Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons 269 CCLXIX. The Old Gif

Roar's lively eyes noticed the girl's astonished expression, realizing she wasn't looking at him, but at somebody behind.

The demon suddenly turned back, discovering that Karl was right there, intent on doing who knows what.

The young healer crossed his eyes with his and shivers of terror ran through his back, causing him to jump backwards.

Roar began to walk slowly towards him, making menacing, as Karl crawled backwards on the ground with his hands dirty, leaving a trail of blood and mud beneath him, while he feared he would have the minutes counted.

Gridd snapped at them, trying not to hinder Dag.

Ellen, who noticed the scene, followed her so she could make herself useful in some way.

Before the two Shieldmaidens reached Karl and Roar, a second explosion shook the ground, attracting everyone's attention.

Dag parried yet another blow from Freydis, repulsing her backwards.

His purple eye began to shine with bright light and electric shocks from all over his body hit the ground around him, burning it.

Within himself, he knew he could not be weak. If saving Freydis's life meant sacrificing the lives of all his other friends, trusted fellow adventurers, then it wasn't the right thing to do.

Love for him was greater than anything else, but if he wanted to end that bloody fight, he would have had to stop her for good.

Everyone stopped to watch Dag, even Roar paused advancing towards Karl and turned back, intrigued.

He dropped the hammer on the ground, near his feet, and put his hand in a pocket of his leather pants. 

Freydis tilted her head again, trying to instinctively guess what her opponent was doing and why he had left his weapon on the ground, reasoning more like a deadly machine than a person.

Dag pulled out a silver object and carefully tied it around his arm. 

For a moment, Freydis made an astonished expression, showing Dag that her soul was still there, trapped inside her body.

"I wanted to wait to show you this. I kept it with me all the time, avoiding to wear it during the fights, fearing that it would get ruined... but I think the time has come" he said, showing Freydis the armband she had given him months earlier, silver-colored, with a flower engraved in the center.

The warriors around them did not understand what was going on between the two lovers and Roar made another evil grin, after fearing for a moment that that armband was a magical object capable of stopping the dark power of the Frostsinners that the girl was endowed with.

She continued to look at that object, acknowledging its significance, and perhaps remembering the day she had promised Dag fidelity when they had exchanged promises to meet again. 

Roar turned again to Karl, who had managed to stand up and grab his shield, right behind him, also pulling out the tomahawk.

"What were you going to do, brat? I remember you during the Battle of Vaeren! You're their healer, you're not capable of fighting... don't worry, I'll spare you the pain of witnessing your best friend's death at the hands of your sister! Hahaha! I'm going to kill you for her!" exclaimed the beast-man, opening his giant hand and showing his claws, ready to strike Karl.

"Stop! Help! Gridd, Reidar! Help me, please!" Karl yelled, despairing knowing that he had no hope of defeating that monster alone.

Gridd began to run towards him and Reidar did the same, moving close to the stone walls, following the morphology of the arena and trying to keep the ideal distance to aim Roar, ready to end the life of their defenseless companion.

The goat demon fired a powerful blow, which hit Karl's chrome shield: despite the quick parry, the blow was so violent that the young healer was knocked back, falling to the ground and losing the shield, which ended up away from him.

"Aaaagh! Fuck! Kill me, you prick! I'm sure you'll have to face the wrath of my comrades afterward! There will be nothing left of you!" continued Karl, crawling to the ground, ready to die. 

Roar, as he giggled for the boy's killing, continued to advance toward him, until he placed his hooves inside the pool of blood near Sivert's corpse.

Karl turned his head back and raised both hands towards him, beginning to cry and despair, terrified.

"Karl! Karl, run! You're still on time!" Gridd screamed, who was running at top speed but was still far from the beast-man.

Reidar, fearing he might not arrive in time, fired an arrow, followed by two magic ones.

While the first did not hit the target, due to the archer's enormous distance and the run's frenzy, he controlled the other two, visualizing the exact spot to hit in his mind.

With a cross-course, which went completely against the laws of physics, the Failnaught's two magic arrows hit Roar's back, who barely felt an annoying pinch.

Without even turning around, he moved his hand backwards and detached them both, throwing them away.

The two arrows, before falling to the ground, dissolved into thin air.

The beast continued his advance, until something hit his attention, causing him to stop.

On the palms of Karl's hands, both pointed at him, a yellowish light appeared, which released small spherical and bright particles, floating around them.

Karl sensed that unknown power and looked forward, marveling at what was going on.

He soon noticed that under Roar's feet, the light from the Ansuz rune had increased compared to before.

Instinctively, Karl knelt forward and placed both hands full of blood and wrapped in that strange luminous aura on the ground.

As soon as there was contact, a beam came out of his hands and spread like a lightning bolt on the ground in front of him, reaching the rune drawn by Sivert, activating it.

"Uhm?!" 

Chapter end