CHAPTER 230

Odin bled through every orifice in his body as Set completely overpowered him in every way. It had been his misconception that he could keep the Elder God at bay for lengthy moments but that notion had turned out to be a lie.

The scaled monsters that were of Set's summons blotted the sky and rained down upon his army and every other one staged on this battle field. The situation was looking as bleak as ever. Not even the joining of Earth's sorcerers changed anything . 

Odin's sole vision was covered in blood while his grey hair was let lose having lost his helmet in the heated battle. 

~You're going to die, old man. Let me out so that I can kill you for free before he does.~

He ignored the voice in his head in exchange for dodging the tail swipe that shattered everything that tried to resist it, putting off a few stars in the distance while turning everyone on the range of its tremors in the a most of blood. 

The old king bit in lips in frustration as he watched as Asgardian warriors fell by droves due to any attack he didn't dodge or block. This Elder God was toying with him. 

His grasp over the Odinforce was weakening as it was the only thing that had kept him in the battle but unfortunately he wasn't who he used to be. While he could pull out more power from Asgard, he didn't do so as it would just damn his people, both those at home and those fighting here, further. But nevertheless, he had set this place as his deathbed so he would fight to the bitter end. 

"Are you done, Borson? Has your flame gone out, perhaps snuffed by my breath? Is this the prelude to the Ragnarok you so much fear?" Set's unending taunt flowed into his ears once more, carrying with it a curse that weakened the spirit of all those who heard it but Odin persisted. 

Though he bled, his back remained straight in front of the clearly unsurmountable foe. "Do not boast of your own ego in front of an enemy you surpass. It is unsightly."

"And no.. My flame isn't so weak that a mere gust of putrid breath will blow out. You over compensate your abilities."

Bringing his hand to his covered eye, he hesitated not as he ripped it off, showing the darkness that hid under the empty socket only for it to light ablaze as if set on fire as his magic churned. Gungnir cried out as it strained under his partner's unflinching determination and the coagulation of Asgard's might. 

"I have prepared my own deathbed… Have you prepared yours, Elder God Set?" Odin beckoned. 

"Hahahaha! I guess even worms wriggle out of the ground when they've ground too big…" Two of his head were scarred by Odin's speared and was yet to heal; one on the top of its head, while the other from its eye to this underbelly, a gruesome wound to the mighty Elder God by Odin. Unfortunately, even the Allfather couldn't wound an Elder God and not show something for it, courtesy to a side of his face gone and the skin around it in a constant state of decay. 

"But unlike your meagre existence, I am no worm… I am a Serpent. The first of its kind. The first predator…" Miasma oozed out of its mouth in large fumes and assaulted Odin who still stood ramrod as his magic worked to pushed them away from his divine person. 

"Heh. A serpent, I see… I reckon I'll just have to cut off your head then." Though he put up a brave front, he couldn't help but worry about his fellow Skyfathers, and Zeus who had disappeared along with Chthon to somewhere out of his sight. 

Not caring of Odin's dilemma, which he would have reveled in had he known, three of Set's head attacked him with mouths wide enough to swallow full systems but Odin braced himself for it.

BOOOM! 

His wounds cried and reopened as he was sent flying due to the shockwave only for him to impact someone who caught him. 

"F-father." Thor's voice shook as he held the bloody form of his valiant father as he shivered under the gaze of the mighty reptilian beast. 

"Thor… Leave this stage." Odin said to his son as he freed himself from his grasp. 

"B-but father, let me f-" 

He tried to speak but Odin cut him off. "This is not yet your battle, son." He would not let his son fight a battle where he knew he would surely die. "You have your own battle, so have I."

Saying that, Odin kicked himself off and rushed at Set, fully knowing that his attempts were likely to end in futility. 

Sneering at the Allfather and growing tired of his ill-brained pointless struggles, he shrunk his form and appeared in front of Odin mid-charge and conjured a weapon to block against the quickly reacted strike Odin sent. 

Swiftly blocking the spear, he grabbed the God by his beards and pulled him closer only to head-butt him clean in the face and smacked the side of his face that had been burnt off. 

Odin twirled his spear and cleaved at Set's neck with the opening he saw only for Set's scale to prevent him from drawing more than a drop of blood. 

Releasing his grip on his spear only to hold it with his other hand, he avoided the blow Set punched and fired off his magic at close range that pushed Set backwards, but the slippery Elder God wasn't so easily deterred. 

Off at the distance, Thor watched as his father displayed a might he was never aware of against a clearly superior foe even as he lost. Mjölnir trembled his tight grip as lightning brewed around him. 

He could no longer watch as the vile demon who dared call himself and Elder God bit one of Odin's arm with an head he sprouted from his body and rushed at the beast only for… 

"Stand back, Thor Odinson. Do not disobey the express command of your king." He gritted his teeth so much that it spurt out blood as he heard the voice of his father, banning him from entering the battle once again, because they both knew his life wild be forfeit should he enter the fray. 

His eyes burned with hot fury that it evaporated every tears that threatened to spill out. Takin gone last look at the battle, he swung his hammer and shot towards the battle Satannish had flung him way from. 

"DIE!!!!" Unbridled rage flowed forth from his shout causing the lightning surrounding him to lose their form and run around haphazardly. 

Satannish was slow in realizing what was coming and was slammed with Thor's hammer wielded by a very furious Thunder God. 

Ororo seeing the changes in Thor made no comment as she, Bucky and Steve flowed with it and battered the Hell Lord with different range of attacks. 

"TODAY YOU DIE." Thor decreed with his voice booming power never unleashed before. Grabbing Satannish by his horns and displaying a deal of strength he never had, he raised the Hell Lord to his face level and struck him hammer against the mouth that threatened to spew its hellish flame. 

Not caring of Satannish's scream, Thor raised his hammer and the dark void of space was lit with a cascade of lightning that he wasted no second in bringing it down on Satannish. 

Complimenting Thor's attack, Ororo and Steve attacked with theirs as the former formed lances made of the power of life and lightning from her divinity  whole Steve formed a gap of turbulent space that swallowed and disintegrated everything, even light, and set it on Satannish after Ororo and Thor's attack ran their course, causing cracks to appear in reality and the energy from all three attack affected the space they were in. 

"Is he dead?" Steve, with space wrapping around him, sent his sense into the chaotic sea before them. 

"Highly unlikely, but almost there." All forms and signs of his previous frustrations were all gone as he stared fixatedly at he folding of space that swallowed Satannish with rapt acuity. 

They both nodded as they all put in their effort into killing the Hell Lord while leaving everyone else to keep the spawns of hell, darkness and serpentine evil at bay. 

"Arms at ready…"

"… Go!"

Thor shot forward as the sea gained the semblance of calmness, hammer overhead, with Ororo riding the streaks of lightning beside him while Steve was already in Satannish's range as he made the space crumble with only his presence. 

Steve's body gained a black outline as he held the space surrounding Satannish and warped a few centimeters away from his skin, not bothering with the Hell Lord's offense that phased through him only for his blackened fist that was devoid of light to impact Satannish on his chest, above his second face. 

An attack that was impossible to dodge or completely negate by material beings as it bypassed any defense set up, and even harder to dodge by immaterial beings that existed in any unit of the smallest spatial point. 

The attack shredded everything it came in contact with… No, not shredding. It deleted anything it came in with, energy included. 

Satannish lost his voice but none cared as Thor flew directly into his open wide mouth and brought down his hammer on the huge tongue he stood on. Running his lightning down the interior of the fiery devil and causing cursed blood and fire to spew out and stain his boy only for his lightning to evaporate it. 

As if taking care of the uneven state of attack he had suffered, Ororo commanded everything she could with her divinity, concept and authority:

Lightning, strength, ice, fire, space, light, earth. 

She drew everything to her to the point her nose bled but she remained unaware and pushed herself to the point her own body heated up while her already impossibly white hair turned silver, and then translucent. 

Her eyes were covered by a haze of light while a cloud formed around that entire space for hundreds of kilometers. 

Her hands were stretched to her side as all of her powers fashioned themselves after a sword. 

Seeing Thor still torturing Satannish while he still suffered from his, Steve flexed both of his fingers upwards and Thor's was displaced from his previous location to being behind Ororo. 

"I'm not done yet!" Never again letting himself to feel weak, Thor threw his hammer without care at Satannish. 

Ororo slashed her sword as Thor's hammer whizzed past her, the strike generating enough power in it that made Satannish's instinct scream and made him try to escape to his hellish plane only to find out that any attempt to escape this space was fiercely destroyed. 

Silence and light. 

That was the only thing they saw for the next few minutes as an eternal tear was cut through the fabric of space that even Steve wouldn't be able to repair in any time soon. 

They watched as the light resided only to see the gouged out form of Satannish with puddles of writhing flesh as he seemed to be on his last stand, the hellish wisps of his life flickering in and out until it shook and shined bright and held his form which surprised all of them for a moment before it abruptly went out. 

Natasha fizzled out of thin air with a wisp of dark flame that was steadily disintegrating in her hands. "Sorry for stealing your kill, guys." She said and waved her hand to get rid of the soot that remained from the flame. 

"Worry not for that slight." Thor said as his pristine hammer once again found a way to his hands. "We can take care of the rest but I'm afraid we can do nothing against Set, the one who took Zeus away and… that." 

Frustration bled out from Thor's voice as he was once again reminded of his failure and weakness but unlike before, he didn't let it bring him down but used it to stoke the cold bark of his passion into a blazing ember. 

"I hear you, but there's nothing we can do against Set and Chthon. We'll have to clear out all the fodder before moving up from there. Anyone's seen Draul yet?" Steve looked around in concern. 

"He's not yet done with his battle if not he would have been here." Ororo said before flying away, resolving herself to clear out as much of the persisting evil as she could before her beloved came. "Let's get moving. We have quite the task before us."

They did not say anything and disappeared in flashes of light towards different regions of space to help out where they could.