Wacko12: Loki jumped out of his body via the curse before Rossweisse's seals fully trapped him. He's been inside Dorian ever since hiding.
God of war: Lol, I am glad it was a surprise. Freyja and Thrud knock on the front door while Dorian-Loki (Lokirian?) is the true threat.
FateBurn: Thank you.
reality deviant: I hoped it would be and that not many saw it coming. I worried including the same words as canon might be too obvious when they beat Loki.
Hollowreaper 93: Good guess :D
The Chaos Phoenix: I was a fan of Loki too, I can't quite place it as on the surface he is another just evil villain. Maybe due to my love of Norse myth adding to it lol. Oh an Egyptian arc 100%. I never considered American but at present I hope to mix Shinto in with the Kyoto arc, Egyptian as its own original and Sumerian to flesh out the Trihexa a bit more ;)
Haremfucker321: He tries to at least XD That means a lot to hear, thank you! I hope you enjoy all I have planned as well.
Gobert600: As far as we know Tyr doesn't exist in High School DxD. In all the behind the scenes only Baldur, Vidar and Thor are mentioned as children of Odin.
theLawbringer: No specific anchor, basically he jumped ship with the curse leaving the faux soul behind. He still needed time to acclimate to Dorian and his time in Helheim helped expedite the process. You are not far off that...he did need something and with some trickery revealed in this chapter got Dorian to get it. He is always plotting ;)
Slayer Cross: Who you gonna call? XD Now I'm just picturing them dragging Loki into a trap lol. You are so welcome, it is my pleasure to bring this work and hope to never disappoint :D
fanficcyberman: I don't know what to say, your words mean so much! Knowing that people like you enjoy it so much that you not only read but enjoy each one really makes every word I write worth it :) We are :D Skye is so big now, a growing girl lol. I'll tell her you said hi!
WinterRuneWolf: I will take that honor with all the pride I can :D I feared I may have been too obvious with using the same quote upon his defeat from the series, the idea being he can tailor the curse so it acts different than it did in canon. And XD XD XD Sorry...cliffhangers are my bread and butter LOL
ahsoei: Possession. He jumped into him when he realized Rossweisse's seals had him. It just took time to gain strength in Dorian until he was ready to make a move...
OBSERVER01: I was hoping readers would think that LOL. I like to think not everyone acts how they do in front of others all the time in fiction. She is the powerful goddess ruling over the dishonored dead of the Norse people...but that doesn't mean she wouldn't have her own pseudo-embarrassing personal preferences XD
Unown: You are so welcome! By my estimates at 2 chapters a month this story will be a 2-3 year project. I hope you enjoy every chapter! :)
diggerboy4: Thank you!
GunBlade2020: So much turmoil he has to deal with in DxD lol. But he gains more each arc to make up for it. He won't let the darkness he goes through hurt him during the peaceful days with his friends and loved ones. I most certainly will and hope you have been doing well! :)
And with that...ONTO THE SHOW!
"That little shit," Odin spat as Azazel finished the conclusion they had drawn from the realization of Zaebos' position in Helheim. "Using my domains to dump his little secrets, the gall!"
Of the highest families in the Underworld, there were two of highest prominence who held the title of Duke; The Gremorys…and Astaroths. With the discovery that one may have been involved it spelled out treachery most foul. Either one could theoretically be the culprit, but Seekvaira's ill-fated match against Dorian erased all doubt from their mind. Ajuka Beelzebub had once been an Astaroth and if there were any who had secretly learned the ways around his Rating Game defenses, it was his younger brother Diodora.
"And it means something big is happening soon," the Grigori-General nodded, ignoring even the mug of strong liquor offered. "We know he has been after Lady Gremory's latest Bishop, if he is willing to do this then what he'd be capable of in his obsession would be no less extreme I'd wager."
"Then why tell me?" The Allfather asked. "As you are well aware, we have things going on here. I may not be able to back up my wife through strength of arms, but I am watching over her every second," he clacked his replacement eye that saw much. "Why not smash his aspirations to dust beforehand?"
"Because if we do that, then his allies and whatever is planned tomorrow will scatter to the winds," Odin furrowed his brow in an understanding fashion. "We haven't found hide nor hair of Shalba or Katerea since the Peace Summit. If there is any division of the Khaos Brigade on his side right now, it'd be the Old Satan Faction."
"So, you use the young as bait to lure in the old?" Azazel's remorseful glance away was all the answer he needed. Sighing heavily, he walked to the edge of the office and glanced out over the shining city of Asgard. It may have been his old age mixed with nostalgia, but sometimes it reminded him of the home in Heaven abandoned long ago.
"We need to stop the Brigade," he rationalized. "I'll take full responsibility for whatever happens during the game as a result of our inaction. The instant their trap is sprung we'll close our own around it and trust the children to stay alive until then. Our little alliance will have its first real taste of cooperation. Olympus is sneaking men our way as we speak since we have a few hours, Michael too. Considering your bewitching wife was one of the strongest proponents for this I was hoping we'd get a few sturdy Einherjars in the mix."
"As will we," the quiet but powerful voice of Sirzechs Lucifer signaled his arrival alongside Serafall Leviathan. The pair were dressed for war sure to come in the morning. Their remaining Satans Falbium and Ajuka were busy with preparations to the rating game field itself. "If they appear again, we'll be there. Rias may deplore having to rely on my help, but it is offered nonetheless."
"My adorable little sister will be watching her friend too," Serafall beamed with her usual incorrigible smile. "I'd be the worst sibling ever if I let anything happen to her. That and as the head of Foreign Affairs I suppose I need to be present for any joint ventures."
"Is that so?" Odin stroked his beard always happy to see the young devil woman enter a room. He could not help but chuckle at how little she seemed to care about being there in an official capacity verses defending her younger sister Sona. "If you wore something a little cuter maybe I would come to the meetings more often."
"How many can you spare?" Sirzechs asked, reaching out a hand to prevent Serafall from transforming into her magic schoolgirl cosplay on the spot at Odin's remark.
"Too few currently," he admitted begrudgingly. "My wife and our Crossroads team is a bit…preoccupied at present."
Hela's Castle…
"Where is he?" Iggy demanded, still recovering from the spike of pain at her powers being used. "Where is Dorian?"
"Out of the picture," the young man's face warped in a near-manic glee while bowing low. "The curse I laid on him as the hammer struck did its job well, even if it did take longer than I would have liked to reconstitute within him. Now, be silent."
With a wave of his hand, Iggy found herself crushed beneath a half dozen imprisonment seals. Forced down to her knees, she could not move or speak despite the effort and anger she pressed back with.
"Leaving your old body behind for a younger model? You were always so desperately resourceful," Hela murmured clearly more as a jab than compliment.
"A poor vessel," he mused, glancing at his arms and body as if it was something filthy to be cleaned. "But necessary, not just to ensure my freedom from those ridiculous seals but to complete my work, Ragnarok."
"He wants to bring down the Roads!" Iggy called out to Hela, the only potential ally around. "Destabilize all of creation!"
"Aww, giving away the grand finale," he tutted. "But yes, this pathetic creature has the power to enter a realm seldom walked by any save the Allfather himself once upon a time. I was going to force the boy to do it before, now I may do it myself. Thank you, dear daughter," he turned to Hela. "I doubt I could have taken hold so soon were it not for the slow decay of your mists on the child's psyche."
"So, YOU were the reason he passed out so soon," she huffed with a snap of annoyance. "I just thought he had poor taste in film."
"And now the destruction of this world and rise of the next will be even more complete," he held out his arms. "Without that damned bird nothing binds the dead here, they will follow and act as the vanguard keeping what comes next under my thrall."
"OUR thrall you mean," Hela asked with a sinister grin, stepping closer to Dorian around her brother.
"Well you will be the daughter of god," he acquiesced. "I surmise the infinite will leave room for you to rule beneath me."
"You haven't changed," she suddenly whispered when several feet away. "Not since mom died."
Loki's expression relaxed for a moment; all the time Hela needed to generate a sphere of dark green light in her hands. Before a defense could be generated, she unleashed the torrent of energy upon the young Einherjar's body that could rip islands asunder. Screaming in her father's voice, he crumpled to a knee unable to rise, his presence within preventing Dorian's utter destruction.
"You dare to challenge your sire?"
"I don't hold much to those bonds between us," she countered while pressing the attack, a seal behind slowing Fenrir's assault to protect his father. "Not seeing you for years only to show up and try to take what I have claimed. This is MY station!"
Well this is uncharacteristically protective of me, since when did I care so much?
"I may be in this brat's body, but my powers are STILL present!" Loki raised a hand, a counter seal impacting her attack, canceling out both and blasting each backwards for some distance. "Fenrir! Kill her!"
A silence fell over the field, as the giant wolf looked to his sister. Deep within his ferocious eyes an ember of remorse kindled, releasing a short whimper.
"You don't have to do this," she reached out a soft hand, the same she had cradled him with as a pup. Even though he was the older sibling, to reach his great size took entire ages of time and she cared for him through them all. "You don't owe him anything, Middy and I broke away and so can you." In response to her kind words, Fenrir glanced back to his father in the Einherjar's body.
"I said…KILL her! I shall remove those bothersome chains once she is dead." Loki commanded again, the powerful wolf finding no relief there. Fenrir look solemnly back to his sister with a nearly unnoticed sigh moments before his lips peeled back to reveal a full row of fangs minus one tooth.
"Oh, you always were father's bitch…" she started as her older brother lunged, forcing the goddess of death to float into the air. She avoided his attack, slamming a giant hand made of her necromantic energy atop her brother gripping the chains binding him through the still-open portal. "DOWN BOY!" Hela yelled as she had when he was little. Despite the effort put into it, the god-slaying wolf start to rise showing his position in the top 10 strongest beings to walk the Earth.
"Such an ungrateful child," Loki dusted off Dorian's tunic with a glare of disgust at his daughter. "Well, now that that is over with…" He turned to the portal from which Gleipnir still reached from. With sure strides, he made for the portal prepared to claim his victory.
"DORIAN!" The voice of Rossweisse was heard upon the air. Even Loki found himself stopped, frozen by the twinge of resistance still within him at the realization of who had come.
"Not…a word," he muttered to himself, blinking once causing his sinister amber eyes to revert back to the gentle grey. "Rossweisse!" He called out with a smile! "I knew you'd find me!"
"What is going on here?" The collected Crossroads descended upon the tower, their façade of death falling away as the need passed. Kuroka had used her Sage Arts to defend them from the mists until the winds had abruptly stopped. The eagle's death cry could be heard miles off driving them on faster at what could have done such a foul deed. The collected women saw Hela still engaged with Fenrir trying to keep ahead of his fangs as the two monumentally powerful beings clashed. "Are you alright?"
"I am now that you are here," he reached out to cup her face.
"D-don…" Iggy struggled against the seals surrounding her. She still could not speak but none saw the top circle start to crack.
"Don't push yourself," Irina asserted as Xenovia looked her over. "We're here, whatever Hela did to you we can break."
"How did Fenrir get here?" Hecuba drew her weapon, taking a defensive position between the reuniting group and the battle far too close for comfort. The children of Loki tussled back and forth, Hela keeping her distance lest a single god-slaying fang claim her life.
"He…took advantage of my lapse in holding the gate open," Dorian explained hesitantly. "Perhaps I can pull him back in from the Roads, we should go through and…"
"Dorianya!" Kuroka dropped down between Rossweisse and Dorian, subtly hip checking the silver Valkyrie out of the way. "I knew you would be able to survive the turmoil of this place! Such a strong Einherjar you are!"
The nekoshou wrapped her arms around his neck, placing a deep kiss upon Dorian's lips clearly going further than necessary. Rossweisse's hands were shaking as an eye twitched in anger. Slowly, she raised a hand, magic seal forming within targeted at her teammate.
"Well," Dorian grinned uncontrollably in an incorrigible manner that sent a stab of anger through Rossweisse. "With that out of the way we can…uh…GRRR!" Kuroka hopped out of his arms to a safe distance as he doubled over in pain, wiping her lips with a look of disgust at what she'd just done. Purple veins spread out from his lips while she blew a kiss with a coy wink his way. "Wh-What did you do?"
"Nice try," she tutted at the collapsing man. "But your natural energy isn't anything close to Dorianya's regardless of using his actual body. Don't worry silver flower," she smirked to Rossweisse who only now realized what she meant. "Our future husband has other tenants occupying the immaculate property. That concoction will slow his body down quite a bit. Thanks to our last fight I improved the recipe."
"You BITCH!" Dorian shouted, his voice no longer the one they had known and rid them of any doubt to what Kuroka was saying. Yellow amber burned with rage in his eyes, eliciting the collected women to draw their weapons upon him.
"Loki…" Hecuba felt the absolute malice and presence that had been absent from Asgard's prisoner. "So, you do to him what you did to me, you're no god but a parasite!"
The reaction was instantaneous, Irina, Xenovia and Hecuba leapt to the front with their legendary swords drawn and locked together. As Seekvaira worked to free Iggy, Bennia and the Valkyrie trio took up flanks as Rossweisse and Kuroka raised a single hand apiece, their combined magic and power aimed solely at the possessed man before them. Unfortunately for the sense of dread they hoped to instill in the trickster god, he started to laugh.
"You are all so pathetic, did you truly think that insufferable tactic could hold me?" Struggling to his feet, Loki-Dorian stood tall, the veins running across him making his visage all the more unsettling. Despite the improved concoction of Kuroka, he pushed through the pain and poison. "In my old body I was too much for you and now I have the might of Yggdrasil at my disposal." With a swirling vortex from his arm, Laerad Ragnarok bloomed into existence. It was not the gear they had come to know; the grey-green metal had been replaced with a sickly red mixed in. The gem within was pale and empty as the armor started to spread across him. "A Balance Breaker wielded by a god, without that insufferable daughter of my blood-nephew this will be a slaughter!"
"Dorian," Rossweisse stepped forward a bit, her gaze torn between the duty of what must be done and the desire to save the man she loved. "You CAN fight him, don't let him control you. Please..."
"Oh silence," Loki snapped. "He may still have a whisper but control is fully in my grasp. He can hear every word you say...and his fury at the inability to act is magnificent."
I will kill them, or they will be forced to slay the one they profess to care for so greatly and even then I may jump to another unnoticed. Loki could not help but find satisfaction in either outcome. Burn them with Musphelheim fire? Maybe crush them with Jotunheim's roots? Oh the fun, they will not be able to…
Sudden spasms of pain assailed his body, the balance breaker's expansion halted just before it could reach his shoulder. No matter how much Loki focused he could not get it to continue and each attempts sent a renewed surge of agony through him, the same Iggy had felt just prior. After several moments of pain, the Crossroads looking on in confusion, what little armor he had shattered down to his hand dispersing the gear completely.
"What happened?" He muttered weakly in a rare moment of uncertainty, the confused god did not need to wait long to get his answer.
Across the field, Iggy stood. In her growing anger and frustration with Seekvaira's aid, she had succeeded in breaking the seals that bound her from action. Eyes shining silver like starlight, she walked with slow, menacing steps toward Dorian's body no longer his own.
"You…will NEVER use my power without my consent again! You will give him back; we grew up together since he first opened his eyes. He could not hear me, but I saw every moment and walked with him all his life. You will NOT take that away, give him back!"
With that final pronouncement and command, Iggy leapt through the air disappearing like mist as she made contact with Dorian's chest. The impact caused Loki to lurch forward; eyes wide in surprise that she was capable of so much. To his increasing frustration, she had joined the battle in the mind against his curse.
"No matter!" He held his hands out, magic seals growing in size dwarfing his body rising over the field. A pair of ugly blades forged of the very ice of Hel appeared in each hand. "My knowledge is more than sufficient to lay waste to every one of you while Fenrir deals with my fallen daughter."
Rossweisse drew Twilight Star, extending to its spear form and aiming squarely at his face. The combined team fell in line behind her prepared to battle their beloved leader. The Valkyrie tightened her grip on the weapon which suddenly felt very heavy with the weight of being given only to now be brought to bear against that very man. The first man she had ever loved.
"Fight to protect yourselves," she commanded. "But I beg of you to do whatever you may to not harm him too much. We can NOT let him escape into the Roads!"
"We can knock some sense into him," Bennia tried to lighten the mood. "He'll be nursing more than a few bumps tomorrow!"
"Your soul will be saved!" Irina promised. "You are not meant to move on to the next life yet, amen."
"You gave me a home," Xenovia brandished Durandal. "We shall all return there together."
"You would let him do this to you?" Seekvaira chastised him with the cold stare she had become legendary for. "I thought you were more than that!"
"Ladies," Herja motioned to her friends. "Time to teach our underclassman a lesson!"
"Swordsmen to the front!" Hecuba called out, her years of experience feeling completely natural. She wanted to join the others, bring up how the Einherjar's arrival had allowed her to leave Olympus and find not only her family blade...but so many friends. Despite her wish, Hecuba's practical side won out, knowing Dorian would want her to ensure the survival of everyone above all. "Valkyries for support, Sage art and magic casters at the rear!"
He can't die, Rossweisse mused as she prepared for battle. Einherjar reincarnation only works once!
"Crossroads, everyone…advance!"
Gates of Helheim…
The skies sparked with lightning once more as the titanic clash of Mooguor and Thrud continued. Despite the colossal strength inherited from her father, Thrud found herself near-evenly matched with the legendary giantess. The woman who once upon an age had aided Ymiron's ancestor in unifying the frost giants proved her worth as the black axe threw back her foe again and again. Thrud was covered in bruises, her armor marred from strike after strike. Were a stranger to come upon the battle now one would think she did not stand a chance with her injuries...and Mooguor's complete lack thereof.
She is getting that look in her eyes, Freyja sighed as she watched the exchange. This is just meant to distract yet I fear she does not see it that way.
Thrud skidded to a stop, sparks from her weapon evaporating the ice to her left. With a truly manic grin she pressed the attack heedless of the ineffectiveness of her tactics, pirouetting over the giant weapon nearly cleaving her head in two. She nudged its course ever so slightly just enough to avoid decapitation before delivering a spinning kick to Mooguor's skull. To her amazement, despite a shock wave from the impact, her opponent did not flinch, grabbing her by the ankle and slamming the powerful Valkyrie into the frozen ground repeatedly. After the fourth impact she pulled back, swinging Gulbjorn up towards a thigh. The giant was faster, parrying the blow with the haft but loosening her grip in doing so allowing Thor's daughter freedom.
"You won't win that way," she mocked while slapping her own chest in challenge. "No weapon pierced my skin until old age claimed my vigor and Lady Hela keeps me at my prime!"
Dammit, it's like hitting a steel wall, except steel actually breaks! The daughter of thunder groaned while wiping blood from an open wound above her eye. Mooguor's resilience reminded Thrud of her father being able to take similar beatings without effect when training. If augmenting my weapon isn't enough, I'll just generate some lightning within my fists and…
An image of Dorian's expression at Olympus seeing her self-inflicted injuries flashed before her eyes followed by the same look after her match with Sairaorg. Akeno had been trying to help her overcome her body's frustrating weakness to her own power but any attempt would surely result in further injuries as before. In the past she hadn't cared, a new injury or burn to be healed was just another she had grown accustomed to. It may result in a scar this time or next, up until then it hadn't mattered to her.
But then he'll make that face again, I know he will.
"Geez" She groaned, unlatching the bow at her back. With a heave, she anchored it in the ground at the edge of their arena. Gripping her axe once more she took a stance to continue.
"Shed all the dead weight you want," Mooguor warned. "It will not help you; I've felt your axe enough times now to know it won't work with your present strength."
"If that's so true," Thrud sneered confidently, aiming a massive arrow directly at her face. "Then why try so hard to convince me?"
Mooguor narrowed her eyes at the insult. Black flames danced around her axe to encompass her body as she brought her full power to bear. The giantess' accomplishments may have been legendary but so too were the stories of her fury, her temper.
Almost as bad as mine, Thrud chuckled as she took the bait and charged her just as planned. If your skin is so unbreakable…all I need is a little more momentum.
Lightning crackled into the arrow, lighting it up like a beacon as she carefully aimed at Mooguor's center of mass. With steady hands as solid as the Earth, she loosed the bolt once she was only a few dozen feet away. The greatarrow practically disappeared into a surge of energy barreling towards the charging legend evaporating all moisture in the air as it passed. Just as it seemed it would connect, Hela's champion expertly buried the dark axe into the ground, using it for leverage to slide beneath the attack. The stream of power soared beyond, impacting into a grand yet useless explosion against the invincible gates of Helheim. The army of the dead watching all took a unified step back, barely avoiding the edges of the flames quickly snuffed out.
"Quite an attack," Mooguor complimented still looking up to the scorch mark before turning to face Thrud again. "If that hit, I might have felt…"
It was too late, turning back to her foe she had momentarily looked away from she was met with the daughter of Thor right in her face. It was not possible to have cleared the distance so quickly, but her strategic mind quickly deduced what had occurred. The shot had been a diversion. During the moments she had dodged and followed the attack, the proclaimed strongest Valkyrie of Asgard had loaded herself onto the bow and with hundreds of pounds of force fired her own body like a projectile.
"Boo," was the only thing she heard before Gulbjorn impacted her chest with all Thrud's might amplified by her new momentum to monstrous levels. The comparatively smaller woman roared as lightning swirled around her weapon renewed without touching her skin. Blood flew from Helheim's guardian as her chest caved in deeper surely crushing organs. True to her word, Mooguor's legendary skin did not break through it all. The same could not be said for her bones.
"Wha…?" She asked though her lungs were pressed down hard preventing the intake of air. Hela's strongest guard collapsed backwards in utter shock. Never in her life had someone managed to find the breaking point of her bones, it had never occurred to her that they may not be as indomitable as her flesh. Each attempt at breathing sent a wave of pain through her chest, everything was going black.
I failed; will this kill me? Is death even possible here? My passing will signal a war between our realms. What a war that would have…huh? Slowly like a receding tide, the pain in her chest started to pass and she could breathe again if only a bit. When it was nearly gone, she opened her eyes, expecting to see the gods of whatever lie beyond.
Instead, she met the emerald eyes of Thrud gazing up into her own. The golden Valkyrie had her head resting between her massive breasts, body glowing a soft silver-white. Her own breastplate had been opened somewhat to allow skin-to skin contact necessary to facilitate her powers. Where her face had been an obsessed manic grin of satisfaction before, somehow, she had calmed herself with a stern but soft expression almost seeming like a different person. The warmth of her Sage Arts flowed through the giantess, easing her wounds enough to prevent her death but she could still scarcely move.
Just like that cave, Thrud mused with an almost blushing smile at the distant memory in Norway. Her confusion is not nearly as adorable as his was.
"If any one of you turns around, I'll crack your skull in myself!" Modi roared. Mooguor's force along with Freyja's entire volunteer army was facing away from the scene at both the behest and threats of Freyja and Thrud's little brother. None save Ragnar dared their collective wrath and he knew better with Ygritte's presence behind him.
"Wh-why save me?" Mooguor groaned, leaning up as little as she could bear to look her victorious foe in the eye. "It is quite unlike the tales of your family."
"As much as I love him, I am not my father," she answered calmly, a clenched fist the only sign of her fighting that inborn need to finish the match. "You said your death would start a war, we meant it when we said we were here to talk."
I should be dead. The actions of another ring with a louder bell than a thousand words.
"Maybe, I can request my mistress to…"
A high-pitched shriek forced the collected group to cover their ears. The sound was shrill, distant, yet no less unsettling in the desperation and weakening cry of an ancient being beyond any standing within that realm.
"Hraesvelgr!" Mooguor called out immediately knowing the sound and realizing how uncomfortably warm the air had become. "He is in dang…" She staggered attempting to rise, her wounds not having healed sufficiently to allow it. "What did you do?"
"I swear on all I own," Freyja stepped forward. "Whatever has occurred it was not of our doing!"
"The eagle wails, I must return to the castle! I must…"
"Rest easy," Freyja laid her hand upon her chest to continue Thrud's healing. "We came in force to show our measure, not to start a war if reason can overcome. Let us help."
Had the words been uttered a few moments ago the proud giantess would have spat them back at her, Queen or no. After seeing the character of the daughter to one whom had hounded her kind for so long caused her previous surety of belief to falter. At great risk to how Hela would react, she made her choice.
"ONE may enter, I shall not risk more than that. Choose your emissary with care."
Thrud did not even glance back to Freyja. With a solid kick she took off towards the castle far in the distance only then realizing the stillness of the winds. Sealing her armor once more despite her injuries, Thor and Sif's daughter rushed where she had wished to be from the beginning, a part of the Crossroads spearheading Dorian's return. Freyja continued her ministrations as she and Mooguor watched her leave. She did not try to hinder her passing, knowing full-well the burning in her heart that would have brooked no argument.
Ride swiftly, Freyja begged as her shining armor disappeared into the distance. I do not like the feeling of this place, as if the winds brought the only semblance of life to this realm and without it has naught left but the silence of the void.
Within the Confines of the Mind…
"Come now, surely you can do better than that? The 'mighty' Einherjar who wielded a replica of the legendary Mjolnir!"
Loki stood amid a blasted landscape, the result of their intense but short battle of the minds. Dorian was battered, covered in bruises and bound to rock not far away. He was clothed only in tattered rags, his shirt torn open revealing his bloody chest to the elements. They were not truly there, merely representations within Dorian's beleaguered psyche, but as Loki had subdued him there, so too had he subdued his will forcing the Einherjar to watch as his body moved against his will.
"This is what you did to Hecuba you son of a bitch? If you lay a finger on any of them…"
"Tut tut, such a temper," Loki wagged his finger at him. "And here everyone called you different from the other boorish Einherjar of Valhalla. It was but a fragment of the being I would become in that girl's mind. For you, it is the entirety of who I am. It won't be MY fingers beating your beloved and friends to death."
"The being you would become?" He didn't understand.
Dorian could see the battle, Loki's mastery with his own strength attacking the Crossroad Team. He had hoped the group could beat him utterly without his Balance Breaker, but it had been a fool's wish. Alone that would have been the case but with the soul of a god at the reigns they were pressed hard. Irina, Hecuba and Xenovia clashed with his Hel-ice constructs, his moves impossibly fast as he parried and expertly dodged every blow to come his way. Dorian struggled harder each time he struck one of them, few more intense than when he slashed, drawing blood from Irina's waist. Dozens of seals made up of designs he had never considered nor seen acted as protection against the barrage of magic raining down from the rear guard. He was so proud at their coordinated teamwork as the union of various myths grappled with the god-possessed warrior.
"Human minds are so easy to manipulate," Loki mocked while allowing the battle to play out above. "It took time to reconstitute in here after my humiliating defeat but that was merely a setback. To think it was that fool Azazel who gave me the idea on how to get everything I wanted."
"What are you talking about?"
"Why, that curious invention that linked your mind with the Red Dragon Emperor's. Using one's dreams to manipulate how they act in reality. That one could be quite terrifying if he put a modicum of creativity into it. Did you not wonder why you decided to visit my quaint laboratory in the first place?"
Dorian's eyes narrowed in frustration as Loki cleared his throat, a familiar feminine voice echoing forth sounding all the more unsettling coming from him.
"Well of course he is," Thrud's voice rang out in the same way it had during the dream date with her and Akeno. "You were at the celebration after all. If you hadn't found the cure in Loki's lab then we would never have gotten to him in time."
He put the thought in my head to visit there in the first place! Dorian's fury spiked as he strained against the seals, a subtle cracking sound music to his ears Loki did not notice.
"Disguising as a woman again?" Dorian retorted, refusing to let him gain satisfaction from the situation. "First you dress up as a copy of your daughter to make out with a high school student, then your blood-son's daughter to do the same? Between that and the whole Sleipnir story, I think you need to see some professionals." The backhand and taste of blood in his mouth was well worth Loki's scowl of anger.
"I could not enact Ragnarok without my instrument of survival of course," he monologued after recomposing himself, so certain of victory. "My blood-nephews may be simpletons, but they had that right…destroying the world holds no gain if I cannot survive it."
"How could you possibly surviv…?"
A shock wave interrupted Loki, knocking him off his feet. An anomaly akin to a tear in the very air itself rippled into view heralding the arrival of one more to Dorian's subconscious.
"Iggy!" He called out, working to loosen his bonds more while his captor was distracted. "Are you alight?"
"I will be better in a moment," the daughter of Yggdrasil seemed to grow taller as the light around them dimmed. Her skin wrinkled and hardened into bark, hair into branches and brambles as her true form took shape. "Let him go! This place has been our home all my life."
Iggy's arms extended impossibly long becoming immense trunks blasting her towards the fallen god at incredible speeds nearly disappearing from sight. She slammed into his abdomen, blowing him through a mountain chain behind that hadn't been there a moment before. She was quite skilled at envisioning her dreams in that place. A feminine variation of Rider's Regalia molded around her modest frame tightly no less brilliant than Dorian's. Such a feat was impossible in the real world as she was the armor. In his mind though, her will was law.
"Impressive," Loki wiped a drop of blood from his lip. "But the home-field advantage won't save you from me."
Black lightning crackled across her body fusing aspects of Musphelheim and Olympus as Iggy impacted Loki who barely stopped it in time. A follow-up fist slammed into his gut blocked only by a preemptive defense rune of his own design that held strong. He countered with an explosion of gravity, rending her armor inward with a spurt of blood.
Almost…free…Dorian tugged hard, finally shattering one of his binds.
Holding his arm out, he manifested Twilight Star having realized like Iggy he could create what he wished in this place. Instead of the normal lightning of Olympus, he imagined his shining Bifrost Barrage not used since his match with Ona. The deadly prism blast of his signature attack caught Loki in the back, scorching his coat and leaving an ugly burn mark.
"You are still trapped by my command!" As quickly as he was freed, Dorian's arm bent painfully back until it was torn off and lost to the void. He screamed in pain as his dream emulated real life.
"Always with me, even when he didn't know," Iggy cracked him across the face as tears fell. Above, the battle outside against the Crossroads shifted scenes as her mind took over. "Protected him whenever I could!"
A car small in build was flipped upside down smashed to bits. Inside, a man and woman lay dead behind the wheel with a young boy unconscious in the back. Flames consumed the vehicle assured to claim the lives of all three. Suddenly, the blonde-haired child started to move; limbs flopping like a puppet as he climbed through the broken window to freedom. Only once he was safely from the wreckage did the rest of the vehicle explode in a fiery conflagration. He was clearly still out cold the entire time.
Iggy saved me even then?
"I couldn't save his parents!" She blasted Musphelheim fire into Loki's eyes he quickly extinguished, catching her in the face with a burst of force she ignored despite the pain. "I couldn't even comfort him…"
A new image flashed above of the same toddler covered in bandages and a cast wearing black from head to toe. Sitting in the rain he sobbed uncontrollably as sermons were performed not far away. Dorian remembered the funeral despite the many years having passed and how young he'd been. The cold he ignored, that ache in his chest that took years to fade before he could feel normal again but never truly left. The image above was different from his recollection, however. He completely remembered sitting alone in the pouring rain, however above he could see a young girl with green hair sitting beside him. It took a moment, but he quickly realized it was indeed Iggy as a toddler the same age as him, she had a heart-wrenching frown patting him gently on the back. He could not see his lifelong companion yet and continued to sob despite her best efforts though the tears did slow if only a little.
She was always there; he knew but had never pondered the ramifications of those words. Was the bit of joy I felt to keep me going her too?
A young teenage Dorian flashed next as the battle between deities continued. The day Irina had first shown up outside his door begging him to join her at mass during his stay in England. The young student had planned to remain in and study alone as he had done in most places he studied, suddenly deciding to open the door and nearly being pulled out by the enthusiastic girl. Once more, Iggy was there only now much taller, subtly pushing him from behind to join her with a smile.
"Even when he didn't listen."
A familiar burst of flame lit up the sky, the very apartment complex from which he had died half a year past. This time as Dorian rushed toward the little girl standing among the heat Iggy was by the door beckoning him to flee. In direct contrast to the previous memory, he fled from her urgings.
"I am sick of your intrusion!" Loki unleashed a tremendous surge of power, catching Iggy head on and cracking her armor. Sailing through the air, she landed right next to the restrained Einherjar with a cough of pain. Despite the burning all over, she staggered once more to her feet.
"I…won't…give up on him, EVER!"
"Then you may join him. I will not kill you," Loki brushed his tarnished clothing nonchalantly as if no longer seeing her as a credible threat. "I need your power to keep the Roads open, the pathway to your venerable mother."
Coils of energy like snakes shot forth toward the exhausted Iggy. As powerful as she was in her wrath, she was no true god yet. Her initial assault was her strongest, fully knowing she could not hope to escape his binds if caught. The moment the chains would have reached her body, they clanged off a barrier having formed between, the same seal that had adorned Loki's body defending him moments ago.
"I'm sorry Iggy," Dorian apologized with his hands free once more, the seals holding him broken. "For all those years I couldn't hear you." In a surge of power he didn't know he had, he broke Loki's hold over his mind, the god would not seal him away again. Until they bested him, however, his body was still under the god's thralldom.
"That seal!" Loki roared, his blood bubbling at seeing his personal formula reused against him. "How is that possible for you to conjure it?"
"If there is one thing, I have learned over the past six months," Dorian grinned smugly as he imagined the seal and magic training with Rossweisse every day. "It's how to see patterns, designs, consistencies and lack thereof in the shapes. I hate to break it to you…but next to Rossweisse's seals yours are powerful, but elementary at best."
"ELEMENTARY!?" A blast of power slammed into Dorian's seal, cracking it down the middle. With Iggy's help he reinforced the shield, but the breach started to widen. "I have been plotting and gaining power since before your ancestors were born! I will rip every shred of mobility and free will from you, slaughter your friends and by the time I enter the roads aboard the…"
As the seal threatened to shatter, Loki's attack suddenly ceased. To the god's eternal shock, he felt a soft tap on his left shoulders. The gentlest of touches, like a lost tourist trying to get the attention of a local for directions. Considering they were within Dorian's mind with the only known occupants standing battered before him, another's presence should have been impossible.
"Who the Hel are you?"
This residence is already at maximum capacity. Get…out.
An explosion of silver-blue static from the stranger's backhand caught Loki squarely in his chest, sending him flying far into the distance. His scream of frustration fading as he traveled beyond the range of their hearing, giving the group time to rest and recognize what had happened.
Before them stood a young woman with violet-blue hair done up into a large ponytail. Dorian immediately recognized the white-gold dress with overlaid mesh still looking very impractical for combat. A low-cut robe, blue sash and gold chord all resonated with him, causing the young man's mouth to drop open agape and eyes to well up with restrained tears as he looked into her deep golden eyes. She placed her hands confidently on her hips, staring at the two with a gentle smile of one who had missed them greatly. He and Iggy both simultaneously whispered her name as surely as if it had been uttered recently.
"...Despoina?"
A long departed acquaintance returns in the moment of defeat to turn the tides of battle within the mind. Will Dorian Held succeed in reclaiming his body before the Crossroads fall or are forced to slay their leader? Until then, I hope everyone Reads and Reviews...but most of all Enjoys! :D