"You think those pathetic barriers can stop stellar fire?" Marcus asked with predatory amusement. "Let me show you what happens when a dimensional battlefield becomes a volcano."
The ground beneath them began to glow with increasing intensity as Marcus channeled the full might of his enhanced Ember capabilities into the interdimensional substrate. The accumulated power from his previous battles, combined with the cosmic energies of the Eternal Flame, reached critical mass.
BOOM
A massive pillar of fire erupted from the battlefield floor, easily a hundred feet in diameter and reaching upward until it disappeared into the interdimensional void. The Blood Monarch's manifestation was caught directly in the center of the eruption, its desperate defensive barriers vaporized instantly by the volcanic fury.
This wasn't merely fire—it was the essence of stellar creation given explosive form, the same forces that powered suns concentrated into a single devastating attack. The Blood Monarch's clone began to disintegrate under the assault, its connection to the home dimension wavering as the thermal intensity exceeded its ability to maintain cohesion.
"Impossible," the entity's voice wavered through the inferno. "My power should be... my dimension should protect..."
"Your dimension isn't here," Marcus's voice echoed from within the stellar flames as a burning arm emerged from the volcanic pillar to seize the Blood Monarch's dissolving form. "And without that connection, you're just another source of power to be harvested."
Void energy erupted alongside the stellar fire, and the combination proved devastating to the dimensional entity's remaining anchor points. Marcus's unique nature allowed him to sever the connection between the Blood Monarch's manifestation and its home dimension, trapping the cosmic essence within Earth's reality where it could be properly claimed.
"Now," Marcus said with satisfaction, "become my power."
The void energy wrapped around the Blood Monarch's essence, transforming the entity's accumulated power into a sphere of crystallized blood that pulsed with dark energy. It was cosmic power in concentrated form—exactly the kind of resource Marcus needed for his continuing evolution.
"This blood essence will be perfect for enhancing one of my other Warframes," Marcus mused, storing the crimson sphere carefully as the defeated Blood Monarch retreated to its dimension to lick its wounds. "The combination of blood manipulation and stellar fire should prove... interesting."
With the immediate threat neutralized, Marcus surveyed the interdimensional battlefield for additional targets. The volcanic eruption was already subsiding, and the surrounding sea of fire was being drawn into the flame vortex that still spiraled around his position. Every source of thermal energy was being absorbed to fuel his continuing power growth.
"Impressive work," the Ancient One observed, having used the distraction to reinforce her own defensive positions. "But the Blood Monarch was merely the weakest of the entities attempting to invade Earth. Don't let early success make you overconfident."
As if summoned by her warning, the mystical barriers the Ancient One had erected around their combat zone began to dissolve. Dozens of dimensional entities that had been watching the battle with growing hunger suddenly surged forward, each one eager to test themselves against the being who had just banished one of their peers.
"Overconfident?" Marcus laughed as he reached for the Reality Enhancement he'd created from the Aether's power. "I'm just getting started."
The moment the Reality Stone's essence merged with his Ember frame, the very nature of Marcus's flames underwent a fundamental transformation. Where before his fire had been merely incredibly hot, it now became conceptually real in ways that defied normal physics.
A massive eagle of pure flame materialized beside Marcus, its wings spanning nearly fifty feet and its eyes blazing with the intensity of newborn stars. But this wasn't just a visual effect—the creature was genuinely alive, possessed of its own will and hunger for combat.
"Reality manipulation," the Ancient One breathed in recognition. "You're making your flames into independent entities."
"Why limit myself to simple thermal attacks," Marcus replied, conjuring both his traditional war blade and a new weapon—a longsword forged from crystallized fire that burned without consuming itself, "when I can create an entire army of flame constructs?"
The fire eagle shrieked with a voice like thunder and launched itself at the approaching dimensional entities, its passage leaving trails of burning reality in the interdimensional space. Meanwhile, Marcus's war blade began spinning in complex patterns around his position, creating whirlwinds of stellar fire that formed defensive barriers against the incoming assault.
The longsword in his other hand proved equally versatile, each swing releasing volleys of flame constructs that took the form of predatory birds. These weren't simple fire projectiles—they were semi-autonomous hunters that sought out targets independently and adapted their attack patterns based on enemy responses.
"Let everything burn!" Marcus roared, raising both weapons toward the interdimensional void above them.
The battlefield began to shake as reality itself responded to his command. A new volcano began forming beneath the dimensional entities—not just fire and heat this time, but a genuine geological structure that somehow existed in the space between dimensions.
ERUPTION
The volcanic explosion dwarfed Marcus's previous attacks, sending thousands of fire comets streaming through the interdimensional space to strike entities that were miles away from the initial blast. The Reality Stone's influence made the impossible possible, creating a genuine mountain of fire in a realm where such things shouldn't be able to exist.
"Much better," the Ancient One said with approval as she found herself suddenly freed from pressure on multiple fronts. The combination of Eternal Flame and Reality Stone essences had amplified Marcus's destructive capabilities beyond what either power source could have achieved individually.
Most of the dimensional entities found themselves struggling desperately against the volcanic eruption, pouring their power into defensive measures just to survive the thermal assault. But one entity seemed distinctly unimpressed by the display.
"Is that the best you can manage?" The voice emerged from a creature that appeared to be constantly melting and reforming, its body shifting between solid, liquid, and gaseous states with fluid ease.
Marcus watched with interest as the entity began to inhale deeply, actually drawing his volcanic fire into its body as if the stellar flames were nothing more than ordinary combustion. Within moments, the creature had absorbed enough thermal energy to transform itself into a massive figure composed entirely of living flame.
"Fascinating," the Ancient One observed. "The Flame Monarch of the Fire Dimension. It specializes in flame manipulation and absorption—your thermal attacks are actually feeding its power."
"Oh, excellent," Marcus said with obvious delight. "A worthy opponent finally appears."
Without hesitation, Marcus began to shift his power focus. The flames covering his armor suddenly transformed into their polar opposite—crystalline frost that radiated cold so intense it began affecting the dimensional substrate itself.
"Let me test the other half of my capabilities," Marcus announced as he integrated his Frost Enhancement with the Reality Stone's power.
The transformation was immediate and dramatic. Where moments before the battlefield had been a raging inferno, now it became a frozen wasteland as Marcus's cosmic winter spread outward. Each step he took created pillars of ice that lifted him higher into the interdimensional space, and the very air around him began to crystallize.
"Your flame powers are impressive," Marcus called out to the Flame Monarch, "but let's see how they handle absolute zero."
Ice spears began materializing around Marcus—not simple frozen water, but crystallized reality that existed as much as concept as physical matter. These constructs could strike at entities that had no physical form, freezing their essential nature rather than just their manifestations.
The Flame Monarch recoiled as the first volley struck, its fiery body actually beginning to slow and solidify under the assault. This wasn't ordinary cold—it was the fundamental negation of thermal energy made manifest.
Even the Ancient One paused in her own battles to watch the display with fascination. "I knew Marcus was powerful, but this level of elemental mastery... it's approaching cosmic scales."
Seeing an opportunity in Marcus's success, the Ancient One reached for one of the Aya essences he had provided her during their previous encounters. If Marcus could combine multiple power sources for enhanced effect, perhaps she could do the same.
Void energy erupted from the Ancient One's position as she channeled Marcus's power without reservation. With him present to prevent corruption, she could use the void's unique properties to reinforce her own mystical capabilities dramatically.
"Dimensional Avalanche," Marcus announced, raising his hand toward the interdimensional void above them.
The temperature throughout the battlefield plummeted to levels that approached absolute zero as Marcus channeled both cosmic winter and reality manipulation into a single devastating attack. Massive ice formations began materializing throughout the space, each one a frozen manifestation of Marcus's will made real.
The Ancient One's void-enhanced mystical attacks synchronized perfectly with Marcus's cosmic winter, creating a combination assault that transformed the entire dimensional battlefield into a realm of silver light and crystalline beauty.
For a moment, it seemed as though they had achieved perfect victory—every dimensional entity frozen in place, their invasion attempts halted by the overwhelming combination of fire, ice, void, and reality manipulation.
But the moment of triumph was brief.
CRACK... CRACK... CRACK...
The sound of breaking ice began to echo through the frozen battlefield as the more powerful dimensional entities started to break free from their crystalline prisons. The invasion was far from over—if anything, Marcus and the Ancient One had only succeeded in getting the attention of entities that had previously considered Earth beneath their notice.