A new age of Divinity: Theomachy

Welcoming Committee

As they continued walking closer and closer to the Bifrost, the snow on the ground was speckled with red. As the speckles became splotches, armored bodies began appearing more and more. Midgardian soldiers, sure, those stationed to protect the Bifrost no doubt, but they wouldn't have just randomly attacked each other. The soldiers with the different armor were very familiar to them, but being splattered with blood, covered in snow, and heavily damaged in battle, it was hard to truly make them out. It had been an hour and half since they started walking away from the village and Nate had woken up. Even he was having a hard time, even with his eyes that could see almost everything. It seemed some kind of magic had been placed over Midgard to impede powers to slow strong intruders down.
"Hey, wait, aren't these armors from-" Mikayla was cut off by a sinister laugh "What... was that?" The group all stopped and looked around for the source of the laughter, but found nothing and no one.
"Weird, who would have done that?" Eden asked.
"Loki, most likely," Nate replied "But why would they come out and do their own shit? I'm pretty sure they're still meant to be-" Thunder clapped right above them, but the sky was still completely clear of any storm clouds.
"Oh, no, do you think this is...?" Kenneth was cut short when a clap of thunder somehow impacted right in front of them which threw all of them through the air.
"Ugh, what the hell was that?" Mikayla groaned as they all got up "Was it Thor?"
"No... but I think he's almost as bad."
When they got up they found Magni, the eldest son of Thor and God of Strength. He was half a foot taller than even Beth and was seemingly built of pure muscle. Unlike Baldr, Magni was covered in tattoos that seemed to glow with the power of lightning. Over his shoulder was a massive broadsword that was longer and wider than Ares' was. He cracked his neck and smiled at them with his blood soaked teeth. Before they could question it, Nate pointed at his sword's blade, which was also smeared with a lot of blood.
"Now! Which one of you outsiders is gonna tangle with the strongest God in the Nine Realms!?" He yelled at them, his voice having the force of a thunder clap as well.
"You know what? I had a pretty decent nap?" Nate replied as he stepped forward "I, uh... don't have a sword though. You mind?"
"Look down," Mikayla whispered.
"Huh, what?" His gaze fell to a sword at his feet "Oh, thanks." She nodded and stepped back as he used the same foot lift move he had used when he had battled Ares just hours before "Let's see if a God of Strength can outdo a God of War."
Magni grinned again and rolled his neck before the two launched into a vicious showdown. Magni gripped his sword's weapon with both hands and swung it at Nate's hip. He knew that Magni's strength would destroy a normal sword, so he enhanced it with Bifrost. He swung it low and blocked Magni's attack before kicking the massive weapon up into the air. As Magni tried to bring his blade back down, Nate spun, and back kicked his cousin. He stepped back and looked down at the spot where Nate had hit him, not expecting this small warrior to have such a potent attack. It only excited him more as he ran in at this stranger. He hadn't realized who this man was and decided to grip his sword with only one hand and in a reverse grip. All Nate had to do was lean back just a little bit as a reverse grip limited speed and mobility. Magni seemed to notice this as well as for his next strike, he handed his sword over to his left hand. He swung the sword that was taller than Nate was down at his head, but Nate leapt back. As he jumped, he spun in the air, and threw multiple bursts of Bifrost at Magni. They collided with him and knocked him back, but being an Aesir God, even a Minor God, it had less effect than it had on Ares or Athena, let alone Zelus.
"Oh, so you're not a total stranger to these lands," Magni realized as he brushed off the attack.
"Oh, ya finally figured that out?" Nate retorted "Would've thought the arm would set off some alarms."
Magni gripped his sword with both hands as he told Nate, "Oh, shut it." He brought the blade down and impaled it into the ground.
The force of the impact created a powerful shockwave that threw Nate back against a tree, which made him yell out "I am gonna burn this forest to the ground if I get knocked into another tree!" Magni ran towards him and Nate growled "Oh, to fuck with this." He looked up at Magni, now having become powerful to use his mind reading on Minor Gods, he knew he could win.
When Magni swung horizontally at his stomach again, Nate avoided it with a back hand spring. When he landed on his feet, he reinforced his blade with Bifrost again, and blocked a powerful vertical slash to his head. As Magni tried to push his blade down at Nate's head, the Demigod headbutted his cousin in the nose. The suddenness of the strike caught Magni and everyone watching off guard and gave Nate an opening to blow him back with a Bifrost shockwave.
"You know what? You're not bad," Magni praised him "But there's something you've got that's giving you a sort of advantage. I wanna know what it is!" With that, he pointed the tip of his blade at Nate's chest and turned the force and sound of a thunder clap into a beam which he fired at the Demigod.
"Urgh!" he had to move quickly, somehow surpassing the speed of sound as he blocked the attack "Foresight, dumbass. My dad is your uncle, Heimdallr!" Nate repositioned his blade and threw the thunder beam away.
"Huh, so you can read my moves, huh?" Magni asked.
"Still working on it, but yeah, yours I can."
"Not for long. Imma beat that move read power of yours."
"Try as hard as you want, once I see a person once, they'll never escape it."
Nate groaned and used World Lag to get the upper hand on his opponent. He walked up and punched his cousin in the ribs which knocked him down... or it would've. Being the only person who could move at normal speed, Nate grabbed him before he even fell. He grabbed him by his hair and pulled him into a headbutt before hoisting him up over his head. He looked down and slammed him down onto the ground before releasing the World Lag and picked his sword back up.
"Still think you can beat me?" Nate asked as he watched his cousin scramble back up to his feet.
"Yeah, that was just a cheap trick."
"Sure, whatever. Just come at me already."
They both spun around for the sake of flare and showing off and Nate swung his blade down at Magni's stomach. The Minor God stabbed his sword into the ground and blocked Nate's attack before throwing an elbow at his nose. Heimdallr's son let go with his right hand and used his palm to catch his cousin's elbow strike. Magni used Nate's momentary opening, or at least what he thought was one, to launch a surprise attack. He took his blade out of the ground and swung it at Nate's head, but he ducked under the attack. When Magni turned and swung once again, Nate turned and leaned backwards to dodge again.
Magni stepped forward and heel kicked Nate in the groin while asking "You didn't see this coming?"
Nate grunted as his back slammed against the tree, then replied "Nope, I did..." Magni growled at this "Seeing it doesn't mean I can counter it... augh, you are very strong." Nate was clearly wobbly as he got back up. "Thing is... so am I." He picked his sword up again and threw it at his cousin, who leapt over the attack "I'm also smarter than you." While Magni was in the air, Nate used a Bifrost shockwave to block him backwards while he leapt into the air and called his sword back to his hand "Come on, you can do better than this!" The two clashed as Nate landed and their heated battle continued.
Magni pushed Nate's blade up into the air and spun around before swinging at his back. Seeing the strike chop him in half before Magni even swung, Nate blocked with his blade behind his back. He swung Magni's sword back and slammed his Bifrost elbow into his nose. Magni groaned as he backed up and touched the blood dripping from his nose, then spun, and kicked at Nate's stomach. Nate couldn't get out of the way in time and was knocked to his knees. Magni glared down at him and swung down at his head, but Nate surprised him by blocking with his Bifrost arm instead of the sword.
"What in the...?"
"Yeah, I'm actually pretty powerful," Nate told him as he pushed him back and palm struck him in the chest to throw him into another tree "Now, take this!" Nate sent a beam of Bifrost out of his palm and struck Magni in the chest "Maybe just another." He fired another blast at Magni, but he blocked with the flat of his massive blade.
"Damn... I'm not sure how I can... wait..." As he blocked Nate's attack, he noticed Beth and finally got a good look at her "Her eyes... they're exactly like her's." He turned back to Nate and yelled "You're not my problem anymore!" He threw Nate's attack away and punched the ground to create a shockwave which shook him to the ground, then he turned to Beth and told her "You, you're mine!"
He began to run toward her, but Nate got up, and yelled "Oh, no, absolutely not!" He used World Lag once again and charged Magni before tackling him to the ground "You aren't touching any of them until you go through me." He released the World Lag so as to not strain his body too much and they continued fighting.
They swung their blades at each other and the weapons collided, but Nate was done pulling punches. He pushed Magni's sword to the ground, spun around, and slammed his foot into his much older cousin's nose. He staggered back and tried to swing down at Nate's head, but he batted his massive blade away. Magni's choice in weapon had just as many upsides as downsides, and much like Beth, Nate had learned how to use the downsides of the opponent's weapon to his advantage. While he tried to regain control over his weapon, Nate swung his Bifrost fist into his nose. Magni tried to retaliate by swinging down at his head, but Nate ran in front of the weapon. He dragged his weapon through the snow and tried to attack Nate from behind. He simply turned and dive rolled over the blade of the gigantic broadsword. When he got back up, he spun, and slammed another hook punch into Magni's jaw. Using the momentum of the attack. He slammed his heel in a back kick into Magni's groin. While he was lurched over, Nate rolled over his back, and side kicked him in the ribs. Magni fell onto his stomach and reached for his sword, only to watch it be kicked away by his younger cousin.
"What's wrong?" Nate asked, his tone full of malice and just a little bit of mocking arrogance "You were going to beat my foresight, were you not?" Magni tried to look up, but Nate stomped down on his head "You worthless clown." His face had that sadistic smile again and he was about to end Magni when he was knocked back to the group by a lightning strike hitting the ground "Oh, what now?"
When the smoke and snow cleared, they found Modi and Thrud standing in front of their brother. The Goddess and Valkyrie in training was the shortest of the three, yet still taller than every one of the Demigods. Like the rest of her brothers, she had very light skin which was covered in battle scars. Her hair was very similar to Athena's, but much wilder and braided in the back. Her golden chestplate was covered by a leather belt that helped hold it in place. Her pants and boots were also made of leather and she had a bear pelt around her waist. Her uncovered arms were covered in tattoos and her hands were covered by lightly armored gloves. She looked like she couldn't have been much older than Eden or Hayden, but being a Goddess, she could've been hundreds if not thousands of years old. Modi looked a lot more like their father with his red hair and slightly chubbier build. Unlike his sister, he had no armor over his torso and instead an armored belt that covered everything below his ribcage. His arms were also protected by chainmail which fell to just above his elbows. He also had leather pants and boots, but his bear pelt was over his shoulders instead of around his waist. Across his chest was a necklace like tattoo and his knuckles also had runes inked on them. All three had piercing, icy blue eyes that sparked with the power of lightning.
"Oh, I am not dealing with three Gods at once!" Mikayla yelled.
"We still outnumber them, let's go!" Nate told her, and the two ran toward the three.
The two began throwing Bifrost and spells at them, but Modi used his box shield to block the attacks. Kenneth decided to help by running around them to create a snow blind. While the three were distracted, Eden threw a tree at them. When they noticed the tree coming, Modi used another lightning bolt to teleport them away.
"So, that... just happened," Beth said as they walked to where the tree had landed.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have expected them to run like that," Mikayla added "But wait, while they were fighting, Magni said something about you looking just like her or some... oh, shit." And with that, they finally remembered whose armor was on the unknown soldiers.