DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

MAGIC: GIANT KHALIFA

After watching the Dubai fountain and stuffing themselves with plates full of Margoogat and a cup of Arabic coffee, the trio reached the tallest building in the world. "Must be tough knowing that you will never be able to open an office here, right?" Ishaan asked, awakening the competitive Rick inside. "That's a target like others. Anyway, this is where we get up there."

"How long has it been?" Mikael asked.

"An hour and half. We have half an hour to go and return."

"We can't." Mik said.

"We can if..." Rick said, and looked at Ishaan.

"But what if someone sees that?" Ishaan asked.

"No one is gonna see. Normal human beings can't see our supernatural side."

"Right. I forgot."

And so, Ishaan fired up, summoned his fire wings, picked both Rick and Mikael up, and shot up into the sky. He flapped his wings, going higher and higher, and around Burj Khalifa landed on the hundred and twenty-fourth floor. He turned back to normal, wings gone and clothes unscathed. Rick had just looked down from the balcony, when a ear-splitting sound made him look to his right.

"The Crystals. Give them to me." A seven foot tall hooded figure screamed. He wore a long black cloak that hid his face, with only the light blue of his eyes visible. The only thing of the rest of his body visible was his hands, which were grey skinned. A frost giant. Berg's minion, most probably. "Oh gods, finally." Mikael said, "Some behind-kicking." He cracked his fingers.

The balcony on the 128th floor of Burj Khalifa was nearly empty, with very people. Gods knew what they saw, but Rick was prepared for everything. He looked at the confused men, and said, "This guy has come to meet us. Nothing is going to happen other than talking." They seemed to buy it, and went back to their jobs. And then, the phoenix attacked. 

Ishaan had taken his phoenix humanoid form, the one he had just used. His whole body was covered by flames, his eyes glowed bright gold. He flew straight at the giant, only to collide with fresh air, and fall on the ground. From behind came an evil laughter, as Rick and Mikael turned to see the same hooded giant behind them, sitting on a railing. "Illusion magic." Rick murmured, "Well, kid, two can play the game."

But before he could do anything, Mikael froze the balcony with ice, but the giant was unharmed. That meant that the one on the railing was also an illusion. That was followed by Mik feeling a kick on his rib, as he fell over. "If you aren't scared, coward, show yourself." he screamed, in a pained voice. Nothing happened, but a demonic laughter. "Alright, enough." Rick said, and spread his arms. His eyes closed, his hair went flailing in the wind, he levitated from the ground, Old Norse came out of his mouth, without his mind having a single clue of what it meant, as he muttered spells for an illusion magic of his own. If his knowledge was right, this could work. Illusion to nullify illusion. He drew the Mannaz rune (ᛗ) and stuck it on his chest. He stood in awe as the rune created a duplicate of himself, and created a veil around him. Rick's own body seemed to go stiff, while his duplicate moved the way he tried to move. "Good." He thought.

He made his other body open his other bag, and take out the other box. "Rick, what the Hel are you doing?" Ishaan asked, still in his fiery form. Even they couldn't see

"I yield, giant. Here, take the Crystals."

"Rick!" Ishaan and Mikael both cried.

"We can't fight the one we can't see."

The demonic laughter stopped. The giant appeared right beside the tourists who had literally no idea of what was going on. He walked close, his glowing blue eyes calmer than ever. He slowly removed his hood, revealing his face. The light blue eyes were surrounded by a big brutish face with a chiseled jawline, beautifully shaped black beard, and nice long hair. If Rick knew any better, this was a young giant, and one of those who would be popular among female giants. However, his brutish face rode an expression of malice. "Well done, Frode. The King would be proud of me."

And so, stupid Frode fell for the trap. As soon as he bent down to touch the Crystals, Rick's duplicate body disappeared with his duplicate bag and the duplicate box. At that moment, the divine champion felt the locomotion in his body return, and the veil move away. "Ishaan!" He called. Before the giant could react, Ishaan released his fireballs. Frode's body caught fire, and in this desert city, he failed to find water. Mikael created a snow ball, and Ishaan melted it to water, as the two looked at Frode with a dark look. Frode helplessly asked for it. Ishaan said, "Is this what you want?" The two let go, and the water fell on the ground. Damn, teasing a dying person? That was dark. "Tsk tsk tsk." Rick said, in a regretting tone, "Such a young giant blood. What a pity. I'm sorry, kid. I do this with a heavy heart, but you should have known better than choosing to be the collateral damage of a madman." Rick watched on with a heavy heart as the giant's body burned to ashes. As the desert wind blew away the last of the giant's ash, the sky turned slightly black, as a dark shadow took the form of a wolf on the sky, with a pair of deep yellow eyes, staring at the three with a piercing look. "Does it look familiar?" Rick asked Ishaan, who had turned back to his normal self.

"Stoll!"

"Not this time." Mikael said, "Stoll doesn't have yellow eyes, does he?"

"Nope. He has blue eyes."

"This is Hati." Mik said, "The shadow-wolf."

"Tell your Giant King, Hati." Rick shouted, his hands lighting up, "Every Thanos meets his Avengers. He won't get the Crystals." The shadow disappeared, as the light of the setting Sun reappeared on the Dubai sky. "Was he watching us the whole time?" Mikael asked.

"I suppose so." Ishaan said, "Sol used to tell me that Hati is twice worse than Stoll. Hope we never have to face him."

"But we have to return." Rick said, looking at his time. Two hours were up. "We must return and start quickly. I'm not getting any intuition of smooth sail through Casablanca and Buenos Aires. We should make up for as much time as we can."

"Ish, are you tired of all the bravado?" Mikael asked.

"Not at all. Hold on." Ishaan turned back to his fiery form.

"Let's go, Human Torch." Rick said, instinctively, as Ishaan caught him and Mik by the collar, flapped his wings and flew towards the airport.