CHAPTER 233

[Bucky Barnes POV]

I dodged the magic that sailed towards me and appeared right in front of Modred with a hand going for his stomach only for it to hit a last-second barrier that slowed it down for a moment, one which he used to warp away from me. 

Not caring for the distance he traversed, I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck despite his shock and head-butted with a force so great that it created a sonic boom. Not releasing his scruff, energy filled my other hand as I started layering punches after punches to his face. 

His body dissolved as another of my punch was about to impact him only for him to reform back as he realized that his state didn't matter to me. 

Unlike the others, me and Yelena's past combat experience and mastery heavily complimented our abilities, magnifying our lethality in close combat. 

His face was already pristinely healed up as my fist left him. Reaction to my senses, I dodged backwards as his body transformed into a grotesque form with a red mist over him. 

Despite my resistance to this realm, he was still the master of it hence the advantage was naturally in his favor given as how he could combined reality manipulation and his dark magic to undo anything that acted against him, but despite all that I knew that I was hurting him for sure and all I needed was one stroke to end him. 

Not caring for his form or the monsters that spewed out of nowhere, I rushed at him, senses fully focused on my target while everything else were distractions. 

Punching through the head of one demon and dissecting the other with a leg swipe in instantaneous movements, I shot forwards at Modred who had a multitude of spells appearing around him in a disco fashion. 

He fired off the spells but I just grit my teeth and shot through them all, taking the brunt of all the attacks to my person but I never relented. 

Expecting my attack, a staff appeared in his hands which he used to block me  as he was pushed backwards. 

'Every strike.'

I went in for another attack only for my vision to change as something blindsided me in my torso before I could react and hit me away. 

'Every direction.'

I didn't fight the momentum and just sailed with it. This was a reality time-space which meant that those who perceived the changes could alter it to some degree, and that was what I did. Which was why I was flying towards a surprised Modred instead of away from him. 

Increasing the distance meant nothing since I will always reach him. While he controlled the laws of this domain and everything in it, I was the one in control of how much it could affect me. If I didn't want the increased distance to affect me then it wouldn't. 

If this was soccer then Modred will be the one with the home field advantage who also bribed the ref and the other officials while I was that one player who just doesn't care for a red card and will foul any player I want. He could make as many rules as he wants, but only I would determine how and whether it would affect me. 

Before he could say anything stupid like questioning reality, a hook to the face put everything on hold and canceling the damage didn't discourage me from mutilating him even more. As the fight went on, I realized just how bastardly immortal he was in his domain. Not that it would change anything. 

His magic tore through my skin as a blast from me shot his downwards but I shrugged it off since it disappeared. 

The sky of the domain we were in rumbled and started forming a swirl that didn't look good for comfort. 

Not thinking twice, I made a few steps through space and appeared a few distance away from him as he kept pushing his own distance forward. 

My chest opened up and shot a gigantic blue beam at him that crumbled his magic barriers but he still managed to block it but that was all I needed. 

One of my hands turned into a sharp blade that pulsated with a dangerous hum as I brought it down on him. He reacted fast but not fast enough not to lose his left wrist to my bladed hand which made him grunt in pain. 

His numerous spells tried activating but my limited control over space stilled it for a moment and a moment was all I needed to cut him from his neck down to waist. 

His screams were gurgled but I knew it wasn't enough for him to die and just when I was wondering how to bring him out of his domain, the entire thing shattered and whatever he was cooking up in the sky fizzled away. 

I could feel the tremble that shook through everything and wiped out any other demon or symbiote on this planet. 

Before Modred could adjust himself from the backlash, I flash-stepped behind him and two pairs of limbs grew from my body and latched onto different parts of his body before ripping it apart. 

I looked outside the sky and though I couldn't see him, I could feel it; a cold hate. He just wanted to end something. 

…. 

[Draul St. Cross POV] 

The moment I entered back into my universe, the powers I got from it flowed through once again uninterrupted. 

If my fight with Knull had taught me anything, it reinstated that there was no such thing as absolute. 

While I was stronger than Arishem, Tiamut and Exitar, they were still able to act unimpeded inside my universe, same with Knull. The reason for that was because they were above the universal laws, or more aptly my universal laws. 

Universal space, time and reality had no effect on them, at least not on a very big scale. 

My eyes scanned everywhere and I fought my targets; the Chaos King was halfway in and Odin was fighting Set. Chthon was in his realm but he would come back sooner or later, and Satannish was dead. I looked at Bucky and Natasha who were fighting some sorcerers and wiped everything around them out, including the realm Bucky was in. 

Odin was but a few hits away from death and Set was savoring his last moments, unfortunately…. 

BOOOM! SPLEEECH! 

I flew directly through Set, destroying all his head and killing him in one clean strike. I absorbed the body into myself, taking whatever dregs of Power he had for myself. 

Ignoring the astounded Odin, I looked at the Celestials falling in droves as they tried to prevent the Chaos King from entering. 

This was truly turning into multiversal war as holes started appearing all over my universe. 

Planets were being drowned in darkness and annihilated with fire but I didn't witness it. I had other important things to focus on. 

"Go."

Two figures flew away from my body; the sub-consciousness of my Space and Reality given form. 

They went their separate ways, tearing down everything in their path turning the already chaotic war zone into numerous death beds. 

I disappeared from where I was as I felt my space stir and with it came out The Elder God of Darkness and the First Demon – Chthon. 

'This guy.'

Even without looking at the book that floated at his side, I was very sure that this Chthon had done something wrong. 

'The Darkhold huh.' There was no longer any Darkhold in this universe and the few that had thousand others I had. 

Irrespective of what he did, CLANG!, we clashed together only for a derisive laughter and snort to escape him. 

"Quaint."

My axe clanged the cover of the Darkhold but it wasn't torn in anyway. 

Chthon smiled wickedly at me and red fog started flowing out of the open book and permeating through this part of the universe, forcing a lot of warriors and Gods to retreat for fear of what it was but I already knew. 

Chthon forcefully fused his universe with mine, giving me a more troublesome headache than Knull. He was the first sorcerer and his magic was simply unparalleled and also the fact that he fused it with this universe meant he could draw from the omniscience he had in his own realm towards this one. 

Another axe appeared in my second hand and I flung downwards with a shattering force but it still didn't budge the book. 

The number of worlds that have been lost due to disaster from our fight and the killing intent and evil energy we were all producing, the next year will be even more hectic. 

The Darkhold pushed on for a few seconds but there was no way it could push me back. Reality and every other universal law was lost before us as we clashed arms. 

Null and Power flowed through me, and so did Space, Soul and Mind. His spells were very dangerous and it was on a multiversal scale. Chthon far eclipsed Set in strength and it was not even a joking matter. 

Even Knull somehow was lacking in front of who I was facing. 

"Don't think too much, I am better than you is all." Ignoring his voice I conjured my own magic as the hundreds of Soul and Mind Stones I had went to work. 

My magic clashes against his but he only looked amused and nothing else as I pulled back my axe and joined both of them into one; joining their power and destructiveness. 

I looked back for a brief moment and sighed. 'This universe is gone.'

The tear on the veil increased as all the power from thousands of Infinity Stones flooded my body and meshed with my Null. I could feel some universes being destroyed while some remained standing but I didn't have the luxury or option to care. 

No words were said between us as we both clashed for the second time and the heavens above the stars split open. 

Chthon definitely didn't care if this universe was destroyed and to a certain extent, neither did I. We could always rebuild if we survive this. 

My axe seemed to shatter all preconceived notions and authorities as its edge impacted Chthon's Darkhold and cut it halfway into two. 

Chthon didn't look amused and fired off a huge blast at my face which pushed my back but I immediately destroyed that body and manifested another one. 

Chthon's magic was the most potent magical force I've ever seen and my former body was as good as gone had I stayed inside for prolonged periods. 

This was someone who was said to make even the Abstracts fearful. A prime multiversal evil. 

With the Darkhold and Flickering Realms besides him, he could be as powerful as he wanted but none of that would deter me. Death didn't faze me and the only thing that could happen that would faze me a little was ceasing to exist. 

This universe was already on its last legs and in order not to drag those fighting to their death, I rewrote the laws. 

I dragged them to another universe, or rather exchanged the space around us with another. 

"Does your voice fall you, or are you suddenly dumb? No matter. They all scream at the end." Dark shadowy apparitions formed behind him out of the Darkhold while I held my axe with one hand and let the other loose. 

'Will you please die?' 

Those were the only thoughts that occupied my mind and we both sprung into action for the second time, destroying anything that happened to be around us and making space scream as we tore it apart with impunity. 

Chthon and his apparitions rushed at me, each with a mad cackle of their own and the only thing I could do was swing my axe at them. 

Swinging and swinging until I couldn't anymore and they were dead.