers twirled and merged together to create an enormous portal. Omne appeared on the battlefield, and began charging a devastating kick.
All the while, Forest look on with awe at the sheer power that the two were controlling. Luka and Loki were wearing shit-eating grins on their faces, and Rodin stood stoically.
With his arm around Forest's shoulder, of course.
With a devastating kick, Aesir's soul and body were disconnected permanently. Up in the jet, Jeanne had Gomorrah devour the now empty shell of the god of Chaos.
Loptr now stood in his astral form, shocked at the sudden turn of events. Regaining some form of composure, he took a deep breath and tried to think calmly.
"If it comes to this... It will just begin anew. I'll return to another place in time." He smiled, thinking he could survive this encounter. "Create a new era. One that cowers to my will!" He grinned at his plan and opened a portal.
"Shit!" Loki shouted. "He's trying to shed his body and return to the spirit realm. He'll just be reborn in a different era."
Balder wasted no time. He lunged toward the entrance just as Loptr was about to enact his plan.
Something odd happened next.
There was a brief moment where everything - sights, sounds, even smells - seemed to shift ever so slightly. Time itself paused, and only Forest was left to observe the scene. He gently removed himself from Rodin's side, and looked in wonder at the scene before him
It was like looking at a 3D movie without the glasses. The main image remained still, but there were countless "shifts" moving in sync. Each one showed something different to the young man. Two of these "shifts" caught Forest's eye above the rest.
The first "shift" showed Balder taking Loptr's soul into his body. He then talked to Bayonetta for a bit before slowly floating into the portal that the deity made.
The second showed Loptr making it into the portal, followed by a large earthquake hitting the mountain. Everyone tried making a run for it, but the effort was in vain.
The vision cut to black at that point.
Once the scenes finished, they reset to the current time. Forest had no idea what he just witnessed, but knew that both visions he witnessed would result in tragedy. Suddenly, a faint light appeared near Forest. The light split into parts, and letters began to form. After a while, it read:
Choose
Walking over to Bayonetta, he gently tapped her shoulder. Slowly, she "fused" back together until she was back to normal. She looked panicked for a moment, and then turned to Forest.
"What happened?" Bayonetta asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I saw these visions..." Forest trailed off, gesturing towards Loptr, Balder, the portal, and the floating word. "If we don't do something, either Balder and countless others will die or all of reality will disappear."
Quickly, the witch grabbed her guns and walked towards the portal. She shot the portal with no hesitation, but the bullets seemed to stop mid-air; the strange time distortion made the projectiles remain suspended in air as if encased in ballistics gel.
Bayonetta lightly 'tch'd in irritation before getting closer to Loptr. She took our Shuraba and tried to stab the spirit, but the blade merely went through the being. This caused the blade to become imbedded in the ground before disappearing.
Forest then tried running over to Balder to move him out of the way. The teen ended up getting a nasty shock after placing his hands on the man's torso, and quickly shook the aforementioned limb in response to the pain.
That's when the two noticed a subtle change in their surroundings. The letters made of light vanished. The separated images were incrementally converging back on themselves. The still figures were beginning to change positions.
Time was moving forward again.
"We're running out of time!" Bayonetta shouted.
That's when Forest saw the gladius that he gave Balder earlier on the ground, as well as his severed arm. That when a memory struck him.
"...be ready to throw down arm..."
...arm, not arms.
Grabbing both the arm and the sword, Forest spun around and threw the weapon to Bayonetta.
"USE THIS! HURRY!" The young man shouted.
Bayonetta quickly caught the sword's handle and tried attacking Loptr again. This time, the weapon actually caused damage: a line could be seen bisecting the figure, with fractures rapidly forming across the demigod's body.
Meanwhile, Forest stood in front of both Balder and the portal. He quickly braced himself for a potentially powerful hit as he held out the sage's missing limb in front of him.
Time flowed normally once more.
The slash that went through Loptr caused him to lose even the outline of a body; all that was left of him was a swirling mass of spiritual energy of white and blue. Despite this, what was left of his existence continued to barrel towards the portal to another time.
At the same time, Forest through the arm right at the mass of energy. A bright flash of light briefly blinded everyone in the area when the two connected.
A light thud could be heard echoing across the mountaintop. Once everyone regained their sight, the group noticed the arm twitching madly on the ground. An aura emanated from the arm, which slowly faded until nothing was left. Then the arm stopped moving.
Silence.
A large shout of joy could be heard coming from Luka. He picked up Loki and tossed him up in the air in celebration.
"Put me the fuck down, pervert!" Loki shouted. "We're not out of the woods yet."
The arm that now contained the soul of Loptr began to fidget and glow an eerie blue color. The limb quickly sprang to life, and using its fingers, began to walk towards the still-open portal.
Luka quickly acted and used his grappling hook to capture the arm and pull it away from the portal. Once it was close enough, Loki grabbed the arm and began taking back his power. Soon, the geometric symbol that once adorned his forehead return to its original position, along with the beginnings of Loptr's symbol.
Without warning, the arm blasted Loki with a ball of spiritual energy. Loki dropped the arm in surprise, and with one last attempt, the arm jumped through the portal.
The portal closed, and once again the top of Fimbulventr was silent.
Everyone present waited with baited breath to see how the world would end now that Loptr escaped. After a few moments, however, Bayonetta and Forest looked at each other with a mix of apprehension.
"... so is that it?" Forest asked.
"Seems so, little one" the witch replied.
"Great!" the young sage exclaimed. "Let's get out of here before we-" Suddenly, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground.
"Forest!" Bayonetta screamed. She, Luka, and Loki began running towards his location.
Rodin was already checking on the young man by the time everyone else caught up.
"He used too much magic in that last battle. We need to head back to the Gates ASAP."
Rodin then opened a portal to the Gates of Hell bar, and began warping to the other side. Loki looked conflicted as to what he should do next. Chompy then hopped over to his side, nudging him towards the entrance to the Gates.
"Go on ahead, kid," Luka finally said. "Bayonetta and I will catch up with you guys in a minute."
Nodding once, Loki and Chompy stepped through the portal and sank to the other side.
Looking back, Luka saw Bayonetta lifting her unconscious father onto her shoulders. He then hurried over to the witch and picked up the elder sage by the legs.
"Cheshire, what are you..."
"Hey, what sort of friend would I be if I didn't help you move a body?" Luka joked. "Although, I never though I'd help with a body that was still alive with you around."
All Bayonetta could do was fake-smile at the journalist's attempt at lightening the mood. Too much had happened in the last 48 hours for her to put any more effort into her expression.
Luka noticed of course, but didn't mention it to spare Bayonetta some embarrassment.
With one last look at the summit, the group drifted down.
--
I'm alive!
Thank you to everyone who has waiting for this story to update. Life has a way of messing people up, myself included.
But when life gives you lemons, you kick life in the shins and run (In this case, life being a combination of bad luck and writer's block).
I have at least one more chapter for this story, so stay tuned!
~Tess