Although he was given a “job” by the President and no longer needed to return to Midgard, Hunter had spent a significant percentage of time preparing and helping others to do so. After finding out They'd kept a lock of her mother's magic hair, Hunter activated it and fused it with Thrud's, giving her the ability to stretch and shape her hair and even grab things with it. It also changed her hair to be red with gold highlights. Hunter made sure magic tattoo ink was distributed and every realm that could do so worked on making weapons. Communication was going well and planning was well under way. Hunter figured that although Hastur's forces would hit all the realms, the bulk of them and the monster himself would go after Midgard. Hunter helped formulate strategies using the different technologies of different realms and even occasionally helped diplomatic talks between realms. Everything was going smoothly except the fact that Hunter was still getting about the same amount of time at home as before. However he did get some work time with his two partners.
Things continued to chug along with two more realm boats being finished and everyone putting everything they had into preparation. A common enemy who threatened everyone was enough for people to put aside their internal conflicts even if temporarily. Any and all wars that were active before the preparation were effectively put into ceasefire to focus on the task at hand. It was clear the issues and conflicts didn't simply disappear, but were simply put on hold. Days quickly turned to months and before Hunter knew it an entire year had passed. This was the year everything would go down. Combat drills were run, practice combat was had, games like laser tag were used for recreation and training.
Hunter had officially proposed to and married Hel and Lilac in a small ceremony and spent time away from his duties to honeymoon. Two weeks of staying with them without distractions. Though I don't have notes for how he spent his time I assume he did what most newlyweds do on their honeymoon. After the vacation Hunter took it a bit easier on his participation in training and combat drills as well as the diplomatic help, working his way to not being needed anymore.
Michael and Thrud also got married during the months of preparation and took two weeks away from training for a honeymoon as well, getting right back into things as soon as they were back.
Winter had just been getting started in the November of 5028E4 and Hunter was overseeing a drill that involved people marching with full gear in Midgard when he felt a strange sensation. Somehow he knew something had entered the local area from outside and he shouted “incoming!”
Within a minute several large Nautilus started teleporting into the atmosphere of Earth. Although he couldn't see it he felt that several had also entered above all the other realms. The battle was officially on. All forces in all realms were deployed. Missiles were fired, helicopters and thopters lifted off, fighters were launched, tanks were deployed, guns were fired and people with magical gear took to melee the squid faced troops being airdropped from the Nautilus.
The four realm boats teleported in, firing weapons at the Nautilus and carrying back up. Hunter looked to Hel and Lilac who were doing drills with him and he gave them both goodbye kisses. “I guess this is it then.”
Lilac scowled. “You call that a farewell kill?” She grabbed Hunter's face and pulled him in for a passionate and sloppy kiss.
From the realm boats Michael and Thrud hopped out and started taking on the squid faced troops. Michael’s ice powered hammer-axes being out to full work as Thrud made full use of her magic hair and Mjölnir. She would throw it into the enemies before engaging them with her other weapons and then recalling the hammer back. Vidar was also on one of the boats, using Gleipnir to spear people from a distance before using his boots to leap into action. Hermes suddenly ran in from somewhere in the distance. “Looks like this is where the most action is. Need anything done here Hunter?”
“Evacuate civilians, you're the fastest person we have.”
“You got it brother.” With a salute he zips off again.
Hunter shouted out to everyone “We need to take out as many of these things out as fast as possible. If we can cause enough problems in one spot it should force Hastur to the front to take care of things personally. As soon as he's here, I need everyone to focus on clearing me a path straight to him. Leave Hastur to me while everyone else focuses on his troops.”
Lilac looked at Hunter. “I'm assuming you have a plan for how to handle The King in Yellow? You didn't exactly go over it in any of the briefings. I mean even at the full power of Ymir he's still two steps above you. As far as an Aesir is above a normal human.”
“I plan on hitting really really hard so that even he feels it. I'll draw on as much power from the Bifrost as my body can hold and use physical enhancement. By the end of the day I'll get him to acknowledge my existence and say my name.” Hunter then brought forth his armor and skið-garðr while Light-bringer brought forth its ghost swords. Together they started making their way through squid faced troops. Although each squid faced was on the same level as an Aesir, Hunter in his Butcher form was one step above that. This made Hunter the heaviest hitter in the allied teams as far as individual people went.
As the fight went on, Hel started hitting people with tangled roots to hold them in place while other people attacked and even summoned some Revenants as thralls under her command. The black skinned zombie-like creatures attacked like wild animals and although not much harder to kill than a normal human, there were a lot of them. There were losses besides the Revenants on the allied side as tanks, planes, choppers, and thopters were all shot down by massive bone-like spikes fired from the Nautili. The four flying realm boats started focusing fire on one Nautilus at a time and even shot one down while Vidar took out a second one.
Despite being outmanned and possibly even outgunned, the citizens of Yggdrasil actually seemed to be winning. Call it luck or home field advantage but more squid faces and Nautilus were dropping then allied troops and equipment. At one point Vidar rushed what looked like a field commander and engaged in combat with him. The commander was ferrous. “Do you really think you pathetic creatures can win? Do you really think you can beat out god? Your deaths will be far from merciful. To fight back is utter lunacy. Your resistance is futile. This combat is pointless. You must all be insane. This is madness!”
Vidar smiled as he signed with his free hand, a voice coming from an auto translator. “Madness? This, is, SPARTA!!!” His magical boot lit up brightly as his foot dug into the ground leaving an indent. There was a loud pop as he lifted his foot and in less than the blink of an eye he had kicked the commander square in the sternum at supersonic speed sending him flying into a Nautilus. On impact there's a small explosion that is shortly followed by a chain reaction that takes out the flying shelled abomination.
Hunter can't help but chuckle a bit before getting back to blasting people with the cannons from his shields as Light-bringer and its ghost swords cut more down. Meanwhile Michael and Thrud continue to bash and cut people down. Thrud had been tossing enemies at other enemies with her hair as she switched between her father's hammer and her own weapons while Michael made full use of his weapon’s ice abilities to freeze and skewer enemies.
Despite being outnumbered and the enemies having an advantage in strength, the alliance was actually winning. They were taking out more people then they were losing and unlike the enemies they hadn't lost a single commander. The squid faced troops, even with their god-like strength and strange looking weapons ranging from melee to what looked and worked like guns, were losing a lot of troops compared to the allies and it was clear to several of the allied commanders why. Unlike the many peoples from the many worlds of Yggdrasil, these squid faced aliens had never fought in a war.
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That's right, even in this massive practically cosmic scaled war, tactics and teamwork were key. The enemy was simply moving forward and firing their weapons and clearly had no training to speak of. Sure they had more numbers and better firepower, but no idea how to leverage that advantage. Perhaps they thought simply being stronger was enough, that they were so superior there was no need for concern. They were convinced they had already won before the battle had started and didn't even consider the possibility of defeat. That's why they were losing. A combination of underestimating their opponent and overestimating themselves.
The biggest threat for the allies were the Nautilus themselves, so Hunter decided to focus his attention on one of them. “Get me one of those elven thopters, I'm going in.”
Lilac flew in with a thopter and hoped in the back seat to let Hunter fly. “I understand you used to be a pilot. Think you can fly this baby?”
“Fuck yeah, finally time to become an ace fighter pilot.” Hunter hopped in and started flying the thopter, taking pot shots at ground troops. Having already lost two Nautilus the flying shells start deploying their own fighters. Strange pointed needles with stubby wing-like nubs at the back that flew like normal jets using some unknown energy for propulsion. “These things kinda remind me of mosquitos. Bony fleshy mosquitos.” Hunter commented as he started shooting them down.
One mosquito managed to get behind Hunter but the thopter was more maneuverable even if it was slower. Hunter dodged and weaved his way towards the Nautilus firing at it as Lilac operated a turret on the belly of the thopter to assist. However, before they could actually reach the Nautilus, Hunter's thopter took a hit and its maneuverability was handicapped. Hunter couldn't dodge out of the way of a needle fired by the Nautilus and was forced to eject. Lilac grabbed him and did her best to fly with them both but was only able to slow their fall. After all, Butcher was heavier than normal Hunter and even without armor she would struggle to stay upright. Hunter started firing the cannons from skið-garðr and bombarding the Nautilus, sinking the behemoth before he and Lilac reached the ground.
“Gods you are heavy in this form, more so with armor.”
“Hehe, sorry. I would have considered a parachute but I doubt they would hesitate to shoot me down while I was falling. After all, Hastur never signed the Geneva Convention.”
“Ah right, your people consider it a war crime to shoot down someone who's parachuting unless they are armed and actively firing because you can't fly into battle. You gotta slowly glide down with the help of gear.”
“Yeah yeah, elves have wings and humans don't. I get it, we're relatively lame compared to almost every other species in Yggdrasil. Love feeling inferior. If not for being merged with Ymir I'd be just another lesser being.”
“Hunter, that's not what I meant and you know it. Your self deprecating attitude you get sometimes is a real turn off you know.”
“Right, sorry. But honestly, would you have still chosen to be with me if I were a normal human?”
“You're really asking this now? Hunter, even without Ymir you were never a normal human. I started liking you before Ymir's power manifested so yes, I'd still have liked you without it. I'm sure Hel would have as well.”
“Thanks. Now let's refocus on the task at hand.”
“Right, let's see if we can take out more of these Nautili.”
Just then a huge missile hits one of the Nautilus with a huge explosion causing it to fall and crash exploding on the ground.
“Holy crap, what kinda warhead did they put in that missile?! Did they just nuke that fucker into escargot?”
Hermes runs to a stop next to Hunter looking at the explosion. “Civilians are safe and I think that might have been a mix of napalm and Greek fire. I uhhh… might have taken a couple containers from Ares' personal stash. I doubt he would mind considering he's probably blowing these things to high Hades back home. Anyway, there should be two more incoming so watch your butts.” And Hermes speeds off once more in a blur. Shortly after two more missiles strike true taking out two more Nautilus.
“That's what… five, six of them we've taken out? Hastur has to know his guys are getting absolutely wrecked out here. Shouldn't take much longer to draw him out saying “fuck it, I'll do it myself” and come in with reinforcements for his people.”
“Don't ease up now then, there's dozens of these things so the more we trash the better.”
“Yeah, clearly. The faster the better. Minimize our losses. Unlike Hastur we won't exactly be getting reinforcements.”
“Yeah, unless our forces in other realms completely clear out the invaders on their end the only new troops are those created by magic or maybe something like the Revenants from Helheim.”
“Hel is limited by the numbers that exist and no new Revenants have been produced since the war. As for things like golems there's a limit to that too. Using such abilities is draining. It's why I haven't used my elemental abilities much. I could probably fly in like the Human Torch but I need to conserve energy for Hastur. My transformation takes some energy to activate but once up doesn't drain that much. Especially now since I've completed the power. It's a lot more stable. If I had Vidar's boots I could leap up to one. Equipment like that has its own reserves. It's why I can use Light-bringer and skið-garðr without worrying about it.”
“So even with superior tactics it's still a bit of a war of attrition. We might need some other advantage.”
“Unfortunately, I don't have any ideas other than what we've already been doing. At least for now. Once Hastur is here we'll change tactics to go after him. All forces, focus as much fire as possible on the Nautilus, take out the biggest threat first. Then mosquitos and ground troops.”
Groups confirm Hunter's order and follow them out, putting as much fire into the Nautilus as possible with anti-air measures like SAMs. More Nautilus are shot down as well as a number of mosquitoes. The fallen air vehicles land on squid faced troops and take several of them out.
“This is actually going really well for us Hunter. All things considered I thought this would be a lot harder.”
“It's going to get a lot harder once we drag Hastur and the reinforcements he'll bring out. The faster we take out the Nautilus the better. My guess is once most of them are gone Hastur will realize just how bad his troops are losing. Don't start getting your hopes up simply because thile first half of this battle is going so smoothly. You and I both know exactly how this ends. Today is my last day on this Earth, but it's also Hastur’s. If it means everyone else can live worry free and strive for peace, my life is a small price to pay. Besides, a vast majority of cultures across the realms believes in some sort of afterlife. So hopefully, I'll see you again on the other side.”
“I really hate when you talk like you're already dead.”
“Might as well be, it's the only way we win. Vidar confirmed this. We passed the point of no return a long time ago.”
“Do you ever wonder how things would have turned out, if someone besides you ended up with the power of Ymir?”
Hunter laughed “Why in the devil would I ever do that? Although there are definitely things I regret, to be honest, I don't think I'd do anything differently. I don't really bother imagining if things were different. After all, I got everything I could have ever wanted near the end.”
“What about… being a father. You told me that you wanted to be one, to be a better father to your kid then yours was to you. You said: “I never want my kid to ever question if I loved them or not” Have you simply given up on that dream? The dream of being a loving husband and father.”
“Of course not. I haven't given up on anything.” Hunter lets out a sigh. “I've simply accepted that it won't be exactly as I imagined. After all, I never imagined being a husband to two women.”
“I don't… understand. You're going to die today. You'll never get to be a father.”
“Let's just focus on today, Lilac. I know things are a bit chaotic and confusing right now, but sometime after this battle you'll look back and it'll all make sense. Okay? I know things look really bad right now but I swear it'll be okay someday.”
“How can you say that? How is anything going to be okay? I don't want to continue on in a world without you in it.”
“You'll have to Lilac. There's going to be people who depend on you, that'll look to you for guidance. I need there to be people there, to make sure things keep going smoothly after I'm gone. Do you understand? I need you to keep living, because I need someone to make sure my death wasn't for nothing. I don't want to pass on worrying about whether or not this peace and cooperation will continue after this battle is over. I need you and Hel and all the others I've gathered to protect the realms and the peace after I'm gone. So just promise me you'll do your best, okay? Swear it to me on the river Styx.”
“I… I swear on the river Styx I'll do everything I can to make sure the new golden age lives on without you.”
Hunter nods with a smile. “Good. I feel much better already. Now let's get back to giving these squid faced fuckers a difficult time.”
The battle continued with Michael and Thrud taking out a Nautilus themselves working as a team. Thunder and ice wrecking the floating shell to bits. Vidar took out a second Nautilus with Gleipnir. Lady Hel managed to drag one to the ground exploding with thorny vines. Hunter and Lilac teamed up with some thopter pilots to take one out as well while the unified forces of Midgard dropped a few more with a B-52 carpet bombing enemy ground forces while SAMs and artillery launched rockets and projectiles at a Nautili sinking a few.
“That's most of them I think. Let's try and clean out the rest before-” Hunter makes a distressed sound like he might throw up. “Nevermind.”
More Nautilus jump in with one being much bigger, meaner, and more tentacle-ly then the others. Standing on top is a large figure in large yellow robes and a crown. However the massive robbed figure despite holding a humanoid shape appears to be made of hordes of insects. However the gaps show it's a large insectoid with a vaguely humanoid shape covered in other insects. Hastur, the King in Yellow. “Enough games you insignificant little specks, I grow tired of your insolence. It's long past time I crush you under my heel like the bugs you are.”