Chapter 90
Beginning’s End 8
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The sight of the 10 Norscan warriors looking down on him from the third floor gave Theo a very cold chill that ran up and down his spine.
Theo remembered his time in the Norscan islands oh to well.
He remembered all too well how his stress levels spiked at the sight of an entire civilization built on raiding, killing and raping and how hard he had to resist the temptation to press the button that would detonate the low yield nuke hidden within his F-22A Raptor.
And while he was illogically pissed off at the time, he didn't skimp down on remembering what needed to be remembered.
He tried to commit to memory their weapons, combat tactics, hierarchy, combat training, overall military might, weapons and magic among many others.
After all, there was a fairly big chance that he’ll be revisiting the Norscan Isles to bring down the hammer of justice unto them.
One look at the men in front of him and immediately he could tell that they were fairly high in the norscan rankings based on their gear.
Their axes and swords glowed with runic enchantment.
Their shields were made of steel, but had very little runes etched into them.
The same could be said about their helmets and chain mails.
The most worrying item they had on their person was the stone amulet that hung from their necks.
Theo didn't know why, but those amulets generated more heat that any of their enchanted arsenal.
One thing was for sure though, fighting these guys without his usual tech was suicide.
There was no chance of winning this battle.
“We finally meet, Usurper. Do you remember me?” asked one of the warriors
This warrior looked like he was the youngest of the group.
He was probably a year or so older than Theo despite being much larger in terms of body size.
“Sorry. Can't recall. You norscans look all the same to me.” replied Theo with a laidback shrug
“You bastard! How dare you not remember me?!” roared the warrior as he took off his helm. “I am Vankath! Son of Antyr and the rightful heir to my father’s fortune! Before you left the islands, I swore to you that you will pay for taking my father’s rightful place in the Volsung Throne, and now the time has come Usurper!”
Theo tilted his head in confusion.
Did someone swear vengeance on him?
Answer: Yes. There was quite a few of them actually.
He didn't bother remembering any of them because he was confident he could easily turn them into sacks of dead meat.
However, this was made in the assumption that they would challenge him in ritual combat.
Clearly he was wrong.
“Sorry, still cant remember. Do you remember every dog that barks at you? The answer is no, right?” calmly replied Theo while desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation.
Though Vankath was visibly pissed, he quickly regained calm and smirked.
“Heh. It matters not. I Vankath, son of Antyr, challenge you…. Er… what was your name again?”
“I don't remember you and you don't remember me. Let’s call it even.”
“Indeed. Your name matters not, for only your head needs to be in one piece! I challenge you to a ritual combat!” roared Vankath.
“Wasn't the ritual about fighting an honorable and fair duel? I’ve been fighting for quite a while now.” replied Theo
“It was your fault for fighting so much. I wasn't the one that hired them to kill you. The only ones I hired was the ones in this building and all I asked of them was to activate the summoning rune when they spot you” said Vankath in a sarcastic manner.
The 9 warriors with him chuckled at Vankath’s words.
Truth be told, Theo expected as much.
After his stint with the Norscans, Theo studied a bit about them.
He knew for a fact that there were many loopholes in the whole ‘ritual combat’ thing and these were abused quite a few times in what little norscan history available to Theo.
This particular strategy of tirring Theo out before challenging him was as old as Aesirian lore.
He also knew that Vankath was not lying when he told Theo that he wasn't the one that hired so much thugs to kill him.
Norscans were all about honor.
Using such a cheap tactic would suly their name.
However, if someone else ‘just happened’ to do it for them, then there was no problem.
One thing was certain.
Based on the norscan saga’s Theo has read, there was someone else pulling Vankath’s string.
With a sigh of resignation, Theo took out a extremely high calorie bar and swallowed it as fast as possible.
“Well, whatever. Come at me. But I suggest you savor this battle because you will die here. And I’ll make sure that you’ll die in a pathetic manner. Just like your father.” said Theo in an arrogant manner.
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As long as Theo could fight Vankath 1 vs 1, he had a chance of winning.
On the flipside, he sent an SOS to the hideout.
These guys were as honorable as Theo was. No way he’ll trust them to keep their word.
The victory condition was to survive until reinforcements arrived.
While this move would certainly raise the superhero’s suspicions, Theo would rather be under investigation while alive than innocent yet dead.
“YOU FILTHY USURPER!” roared Vankath as he lunged at Theo with his battleaxe at full draw.
As Theo dodge with all of his might, he performed two actions simultaneously.
First, he overclocked his brain.
Without his power armor, Theo needed every advantage he could get.
While he did have the Ankh, his auto omnigel injection belt, equipped, he rather not risk an injury too severe that the Ankh can't heal
Overclocking his brain might tire him faster, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
The second action he did was shoot Vankath in the knee.
Most warriors were used to have attacks be aimed at their vital spots such as the head, neck and torso.
Attacking outside the standard areas greatly confuses opponents.
And as expected, Vankath had magic based regeneration which instantly negated the bullet hole Theo made.
“DAMN YOU!”
Vankath went into a frenzy and unleashed a whirlwind of swings that tore everything in his path.
Theo ran around like his life depended on it. Which it did, mind you.
He initially thought that an area with a lot of debris would hinder a long weapon such as Vankath’s axe.
Boy was he wrong.
No matter what Theo hid behind, be it a concrete wall or a refrigerator, it was instantly blown into many little pieces with Vankath’s violent axe swings.
And despite Theo’s best attempts, he did no lasting damage to Vankath.
Vankath’s chest was practically immune to gunfire thanks to his runic chan mail. Any attempts for a headshot would be prevented by his helm and his gauntlets if the need arises.
Theo decided to change venues.
He jumped out of a nearby window and made a mad dash down the street.
Fortunately, the 9 norscans that came with Vankath was satisfied watching Theo’s futile resistance.
At the moment, 10 vs 1 was way beyond Theo’s capabilities.
As Theo ran, he dove to the side as Vankath’s battle axe flew past him.
Said battleaxe cleaved through a car before impaling itself into a concrete wall.
Scary power.
Before Theo could correct his posture, Vankath did something impossible.
Vankath’s amulet glowed before a stream of black lightning shot out and hit Theo with undodgeable speed.
Theo felt weak and feverish for some reason. His body felt so heavy that it was taking all that he had to keep standing.
Vankath calmly approached Theo in a relaxed manner.
When he was close enough, he punched Theo in the gut before spine bustering him into the street.
Vankath mounted Theo and did something that resulted in Theo’s illogical hate for Norscans and their Aesirian gods for the rest of his life.
“Your eyes are so unsymmetric. Allow me to remedy that.” said Vankath as his fingers plunged into Theo’s left eye socket and ripped out his remaining organic eye.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Theo roared in agony from having his eye ripped out and the subsequent application of the omnigel.
While the omnigel was able to close the wound, stop the bleeding and negated any infection, it was not capable of regrowing such a large amount of tissue loss.
“HAHAHAHA! You look so much better! You should tha-” were the last sentence Vankath uttered.
In retaliation to the loss of his eye, Theo used all of the archon batter charges on his left arm and performed a simple karate spear hand strike.
Theo’s left arm punched through Vankath’s chainmail, went into his body via the stomach, traveled straight through the lungs, grab the heart and ripped it out through the chest.
Theo was showered with blood, guts and other viscera.
“A heart for an eye you shit!” roared Theo in rage.
Vankath stared at his heart in Theo’s hand before wordlessly collapsing to the side.
“””VANKATH!””” roared the 9 warriors.
They jumped from the third floor and rushed to Vankath’s side.
Rage filled their heart upon seeing the cruel state their comrade’s body was in.
It was clear from the look in their eyes that they want to make Theo suffer for what he did.
The feeling was mutual.
Though bathed in blood (mostly Vankath’s blood), half blind, sick, tired, probably cursed and was temporarily unable to use one limb, Theo stood on unsteady legs with every intention of dispensing his wrath unto his enemies.
“Dont think that the pain you’re going to experience is going to be brief, Usurper. You are going to going to scream for a very long time.” said one of the warriors.
Theo wanted to make a witty comeback, but his unsteady vision and slightly dazed mind kept him from doing anything.
Before the warrior could do anything to Theo, the tide of this ever changing battle has shifted once again.
This time, in Theo’s favor
2 extremely long tongues with spikes at the end wrapped around both legs of the warrior and violently dragged him before he could react.
At the other end of the long tongues were were creepy looking centaurs with a female upper body, violet skin and a very menacing scorpion stinger for a tail.
They wielded a shield and a spear of the highest quality, both with menacing runic symbols of unknown origin etched into them.
Aside from the 2 centaurs were 3 equally disturbing demon looking women with violet skin, velociraptor looking legs, big horns and fairly long tongues. All of them had high quality runic swords for weapons.
The moment the warrior was within their range, the demons brutally hacked, slashed and stabbed him in childish glee.
The 2 centaurs quickly rushed to Theo and dropped off their riders.
First was Nichola in her usual mummy clothing with an additional red robe filled to the brim with runic symbols.
This gave her an aura of seductive mystery.
Second was Juno who was clad in a snow white armor that made her look like a bride rather than a warrior.
In contrast to her angelic appearance were her brutal looking weapons.
On her right hand was a menacing one hand axe made of wood, flesh and bones that seemed to be breathing.
On her left hand was a dagger that was dripping with highly corrosive acid.
Nichola took a look at Theo and gave a command to the creepy centaurs.
“Get that amulet!” said Nichola before returning to Theo “It’s going to be okay Theo. In a couple of hours, you’ll be as good as new.”
Nichola hugged the bloodied Theo like a lover.
Her sweetness could easily give Theo diabetes.
Juno, on the other hand, scared the crap out of Theo.
“Who did this to you?” asked Juno as she caressed Theo’s left cheek
While she had her trademark smile, her eyes were empty and her aura was that of a murderous beast.
“He’s already dead.” replied Theo as he showed Juno Vankath’s heart
“Oh my. Such a shame. Now I have to find someone else to unleash my wrath upon.”
Juno turned her gaze to the norscan warriors who were in battle ready position.
When the centaur returned with Vankath’s amulet on hand, Nichola commanded the demons to mount Theo on one of the centaurs. She then sat behind him and supported him so that he wouldn't fall over.
The centaur also wrapped its scorpion tail around them for added support.
“Juno. I’ll leave the Furies under your command. Do what you want.” said Nichola
“Roger that” replied Juno without looking back
“Juno. Don't kill any superheroes.” Theo quickly added.
Juno turned around and curtsied in response.
As Theo and Nichola left with the 2 centaurs, the world would soon bear witness to a small portion of Juno’s might.