{"I ask of you... are you the reader because you are 'present'? Or are you 'present' because you are the reader?"}
You can read early chapters on my [P].[A].[T].[R].[E].[O].[N].
Link: [email protected]/Arson09
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Half an hour later:
Ethan lay back in his chair, relaxed, while Coulson's team worked to locate Lorelei.
He can't help in this process, and he knew it.
Even though Ethan had watched the show in his previous life, he only remembered the general outline; the finer details eluded him, unlike the main movies which he had watched several times.
'Tora?' Ethan called out through their mental link. 'What are the chances that this Lorelei will be able to enchant me?'
'Hmm... her chances should be zero to none,' Tora replied. 'The General has already adapted to any and all forms of mind manipulation spells found within the Kamar-Taj archives.'
'Should be?' Ethan questioned, catching the slight hesitation.
'Yes. The only reason I cannot state it with absolute certainty is my own lack of knowledge regarding Aesir Sorcery. However, at most, she might be able to immobilize you for a few seconds until the wheel turns,' Tora reaffirmed.
'Hmm,' Ethan buzzed as he stood up,' Let's see what our residence Scientists are up to,'
In the Briefing Room:
Coulson and Lady Sif stood before the holotable, the blue light reflecting off their faces.
"These are police reports from a hundred-mile radius of your arrival point," Coulson informed Sif, tapping the holotable to bring the files onto the main screen. "Everything from the last forty-eight hours."
Lady Sif began scanning the documents. Coulson watched her for a moment before fishing for information. "So, how exactly did Ethan help you with this Dark Elf invasion of yours?"
Sif's hands stilled. She looked at Coulson directly. "He decimated their army," she spoke simply.
Coulson shook his head, trying to process the scale of it. "I think...I think he did something similar with the Chitauri. Did he use the rabbits during your invasion?"
"The final battle actually occurred in Svartalfheim, the Dark Elves' home world," Sif continued, returning her gaze to the documents. "So, it was more of a counter-invasion that ended the conflict. And no, I don't believe he used rabbits. He used moths, though."
He has moths, too, Coulson noted mentally.
"What other... animals does he have?" Coulson spoke in a pause.
Sif opened another file and began scrolling through the data. "Well, there is the Tiger, Lord Tora that utilizes sorcery, the Deer that can heal, and the Wood Dragon that can fly at Subsonic speed and of course the moths" Lady Sif listed them all in a single breath.
She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Midgardians shouldn't be able to see these cursed creatures under normal conditions. Neither should you be able to perceive them, Son of Coul," Sif replied, her eyes narrowing as she studied Coulson's shoulder.
There, a low-grade cursed spirit lay coiled, its translucent neck wriggling against his suit.
Sif suddenly brought her right arm down in a swift, sharp chopping motion near his neck, slicing through the air with precision.
A second later, Coulson blinked in surprise. "What did you just do? I feel lighter... for some reason."
"Cursed spirits are one of the greatest natural threats Midgard faces," Sif explained solemnly.
Cursed spirits? We can't see them? Coulson thought, wiping a stray bead of sweat from his forehead.
"There. A jewel robbery," Lady Sif said, pulling up a slide.
"Huh...And there. A gun store robbery by men on Harleys," Coulson added, clicking to the next image, though his face showed clear unease with the knowledge he had just received.
"It is happening faster than I feared. She is amassing men, gold, and weaponry. Lorelei is building an army," Lady Sif concluded grimly.
In the Weapons Room:
"We've traced those men to a biker bar called Rosie's Desert Oasis," Ward announced as he walked in from the tarmac.
He entered the room where Fitz was calibrating ICERs and Ethan was seemingly preoccupied, tossing a bouncing ball into the air and catching it.
Ward paused for a second, taking in the strange scene, just as May entered beside him. Coulson and Lady Sif followed shortly after.
"Suit up. Our ETA is fifteen minutes," Coulson commanded.
"Hey, Phil," Ethan said between tosses. "Can you get me a photo of the outside of this bar?"
Coulson looked confused for a moment but complied. He nodded toward Fitz, and within seconds, a vivid image of the bar's exterior appeared on the screen.
Though invisible to all but two people in the room, another presence made itself known.
"Greetings, Lord Tora," Lady Sif said with a respectful nod.
"Lady Sif," Tora returned the nod, "Fair tidings to you as well," he replied, his voice like grinding gravel.
"Who are you talking to?" Fitz asked, looking around the empty space.
Lady Sif looked at him, then at Ethan.
"Ah..." Ethan sighed. "Normal humans can't see my Shikigami without being in immediate danger of death," he explained. He caught the bouncing ball with one hand and brought it down onto the table with a heavy, resonating thud.
Coulson's team exchanged skeptical glances, though Coulson himself wore a grim expression; they didn't outright reject the claim, but the tension was palpable.
"Ethan, let's pause for a moment. Are you telling us there are threats that normal humans like us simply can't see?" Coulson questioned, his gaze narrowing. "And you've been keeping this from us?"
Ethan turned his head sharply toward Sif, who immediately evaded eye contact, finding a sudden interest in the wall behind him.
"Really, Sif?" Ethan questioned as he shook his head.
"Yes, she told me," Coulson interrupted, leaning forward. "The question is, why didn't you?"
Ethan looked over at Tora, whose hands were already encased in shimmering, rotating Eldritch magic circles.
"Do it," Ethan commanded. A second later, everyone in the immediate vicinity experienced a wave of foggy, distorted vision that rapidly began to clear.
Fitz was the first to react, his voice cracking. "Bloody hell! Is that a Panthera? A bipedal tiger?"
Coulson, May, and Ward were equally bewildered. Ward's hand instinctively drifted toward his ICER. "Is that a Cursed Spirit?" Coulson asked, his voice low and steady despite the shock.
Tora and Ethan exchanged a brief look. With a silent nod from Ethan, Tora began,
"No, Agent Coulson. I am Ethan's Shikigami, linked to his very soul via his Innate Technique."
"And the reason I didn't tell you about Cursed Spirits is quite simple," Ethan said, sitting upright and closing the distance. "You see, Cursed Spirits are born from the negative emotions of humanity—anger, sadness, disgust, guilt, loneliness." He ticked each one off on his fingers before locking eyes with Coulson for the final one. "And fear. And Stronger Cursed Spirits will be born from the collective terror humanity feels when they realize these monsters are actually real—that the monster under their bed might truly be there."
Coulson looked toward Lady Sif for confirmation. "It is true," she affirmed solemnly.
"You ready?" Ethan asked Sif, turning his back on the team and walking toward the tarmac and Ethan looked over his shoulder as he added the last part looking at their ICERs, " And If you want more information, you better come at me with bigger guns, Hahaha, "
Only under the Binding Vow of "Revealing One's Hand" will he provide further information regarding the intricacies of his technique, and as of yet, no opponent has possessed the strength to force him into making such a vow.
Ward looked down at the bouncing ball Ethan had left behind on the table. He reached out to toss it aside, but the ball didn't budge. He tried again, putting his full weight into the effort, but it wouldn't even nudge. He looked over at Fitz, who simply raised both hands in silent, scientific bewilderment.
Coulson and May followed Ethan outside. Tora moved forward and conjured a massive Sling Ring portal inside the moving Bus—an impressive feat that few sorcerers could claim, maintaining a stable portal while traveling at high speeds, as well as maintaining the pressure differential so the bus won't implode on itself.
Fitz saw the Sling Ring portal from the interior and rushed out, eyes wide. "No, no, no! That's... that's a localized Einstein-Rosen bridge! How is this even possible?"
Simmons appeared at his side, still wearing her transparent safety glasses. "Is this more of sorcery?" she asked, her voice sounding utterly defeated by the lack of scientific logic.
Now, Normally the bus should implode on itself to stabilize the pressure differential created by the sling ring portal, and that's where the most Sorcerer fail, they can't create a stable portway where both sides have their respective pressure without interaction. Only The Ancient One, Wong, Kachellis and now Tora could perform such feat.
The portal opened directly onto the dusty lot of Rosie's Desert Oasis. The scene was a stark contrast to the high-tech interior of the Bus; the air was thick with the scent of dry sagebrush and exhaust, shimmering under the relentless Nevada sun.
"Lorelei's tastes usually run toward palaces and castles," Lady Sif noted, unsheathing her sword with a lethal grace. "This is far more humble than her usual abode."
"The draw wasn't the place; it was the manpower," Ward added, his gaze fixed on the rows of motorcycles parked outside.
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A/N: So how was the chapter?
GIVE POWER STONES,IF YOU ARE ENJOYING THE STORY.
( It keeps me motivated to further write more chapters.)