Ragnarok

Chapter 24 - Heaven and Earth

Asgard was burning.

Thorin was momentarily stunned by the sight of what had happened to the central hub city around them. One of the largest meteors had torn right through the middle of the city, not far from the Hall of the Gods itself. About ten blocks to one side, there was ... nothing. Well, not nothing. A lot of fire, a fair amount of funnel clouds, and an entire horde of wolves. An entire detachment of Valkyries were holding the line to that side with grim determination, not stopping until every last twitching wolf-claw had ceased movement. Judging from the golden flashes he was seeing before he turned away, they either had their own speedster or Vladimir was lending a hand himself.

Opposite the gigantic, gaping hole, Yeshua and Selif were tending to a large crowd of wounded, a look of absolute shock on many faces. They trembled at every impact, and few dared look up at the skies, for fear of seeing their own death coming down on them at unavoidable speed. Thorin shuddered, and decided to pull up his inventory. He'd barely had time to log in before this invasion had started, and he'd had little time to grind, unlike Avril.

Well, that was interesting. "Belt of the Titans," he mused aloud, pulling up the equipment and raising his eyebrows at the stats. Pretty nice gift from the admins, he decided, equipping it and instantly feeling both ice and fire filling his veins with pure, surging power. He gave a wide grin and whirled Mjolnir experimentally, finding the heavy hammer felt as light as a feather. He hurled it at a particularly large beastman, which had been advancing upon a wounded Valkyrie, seeking a final easy meal before it died in service to its master. The hammer struck unerringly, snapping the wolfman's head straight back and sending a spout of blood out one side of its mouth, then continuing onwards to smash into yet another enemy, this one a beastman riding some sort of mutated winged serpent.

"Asgard is suffering from one serious werewolf problem," Micah mused, as Avril opened up a channel.  If he looked up, he thought he could see the white light of the Storm Goddess, still moving at lunatic speeds and blasting every bit of space debris she could manage. 

Then he wished that he hadn't looked up.

Above him was a meteor so large, it looked less like an asteroid and more like a moon. A moon that was roughly half of the visible sky. And ... yeah, the light definitely had a bright blue hue to it.

"Uhm, Avril, blue-shifted light means something's getting closer, right?" Micah subvocalized, putting two fingers to his ear as Mjolnir streaked back towards his other hand.  He caught it reflexively, most of his attention focused on the chunk of sky falling towards him.

"Yes, Master, I've noticed the moon that's about to drop on our heads," Avril replied testily, as the white light above him streaked through a series of four meteorites in a zig-zag pattern. "I'm a bit busy keeping the smaller pieces from landing on those refugees of yours. Hiro hasn't busted out his new compensation gift yet, tell him it's time to draw Enuma Elish."

"Enema Delish, right," Micah muttered, casting about for Hiro. The half-Chinese, half-Japanese warrior was standing serenely as the last of the wolfmen were hacked down, hand upon his Gauntlet of Mars, surveying the carnage and seeking additional threats. He gave Thorin a cautious glance as he drew nearer, then looked up at the oncoming planetoid.

"Let me guess, my friend," Hiro said slowly, his complex Martian pidgin being translated automatically by one of Kitara's spells. "Your little lightning angel is telling me I need to draw the Sword that split Heaven and Earth, yes?" Hiro squeezed the hand that wore the gauntlet into a fist, and the pitch-black hilt of a katana formed within it. "Kitara's already advised me as such. Seems as fine a time as any for an iajutsu strike. I would suggest you take the others and make for one of the Midgard gates. I will take care of this one."