"They are failing!" An angry shout cut through the room
Odin couldn't find a proper response. He, along with the other high-ranking gods, angels, and devils watched as Thor and Loki were met with a shocking display of resistance.
"Can one of us break through?" one of the angels said, "Surely we can stretch the veil just wide enough for one of us to aid the war."
Odin shook his head, "It's impossible, Michael. That whoreson Morpheus managed to create something truly sturdy we are too powerful to fit through right now, but if they win we will be able to descend."
"Are you sure?" Zues asked as he glumly stared at the display in front of them
Odin nodded, "Positive, I have studied the veil longer than anyone. Just one more anchor to go and we can make it through and destroy the main anchor line."
"Then." Morpheus, the god Morpheus spoke coldly, "Your sons better win Odin." his voice was like tar
"They will."
'They better.'
***
The ground split open beneath Thor's boots, the heat of Ra's latest barrage still searing across his back. Smoke twisted skyward. Lightning danced over his shoulders like serpents hunting for prey.
He was breathing hard now. Not from exhaustion, but from rage.
"I will not fall in this desert," he growled.
The sand cracked as he swung his hammer Mjölnir into the earth. A blast of raw energy rippled outward, flattening the three nearest sand warriors. The sandstone jackal-headed soldier to his right disintegrated mid-lunge. But five more took its place.
Ra swooped down again, spear raised, golden eyes narrowed. Thor turned, parried the blow with his hammer, and countered with a lightning-infused uppercut that sent Ra tumbling backward into a dune.
Then the jackal came—Anubis.
Claws outstretched, a low growl vibrating from his throat. He struck from the shadows behind the sand warriors, fast and quiet as death.
Thor barely pivoted in time. Mjölnir clanged against Anubis's claws with a shattering impact, lightning spilling across both their bodies. Anubis grabbed his wrist, spun, and threw the god of thunder into a column of carved sandstone—Khufu's ancient wardstone, now cracked and splintering.
Thor coughed as he pushed up. Blood dripped from his lip.
"Persistent dogs," he snarled. "You should have stayed buried."
A falcon-headed warrior screamed and hurled a sand spear which was transfigured mid air by a nearby wizard into a barbed spear. Thor swatted it from the air, but three others came behind it. One caught him in the thigh.
He roared pain, not rage this time and ripped the spear out with a spray of blood. His leg trembled under him, but he kept moving.
Another sand warrior leapt at him half-crocodile, armored in gold. Thor met it with a burst of lightning, frying the beast midair, and then sprinted through the smoke. He slammed his hammer into the nearest cluster of enemies, spinning in a tight circle, a storm incarnate. Thunder boomed as Mjölnir crushed skulls, tore through torsos, and shattered stone.
But they kept coming.
Ra returned from above, launching bolts of solar fire like arrows from the sun itself. One hit Thor in the ribs—he stumbled, smoke rising from the scorched metal of his armor. Anubis followed again, claws slicing at his sides, ripping the fastenings on Thor's shoulder guard.
Thor caught him with a hammer-blow to the jaw, but Anubis twisted mid-hit and slashed Thor's chest open before vanishing into the fray again.
The sand turned red beneath Thor's feet.
He raised his hand. Stormclouds churned above. A jagged bolt of lightning struck the sand beside him he caught it. Twisting his arm, he flung it at a cluster of reinforcements, vaporizing six sand warriors in a thunderclap. For a moment, even Ra slowed.
Then a jackal-headed soldier caught Thor in the side with a curved khopesh.
He screamed. The blade stuck in his ribs. Thor grabbed it, yanked it free, and swung it like a makeshift weapon, cleaving through two more attackers before tossing it aside. Blood poured down his side.
He was slowing.
And his enemies were not.
A sharp whistle cut through the storm. Then came the chanting Khufu's wards activating again.
From the dunes behind, another wave of sand warriors rose, their bodies forming from golden spirals and whirling dust. Behind them, the humans surged forward, casting spells to reinforce the ancient Egyptian summons. Transfigured chains wrapped around some enemies' feet. Conjured stakes pinned them in place. The humans didn't charge to save Thor but they knew where the line was drawn. If Thor fell now, the pyramid would burn.
Ra landed behind Thor. Anubis reappeared in front.
And Thor was trapped between them.
"You beasts," he hissed, face bloodied, armor cracked. "You think this ends with me?"
"No," said Anubis. "It begins with you."
Then they attacked.
Anubis struck first fast, claws aimed at Thor's throat. Thor blocked with his forearm, ignoring the flash of pain as the claws dug in, and smashed his elbow into Anubis's snout.
Ra came next, sweeping in low, fire glowing in his hand. He threw a blast of solar flame—Thor turned and took it on his back, armor blistering. He stumbled. Knees hit sand.
And still, he fought.
Thor slammed Mjölnir into the ground again a wave of lightning erupted in every direction. For a moment, all three gods were engulfed in white-hot light. The nearby sand fused into glass. Half of Thor's beard was burned away.
But Ra and Anubis were still standing.
Ra's spear plunged into Thor's shoulder, pinning him to the ground. Anubis raised his clawed hand for the finishing strike.
Thor roared, "I WILL NOT LOSE HERE YOU DISGUSTING MORTALS!"
Thor's legs trembled.
More skin tore along his chest—sheets of muscle glowing beneath it, streaks of energy coursing over his ribs. It no longer looked like flesh—it was like his body was unraveling, turning translucent in bursts, barely keeping its form.
He roared and slammed Mjölnir into his own chest.
The ground shook. A ring of lightning exploded outward, leveling the sand warriors around him. Even the air distorted—too charged to stay still.
Anubis flew backwards skidding across the sand.
"This is the storm," he growled. "I WILL CONQUER YOU!"
"He'll destroy himself." Ra murmured
"No," Khufu murmured, glyphs dancing along his arms. "He'll destroy us first."
Anubis reappeared beside Ra, chest scorched, growling. "We have to strike now."
"Too late," Ra said grimly.
Thor lifted into the air.
His feet no longer touched the ground.
His skin had nearly all torn away, replaced by arcs of blinding white, the shape of a man formed only by wrath and power. Where veins had been, now lightning pulsed. His voice boomed like thunder from every direction.
"I am not done."
Then he descendednstraight toward Ra, Anubis, and the sand warriors with the fury of an entire storm breaking loose.
***
Odin gripped his throne with such strength that he shattered the stone under him.
"His is sacrificing himself." Zeus murmured
"We will win." Odin said again
***
Morpheus looked toward the pyramid and saw what Thor was planning, "We best finish this up." He said to his brother
Herpo grinned, "After you."
Loki's face looked grim as he looked off into the distance and immediately began to channel his magic, copies of himself split from the core body filling the area.
"My brother sacrifice will not be in vain!"
Morpheus shot a red bolt into the air before quickly slamming his palm on one of the metal plates beside him, the small area where they battled shook before all of the metal plates began to glow around them
The sand hissed. The air pulsed. The battlefield shook.
Herpo let out a wet, cracking hiss as his body twisted violently. Bones snapped and elongated, his skin rippling as scales burst forth. Within seconds, he was no longer a man, but a massive basilisk horned, black-eyed, and coiled with muscle. His massive body crushed a demon beneath it without effort.
Helga's wand whipped through the air. "Protego Maxima!"
A shimmering barrier slammed up between her and the oncoming serpent, just as Herpo lunged. Fangs the size of swords smashed into the shield, venom hissing against the magical surface.
Loki's copies swarmed Morpheus. From above, behind, all sides they moved as one. Blades appeared from folds in robes, spells cast silently, invisibly. But Morpheus did not flinch. He twisted his hand and reached into the corpse of a nearby fallen demon. With a snarl, he pulled something out it was as if he held the core of the demon in his hands it pulsed with magic.
He slammed it into the metal plate.
A pulse shot outward.
Boom.
A wave of arcane force detonated from the ground, tearing apart half of Loki's clones in a single surge. The others backed off, repositioned, vanishing and reappearing again.
Morpheus flicked his wrist, and the corpses nearby began to rise—misshapen, slow, but burning with the same sickly red light as the runes. "You should've struck when we were distracted."
Helga didn't answer. She ducked a strike from the undead and fired a curse under Herpo's coils. "Confringo!" The blast struck the basilisk under the chin—his hiss became a roar of pain.
A flash of golden hair the real Loki now, appearing behind Morpheus with a blade of summoned light. He drove it toward the spine—
But Morpheus turned just in time. "Too slow."
Their hands collided. The blade shattered. Loki vanished again.
Helga dropped low, rolled through the sand, and raised both hands. "Ferreus Saxum!" The sand beneath Herpo's body turned to hard stone then jagged spears of it launched upward, catching the serpent across the side, embedding deep.
Herpo shrieked, twisting then burst back into human form, blood streaming down his ribs.
Morpheus stepped beside him. "Enough."
Together, they moved.
Morpheus's hand came up in a wide arc, the sand lifting with it. A net of steel shards transfigured from plate fragments twisted into a spinning wall.
Herpo, bloodied and limping, whispered a string of ancient words and flicked his wand toward Loki.
The net exploded forward dozens of razor edges screaming through the air and just behind them, a massive basilisk fang, conjured mid-cast, came hurtling with lethal intent.
Loki threw up both arms, but it wasn't enough.
The net tore through four more clones then found flesh.
A spray of blood burst from Loki's left arm as he vanished again, dragging himself into invisibility, but not before his curse landed a burning scar along Morpheus's jaw.
Helga stumbled, panting, wand gripped tightly. "You don't win this."
Morpheus smiled with blood in his teeth. "We already have."