Chapter 4

Cut Loose

A blow to the jaw, the ribs, a roundhouse kick to the chest, and I bounced Magnus around open terrain, creating divots and craters. I punched him into a wall, a mountainside and even nearly put him into orbit, but Magnus kept coming back for more. We clashed repeatedly, but our conjured weapons and armor didn't fare so well.

In a last-ditch effort, Magnus ditched the weapons, then with 9001 screams, he achieved a full golden form; even the red energy in his eyes became gold. I started to prepare for Magnus's next attack when Harry shouted at me.

"What?" I shouted back.

"Dude, his new form just doubled his physical abilities. So, you are now officially screwed," Harry said.

"You serious?"

"Yes! Duh!"

"Then I need to release Stage 3 of my Serrigheti," I replied.

"You've never mastered that; are you sure now is the time to pull it off."

"Life or death, Harry. No, I am not sure, but if there was ever a time, now is it. That is the stakes…"

Bokorai and Serrigheti both failed. Ok, so they didn't exactly fail, they were effective, but Magnus's enhanced golden form seemed to scale above my two Soul Arts. There was a third Soul Art, but I had only an unsprouted seed of that one. Serrigheti did have one more release state, and although I never truly mastered it, I went ahead and forced the activation.

Since Magnus didn't have a core that could center his power, he didn't have a place to project an aura from, at least one that could take shape and form. But with his new powerup, his golden form projected a mighty aura that felt almost villainess, like it was powerful but evil simultaneously. Although it was just a general all-powerful coat around his body, it was still strong and wrong. Even though the power neglected finesse, I knew he was but a pretender. However, he was still stupid and powerful. Sorry, I meant stupid powerful...

So, with a slight tilt of my head and with closed eyes, I activated Stage 3 of my Serrigheti. The axe vanished, as did the armor. This Stage wasn't about external power, it was internal. Stage 3 required that I needed to integrate my soul power with physical and Astral powers.

It was troubling because the power felt like divine power, and I had trouble with being a god. Don't judge. I was only playing a role to get what I needed. However, now, we were past roleplaying. Which meant I needed to accept the change and the implications. This third release was called Sin Eater. As one might imagine, this caused no end of issues with my mental psyche.

I may still need a therapist, but I need to man up right now. My pride as a warrior and the hopes my friends and fiance carry rests on my success. My aura gained a green glow that coated my body. I reluctantly accepted the power and closed my eyes. I felt the world's chaos become one with me, no more hesitation, no more fear. Thought, vision, and even the pain of each attack faded away. Although I felt the seed twitch for the Mind Soul Art, I ignored it and focused on the here and now.

This new form pushed my strength to new heights, and our battle resumed. Each punch sent shockwaves cracking and upturning dirt and debris. Magnus ducked my punch and tried to tackle me, I brought my knee up to break his nose, then followed up with several quick jabs to the chest. I could hear his ribs crack, yet his regeneration was always on point. Martial arts were not something he knew about, and I took full advantage.

With a kick to the side of his temple, I knocked him off balance, caught his feet, and spun him around before tossing him into the side of the mountain. There was a landslide as the pulverized rock exploded outward. Magnus leaped down and changed his direction with conjured wings when I tried to sidestep his kick.

Having been taken off guard, I took his kick in the chest and did an uncontrolled somersault. Archeologists would eventually find my faceprint in the rock and wonder in amazement. He was there instantly punching me through a tree, and the next thing I knew, I was being kicked upward. I pierced the clouds before I could regain my sense of direction. I used my aura to halt my momentum and then shaped it like wings momentarily to get myself moving back down.

Magnus waited for me with clenched fists, more than prepared to hit me again. But I spun my body to get momentum and collided fist to fist. The crater that formed was massive, yet Magnus dug himself out with little effort. He moved faster still, and the strike I took shot me through the mountain's peak, creating a shower of rock to rain down on the city.

He found me on the other side, half buried in stone, grabbed my head, tore me free, and punched me back into the mountain's base. I started to get up, and he was there again with a flurry of blows that shoved my head deeper into the stone, causing the entire mountain to shudder and quake.

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Activating Rage Phase 2, I caught his fist, twisted it, and pulled him down to get my other hand around the back of his head and slam him face-first into the rock. Then I got behind him and locked him in a chokehold.

He grabbed my arms to try and pry them off of him, which failed, then he leaned down, got his footing, and jumped upward, taking me with him. Now without leverage, he was able to grab my head and hurl me over his shoulder. Before I could hit the ground, I was punched to the side, and like a crashing plane, I took out a swath of trees from the nearby forest.

"You are strong, Zeke or Fenrir, whatever you are, but you cannot defeat me."

I wiped the blood from my mouth, closed my eyes, and smiled. "Why? You haven't even seen my full power yet? Also, you should be feeling the effects by now…."

"What effects?" He asked, but now that he was off his adrenaline rush, he noticed his power was being killed. Not siphoned, not stolen, just suffocated to the point of death. This was Sin Eater. If the target bears ill will and hatred for me, he commits a sin against me. Each attack they inflict, or I inflict, adds to the debuff counter, and eventually, their power is diminished, or they die.

I pushed Rage to Phase 3, then activated my full transformation. Growing to a full ten-foot monster of pure power and fury, the black werewolf awoke with a howl. I saw his fist moving in slow motion and caught it, then raked my claws down his body, splitting him open in a spray of blood. Next, I yanked his arm to the side and bit savagely, ripping it free from his body. I could tell he was trying to heal, but the werewolf toxins in my Venomous Claws and Bite were tenacious.

He closed off the wounds to attempt to halt the blood loss, formed a new golden arm of pure energy, and then recklessly attacked. To be honest, I believe he attacked both out of desperation and also due to the toxins affecting his mind. I mean, anything else would be folly. The next strike created a shockwave that cleared the trees in the area up to several miles away. In the blast, as the splinters moved slowly through my perception, I moved on all fours past Magnus, used my claws to dig into the ground, spun myself behind him, and turned the scarred crater into a Jackson Pollock painting. Sigh, I wish I was joking about that.

I could feel the rage wanting to take over. I was slipping from control, yet with no enemies in sight, the reigns of aggression lessened. I dropped to my human knees in exhaustion and smiled into the sun before passing out.

Avencast used his magic to keep the city intact, and he used massive healing spells to keep the witnesses from going blind or deaf. The side effect was that he also healed them of numerous illnesses, wounds, and everything else. He was called Thor, but his name resounded over the new feats. I'm just wondering how that might impact the lore.

Sometime later, I awoke and reached down to pick up the Converter Rod. I also need to head back and inspect that crystal in the cross. Hopefully, shutting them down means we can get home.

I rejoined Avencast to get caught up on what had occurred. At least Avencast answered one of my questions. "I have the crystal. It is fascinating. Apparently, it can suck up massive amounts of energy. If I were to compare it to your Ultra Monster Cores, I would guesstimate it could absorb nearly a hundred of them. As you might imagine, that is an insane amount of power."

"Wow, that is incredible… So, what are you going to do with the crystal?"

"Oh, I'm giving it to you. I assume you got the rod thingy, right?"

"Yeah, I took it off Magnus's body, but wouldn't these two objects prevent me from getting home?"

"Yeah, definitely, just being exposed to our dimension means it is absorbing any power nearby. However, you have a ring that creates not only a dimensional space but one that freezes time, am I right?"

"Um… yes, I think, wait, how did you know that?"

"Your mates said you can put food in there hot, and it comes out hot."

I had not thought of that or how it worked. I'm sure Harry knew, but that A. Nuss obviously wouldn't have explained important things like that to me. So, in theory, I could place this object in my ring, and it would essentially freeze in time. I needed to get clarification.

"If what you're saying is true, are you also saying that it won't automatically absorb all the other Monster Cores I have stored in there?"

"Yes. Absorption requires time, and if there is no time, there is no transfer of power. It is safe," he said with a confidence far more convincing than when he suggested I fight Magnus.

"Ok, but why are you fine with handing such an object over to me?" Don't get me wrong, I shouldn't question a good thing, but I just want to know if there is a negative to this transaction, and if he can't give a satisfactory answer, I might not accept it.

"One, I don't have a dimensional space like you do. Secondly, it doesn't help me in any way, including getting home. Thirdly, your Jaxon might find greater use out of it than I would since my field of study is portal travel and time dilation."

I nodded in understanding and accepted the red crystal. The moment I put it into my ring, I felt a pressure lift off my body. Although I have an Astra Sense, I never saw its true effect on my own person. I wondered how much weaker I had been due to the crystal being present in our reality. Oh well, I'm sure Jaxon will figure it out another time. For now, it was time to get home.

We gave the Vikings our farewells and blessings. The renewed faith would carry their campaign far into Frank lands to conquer everything. They lived rather well and peacefully until the Angles eventually took over. The Angles is what became known as England, or rather at the time, Anglo-Saxon England. There was a bit more history than that, but that is the ultimate gist. Still, the story told of today lived long throughout time, and I was just happy to be a part of it.

"You're staying, aren't you?" I asked but knew the answer already.

"Yes, my friend. I waited too long to return to this universe, and now I can earnestly begin my search for home. You have been a godsend, sorry for the connotation, but in reality, this is where I belong. I do hope to find you again. I may have created another key, but I also understand you may be long gone on that boat to who knows where. However, if I do find you, I'll only come with the offer to bring you to your proper timeline. From there, you can choose if you want that detour again or not. Obviously, I can't guarantee, but I will put my best effort into it."

"That is more than I can ask, and you've done so much for me already. For that, you have my thanks."

"Zeke, you freed me from a prison that I had no possibility of escaping. I am the one forever in debt. Take care, my friend," he said while patting me on the back. Then he turned and activated the portal key.