'RISE OF CHAOS'
HIS YELLOW eyes burned brightly as he saw the snow spread over the earth beneath his feat, the red demon's head turning to the skies above as they darkened in the slowly growing storm. He could feel her presence rising, his mind realizing what had happened. "She's awoken! My bride has returned!"
Grinning wickedly, the monster held out his arms and began to absorb the heat in the atmosphere around him, only making the storm worse. He began to step forward and his body started to enlarge with each step, his height reaching fifty feet and casting a dark shadow over the forest around him! Looking to the heavens again, the demon raised his arm and fired a gigantic fireball out of his hands, burning the clouds themselves and causing fire to rain down below!
Watching the world around him burn, the demon turned his focus to Corona "I'm coming for you."
Sethos stepped forth and burst forward at great speeds, spreading his flames over the ground and instantly melting the snow Lamia had summoned! The demon's flames caused immense heat around him as he went, causing the ocean below him to boil and the clouds above to burst into flames! The world fell into chaos as his fires spread, downing planes and aircraft and causing fires in nearby cities!
"AND THAT is how I met Tooth Grinder." Thor Odinson said to Heimdall as the two walked through a courtyard in Asgard.
"You've told me this story before." The Keeper of the Bifrost said.
"Well, it is a fantastic tale!" Thor insisted. "I could tell it to you again if you want."
"I'd rather you didn't." Heimdall laughed uneasily when his smile died as he felt a dark presence. "Something's wrong."
Waving his hand, Heimdall opened a portal into the Bifrost Bridge and went up to the control platform, quickly followed by Thor. Grabbing hold of the blade, the man looked out into the cosmos and gazed upon the earth, seeing great patches of fire and ice covering its surface! "Great Ancestors of Valhalla!"
"What's happening?" Thor said, holding his hand out and drawing Mjolnir to his side.
"The earth is in great peril that'll soon spread into the cosmos." Heimdall said shakily. "A great devil has awakened and is devouring the planet!"
"From Muspelheim? But I thought that realm was sealed away." Thor became puzzled.
"Wherever it's from, it's gaining power with every passing moment." Heimdall turned to him. "You need to put a stop to this before it's too late."
TOOTH FAIRY shrank and flew back from a volley of rocks flung at her from an earthbender, zipping through the battlefield as she and the Guardians fought the Red Lotus. Merida shivered as Lamia's snow began to freeze the palace courtyard, getting warmed up by Sandy who covered her in a layer of sand. "Shit, how're we gonna stop this thing?" She looked to the monster, getting a shrug from Sandy who popped a symbol above his head. "Yeah, I don't know what you're saying." She deadpanned.
Shrugging, Sandman joined the others as they battled, shifting his dust and two fireballs from a firebender and firing a massive blast at them, burying them instantly!
"Man, these guys don't know how to quit, do they?" Tooth huffed.
"Well, I wouldn't expect these zealot bastards to give up so easily." North said. "But we must defeat them now before Lamia becomes stronger."
Sandy nodded, turning to the mermaid demon as she floated behind them when a pool of water suddenly collected around his feet and froze him solid! "Sandy!" Tooth cried.
Four Red Lotus members rose from the mound of sand Sandman had created, the waterbenders among them turning it into mud that they bent around them. "You're not going to get our way." One of them said. "Our goddess will rule this world."
"Think again!" North said, throwing one of his swords into an airbender's arm and charging towards the attackers!
Summoning the blade back to him, the old man weaved through a barrage of air blasts from the benders, slicing through the air and sending them back with greater force, knocking them back. He leapt into the air and came crashing down toward the Red Lotus members, cutting through a massive boulder chucked at him from an earthbender and stabbing him in the gut.
Tooth flew up to Sandman and began to defrost him, glancing back at Erhard and Anna who stood beside Elsa and Jack who laid unconscious on the ground. Stepping away from the red-haired woman, Erhard moved up to Lamia, looking to the sky and seeing the fires starting to spread.
"It seems you're not alone." Erhard said plainly.
"And who might you be, human." Lamia looked down at him.
"I'm here to seal you away for good." Erhard replied.
Lamia cackled loudly, making the earth below tremor. "Leave me, insect." She looked to the sky. "This planet's reckoning has come."
Erhard huffed. "Demons, they're all the same."
Pressing his hands together, the wizard summoned nine Norn Stones and thrust his arm forward, sending the rocks to surround Lamia and plant themselves into the ground. "What the?" Lamia raised her brow, grunting as a powerful force pinned her down, drawing out pained screams. "What is this!?"
"The power of the Asgardian gods!" Erhard threw up a hand sign, causing an intricate magic circle to appear beneath her.
"But how? How can a human be this powerful?" Lamia struggled against the pull of the stones.
"You're mistaken." Erhard's eyes came aglow. "I'm no mere man."
Erhard levitated into the air, summoning a magical shield that covered the demon and began to electrocute her! Anna watched in awe as this happened, jerking back as she felt Elsa stirring in her arms. "Ugh, where am I?" Elsa squinted as she came to.
"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed and hugged her sister tightly. "I thought you were dead!"
"What happened?" Elsa looked around, seeing her clothes tattered around her mid-riff and seeing Erhard floating up ahead. "What the? What's he doing here!?"
"He's here to help; he saved you and Jack." Anna smiled. "It's okay."
"No, no, no, it's not okay!" Elsa quickly stood up, running her hand over her body and fixing her clothes. "We can't trust this son of a –," She tried to say, but suddenly fell to her knees, coughing out blood.
"Elsa!" Anna came to her side. "What's wrong?"
"The Red Lotus' ritual must've taken a lot out of me." Elsa wiped her mouth. "So, this's what their plan was, wasn't it." She looked to Lamia. "Never thought she could be defeated so easily."
Meanwhile from the balcony of the palace, Niu looked on in horror as the Red Lotus members were defeated below and Erhard brought Lamia to her knees. "This's impossible!"
"It seems we never accounted for the god of Dragons interfering with our plans." Guozhi said, turning to Niu. "What should we do?"
Niu sifted his mind, trying not to let his anger get the best of him. "Scramble all the benders; we'll kill them all right now!" He threw his coat aside. "I'll deal with the Dragon god myself."
"Wait," Guozhi turned around, seeing Xiaosi's corpse on the floor. "Where is Ai?"
Niu turned and realized that the woman had vanished, growling in anger when a massive blast of fire blazed past, knocking him off his feet and burning half of the palace, racing straight toward Erhard! The wizard raised his brow as he sensed this and conjured up an energy shield around him, getting knocked back immediately as the fireball crashed onto him and exploded, destroying the square in a massive explosion!
Anna grunted as she shielded Elsa, Jack, the Guardians and Merida with her own fire, dismissing the flames and seeing the area ablaze! Looking through the blazing heat, the princess squinted and saw the gigantic fire demon almost twice Lamia's height standing over Erhard who was groveling on the ground!
The fire demon eyed Erhard with blood thirst, seeing Lamia lying in pain on the ground and feeling his rage boil. "Who dares lay a hand on my bride?!" He bellowed.
"Sethos!" Lamia recognized his voice, turning to the demon who stood in a cloud of smoke and burned the very atmosphere around him. "You've returned!"
"Well, shit." Erhard coughed out blood, struggling to stand. "I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly."
"You humans have always interfered since the very beginning!" Sethos growled, noticing the insignia on Erhard's cloak. "The Order of the Nine Stars have sealed us away for millennia, but no longer." He raised his arm, charging fire through it. "Prepare to die!"
Elsa jerked up as Sethos moved to kill Erhard, failing to believe herself as she was about to try and save the man who killed her parents, when a massive ball of water exploded out of the earth, pushing Sethos and Lamia aside and extinguishing the fires that filled the courtyard instantly! Standing in the raging waters was a large dark-skinned man clad in dark clothing with tribal face paint and deep red eyes.
"Heh, Zhu Rong, you took a while." Erhard got to his feet, adjusting his clothes as he saw the flames around them extinguish.
"I had assumed you could handle the demons on your own, seems I was mistaken." Zhu turned to him.
"He simply caught me off guard; I can take care of him as well." Erhard retorted.
"You'd better not disappoint me then." Zhu looked to Sethos. "I was making sure we could awaken the Inhumans who'd been in hiding in the kingdoms of the Table."
"So, a Son of the Moon has come to interfere in our plans as well." Lamia chuckled, rising into the air. "I'll see to it that our millennia-long rivalry ends here!"
Thrusting her arm forward, Lamia sent a line of massive icicles at Zhu who dashed out of the way and sped towards her on a sliver of ice. Drawing water from the atmosphere around him, the man channeled a wave that he sent over the ground, sweeping up the Norn runes and encircling the mermaid demon in the magic circle again! Lamia writhed in pain and fell to the ground as the magical binds came over her once more, enraging Sethos.
"Get away from her!" Sethos conjured a sword of fire.
Erhard intercepted the demon, running on air on light discs and creating massive magic runes around the monster that held him back! Sethos struggled against the pull of the binds and the Dragon god reacted quickly, summoning two massive rune stones on the temples of the demon that snuffed out the fires around him! The monster roared in pain and fell to his knees, causing the intense fires in the kingdom to fizzle out!
"Whoa …" Anna marveled as Zhu Rong and Erhard bound the demons in magical spells.
Jack Frost groaned as he came to consciousness, looking onward and seeing what was happening. "Wait, is that Lamia?" He breathed in shock.
Erhard wove his hands and set up a ring of magical symbols that floated above Sethos, linking them to six rune stones that lay on the ground on the rim of a transmutation circle! Erhard looked to Zhu Rong, seeing that they'd restrained the demons, and the two shared a nod, raising their hands and erecting two pillars before the monsters. Anna, helping Elsa stand, moved up to the two wizards along with Jack, looking at their handiwork.
"Whoa, I didn't think you could pull it off." Anna said. "You're actually helping people."
"I still don't trust him." Elsa frowned.
"Who is she?" Zhu Rong raised his brow.
"Nobody." Erhard said, looking to the princesses. "You should leave, it's not safe here."
"What do you mean? You're banishing them, right?" Anna asked.
Jack looked at the runic symbols on the seals around the two demons, frowning and summoning his staff. "They're not sealing them away, they're sapping their power!"
"Wait, what?"
Erhard sighed. "I should've offed you the moment I found the moon spirit." He thrust his hand at them, knocking the three back with a powerful telekinetic force. "Finish draining them for me, this won't take long." He waved his arms down, erecting a magical barrier around Zhu Rong and the two demons, moving toward Elsa, Anna and Jack.
"Why did you work with him?" Elsa turned to Anna.
"We couldn't get through all the benders around the kingdom and we were running out of time, what was I supposed to do?" Anna replied.
"Not work with the psycho that killed our parents!" Elsa yelled.
"Look out!" Jack cried, summoning a wall of ice and colliding with Erhard who flew at them with a punch. "You're not gonna get away with this." He struggled with the wizard.
"Oh, we already have." Erhard said blankly, teleporting behind Jack and grabbing him by the neck, smashing him against the earth!
"Jack!" Tooth cried as she saw this, quickly flying toward the two.
"Reign of Chains: Snake Pit!" Erhard slapped his hands on the ground, summoning massive magical chains that flew toward Tooth!
Tooth swerved out of the way and Elsa rose into the air, firing ice on the ground and sending a line of frost swords toward Erhard! Erhard blew them away with a telekinetic blast, failing to notice Jack who smacked him aside with his staff, sending him flying! The wizard crashed on the ground, trying to get to his feet when Sandy bound him in a tomb of sand, manacling him tightly!
"Not so powerful when you're outnumbered, huh?" Anna lit her arms ablaze.
"Your ignorance continues to astound me." Erhard lamented. "Reign of Lies: Bloodsoak!"
Sandy raised his brow in confusion when a pure black humanoid figure appeared behind him and stabbed his back with its bare hand! Sandman grunted, letting go of Erhard, and knocked the being away with a sand whip, falling to his knees as his wound started to blacken! Tooth flew in to help him when another black figure appeared behind her and fired a dark arrow out of his palm, shooting her out of the sky!
"What's going on here?" Jack clenched his scepter, looking around and seeing several black figures rise out of the earth!
"They must be Erhard's." Elsa assessed. "Don't let them touch you!"
A magical chain burst from the earth and wrapped around the Ice Queen, pulling her down into the earth and stopping her from summoning spells! Anna fired at the shackle, destroying it instantly and jumped back as a black figure swung at her, mere inches from grabbing her arm! The woman charged fire between her palms, ready to attack when Erhard appeared behind her!
"One Thousand gods: god Extinction!" Erhard cast a spell, forging a white sword of pure energy and slashing her across her back, drawing blood!
Erhard watched as the Guardians fought his dark doppelgangers, preparing to cast another spell when a Snow Hound pounced on him, biting into his shoulder and drawing blood! The wizard cut the beast down and rolled to his feet, seeing Elsa summoning several ice creatures to battle his shadows! He frowned in anger and the Ice Queen descended, conjuring her scepter and charging at him!
Elsa and Erhard collided and locked weapons, sending out a powerful shockwave that shook the whole courtyard! "It seems you are of Juton origin." Erhard noted. "No matter, you'll fall all the same."
"Yeah? I'd like to see ya try!" Elsa pushed him back.
Elsa knocked Erhard's blade aside and swung at him thrice, missing the mage who weaved through her attacks and stabbed her! She pushed forward however, punching him in the face and send him flying several feet back! The wizard quickly looked up, frowning in surprise as Elsa's midsection had turned to ice and she slowly turned back to normal.
"You don't know who you're messing with." Elsa frowned. "I'm not as weak as before."
Erhard huffed at this, confusing Elsa who failed to notice a dark doppelganger come up behind her and stab her in the back, spreading its darkness through her! Elsa spat out blood and fell to her knees, causing the ice creatures she summoned to instantly melt as she groveled in pain. Erhard got to his feet and clasped his hands together, causing the chains to rise out of the ground and wrap around the Guardians, Elsa, Anna and Merida, pinning them down!
"You're not worth my time." Erhard dismissed his sword, walking toward Zhu Rong. "How far are you?"
"Mere moments away." Zhu Rong said, looking at Lamia and Sethos. "Soon, their power will be ours." He drew out a wooden branch from his pocket.
"Is that from Darren the Ancient Sleeper?" Erhard asked.
"It took me a while to obtain this." Zhu Rong stabbed the wood into the ground. "With this, the demons will be sealed away from the past and present."
"Excellent." Erhard smiled. "Now, let's –,"
An aurora beam shot down from the sky between Erhard and Zhu Rong, knocking the two wizards down and drawing the attention of the others! Erhard held his arm over his eyes, confused until he saw a tall armored figure with a cape stepping out of the light. "No …" He breathed in shock.
"Fear not, mortals." The Asgardian charged electricity through his hammer. "For Thor has arrived."