"I would like a coffee," Tony said, which made both Liam and Rogers glare daggers at him. But to Tony's surprise, the small cup of tea suddenly changed into a small mug of hot coffee. He could easily tell that the coffee was authentic, as he was a connoisseur of high-quality coffee.
Liam didn't hesitate and accepted the tea, and so did Rogers. The Ancient One's actions even made Tony silent, and he concentrated on his coffee. anwhile, Fenrir seed to hesitate at first as it rembered the Ancient One. But in the end, it ca and sat beside Liam while he petted its head. It promptly closed its eyes, but its ears remained straight, ready to take action if required.
"Your manipulation of the Bifrost is exemplary," the Ancient One said as she looked at Liam's hand. Rogers and Tony looked at Liam with surprised expressions because Liam had said this was magic, yet now this bald woman was saying sothing else. Liam didn't even look at the duo and just sipped his tea with a smile on his face.
"Thank you," Liam said.
"You seem to know and didn't even ask who I am? Have we ever t?" Liam was also a bit surprised, as he expected the Ancient One to know about his involvent. She had the Ti Stone, so why was she unable to see him? Did the system shield him? Or was it sothing else?
"No. But I do have knowledge of your presence. I was inford beforehand." Liam could only lie here. The Ancient One seed to notice the hesitation in his words, but she didn't press him further.
"Hmm... Then that makes things easier for ," the Ancient One said. "You have been wasteful of your talent." Liam could only nod his head at that statent. He had already gone over the battle, and the number of mistakes he had made couldn't be counted on his hands. He realized that battling a powerful enemy in a ga world and battling in the real world with all of his powers required proper balance and focus, which he had lacked at the ti. He was still ashad of the fight.
But so of the fault wasn't exactly on him. After he beca a Nuroean, and had the wraith with him, he was able to move and work smoothly, it was because he had so many years of experience. But it was not the sa with God of War. He had played as Kratos for about 2 years, but he had never played as a hybrid of Heimdall and Atreus. He didn't even play as Atreus during his ti in ga world, unlike what was shown in the actual ga. Thus he wasn't very accustod with the power of the hybrid. Rember that the bloodline of Kratos and bloodline of Heimdall and Atreus were different. Maybe if he was given a bit more ti, he would have reigned in his arrogance which also played a part.
He was still very guilty that Fenrir was hurt and also exceptionally angry with himself, since he had failed horribly. He didn't show his anger because he didn't know how to, or rather forgotten how to show anger.
"I know. I will not commit the sa mistakes again," Liam said as he clenched his fists.
"Are you thinking of finding the person who attacked you and teaching him a lesson?" the Ancient One asked.
"If he's still around, yes," Liam admitted. "He crossed a line." He was still not over the fact that the Blades of Chaos were missing. He had already tried calling back the Blades of Chaos using his soul connection and though he could feel that the Blades existed, but for so reason they weren't able to be called. He had also asked the system for help since it was the rewards, he only got the reply that his function was to reward the host, not babysit.
"Then you should know who you're dealing with. The one who attacked you was phisto."
Liam instantly froze when he heard that na. Everything suddenly beca clear to him. Those monsters that seed to have crawled out of hell had literally crawled out of hell. Him calling Liam ignorant since he actually was as this monster had lived for such a long ti. His 100 years of experience was nothing in front of him. No wonder Liam had felt uncomfortable when he fought him—because that guy didn't belong to this world in the first place.
Tony and Rogers exchanged glances before Tony leaned forward.
"Okay, ti out. Who the hell is phisto?"
"phisto is Hell, Mr. Stark. He is a demon of the highest order, a ruler of his own hellish dinsion. He thrives on deception, corruption, and suffering. Many civilizations across ti have mistaken him for the Devil. He tempts souls, trades in contracts, and delights in the suffering of mortals and immortals alike."
"Wait... You an Hell is real?" Tony was dumbfounded. He had never expected that the religion and God he had always ignored were actually real. It was only recently that he had learned aliens existed, and now even Hell was real.
"What you understand as Hell and what phisto rules over are different. Though dead souls do go to his dinsion, he doesn't have full control over the dead souls of the universe at large. He is just a minor lord of an otherworldly dinsion," the Ancient One explained.
"And why would soone like that co after Liam?" Rogers was more accepting of this fact, as he was religious to begin with, and since aliens and gods from ancient tis were real, so could Hell be.
"Because of what he wielded," the Ancient One said, looking at Liam.
"The Blades of Chaos," he muttered.
"Those blades carried primordial fire, an ancient and forbidden power on Earth. It is a treasure that could ignite wars across dinsions. phisto taking them was no coincidence—he knew their worth. If you do not wish to have a war brewing in your backyard, you must ensure that such power does not fall into the wrong hands again. If you ever get them back, that is. But I would suggest you don't. Otherwise, Earth will beco ground zero for wars that even Kamar-Taj wouldn't be able to safeguard against. It was already lucky that phisto sensed them before all the others could," the Ancient One said.
"There are others like him?" Both Rogers and Tony were alard. One Devil was already a mind-boggling notion for them. Now there were others?
"Yes, Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers. There are others. You can learn more about them if you go to the library. The librarian himself is from the U.S. He is also a huge fan of yours, Mr. Rogers. You can converse with him and open your mind," the Ancient One said.
"You're saying we can learn magic here?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, if you have the talent. Everyone here is welco to learn magic and beco a sorcerer, but I doubt you will be able to learn the magic of Kamar-Taj. You have already been touched by the magic of other dinsions, and very few people can muster magic from different dinsions at the sa ti. You would have to be exceptional to do so," the Ancient One said.
"Yeah... We'll see about that. What are the directions to the library?" Tony said, not taking the Ancient One's warning to heart. He was a genius and was gradually learning about arcanist knowledge—sothing he had never even believed in before.
He refused to believe he couldn't learn the magic of this place. Tony left, and Rogers followed suit, feeling that the Ancient One was saying this to drive them away so she could talk with Liam alone for so ti. Both of them still had questions, but they could ask him later.
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