"Your swordsmanship is truly remarkable," Sif praised reluctantly while panting heavily.
Once the guards had brought the elf to her, she had proposed sparring together. She threw a one-handed training sword to Kal and immediately started attacking. It took Kal less than five clashes to disarm Sif without the use of any of his skills. After getting reforged to be a Quel'dorei'alah, Kal was much faster and much stronger than he ever was before.
Even an outstanding Asgardian like Sif was not his match in physicality. Maybe she hadn't been even before, but he would have likely not fought her without buff spells that would guarantee his win.
After that, Kal buffed Sif with the Blessing of Kings and defended instead of going on the offensive to allow the warrior to try and outsmart him. Still, he disarmed the warrior in exactly ten moves for over a dozen spars - even when Sif picked up the pattern and tried something else each time on the tenth move. Or when she threw a different kind of training weapon to Kal to try and throw him off his game. Even with a halberd, Kal beat her resoundingly.
Casting Word of Glory and Regrowth on the Asgardian to help her recover a little, Sif gave Kal an annoyed huff and accused with a glare, "You think me weak?"
"Easy there. I have no issue with female warriors. Pretty much all of my mentors were women - most of them were recognized as the strongest in their field of expertise," Kal defused with a raised hand.
With narrowed eyes, Sif instructed, "Tell me about them."
"There is Lady Liadrin, strongest of the Sindorei Blood Knights and accomplished army tactician. Tyrande Whisperwind, who, together with her husband, led the Kaldorei for millennia and is not only one of the greatest Sentinels to live, but also the High Priestess of Elune and a remarkable archer. Shandris Feathermoon, student of Tyrande and leader of the Sentinels, one of the greatest huntresses of my people. Sylendra Gladesong, leader of the 'Druids of the Antler', who taught me the way of nature when I was but a young hunter," Kal started to list in fond reminiscence after thinking about it for a moment. "Even Nathressa Darkstrider who initiated me in the way of rogues and assassins was a truly talented warrior in her own right."
"You speak the truth," Sif commented as she searched Kal's face.
"The societies I call home are not patrilineal. Not truly," Kal waved away and threw a spear toward Sif. "Let's continue. You're getting better quite quickly."
With a small blush, Sif charged forward after catching the training weapon.
And once more Kal disarmed Sif in exactly ten moves.
"These warriors that trained you… I wish I could meet them," Sif said with a sigh as she put the spear back in its rack. "You beat me as though I were a helpless babe."
"If you gain my boon, you might," Kal offered and took out something to eat from the shoulder bag slung over his shoulder.
When Sif smelled the grilled skewers the elf took out, she gave Kal a nasty glare and viciously asked, "You were running around and beating me so resoundingly while carrying a cooked meal??"
Without saying a word, Kal handed over half of the skewers and sat on the steps close to them leading away from the training field. Almost reluctantly, Sif sat next to the elven warrior and began to eat. Each bite after the first became faster and she soon devoured them all in a matter of a minute.
Kal sighed and took out more food before the Asgardian could say anything. Sif took the additional food with a deepening blush.
"This is the food of the gods - fit to be served at the banquets in Valhalla," she eventually praised in a quiet voice.
"Have you recuperated?" Kal asked and stood up, walking over to a railing. He took in the resplendent view over Asgard's capital.
"I have indeed. Is this food as magical as you are, sorcerer?"
The elf shook his head amusedly and explained, "I'm not a sorcerer. I'm a sentinel and a paladin. Or rather I used to be. I'm now a Moon Sentinel and a High Exarch."
"And what does a Moon Sentinel and a High Exarch do?"
"They-" before Kal could explain alarms started ringing in the far distance.
"The prisons," Sif mumbled as she looked in a certain direction.
Knowing this would happen, Kal summoned his charger and offered, "I take it you know how to ride a horse? This construct behaves exactly like one. Mount it and I shall allow you to take it to where you need to be. Once it leaves my presence it will disappear in half a minute."
Debating on whether or not it was wise to leave Kal alone, Sif eventually accepted the offer and swung on the horse after grabbing a sword and a shield.
"Oh, don't be alarmed but my Royal Warcharger is very fast - and it can fly," Kal revealed with a grin and the horse started to suddenly rise into the air as it shot forward. The last thing Kal heard from Sif was an angry cry along the lines of 'you'll pay for this, bastard!'
"Hmm, time to save a queen," Kal mumbled in Thalassian.
[Skills used: Cat Form, Shadowmeld, Prowl, Dash]
It took the black panther - Elven in nature, not Wakandan - a while to find who he was looking for since he was entirely unfamiliar with the royal palace of Asgard, but his superior senses eventually allowed him to find Jane Foster by her smell.
When he did, Heimdall had already crashed the first dark elven spacecraft into the bridge leading to the Bifrost and mere moments later, the shields of the palace were activated.
Kal watched Queen Frigga send Jane away as the witch conjured up an illusion of the earthling and wondered how he could get Malekith to get the Aether out of Jane before he dealt with the king himself. There was no need to endure the rest of the movie plot if he did that.
With his course of action decided, Kal walked out of the room and followed Jane. When the dark elf that broke out of the Asgardian Prison came over - the one that was empowered by the Dark Elven Kurse Stone, Kal lured him toward Jane. The giant oaf immediately overpowered Jane somehow without triggering the Aether to protect the Midgardian.
The Akkursed elf brought Jane toward the chambers of Frigga just as the queen overpowered Malekith and held a sword to the elven king's throat.
Seeing an opportunity, Malekith cheap-shotted the momentarily distracted queen and raised a hand in Jane's direction.
"Finally," Kal groaned out, transformed out of his Cat Form, equipped his paladin armor and decapitated the Akkursed elf with a Blade of Vengeance after buffing himself.
Kal took one of the implosion grenades from the slowly falling corpse of the headless elf and threw it at Malekith's feet, who immediately jumped away just as the Aether was leaving a floating Jane.
[Skills used: Leap of Faith, Holy Shock]
Wings appeared above the Midgardian as she was dragged toward Kal and was simultaneously healed. Kal gently placed the woman with her back against the wall and took out his bow.
[Skills used: Aimed Shot, Explosive Shot]
Malekith was able to dodge both the grenade and deflect the arrows the lightforged elf shot at him, but by then he was far away from the floating, hostless Aether on the balcony.
"No! I will have what is mine!" Malekith spat in unbridled anger.
Kal shot him a mocking smile before he raised his arm into the red cloud of the Aether.
[Cornerstone of creation of this universe detected in user's possession.]
[User determined to have appropriate capacity to house the energies of the object.]
[Reality Stone socketed into
As the red stone slowly formed in the previously empty socket of his legendary self-created bracelet, Kal began to ignore the rest of the chat messages and instead focused back on the only threat remaining - for now.
[Skills used: Shadowstep, Moon's Warth: Eye Beam]
Appearing just behind the elven king, Kal grabbed the king's shoulders and unleashed a fully powered Eye Beam at his enemy's head.
The monarch's defenses seemed to be otherworldly because despite Kal's strength, the full duration of the beam at such a close distance merely scorched half of the dark elf's face.
Scowling, Kal took out his Quel'Thal twin swords and started to honestly fight the injured king in a melee.
*Clang*
Managing to defend the vicious onslaught of Kal'thal, Malekith managed to retreat to the balcony's railing and just when he wanted to jump off to get away from the lightforged elf, the dual-wielding elf vanished from the dark elf's sight.
[Skills used: Vanish, Ambush, Shadow Dance, Ambush, Eviscerate, Blade Dance]
Missing several chunks of flesh, his heart and lungs pierced several times, Malekith fell to his knees - his eyes betraying the disbelief he was feeling.
"You held back this entire fight?" The dark elven king asked with the last of his breath.
"Of course. You and your people are a disgrace to true elves. I wonder how you could ever manage to be an actual enemy of Asgard," Kal admitted with furrowed brows.
The MCU power scaling occasionally made no sense. Malekith and his dark elves especially were pretty much shafted in their one-movie-appearance and it looked like it was no different in this reality. With strength like this, even the Akkursed elf dying in a single hit from him, Kal wondered why Bor, Odin's father, ever struggled dealing with Malekith.
It must have been the Aether under his control.
Without thinking twice, Kal decapitated the dying elven king and placed his head on a trap.
[Skill used: Immolation Trap]
Kal ignored both Queen Frigga and Jane as he took out his bow and watched the Asgardian skies.
He identified a few targets, mostly the hidden, small, dark elven space crafts and let loose a barrage of arrows.
[Skills used: Aspect of the Hawk, Salvo, Volley, Trueshot, Rapid Fire, Volley]
Hundreds of Explosive Shot arrows made their way to countless crafts - even the big mothership floating menacingly outside the throne room.
With a small nod, Kal unequipped his bow and turned around as the skies above Asgard were littered with countless explosions.
"And who might you be?" Queen Frigga asked in a guarded tone as she hid Jane behind her.
"He's a friend. He came with Thor and I," Jane explained from the floor before the elf could.
Kal's diplomacy training kicked in as he gave the Queen of Asgard a small bow and introduced himself, "I go by many names, you may call me Kal'thal. I go by Kal Dorei on Midgard."
"What is it you plan to do with the Aether?" Frigga asked curtly as she eyed the red stone on Kal's bracelet.
"Safeguard it. Use it to deal with the increase of demonic presence in the nine realms and beyond," Kal explained and equipped his 'righteous looking' paladin armor once more. He gained a cheeky smile and added, "I wouldn't mind guarding the Tesseract for you either?"
"I'm afraid that is an impossible ask," Odin chimed in as he entered the room and looked on with a stony expression.
"A man can hope," Kal reluctantly admitted with a shrug.
"You saved my wife and dealt with the dark elven king. For that you have my thanks. But I must warn you not to entertain any untoward ambition toward the nine realms," Odin tersely threatened with a deep frown.
"I would advise you to deal with the remaining dark elven forces. I did not wipe them out fully, lest I'm the reason the mother ship crashes into your palace and you'll ask for reparations," Kal quipped as he ignored the threat in Odin's voice and pointed behind him where a few dark elven stragglers were still terrorizing the Asgardian capital in suicidal attacks.
"I'll be waiting in the training ground where you had Sif... entertain me before," Kal offered with a grin and turned into a panther in front of everyone.
[Skill used: Cat Form]
"Sorry. It was in this form that I found Jane and rescued her. I'll find the way easier when I'm in this form once more," the panther said and almost gave Jane an aneurysm... again.
All present guards and Asgardian royalty looked on incredulously as the big cat leisurely walked out of Frigga's quarters.