Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 238: CCXXXVIII. The Blindside

Oyvind did not answer to that provocation, but his expression was worth a thousand words and made Dag understand that his enemy feared his strength very much, even though he had tried to hide it until then.

During their exchange of glances, two strips of blood, starting from Dag's chest and sliding down the dune, reached a point behind Oyvind and joined in a small puddle.

The dark fluid, instead of enveloping the body of its creator, this time traveled quickly along its blood, as if it was a flame on a trail of gasoline: in less than a second, it encircled Oyvind and reached the pool of blood behind him, from which a dark blade was fired upwards at great speed, piercing the body of the enemy, who didn't even have time to think.

"Have as much fun as you want, Oyvind... cut off my legs, my arms, whatever it helps you feeling invincible... but remember, when we get back into the real world, it will be the end for you" Dag exclaimed, noting that the pain his opponent was feeling was as real as his.

Oyvind opened his mouth to speak, but only a river of blood came out of it, which fell on his feet when his eyes expressed the pain he was feeling while Dag's dark blade tore apart his internal organs.

The blood continued to flow along the trails of blood, feeding the puddle, which gradually allowed the blade to grow in size, widening the wound from Oyvind's back to his abdomen. 

For a few seconds, both stood still: Dag on the ground, without a leg and immersed in a pool of blood, and Oyvind standing in front of him, on his feet and with the dark blade piercing him, nearly two meters long.

Dag continued to wait and look satisfied with his opponent's face, waiting for him to activate the key again.

"Then? Let's go back?!" he asked, as the dark blade split into two smaller blades, which began to rotate around each other, writhing Oyvind, who screamed in pain and just before losing consciousness, barely laid the handle of the axe on the ground and turned it.

...

Dag opened his eyes again.

He had returned to that swampy forest.

He looked up: the moon shone behind some clouds that gave a glimpse of its white light, and he realized that the place was real and that Oyvind's teleportation power was able to make them travel through space, without breaking the rules of time, keeping them still on the present. 

In front of him, a few meters away, his enemy was leaning against a tree, breathing hard and touching the wound on his side that just before Dag had procured him.

He looked at his body and his leg.

Everything was back as before, the wounds on the ribs were gone and the right leg was back in its place.

Magni's hammer was in his right hand, the Giantbane in the left one.

He clenched both of his weapons and an electric aura surrounded him, starting from below, while grayish gas leaked out of his arms and joined the sparks, that from blue turned light purple, like his eye.

Before Oyvind could react in any way, Dag lowered himself to his knees, loading a sprint and then dashing towards his enemy at incredible speed, hitting him with the hammer in his face and making him flying backward for hundreds of meters.

During his trajectory, Oyvind struck and destroyed several trees, whose trunks shattered on impact with his body.

When he fell to the ground, he turned his head to one side, noting that he still managed to keep his axe, despite the extremely strong blow.

He spent about a second, when, looking up and lying on the ground, Oyvind saw Dag, who surrounded by the same violet electric aura, was in the sky above his head falling towards him, ready to strike him again. 

With most of the bones broken, the enemy could not move even an inch, and Dag, with the hammer pointed down and activating Lightning Strike, hit him violently in the center of his chest, causing him to sink into the ground and create a crater the size of an asteroid.

The dust and sparks released during the blow began to fade and disperse in the air, and Dag stood up, looking at his opponent from the top down.

Oyvind's body was unrecognizable: his rib cage was completely shattered and his organs leaked out of it, his legs had been violently twisted in contact with the ground, and the bones of his femur and knee protruded from the flesh.

With both eyes closed and his face swollen and bloodied, he tried to whisper something incomprehensible.

Dag grabbed his braid and pulled him upwards, lifting his head and part of his torso, while Oyvind emitted excruciating verses, feeling body parts ripped off.

Noting that his legs were hopelessly wedged under the huge boulders, Dag, impregnating the Giantbane in the enemy's blood, severed both his lower limbs, lifting him off the ground by the braid and leaving his legs inside the crater.

Oyvind continued to groan, exhaling his last breaths.

Dag dropped the leg-deprived body back to the ground and it made a disgusting noise as if it was a sack full of clay shards.

He grabbed the double-headed axe, which was also wedged under some rocks that had detached from the ground during the impact, and stuck his handle on the ground.

For a moment, at the sight of all that blood, Dag was forced to shake his head and not lose concentration: he felt the same feeling again when, during the fight against all those bandits, he had let himself go to the desire for blood that he felt flowing through his veins, similar to an insatiable appetite.

Maintaining his hindsight, he again grabbed Oyvind's dying body by the neck of the armor, raising him toward the handle of the axe.