The young boy ran up a flight of stairs, loading the last crimson shell into his shotgun. He bumped into a metal door at the top of the stairs, unable to get it open. He banged and kicked at it, pulling on the handle as hard as he could. Then suddenly, it opened, but not because of him. On the other side, a man dressed in fur hunting gear stood before him, holding a plate of bread and cheese.

"What do we have here?" Ullr set the plate down as the kid aimed his shotgun at him, raising his hands in surrender. "I mean you no harm, child. Are you hungry?"

The boy slowly lowered his shotgun once Ullr offered him a piece of bread, taking it. The sounds of combat echoed throughout the hall, coming from the place Heimdall resided.

"You didn't happen to arrive here with some pointy-eared freak, did you?" Ullr asked. The young boy bit into the bread, nodding. "Great, that's all I needed to know," Ullr grinned, reaching towards him. "You'll make quite the bait."

Distantly, Victus heard a shotgun blast go off, quickly turning his head to look at the dark corridor behind him. With his guard down, Heimdall ran and kicked him into the wall. His body slammed against it, denting the pipes. He winced, holding his hand out, "Lily! Go make sure the kid's okay!"

She reappeared, flying towards the hall, "Right!"

"Not so fast, demon!" Heimdall grabbed her leg as she flew by, slamming her to the ground. She gasped in pain, furrowing her eyebrows. With a quick spin, she kicked him in the face, flapping her wings to break free of his grasp. Victus ran at him and swung, but Heimdall's reflexes were better than he anticipated, and he blocked with his forearm, pushing him back. Vick and Lily looked at each other, then back at Heimdall.

"Centuries, locked away in this prison, waiting for the moment to strike while the iron is hot." Heimdall slowly inhaled, bending his knees and raising his arms, "Come at me!"

Lily kicked at him again, followed by Victus jabbing with the quickest punches he could throw out. Heimdall ducked and weaved, parrying anything they threw at him. He caught Lily's foot and hurled her into Victus, but he dismissed her before she could land on him, punching through her fading body into Heimdall's gut. When his fist made contact with the god's golden abs, Heimdall was pushed back, but not before the bones in Vick's arm became fractured.

"Troglodyte!" Heimdall went to grab him, but Victus raised his other arm in desperation. The god grabbed it anyway, breaking it, then slammed his knee into Vick's chest over and over, shattering his ribcage. He threw him to the ground, pinning him by his neck. "I cannot believe this is the 'angma' Magni told me so much about! You may go toe to toe with those minor gods, but I assure you, boy, I am anything but small!"

"F-Fe.."

"What? Trying to summon that filthy whore of yours again?!" He kept his foot on Vick's neck. Still, the half-elf tried with all his might to speak.

"Fen..Fenrir..!"

Though his arm was broken, the ring still glowed and formed those ominous green swirls. Heimdall looked to his side, watching the large wolf form before them, much too big for the room they were in. Rampaging and out of control, it slammed its body into the walls, chomping and chewing on the pipes that were in its way. Much more steam filled the room, making it hotter than ever.

"Ha.." Victus coughed, "At what temperature does gold melt, I wonder..?"

Heimdall glared, "You fool!" He breathed heavily, wiping the sweat off his brow, "..You'll kill us both!"

Fenrir was dismissed, returning to the form of a ring around Vick's finger. He didn't bother sitting up, "You're welcome to leave.."

"Rrgh! Damn you!" With his golden foot, Heimdall stomped and twisted on Victus's throat, snapping his neck. Everything went black.

* * *

A fireplace faded into view, kindled by a crimson fire. Her familiar voice echoed through the darkness, gentle and alluring.

"You've come so far, my child."

"Who are you..?" He asked.

"You do not remember me? It was I that gave you strength, I that gave you life when you had succumbed to an unjust fate."

"I think I remember..But I still don't know your name.."

Victus heard a slithering sound creep up from behind, yet he couldn't move. It was as if he was frozen in place, or perhaps time. Long, pale fingers softly rested upon his shoulder, one by one, sending a strong chill down his spine.

"Frigg."

His eyes widened, reflexively exhaling a small puff of white smoke.

"Are you afraid? Do not worry. I would never harm you, my child."

Her hand left his shoulder as she slithered back into the darkness.

"I am proud of you, Vir. Through the strength of your bonds, you toppled a grim society, revealing the dark truth for all to bear witness. You even managed to reawaken the Yrylis inside of you by harnessing a demon's essence, casting away your humanity."

"Yrylis? What's that? And my name's Victus, not-"

"The Yrylis is the power I gifted you so many centuries ago."

Vick's red eyes began to glow, causing the fire to become larger within the fireplace.

"The eternal chaos, activated by your intense resolve. When you finally passed away, your children were unable to use it, unaware of its power. In the meantime, I simply triggered their Evolutions to empower them. The Yrylis makes you stronger, faster, and allows you to survive fatal wounds at the cost of experiencing even stronger pain."

"Look, you've got it wrong. I'm Victus, not Vir. That man was my ancestor."

"..Forgive me. You two look so similar, I simply forgot."

"It's okay. You were saying..?"

"Yes. Against all odds, you made it to Asgard. You were so close to accomplishing our goal. To complete the promise he made to me so long ago."

"..What promise did Vir make?" Victus asked.

"He promised to deliver a divine justice..He promised-"

Her voice became clearer, as if she was speaking directly into both of his ears.

"-To kill the gods of Asgard."

The red flames died down. Victus tilted his head, "I can't.."

"What's this? I can sense the passion within you. You desire to end their lives, yet you insist on sparing them. Why? What reasoning can possibly justify letting these deplorable people walk the realms, as if they were free of sin?"

"Because..I know what losing someone is like..No matter your perspective, somewhere, someone cares about someone else, even if they're a bad person." Victus thought of all the foes he's fought. He thought of Davon and how Lily cared for her brother despite his occupation. He thought of Magni and Modi, and how their father's death affected them. He thought of all his friends, of his Alyza.

He thought of Duncan. He thought of himself. The red fire grew stronger once more.

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"And that somehow justifies their actions? That avenges all the souls tormented by their existence?"

"No. But justice isn't only fulfilled through death, and to be fair, some punishments are worse than that. The point is that there will always eventually be someone that comes along, who cares about them. Someone that believes they can change for the better. Anyone can be that person, even if it's only you or m-"

"I am not going to forgive them!" Frigg finally revealed herself, her voice filled with rage. The only way she could be described was as some sort of cosmic horror with the body of a centipede. "You know nothing of loss, child. They took everything from me. From us! I did not desire for my people to become divided! I did not wish for humanity to be destroyed! That was their command!"

Victus didn't show an ounce of fear, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. But that was the past. If we don't move on, we'll only make things worse for everyone, including ourselves."

Frigg drew two massive swords from her body, holding them in her pale hands, "You are far too naive to continue using Vir's gift! Return it at once!" She banged the swords together with a bright spark, creating a loud piercing noise.

The fireplace suddenly went out.

Vick's glowing eyes were the only visible light in the room, "Come take it."

A bright crimson wolf spectacularly appeared behind him, forged by the red flames of his very soul. His holey coat also lit on fire, burning up into a brand-new garment; no longer lined with fur, this long overcoat was black with vibrant red accents. Beneath, he was still shirtless, but now his yellow scarf was wrapped around his waist like a large bandage. He also had yellow pieces of cloth tied around both of his forearms, with tattered ends just hanging off of his elbows.

The giant wolf growled, awaiting his command. Frigg slammed herself to the ground, slithering towards them.

"Fenrir Neos!" Victus waved his arm with conviction, "Sic 'em!"

The wolf howled, charging at the goddess. He bashed his head into her, knocking her off of the invisible plane, "Gah!"

"Catch!"

Fenrir jumped and sunk his spectral teeth into her long, horrific body while midair. When he landed, he violently shook his head, flailing her around like she was a chew toy. She cried out in pain, stabbing her swords into his snout. Except, they didn't pierce him at all, instead melting upon contact. He snarled.

"Drop it, boy!"

The wolf obeyed, slamming her body to the ground. He quickly pinned her down with his paws.

"Now for the final blow," Victus put his hand to his face, grinning. "Feuzaja!"

"No! I yield!" Frigg struggled beneath the wolf as he opened his mouth, building up a giant fireball in his throat. "Be merciful to me! Out of all the gods, be merciful to me!"

Just as the wolf was about to incinerate Frigg, he was dismissed. Victus stepped over her, his coat the only source of light now. "I feel bad leaving you alone, but I need to go back. Can you revive me again?"

"..You already awakened your Evolution once, therefore I cannot. However, the Yrylis will bring you back soon."

"Oh, cool. So I'm basically immortal now?"

"Do not jump to conclusions. There are many ways you can die. All are painful. Each time, I will snatch you from the clutches of the afterlife, and bring you here until your body has regenerated. Die too often, however, and the Yrylis will weaken until I can no longer save you."

"That sucks. So I should try not to die, got it. Where is here, anyway?"

"This is my domain. To you, it appears as the conflict stirring within your heart."

"But it's..empty? And dark."

Frigg appeared surprised, becoming silent for a moment.

"I mean, there was this one thing, but it went away.."

"..I see. After all you've been through, you still believe yourself alone, don't you? Unable to see the path ahead yet, that loneliness has manifested into independence. Only you can be the one to light your own way. You are a lot like him."

"Like Vir?" He asked, but before she could give an answer, he was lifted upwards at high speed. "Woah!"

His eyes opened suddenly, and he sat up, alive and healthy. He looked down at himself, realizing his new clothes had translated to the real world, "Wow, when did I get an upgrade?"

The room was still extremely hot, and Heimdall was nowhere in sight. Victus got up and ran down the only hall there was, heading up the stairs. He found Heimdall kneeling against the iron door, his golden body had already started to melt and stick to the floor. His hand was melded with the door's handle. Victus thought quickly, flinging the wrap around one of his forearms at the door handle. It caught onto it.

"Hrgh!" He pulled with all his might, tearing the door from its hinges. "Oop!" Victus ducked, the door flying over him down the hall. He looked back, then ran over to Heimdall, realizing he had accidentally torn his hand off when breaking the door. "Sorry not sorry, old dude."

Lifting his (extremely hot) melting body over his shoulders, Victus ran out the doorway into the hall, not noticing the broken plate on the floor. Though his hands were continuously being burnt, his back and shoulders were fine. It seemed that the new coat was extremely resistant to all forms of heat. He ran up more flights of stairs as the location shook and rumbled violently, kicking down any iron doors in his way. It became less hot the higher he went, and when he finally made it to the exit, he dropped Heimdall inside, shaking his burning hands in pain.

"What is this thing?" Victus was confused by the box-like structure he was inside of, pressing the only button in sight when the floor shook again. The scissor gate in front of him closed, "Huh?!"

He banged on the iron gate, realizing his burnt hand hadn't healed yet, "Ow!" The elevator began to move upward, which made him feel off-balance. Vick took a step back when suddenly Heimdall grabbed at his ankle, "Agh!" He immediately kicked his face, splattering gold onto the wall. Heimdall murmured, then went unconscious again, "..My bad."

After a short while, the elevator dinged, and the door opened to a new area. This time he took the wraps around his arms and wrapped them over his hands, carefully dragging Heimdall out of the elevator.

"There, I'd say that's far enough. You'll live," Victus let him go and turned around, looking at the large room he now found himself in. It seemed to be a hangar of some sort, full of vehicles and weapons he'd never seen before. He walked over to a weapons crate, prying it open. Inside, there were all kinds of guns he'd never seen before. "Woah, Asgardian firepower.."

He reached inside and pulled out a golden and silver revolver, messing with it until it opened. He spun the cylinder, peeking through the empty hole. Victus figured it was similar to the shotgun the boy had, and needed some sort of ammunition. He rummaged through the crate some more until he found the right bullets, dropping them as he loaded the gun. He knelt and picked up the bullets, putting any extras away in his pouch. Deciding he'd like to test the weapon out, he aimed at one of the vehicles hanging from the ceiling.

"Ka-bang!" He pulled the trigger, firing. The bullet flew out and hit the prototype plane, knocking it down. It fell onto another vehicle and destroyed it. "Uh-oh.."

Both of them exploded.

"Eh, well," Victus holstered the gun in his blade sheath, since his previous weapons had surely been melted down by now. He searched the crate for some more weapons, pulling out a golden short sword with a recurve blade. "This'll do nicely. What else?"

He sheathed the kukri and took out a couple of grenades, accidentally pulling the pin on one of them. He examined it, "Meh," then tossed it behind him. It blew up, startling him for a moment. "Okay, that actually might be useful." He bagged a few. "One more weapon couldn't hurt," he reached towards the bottom of the crate, pulling out a leather, fingerless glove that had golden bits upon the knuckles. Victus put it on his right hand, not bothering to look for the other one.

"Alright, I think I'm prepared enough now. Time to go," he headed towards the exit, but the door slid open before he could reach it. Two guards walked in.

"I can't believe the Allfather let that Midgardian go, all for such a disrespectful woman."

"Hey, don't question the Allfather. He knows more than we ever will. Now let's find the source of that noi-"

They both spotted Victus, "Who the-?!"

Victus decked one of them in the face with his new glove, knocking him unconscious instantly. The other guy took out a pistol, but Victus slammed him against the nearby wall by his neck, causing him to misfire. He dropped the gun.

"Where is he?!" He tried to sound threatening. It was harder without his mask.

"Wh-Who..?"

"The boy! With that..fire blaster!" He still didn't know what guns were called.

"I-I don't know, I just patrol the perimeter, not-"

He put pressure, "Then tell me what you do know! And maybe I'll consider letting you live.."

"Agh," the guard struggled. "I'm dead either way! The Allfather sees everything!"

Victus yanked him away from the wall and headbutted him, knocking him to the floor. He stood over him, putting his foot on his chest. "You said there was a woman. Tell me where she is!"

"I don't know, I swear.."

He drew his gun from his sheath, aiming it at the man's head, "Is she with the Allfather?"

"Y-Yes! Yeah, he, uh, he took her inside-"

"Inside where?!" He pulled the hammer back with an intimidating click.

"The hotel! Above us! Please, just put the gun down!"

Victus looked at the weapon in his hand, "So that's what it's called?" He looked back at the guard, "Thanks for your cooperation."

The guard nodded with a pathetic smile, right before Victus kicked him in the face, knocking him out.