Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons 275 CCLXXV. The Severing

Freydis, caught in uncontrollable pain, began to agitate with her last strength, trying to wriggle out of his grip and hardly scratching Dag behind his back, causing deep furrows in his skin, which stuck under her nails.

With a decisive gesture of the head upwards and his jaw clenched, Dag tore a thin piece of flesh from Freydis's neck, surgically removing the flap of skin on which Inguz was engraved from her body.

Suddenly, the girl's screams and groans subsided, as did Karl and the others, who were watching the scene expecting the worst.

Dag turned his head to one side and spat out the piece of flesh, which after twirling in the air, ended up on the dusty ground of the arena, which got wet by the blood of the young Shieldmaiden, whose eyes began to close, losing consciousness.

He lowered himself back towards her and bit her again, leaving the grip on her neck, in which air began to circulate again, filling Freydis's lungs.

Dag's cheeks curved inwards and he began to suck the inside of the wound.

Gridd walked towards him, unable to understand what he was going to do.

"You cut off the wound, saving her again, Dag... what are you doing now?! Did the smell of blood go to your head?!" he thought, walking with circumspection, while his brother looked like a feeding lion.

The dark veins that covered the girl's body slowly disappeared, letting that strange liquid flow into her neck, while Dag began to swallow it as if it was a valued food.

"Dag?! Brother, that's enough! The rune has been removed, Freydis is safe!" Gridd exclaimed, trying to communicate with him, who seemed to ignore those words, continuing to suck the liquid, until his woman's body was completely emptied.

With one hand behind her nape, he gently placed Freydis's head on the ground and then turned behind to Gridd, who was petrified.

Dag's left eye was still red, his skin black and his teeth sharp.

The demonic transformation had not yet worn off.

Dag looked again at Freydis, who had lost consciousness, but whose face had returned to the normal complexion, slightly paler than usual.

Karl ran towards them, beginning to extract potions and bandages from his healer box, ready to medicate his sister's wounds.

"Dag! You did it! Now move from there, let me heal the wound!" he yelled, thrilled that his friend had succeeded in his intent and anxious for Freydis to wake up again. 

Seeing Karl arriving, Dag moved in with a snap, shaking his head and continuing to breathe deeply.

"Hey... you can stay calm now... tell me how I can help you..." Gridd said, reaching out a hand toward her brother, who was still uttering strange verses. 

In addition to the enormous power absorbed from Roar, another external element was now circulating in his blood system.

That substance of which Freydis's veins were full was highly indigestible, despite Dag's metabolism, able to digest just about anything.

The dark liquid kept moving inside his intestines and his gaze began to cloud.

Karl lowered himself toward Freydis, smearing an ointment on her wound and wiping the blood with a white cloth.

Everyone else kept looking at Dag, unable to tell if he was more of a man or more of a beast at the time.

He roared, feeling a severe cramp in his stomach and scaring Gridd, who as he was approaching her, stepped back, frightened.

Breathing calmly, Dag managed for a few moments to regain lucidity: his body needed blood, nourishment.

He felt a strong appetite and kept licking his lips, wet with Freydis's blood.

It was an irrepressible feeling independent of his will and sometimes that primal instinct managed to get the better of his humanity, obscured by all that power.

Gridd continued to back down as Reidar and the other three Masters approached.

Kjell, Sander, and Ellen were wounded and exhausted, but happy that the danger had been eliminated. 

"Congratulations, boy!" exclaimed Sander, resting his hand on Dag's shoulder, in his usual friendly ways.

As soon as his hand touched his shoulder, Dag grabbed his wrist with one hand and throat with the other, causing him to fall back to the ground and climbing with both feet above his stomach, immobilizing him.

They all stood still, but only for a few seconds until they realized that Dag was serious and if no one interrupted him, he would risk killing the Master Of Defense.

Dag! What the fuck are you doing?!" Gridd yelled again, moving behind him and grabbing him by the neck, pulling him backward.

He did not move in the slightest, continuing to tighten Sander's throat, whose face turned purple as he choked.

As Gridd tried to pull him away, he put a hand on her chest and pushed her, knocking her to the ground.

When he placed also the second hand around Sander's neck, he felt an incredible sense of pleasure, as if all that pain, those fatigued breaths, that feeling of helplessness in front of his strength, gave him a sense of enjoyment.

The feeling lasted until a chain wrapped his neck, pulling him away and slamming him to the ground.

In an incredibly agile movement, Dag rose from the ground and rotated on himself, freeing from the grip of Kjell's chain, which had managed to intervene promptly.

"Hey... what's wrong with you, kid? What were you going to do... ?" Kjell asked, in a surprisingly calm tone of voice, ready to stop Dag again if needed.

Another moment of lucidity crossed Dag's mind like an electric shock.

Although he was sorry for his gesture, he could not utter a single word: nothing from his mouth came out but roars and animal verses.

She looked again at Sander when Ellen leaned over to him and helped him sit down, while he coughed, touching his throat.

Chapter end