1.5 months later
These three months had been hectic for Liam to say the least. Even though the Stark Industries had helped Liam to build the Marvel company, at the end of the day he still had the most shares in the company, so many things would still have to go through his approval. Though he wasn't of legal age yet, it didn't mean all of the responsibilities wouldn't fall on his shoulders.
Liam was annoyed by this attention and running around, but he couldn't complain as he was getting money out of it and so was the family and his friends. Though his friends were nowhere near what he was getting, they tried to share his burden as much as possible. Olivia, Liam's mother, also took an active role.
She chose the office and the other logistics, while Stark Industries were handling the matters. Meanwhile, the products had been announced by his company as Stark Industries retrofitted themselves to make the new products. At least some of them, while Marvel started building some factories in USA and in other parts of the world.
Cheap labour was always the demand.
But while he was doing so, he hadn't forgotten his main goal. Completing Shadow of War and his time in Shadow of Mordor. He was able to progress the fastest in this game. The first one took a year. The last one took a few months.
But this. This only took 1 and a half month. He was now full accustomed with the combat. He was finally at Minas Morgul. The bitter cold of the fortress of Minas Morgul gnawed at Liam's skin as he stepped into the inner sanctum. The Ring of Power pulsed on his finger, a double-edged boon that both strengthened and enslaved him. The Ring gave him power but also knew that by the end he would be betrayed, but playing the game for so long, the betrayal was probably what Talion wished for.
But his fate would not be his own soon.
"Isildur must be freed. His fate is not his own, but Sauron's will. You must sever that chain, Talion. Only then can we finish what we have begun."Ahead, Isildur emerged from the shadows, his spectral form twisted by Sauron's corruption. The former king of Gondor's once-noble visage was now a mask of anguish and wrath."You dare to stand before me? You, a servant of death, presume to judge me?""I am no servant of death," Liam roared, as he was now pissed with the same remark from every major NPC. The battle erupted in a storm of light and shadow. Isildur moved with the swiftness of a specter, while Liam used his power and the Ring of Talion to counter Isuldur."Do not falter, Talion," Celebrimbor urged. "He is but a puppet of Sauron. Free him, and take another step toward our victory."Liam spun away from Isildur's assault, channeling Celebrimbor's power into a burst of wraith energy. The spectral blast struck Isildur squarely, sending him staggering back. But the corrupted king recovered quickly, his form twisting as he summoned wraiths of his own—dark apparitions that lunged at Liam with razor-sharp claws.
One by one, Liam dispatched the wraiths, his sword a blur of blue fire as it cleaved through their incorporeal forms. He was heaving and panting a bit, because every parry against this man was tough. This was the first time he was facing him so he was swimming in unchartered territories.
"I don't remember fighting him that hard in the game." Liam muttered. Once a while Liam would say absurd things which would throw Celebrimbor into a confusion. When Celebrimbor said of how he had lied of his memory, of how he was using him. Talion never seemed to be fazed by his words. He was attached to him, so he could feel his emotions a bit too.
This man seemed to know everything and there was also a memory of Talion that Celebrimbor was never able to access and this stumped him too. Sometimes Celebrimbor felt like a clown in front of him and this irritated him. He felt he didn't have power over Talion, even after he forged a new Ring of Power.
Now they were in the endgame and still spoke weird words that he could never understand. Sometimes he spoke of Marvel, multiversal war, Celestials, Thanos, the Gods.. And for some reason whenever he uttered those names, he could feel that Talion had genuine fear in his eyes.
Even the name of Sauron never scared him. But those names did. He was ever curious, and even asked him about it, but never got a proper answer. Training for around 60 years did have it's price and it was one of them. Loss of a bit of sanity when you live in a same place with the same person for such a long time.
After a long and lengthy fight with Liam dodging and sneaking around he was finally able to best Isuldur in battle. He used the supposed power of wraith to control him, but at the end Talion decided to just kill him.
"Find peace in death."
Celebrimbor was angry that he had taken that step and as expected and then after a small disagreement where Celebrimbor said he wanted to control the army of Sauron, Elatriel and Celebrimbor betrayed him and the Ring was taken away. Elatriel was the new one with the wraith power, while Talion laid dead on the ground.
But of course, how could the story end here. He was raised from half death again with the help of Ring left by Isuldur and thus now he had a new army. While this was happening, Celebrimbor and Elatriel went to face Sauron.
Celebrimbor finally had to face Sauron, of course this time Liam had taken over his body unbeknownst to him and had to fight this monster for several hours and thankfully though it was the longest fight he ever faced, he lost less health if he ever misplaced a single strike.
It was only once that had happened but unlike other times, he didn't die immediately.