Trial by Fire

A hand bursts out from the surface of an ocean of magma, its pale skin tinted slightly from the shimmering layer of frost wrapped around it. Though, the frost itself seemed patchy, thinner in some areas than others...

Another hand comes out, allowing Michael to pull himself free. He sucks in deep breaths as he does so, while he could hold his breath for a relatively long time, doing so while being crushed under tons of liquid stone and digging your way out was just as difficult as it sounded.

"Hah... Hah..." he breathes as he exhaustedly rolls onto his back, the magma acting as a sort of heated water bed for him.

His Vanntalfdir runes allowed him to walk on liquids, which had helped him to some degree, but it wasn't essential with how vicious magma usually is, even magma as hot as the stuff he was laying upon was, it was still hundreds or maybe even thousands of times more viscous than water.

Michael looks up at the ash, smoke, and soot-covered sky as he rests his aching body. He had no idea how long he'd be allowed to rest, so he would take any opportunity to do so.

Unfortunately, this is Mehrunes Dagon's realm. Nothing escapes him here, and nothing happens without his permission.

*Thud, Thud, Thud!*

Michael slowly sits up and looks at the gigantic red-skinned figure marching towards him, their body waist-deep in the ocean of lava despite it being far, far deeper than that.

"CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ESCAPE, MORTAL! BUT THAT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF YOUR SUFFERING!"

Michael could feel his mana dropping, he was scraping the bottom of the barrel when it concerned his reserves... He would summon the Book of Heroes and pull a Mana Potion from his inventory, were a Daedric Prince not standing before him.

He had no idea what Dagon would do if he saw the book, nor if the god would be able to steal or destroy it.

The Book was essential to Michael and his powers, taking it away would leave him with little option... He doubted the Daedric Prince would give him enough time to summon a Dimension Gate to leave this place, even if he used his enhanced Morokei Dragon Mask.

"What'll you do next, 'Great Dagon', torture me some more like any other cliche super villain? Force me to harm innocents? Brainwash me? Well, too late, I've already had that done to me and more. The fact that you'd consider things that regular brainless mortals would come up with is frankly, telling." Michael retorts, wondering if there was a way to manipulate the god... While Dagon was one of the less 'cunning' of the Daedra, at least in Michael's opinion, he doubted it'd be so easy.

The Daedric Lord pauses for a moment before giving a malicious fanged grin, "NO. YOUR PUNISHMENT WILL BE ONE OF DESPAIR AND HOPE. THE DEADLANDS WILL BE YOUR ENEMY, NO MATTER HOW YOU FIGHT, PLEAD, OR DIE, IT WILL REMAIN SO... I WILL BREAK YOU DOWN UNTIL YOU BEG TO SERVE, YOU WILL BE MY SLAVE AND PUPPET, YOU WILL LEAD MY ARMIES TO TAKE NIRN!"

Michael clenches his fists as he gets to his feet, "And just how will you do that?" he asks, ignoring how stupid it is to challenge this being again.

"IT IS NOT I WHO WILL DO THIS. IT IS YOU. YOU WILL DO THIS WILLINGLY, LOYALLY." he growls before turning his head towards a large black spire to Michael's right where many flying figures could be seen approaching.

Michael also looks over, but once he looks back he realises that the Daedric Prince was already gone. Without even any displaced magma to indicate that he was ever there in the first place.

*SCREEEEEE!*

The flying Daedra quickly approach him, so Michael quickly makes his way towards the nearest landmass to get away from the magma, at least then he could channel less magic into stopping himself from instantly burning alive.

Thankfully, even after his death he still had all of his equipment... He draws the glowing hot ebony sword from his hip and slashes at the first winged daedra that approaches, he cuts halfway through it, lacking the strength to complete the motion due to his exhaustion.

This continues for around four minutes as Michael swiftly dashes across the ocean of magma, dispatching the occasional overconfident Daedra until he finally reached land.

Unfortunately, the small mass of scorched stone protruding from the ocean was already inhabited... Dremora wearing worse armour than usual and looking somewhat weaker than those you'd usually see begins to surge forward with bloodthirsty expressions.

"Hah... Alright, bring it you Darth Maul rejects!"

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Five hours later, Michael had finally cleared all the Daedra from the small island. He knew it was only a matter of time before more came, especially because it'd already happened a few times already... If he failed to kill them fast enough, the reinforcements would come before he got even a moment of rest.

It was obvious by this point that Dagon had been building his armies, gathering Daedra from other realms of Oblivion, in preparation for another invasion...

Michael shakes his head and summons the Book of Legends. He knew that Dagon was watching, he'd summoned some Infernals with Spell Steal to buy time to conjure a Dimension Gate, only for Dagon to appear over him like Sargeras and try to punch him. That had nearly killed him, all of his bones had broken, internal organs ruptured, and brain matter literally leaking from his ears... Only Dark Pact and Shadow Dance saved him from dying again.

He was risking Dagon potentially stealing or destroying the Book of Legends, but he was hoping that the Daedric Prince cared less about the book than Hermaeus Mora would.

Opening the book, he looks at his status and stills...

"Now, this is some fucking bull shit..."