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creeping over the edge, over the deck, and coming right at them.
    Thor heard a cry
and he looked out and saw Selese, a tentacle wrapped around her ankle, sliding
across the deck, being yanked overboard. Reece swung around and chopped off the
tentacle, but just as quickly another tentacle grabbed Reece’s arm. More and
more tentacles crept over the ship, and as Thor felt one on his own thigh, he
looked around and saw all of his Legion brothers swinging wildly, chopping off
tentacles. For each one they chopped off, two more appeared.
    The entire ship
was covered, and Thor knew that if he did not do something soon, they would all
be sucked under for good. He heard a screech, high in the sky, and as he looked
up, he saw one of the demon creatures released from hell, flying high overhead,
looking down with a mocking gaze as it flew away.
    Thor closed his
eyes, knowing this was one of his tests, one of the monumental moments in his
life. He tried to blot out the world, to focus inwardly. On his training. On
Argon. On his mother. On his powers. He was stronger than the universe, he knew
that. There were powers deep within him, powers above the physical world. This
creature was of this earth—yet Thor’s powers were greater. He could summon the
powers of nature, the very powers that had created this beast, and send it back
to the hell it had come from.
    Thor felt the
world slow all around him. He felt a heat rising within his palms, spreading
through his arms, his shoulders, and back again, prickling, right down to his
fingertips. Feeling invincible, Thor opened his eyes. He felt an incredible
power shining through them, the power of the universe.
    Thor reached out
and placed his palm on the tentacle of the beast, and as he did, he seared it.
The beast withdrew it immediately from his thigh, as if being burnt.
    Thor stood, a
new man. He turned and saw the beast’s head rearing itself up along the edge of
the ship, opening its jaws, preparing to swallow them all. He saw his Legion
brothers and sisters sliding, about to be dragged over the edge.
    Thor let out a
great battle cry and charged the beast. He dove for it before it could reach
the others, forgoing his sword and instead reaching out with his burning palms.
He grabbed hold of the beast’s face and laid his palms on it, and as he did, he
felt them sear the beast’s face.
    Thor held on
tight as the beast shrieked and writhed, trying to break free from his grasp.
Slowly, one tentacle at a time, the beast began to release its grip on the
boat, and as it did, Thor felt his power rising within him. He grabbed hold of
the beast firmly and raised both of his palms, and as he did, he felt the
weight of the beast, rising higher and higher into the air. Soon it hovered
above Thor’s palms, the power within Thor keeping it afloat.
    Then, when the
beast was a good thirty feet overhead, Thor turned and cast his hands forward.
    The beast went
flying forward, above the ship, shrieking, tumbling end over end. It sailed
through the air a good hundred feet, until finally it went limp. It dropped
down into the sea with a great splash, then sank beneath the surface.
    Dead.
    Thor stood there
in the silence, his entire body still warm, and slowly, one at a time, the
others regrouped, gaining their feet and coming up beside him. Thor stood
there, breathing hard, dazed, looking out at the sea of blood. Beyond it, on
the horizon, his eyes fixed on the black castle, looming over this land, the
place that, he knew, held his son.
    The time had
come. There was nothing stopping him now, and it was time, finally, to retrieve
his son.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    Volusia stood
before her many advisors in the streets of the Empire capital, staring at the
looking glass in her hand with shock. She examined her new face from every
angle—half of it still beautiful, and the other half disfigured, melted
away—and she felt a wave of disgust. The fact that half of her beauty still
remained somehow made it all