He Made Things Too Easy

Human World, South China Sea, Uninhabited Island.

"Now, what else can you do but wait for your own death, Scathach." Loki said with a disdainful smile. "Honestly, you should have died during the Great War. Now, I will rectify that oversight."

"Wow!" James exclaimed in mock surprise. "Did we really fuck up like he said? I mean, maybe falling into a trap was part of his nefarious scheme."

Against their better judgement, everyone on site, aside from Loki, chuckled slightly. Loki, on the other hand, Became visibly angry at James' mockery. However, James noticed that the three wolves showed no emotion in their expressions. There was no anger, bloodlust, or excitement... Nothing at all.

"Hey, Master." James said quiet enough that Loki would not be able to hear. "Something seems off with Fenrir and the other two."

Hearing that, Scathach looked at the three wolves, then she looked at Loki and noticed what was wrong.

"I see." Scathach said with a smile. "Loki is controlling them by force."

"What do you mean?" James asked curiously.

"Those gems that are usually on Loki's forehead are missing, you have noticed, right?" Scathach asked.

James nodded in response.

"Fenrir, Skoll, and Hati each have one on their forehead." Scathach continued. "And those gems are still connected to Loki."

"Oh, I get it." James said with a nod. "Then, this could be easier than we expected if we handle things correctly. With the two pups at the advanced-level of the ultimate-rank, keeping them busy, if not putting them down directly, won't give us as much trouble as we expected."

"That is correct." Scathach replied with a nod.

Meanwhile, Vali was having a crisis internally.

'Damn it!' Vali thought to himself. 'How are the rest of my team supposed to help me steal Fenrir with this space lock? Adding Fenrir to my team was the only reason I accepted Azazel's request. Now my plans are ruined. I hope they don't find a way to interrupt my acquisition of Gogmagog, too.'

"Are you insects finished with your little strategy meeting?" Loki asked impatiently. "Not that having a strategy will make a difference."

"Oh, a strategy meeting?" James replied in a playful tone. "Nah, we were just seeing how long you would wait before you got impatient. And as it so happens, Lancer won the bet."

"You dare to mock a god!?" Loki shouted angrily. Then, in the same tone he ordered Fenrir, Skoll, and Hati. "Kill them!! Kill them all!"

After Loki's angry roars, Fenrir and his two sons charged toward James' peerage. Then, Loki opened his robe once again.

"Man, I'm getting some real flasher vibes from this guy. Can't he summon his beasts without opening his robes like that?"

Ignoring James' insult, Loki continued his summoning. Like Fenrir and his sons, his next summon also emerged from the robe. This time, however, the number of summons was much higher. From his robe, an uncountable number of smaller copies of Midgardsormr were summoned.

"James, this wasn't part of the plan." Rias said as she watched the high number of serpentine dragons.

"There's nothing to worry about, Rias." Sona replied instead of James. "They're all only middle-rank. Even though there are a lot of them, we should be able to handle them if we're careful and work together."

Everyone nodded at Sona's assessment.

"Okay, like we planned." James shouted. "Baraqiel and Rossweisse, use Gleipnir to slow down Fenrir. Lancer, Dante, Skoll and Hati are yours. Be careful of their bites. They should be a doozie."

With that, Lancer, Dante, Scathach, Rossweisse, and Baraqiel charged forward to complete their tasks.

"Ayame, go help Dante." James ordered while maintaining eye contact with Loki.

"Understood, James-Sama." Ayame said as she vanished from her spot behind James.

"Ri Ri, Sona, you and your peerages should work with my peerage to deal with these big snakes." James said as he continued to give out orders. "Vali, you're with me. Let's put this arrogant god in his place."

Everyone else nodded and began to fight the Midgardsormr copies. At the same time, Vali equipped his [Balance Breaker]. Then, without waiting for James, Vali charged forward at Loki.

"Jeez, he's a bit impatient, isn't he?" James said with a chuckle.

Then, like Vali, James also equipped his [Balance Breaker]. After a quick flash of light, James was wearing his [Shihakusho]. With that, he charged behind Vali toward Loki.

Despite moving after Vali, James was the first to reach Loki. Due to his higher rank and a fighting style that emphasized swiftness over power and his [Flash Step], the only one who was surprised was Loki.

[Boost!] x 10

As the sound of James power increasing rang out, James lowered his stance and gripped Ochiru Sakura's hilt. Then, at a speed impossible for anyone under the advanced-level of the ultimate-rank to follow with their eyes, James drew the sword and slashed at Loki's torso. Reacting quickly, Loki spread a barrier in front of himself and successfully defended against James' iaido.

[Divide!] x 5

However, because he was focused on defending against James' attack, Loki lost track of Vali who circled around the two and through a punch into the Trickster God's back which sent him flying upward.

"Nice!" James shouted as he raised his left hand and pointed at Loki in the air. "[Hado Number 33: Sokatsui]."

In the next moment, a torrent of pale blue flames rushed toward Loki from James' palm. At the same time, Vali charged up toward Loki with his blue energy wings spread wide.

"I'll make you damned devils pay for daring to strike me!" Loki shouted as he conjured another barrier to block James' [Kido Spell].

At the same time, Rossweisse and Baraqiel managed to wrap the links of Gleipnir around Fenrir's torso. Although they suffered some light injuries, they were able to limit the distance that Fenrir could cover on this battlefield. Now, they did not have to worry that Fenrir would be able to attack random members of their party while they fended off other opponents.

"You two have done well." Scathach said as she fended off a claw strike from Fenrir. "Now, Valkyrie, you should go assist in the battle against the snakes. Meanwhile, you should go and assist my other disciple, Fallen Angel."

Though neither was pleased to be called without their names, Rossweisse and Baraqiel nodded as they went to assist the other battlefields. Then, after gaining a bit of distance, Scathach flourished her spear and addressed Fenrir.

"Such a powerful beast as you should not be enslaved like so." Scathach said as she took her fighting stance. "So, I will do something to remedy that. Then, maybe you would be interested in accompanying this Scathach for the next while."

Naturally, because of the mind control, Fenrir did not reply to Scathach's statement. Instead, as far as the chains of Gleipnir would allow, he charged at Scathach with his jaw full of sharp fangs at the ready. As Fenrir neared his prey, he opened his snout wide, in an attempt to sink his fangs into Scathach. In response, Scathach calmly side stepped the incoming bite and swung her spear down on Fenrir's nose.

*Bang!*

The strength behind Scathach's strike forced Fenrir's head into the ground. With that, Fenrir's mouth was filled with sand as he was also forced to bite down on the sand beneath them. Then, while sneezing, Fenrir raised his head. After a few sneezes, Fenrir focused on Scathach once again.

"So, your build is still similar to other wolves." Scathach said after noticing Fenrir's reaction. "All your involuntary reactions are the same. A good enough strike on the snout will still make you sneeze."

With that new knowledge, Scathach rushed toward Fenrir, who swung his front paw at her. Using her spear to block the sharp claws, Scathach used Fenrir's strike to reposition herself near his shoulder. Then, while still in mid-air, she thrust her spear forward.

"*Roar!*" Fenrir roared with pain as Scathach's spear pierced into his shoulder joint.

Before Scathach could pull her spear from Fenrir's body, she noticed that once again, Fenrir's jaws were approaching. So, instead of trying to pull the spear out, she kicked its blunt end and propelled herself away from the enraged beast. This of course, caused the spear to be forced deeper into the shoulder joint. In essence, Scathach took one of Fenrir's legs out of the fight.

After landing safely on the ground, Scathach summoned a new spear into her hands.

"This would have been more interesting if you were more than a puppet." Scathach said with a hint of disappointment in her tone. "Fortunately, the chances of you hurting the others are reduced this way as well."

With that, Scathach charged forth once again. Using her vast fighting experience, she either dodged or deflected all of Fenrir's incoming attacks. And without the use of one of his legs, Fenrir's mobility was greatly restricted. Then, he was restricted even further by Gleipnir that was wrapped around his body.

With such a serious handicap, Scathach methodically picked apart Fenrir by attacking his joints and tendons. After approximately ten minutes, Fenrir was completely immobilized. Across his large body were many small and precise wounds that would do as little damage as possible.

"That fool Loki caused his greatest fighting force to be like this." Scathach said while looking at the downed Fenrir. "If he had treated such a powerful beast as he should, I doubt he would have had any problems beginning his precious Ragnarok."

With that said, Scathach walked over to some lose links of Gleipnir. Then, she picked up the chain and wrapped it around Fenrir's snout. After muzzling the giant wolf, Fenrir stood atop its snout and aimed her spear at the gem embedded on its forehead.

"Once I get rid of this, maybe you'll be willing to talk to me." Scathach said before thrusting her spear at the gem.

*Crash!*

With one precise strike, Scathach shattered the gem and light returned to Fenrir's eyes. Then, with no hostility, Fenrir looked at the woman standing on his snout.

"It looks like that worked." Scathach said with a small smile. "Now, you have three choices."

Although Fenrir was unable to speak, Scathach knew that he could understand her. So, she continued.

"First, you can follow me and become my familiar." Scathach explained. "Second, you can return to the Island of Lyngvi to be bound once again. Or third, death."

After Scathach explained the choices, she held eye contact with Fenrir for a few moments. Then, Fenrir lowered his head and closed his eyes. Seeing this reaction, Scathach smiled. Then, she began to chant the incantation for the [Familiar Contract]. After a few moments, Scathach completed the contract with Fenrir. Then, she unwrapped the chains of Gleipnir from around Fenrir's body. After that, she used her rune magic to heal the wolf's injuries and return his mobility.

"Now, I suppose we should assist the young ones with those snakes." Scathach said. As she stroked Fenrir's fur.

"Grr." Fenrir growled softly in acknowledgement.

Then, the duo charged into the center of the crowd of Midgardsormr copies and began to wreak havoc.

Meanwhile, Loki was exchanging moves against James and Vali. As he did, his frustration began to mount. Although he was not yet injured, he had been struck many times already. On top of that he was unable to injure either of them. Also, his power had been divided several times by Vali.

"What!?" Loki shouted in disbelief. "How did this happen?"

Without paying attention to James and Vali, Loki looked toward the place where Fenrir should have been fighting Scathach. When he did, he saw that Fenrir was immobilized and that the jewel he was using to control Fenrir had been shattered.

Before he could be distracted any further, however, Loki had to dodge a strike from James that would have beheaded him. However, because he was still somewhat distracted, he was unable to dodge Vali's punch from above.

*Bang!*

*Boom!*

Loki was sent crashing into the sand below and a large amount of sand was blown into the air as a result of the impact.

"How the hell is he not dead yet?" Vali asked angrily. "And how does his power keep coming back after I divide it?"

"First of all, we're not supposed to kill him." James said while watching the cloud of sand. "Or did you forget?"

"I know that." Vali said with annoyance. "It was a figure of speech, a turn of phrase."

"How do you turn a phrase?" James asked with obviously fake confusion on his face.

Vali only sighed in response after seeing James' expression. In return, James smiled then he looked back down at the sand cloud.

"I'm guessing his power continues to return because of his connection to his pantheon." James replied to Vali's second question calmly. "If Odin would just kick him out of the pantheon, this would be much easier. Unfortunately, Odin doesn't want to weaken his pantheon."

Vali nodded in understanding as he, too, also watched the cloud of sand.

"Get ready, he's coming again... Pause." James warned.

Vali could only look at James incredulously for that inappropriately timed joke.