I watched Natasha leave, my heart pounding. I tucked the pendant away and drew one of my knives as the creatures approached. Already the streets were completely flooded with the creatures. It seemed impossible that a team of six could take out such a large army.
Also, the fact that I could see no civilians nearby was unnerving. I wondered how many innocent people were already dead, killed by the swarm of demons clustering on the street.
A few of the demons rushed toward me and I pulled out another dagger and began to fight. One of them extended their sword at my face, but I used one of my daggers to slice away the blade. I used my other hand to slice at one of the approaching creatures. I watched in satisfaction as it fell to the ground.
I quickly took care of the other four creatures that stood near me, but by that point, a whole other wave was attacking me. I took care of one and then spun around to kill another, but there were too many. I backed into the glass of Stark Tower, slashing and killing but not nearly quick enough to destroy them all.
A second later, three arrows came flying through the air and lodged themselves in the backs of three creatures. I took care of the other few. I quickly glanced up at the rooftops where Hawkeye was knelt, drawing and letting arrows fly faster than anything I had seen before. I moved forward, toward the fighting.
Still watching Hawkeye, I saw him turned toward me. He let one arrow fly in my direction. It breezed past my head and lodged into something right behind me. I turned to see a demon clutching a dagger fall over. I shot him a silent look to say thank you. That was the second time he had saved my life during the battle.
I began to push forward, slicing and stabbing and trying my best to get back into the battle, which had spread out around me. I could see Iron Man flying at least fifty feet above the fighting. I watched as he shot laser beam after laser beam into a crowd of demons beneath him.
My heart clenched briefly as I wondered where Natasha was now. I prayed to the Allfather that she was safe.
My thoughts were drawn away from Natasha when a blade cut my side, just brushing the inside of my armor. I grunted with pain and spun towards the wielder of the sword. The creature looked young and she had blonde hair, but her cloudy white eyes gave her away as demon, not human. I swung my knife towards her, but she sent it flying out of my hand with her sword that she had clutched in her own hand.
I quickly used my other hand to knock her sword free. I then sliced at her neck, and watched as she fell to the ground. Satisfaction rushed through me until I looked around and saw how many creatures there were. They had spread out, but I could still see their massive numbers. Some were fighting with Captain America, who I could see in the fray. Some were lunging into the air at Iron Man, who was still flying above.
Some were even attempting to climb up the sides of the building to get to Clint.
But most of them were coming for me, and I knew why. They raced down the street, the leader in the front raising Hemmelighetsverden, the intimidating black sword. I sheathed my dagger and picked up the sword from the creature I had just killed.
They were coming for the pendant.
I tried my best to stand tall and be brave, just hoping there were no creatures coming at me from behind. I looked up to see Hawkeye launching arrows at the army coming toward me.
I also saw Stark come flying toward the army. He launched a missile at the center of the pack. It exploded, creating a large cloud of smoke that engulfed the approaching hoard.
I froze, clutching the handle of the sword tightly. The leader, dressed in black, emerged from the smoke unscathed. He swung the sword around threateningly, staring at me with wide, white eyes and a large smile.
Once the smoke was almost completely cleared, Iron Man and Hawkeye started shooting at the pack again, though they didn't aim for the leader.
The blonde demon didn't even bother charging. He just kept walking, swinging the sword around like he had no care in the world. My anger flaring, I clenched my jaw and charged forward, raising the sword, I aimed for the leader's head.
The creature easily blocked the blow and swung the black sword in my direction. The swipe easily could have cut me clean in half if I hadn't leaped backward. My eyes wide, I swiped at him again. The creature not only blocked the blow but knocked the sword from my hand.
Swiftly, I unsheathed my dagger and swiped at the demon.
The creature, smiling, swiped his blade across my chest. The knife clattered from my hand, and I clutched my chest, blinking with pain. I collapsed, falling onto my back.
The creature smirked, pressing the tip of the sword against my chest. "I have no reason to kill you," he hissed. "Give me the pendan-"
Without warning, the demon fell over, and I knocked the sword away before it could impale me. My heart pounding, I noticed the source of the creature's sudden death.
I realized that Clint Barton had saved my life for the third time when I saw an arrow lodged in the back of the creature's neck.
I clutched the wound on my chest as I gripped the hilt of the black sword. I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out Havbølger and threw it onto the ground. A thousand heads whipped toward me when I pulled the pendant out, as if every creature could sense its presence. I tried to ignore them. I had the sword and the necklace. I had to destroy it now.
In one big mass, the creatures charged at me from every side. As quickly as I could, I drew the sword up and over my head, intending to smash the blade down on the blue pendant, when one of the demons came smashing into me from the side.
He sent me flying sideways. The creature tried to bite my neck with his razor sharp teeth and I pushed at his shoulders to keep him off of me.
The creature suddenly went limp, and I pushed him off of my body to see a bullet-sized hole in his right temple. I looked to my left and in the fray I saw Natasha with her gun raised, pointed it my direction. She rushed toward me.
"Are you alright? You're hurt."
I pulled myself to my feet and shrugged her off. "We have to get the pendant. I dropped it somewhere over there," I pointed to my right where a crowd of the white-clad demon creatures were all surging at the same thing. "They have to have it by now. We have to get it back and destroy it."
She nodded, and together we rushed forward, me clutching the black sword and her holding her gun.
Eventually I saw the pendant, glimmering in the sunlight. All of the creatures were fighting over it, wanting to be the one to have it. With their leader dead, there was no order. Using this to my advantage, I used the black sword to hack away at the creatures like a farmer harvesting wheat.
One of the creatures had the pendant clutching in his hand when I finally reached it. He growled at me and began to race away, but I threw my dagger into his back as he ran. The creature collapsed, sending the pendant skidding across the open ground.
I ran toward it. Lifting the sword above my head, I leapt into the air. When I came back down to the ground, I drove the sword into the pendant and then into the ground. The blade dug into the cement as I bent to one knee.
The pendant exploded, dissolving before my eyes. As it was destroyed, a large force, like strong wind, blew everything around me backwards, even cars. I felt my fingers clutching the hilt of the black sword loosen.
Eventually, the powerful winds became too much. My fingers slipped and I was blasted backward.
I flew into the air, flying maybe a hundred yards backward and crashing through the third story window of an office building.
With the shattered glass on the floor around me, I was careful not to move too much. I groaned, my eyes closed tightly with pain.
Finally, I forced myself to stand up. I clutched my stomach where I thought had a black sword wound, but now there was nothing there. In fact, the only wounds I was feeling were the injuries I had received from smashing through the window. Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, I stared out of the window I smashed through and saw the packed street was now empty. Where had the creatures gone?
I found stairs in the office building and climbed down to the ground floor. Natasha was waiting at the entrance. When she saw me, she exclaimed, "oh my god, Loki."
She ran over to me and touched my face. "Are you alright? I saw you fly through the air."
I nodded, appreciating her concern. "I'm fine. The sword, the pendant...are they destroyed?"
She nodded. "As soon as you destroyed the pendant, we were all blown backwards by...wind or something. When I recovered, all of the creatures were...melting, or something. Now, they are all gone. The sword was destroyed a few seconds after the pendant was. It just dissolved."
"And my wounds with it," I noted in satisfaction.
She touched my face and grinned. "Your blood is red again," she then furrowed her eyebrows and laughed. "That sounds weird, but it's true."
I grinned too, and, unable to help myself, I leaned down and kissed her.
My body relaxed as kissed Natasha. This entire mess was over. There were no more demons, and no more risk that they would take over my body. No more pain. No more threat of a coming war.
Maybe, finally, I could be content on this mortal world with Natasha Romanoff, the last person I ever thought I would fall in love with.
The thought made me grin as I kissed her. I don't think I have ever felt happier.
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