Author's Note: If you're enjoying the story and want early access to advanced chapters, plus some bonus content, check out my Patreon at banmido.
IN THE VAULT OF ASGARD
Beneath New Asgard, past silver-etched gates that hadn't opened since Odin's death, stood the vault, untouched and sacred.
Until now.
The doors stood ajar.
Valkyrie entered, boots silent on black stone, Dragonfang sheathed but itching.
The vault was colder than she remembered. Halls carved by Odin's hand stretched into shadows. Firelight flickered against relics sealed in enchanted glass. Old things, dangerous things, forgotten things.
But one thing pulsed with life.
At the chamber's heart, six glowing stones hovered above a pedestal carved from gold-veined root. The Norn Stones.
Once a great power belonging to the Witch Queen of Nornheim, Karnilla.
And a woman stood beneath them. Emerald robes, long blonde hair, spine as proud as the day they'd met.
"Amora," Valkyrie said, voice low.
The figure turned and smiled, lips tinted a shade too sweet.
"Valkyrie," she greeted.
That word hit like a wrong note in a song she knew by heart.
She kept her face still.
"You have nerve," Valkyrie said, stepping forward. "After what you did in Nornheim, I thought you were dead."
"Rumors of my demise were... greatly exaggerated."
"You tried to make me betray my people," she continued, circling slowly. "Tried to make me doubt myself. Doubt everything I fought for."
"I offered you freedom."
"You offered me treason, and betrayed me for Karnilla."
The woman smiled again, but her eyes didn't match. They were too cold. Too distant. Like she was reciting lines from someone else's memory.
"You remember how that ended?" Valkyrie asked. "When the dust settled, Karnilla's kingdom was ashes, and Odin was barely standing. He only beat her because he seperated the Stones from her."
"I remember."
Valkyrie stepped closer. "Funny. You always called me Val. Or Broon. Sometimes Hild, when you were drunk or trying to piss me off. Never Valkyrie. That's what strangers call me."
A pause.
Then,
"You must be misremembering," the woman said smoothly.
But Valkyrie was already moving, circling around her like a predator in armor.
"You also smell wrong."
The woman blinked.
"You wore myrrh and chrysanthemums. Always. You said it masked the stench of magic."
Valkyrie's jaw flexed. "Now? It's wolfsbane and jasmine. Wolfsbane's for disguise. For deception."
Her hand rested on Dragonfang's hilt.
"You're not Amora," she said quietly. "Are you?"
Silence stretched, long and cold.
The illusion cracked.
It began with a flicker. A ripple in the air like oil on water. Then a gust of green flame roared upward, curling in on itself like a serpent devouring its tail.
The robes twisted. Hair blackened. Flesh rearranged.
And where Amora had stood, now stood Loki.
Taller. Leaner. Sharper around the edges.
His magic darker.
His eyes colder.
"Still sharp, Valkyrie," he said with a smirk. "I had hoped you'd enjoy the reunion a bit longer, but your sense always was... annoyingly perceptive."
Valkyrie took a slow breath.
"I should've known the god of trickery would slither out of whatever death he'd earned last."
"Oh, I assure you," Loki said, adjusting his cuffs. "That version of me is quite dead. I'm not him. I'm better."
She drew Dragonfang in one clean motion.
"You're behind all of this."
"Not everything," Loki said, raising a finger in his own defense.
"Valentina Fontaine's vanity and desperation did most of the heavy lifting. I simply... curated it."
"The New Avengers. The attack on Asgard. The power plays."
"Correct," he said, almost bored. "But don't forget war is not a hammer. It's a lever. And Fontaine? She was an easy one to pull."
Valkyrie's eyes narrowed. "Sentry. Ares. Do they know?"
"They don't know they're building my throne," he said, glancing at the Norn Stones. "Yet."
"Why?" she asked.
And he laughed.
"I am a god, Valkyrie," Loki said. "I will not share my kingdom with insects. This floating ruin above Oklahoma? This Asgard that stands above food trucks and public tours? It offends the very essence of what we were."
"You were never meant to rule."
He stepped closer, his presence radiating something ancient and dark.
"That's were you're wrong, I was destined to rule," Loki hissed.
"But Odin gave Thor the hammer. Odin gave him the people. But I was the one who saw what Asgard could truly become."
He motioned to the Stones, now pulsing harder with his nearness.
"With these, I will lift Asgard away from Midgard's filth and reconnect us to Yggdrasil. The Nine Realms will bend to Asgard again. The old era of the gods will rise. And this time, we will not bow to mortals. We will burn them from our path."
"You're insane." she said in shock.
"I'm done pretending to be anything less than what I am," Loki growled. "I've worn enough masks. Played enough roles. I will remake this pantheon, not with Odin's laws, but with my own vision."
Valkyrie tensed. "You think you can control the Stones?"
He smiled. "Odin feared them because he lacked imagination. Karnilla nearly conquered the Realms with them, and he barely survived. But me? I've studied longer. Deeper. I don't just want the Stones. I understand them."
Her voice turned hard. "And once you have them, what then? Burn your 'Avengers?' Kill Fontaine?"
"When they've served their purpose," Loki said, casually. "Sentry and Ares are weapons, not allies. Fontaine's just a gatekeeper. I'll replace her when she breaks."
He turned back toward the pedestal, fingers twitching with barely contained hunger.
Valkyrie raised Dragonfang. Her voice was steady.
"I won't let you take them."
Loki glanced over his shoulder. "You're brave. I'll grant you that. But you don't stand a chance."
"Maybe not," she said. "But I'm still Asgardian. And I don't kneel to cowards in stolen skin."
Loki turned, slowly.
His grin was razor thin.
"Then die for your loyalty."
The air burned.
Not from flame but from pressure. Like the atmosphere itself was being squeezed, crushed between the clashing wills of two warriors who had no intention of falling first.
Naruto stood with his shirt scorched open and his hands glowing faintly red, steam rising off his back like incense from a battlefield altar. Behind him, the red oni, his battle spirit, lingered in silhouette.
Ares cracked his neck.
"Your spirit," he said, low and impressed. "It shows teeth."
Naruto wiped blood from his mouth and spat.
"Yours smells like wet iron and pride."
They met in the center of the field.
No weapons. No distractions. Just raw, unrelenting force.
Fist met fist. Shin collided with thigh. Elbows found ribs. Their bodies blurred with the speed of trained killers, centuries apart in age but equals in that single sacred moment.
Naruto slipped past a haymaker and buried a blow into Ares' liver. The god's body rocked, but only slightly. Ares answered with a punch that cratered the ground where Naruto stood seconds earlier.
He ducked, twisted, and launched a palm strike to Ares' jaw that connected.
A spray of golden blood arced through the air.
Ichor.
Naruto blinked, panting.
Ares touched his lip and looked at the smear on his fingers.
"Impressive," he muttered. "But all that.."
He looked up.
"for a drop."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. Kurama's voice echoed inside him.
"You sure do know how to pick 'em."
"I'm winning," Naruto said aloud, cracking his neck.
"No. You were winning."
A pulse spread through the stone beneath their feet.
Then the God of War stepped forward.
And changed.
Fire rolled off his shoulders. Not metaphorical. Actual flame, divine and ancient, licking across his skin like armor made of war itself. His muscles glowed faintly under his skin like his veins carried lightning instead of blood. His eyes burned gold. His voice boomed, not from his throat, but from everywhere.
"You want my full power?" he growled.
"You've earned it."
Wings of fire, massive and formless, flared briefly behind him before vanishing in embers.
Naruto didn't flinch. He dropped into a low stance, breath steady. But even he felt the difference now. The ground sank under Ares' feet. The air shook with each step he took forward.
Then Ares moved.
Faster than before. He was a blur of fire and force.
Naruto barely blocked the first punch, but the second hit home. And the third. And the fourth.
Ares drove him back with a savage flurry of hooks and hammering elbows, each blow crashing like thunder. Naruto raised his arms, bracing. Blocking what he could. The rest tore through.
A gut punch folded him. A backfist whipped his head sideways. A spinning knee shattered the stone beneath them as Naruto's body bounced against the ground.
He rolled to his feet mid-slide, already weaving around the next strike. But Ares was there. Always there. Waiting.
Another blow to the ribs. Another to the back of the neck.
Naruto hit the ground again, breath ripped from his lungs. The world tilted.
Kurama again, more amused than alarmed:
"Now this is a beating."
"Shut up," Naruto coughed out.
He rose. Bleeding. Shaking. He threw a kick.
Ares caught it mid-air and flung him into a fractured slab of wall.
Naruto exploded through it.
The feed watching around the world shook violently from the shockwave.
LIVE FEED:
extraemilyfanatic37: that man just threw a missile
dukedennisluvr: is that GOLDEN BLOOD?
schlattCORE: he's still standing. bro what.
MemeLordOfWar: WHERE IS THOR?!
kaicenatfanOfficial: bro get UP
Naruto stumbled back out, hair matted to his forehead, lip split, arms twitching. And yet the fire that burned was still inside of him.
He surged forward with a roar, dragging his fist across the ground before launching himself like a javelin at Ares' center mass.
This time, he hit first.
His punch sank into Ares' side hard enough to bend the god's torso. A follow-up hook cracked Ares across the jaw. A knee slammed into his gut. Then Naruto spun and buried a backfist into his temple.
The world snapped white for a moment.
Ares staggered back.
But he didn't fall.
He grinned.
And hit Naruto so hard the boy's feet left the ground again.
He followed with a flying knee that caught Naruto midair and sent him spiraling down.
Naruto crashed hard, bounced once, and skidded across blood-streaked rubble.
Ares landed beside him, steam pouring off his body like a war god forged anew.
Naruto rolled over.
Still breathing. Still grinning.
"Your punches," he gasped, "kinda feel like someone dropped a mountain on me."
Ares crouched beside him.
"And you're still making jokes. That alone earns you my respect."
Naruto coughed, blood spilling over his teeth.
"You're not holding back anymore," he said.
"No," Ares replied. "Neither are you."
The two locked eyes. Gods in their own way. Warriors born from different wars, but carved from the same stone.
Naruto pushed himself up. Muscles screaming. Bones shifting. Bruises healing even as new ones formed.
And he stood.
Chest heaving. Bloodied. Grinning.
"You still owe me a round three," he said.
Ares rolled his neck. The fire around him roared.
"And you still owe me a worthy end."
_
A repulsor blast slammed into Kamala's shield, lighting it up in blue-violet sparks. She grimaced, crouching under the impact, then pushed off her platform in a forward roll. A light construct formed mid-motion in her hand, a crescent blade.
She aimed low. Hammer twisted to block it, but not in time.
Steel groaned. His left leg stiffened.
"You're sparking," Kamala said, breath short.
"And you're glowing," he snapped. "Is that supposed to be threatening or just dramatic?"
Before she could respond,
The ground shook.
Not from their fight.
Not from anything nearby.
A pulse spread through the earth like a heartbeat too big for this world.
Kate felt it too.
She ducked under a knife thrown with surgical intent, spun, and loosed an arrow that detonated mid-air with a flash of magnesium. Bullseye flinched just long enough for her to leap to higher ground atop a half-shattered statue.
She glanced toward the distant edge of the battlefield.
Smoke. Fire. Heat rolling off stone.
And from it,
Two silhouettes. One demon. One god.
Locked in chaos and battle.
Kate muttered under her breath. "Oh my god…"
Even Bullseye hesitated, his blade halfway out of its wrist sheath. He followed her gaze.
The sky lit again.
This time it wasn't lightning.
It was Naruto, burning with chakra and battle spirit, colliding mid-air with Ares in a spiral of fists and divine fire.
Kate didn't even realize she was breathing shallow.
Kamala landed beside her a few seconds later, platform still hot beneath her boots.
They both stared.
"...You seeing this?" Kamala whispered.
Kate didn't blink. "How is he even.."
Ares slammed Naruto into the earth, the explosion tossing up a wave of broken stone. Naruto burst out of it a second later, catching the god's arm and twisting it mid-flight. Fire and blue flame spiraled around them like battling dragons.
"alive?" Kate finished.
Bullseye tilted his head, looking annoyed. "Cute. Now back to our regularly scheduled murder program!"
Kate fired without looking, forcing him back behind a half-broken column.
Kamala ducked behind cover next to her, panting.
"We're fighting glorified murder interns," she said, "and he's fighting a god."
"I'm bleeding from, like, six different places," Kate muttered. "And I still feel underqualified."
Another quake tore through the ground. The pillar next to them cracked and collapsed.
In the distance, Naruto punched Ares so hard it echoed like a cannon blast. For a brief instant, the red silhouette of the oni flashed behind him again, not visible to the world but felt by everyone still standing.
Kate and Kamala both felt their lungs seize.
Kamala looked over. "Was that?"
"Yup," Kate said.
"I think he just smiled."
Kate exhaled. "I hate that he's normally cringe. And somehow still cool when he's serious"
Kamala nodded slowly. "Same."
From the other side of the battlefield, Hammer growled. "Can we get back to fighting now?"
Kamala popped up from cover and hurled a glowing spear of light through his smoke grenade cloud.
"Wait your turn!"
Author's Note: If you're enjoying the story and want early access to advanced chapters, plus some bonus content, check out my Patreon at banmido
Also if you haven't watched the Loki TV Show then definitely do so. It's amazing.