{ Dread it. Run from it. The new chapter arrives all the same. }
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"There is still the issue of the Aether," Thor added, accepting his hammer . He looked toward Jane with a deeply worried expression, his brow furrowed with concern.
Ethan followed his gaze, his mind racing with "meta-knowledge" regarding the infamous liquid.
He recalled that Malekith eventually extracted the Aether from Jane Foster on Svartalfheim by utilizing his inherent, supernatural connection to the substance—literally drawing the sludge out of her body and into himself.
He also remembered how Rocket will employ a specialized "Aether Extractor" to safely remove the stone from her body.
That device, Ethan assumed, had been built by the raccoon himself, who stood among the smartest characters in the entirety of the MCU.
Ethan possessed neither the connection to the Aether required for the first method nor the technological expertise to construct a device for the second. Therefore, he turned to the one thing he did have: Jujutsu.
"Maximum Technique: Chimera Max Samsara."
Similar to his standard Chimera Samsara, this version possessed an exponential increase in potency. Ethan rarely deployed it, as the base Samsara was usually more than sufficient for his needs.
Max Samsara was a specialized fusion of only the Round Deer and Mahoraga. Its appearance was that of a majestic, nine-foot-tall deer when standing on all four legs, with the iconic Mahoraga Wheel hovering silently above its head.
Upon the sudden manifestation of the titanic creature within the room, every member of the group reflexively stood up, their eyes wide with caution and awe.
Ethan placed a hand on the Chimera's muzzle, gently caressing it. He turned his gaze toward Jane and spoke. "This beauty will help us extract that thing inside you. Though we will still need some device to hold the damn liquid," he added, looking directly at Thor as he finished his sentence.
"The Aether, as far as I know, is sentient. It will attempt to attach itself to the nearest living host the moment it is freed from Miss Foster, seeking to leech off their life force," Ethan explained.
Tora spoke as he manifested in the room. "I might be able to help with that..." he said, transmuting a lantern-like container forged of Destroyer metal enchanted by all kinds of containment spell, Ethan examined it for a second and handed it back to Tora with a approving look..It was always better when his shikigamis took initiative..
Now the room contained a giant Deer and a bipedal Tiger.
Ethan gave a subtle nod and Max Samsara moved toward Jane and bathed the room in a dense, white RCT glow. The wheel above its head spun once.
Click.
The RCT treated the Aether as a foreign substance and started purging it from Jane. The Aether began flowing out of Jane's body, where Tora stood waiting, guiding the fluid into the device. After a grueling few minutes, the glow of the RCT subsided, and the Aether was finally extracted.
Ethan de-summoned Max Samsara, though the Wheel of Harmony materialized above Ethan's own head and made a rotation.
Click.
Six more rotations remained until the Divine General adapted to the Aether—the Reality Stone.
As the Aether left her body, Jane collapsed. Thor rushed toward her as Ethan retrieved an RCT disk from his shadow, placed it above her body, and activated it.
"She will be alright... she's just exhausted from the extraction process," Ethan said, his voice steady as he monitored Jane's recovery.
Thor gave a grateful nod and turned to face the rest of the group, his expression hardening. "What I am about to ask of you is treason of the highest order. Malekith knew the Aether was here; he could sense its power, and that is what drew him toward Asgard. We must move the Aether off-world immediately," he added,
gesturing toward the containment lantern.
Thor stood up, pacing with a restless energy. "We still need a way to Svartálfheim. My father has forbidden me from launching a counter-attack; he sits planning in his War Council, clouded by grief. But we must strike back when they least expect it."
"The Bifrost has been shut down, and the Tesseract is locked away in the vaults," Lady Sif added, highlighting the impossibility of their situation.
Every eye turned toward Ethan for a solution; after all, he was known to teleport at will through the shadows.
"Yeah... I can't go to places I haven't marked or don't have a clear sensory idea of. I can't help you there," Ethan said, raising both hands in a defensive gesture.
While a Sling Ring portal can technically be opened to places a sorcerer has never physically visited, it is significantly more difficult, requiring intense and precise mental visualization of the destination.
Although Ethan possessed a visual of Svartálfheim from his memories of the movie, the fragmented images that he could share with Tora were simply weren't enough to secure a stable gateway.
"There are paths between worlds known only to a few..." Fandral noted, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"Only one, actually," Thor corrected.
"No," Volstagg replied grimly, the realization of who Thor was referring to hitting him.
The group went silent as they all turned toward Thor. They couldn't utilize the Bifrost or the Tesseract—Odin had strictly forbidden it—and there was only one person left available who knew the secret shadow paths between the worlds.
Loki.
Later that day:
"This is so unlike you, brother," Loki remarked, pacing alongside Thor. "So clandestine. Are you quite sure you wouldn't rather just punch your way out?"
"If you keep speaking, I just might," Thor replied.
"Fine, as you wish... I am not even here," Loki said, shimmering as he morphed his appearance into that of a standard Einherjar soldier. "Is this better?"
"It is better company, at the very least," Thor replied dryly.
"Still, we could be less conspicuous," Loki countered. He shifted back before transmuting Thor into the likeness of Lady Sif. "Hmm... Brother, you look ravishing."
"It will hurt no less when I kill you in this form," Thor warned, after a brief, disgruntled examination of his current state.
"Very well... Perhaps you prefer one of your new companions, given that you seem to like them so much..." Loki mused.
In a flash of green light, he transmuted into Captain Rogers. "Oh... this is much better. So tight. The confidence... I can feel the righteousness surging. Hey! Wanna have a rousing discussion about truth, honor, and patriotism? God bless Amer—"
Loki didn't get to finish as Thor clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him into a dark corner, spotting a squad of Einherjar soldiers patrolling the immediate area.
There Loki had asked for his daggers back; he received a pair of handcuffs in return.
Fifteen minutes later, the group—consisting of Ethan, the Warriors Three, Lady Sif, and Heimdall, whom Thor had convinced to delay reporting them until they had escaped—waited expectantly as Loki and Thor entered through the main doors.
Loki froze the moment he spotted the sorcerer. "You didn't mention we had company from Midgard!" he exclaimed, his voice laced with annoyance.
"No... no, I didn't. Heh... I thought you liked tricks," Thor replied, offering a broad, satisfied smile at his brother's misfortune.
Loki stepped toward Ethan. "So, we meet again..."
"That we do," Ethan replied, without so much as glancing up from his mobile screen.
Ethan was currently focused on his smartphone, which functioned as a tactical interface. He had developed a method similar to that of Mei Mei or Kenjaku, allowing him to broadcast and share the vision of his Shikigami.
Right now, a Chimera Raiju was soaring near the dark ridge mountains east of the Bifrost, feeding a live aerial view directly to his palm.
Ethan cleared his throat and handed Loki the Stark Phone. "Where exactly is the origin of the Shadow Path?"
Loki looked bewildered, staring at the high-definition display. "This is shared vision in real-time, is it?" Upon receiving a nod from Ethan, he pointed at a specific, unassuming rocky cave. "There... though we will need one of the ships to cross the chasm."
"Don't worry about the ride," Ethan said, glancing toward Thor. There was no longer any need to steal the dark elves ship from where it had crashed in the Asgardian main hall.
Ethan commanded his Raiju to descend upon the specified coordinates. He then retrieved a Hiraishin Kunai from his shadow; he held it for a brief second before the blade flickered out of existence. Using Shadow Manipulation, he teleported the marker directly to his Shikigami's location.
"You all ready?" Ethan asked. The Warriors Three gripped their weapons a little tighter, while Loki remained sullenly bound in his handcuffs.
Heimdall stepped away from the group, tasked with staying behind to inform the All-Father of their departure once they were clear. Ethan placed his hands firmly on Sif and Thor's shoulders; they, in turn, reached out to the others until the group formed a loose circle.
With a final collective nod, the world blurred. A heartbeat later, they were teleported directly to the mouth of the cave leading to the Shadow Path.
As the group materialized, the sudden pressure change caused by the wind buffeted them, snapping their capes and furs like whips.
Loki looked around at the desolate ridge and asked, "Where is our ride?"
Ethan simply smiled and replied, "Behind you," as the building-sized form of the Verdant Dragon Shikigami manifested from the gloom.
Ethan had summoned Ryujin, the Reversal of the Great Serpent, as it possessed the capability to fly at subsonic speeds. He pivoted on his feet, jumped, and landed squarely atop the dragon's head.
The Warriors Three and Lady Sif wasted no time, making their way along the dragon's neck to find their footing.
Ryujin turned its massive gaze toward Loki and let out a guttural sound of disapproval.
"I don't think he wants me to ride him," Loki suggested dryly. "And where exactly am I meant to hold on? There are no scales to grasp."
"Quit whining," Thor grunted, clasping his brother firmly before taking to the sky and landing safely on Ryujin's back.
And so they made their way to Svartalfheim. When they finally arrived, the sight shocked them; they had come expecting a battalion or a large company of soldiers, but what they found was a true army.
Roughly a hundred ships were docked, surrounded by tens of thousands of foot soldiers spanning the dark plains.
"Odin's Beard! It's an army..." Volstagg gasped.
"Thanks for the commentary, genius," Fandral retorted, his hand tight on his sword hilt.
"What do we do? Report back?" Lady Sif suggested, her eyes scanning the overwhelming odds.
"Report back? We don't have time for that," Loki countered. He pointed toward Ethan and added, "Just let him loose on them, and this facade will be over."
"I can't believe I am saying this... but Loki is right," Thor spoke next. "We don't have time to return. The Convergence will happen any minute. If even a small portion of this army is transported to an undefended region across the Nine Realms, they will lay waste to anything in their path."
Ethan stood up, retrieving a longbow and a single arrow from his shadow. "So it's decided, then..."
He notched the arrow and took a general aim toward the sea of enemies below. His party looked surprised, but before they could stop him from prematurely revealing their position, he launched the projectile.
A visible thunderclap echoed as Ethan released the string. They all tracked the arrow's trajectory, their eyes widening as the single shaft transformed into tens of thousands, multiplying until they effectively blotted out the sky.
This was a Cursed Tool imbued by his Chimera: Piercing Rabbits—a fusion of Rabbit Escape and the Piercing Ox. Much like the Chain of a Thousand Miles, this tool utilized a specialized recursive property.
While the arrow possessed less piercing power than his standard Momentum Arrow, it was more than sufficient for the task.
When the barrage landed, it obliterated the enemy's frontline. Even ten ships caught in the initial spray were shredded by the sheer volume of the projectiles—all from a single, devastating attack.
"I told you so," Loki remarked, an involuntary shiver running down his spine.
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A/N: So how was the chapter?
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