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The gate shuddered, its surface rippling like a storm-torn sea. The air around it screamed an unnatural sound layered over the Arctic gale, before the anomaly split wider with a violent surge of power.
Then the cold poured out.
Not ordinary cold.
A crawling, invasive frost spilled from the rift, rolling across the ice. The Arctic climate embraced it, amplifying it but this chill carried something alien. The air crystallized as it spread, moisture freezing mid-flight. Snowflakes hardened into needle-sharp shards before reaching the ground.
The temperature plummeted in seconds.
Batman's cape snapped as he braced, eyes locked on the expanding breach.
Superman narrowed his gaze. "Careful Bruce.." he muttered. "This looks like environmental terraforming."
The portal flared
And something massive forced its way through.
A colossal ice bear emerged first, each step cracking the glacier beneath it. Its body was sculpted from packed frost and enchanted permafrost, breath steaming.
Seated atop its back stood an ice elf tall, gaunt, armored in glimmering frozen plate. A weird crown rested on his head, and in his hand gleamed a curved blade of pure enchanted ice.
He threw his head back and laughed.
The sound was sharp, mocking, and utterly inhuman.
Behind him, the gate disgorged more figures ranks of ice elves pouring into the storm, pale eyes glowing with predatory malice. Ice wolves slithered through the snow at their flanks, low and silent, breath fogging like smoke.
Batman scanned the numbers in an instant. "That's a lot of hostiles."
Superman's jaw tightened. "And if Arthur's intel is accurate… this is just a very small force. Scouts, he called them."
The ice elves didn't hesitate or waste time.
Bows snapped up in perfect unison.
A volley of arrows tore through the storm.
Batman moved first.
He blurred sideways, cape whipping around him as arrows sliced through the space he'd occupied moments before. Several clanged off the ice behind him; others shattered midair.
Superman didn't bother dodging.
Arrows struck his chest and shoulders, exploding into frost-laced fragments. Enchanted shafts detonated into bursts of ice magic, clinging to him in freezing tendrils.
For a split second, ice crawled over his suit.
Superman flexed.
The frost fractured and fell away, shattered by sheer force and body heat.
"…Cute," he muttered, eyes burning brighter with heat vision.
Then he launched forward.
The battlefield erupted.
Superman tore through the front lines like a living comet, shattering ice wolves with single strikes, sending ice elves flying with controlled but devastating blows. Each punch cracked armor and scattered bodies across the snow.
Blades flashed toward him.
He caught one mid-swing, snapped it in half, and sent its wielder crashing into a frozen ridge.
Batman wove through the chaos.
He disarmed one elf with a wrist lock, crushed another's sternum with a brutal elbow, and kicked a third into the path of Superman's shockwave. Explosive pellets detonated at his feet, scattering enemies in bursts of fire and concussive force.
But these weren't ordinary creatures.
One ice elf moved faster than expected, stronger, denser than the others. It lunged from the storm, drawing a frost-laced arrow and firing at point-blank range.
Batman twisted
Too late.
The arrow punched into his suit, piercing layered armor. Ice magic surged instantly, freezing the impacted plating, crawling outward like a spreading infection.
Batman hissed, momentarily slowed.
The elf advanced, raising another arrow.
A red-and-blue blur slammed between them.
Superman seized the attacker by the collar and hurled him into the ice hard enough to crater it.
"You alright?" Superman asked, glancing back.
Batman ripped the frozen arrow free, frost cracking off his armor. "Operational."
But his jaw was tight.
He remembered Arthur's voice.
'Kill or be killed. These things are not here to play villain or hero. They are here to murder and destroy. They are beings born of primordial darkness. This is their purpose.'
Batman exhaled slowly through his nose.
"We don't have a choice," he muttered to himself.
The laughter from earlier echoed again.
Batman looked up.
The mounted ice elf, the apparent commander raised his sword, barking some strange commands. The giant ice bear roared, pawing at the ice, sending fissures spiderwebbing outward.
Superman's gaze locked onto him.
"That's the leader," he said. "I'll handle it."
He rocketed forward.
The ice bear charged, massive claws carving trenches through the frozen ground. The elf swung his blade in a wide arc, sending a crescent of razor-sharp ice screaming toward Superman.
Superman dodged upward, letting it carve a canyon through the ice behind him.
The elf leapt from his mount with shocking agility, landing in front of Superman, sword flashing in a flurry of disciplined, lethal strikes.
The blade scraped across Superman's suit, biting with enchanted force.
Superman grunted, pushed back a step.
"…Not bad, this magic." he admitted.
The elf snarled and swung again.
Superman caught the blade barehanded.
Frost exploded outward, ice crawling over his fingers.
The elf twisted, trying to wrench the sword free.
Superman's eyes flared.
Twin beams of heat vision ignited, lancing straight across the weapon and the elf's grip.
The ice sword softened, then melted, dripping away in sizzling rivulets.
The elf screamed, stumbling back, clutching his scorched hand.
Superman closed the distance instantly.
One punch caved in the elf's chest plate.
A second sent him flying backward into the ice bear.
Both crashed in a violent heap.
Before they could rise, Superman drove down with a final, decisive blow.
The leader fell still.
The moment he died.
The gate flickered.
Its surface warped, contracted, then collapsed inward with a thunderous implosion. Energy surged back into itself, sealing the breach as if it had never existed.
The remaining ice elves froze.
Then panic took them.
Some fled into the blizzard. Others dropped weapons, screeching in fear.
Batman straightened, watching them scatter.
He turned to Superman. "We should capture one."
Superman nodded. "Agreed. Dead enemies don't answer questions, as for the others we can't let them go."
Together, they moved predators in a frozen battlefield, closing in on a fleeing survivor.
****
HELL - ARTHUR'S SHADOW FORTRESS
A vertical violet gash split the air with a thunderless scream, space folding inward as a portal bloomed into existence in front of the fortress. Shadows poured from it first, writhing like living smoke.
Arthur stepped through.
The rift snapped shut behind him with a violent ripple.
He looked nothing like the man who had entered this war.
His armor had become something darker, regal and monstrous. Plates of shadow-forged metal layered his frame. Horned contours curved from his helm, sharp and predatory, framing a visor from which two slit-like violet eyes burned.
Above, the sky answered him.
A colossal silhouette cut through it.
Kamish roared.
The draconic shadow soared in a wide arc over the fortress. And circling lower, faster, and leaner, Kaisel, the wyvern screamed through the air.
The two beasts soared in the sky, orbiting their Monarch's fortress.
At the fortress gates, ranks of shadow demon knights and giants stood at attention.
Humanoid, armored, intelligent, each one a veteran of death, war, and rebirth. Their armor gleamed with dark metal and spectral edges, eyes glowing faintly within their helms.
Arthur approached.
Without a word spoken, the knights reacted as one.
They stepped aside, forming a perfect corridor.
Then they knelt.
As soldiers before a king.
Their voices rolled out in a unified, reverent growl.
"Monarch."
Arthur passed between them, cape of living shadow trailing behind him, the fortress gates loomed open, mechanisms unlocking with low, echoing booms.
Inside, the stronghold pulsed with dark industry, shadows moving with purpose, Elite knights stationed at elevated platforms, war tables etched with maps of Hell and beyond.
A certain shadow turned as he entered, as if he was waiting.
Igris.
The Shadow Marshal, one hand resting upon the hilt of his Demon King Longsword.
His gaze locked onto Arthur.
Then Igris stepped forward and knelt, lowering his head in perfect discipline.
"Welcome back, Monarch," he said, voice calm and full of reverence. "You return victorious."
Arthur stopped before him, shadows curling faintly around his boots.
"A temporary one," Arthur replied quietly. "Control is what matters, we have yet to achieve our goal."
Igris rose smoothly, turning with a crisp motion and gesturing down the corridor ahead.
"This way," he said. "The others await your command."
Arthur inclined his head slightly. "Let's go. We have much to discuss."
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want