Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 628: DCXXVIII. You're Strong!

"Don't take you down, young Dag. Even if you don't think you're getting better, you're wrong" Freya exclaimed, in her usual pragmatic tone.

"Yes, all right, but... how much can I face you, Freya?" Dag said, approaching her and looking down, not wanting to disrespect her.

"Face me? Why are you in such a hurry to face me?" she asked, resting a finger under Dag's chin and making him look up.

When the young warrior's eyes crossed with those of the Goddess, her beauty was so disruptive that he stuttered for a few seconds, not believing that in his life he would ever find himself so close to Freya.

"I... I... uhm... the Alfather said you two are my mentors, but so far I've only fought your brother Freyr. Don't get me wrong, I'm honored to have such a chance, but... if I have two mentors, why am I fighting only one of them?" Dag replied, trying to be as sincere as possible.

"Well then" Freya said, without answering Dag's question and walking forward, heading towards the center of the arena.

"Sister, what are you doing? It wasn't in the plans..." Freyr commented, imagining what was about to happen, continuing to fix his clothes, all dirty after his last fight against Dag.

"Come on... didn't you want to challenge me?" the Goddess exclaimed, turning to the young warrior and opening her arms towards him, causing the murmur of the crowd in the stands, which had increased exponentially over the last few days. 

"Uhm, but... your weapon? What weapon are you going to fight with?" Dag asked, who saw only an unarmed woman in front of him.

"An enemy would never tell you what weapon he's going to kill you with. Is this information so important to you?" 

Dag smiled mockingly, grabbing his weapons from the ground and continuing to look at Freya, implicitly accepting her challenge.

"No, I don't need it at all" he declared with confidence, while on the white dress of his enemy appeared a light armor, formed by some metal plates on the upper chest and on the hips and legs, which gave a glimpse of areas of her body previously hidden.

Freya's belly was now uncovered and on it, hundreds of runic tattoos were etched into her skin, continuing downwards, ending up on her leg and then under the tall metal boots.

The neckline at chest height was very pronounced and other tattoos adorned Goddess's body at that point, even on one of her prosperous breasts.

On her head, however, specifically on the temples, two metal wings popped out from nowhere, like the rest of the armor, and grew sinuous backward, reaching a size of about ten centimeters.

Dag, who despite having fought relentlessly against Freyr was still in strength thanks to the simple fact that he was in Asgard, began to run towards her, without wasting any more time and without holding back, knowing that the one in front of him, was not a woman, but one of the most powerful Gods of his Pantheon.

"Aaargh! Don't underestimate me!" Okstorm's young warrior yelled, taking a powerful shot at the Goddess and attempting to hit her with his hammer.

Freya remained motionless, waiting for the hammer's head to get closer to her head to move: when she dodged the blow, the shockwave caused by the simple vertical movement of the weapon cut through the air, carving the ground next to her feet.

Knowing that the first shot would be the most predictable, Dag also moved the axe with a horizontal slash, at the height of Freya's stomach.

Still moving without weapons, the Goddess took a quick step back, continuing to dodge Dag's shots with ease, as if to guess their direction and speed before seeing them leave.

"I never underestimate anyone, earthling" the woman said, looking at Dag with her typical serious expression, while Freyr stood firm with his back resting on the wall and was enjoying the show with the audience.

Dag tried not to be deconcentrated by those words and waited before attacking for the third time, noting that Freya's fighting style was very different from that of her brother: while in Freyr's case, the only weapon from which to protect himself was his flying sword, Freya was only using her body to fight, which made her strategy unpredictable.

He regularized his breath and, leaving all his spectators amazed, did an unexpected thing.

Suddenly, he approached both metal grips of his weapons to his belt and put Magni's hammer and the Giantbane back in their places, remaining unmoved with his bare hands.

"Uhm?" Freya whispered, ajar her eyes and looking at him with a confused air.

"You don't need to know which weapon I'm going to use, right? If this rule applies to me, it must apply to you too!" Dag exclaimed, who with that gesture was challenging Goddess's foresight ability.

"Well, I see that at last, your mind is also making progress. You realized that, in this case, using two weapons against me can only harm you" she said, beginning to walk towards him, who instead of responding, snapped forward.

"But what are you saying, sister? What kind of teaching is this? Give up your weapons against an unarmed enemy? It's the worst technique I've ever seen!" Freyr interrupted, yelling his opinion from afar as if that mattered at the time.

Dag's fist reached Freya's face, which dodged the first shot, then the second, and finally the third.

"I can't give you an advantage that you didn't give me... in this way, we will fight on equal terms and... ough!" Dag exclaimed, who as he answered the sentence before, was punched in the stomach so hard that he bent in half.

"Your body is already strong... but you don't know how to use it..." Freya continued, who clenched a fist, loaded it backward, and conceded Dag a small time to think.

"What? What do you mean?!" he exclaimed, crossing both his arms and trying to parry the blow.