Threads of the Soul

Chapter 428 - 428: True Strength

Ethereal threads, as thin as a single hair, coiled their way through the hordes of the undead. Their slithering approach completely unseen, as they had no physical form to see, right up until the moment they struck.Hundreds of threads lunged like coiled serpents, manifesting themselves into the material realm just before they ensnared their targets. They rapidly wrapped around the limbs and throats of the horde at their masters command.

With a clench of his fist, Corvus tightened the threads. They tore through ghoulish flesh and tore the limbs from their bodies. Arms, legs and heads flew through the air as Lord Corvus gave a perfect display as to why he was known as a God of Death.

When the bodies dissolved into pure soul energy and started to hurry back to their mistress, the threads struck again. They skulked into the ethereal plane once more and snatched the souls out of the air.

Power flowed into Corvus' body like he was a black hole as he greedily devoured the morsels he had been presented with. Angel's voice resounded in his head, so many notifications ringing that their voice was overlapping with itself in the repetition of a singular phrase.

[Your Spiritual Score has increased.]

The silver of his eyes pulsed brightly, so much that they pierced through the rudimentary enchantment of his hood, appearing like a pair of burning, silver suns to those watching. A cold, malevolent air spread through the entire room as a small army was culled and devoured in an instant.

Yet as Corvus focused his eyes once more, he remembered an important detail. He was not the only 'God' in the room at the moment.

A massive hammer, one with a head almost the size of his torso, was flying straight towards him. It's bone crushing head directed straight towards him as it flew fast and true.

His body was still settling after the massive influx of power, so turning into his soul form was currently out of the question until his power stabilised. The threads that had devoured the army quickly reeled themselves back in, weaving themselves together into a robust shield in front of their master.

Yet his instincts were telling him it wasn't nearly enough. Behind the shield of woven threads, Corvus dove to the side. Just in time too, as not a moment later his robust shield was torn apart like a finger through especially cheap leggings.

The hammer met no resistance whatsoever when it came to his shield, ripping through it without slowing in the slightest. If he hadn't moved, it would have caved through his chest just as easily. However he hadn't moved nearly enough.

The crushing weapon slammed into his shoulder and crumbled his ornamental armour like tin foil. The bones of his shoulder were like glass, shattering at the slightest touch of the hammer as it flew past him.

Being struck by that hammer, although it looked like ordinary stone, was like being bulldozed by an entire planet! He might as well have had the moon thrown at him, in fact he would probably have a better chance with the moon in all honesty.

The hammer slammed into the wall behind Corvus, finally allowing its momentum to be stopped. Although he had a strange feeling it wasn't because of the toughness of the wall, but simply because the hammer wanted to stop at that point, as it had missed its target.

He had no idea where such a thought came from, but it was one he couldn't shake.

Corvus landed on the ground with an unceremonious thump, holding in the grunts from the pain of his shattered shoulder. He winced slightly, lamenting in his mind

'Why is it always the arm? Am I really not destined to have two functioning arms?'

The ground rumbled beneath him, forcing Corvus to ignore his one armed curse and roll over. He flipped to his feet, or at least he tried. Mid flip, a meaty hand clapped around his leg and swung him through the air like a rag-doll, before launching him into the wall.

Air was forced from his lungs as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body sliding down the wall slightly before the same meaty hand clamped over his chest and slammed him back against the wall.

The entire hand covered his chest, holding him above the ground like he was completely weightless. A cocky grin spread across Thor's face as he summoned his hammer back into his hand.

"Look at you, so proud. It's adorable. You were bragging so much about being Celestial at your little meeting, but you're just a newborn whelp. You don't know the first thing about being celestial."

Corvus grit his teeth beneath his hood, resisting the urge to gag at the stench of this gods breath. God of Beer Breath was more like it.

He kept his retching and thoughts to himself, simply clamping his hand on the tree trunk arm pinning to him to the wall and started to pull it away. The muscles bulged in his arm as he forced the larger man to release him.

Thor's eyebrows shot up at the fact he was being moved by the newborn whelp, but a moment later runes on his mighty hammer glowed brightly. Crackles of lightning spread across the Thunder God's body, causing his muscles to swell and expand as the lightning infused them with power.

Power that he used to tighten his grip once more and force Corvus back into the wall. His calloused finger, which was almost as big as Corvus' fist, dug into Corvus' mangled shoulder, letting out a sickening series of crunches that sounded like gravel in a blender.

Corvus grit his teeth tight enough to crack them as he refused to make so much as a grunt under the torturous pain. He glanced to his side, looking towards Woe. The boy was acting brave, but Corvus could still see the twitches of fear and worry in his eyes.

Despite that, Einherjar bodies littered the ground around him. Not a mark on them to show the cause of death, which was just as strange as the fact that they weren't dissolving. The bodies were arranged in a perfect circle around Woe, as if he had an aura of absolute death.

Woe turned when he felt a gaze on him, meeting his Lord's eyes despite them being just flames glowing in the darkness of the hood. He froze for a few seconds, wondering what he was supposed to do, before his Lord muttered his instructions.

Thor frowned deeply, forcing Corvus into the wall more as he raised his trusty hammer.

"What did you say? Did you really just use your last words to say 'No, don't do it'? Are you really that pathetic after all that bragging and posturing?"

Corvus laughed lowly, a laugh that was strained and wheezing, as he lifted his head slowly so that his glowing silver eyes were staring into the electric blue eyes of the God of Thunder.

"Of course not you miserable oaf. What i said was, 'Woe. Do it.'" Corvus spat blood in the mighty gods face, hitting him right in the eyes, before letting out another laugh. Still stained, but much more maniacal and crazed sounding.

A pulse of absolute nothingness moved through the air, passing over the two of them as they were helpless to avoid it. The pulse stopped just beyond them, making sure not to reach far enough to affect things like Astra's battle with the Valkyrie and her guards in an attempt to stop her from summoning more Einherjar.

Corvus once again felt himself completely isolated from the additional senses he had grown accustomed to. His body, despite not changing physically, suddenly felt claustrophobic and alien, lacking senses and limbs that he knew he should have, as if he had been reduced down to just a brain in a jar.

As for the mighty thunder god, his trusty hammer crashed to the ground as the enhanced strength left his body. He was still left with the insane strength that he had as part of his evolution and superior genes, but it was suddenly no where near enough to lift the colossal weight of the mighty hammer.

For the first time in centuries, he was forced to feel the tremendous, impossible weight of Mjolnir as it dropped from his hands.

That momentary distraction, as his brain struggled to process why his loyal weapon had betrayed him and his muscles were failing, was more than enough time for Corvus to pry himself free.

He quickly dropped to the ground, clenched his fists and sent them rocketing upwards into Thor's jaw. On natural strength alone, the punch lifted the Giant off of his feet and sent him tumbling across the room, leaving his hammer behind.

Wasting no time, Corvus scooped up the nearest weapon dropped by an Einherjar and launched it towards the Valkyrie.

He didn't care if it killed or not, just that it got her away from Astra long enough to call her back to him.

"Come on, we're leaving. Now."

"What? Why? We're winning."

"Maybe for now. But I just punched Thor across the room... and I'm pretty sure I broke my hand."