Chapter 216 Fighting

A flood of water swept along the edge of Svartalfheim. Thousands of ravens constantly evaporated, along with heaps of water. In the midst of the man-made ocean a lone man stood. Humanoid and solely made of water; a sword in hand, awfully similar to Ragnar's katana.

The being of water constantly clashed with an old man. He wielded a spear, and thousands of ravens obeyed his command. They fought for what seemed like hours with no winner. Yet, reality was cruel, their bout had lasted for four seconds. Yet devastation enveloped the land.

"What are you?" Odin frowned. His anger was reaching a boiling point. As of lately Ragnar had itched at the surface of the old man's mind constantly irritating him. And now he was being held back, stopped from avenging Heimdall.

As it stood, Odin wouldn't get his answer. The moment he asked, a black sword swept by, along with a tremendous force. An explosion went of next to them, as the ground turned to nothing in the mass of energy.

In the middle of everything was Ragnar. He grabbed the sword next to him, stretched a bit and returned to his own battle. On the journey back he passed Odin again, giving him a love tap for good measures.

Despite the weird situation Ragnar and Idun had faced just seconds ago, the tow were ferociously at it. He had been overwhelmed in the first exchange and been sent flying towards Odin and water Ragnar.

Odin frowned and wiped away a droplet of blood from his chin, caused by Ragnar's sword. But things weren't over yet.

After recovering from the impact, water Ragnar quickly got on the offensive. Odin, who had been occupied by the injury on his cheeks had a surprise waiting for him. A sharp blade of water cutting his face.

The blackish gold spear blocked the sword of water, centimeters away from Odin's face. The celestial of war forced water Ragnar away and returned the favor. His spear piercing the man's stomach.

Water Ragnar disappeared, as the spear pierced his stomach. He appeared again, meters away from Odin's position. His sword already in motion to attack again.

Meanwhile their elements were also struggling with one another fiercely. Two domes of pure concept had formed around them. It denied anything unrelated to its element, becoming void of anything but itself. Their struggle was affecting other battles. Loki, Jörmungandr and Thor were fighting. The wave of energy and concept that hit them swept them of their feet. Especially the water, it was very weird, very weird. Like something else was actively supporting whatever was fighting Odin.

Back to Ragnar; the fight was far to one sided, in Idun's favor. A big part of Ragnar's power was occupied with Odin, making him far to reliant on his sword. The sword that didn't even want to listen to him to begin with. It was frustrating to say the least.

Idun sent him flying far more than he'd like to admit and he couldn't even claim things would be different, had he fought at full strength.

As things grow, reaching further into their concept, they become increasingly harder to kill. This is a good thing, but can be very annoying at times.

Thor was smacking Loki and Jörmungandr around, but they recovered quickly, far too quickly. Eventually they wounded him enough to actually make the fight even. At some point Jörmungandr was smacked to the ground by raining Ragnar. Who once more was sent flying by Idun. But he made sure to slightly injure Odin, as he returned to his own fight.

Idun herself was growing very frustrated. Despite everything she did, Ragnar didn't have a single injure, neither was he tired. Last one was obvious of course, as they don't get tired. But it left a big hole in her plans, she can't defeat the bastard. But she could hold him at bay and help the others. So she started throwing him at his allies.

Turns out such actions were a bad idea, as he started hurting her allies instead. So eventually she eventually stopped hurling him and fought him in close courters. Something that pleased many.

…

While they fought, Hephaestus was at work once more. He slammed his hammer against the anvil over and over again. Only time he stopped was when he needed to do something else. What was he forging one might ask.

Hephaestus and Ragnar had grabbed Ragthor and Svartalfheim and slammed them onto the anvil, or the personification of it. To put it simple. Svartalfheim's outside was brought inside and shrunken down, just like Ragthor and were now being tampered together.

Energy was needed for the process and Hephaestus had plenty, infinite as a matter of fact. But it would still take a lot of time, a year to be exact. That's why they've been hard at work to finish the project.

From time to time someone joined Hephaestus and helped. But when the Nords were attacking he was alone. Not that he complained.

Inside the massive, complicated wall, celestials watched in awe, or horror, as their leaders fought the enemy. Not that they could see much of anything. The clashes made everything blurry. The only thing the could really intercept was the difference between them and their leaders.

…

Eventually Ragnar gave up on winning over Idun and instead focused on sending attacks towards Odin. Of course Idun didn't really find it appealing to let him do such thing. So she tried her hardest to stop him. But she couldn't hurt Ragnar, so her effort to stop her was foolish and scuffed at.

Odin found his situation irritating to say the least. One moment he's fighting some weird water guy, the next he's being attacked simultaneously. It reminded him of when he fought Ratri and Ragnar, something he'd rather not remember.

"Idun damnit, kill him already!" Odin yelled in frustration, as he lost another arm to the bastard. He wasn't even given time to regrow the arm, as another attack from the water man came and cut his leg of.

Odin had to rejoin the thousands of ravens around them and emerged whole again, feathers falling around them. Of course this wasn't new, as he's been forced to do that several times at this point.

"What's with you people, do you have no honor?" he complained, as trillions of feathers launched at water Ragnar. Who just swallowed them with an equal amount of water.

The tidal waves reached far, killing many celestials hiding from the fight. Even going as far as invading other realms of norse mythology. Odin wanted none of that of course, but he couldn't do much to stop it.

A swarm of feathers surrounded them, as he hopped to keep the water in, if only slightly.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Idun finally answered. A moment later Ragnar's blade was upon Odin, its sharp edge about to cut his head of. But before it could, Odin became part of the greater concept and reemerged again through the ravens.

Next moment Idun was upon them and slashed the water man in two. Which also slashed Ragnar into two. Of course the damage was nullified instantly, as both returned to peak efficiency.

"Stop with this cheat power and die already!" Idun screamed, as she manipulated time around them, finding the perfect instances and did something crazy. She used Odin and water Ragnar's passed exchanges to attack Ragnar.

"You think your the only one that can control time?" Ragnar answered and did the same. In the end water man and Odin moved place again, as they have many times before. Idun and Ragnar's fight was weird and they wanted no part in it.

Ragnar learned many thing from fighting Idun. He had started using his powers over time more effectively thanks to her. He started slashing here and there, all over the place. Creating trap after trap. So if she misstepped even once, a time mirage from the past would manifest and cut her to pieces.

Of course he got this strategy from her, so it wasn't workin that good. But due to this, they moved battlefield over and over again. So Idun could escape the traps and use new attacks from others. As she herself couldn't do much to Ragnar. He was after all immune to her offensive, indirect powers.

Soon enough they found themselves in another fight. Jörmungandr and Loki against Thor.

Thor looked worn and torn, not that Loki or Jörmungandr lokee any better. They were injured and depleted, not in the mood for what's to come.

Ragnar came crashing like a comet, hitting Jörmungandr in the head. The snake was caught of guard and thrown into the ground again.

Idun had used one of Odin and water Ragnar's big attacks in the past to launch Ragnar at Jörmungandr. While she arrived and kicked Loki in the face and restored Thor to his peak.

"Can't you do that?" Loki complained, whilst Jörmungandr slithered away from Ragnar.

"Sure complain to the beaten man." Ragnar said and rose up. He didn't even spare them a glance, only restoring them and leaving. He didn't want to give Idun a new territory against him and hoped fir a better place. So he headed towards Odin, full aware of the fact that Idun would be forced to follow, unless she wanted to lose a powerful ally.

"Are you angry your husband was slightly roughed up?" Ragnar joked, as he neared the new battlefield, stopping just before reaching and standing his ground. He slashed all around them, teleporting back and forth.

Slowly he approached Idun, a cloud of death following him. An endless sphere of slashes formed behind him, as endless arcs of swords formed. He started creating a moonlike arc around himself of slashes, leaving no room for passing. Then he slowly created a circle around Odin and water him. Before leaving Idun.

Then he joined his water version and started attacking Odin. The two of them quickly overwhelmed him as, they fought with the intension to kill. They didn't have the time or luxury to spare Odin any more.

Thankfully, an element Ragnar had forgotten arrived just on time. A blue women. She announced her presence with a bang.

Ratri was by far the strongest being in the realm, other than Maja, but she wasn't part of the battle. Ratri returned from her own battle and was more than ready fir the next. Idun didn't even get time to contemplate what to do before she was sent flying. The next second fire descended on her and then darkness.

Ratri and Surtr were both there and ready to fight. Both facing Idun, who didn't seem keen on her new circumstances.

Odin blocked attack after attack from the two. But he couldn't keep up with their ferocity. He was quickly overwhelmed and brought to his knees and had to escape and recuperate. He had failed to take the field of slashes into account.

Odin was torn apart in a matter of seconds when he entered the field of death. When he reached the edge he was half dead, but even then, he had strength to fight. He attack Surtr right of the bat and gave Idun some breathing room, then he brought him along to fight.

Ragnar tried to follow but was stopped by a lightbulb. Vàli stood in front of Ragnar, arrogantly proclaiming his presence. But his arrogance would be shattered very quickly.

Ragnar had reemerged with the water version of him and was back to his prime. Meanwhile Vàli was injured and tired from fighting Surtr, who had taken over the fight with Odin.

Ragnar's blade reached Vàli's neck and cut his head of. But he didn't stop there, he kept slashing over and over again for a full second. The man was yet dead and would come back again, but he would be out for a good second. Ragnar used this time to help Ratri fight Idun.

(An: next chapter tomorrow:) )