"Hagen, the Slayer of Avatars..." Hagen pondered titles for himself. The glorious taste of his words drew a smile on his face. "No -- Hagen, the Assassin of Legends --, yes! The possibilities are limitless! I can't decide! Captain..." He glanced towards one of his subordinates. Hagen's men formed a thick semi-circle of warriors, surrounding the hill where Marzia and her troops made their last stand.

"Y-Y-Yes, boss?" Asked a Northman. A drop of sweat creeped down his forehead. He could not take his eyes off Verano, who glared enraged at Hagen. The boy stood only ten steps away. The blood on the ground dyed his eyes into red. How come his opponent heard his own nonsense over the silent cry of the dead? 

Hagen had no eyes for the boy. He gestured at his subordinate:

"Come here, Captain! I need a second opinion about this!"

"I-I-Is this necessary, boss--"

"Of course! How silly of you!" Hagen chortled. "If I choose the wrong nickname, this will all go to waste! After all, it is not every day that one gets to kill the Avatar--"

"Shut up with all this crap!" Verano howled as he fired a flame against his enemy's face. 

"Argh, argh--" Hagen kneaded his injury with both hands. The man collapsed on his knees. Smoke escaped from his wounds. The skin between his fingers glowed orange.

"People are dying and all you can think of is yourself!" Snapped Verano as his enemy agonized. "Alba has seen enough death already! How can you only see yourself…"

Marzia suspired as she watched the fight from a ridge. She saw that he was still the gentle, fearless boy who confronted their father. Verano continued:

"The people deserve peace more than anything! You are just a stupid reason for slaughter! The pain that you are feeling is nothing compared to--“

Hagen laughed aloud. Verano stepped back, aghast.

"I-It can't be..." He faltered.

The Northmen laughed like a chorus at the boy's innocence.

"You saw that, Verano?" Giggled Hagen as he stood up with ease and pulled his hands off his face. He revealed a bright smile parading on his lips. The boy's attack did not even startle him. "That was how it'd have looked like if it had hurt."

The Ring of Nibel on the man's right hand shined. Waters rose from the ground and formed a bright cyan aura around the Hagen's wounds. His injuries healed. 

"However, I must thank you--" Hagen frowned upon a droplet of his blood that Verano had shed with his flame. "Your incompetence did half my job." The man's blood sunk in the ground.

"What--"

Hagen swung his hands. Five bodies of red water tore open the ground around Verano. Marzia recoiled:

"Behind you, Verano!"

The Northman's waters slammed the boy's body one by one, and knocked him against the grass.

Marzia turned towards her bowmen:

"Aim for Hagen, now--",

"No, no, no; lady de Sforza--" Hagen faced her. "If you use yours," he glanced at her one hundred archers, "I'll use mine." He leaned towards the thousands of warriors surrounding Verano. 

"T-T-Tutto bene (It's all fine), Marzia. Argh--" The boy rose from the grass. He pressed a wound on his left arm.

"How touching!" Hagen smiled at the scene. Red water floated around him. "The Sforzas sure love a beating. Come, White Wolf," he teased the boy with a hand gesture, "don't make me go there. You won’t like it!”

He'll just keep me away with ranged attacks. Reflected Verano as he observed the red bodies of water hovering around his opponent. It's pointless to Firebend from here and tire myself - water is a much more defensive style. He'll just block my attack and strike me again. I must get close.

"How rude..." Remarked Hagen. "I told you to get close!" 

The man thrusted his hands at Verano. His red water turned into a bear's claw and dove against the boy.

"Now!" Said Verano as he fired a swift flame at the water claw.

"Futile!" Mocked Hagen as the boy's flame unmade itself as it reached the claw. "See, I told you to--"

The fire unmade itself and formed a thick fog of smoke on the battlefield. The smoke concealed Verano. The water claw hammered the ground, yet it only crushed an empty patch of dirt.

Hagen remarked, frustrated:

"He got away..." The silence of Verano's scream confirmed his theory. "Now where did he go?" He swung his head towards all edges of the smoke cloud.

Verano lied down on the dirt. He held his breath so that he could Firebend.

"This is my chance," the boy said to himself as he fired a tiny blaze at the epicenter of the smoke. The light flashed for a second before the lack of oxygen asphyxiated its flames. Yet Hagen's pale skin reflected the light and denounced his position.

"Found you!" Said Verano as he sprung out of the ground and rushed at his enemy.

Hagen heard the sound of the boy's steps.

"Found you!" He said while clapping both hands together. His claw of red water divided in two and flew in opposite senses to crush the boy like a fly.

Verano closed his eyes as he recalled the teachings of Johann Martel. He felt the heat in Hagen's heart exposing his attempt to attack. 

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"I gotta go faster!" Said the boy as his eyes sprung open. He slouched his waist forward and stretched his arms towards his backs. Flames busted from the palm of his hands and propelled him forward.

"Escaped again?" Snorted Hagen as his water claws collided without a victim. “You’re only postponing your demise, boy--"

The smoke opened like a curtain only one-step away from Hagen's nose. Verano was right in front of him.

"Mangialo! (Eat it!)" Yelled Verano as he spun his body and kicked the Northman's smirk off his jaw.

His kick hurled Hagen out of smoke cloud. The man flew like an arrow.

"Get away! Get away--" Yelled the Northmen as their leader fell upon them like a boulder. Their bodies padded his fall. Dust sprung from the ground around the crashing site.

Marzia leaned forward, excited:

"Avanti (Go), Verano!" She cupped her lips with both hands. "End this light-skulled impenitent moronic thug! Make him suffer! Make him feel like the sea drivel that he is! Go, Verano! Crush him!"

Candorra stood by the girl's side. Marzia`s excitement frightened her.

"B-Boy, the Princess really loves violence, doesn't she?"

Verano hurried out of the smoke cloud. He had his feet firmly aimed at his fallen enemy.

I must keep him busy! I can’t let him heal! Asserted Verano in his mind. He pummeled and kicked flames at Hagen while he approached.

Yet his foe smiled at the threat. He lifted himself off the couch of Northmen and shoved the dirt off his shoulder, obviously oblivious to the fire.

"Playtime's over..." Said Hagen as he pulled his axe out of his waist. He ran nonchalant towards Verano. The boy's flames slashed and burned the Northman's body. Yet his Ring of Nibel shined, and waters promptly rose from the ground to heal him.

Verano recoiled.

"Firebending is not working--"

A hand of red water grasped the boy's leg. 

"Cazzata (Crap!)--" Cursed while he Verano struggled to pull his leg away.

Hagen dove his axe's blade against the boy's skull. Verano rose his hands, and a veil of water blocked the attack like a shield.

"A-Argh..." Verano gritted his teeth 

The warriors from the Empire of the Holy Flame recoiled. They exchanged confused sights. The wind carried their gossips and speculations about what they saw.

"H-He's Waterbending?" Asked Marzia. Her eyes widened in the hope that she would believe that she saw. All her soldiers were aghast.

Yet Hagen only smirked at his foe's desperate attempt to defend himself.

"I see that Thyra taught you a thing or two..." Said Hagen while glanced at a drop of his blood dwelling in Verano's water shield. 

"What?" Verano felt as if he lost control of the waters. They turned into a fist and jabbed him off his balance.

Hagen continued:

"But you know what they say about those who can't do?" He asked as he swung his axe at Verano's throat. "They teach.”

Tears sprung out of Marzia's lids. She screamed for her brother:

"Verano!"

The chaos muzzled her call. Yet her voice still reached Verano's ears. 

I cannot die.

He frowned upon his reflection in the approaching axe's blade. His eyes glowed white.

"Vad? (What?)" Hagen stepped back.

Flames fired from Verano's elbows. They thrusted his arms forward to tear Hagen's axes into pieces.

"Enough." Said Verano with an ominous tone, as if many voices spoke through the same mouth.

Once again, flames escaped from his right elbow. His fist dove into Hagen's stomach and broke through the man's armor.

"Argh--" Hagen spilled saliva. He clenched both fists. A veil of water formed around him like an armor. "You'll pay for this, White Wolf--"

A punch to the forehead silenced the man. He dove into the ground like a log.

Fire busted off both Verano's elbows. The boy's fists fell upon his fallen foe like rain. His blows became so fast that his arms disappeared from his spectator's sight. The ground shook and opened with every collision. Every punch dove Hagen deeper into the ground, as if Verano dug the man's grave with his fists. The beating crushed the Northman's armors and molded his body like mud.

"V-Verano?" Marzia faltered. She looked around in search of an explanation from her warriors.

"Princess Marzia!" Yelled Giovanni. He dropped his crossbow and grabbed Marzia's shoulders. "You have to stop him! He's gonna turn his bones into water like this!"

"I don't think you can just tell him to stop, pretty boy…” Faltered Candorra. The fur around her tail bristled more with every blow.

“What do you mean?”

"I barely heard his voice. I don’t think that is Verano..."

"Then who is it, then?" Recoiled Marzia. "Who possesses him?”

"I think many people..." She replied. "And they're screaming. It's awful to hear,” she covered her fox ears, “it’s like they are all joining forces to kill that guy..."

Verano dove a last fist against Hagen as if he hammered a nail into a wooden stack.

The boy jumped back, and two flames shined like a pair of Suns on the palm of his hands. Verano collided one pulse against the other and stretched his arms at his foe. The flames on his hands glowed as if two stars burned side by side.

“This power…” The Northmen faltered. The Black Hills were cold, yet they felt sweat creeping down their foreheads.

Verano rose his ominous voice:

"Begone!"

The flames erupted from Verano's hands and engulfed Hagen. The man's grave became a furnace that illuminated the entire Black Hills. Hagen's Ring of Nibel called waters to heal its carrier, yet the heat was so intense that all water vaporized upon contact. The earth itself brewed.

The light from the boy’s attack was so intense that the entire Black Hills shined yellow.

"He's doing it! Ha-ha!" Candorra rose her fist in celebration. "Verano's winning! Verano's winning--"

Verano eyes darkened once more. His flames cooled as he collapsed upon the ground with both hands on his heart.

"Argh!" The boy cried in pain. He felt his arms lighter than paper.

"Oh no," Marzia covered her mouth. Verano’s chance was gone.

Giovanni rose his voice:

“Princess, we gotta do something! Listen, I have a plan—“

Marzia ignored him. She pressed two fingers into her mouth and whistled.

"On your horses, now!” She yelled towards the knights who stood on the hill. “We must save Verano!"

The Knights from Il Pugno Lombardo, the nobles from the Duchy of Sforza, ran after her. Marzia faced the hill's west flank as she distanced herself from the ridge. She rose her right fist and thrusted a flame into the sky. That was the sign for Adelhard, the son of the deceased Count Wenceslaus, to take his cavalry from the western flank and charge the Northmen's encirclement.

Yet the Northmen who once served Thyra did not attack. They only faced Verano while he agonized on the floor. No one dared to make a step ahead and risk repeating Hagen's fate. They searched their memories for reasons that the boy would have to turn into the White Wolf once more and slaughter them. They all could find at least one motive.

Yet Hagen’s arm reached out of his grave. He rose his head to face his men. He had become grey like ashes. The Ring of Nibel restored his throat so that he could speak:

"What are you waiting for, you cowards?" He screamed at his men and strayed their sights away from Verano. "Can’t you see he’s down? Wipe them all out now! Waste no time!”"

Hagen's men echoed his message:

"Yeah!" Shouted a captain. "Attack, you morons! Don't waste this opportunity!" He bumped his chest against the warrior standing in front of him. "Come on, angrepp! (Attack!)"

The Northmen reluctantly charged a weakened Verano. Their war cries echoed across the valley. The wind carried them to the hills to the northeast. Thyra and a small host of Edïm's warriors approached through that flank.

"Hurry! I'm sure that light that we saw came from the White Wolf," said Thyra as she faced her troops. She referred to the fire furnace that the boy had ignited. "We need to go, fast--"

An eerie voice interrupted her:

"You are late, Drottning Thyra (Queen Thyra). The Avatar was only a second away from stealing your revenge."

"Who was this?" She narrowed her eyes towards a man in glowing white robes. He sat on a carpet and watched the battle from the top of a hill. Spirits surrounded him and played.

 "I don't speak to those who hide their faces." She pointed her axe at the radiant stranger. "Are you one of Hagen's thugs?"

The man smoked his narguille pipe, obviously ignoring her threat. He rose his heavenly voice:

"The Avatar's adoptive father has imprisoned himself and his mount near the northern shore of the River Tummel. He has an interesting theory on how to defeat Hagen." He blew a cloud of smoke that glowed alongside him. "You must set him free and ride together to the battlefield."

"And who are you and why I should listen to anything that you say, främling (stranger)?"

"Me? As of now, I am little more than a familiar face."