Fenrir soon arrived and found Zero still in wolf form lying motionless while bleeding from his eyes and ears. Fenrir swipe his claw with such force that it created blades of wind that cut Zero who turned into a blob of shadow and disappeared. Wasting no time Fenrir lunged to the right and struck at the air but the sound of bones cracking could be heard. Zero materialized from thin air and skid across the ground leaving a trail of blood.
“Here’s a lesson for the future when dealing with a god with animal characteristics like me assume they can always smell you and hear your breathing and heartbeat.” said Fenrir as he walked toward Zero
Zero tried to get up but he couldn’t as his body had reached its limit and the last couple of injuries hadn’t even begun to heal. He laid on the ground watching as Fenrir slowly approached his broken body.
‘Is it done yet!?’
[Almost I only require 5 more seconds. Previously I sequestered 50% of your mana to prepare this but I ended up using 40% so I return the remaining 10% to you. The attack is done but it can only be used once so don’t miss.]
Just as Fenrir reached Zero, a massive amount of shadow tendrils erupted from the ground a wrapped around Fenrir trapping him temporarily. As Fenrir started to break free from the tendrils, a single tendril maneuvered Zero's broken body to face Fenrir and aim his attack.
Zero opened his mouth and a gray orb shot out at an incredible speed towards Fenrir. Fenrir managed to somewhat break free and raise his paw to both defend and finish off Zero. The orb clashed with Fenrir’s paw and shattered in the face of Fenrir’s might but just as the attack was about to land; Jormungandr and Hel appeared in front of Zero. Jormungandr raised his hand and with barely any effort stopped Fenrir’s attack.
“What’s the meaning of this?” demanded Fenrir with a growl
Jormungandr turned Fenrir’s paw counterclockwise to allow the wolf to see his own paw and pointed to a minuscule wound on the paw. The wound was circular and it looked as if a part of Fenrir’s paw had been gouged out. Jormungandr let go of Fenrir’s paw and said, “He managed to wound you once so the match ends with his victory.” as he snapped his fingers dispelling the pocket dimension they were currently in returning them to the desert.
Zero coughed profusely as this conversation occurred and even began to cough up blood. His vision was becoming hazy but he willed himself to stay conscious until his other goal was complete. Although the attack hadn’t hurt Fenrir much it still drew blood and that was what Zero was after the blood of a god. Zero called back a shadow he had stealthily hidden in Fenrir’s shadow, which had absorbed his blood before passing out.
Hel rushed to Zero’s side followed by Valna and started to convert her mana into regular divine mana for Zero to absorb and heal himself. Jormungandr walked over with Fenrir who had transformed back into his human form and said, “I’m surprised did you know he could use the power of the void?” to which Hel simply shook her head no.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“I had no idea he could. Even during his last life-or-death battle against the aeon, he didn’t use it so I assume he couldn’t at the time.” explained Hel
“Huh so are you saying he developed this attack between now and then or are you implying he developed it during our battle?” asked Fenrir who was looking at his wound
“No I doubt it was made during the battle but I believe he recently created it. A true void attack shouldn’t have been shattered that easily but I admit using it was a wise decision. Void power is dangerous since it can’t be blocked without a mana shield which our brother is unable to use.” said Jormungandr
“Hey if I didn’t restrict myself even that attack wouldn’t scratch me.” said Fenrir defensively
Jormungandr chuckled as he said, “Only a loser complains after he loses.”
Fenrir turned his head away and tossed a crystal to Hel who caught it with her free hand. He coughed and said, “Anyway I keep my word so give this to him and let him know we’ll join this new pantheon.”
“Don’t worry at the rate he’s healing he should wake up in a few minutes. More importantly, you said you had something important to tell me so tell me.” responded Hel ignoring Fenrir’s attempt to change to defend himself
“Ah yes, right I almost forgot due to Fen's shamelessness. Right father wanted us to warn you that the forces of heaven will be sending an investigation team here to figure out why that aeon disappeared. He said they would arrive at the earliest in 3 weeks but we took 4 days to arrive and a week for this battle so we really only have 10 days to leave this world and erase all trace of your presence here.”
Hel was so shocked by the news that her brother had just reported that he stopped converting her mana and froze. Luckily Zero had absorbed enough to heal so all they needed to do was wait for him to awaken now. After a few minutes of not moving while Fenrir kept waving his hand in front of her face, Hel started to move and slapped his hand away before rubbing her face stressfully.
Hel sighed and said, “10 days to erase all the traces on this planet will be tough. Can you do it Jorm?”
“Yeah for the past week I’ve already gone to parts of the world and erased the traces of residual divine mana. I don’t know what you all did but this world was just teeming with that kid Zero’s mana. It was annoying to track down all of it but I managed to finish so all that’s left is that piece of land with the demigoddess, the country you all frequent, and here. There are heavier traces there so I’ll need 3 to 4 days to finish up.” explained Jormungandr
“Don’t scare me like that and if you’ve already started cleaning up tell me that first.” said Hel who breathed a sigh of relief
“Doesn’t mana disappear after a day? So won’t there be nothing to find when they get here?” asked Valna who had remained silent during this entire battle to observe how Fenrir fought closely
“Regular mana does indeed disappear after a day but the divine mana used by deities lasts for millennia. I don’t know about the force of heaven in great detail but I know that amongst the real valkyries when they are sent to investigate a matter they always include Kára who’s their best hunter and very sensitive to mana. Once someone like that catches the scent of your mana your capture or death is inevitable. So we cover our tracks just in case.” answered Jormungandr
Hel stood up and smacked Jormungandr on the shoulder and said, “Well instead of wasting time explaining things get started already. Every second counts so hurry up.”
Dusting off the area hit by Hel Jormungandr glowed and transformed. What he turned into couldn’t be described as a snake but rather an aquatic dragon or leviathan instead. He towered over them even larger than Fenrir when he transformed. His skin was covered in scales assortment of blue and black that acted as armor; each scale was the size of a shield and looked as if none of them could be penetrated by any type of weapon. Across his spine and along his face were spiked protrusions and horns. His eyes had no pupils but rather glowed aqua blue.
What was strange was that after taking this form Jormungandr transformed yet again. This transformation was subtle with his horns and spiked protrusions retreating back into his body. His black and blue scales then turned white and his eyes stopped glowing revealing a pair of blue snake eyes.