[General POV]
Loki looked at the beaten form of Thor, an all too familiar but unpleasant memory creeping used from the darkest recesses of his mind.
The fight hadn't even been five minutes and Thor was already beaten, his hammer still traveling through the cosmos. Hogun had been rendered incapable, losing the entire right part of his body. Volstagg laid down on the ground, bleeding out. No one knowing if he had already crossed the gates of Valhalla.
Loki could still feel their connection to Asgard so he was doubtful of the monster's words but that doubt was shattered when Heimdall refused to answer their call. That was the moment Loki knew that something wasn't right.
The man was stronger, way stronger than he was the year past when they fought him. Sure they were defeated but that defeat wasn't as despairing as this.
"Loki, snap out of it!" Loki jolted back to focus as Sif called his name. Normally he would have sneered at that blatant show of disrespect but the current situation prevented him from even diving into that thought.
"We have to get out of here." Loki was no fool. The monster could snap any second and do irreplaceable damage to them despite their godhood.
He had felt first hand how much that red energy of the monster destroyed everything it encroached upon, and looking at Hogun….
'Yeah, he's gone.'
"You want to run? I would expect nothing from the cowardly prince." Sif sneered in disgust and brandished her sword at the towering monster.
"Mind your words woman, or I will have your tongue should we prevail over this tribulation." Loki would never stand for disrespect under any occasion.
'Brain dead, the bunch of them. Not even able to comprehend an improbability.'
"Hoh? What do we have here, insubordination?" Loki felt a chill travel up and down his spine while Sif and her false bravado was frozen in place.
Swallowing the scream that was about to escape his mouth and with the godly finesse he was known for, he turned around, a beaming smile on his lips and hands outstretched. "If it's all the same to you, I would like to have that drink now."
"Amusing, but maybe another time." Loki raised his brows at that which proved to be a wrong move as his body exploded into bits of gore which dissolved into motes of light.
Loki appeared a few meters away with the most unamused expression he could pull off.
Meanwhile Sif finally regained her bearings and shouted at the man and monster who hurt her friends. "Have at thee, monster!"
She burst forward with impressive speed, using the accumulated momentum to slash down at the monster only for her sword to clash a magic sword construct that the monster formed, pushing her back with relative ease.
Before Sif could focus herself back on the monster, she was hit with a spell but unlike what she was expecting, nothing seemed to happen… at least yet.
"What foul magic did you use against me? Answer me." She raged at the man who couldn't be more bothered with her.
"You'll find out soon, but first…" He turned his back to her, showing her the amount of caution he gave her, and started walking toward the struggling Thor.
Sif gritted her teeth at the blatant disrespect and rushed at him once more but she stumbled as soon as she took a few steps and gasped in shock at the untold amount of pain that flashed through her body.
"A simple spell really. But in the right hands, it becomes something else." She heard his voice but she couldn't concentrate on it as he felt as if her hands were cut off only to have the stump of it being peeled off by a blunt rusted knife.
Of all the cuts, bruises and broken bones she's had in her long life, none could compare to the pain she was currently feeling.
"The more your defiance, your will to fight remains, the more pain you'll feel. Give up." She was tempted to scream as the thought to hack off his head produced the most brain jolting pain she'd felt.
"Sif, are you okay?" Fandral helped her up, his brows knit in frustration as the situation turned grimmer with every step that the man took.
"We-we have to st-stop him." She wheezed out through labored breaths.
"I know. Loki came up with a plan. It's a sure kill if it works. Your Uru sword would be key to it. Can you still fight?" Fandral asked.
Though she tried to hide it, Fandral could see the amount of pain she was going through as the veins in her head bulged making her turn red, but not one that would have made her look beautiful. "Of course I still can. Who do you take me for?"
Even if he was worried, he took her word for it. They were warriors way before they became friends. This was no time for sentimentality.
"We only have one shot, Sif, aim for the head." Fandral whispered much to Sif's annoyance.
"I know."
They watched as the man stood in front of Thor and looked at the son of Odin with contempt.
He stepped on Thor's chest causing the young God to gurgle on his own blood, the sight of it making Sif grit her teeth despite the enormous pain that she was feeling.
"Get ready." At the notice, Sif readied her sword despite the Hel wrecking pain that was destroying her by the ticking second.
They watched as he formed a red lance that sent chills: the ominous red that brought two of their friends to Lady Death's unkindly doors.
"Not yet." Fandral cautioned Sif who looked between wanting to faint and to rip the monster's limbs apart.
The man raised the lance and that was the signal to move.
Thor held onto the legs of the man and they used that split moment to attack.
The space around them shifted, putting them around the man with Thor still on the ground gritting his teeth as he held onto the feet of the man.
Fandral and the fallen Volstagg rushed at Draul and held onto his hands to prevent him from moving.
"Die wretched man!" Sif dropped from above Draul's head, sword at the ready in a magnificent effort to finally eliminate this great foe.
"Admirable effort. Looks like you still haven't learned much." The calm voice of the Draul filtered into each of their ears, making their warrior instincts scream for a retreat… alas they were too slow.
"No!!!" Thor screamed as he saw the beams that emitted from the man's eyes bending at different angles and… passing through every one of his friends
"You will pay for this!"
"This is getting ridiculous." Sif's blade flew into his hands and with it, he pinned Thor against the ground.
Sif had lost consciousness after the beam destroyed her innards and also compounded with the throbbing pain she had been feeling since he hit her with a hex spell.
Volstagg's situation was unknown as he laid there unmoving.
Only Fandral was in tip top shape when compared to the others.
… and Loki.
"This entire mess was your fault, Odinson." No one knew which of the Odinson he was talking about except for the main character.
"I… must admit a mistake when found out." Loki's form shimmered out of a green hue, a look of utmost caution on the deception god's face.
"That you should. But it wouldn't be fair to the others if you were the only one left unscathed, now would it?"
"I think I can plead my own case very well. Thanks for the benevolent thought but I think I will take my chances with them."
"Hmm. Nice decision but unfortunately I wasn't asking for your opinion on my choice."
Now call Loki what you may, but the God of Deception knew when he had to pack his things and bolt… and one such situation was currently playing out. But karma was a very petty bitch as his 'Ride the sky and fuck out' card wasn't working in the current situation.
"Come on now. We should be able to talk about this like the gentlemen we are. After all, we are men of standards." Loki stepped back as Draul took a step forward.
"Maybe next time we can have this talk."
"Next time? I take it then that you are not going to kill us?" Hope blossomed in Loki's heart. He had been dreading the worst but then he remembered that Draul had said he wanted to teach them a lesson. How could they learn a lesson if they were dead?
That thought alone should have brought him peace of mind had it not been for the sorry state of the others.
Hogun was disarmed… literally.
Sif was hexed with a rather disturbing spell.
Volstagg might already be dining with death.
Fandral… when did Fandral have his own sword piercing through him?
Thor was miserable.
Just because he was leaving them alive didn't mean there was no other way, more malicious ways, of making sure the lesson stuck.
After all the training they went through. After all the months of fighting and challenging warriors across the realms only for them to be defeated in a way worse than they first were.
Feeling emboldened by the fact that they would live, Loki stood his ground and asked a question that he hoped wouldn't get him killed.
"Why would you leave us alive? Afraid of the Allfather." To his surprise, Draul gave a dismissive snort.
"More like it would be such a hassle to fight him as I currently am. Do not take that as confidence of your life should you make any other plans regarding me, because I assure you Loki, you will die. Tis a promise."
Loki bristled as looked at him, the blazing eyes of the man who just promised him his death. A promise he knew the man would uphold should he go for the proverbial third strike.
Just at that moment, the atmosphere around Draul turned frightening and Loki could swear at that and that moment alone, he understood what it meant to fear death.
It all happens in an instant. An instant that made Loki realize what it meant to truly be a God.
He didn't know when they appeared, but the same instant, an axe and a purple stone appeared in the hands of a man and the planet shifted.
Light fell on the planet and with it came a pressure so vast that Loki could not tell the end of it.
What frightened him to his bone was that the moment the unmistakable light of the Bifrost fell on the planet, Draul swung his axe with a mighty shattering force only for it to meet a resistance as a golden spear met it the moment its edge grazed the light.
A deep fissure ran through at least half, dividing the highest mountain of the nine planets in the Sol System into two parts.
"You will cease this moment." A deep voice flowed out of the smoke, blowing it all away to reveal an old man decked in golden armor, wielding a golden spear with a contingent of soldiers behind him.
"Hey old man. Keep your boys in line would you? Or else the next time this happens, the only thing your light will pick up is their body parts." Tension was thick as a squadron of elite soldiers waiting on the order of their king, facing off against a man that, from the looks of it, fell Asgard's elite warriors in battle along with their prince.
"I thank you for sparing them. Being young comes with pride and youthful arrogance." Odin Borson, The Allfather, came in person along with his personal Einherjars to confront Draul.
While others might not understand, Loki could see the nuances in their words and the confrontation, along with their following actions.
The two men drew back their weapons as if in tacit agreement and the tension immediately bled out.
"This isn't a favor to you. You should know what I want." Draul said as he relaxed his axe still at his side and the Infinity Stone in hand.
"Aye. Though I must say, I would have never expected one so young to have knowledge of the Infinity Stones."
At those words, Loki's eyes practically bulged.
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