A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

With Frostfang's acceptance, a wave of excitement spread through the crowd. Some both expected and wished for Erik to receive a quick beat-down. Others looked forward to a heated battle between two powerhouses, before a next-generation Gunnulf ascended the Enclave throne.

Either way, everyone was itching to see the result and wanting different things, but they managed to keep it civil this time. Frostfang's earlier speech and pressure still rang fresh in their minds.

Now, Erik and Frostfang stood ten meters apart. Ten meters was an extremely short distance to a Runebound, of course, but neither intended to fight at range, so neither minded.

Erik eyed his opponent with cautious optimism and excitement. Despite his earlier bravado, he wasn't actually sure he could beat Frostfang. He had built new armor, trained for eleven months, and prepared a few more surprises just to reach a level of power where he could face Frostfang despite being a second-ranker.

Now, he believed himself to be ready. Yet, Erik was keenly aware that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Thus, time would tell if he could actually defeat Frostfang.

Still, he was excited to test his strength and optimistic about his chances.

Touching the dimension inside him, he took out his weapon. A new warhammer appeared in his hand. Just like his armor, Erik had created a new weapon as well, although it was far less interesting than his armor.

Unlike his backup weapon, this one resembled the weapon he had originally left behind on Söl. It was imposing and clearly designed for both brute force and precision. The head was forged from gleaming metal and adorned with an intricate, howling wolf on one side and the wing of a fairy on the other side.

One side of the head was flat and intimidating, ready to crush all opposition. The other side featured a vicious and sharply pointed spike, able to pierce through armor and deliver devastating blows to opponents. The shaft was crafted from a combination of dark wood and metal, intricately wrapped in leather for a secure and comfortable grip.

Hefting the weapon onto his shoulder with his right hand, Erik now grinned defiantly at Frostfang, before taunting him by beckoning with his left hand, "Let's settle this, Jonas. I'm sure you're just as eager to beat me up as I am to do the same to you."

"Hmpf," Frostfang scoffed as he took a combat stance but didn't respond to Erik's taunt. "I don't mind if you use that armor to even the odds a little, even if it won't change the ending, but are you sure you want to lug around that massive hammer of yours? You'll already be slower than me without it."

Smirking, Erik responded, "I appreciate the concern, Jonas. But I'll be fine."

Scoffing again, Frostfang suddenly started moving without warning. As if attempting to prove his earlier words, he rushed straight at Erik with a roar. Claws out. Ready to test his natural weapons against Erik's armor.

If Frostfang's attack hit Erik, his armor could take the hit, but he might still receive internal shock damage and at the very least be blown off balance a little.

Erik watched his opponent approach and immediately knew he wasn't fast enough to avoid that attack. Speed had always been an issue for him. Luckily, he didn't need physical speed. Space was his ally.

When Frostfang's snarling maw and dangerous claws were mere inches from Erik's chest, Erik suddenly shifted ever so slightly to the left—just enough to avoid the attack.

Now standing just to the side of his previous position, with Frostfang flying past him, Erik's heartbeat slowed, and Frostfang seemed to move in slow motion.

Grabbing his hammer with both hands, Erik used an agility usually reserved for contortionists, and turned on his axis before swinging the hammer down on his attacker's back.

Just as the flat side of the hammer made contact, movement sped up again. Some white lightning crackled around the contact area. Frostfang roared in pain as he shot past Erik and tumbled through the snow, across the frozen ground. Erik grinned victoriously as he watched Frostfang suffer a small defeat.

In the end, this was just the opening of their battle, and his attack really didn't do that much damage, as evidenced by Frostfang jumping up again after coming to a stop.

His face was twisted with a bit of anger but, surprisingly, not that much. Mostly, there was a newly born caution as he eyed Erik. "How did you do that…" he growled lowly at his supposedly weaker opponent.

He didn't just mean that last moment shift of Erik's body but also the surprising agility he showed with both his hammer and body.

"Now that would be telling," Erik smirked as he held his hammer in one hand while spreading his arms wide. A layer of white lightning slowly took shape, hugging his already armored body.

This was one of his first two thundersnow abilities, created by combining lightning enhancement and ice armor: thundersnow aegis. This ability provided both additional protection and an increase in his physical stats.

After his body was covered in crackling white lightning, he lowered his stance again. "I suggest you stop underestimating me and get serious, Jonas," he grinned confidently. "I'm not the same guy you fought back in Frostvik."

"You want serious? Fine!" Frostfang snarled furiously as the desire to teach this brat a lesson surged through his body. Suddenly, a light blizzard picked up around his body, and a large number of small icy spikes appeared all over his body, almost turning him into a cross between a werewolf and a hedgehog.

The same kind of spikes also grew on his claws, lengthening them, and making them far more dangerous than before.

'I can only imagine what those spikes are capable of,' Erik thought cautiously. 'But that blizzard is definitely dangerous. With snow and hail racing around like that, my movements will be severely hindered.'

Yet, he smirked. He had already thought of a counter for Frostfang's blizzard. Suddenly, the temperature around Erik plummeted, becoming even colder than it already was. This was his second Runebound ice ability: freezing aura.

Alone it wouldn't really do much against Frostfang, but Erik had managed to enhance it a little, specifically to counter his opponent's snowstorm ability, which he had witnessed during their previous encounter.

Any of his ice or lightning abilities could theoretically be enhanced with the thundersnow affinity, although, for now, he had only taken the time to do so with the freezing aura ability.

When both combatants were fully prepared for the true battle, Frostfang once again charged Erik, this time approaching more carefully but still intending to make use of his supposedly superior physical abilities.

When Erik's freezing aura and Frostfang's blizzard clashed, the enhancements became clear. For every grain of snow or piece of hail that entered his freezing aura, a grain of thundersnow was created to counter it.

Despite the lower power of Erik's second-rank ability, the higher rank of his affinity allowed him to compete with Frostfang directly in this field.

This way, the freezing aura was doing nothing against Frostfang, but Erik also wasn't impeded by the blizzard.

Noticing what was happening, Frostfang snorted with annoyance but didn't stop his blizzard. It might just be an energy drain right now, but it was the same for Erik. And Frostfang banked on having higher endurance.

Suddenly, Frostfang groaned inwardly, 'I can't believe I'm actually considering endurance as a factor while fighting this brat… I have to admit, he's his mother's son. Still, I'll have to teach him a lesson.'

While their two abilities raged around them, drowning out most other sounds and obstructing much of the crowd's view, Frostfang roared and started attacking the stationary Erik.

Erik knew he couldn't compete with Frostfang in physical speed, so he had long decided to move as little as possible. But that didn't mean he had no way to resist that speed.

Frostfang's ice-spiked claws seemed to come flying at Erik from multiple directions. So, Erik raised his hammer in defense.

A whirlwind of ice and metal raged. The sound of metal clashing with ice echoed.

Frostfang's claws seemed to be everywhere and moved much faster than Erik. Yet, somehow, Erik's hammer seemed to always be at the right place, at the right time to defend, even when the claws came from two directions at the same time.

"How are you doing that?!" Frostfang roared angrily.

"Told you, I'm not the same guy as before," Erik grinned, appearing casual, despite the fact this was actually extremely hard on him.

Part of how he was doing this was his first Runebound spatial skill: spatial displacement.

For the moment, this simply allowed him small, yet extremely rapid movements through space, either for his entire body or just parts of it.

The other part, however, was the reason why the phrase 'I'm not the same guy as before' was particularly apt.

After all, a third bloodline now coursed through his veins.