295 CHAPTER 280
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[Alex Walker POV]
I felt the cosmos cry as Knull broke his seal, his energy washing over what was in waves of evil intent, like a miasma of toxic emotions, hurting those capable of feeling it.
It was quite possibly the worst feeling I had ever felt, the feeling was akin to being overwhelmed by a sea of malice, putrid in essence, and corrupted to the deepest level.
"It's time," I muttered, my eyes closing. Knull would be free in a matter of minutes. No more waiting.
"Be careful," Bucky, the only one near to me at the moment warned, the others were busy dealing with their own preparations, Thor and Sif training, the Ancient One planning, leaving me right now with Bucky. "Have you thought of a strategy?" he asked, frowning ever so slightly in worry.
"Yes," I answered, smiling. "I have something like that." It wasn't anything certain, but it would give me an edge against the bastard.
"Then, kick his ass," Bucky nodded, with a rare smile of encouragement. One born from fear and expectations.
I nodded, offering him a confident smile, before teleporting to Knull's location, where I would wait for him to come. Sitting idly in the empty void of space, just a few hundred thousand miles away from his planet, his cage, and in time, his tomb.
I had trained a lot for this and in the process gained a lot of power. Surprisingly, I was calm, even if I wasn't before because I knew that from this point forward, all that was left was killing him, no matter the cost.
I had my power.
My strategies.
And my knowledge.
If I applied all that accordingly, victory was well within my grasp.
Now, it was simply a matter of waiting for my troops to move to their locations, and my allies to come.
"And talking about the devil," I chuckled, feeling Arishem's energy a few seconds before he teleported in front of me. The first thing I noticed was that his power had increased a lot, being well above Set's maximum power, followed by the fact he had come alone.
"Alex," Arishem spoke, his voice booming across the empty void of space. "Are you ready?"
"I am," I nodded, giving him a brief smile, as my eyes closed, forming two thin lines. "What about you?" I asked, my eyes going over him in a scrutinizing manner, wondering how he had grown so powerful in such a short period of time.
"I am," Arishem replied, changing his size to match mine. "Though I am afraid my powers won't be enough," he added, his voice carrying a lot of uncertainty in each word.
"Be that as it may, you have increased your power exponentially," I replied with a short nod, after all, credit where it's due.
"I have," Arishem nodded, his tone back to his even self. "I had to consume massive quantities of cosmic power to do so. Hopefully, the outcome of such actions will be enough to aid you in this battle."
"Talking about help, where are the others?" I asked, not bothering to check the map to see where he had put the other Celestials.
"Helping your troops," Arishem replied without missing a beat, his red glowing eyes on me. "I saw no tactical need to give the God Butcher more power by having them here. After all, in the face of Knull, they are powerless, nothing but fuel to his blade, a hindrance to our ultimate goal. Nevertheless, they are Celestials, and therefore must do their duty regardless of how dire the situation is, so as to not waste their power by having them stay hidden, I ordered them to assist your troops, with direct orders to obey your commanders to ensure optimal efficiency."
Well, color me impressed. I never would've expected Arishem of all beings to order other Celestials to obey non-celestial beings.
"That will help a lot," I replied, giving the Celestial a small smile.
"Your strategy it's sound. It was only logical to support such a plan to the best of my ability," Arishem replied, his red eyes glancing ever so slightly at Klyntar. "In a minute or two, Knull will shatter his seal, and the battle will commence."
"I am aware," I nodded, gazing at the planet with a small frown on my face, my mouth forming a thin line. "I recommend you leave me to fight him alone. No offense or anything, but while it's true you have increased your power exponentially since we last met. I am certain it won't be enough, not only that but unless your power it's at least equal to mine, you would be getting in the way."
"No offense taken. I am fully aware you are quite possibly the only one able to face Knull at this time," Arishem replied, his tone clear and calm. "However, that doesn't mean I can't help from a distance should the need ever arise, otherwise my objective here it's to eliminate as many of his troops as I can."
So his plan was to work as the first line of defense, helping our troops by reducing the number of enemies sent their way. A simple, yet efficient plan, at least in theory.
"That works," I replied, my eyes still on Klyntar. Knull's energy was growing with each passing second, the waves of pure, unadulterated malice becoming denser, and harder to miss.
I was by this point sure that even those unaware of the cosmic balance were able to feel what I was feeling, perhaps to a lesser extent.
"You met Knull, right?" I asked, my attention turning to Arishem, who simply nodded at the question. "How do I fare against him?"
For a moment, Arishem said nothing, simply staring at me in deep ponderation. "About the same."
About the same.
I could work with that.
"However, I am not confident in my answer. Knull and his power are in nature quite difficult to measure by a simple power scale, if not impossible to, so I am unfortunately unable to give you an accurate assessment." Arishem added.
"Well, that's something Knull and I have in common, who would've thought?" I replied my tone cold, as I felt the seal that held Knull in place break, welcoming the King of the Abyss back into our universe.
The time had finally come.
Now, it was time to see it through.
