Brisingr breathed heavily as she gazed deep into the eye of the storm. The storm she’d created, the blazing flames which would not stop. This was her power, the true potential. It was what she could do when unleashed.

And it wasn’t enough.

Atlas stood his ground, his skin singed but nothing else. He was also panting, his eyes smoldering with hatred. She supposed the noise and her flames didn’t get her onto his good list.

“Brat! You will die-!”

Brisingr didn’t let him finish, unleashing a concentrated stream of white fire at the Titan. He bellowed, batting them away. Brisingr jumped into the air and sent out a wave of heat. Once again, he deflected it.

She grit her teeth. His strength was so insane, that he was able to negate her attacks with that alone. What could she do against an enemy so much stronger than herself?

Then she pushed the doubt back. No! Nicole was hurt because of him. Neverstien was destroyed because of him. Innocent people were killed because of him.

HE NEEDED TO PAY!

White-hot streaks fell from the sky, slamming into the Titan. Atlas growled as he swatted at them, but there were too many, even for him. “Enough, little girl! Give up now!”

“I am not a LITTLE GIRL!!!!” Brisingr howled, fire streaming out from all four limbs and hitting Atlas in the chest. Steam rose from the wound and Brisingr showed her teeth. “You’re going to die!”

“BY YOU? DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH!” Atlas yelled.

“SHUT UP!!!” Brisingr lost any semblance of control, going wild with her powers. She just threw her fire over and over again, each one striking the Titan. She needed him. She needed him to bleed, for his body to be cooked from the inside out!

“THAT’S IT!” Atlas crouched.

“Watch out!” Commander shouted.

He rose to meet her and Brisingr dodged, never letting her steady stream of fire falter. She was going to make him pay, even if it cost her. She could handle some of his hits!

“DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!!” Brisingr repeated, coating her hands with flames that shifted into huge fiery fists, each the size of a tank. Brisingr let loose, striking him over and over again. “DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE-!”

“No, don’t get too close!”

Atlas grabbed her face and threw her to the ground. The earth shifted and screamed as huge crevasse began to form. Brisingr was momentarily stunned, and that was all Atlas needed.

He took hold of her leg and began smashing her into the ground. Her visor’s screen cracked, and she lost the earpiece. With no way of communication and her systems offline, she was even worse off than before.

Atlas finally tired of this and threw her across the streets, sending her cartwheeling as she passed over numerous meters. A large shadow eclipsed her view as she was about to land and she looked up to find Atlas.

At the same time her back hit the road, her front was hit by Atlas’ butt. Feeling something in her face crack, Brisingr pushed past the pain and jabbed her fingers into his butthole.

He shrieked, a surprisingly feminine sound, and Brisingr bit his ear. Nothing happened, except for her having a bad aftertaste, but it did shock him long enough with the uselessness of such action she was able to squirm out. By the time he was up, he was being blasted straight in the face with her hottest fire.

“STOP THIS!” He pushed past the heat and made a reach for her. Learning from her mistakes, Brisingr grabbed his hand and burned it. Flames spread up his arm, and lucky her, it was his shadow arm.

He yowled and Brisingr stuck her hand into his open mouth. Her fingers twitched, and then a flame tornado ripped free. It slithered down his throat and spread through the rest of his body.

Atlas yelled in pure agony and smoke shot out from his holes. Brisingr released her hand and she watched with heart satisfaction as parts of his body burnt and flecks of skin drifted away. She didn’t know how somebody could be so durable, but everybody had a weakness.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Atlas staggered to his feet, groaning weakly. He opened his eyes gently, right before Brisingr jabbed her fingers into them. Again, there was no effect until she used her fire powers, causing him to stumble back.

He spread his fingers out and a golden glop materialized out of nowhere. Brisingr knew this wasn’t his Willful Construct; it only served on purpose and if he had another, he would have had to utter the activation words.

Brisingr waited for the Commander to relay the research team’s information but nothing came. Her eyes shot open as she remembered her earpiece was gone.

Forced to improvise, Brisingr shot a small but direct fireball at a nerve point that could immobilize his arm. At the same time, the glop hit Brisingr and sent her flying backward.

She scrambled to her feet, cracking her neck. Atlas slowly bent up as the glowing ooze spread towards the rest of his body, slowly healing him.

Brisingr frowned. The healing, coupled with the unique ringing in her head could only mean one thing.

“Magic,” she said distastefully. Her friends would be horrified to find magic being used in such a despicable way.

“Indeed! My magic, one only a Titan can use! I normally don’t resort to such trickery, but you’ve left me no such! For pushing me to such measures, congratulate yourself!”

“I will only congratulate myself once you are dead and I have honored the fallen’s memories!” Brisingr dashed forward with all her speed, hoping to catch him off guard.

His magic formed into a protective shield but luckily, it was nowhere near as potent as his Willful Construct’s defense. She shattered through it and exploded in his chest.

Flipping over his head before he could react, she kicked off his head, shooting out a burst of flames as she did so. Soaring through the air, she began attacking once more.

His magic served as an annoyance, something able to be destroyed but regenerated just as fast. Brisingr didn’t know how long she spent on breaking down his mana reservoir first. 15 minutes? Half an hour?

Her mind went on autopilot as she dodged and swerved under attacks, all while producing a steady stream of attacks coming on. Atlas was forced to give up ground as the blistering heat because too much for him, and with a shout, Brisingr broke down the last of magic.

Now it was only him again, and Brisingr wasn’t going to spare anything. Reaching up to the sky, she concentrated. Feeling for it. The source of her powers, the source she stole. The orb of pure heat, the power source for this solar system, the light giver.

Brisingr felt it. It was inside of her, rushing through her body. From the tip of her fingers to the last hair on her toes, the sun’s heat thrashed. It wanted to get out, wanted to go back into the outside world and return to its brethren. The source called out to her, roaring its approval.

“You may be strong, but let’s see how you handle the full might of the Sun!” Brisingr yelled, whips of fire forming around her fingertips. If the air was hot before, it was unbearable now. If Eons’ stayed, she would be dead. She tried to remember to make sure the radius of the heat only affected this nearby street. Didn’t want to end up destroying Neverstien herself. Atlas took a step back, obviously cautious of this newfound strength.

“What are you doing? Stop this at once!”

“My friends. Eons, who's using up her energy even now to make sure you’re contained within Neverstien. Thor, who risked everything to try and help. Yggdrasil, who’ve done this time and time again, supporting help to us all. They’ve already weakened you enough. I’m just landing the finishing blow!”

“No!” Atlas leaped into the air but Brisingr burnt him with her feet. He fell, hitting the ground with a loud crunch.

The heat was unbearable, even for her. Her entire body pounded and throbbed, and she felt like she was going to turn into the cooked meat she loved to each so much. Sweat was an impossibility, as it turned to steam the moment it came. Same with tears.

Atlas tried again and this time managed to land a straight hit. Brisingr buckled, her back bent as her stomach wrapped and bent. She gagged, once, twice, before she spat blood out. Watching it evaporate, she forced her body to push past its limitations.

An enormous ball of heat was coming together. Too slowly though, as Atlas prepared himself again. Brisingr didn’t know if she could hold out another strike-no, she could! She needed to!

Apparently, she didn’t. Parcels were dropped from the sky and landed on the ground next to Atlas. There was a beeping sound, and then they all opened. Each of them simultaneously let out noise of such caliber, it could destroy solid objects. Atlas clutched his head as he actually dropped to his knees.

Far above, Brisingr experienced it’s effects but to a much lesser degree. The ball of fire was taking up too much of her concentration right now, and her body was already in agony. Biting her tongue, Brisingr spat out a few more words of defiance.

“We may not be Legends-“ Atlas shakily got to his feet, his face screaming murder. He clutched his fist and pulled back, putting everything he had. “-but that doesn’t mean we can’t forge new ones!”

With one last triumphant yell, Brisingr flung the miniature sun at him. At the same time, he yelled and swung his fist.

Both of these were the full-powered attacks of insanely powerful beings. However, all things considered, Atlas won. Brisingr’s orb was going straight down and Atlas was prepared to block it. She may be strong, but Atlas was no human. It would keep him down, but it wouldn’t kill him.

Unbeknownst to both of them, however, was the core of one of Yggdrasil’s fighters; it’d crashed and somehow landed her, miraculously not detonating sooner.

Although the cores were highly explosive, as needed to power the extreme jets, they were still nothing in comparison to Atlas.

Luckily for Brisingr, Yddgrasil, and Neverstien, the core was directly behind Atlas’ back, a place he was not protecting. A spark of the orb hit it, igniting the core.

At the same time Atlas neutralized Brisingr’s final blast with nearly all his life-force, the small-in-comparison core took the rest.