LVII. The Crowd

The weapon began to charge and emit a celestial aura with yellow sparks.

Magni's eyes became the same color as the hammer's head.

Myr continued to wriggle out, but Dag managed to hold him still, continuing to turn the blade of the sword in his back.

Magni began to load the blow.

Sparks and small lightning bolts continued to come out of the hammer as it gathered all the necessary energy.

"You don't....know....what you're doing...!" said Myr, his voice choked with the pain of the sword in his back.

Dag immediately left Myr and Magni hit him, hammering the shaman's head.

As soon as the hammer hit Myr, there was a powerful glow that was followed by a violent outburst.

Dag put his hand before his eyes, blinded by the power unleashed by Magni's hammer.

As soon as the strong blue light began to fade, he looked toward Myr.

Only shreds of the shaman's body remained scattered on the floor.

Although Myr had been boosted, Magni's shot was far more powerful than any "Xis being" he had met up to that point.

Dag approached Magni.

"You've improved a lot, Dag. Your powers have increased considerably in such a short time," the Master said.

Dag nodded his head.

He was about to tell Magni about the incident when they heard voices coming from both sides of the room.

From the broken door, dozens of Renegades entered the room.

On the other side, there was another door. It too opened and other warriors came in.

Within minutes, Dag and Magni were completely encircled.

"They must have heard the noise we caused" Dag said.

"To reach you here, I killed about 50 of them. They are so many. Get ready, these scoundrels play dirty and mercilessly" Magni replied.

*Clap*clap*clap*

Someone began to applaud from behind the crowd.

Immediately everyone moved, creating a gap.

"Hahaha! What's happening here? Is there a family reunion?" said King Hjalmar, emerging from the crowd.

"For how long, Hjalmar," Magni replied.

Dag looked at his master, astonished at the answer.

"Do you know him, Master?" he asked.

"This man was the chieftain of the Crows Of Odin. One of the strongest warriors I've ever known" Magni replied.

"King Hjalmar. I'm the ruler of the Castle of Mork" shouted Hjalmar across the room, detailing his role.

"What happened to him?" asked Dag to Magni, as everyone around them looked at them with a menacing air.

"He was exiled forever from the Clan because after going mad, he killed almost half of his members. No one ever knew the real reason. Legends tell that he believes in false Gods, who ordered him to provoke that extermination," Magni replied.

"False Gods? They recognize the Xis as their only Gods" Dag added.

"Hearing whispering from afar annoys me a lot!" yelled Hjalmar, beginning to walk toward Magni and Dag.

Dag was unarmed: his sword, embedded in Myr's back, had been destroyed after Magni's blow.

He clenched his fists, ready to defend himself.

Beside him, Magni remained calm, without putting away the hammer.

"How dare you show up here and destroy what is mine, Magni?" said Hjalmar, when he got close enough.

"You kidnapped one of my pupils. I came to get him back" Magni said in a firm tone.

"What?! Are you kidding me? Hahahah! What are you, his father?" chuckled Hjalmar.

Magni remained silent.

Hjalmar came even closer to Magni, a few yards from him.

Despite the skull mask on his face, he revealed an angry expression below it.

"This is my house. You can't come to my house and set your own rules. Here I command!" shouted Hjalmar towards Magni.

"There was an agreement between us, Hjalmar. When you let your men kidnap Dag, you broke it."

"The will of the Gods is superior to any stupid human deal. They asked me to take the boy. Besides, you broke the agreement too when you killed 9 of my men" Hjalmar replied.

Magni looked at Dag, who looked back at him.

Then he turned to Hjalmar and said, "They attacked us for no reason. Why would your Gods ask you that?"

"I don't know yet. There is something special about him and my masters want to know more. Now get out of my sight and I'm going to pretend this never happened. Despite what you've done, I still have great respect for you. Go away without resistance or I will be forced to kick you out myself" Hjalmar said, still moving towards Magni.

The King Of Bones came within inches of Magni, challenging him with his eyes.

Hjalmar was much taller and bigger than him.

"What deal are they talking about?" thought Dag. Magni had never told him anything about any kind of deal with the Renegades, although when they were attacked near the river, his Master said something to the only warrior left alive about his boss.

Dag could not stick together all the pieces in his mind.

At that time there was a bigger problem to deal with.

"You know I can't accept the offer, Hjalmar" Magni replied, continuing to look him in the eye.

Hjalmar's expression became even darker.

"Then you will die. Both of you" he said, turning the other way and starting to move away from Dag and Magni.

"Master, now what?!" said Dag, continuing to look around.

"Don't worry, Dag. These warriors won't attack us. Their strength level is too low. I will fight Hjalmar, in the meantime, you will find a way out of here" Magni said.

"What? And why should I leave you here alone?!" said Dag.

Magni looked at him with a stern look.

"Do as I tell you. Don't you dare disobey your master" he continued.

Dag looked down, submitted.

Meanwhile, Hjalmar nodded his hand and his men widened the circle they had formed, spreading across the perimeter of the room.

From the half-destroyed roof came rays of sunshine, which had just risen into the sky.

All the warriors in the room kept staring at Dag and Magni.