The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 64

Yhorm got down with such force that the illusion nearly disappeared from the mere shockwave of his jump. He let down his blade as the raging giant calmed down. He slowly dragged his blade on the ground and slowly approached the once magnificent city.

He was powerful to the point where merely burning his soul could power life and the world itself for ages. Despite being brought back from the dead and controlled, the giant still recognized his city.

The act of dragging his blade cause ravines in the very surface of the Earth itself. He sat down on the throne as he waited for them to come at him. His confidence was astonishing.

Slowly, pollen started to fill the throne room. Her enchantment was a combination of her raw power, Loki's magic filled illusions and Groot's physical features.

Sitting on the throne as the Lord of Capitol, the giant slowly drifted off but he wasn't completely out just yet. He has just grown more sluggish. A lord of Cinder would not simply fell asleep.

But, he has let his guard down thinking that his opponents would no longer bother him due to them not entering the throne room. Despite being brought back from the death, he was just as naive as he was in life.

Siegward however entered the room and Yhorm's attention immediately went on him. In this way, he failed to pay attention to anyone else. After all, red hood did not bring back the brilliant minds of the Lords, only their power.

He tried to get up only to see that he could not. He looked down to see that he was fully binded by trees. He was only stunned for a moment before he tried to shake it off. He would have succeeded if it weren't from an interruption by Siegward who went ahead and slashed straight at him.

It hit him but the damage was negligible. The flames on his body was still burning and they serve as a protective cover. Just then the back of his head was greeted with blunt force trauma.

She is now only using the stick part of her blade and was wielding it like a hammer. She used flames to form a hammer shape on the end of the stick and it worked pretty well.

As of now, the only part she could actually cut on Yhorm was the back part of his knee where Rocket has blown the armor off using his 'mini nukes'.

But it was near impossible to hit the back of his knee when he is sitting on a throne so, she had to settle for the second best.

So, she went for the head. Blunt weapons were created to be useful against chain armor and the only place where there was Yhorm was wearing chain armor was on his head. The rest were coated with plate armor and blunt weapons were useless against those.

Even for a lord of cinder, a full-blown strike to the back of the head by her is no mere attack that he could just shake off. Yhorm immediately went slump almost becoming unconscious by a single attack.

Just as he was not able to move, she quickly grabbed her blade and stabbed it into his eye. It fell off. The injury also brought Yhorm back from sluggishness on the spot. He howled in pain and anger as snapped all his bindings at once.

Fire flared out from him like an explosion. He stomped his feet on the ground as the very Earth itself transformed into chains. They spread out. He brought out his authority as the lord of giants to the limit.

Soon, the entire planet of Sakaar would be a ball of metal chains unless Yhorm was stopped. They all rose together as they destroyed everything they could.

But the spread was stopped by Wanda who has completed her role in bringing magma to the surface. It appears she wished to prove herself once more.

And now, Yhorm was in her domain. Here, she was god. She gently pressed her hand into the overflowing magma and raised them into huge fireballs to hurl them at Yhorm.

Of course, these were not enough of a threat the Lord of Cinder. She formed a hurricane made solely of fire and lava with Yhorm at the center to ensure that he cannot escape.

She could not open up a pathway to seal him this time since he would simply crawl back. It was time for an old-fashioned straight up fight.

Tendrils of flames kept him on guard. Slashes of storms forced him to back down. Lightning from the sky kept the giant stunned. Trees growing out of his armor weakened him. Flashes of bombs and illusions confused him.

The battle had gone on for three days. Quill's group was out of commission. Wanda could no longer keep Yhorm's chains in check as they flew around. Hulk has flown off somewhere after being hit by Yhorm.

The only people left awake trying to put the Lord of Cinder to rest were her, Siegward, her disciples and the two everlasting ones.

Both the grandmaster and red hood were still nowhere to be seen. Of course, they all had injuries. Thor has lost an eye. Siegward's onion armor has been destroyed. Both of the everlasting ones were bleeding from their multiple wounds.

Despite everything, Loki was still spotless with him being a little out of breath. She did not need to read emotions to know that Selph was boiling over this.

She strike at his kneecaps without mercy as the giant finally fell down. Falkor got too close to the giant and Yhorm swung his blade without hesitation. The swing took Falkor's head clean off only for the giant to realize that this was an illusion.

The two dragons were behind him and held him down immediately. Yhorm tried to get up but was pounded by another hammer from Thor. And finally, Siegward wasting no time cleaved Yhorm's entire body in half.

After days of combat, Yhorm's defense started failing and begin to crumble. That was the only reason they won. She sat down like all others on top of Yhorm's fading body as she took his soul back to the fire they belong.

She did not wish to say anything for she was too tired. Her clothes were now soaked in blood. She did not have to heart to deliver further news for in a distance she could sense a group of spaceships approaching.

They gave of aura similar to that of the Chitauria and many more. Leading them was someone on Odin's level. She needed another plan it seems.