Summer’s Edge’s ather rippled throughout the island that Valhalla was located in. Many of the other einherjars were already watching the battle unfold and after that shockwave, the rest of them started to pay attention.

Freya, who went back to her chariot once the fight started leaped out and ran towards the two fighters. This time she didn’t trip.

As the smoke cleared she saw her brother’s sword had been stopped. It lay on the ground where Charlie was, a black cloak with feathers had wrapped around him.

Freyr smirked again. “You summoned her cloak to absorb some of the energy. Quick thinking.”

Charlie held the cloak in his left hand but needed to use his right hand to hold it up, there was a clear power struggle between the two, and Freyr was already winning.

The ground beneath the two started to crack and break apart; the combination of the unsteady ground, his broken arm, and Freyr’s might was just too much for Charlie at this point.

He was biting his lip so hard that blood had started to drip from his lip. He couldn’t even think of anything else or he would lose concentration and give his opponent the victory.

“Charlie… this is the part where I’ll tell you to concede, the part where I say it’s just a practice match, heal up and try again,” Freya said in his mind. “But you don’t want that! I know how serious you are about this, you still can give more!”

As she looked at Charlie struggling to hold up his defense, flashes of his past appeared in her vision. That feeling of profound loneliness, of not feeling good enough for anyone. The death of his only true friend.

She decided to shout out to the heavens so all of Valhalla could hear her resolve. So Charlie could understand how much she believed in him.

“You're not alone anymore, I’m here with you!”

The deity and her retainer souls synchronized together. Charlie screamed in frustration as he started to push back Freyr’s blade inch by inch.

His eyes darted to the ground and he quickly moved his right hand to grab something. This gave Freyr a chance to push down his blade to shift the momentum in his favor.

Charlie lost his footing but quickly caught himself and put his right arm back to supporting his left arm and the cloak.

“I’ll aid you with everything I have to break his stance! Even if that opening is just for a second, that’s all my retainer needs!” Freya said in his mind.

“Ye…ah, I AGREE!” Charlie and Freya both screamed in unison and pushed Freyr’s sword away, causing him to be off balance. As Freyr looked at Charlie face, he could see half of his sister’s ethereal face on Charlie’s face.

It took Freyr only a few milliseconds to rebalance himself but that’s all Charlie needed. As he de-summoned the cloak, he tightened his right fist and threw the objects in his hand at Freyr face.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Blæst!”

It was a handful of rocks that had been prepped with sigils that he threw! The explosion not only damaged Freyr but pushed him back.

“Advent, Hildisvini!”

Hearing the summon phase of Freya’s battle boar, Freyr prepared himself for a charge attack from the boar. As he looked around he saw that nothing was charging at him.

Instead, he felt a big mass behind his legs, with the force of the blæst and whatever was behind him he lost his balance and was falling to the ground. As he fell to his back, he was able to see that the thing that tripped him was Hildisvini, who was summoned to lie on the ground behind him.

Charlie summoned one of his blades in his right hand and jumped forward towards the falling deity. Hildisvini in turn was de-summoned and sent back to Freya’s home.

Get on top and place the blade on his throat! That’s how I’ll win, Charlie thought. Charlie got close to Freyr and took the blade against his throat in midair.

As he stared at Freyr's face, fear grew in Charlie. Freyr's eyes looked cold and held true murderous intent, he let go of his great sword and rotated his entire body. Swinging his right arm he grabbed Charlie by the face and then slammed him into the ground.

He had reversed the entire situation in seconds. It was Freyr who was on top and had won. Had Charlie’s left arm healed quicker, he could have blocked Freyr and that frustrated Charlie the most.

“That’s it, any more and I’ll actually would have killed you,” Freyr said letting go of Charlie and wiping the blood he had on his face. “You surprised me, most einherjar don’t have that edge you had to push me to this level.”

Charlie didn’t move, he was stuck in the ground, he had used everything he had left in his tank. He wasn’t unconscious or anything he just didn’t want to move, he was feeling lazy like his deity.

Freya walked up to the two and helped pull Charlie up. “Charlie, are you okay?” she asked.

He had a somber look on his face, he knew he could never dream of defeating a deity but he lasted as long as he could and he fought hard to prove he deserved to be there. Even if it was mostly to prove to himself.

The einherjars that stood to watch the match clapped and cheered a bit. They had been treated to a spectacular battle between two warriors.

Charlie gave a thumbs up to Freya and the others and fell back to the ground. “Just give me ten minutes, then we can keep training,” he said with a tired hoarse voice.

As he stared at the beautiful light purple and orangish sky, he could hear the static voice once again in his mind.

“That was… awesome… Char..lie”

He turned his head and looked confused, this whole time he thought that voice was Freya. But she was right here next to him talking to Freyr. He went back to looking at the sky.

It didn’t matter where the voice came from, he’ll just ask his deity about it later. For now he just wanted to close his eyes and lay still.

///

Italy

One of the Bianchi family headquarters.

“Boss, we found him.”

The underboss of the Bianchi familia turned to his underling and gave him a nod. “Get Milo and the boys and tell them to meet me in the basement.”

As the underling left, the underboss stared at the picture on his desk. It was a picture of his granddaughter. He had made it a rule to not have anything related to his family in the office or even in his own house/hideout.

But he had broken that rule ever since her life was taken from him. He wondered, when did he get so soft? He never cared about his actual children, in fact he had a few with mistresses provided by the Bianchi familia, and if anything, he hated them.

A few of them were also killed in turf wars or altercations with other families. Why did he care so much about his one grandchild more than the granddaughter’s mother, his own daughter? It puzzled him to no end.

His cell phone rang; it was one of those old flip phones. He just enjoyed flipping it and that’s why he never upgraded to smart phones.

“Yes.”

“Boss, I heard from Mateo are you sure about this? He’s from another familia, we could cause a war here!”

The underboss heard the plea of his subordinate and then looked at the photo of his granddaughter.

“Anyone that dared to touch Alessandro Lorenzo Bianchi’s granddaughter has to pay the consequences.”

He grabbed the picture and placed it in his pocket notebook, which he put back into his suit jacket pocket.

“Justice will be delivered by my hands.”

He hung up the phone and grabbed his hat, placing it on his head, He was going to enact justice on the one that took his granddaughter away.

As he opened the door, he turned his head back. The entire time he had felt a chill, as if someone was watching him… judging him. Yet he knew no one was there in the room.

As he left the room, a figure revealed itself, that of a feminine figure wearing Roman battle armor.

“Justice?” she muttered. “What justice?”

She spat on the ground of the man’s office. “You have no idea what true justice is, you worthless human.”

3rd Tryfing

Official judge: Heroic Greek deity, Achilles.

Support judge: Angel, Damaris.

Chosen deities:

Ra: Demi-God: Darren Donaldson

Lugh: Knight: Ariel Morales

Zhong Kui: Exorcist: Audrey Rhodes

Inari: Polymath: Kento Sanosuke

Freya: Assassin: Charlie Wilson

Nuada: Conqueror: João Machado

Minerva: Tactician ???

Team Arc-Angel: Hero Luther Satenly

Fantasia world: The world known as Helioan

Starting year: not yet decided.

23:15:42