Jötunheim

Chapter Ten: Yggdrasil
~BlackRoseRaven

“There it is.”

Innocence joined Antares at the edge of the cliff, the mare whistling at the sight of the magnificent tree that was now only ten or so miles away. It towered to the skies, clouds breaking against its leafy branches like foaming waves, the diurnal stars seeming to cluster around it rather than above, as if the treetop stretched beyond the roof of this realm.

Antares wasn't so much enthralled by the great, massive tangle of branches and leaves above, as he was with the complex root system below: they stretched out around the base of the tree, humping up here and curling over themselves there, sinking down into the earth, pushing back out of the soil miles away. They twisted over and around one-another like a mass of eels, a wild, strangely-alive catacomb of slithering wood and furrowed earth.

The stallion chewed at his lip as he gazed across at Yggdrasil, the World Tree: this cliff had a steep as hell drop, maybe half a mile to the river below, and Yggdrasil sat in the middle of a deep, enormous, miles-wide dip in the earth, and yet he guessed they were barely above its root system. He wondered briefly if this was what Luna and Scrivener had seen years ago, when they had told him about meeting the Norns at the Well of Urd-

“Last one there's a rotten egg!” Innocence shouted as she leapt off the cliff, and Antares stared dumbly as the mare blasted off through the sky with magic, cackling loudly as she streaked off towards Yggdrasil like a black comet.

“You bitch!” Antares shouted after a moment of stunned silence, and then he swore as he turned and carefully started to scrabble down the cliff wall, managing to just lower himself down the edge of the jagged rock wall before he mumbled: “Oh fuck it, Mutt's gonna cheat too anyway.”

He let himself drop loose, corkscrewing around in a circle and kicking hard off a platform of white energy that appeared beneath his hooves, launching himself away from the cliff wall as his wings spread and flapped powerfully, sending him hurtling through the skies in the wake of his sister. He grinned despite himself as he flew after her before diving sharply down towards the ground, hitting the field at a full gallop and giving a last hard flap of his crystalline wings to propel himself forwards as he called: “I got four hooves to kick your ass four times as hard!”

“Yeah well I got four claws to... shut up!” Innocence shouted back as she dropped out of the sky to whiz above the field Antares was blasting across. She rolled upside down in front of him, flipping him off with both front claws and a grin, but then stared when Antares winked at her before she turned too late to see the treeline she was shooting straight towards, squawking a moment before she slammed painfully through a cluster of branches and went flipping wildly out of control into a tree trunk with what could only be described as a horrible fart of black magic.

The stallion grinned as he shot past his stunned sibling, zigzagging through the line of trees before he burst out the other side and charged through a field beyond. He raced past a small camp of stone giants clustered around a bonfire, only one of them glancing up curiously at the shape that shot by before shrugging and returning to polishing his weapon.

Ahead, Antares could see what he suspected was the last of the defensive perimeter that surrounded Yggdrasil: lines of runes had been carved in the earth, stretching between pillars of rock topped with crystal that thrummed with powerful magic. Stone giants stood, calm and silent, ready with their weapons of carved gemstone for any intruder that might try and slip past this final line of security only miles from Yggdrasil's base.

But they didn't expect a stallion who barely came up to their squat shins to simply gallop in, grinning as he leapt upwards and bounced himself higher with a platform of white energy, then a hard flap of his wings, hitting one of the massive gemstone pillars and charging straight up the rugged length of stone before he flung himself towards the sky, arcing neatly overtop the thrumming gemstone on top.

He landed a moment later on the other side of the pillar, spinning around and posing neatly as two stone giants turned to stare at him, before the stallion cleared his throat and said awkwardly: “Uh. Sorry, guys.”

A moment later, a black comet slammed into the face of one of the earth giants with enough force to knock it sprawling over the line of runes. The world rattled with the force of the giant's impact, the massive warrior groaning before Innocence hopped off his face, and without bothering to look, flicked her horn sharply as she released a pulse of magic.

The pulse resonated with the orb atop the pillar, which crackled with power before thrumming to life, and the line of runes immediately lit up, the stone giant that was unfortunately laying across them immediately cursing in pain and spasming as electricity ripped across his body, setting the pelts that decorated his humongous form on fire and supercharging his gemstone sword. He dragged himself quickly free of the border of runes, wheezing in pain as a stone giant on the other side shouted a warning, but other giants were already coming to see what had happened as more pillars activated around the perimeter.

The stone giant rumbled as he slowly stood up, and Antares cleared his throat as he absently warded off Innocence's useless pummeling, saying pointedly: “We should go.”

Innocence grumbled, then jumped on Antares, half-choking him as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck before she snapped: “Well, get going, then!”

As the giant leaned forwards to stomp them, Antares stumbled towards Yggdrasil, then leapt into a sprint, galloping away and vanishing into the weeds as the giant stared dumbly after them. The other stone giants were uselessly clustered at the line of runes, glaring through at their companion, who finally turned and then spread his arms with a dumb shrug, a few small fires still aimlessly burning on his rocky body.

Antares ran, and Innocence cackled as they leapt over a ledge, then began the long descent down the gentle slope towards Yggdrasil itself. It was a matter of minutes before Antares began to slow as they began to pass between immense roots, and under arches of natural, twisted woodwork, Innocence hopping off her brother's back as she muttered: “Holy shit.”

“Yeah.” Antares agreed as they made their way through the natural path formed by the root system, the stallion saying quietly: “That magic is incredible. That...”

“Weight.” Innocence said, and Antares nodded: that was the right word for it. A weight; not a pressure, bearing down on them, but just a heaviness lurking in the air, like all the realms were suspended above them here, and if disturbed, could come crashing down at any moment.

Antares had expected... a feeling of hallowed ground, or like they were trespassing somewhere they shouldn't be. Instead, he felt welcomed, as the massive roots of the tree seemed to shift ahead to form a path, calling them onward and upward as the stallion murmured: “It wants us here.”

“Weird. Must be lonely being a tree, I guess.” Innocence said, and Antares smiled despite himself as they worked their way slowly, steadily upwards.

They eventually found themselves on a dusty plateau, where massive roots had wrapped around one-another and twisted back against the base of the tree, forming a sort of living barrier. Antares noted that there was a lot of other overgrowth here as well that wasn't from Yggdrasil itself: Innocence didn't seem to sense or see it, but the stallion could tell some of these growths were parasitic, alien plant life that was feeding off the roots of Yggdrasil.

Innocence paused, then narrowed her eyes as her head turned towards the mass of growth around Yggdrasil's base, the mare clicking her tongue as she felt a strange magic. She snorted, her horn gleaming as her cloak fluttered around her body before she quickly shrugged off her satchels, then slammed her claws down as they glowed white and her metallic gauntlets formed around them, shouting: “Hey, fuckface! Why don't you come out and play?”

“Rude.” teased a voice, and a moment later a stallion's head poked up with a cheerful grin and a wink at them. “Hi there!”

“Hi!” Antares greeted back, smiling up at the stallion as Innocence glowered and arched her back like a cat, magic fuming along her horn. “I feel like we've met. Have we met?”

The stallion chuckled as he pulled himself up on top of the mass of vines and tendrils, his dark eyes glimmering with mischief. His mane was dirty blonde, darker at the roots of his short, spiky hair, his eyes plain brown, his runty body an unremarkable tone somewhere between common yellow and commoner-still chestnut. He looked like your average horse who was trying to dress himself up fancy in his too-big trenchcoat and his punk piercings, the stallion sticking out his tongue and biting the tongue stud he had with a wink as he posed, and a blast of fireworks went off on either side of him.

Then he leapt down from the roots and posed on the plateau, grinning as he tilted his head back and said cheerfully: “Not in this lifetime, but maybe the last! My name's Locke Laufey, but my friends call me-”

“Loki.” Innocence whispered.

The stallion grinned, leaning forwards, possibly trying to look menacing before he blinked and stared as Antares and Innocence traded looks, then cackled and danced around in a little circle, shouting and cheering. Locke stared for a few moments, then cleared his throat loudly before he waved a hoof awkwardly, saying lamely: “Uh. Hi. Guys? Excuse me, but uh... guys?”

Innocence and Antares spun to a halt, both grinning widely as Antares reached back and pulled out his buckler, locking it on his foreleg, while Innocence flung her cloak to the side, her sibilant body flexing as she bared her teeth. “Oh, this is gonna be good.”

“Mutt's gonna be so mad when she finds out we kicked Loki's ass all by ourselves.” Antares relished, flexing his body as he readied himself, and Loki huffed at them and pasted an injured look on his face.

“Hey, don't you wanna hear my evil plan or-”

Innocence lunged forwards and slammed a fist into Locke's face, the stallion's eyes bulging as he was launched backwards to slam into the massive root behind him. He blinked rapidly and rubbed at his bloody jaw, mouthing wordlessly before he glared at Innocence and snapped: “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Innocence winked, then flipped him off before she suddenly leaned forwards and snapped her horn towards him, but the stallion swore as he vanished backwards into the root, her magic tearing against the plant and sending up a spray of sap a moment before the stallion phased out of the top of the root system, shouting in frustration: “Goddammit I have planned this monologue for months, let me have my god damn moment!”

Innocence slashed her horn out, but Locke only huffed as the magic simply passed harmlessly through him, the stallion tapping a hoof against the root as he said pointedly: “Hey. Hey, I'm asking politely here-”

The mare growled as she vanished from the spot, but even as she reappeared in midair, a massive, living vine was already slashing out, smashing into Innocence and knocking her out of the sky to crash down into the earth with a painful thump. Mutant overgrowth lashed out in all directions, and Antares thought he caught sight of something rotten beneath the corrupted root.

He deflected several lashes of vine with his shield, then leapt back beside Innocence as Locke grouchily rubbed at his chin above, then spat to the side several times before he mumbled: “Now I gotta get back in character. Okay, okay, you got this. One-two-three, Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers, Sally sells sea shells south by the sea shore...”

Locke straightened, then posed on the edge of the vines, saying nonchalantly: “Now that we've established dominance, let me tell you-”

“About my new best friend!” Antares sang in a horrible off-key voice.

Locke's features curdled as he flicked a hoof moodily, a rock shooting off the ground and banging loudly into Antares' shield before he continued irritably: “Let me tell you how lucky you are to be here. To bear witness to the burning of the-”

“Orphanage!” Antares called, and then he deflected two vicious tendrils as Innocence snorted dazedly from where she was still laying prone.

“World Tree! The burning of the World Tree, I'm gonna set Yggdrasil on fire!” Locke shouted, and then he groaned and rubbed at his temples moodily for a moment before he cleared his throat and continued: “Nonsense aside, I know precisely what my precursor attempted to do. His plan was folly from the very beginning, and worse, along the way he lost the thread of his own-”

“Carpet!”

“His own tapestry. Why waste all that time and effort dismantling worlds or penetrating the core when we can simply set all the worlds on fire... with one little match.” Locke flicked his hoof, a match appearing in it and bursting into flame, and Antares immediately clapped childishly.

The stallion above blinked, staring dumbly down at the unicorn as he called: “Now do the thing where you eat it but you don't actually eat it and you pull the lit match out of somewhere else, like uh... Sin! Sin volunteers!”

“Fuck you.” Innocence grumbled from where she was laying on the ground, head propped up in a gauntlet, claws of her other talon tapping slowly against the earth. “Are you done, dude? Also, just so we're clear, like... you know this tree isn't going to actually burn, right?”

“Of course. Hence the chokeroot I've carefully cultivated. All I've had to do is sit back, relax, and watch as it slowly saps all the nutrients from Yggdrasil, slow, gradual, and unstoppable.” Locke grinned, tossing the match carelessly away as he pointedly tapped the root beneath him, which shuddered and groaned as if in pain. “No one can stop this now. Chokeroot is a parasitic life form that-”

“Dude I know what chokeroot is. I lived in Asgard for ten years and I took a gardening class with a hobby group to occupy myself. We learned all about chokeroot and floral arrangement and natural tending.” Antares grumbled, and when Locke cocked an eyebrow at him, he cleared his throat and added lamely: “I mean. Between all the awesome sex with my marefriend. I'm straight.”

“Uh huh.” Locke tapped the root beneath him again, saying easily: “Then you know that once chokeroot gets to a certain depth inside a tree, any tree, the only thing you can do to stop the infection from spreading is cut it down.”

Antares shrugged, then he said blandly: “My guy, you're standing on what looks like a single prominence. Unless there's like a dozen more of them all over the tree you're definitely still in the early stages of infection.”

Locke huffed, retorting: “All the infection has to do is-”

Innocence groaned, slumping on the ground as she mumbled: “Not this again. Tarry, I'm not explaining science again.”

Locke frowned, and Antares said helpfully: “We have this dumb guy named Orex who we fight sometimes. I mean, okay, we fought him once because Thorn won't let us join his... oh shit, wait, I didn't introduce myself. Uh. Hi, I'm Antares. Antares Mīrus.”

Antares trotted to the tree and clambered awkwardly up the vines as Locke stared down at him dumbly, before the black stallion reached up with a grin, offering his hoof as he hung loosely off the edge of the mess of roots. Locke lamely took it, shaking it awkwardly once before Antares let go and pointed back at his sister as she finally sat up. “That's Innocence Sparkle. Thorn is our brother. He's not here right now.”

“He's a dick!” Innocence shouted.

“Yeah, I mean, well... kinda?” Antares rested his forelegs on the giant root, looking meditatively up at Locke as he carelessly kicked his lower limbs against the knot of organic growth. “He's got a lot on his plate. He's super important in his world, like the capital-B Boss. So you know. Hard.”

“Hard.” Locke echoed, and then he leaned down and asked mildly: “Do you really think you can deceive the prince of lies?”

“That's um... that's the devil.” Antares said delicately even as a thick coil of vine wrapped itself around his waist, but the stallion didn't resist even as he was hefted into the air as Locke glowered up at him. “Aren't you more the king of mischief type?”

“Oh that sounds so gauche.” Locke flicked his hoof over his shoulder, then he said meditatively, as the vine squeezed slowly around Antares and made him wince. “And by the way, I'm not blind or stupid. I know what the little hybrid is doing.”

“Motherfucker what did you say?” Innocence shouted, and then in a flash she vanished and reappeared in front of Locke, making him wince back in shock before he squeaked when she seized him by the collar of his trenchcoat, stopping him from phasing away as she snarled: “Why don't you just come out and say halfbreed, huh? You got a problem with halfbreeds like me, you punk-ass bitch?”

Locke winced as he grasped her wrist before he suddenly gasped and looked over Innocence's shoulder, and the mare blinked dumbly and looked back at nothing for a moment before she squawked when the stallion shoved himself loose and phase down into the tree root, grinning as he leapt out of the ground-

Dark, sticky strings seized around him, and Locke squawked before Innocence leapt quickly down, slashing through the vine holding Antares: as the stallion fell loose, he twisted his body around to land with the grace of a cat in front of Locke, Innocence slamming down on his other side as the trickster swore in frustration, yanking grouchily at the tendrils of dark mire binding him before he suddenly grinned at the two and said teasingly: “Hey. I warned you that I knew what you were up to, halfbreed girl.”

He burst apart into sparks and fireworks, Innocence swearing and Antares cursing as he leapt behind his sister and narrowly blocked a blast of magic before the root of Yggdrasil shattered in a disgusting splash of sap and infected matter, a monstrous shape plowing through as Locke said cheerfully: “Oh, I almost forgot to introduce my little pet!”

Antares and Innocence both leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding the claws of the monster that lurched after them, the stinking dragon-beast snarling and drooling foam as a single visible eye rolled wildly in its head. It gnashed its teeth, then coughed and spasmed as it dragged itself after the ponies, a gurgling mess of parasitic plant-life, tumorous growths pulsing along scales that petrified into bark in places.

Half-dragon, half-plant, the once glorious dragon Nidhogg groaned and snorted, drooling and vapid as Locke posed atop the beast's crown, its skull thickly overgrown with rancid plant life, small saplings and chunks of petrified wood sticking out of its marshy features.

It wasn't rotting: it was painfully, clearly alive, but obviously driven more by the chokeroot that had infested it and Locke's magic than it was by its own functions. It groaned and wheezed, staggering back and forth before flopping down rather than standing, breathing out noxious fumes as it struggled to keep its head raised, Locke saying cheerfully from atop the monster: “Good use for an old pain in the ass, huh?”

“So we get to kill Loki and Nidhogg. Cool.” Innocence grumbled as she readied herself, and then she frowned when Antares put his foreleg out, stopping her from advancing.

“Remember when Thorn took down that Black Wolf?” Antares asked mildly, and Innocence grinned before she nodded shortly. “Let's do it.”

“Try and keep up.” Innocence retorted, and then she leapt straight at the jaws of the dragon before she squawked, narrowly shielding herself with a barrier of magic when the dragon breathed a blast of stinking fumes at her.

“Spores!” Antares shouted, flapping his wings hard as his horn glowed brightly before a crackle of white magic traveled across both his crystalline wings. He leapt to the air-

Locke stomped on him from above, then whistled loudly as he hopped backwards through the air, vines lashing out from the mass of organic around the shattered root and seizing both him and Antares. Locke was yanked up to safety with a grin, while Antares was slammed face-first down into the ground again and again until the stallion finally managed to slice his crystalline wings outwards, hacking himself loose from the thick vines.

He dropped towards the ground, then flapped his wings sharply as his instincts warned him a moment before he would have impacted about the wooden stakes that exploded upwards out of the earth, the stallion twisting his body out of the way and kicking hard off one of the spears of wood to launch himself away from impalement and towards Nidhogg.

A portal flashed into existence, and Antares winced as his rear hooves passed through this for a moment before he flapped his wings hard and yanked his legs loose, just before the portal slammed shut. It gave Nidhogg more than enough time to turn away from harrying Innocence to bite at Antares instead, the stallion grimacing as he twisted out of the way of the massive maw before he dropped on top of it and lunged forwards to slam a hoof into the one rolling eye of the misshapen beast.

The dragon howled, head twitching downwards, the organic that had grown across its face writhing before it gurgled as black blades of crystal shot into it from below, Innocence gritting her teeth as she channeled her Panacea directly up the chutes she had punched into its body.

The dragon-beast gurgled and squealed, head snapping back and forth as foam flew from its jaws before it vomited ichor as it attempted to yank free of the black crystal. Locke cursed as he appeared beside Innocence, then squawked in pain when she simply blasted him away with telekinesis without looking at him, growling: “Take a number and wait your turn, pal!”

“I like to cut!” Locke growled as he leapt backwards through a portal, and a second appeared on the other side of Innocence, the stallion launching out of this in a streak at the mare before he squeaked when he slammed face-first into a magic barrier, before he gargled in pain when it sealed around him in an orb, leaving him crushed in a spherical prison.

Innocence dribbled the magic ball that she had trapped Locke inside of against the plateau, withdrawing backwards before she flung him quickly at Nidhogg. And on instinct, the monstrous dragon turned and chomped down on the ball, crushing it and its contents with a sickening crack as black ooze dribbled from its jaws and its bruised eye filled with an eerie blue light, the monster rumbling-

Antares smashed both front hooves down into the creature's forehead as he gritted his teeth and channeled all the magic he could downwards, and a thrum of force ripped through the body of the dragon before it gurgled, then exhaled loudly. Slowly, the beast crumpled to the ground as Antares leapt gracefully backwards, landing by his sister with a smile as white veins traveled visibly through the beast and the parasitic tendrils attached to it, before they rapidly turned gray and began to flake and collapse.

Nidhogg, the dragon scavenger, rotted along with the remains of the roots that had consumed him. Antares and Innocence surveyed their handiwork for a moment, and then Antares clicked his tongue before he said mildly: “Way too easy. I hope that wasn't what you actually had in mind, 'cause uh. We've gotten really good at the ol' double-negation.”

Locke snorted contemptibly, and then he appeared in a flicker of light on top of the rotting hulk of dragon, grimacing in disgust as he wiped blood from his face before growling: “So that's the trick, is it? The same essence as the Tyrant Wyrm. You're dangerous, halfbreed.”

“And you're about to die, dumbass.” Innocence growled, but Locke only grinned.

“What's the first rule of magic?” he asked, and Antares frowned before his eyes widened as the shard of Loki rose a hoof and smiled. “Misdirection.”

He looked up too late, realizing where the real threat was coming from a moment before the wrath of ravens came streaking down, screaming and shrieking as the flock ripped past the two, Innocence swearing in frustration and shock as her magic simply bounced off the enchanted birds. She was driven back several steps as Antares ran forwards with his shield over his face, slamming his way through the cawing murder before he gasped when Locke seized him from behind.

Antares felt the life being sapped from his body, trembling and gasping as he fell to his knees, clenching his eyes shut as Locke growled: “You two morons told me everything I needed to know when you killed that husk of a dragon. Come on, a kid could have murdered that thing, did you really think-”

Locke clicked his tongue, grinning as he flicked a hoof backwards, a thick vine tearing out of the earth and constricting Innocence, hefting her into the air as the cawing birds greedily circled tightly around her, pecking at her unprotected face and tearing at her hide as Locke teased: “Ah ah ah, you didn't think that was going to work, did you?”

“Hey shithead, guess what my special talent is?” Innocence growled, and Locke scowled at her a moment before a large wooden root shot out of the ground beneath him and hammered home into his crotch.

He flinched with a wheezed, eyes bulging as he lost concentration, and Antares immediately half-spun and slammed the edge of his shield into the stallion's face, sending him crashing backwards before he flicked his horn sharply at Innocence. The mare winced as the blast of white magic hammered into the root, searing her painfully but blasting apart the root, the birds scattering with disgust as their easy meal was stolen from them.

Innocence leapt out of the murder of birds, flicking her horn back over her shoulder to send out a thrum of pure force that dissuaded the rest of the flock from divebombing her again as Locke growled in frustration and picked himself off the ground, wiping slowly at his bloody muzzle. “I tried to make this easy on you...”

Power thrummed through the air as the earth trembled around them and Yggdrasil groaned as if in pain, Locke slowly floating into the air as energy steamed off the stallion's body. His dirty trenchchoat burst into flames, rapidly charring away to nothing as the fragmentary murder of ravens came whistling back, circling quickly around him as his voice echoed: “But sure. We can do this the hard way.”

Antares set himself as Innocence charged her body with magic, the mare growling: “The hell is this?”

“When Loki was defeated, most of his powers drained away to the Void. But a little bit escaped to the ether, drawn to his still-living shards of soul.” Locke's eyes glowed as he spread his forelegs, a multicolored aura thrumming violently to life around him. “And it's amazing what touch of primordial power can-”

“Made you talk!” Innocence shouted before she slammed her claws into the ground, and Locke winced as the earth beneath him exploded: but even as he flinched, the cawing mass of birds shot towards them and Antares grimaced as he leapt forwards and blocked the bird-shaped malignancy with his shield.

The flock swarmed around him, and Antares swore as the birds pecked and clawed at him, except they weren't really birds at all ,were they? They were shards of chaos captured and captivated by the primordial power Locke was attempting to wield, utterly immune to magic and-

A bird suddenly transformed into a thin, featureless black sword that stabbed viciously down through Antares' shoulder, making him hiss in pain as he staggered backwards before another bird transformed into a spinning sawblade that nearly ripped through his shield even as he slapped it aside. He cursed, but retaliated with several blasts of magic, knowing that even his purification was useless, but the energy output would be enough to keep the chaos creatures distracted.

Innocence didn't have time to thank her brother: only to act as she slipped out from behind him and ran in a quick arc towards Locke, her horn glowing blackly with energy before a massive vine slammed down from the mass of organic behind the stallion. Locke grinned, but his nose was already bleeding from his weak equine body attempting to channel such monumental power. “Nice try babe-”

Innocence exploded out the other side of the enormous organic, shredding it to pieces as she grinned, but her victory was cut short as Locke intercepted her with a massive fireball that blasted her out of the sky, sending her crashing painfully to the ground and skidding roughly on her back across the earth before she gasped in pain as a coffin of rock sealed tightly around her.

Locke scowled as he held his hooves out, eyes narrowing as he crushed down on Innocence while his shards of chaos pelted and wore down Antares, the stallion growling as a bit of blood dribbled from his jaws: “There. Look what you made me do. This is so messy and disgusting and brutal and I hate it, I really do... just.. crushing the life out of you...”

Innocence charged her body with magic as Panacea bled out of her scales and hardened into armor, gritting her teeth in pain as stone and rock crushed in around her. She forced herself not to breathe, pushing outwards with magic and telekinesis as she struggled against the immense force bearing down around her.

Antares shoved his way out of the mass of chaos, snarling as he yanked his shield loose and flung it at Locke, but Locke grinned as he simply deflected this with a look before whistling loudly, the mass of chaos behind Antares seizing together and transforming into a massive pair of jaws that launched at the stallion-

A shape slammed down into the mass of chaos before it could devour the black stallion, Antares grinning before both he and Locke stared in disbelief as a massive laser of energy charred through the chaos energy like it was paper, the mass of writhing discord shrieking and bursting apart to flee in terror.

Six turned around, calm and emotionless, the false skin covering the front of her body hanging in tatters as a crystal gleamed brightly in her naked metal chest, the android saying calmly: “Warning. Lethal force has been authorized and limiters have been reduced to level one.”

“Oh as if I'm-”

A blast of concentrated energy shot out of Six's chest, and Locke swore as he narrowly dodged this, wincing as the beam of plasma sheared a trench through the root of Yggdrasil behind him. It cut towards him, and Locke cursed as he countered with his own beam of elemental power, gritting his teeth as he snarled: “No last second saviors!”

Antares charged forwards, and Locke flicked his head, massive vines tearing out of the organic and lashing towards the stallion. Antares leapt into these and allowed himself to get caught, gritting his teeth in pain as thorns and tendrils crushed into him, before he grinned as Innocence blasted her way loose from her stone coffin, leaping into the air and shedding the black crystal armoring her body into blades of shrapnel she sent hurtling at the stallion.

Locke howled as the dark gemstone harried across his body before he thrust his hooves out, negating the beam of plasma: he realized too late, however, that Six had allowed him to push her back, the mare emotionlessly flying backwards as only the reverberations of his magic hit her before she flicked her horn carelessly to the side, slicing Antares loose from the vines.

Innocence grinned as Antares leapt forwards: Locke twisted to meet him, only to realize too late that the shrapnel had been a distraction, misdirection, as the shards buried in the earth behind and around him exploded and shoved him forwards, off-balance.

He gasped, the energy around his body flickering out, his body trembling as Antares' horn buried through his chest. He gritted his teeth, reaching up to grasp the stallion's head, and then he gave a quivering grin as he leaned against him, whispering: “Got me with my own trick.”

“Misdirection.” Antares muttered, before he twisted his horn and yanked it loose, and Locke gasped as he fell forwards. But he never hit the ground, trembling for a moment as he whispered:

“Let me go.”

“No.” Antares said, as he shifted the stallion gently around before slowly, carefully setting him down on his back, asking quietly: “You going to tell us what you were doing here, really?”

Locke grinned up at Antares, his eyes tired, blood running from his face before he whispered: “Setting the stage, my friend. And dying a glorious death.”

Locke winked, then settled, silently, to the earth, his last task complete, the final shard of Loki leaving eagerly to join its siblings in the eternal Void.