WIEDERGEBURT Act VI: Chapter 48

Tor gazed at Tyr with a hard expression that belayed his inner conflict, his turmoil. Several meters away was his sworn brother, a man who had fought and bled by his side, shared in his victories and defeats. It was hard to accept that after so much time together, it had all come to an end so abruptly.

High in the sky, above the barrier that had been cast to keep their fight contained, Sif spoke again.

“The battle between Tor and Tyr will end when one side admits defeat, is knocked unconscious, or is killed. As this is a battle to determine who will rule Gudeverdenen, death is a very real possibility. Are both fighters ready?”

Tor knew this was harder on his wife than it was him. She did not want him risking his life like this, not after the war, but they no longer had a choice. He could not allow Tyr to do as he pleased simply because he felt like Tor did not have what it took to rule.

“I am ready,” Tor said, pulling his infamous hammer free. Runes glowed along the surface as he swung it.

“As am I,” Tyr said as he removed his broadsword from its sheath. Like Tor, this weapon glowed with runes, but where Tor’s was light blue, his was dark red, like freshly spilled blood.

“Then let the battle begin!” Sif shouted.

Tyr lifted his blade and swung with great strength as soon as the match started, unleashing a brilliant storm that looked like swirling nebulas trapped within a tornado. A spatial storm. Tor narrowed his eyes, dropped his hammer and grasped the cord attached to the pommel, and spun it. A black portal appeared before him. The spatial storm traveled through the portal, which closed as Tor unleashed his own attack.

Fifty brilliant white spears appeared above his head. Each one was startlingly bright and burned with shocking intensity. Heat waves erupted from them as Tor focused his will on them and sent each one sailing forward at speeds impossible for normal weapons. These were star spears, a spear created out of hydrogen and helium and held together by gravity using the Concept of Creation.

Before these attacks could even get within two meters of Tyr, they vanished into a massive crack, a tear in space. A black hole appeared within this crack, which sucked the spears up. As the spears disappeared, the black hole vanished, the crack sealed up, and everything went back to normal.

Except now Tor was right next to Tyr, having opened a dimensional tunnel and traveled through it to appear on his left. With a roar, Tor slammed his hammer into Tyr’s side as the man raised his blade to block it. An eruption of energy traveled through the arena. The earth was torn asunder, the barrier rippled and undulated as though it would shatter like glass.

The two leapt apart, but they didn’t stay that way for long. Before the power from their first attack dispersed, they closed the distance and attacked again, swinging their weapons, which clashed together and created another ripple that spread out from the point of impact like a shockwave. Despite the power unleashed, neither side backed down. Both of them were straining, muscles bulging as they pushed against each other, trying to overpower the other with brute strength.

“Looks like we are evenly matched,” Tyr grunted.

“No, we are not,” Tor said. “You see, while you are struggling, I am ready to unleash my next attack.”

Tyr grinned. “What a coincidence. So am I.”

Their attacks came at the same time. Black spears tried to penetrate Tyr’s back, hundreds of them, thousands. Meanwhile, nearly a thousand spatial spears crafted from compressed spatial energy shot at Tor’s back and sides.

Neither attack struck.

The two turned their attention from each other, swept their respective weapons out in a wide arc, and unleashed a storm of energy that slammed into the spears. The powerful attacks overwhelmed both attacks. Once they were finished, they turned back around. Tor thrust out his hand. Tyr swung his sword. Space and dimension were torn apart as the attacks clashed in the middle and destroyed everything.

***

“This battle is a lot more complex than I thought it would be,” I muttered in shock as I watched.

The battle between Tor and Tyr had been devastatingly powerful right from the onset, with the two unleashing attacks that could destroy mountains, tear the fabrics of reality, and split the heavens themselves. I’d been in quite a few intense battles recently, but even I was stunned by the sheer intensity of this fight.

“You are only seeing the most obvious signs of the fight,” Fray said to me. When I looked at her, she smiled and said, “The attacks they are unleashing that you can see are but feints. Their real attacks are a lot more subtle. If you look with Spiritual Perception instead of your eyes, you will understand what I mean.”

I did as she suggested and activated Spiritual Perception. The world around me grayed out, though colors still remained in the form of brilliant flames of Spiritual Power. I blotted out everyone except for the pair fighting below. With my focus on just them, I was able to see the black and white Spiritual Power attacking the other person.

“They’re… using the Concepts of Life and Death while also launching attacks using dimension and space,” I said in an awed voice. “How can they use two concepts at the same time like that?”

I could combine life and death to create armor, but that was vastly different from what these two were doing. They were creating massive overt attacks using one concept, and then creating stealthier attacks using another. The kind of concentration it would take to accomplish such a feat left me stunned.

“Anyone who has had thousands of years to master their powers can do this,” Fray said with an amused smile. “Just wait. When you are one thousand years old, you will be able to do this as well.”

“I’m not sure I want to wait until I’m one thousand,” Kari said by my side, glancing at Fray. “That training method you mentioned before, do you think we can use it to speed up this process?”

Fray’s smile widened. “It is very possible, though we will have to wait until you and Eryk’s other wives are reunited to consider this. It would be better if you can use each other to train this way. The more people connected to you all, the quicker you’ll be able to train--at least, according to my hypothesis.”

I wouldn’t lie; her words were appealing. I honestly hoped I could gain this kind of strength sooner. I did not want to wait a thousand years, because if I waited that long, then it might be too late to protect everything I loved.

***

“RAAAAA!!!”

“AHHHHH!!”

A catastrophic shockwave slammed into Tor and Tyr as they once more clashed. It was so powerful this time that both of them were lifted off their feet. Tor found himself being attacked by a spatial storm, his body burning as radiation from solar flare particles, boils breaking out on his skin. On the other side of the attack, Tyr’s body shattered into fragments as the dimensional space around him shattered.

And then the attack was over.

They were both standing several meters from each other, their bodies healed. Tor had used the Concept of Life to cheat death and heal his wounds. Tyr had used the Concept of Death to keep himself alive, then reversed the flow of time using the Concept of Time to make it so the last attack had never happened.

“It seems you have not lost your touch,” Tyr said. “You are as fierce a warrior now as you ever were, so why? Why are you not destroying our enemies?! Why are you letting the Sekbeist roam free?!”

Tor grimaced. “Your way of thinking is too simplistic, Tyr. You want us to attack the Sekbeist, to annihilate them, but you fail to comprehend what that would cost us. Their numbers are overwhelming, their lords a match for any Guddomelig. Do not forget that ten of their lords from back then had mastered three concepts, while you and I were still stuck with just two. Had it not been for my father and the other Great Overlords of each realm sealing the Sekbeist Overlord away, we would have been defeated.”

“But we are stronger now!” Tyr argued. “Strong than we ever have been! We can defeat them now! Kill them before they recover!”

Tor sighed. “They have already recovered to the point where a battle with them will end in our defeat. Their slave caste breeds at a quick rate. We are already outnumbered ten thousand to one. What chance do we have of defeating them.”

“Then you consign us to die a slow death.” Tyr’s expression hardened. “I will not allow this. If death is all that awaits us, I would rather die with my head held high. I would rather die gloriously in combat than a dog’s death.”

“Then you have already written us off,” Tor said, raising his hammer high. “Enough talk. It is time we end this.”

Tyr raised his sword in response. “I could not agree more.”

The pair were just about to clash again--when the world around them went dark.

***

I ignored the screams as the entire arena was cast in darkness, a blackness so complete I could not even see my own hand when I raised it to my face.

Spiritual Power was permeating the atmosphere. Thick. Choking. Cloying. The screams echoing from everywhere were not just screams of shock or fear but pain, agony, and heart rending terror. Something was happening.

And then something happened, something that was just as shocking. A Spiritual Power that was every bit a match for the one surrounding us erupted from somewhere below, pushed back the darkness, and engulfed the world in resplendent light. With my vision returned, I was able to see who--or rather, what--had cast us in such darkness.

A Sekbeist Lord with skin like stone, black hair down to his waist, obsidian armor, and four arms was floating in the sky above the arena floor. With him were three other Sekbeist Lords. Each one of them had power unlike that was comparable to Fray, Tor, Tyr, and Chloe--meaning they were far more powerful than myself.

“What an amusing little sideshow,” the one with four arms said, a vicious smirk causing his features to distort. “I had no idea you godlings were so divided on how to deal with us. Well, allow me to help you make a decision now.”

“Gorvier,” Tor said, eyes narrowed. “I understand now. Those Sekbeist we spotted roaming around Ásgarðr were just distractions.”

Gorvier chuckled. “That is correct. We let you find several our of disguised slaves so you wouldn’t notice the real threat until this moment, and now it is too late. You should know that we have amassed quite a sizeable force and hid in the slums until it was time to attack.” He chuckled. “You were so busy looking for us on the upper levels that you never suspected we’d be hiding elsewhere. Now your city is overrun, your people are dying, and you have no one to blame but your own incompetence. How sad you must be that--”

Before the man could speak further, Sif unsheathed two short swords and swung them, releasing a pair of black and white crescent blades. They were blocked by one of the Sekbeist Lords--one with a longer than average horn on his head. He raised his hands and created a spatial tear through which her attack disappeared.

Grovier clicked his tongue. “How rude. I was trying to say that--

He was interrupted again, this time by Tor and Tyr, who attacked in tandem. Dimension and space were torn asunder and a tidal wave of energy swept toward Grovier and the other three. Another one of the Lords came up. He waved his hands in a sweeping gesture. Their bodies phased out of existence, the combined attacks swept through them, and then they phased back.

“That was a dimensional technique,” I muttered in shock. “These people are far stronger than us.”

“Those four are among the ten most powerful Sekbeist Lords,” Chloe answered me. She’d not moved from her spot by my side, but I noticed that Fray had disappeared. A quick glance toward the arena showed that she had joined Tyr, Tor, and Sif.

“Tell me about,” I said.

But Chloe shook her head. “Later. Right now, I need you to help me begin an evacuation of all the people here.”

“That’s a tall order,” I muttered. “Kari?”

“I think it can be done,” Kari said. “We just need to calm everyone down and get them out of here. Look. Fray has already set up a barrier around the battle. Now is the perfect chance to leave.”

Kari was correct. A massive black barrier now blocked out the four Sekbeist Lords and the four Guddomelig fighting them. It even sealed off their Spiritual Power, as I could sense nothing from it.

“Everyone!!!” Chloe’s shout echoed far and wide. “I need you to remain calm! We are beginning the evacuation! Walk toward the exits and head into the lobby! Those who can fight or are part of the army, protect those who cannot! Do not push! Begin moving now!”

I didn’t expect her words to have much affect, but I guess I underestimated her clout, or maybe I underestimated the God Race in general. With her issuing commands, the people calmed down and began doing as they were told.

Kari, Siv, Tora, Chloe, and I leapt from the balcony, landed on the arena floor, and rushed toward the exit. We entered the waiting room, climbed a set of set, and burst into the lobby--where we found several hundred Sekbeists already waiting for us. They were, most fortunately, not Sekbeist Lords. They were Grunts, Elites, and Warlords. Members of the slave caste.

Before Kari, Siv, Tora, or even Chloe could attack, I swept out my arm like sweeping away dust. Black death energy engulfed the entire lobby. The Sekbeists present died, their bodies becoming shriveled husks as they dropped to the floor. This happened just as the first group of evacuees entered the lobby. They gazed at the scene of carnage in shock.

“Let’s move, people!” I shouted. “We’re getting everyone out of here and safety!”

I led the way, not waiting for the others to fall in line. I exited the arena. I paused. My eyes widened as I saw flames black flames rise into the sky, as shouts and screams from within the city echoed back to me. It was at this time that I remembered what Grovier had said.

“You were so busy looking for us on the upper levels that you never suspected we’d be hiding elsewhere. Now your city is overrun, your people are dying, and you have no one to blame but your own incompetence.”

I wondered how long they had been planning this, but I knew we couldn’t afford to sit around and think. Immediate action was required.

“Chloe!” I turned to the woman. “Kari, Siv, Tora, and I are going to cut a path for you to the Valkyries compound. It’s the closest safe place to the arena. Take everyone here there. After that, mobilize the Valkyries and have several squadrons go and alert the other divisions if they have not already been alerted. Kari?”

“Take this,” Kari said to Chloe as she held out a ring. “It’s a storage ring. There are several hundred communicators in them. They go in your ear. Each communicator is linked to another corresponding communicator. Use them to set up a line of communication so you can direct our forces to where they are most needed. Just channel Spiritual Power to activate them.”

“Uh… okay,” Chloe said like she was overwhelmed, but she took the ring from Kari’s hand nonetheless.

There was no real time to talk. Leading the frightened civilians alongside several members of the Four Cardinal Divisions, the Valkyries, Defenders, Blitz, and Vanguard, we raced into the city.

It was awful. Everywhere we looked, something was being people were being killed. Black flames engulfed buildings and people alike. Corpses littered the streets, from the elderly to the young. I saw a dead woman hugging her equally dead son, their eyes staring sightlessly at us as we passed. Sekbeists were running through the streets and terrorizing everyone.

A growl tore from my throat as I summoned all the Spiritual Power I had, using it to first encase every person within a one kilometer radius in life energy. So long as someone was alive, they would not die provided my energy didn’t run out.

“Kari! Stop every Sekbeist in their tracks! Siv! Fourth State! Kill them with light!”

Kari took a deep breath and slammed her hands into the ground, a ripple of Spiritual Power erupting from her hands and racing through the city. All the Sekbeist present stopped. In that moment, Siv turned into a creature of pure light, and then vanished. One second passed. Two. Siv reappeared by my side, sweat on her brow, and then Kari dropped the massive timelock, unable to maintain it for even a second longer.

But that was okay.

The Sekbeist who had been frozen in time died the moment time restarted, their bodies splitting apart, holes appearing in their flesh.

I turned to several shocked soldiers who had been part of security. “You two have comprehended the Concept of Life, right? Use your Spiritual Power to keep these injured people alive. The rest of you begin transporting the injured we come across. Do not worry about being attacked. We will take care of anyone stupid enough to fight us.”

No one argued with me, perhaps overwhelmed by the authority in my voice, or perhaps they merely understood this was necessary. The soldiers who could use the Concept of Life took over my job of keeping those on the verge of death from dying. Everyone else picked up he injured, cradling men, women, and children in their arms so we could bring them to safety with us.

I summoned a Spiritual Gensing Pill into my mouth. It was a new pill, one that could fully rejuvenated the Spiritual Power I had lost. Filled with new energy, I led the group through the streets of Ásgarðr, killing Sekbeist who dared to attack, rescuing civilians who were injured or frightened. Our numbers swelled to nearly twice its original size before we reached the Valkyries’ compound.

Several hundred Sekbeists ranging from Grunts to Warlords were attacking the compound, locked in combat against the Valkyrie guards, who were being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. I transformed into a bolt of lightning and attacked. Like a streak of light, I flew into my enemies, blowing holes through their bodies, removing legs and arms, and turning everything that touched me into a smoking corpse of charred meat.

While the Valkyries guarding the compound stared at me like I’d grown two heads and sprouted a tail from my hindquarters, Chloe explained the situation to them. The gates were soon opened and the civilians poured in.

“Chloe!” I said as I ran up to her. “Coordinate your efforts from here. We need someone to stay here and create a communication network. Here. This communicator is linked directly to the one now in my ear. Send me constant updates so me, Kari, Siv, and Tora can reinforce and help whoever needs it.”

“Okay,” Chloe said, accepting the communicator, channeling Spiritual Power into it, and sticking it inside her ear. She grimaced. “Feels odd.”

“You’ll get used to it,” I said, then turned to the three who would be coming with me. “You ready?”

“Fuck yeah, I’m ready,” Tora shouted.

“We’re ready,” Kari said with herself and Siv.

“Good. Because we can’t wait anymore. There is an entire city out there in need or help, and we’re going to do everything we can to give it to them,” I said with grim determination.

***

“There is a squadron up ahead. They are protecting a group of civilians, but they’re being overwhelmed.”

“Ten civilians are fleeing from a horde of Sekbeists down Tor Avenue!”

“There are a large number of Sekbeists attacking a group wholed up in a shop on Main Street. It’s only a matter of time before they’re killed!”

With Chloe directing my group, the four of us raced through the streets of Ásgarðr, killing Sekbeists, protecting civilians, reinforcing members of the army. We didn’t just stick on the top level either. We traveled down levels, fighting wherever we were needed, providing escorts when necessary, and doing everything we could to get those who couldn’t fight to safety.

And we weren’t the only ones.

Thanks to Chloe and the Valkyries, the other seven divisions of the army had come together and were working toward rescuing Ásgarðr’s citizens and defeating the invaders. I saw people flying through the air and attacking from a distance. Space rippled. Dimensional gaps opened underneath Sekbists’ feet. Black flames from the void erupted here and there, destroying buildings as the Sekbeist retaliated. Chaos was reigning. But our forces were numerically superior and were quickly getting the situation under control.

“Are there anymore people who need help?” I asked into my communicator.

“Not from what I can tell. Not right now at least. Most of the Sekbeists have been defeated, so the situation is mostly under control.”

“Good. We’re heading to the palace. If my hunch is right, that is their real target.”

“The palace?! What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you later.” I took out my communicator and turned to three women with me. “Come on. We need to hurry.”

“Why?” asked Tora. “The fuck do the Sekbeist want with the palace?”

While Tora seemed clueless, Kari understood my line of thinking. Her eyes widened as she said, “You think they are after the Warp Gate that leads to Miðgarðr?”

“I can’t see any other reason they would sneak into the city and launch a surprise attack like this,” I said gravely. “It takes away their biggest advantage.”

The Sekbeists’s largest advantage was their numerical superiority. There were an estimated ten to twenty thousand Sekbeist for every one Guddomelig, meaning their numbers were likely somewhere in the tens of billions. But they couldn’t bring that many of their numbers into Ásgarðr. We would have caught onto their scheme even if they had.

“We should hurry,” Siv said quietly.

No one disagreed with her words. We took off toward the palace. There were a few pockets of resistance, but we left the remaining Sekbeists to the army and made our way to the palace.

Upon reaching the palace, I immediately noticed the dead guards lying near the entrance. I charged in with the others behind me. A body of corpses lay in the hallways, maids and butlers who had been unfortunate enough to be caught when the Sekbeist attacked. I didn’t look at them as I followed the trail. Chloe, on the other hand, looked like she might burst into tears when she caught sight of several people who she had befriended while working as a maid.

The destruction eventually ended as we reached a deserted corridor. I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end.

“Chloe?” I asked.

“The Warp Gate is this way,” Chloe confessed.

“Fuck,” Tora muttered.

I wanted to say that as well, but I kept my mouth shut as we continued to travel, until we reached an open door that led down a spiral staircase. Down, down, down we went. At the bottom was another door, this one also wide open, and on the other side was a large room that was currently packed with Sekbeist Lords. Not Grunts. Not Elites. Not Warlords. These were no members of the slave caste. Their gray skin and humanoid forms gave them away.

And standing next to the Warp Gate, which looked identical to the one inside of the Imperial Royal Palace in Nevaria, was a small figure I would recognize anywhere.

“Hreidmar?!!”

The small Dweorg with flaming red hair looked like he had seen better days. No longer dressed in the golden armor I remembered seeing, his threadbare clothing was in tatters. His beard had grown thick and ragged. Hollow eyes stared not at me as I called his name, but at the war axe he even now had slid into a slot and was turning.

“HREIDMAR!!”

Still the Dweorg said nothing, but one of the six Sekbeist Lords standing next to him smirked. He was tall to the point of being lanky, had a pointed chin so sharp it looked like a sword, and possessed odd protrusions sprouting from his body.

“Looks like someone knows you, Hreidmar. How odd. I did not think there were any among the God Race who would recognize you.” The Sekbeist Lord looked me in the eyes, chuckled, and said, “Kill them.”

I roared in defiance and rage as the Sekbeist Lords nearest me attacked. Both used the Concept of Negation to send black flames at me, but Tora proved her worth by countering their attacks with attacks of her own. A small star burst from her hands and slammed into the flames. A detonation erupted. Air currents threatened to blast me off my feet, but I merged my feet with the stone beneath me.

Still snarling, I thrust out my hands and six death spears black as night flew forward. Most didn’t hit. They struck barriers and shattered, but two of them punched a hole clean through one of the Sekbeist Lord’s chest.

Kari and Siv raced forward, one wielding a ranseur of light as she stopped the time of one Sekbeist Lord long enough to remove his head, and the other transforming her hands and feet into massive dragon claws that she used to tear apart an arm with the Spatial Severing Technique.

Tora leapt above me, ten solar flares exploding into existence and crashing into the center of the Sekbeist formation. A few were burnt to cinders, but most erected barriers that protected them. These were not scrubs. They were experienced warriors who had likely been around since the time of the Great War.

I raced forward, two massive rulers made of death energy appearing in my hands as life armor overlapped around my body. I swung the blades with reckless abandon, not caring what I tore into, what I destroyed. Blood splattered the ground and sailed through the air, along with arms and heads. A Sekbeist Lord appeared before me. Black fire erupted in front of me, but I overwhelmed it with an attack containing greater Spiritual Power. His arm was removed when I swung the ruler in my left hand down. Then he lost his head when I swung my other one.

Throughout the entire fight, my eyes never left Hreidmar as he activated the Warp Gate, the runes lightning around and a black portal suddenly appearing within the archway.

“Let’s hurry,” the Sekbeist who was in charge said. “I long to release my lord from the seal that has kept him contained for so long. We will be leaving. The rest of you can kill those four. Do not disappoint me.”

He walked through the portal, disappearing, and then he other six lords who I deemed stronger than the rest vanished as well.

“Hreidmar! Hreidmar!”

As I shouted his name, Hreidmar turned to me, and for a second, I thought he recognized me, thought I saw his eyes flicker. Then it was gone, and Hreidmar stepped through the portal.