41. Skjaldborg

-Godrick-

With his war cry shouted, Ivar charged Godrick, who met him with his own change.

The two men crashed together, as Godrick threw his left shoulder into the man who met with the same. Ivar was thrown back from the clash, as Godrick kept going, grappling the berserker and throwing him into a nearby tree.

Ivar shattered the tree as he flew through the air, however, he was able to right and catch himself before he landed on the ground.

Godrick approached, wanting to see what this servant had up his sleeves.

Ivar jumped into the air, and brought his ax down on Godrick, who caught the ax with one hand, before meeting the servants descending weight with the other, throwing the man away from him.

Ivar landed a little ways away from him before getting up and picking his ax back up.

"Damn, you hit like Jötunn." Ivar said as he stood back up with a grin.

Godrick motioned him to continue, wanting to see what this servant could do before his death.

Ivar charged once more and brought his ax down on Godricks head, but the Juggernaut didn't move from his course, letting the ax leave a line down his helmet before Ivar swung his ax at Godricks stomach. Godrick caught the blow with his left hand, stopping it dead as he took a mental note.

'About an A in strength.'

Godrick ripped the ax from the man's hands before sending a fist into his stomach making Ivar double over. As he did, Godrick brought his right knee up into the man's face, sending him into the ground behind him.

Ivar spat blood as he looked up at his enemy, his eyes reflecting the night light from the city.

"You will be the one who will send me to Valhalla. But it will not be this night." Ivar said, holding his right hand in front of him, summoning his ax to him. The ax flew through the air, just like Godricks halberd would.

The ax crashed into Godricks legs, taking his feet out from under him. As he sat up, Ivar leapt on top of him, smashing down with his ax.

Godrick had a split moment to shift his head to the left and tried to catch the ax, but he wasn't fast enough as it buried itself Into his right shoulder.

Ivar ripped the ax out of Godricks shoulder before raising it above his head for another blow, but Godrick struck out with his left hand, striking Ivars right shin, sending the man to a knee.

Ivars swing went wide as he fell, and his ax buried itself in the dirt above Godricks head before Godrick reached up and grabbed the man by the straps on his chest. He brought him down into a vicious headbutt that dazed the man, allowing Godrick to land another punch to the Berserker's face.

Ivar recovered in an instant, ripping his ax out of the ground before bringing it down on Godrick with all his strength.

Godrick reached up and caught the ax by its haft, stopping its descent. Ivar put all his weight and strength into the ax, trying to cut Godrick with it.

Godrick lowered the ax little by little, making Ivar smile viciously, thinking he was overpowering Godrick, only for the Juggernaut to give a great thrust upwards, throwing the man away from him.

Godrick got to his feet, as Ivar did the same.

Ivar was breathing hard, his chest heaving up and down before he gave a great smile and held his arms out to either side of him.

"Come!" He said.

A great lightning bolt came from the sky, striking the ground next to Ivar, revealing a huge bear standing on all fours.

Ivar looked at the beast before kneeling next to it, bringing its big furry head to his lips as he kissed the beast's forehead affectionately.

"I would normally call this beast to fight by my side in battle." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice before looking at Godrick. A tear ran down his cheek as he continued speaking.

"But he will serve another purpose tonight." He said standing up, and gripping his ax in both hands.

"THOR!" He cried to the heavens.

FOR YOU!" He shouted as he brought the ax up, then down on the bear's neck.

The beast fell to the ground, followed by Ivar kneeling next to it, and whispering sweet words to it as it died.

A moment later, Ivar stood back up and raised his ax to the sky, howling like a beast, calling on Thor once more to recognize his sacrifice.

The heavens answered, as blue lightning shot down from the sky, striking Ivars ax, covering it with lightning. The lightning quickly spread to cover Ivars whole body, leaving him a howling mad Berserker from legends.

He spoke no words as he howled, having long himself to his madness, ripping the fur bear head from his head, and leaping towards Godrick, who met the ax with his own fist.

Surprisingly, Godrick was thrown back from the clash, while Ivar now charged like a beast on all fours, following Godrick as he smashed into a nearby tree.

Ivar swung with the ax, meeting Godricks left arm before hacking at the knight with all his might.

Godrick was now on the back foot, blocking every swing with his left arm as he summoned his halberd in his right, switching to defend with the weapon instead.

The two weapons clashed together, creating a devastating shockwave that blew the two apart.

Ivar was still howling, his voice overlayed with the roar of his bear as he lunged forward with his ax, sending lightning to crash into Godrick, throwing him into a nearby building.

Godrick would have preferred to keep collateral damage to a minimum, but the berserker seemed to have different thoughts, as he leapt from the park they had been fighting in, into the building Godrick was now in.

Godrick got up from the floor, stopping Ivars charge dead where he stood as the two began to grapple for dominance over each other.

Their weapons were locked at the haft as they pushed against one another, their feet each breaking the ground around them as they fought.

Godrick gave a great burst of strength, before knocking Ivars ax skyward with the butt end of his halberd before viciously bringing it down on the man's head.

Ivar was able to move his head from being split, only for the halberd to bury itself in his right shoulder. He gave a great shout of pain before blasting Godrick in the chest with lightning that he shot from his hands, throwing the Juggernaut through one of the concrete support beams.

The halberd was knocked from Godricks hand as he landed, lightning still coursing from Ivars hands, arcing across Godricks being, leaving molten lines across his armor.

Godrick held out his left hand, catching the lightning and absorbing its power as Ivar continued to shoot it at him.

Godrick got to his feet, left hand still held in front of him as he slowly walked towards Ivar. One foot in front of the other, he made his way closer to the rogue servant before suddenly, he was on him, driving his right fist I to the man's face before bringing his left knee up into the man's chest, making him stagger back into another support beam.

The building began to shutter, as the rest of the support beams started to crumble before the pair's eyes. Reacting quickly, Godrick ducked under Ivars wild left haymaker before grappling him, wrapping his arms around his waist, while his head rested next to his lower chest.

Leaping with a great amount of force, Godrick smashed him into the ceiling, taking them through the rest of the building before exiting through the roof. Shifting positions mid air, Ivars back now faced the ground as they began to fall back to earth, reentering the building and slamming into the ground, letting the building collapse atop them as they hit the ground.

A burst of lightning threw Godrick into the air once more, making him crash among the rubble as Ivar stood up from the crater they had made.

Ivar said no words, only continuing to howl as he charged Godrick, who was standing up as he did.

The Juggernaut was tired of hearing the endless screaming, so he stomped on one of the huge steel I beams, causing the other end to shoot up into the air for a moment. Godrick kicked his end of the beam, sending it straight into Ivars face with a sickening crunch that finally shut the servant up, as his mouth was full of blood and teeth.

Ivar fell to the ground as the beam fell atop him. He turned his head and spat a mix of blood and broken teeth before shoving the I beam off of him, standing to his feet again.

Madness still twisted his features into a visage of a berserker, while Godrick on the other hand, was still mostly calm.

With no warning, the two servants met hand against hand again, their collision sending out a shockwave that blew the debris around them outward.

Slowly but surely, Godrick overpowered Ivar, who grit his remaining teeth and gave everything to push Godrick back, but it was to no avail as the Juggernaut threw their arms wide before delivering a vicious headbutt that dazed Ivar for a moment, allowing Godrick to materialize his halberd, and smash it into the Berserker's chest, sending him back into the park.

After a moment, Godrick walked back into the park as well, though this time with the intention to finally kill the servant.

He found Ivar kneeling in the crater he had created, whispering something as lightning coursed over his body.

Godrick felt the familiar energy of a Noble Phantasm being unleashed, and prepared himself accordingly.

"VALHALLA" Ivar shouted as he lifted his head to the heavens.

As soon as the word left his mouth, an enormous stone gate formed behind him, then opened its two massive doors revealing a sheet of mist that poured from it.

The mist was cold as it surrounded the whole of the park, and enveloped Godrick with its icy touch.

Shadows started to appear from the mist like wraiths, stalking their prey. Hundreds of figures appeared from the gate, revealing themselves to not be wraiths, but warriors wearing mail and other forms of armor. They held a variety of weapons, ranging from swords to spears to axes. Most of them held shields in their left hands, and Ivars next words made it clear what was to happen.

"Skjaldborg!"

The shields clattered together as the viking warriors placed the right side of their shields on their neighbors left, creating a shield wall that would stand against Godrick. Then their small seax's poked through the holes at the bottom of their shields to stab against any attack from below.

The second rank of the shield wall consisted of warriors who held shields above the front ranks heads, and they held swords through gaps in the front ranks as an added deterrent.

The third rank consisted of men that had shields on their backs, ready to take the place of the man in front of him should he fall. They held long spears that protruded out of the shields, ready to stop any advancing force.

Undeterred, Godrick charged forward full force, crashing into the wall with all his might. The spears shatter against his armor, the swords bent, and the seax's broke as he met the wall, only to be thrown back when he met the shield wall.

He hit the ground only to roll backwards, recovering from the knock back.

'Interesting.' He thought as he looked along the line of men, seeing what looked to be a blue magical wall of runes faded from existence.

Summoning his halberd, he held it head down like a spear. He then started to channel his energy into it, as amethyst lightning started to arc over the weapon.

He planted his feet, drew his right arm back, and with a mighty heave, threw the weapon at the shield wall.

Before the halberd met the wall however, it stopped dead in its tracks. It was still trying to move forward, but the wall of blue runic symbols appeared just before the skjaldborg, stopping it.

This rune wall was strong, but as Godricks left shoulder met it as well, it shattered. The halberd and Godrick himself, broke through the skjaldborg, driving through the first and second ranks before being stopped at the third.

His halberd detonated, causing an enormous explosion to occur where it landed.

Godrick felt a seax bury itself between his ribs, which surprised him greatly. A moment later he fell to one knee as he was hamstrung, allowing another viking to strike him in the face with his warhammer, dazing the Juggernaut for a moment.

Multiple other vikings hacked at Godrick, ripping through his armor as if it were paper, leaving him bloody and battered before he could respond.

Recalling his halberd, it killed multiple vikings as it made its way back to Godrick. The moment it was in his hand, he swung it about himself, killing everything around him as it touched each warrior.

Forcing himself to his feet, he forced his halberd up into the throat of a viking, before ripping it out and whirling it around again, causing death as he went.

Each individual viking was incredibly strong, which accounted for the wounds Godrick had gotten in the moment he had been dazed, but now, he was paying them back a hundredfold as he killed indiscriminately.

The vikings seemed to disappear the moment they took any damage, so Godrick whirled his halberd around, and struck out with his fist as well.

Suddenly, Godrick found himself with no more enemies to fight. He looked around him, and only saw the enormous stone gate of Valhalla, which soon disappeared. Ivar was gone, having left when the skjaldborg was broken, letting Godrick fight the spirits of his shield brothers.

He looked down, seeing the seax that had first stabbed him still protruding from his ribs.

With an uncaring gesture, Godrick simply reached up and pulled the blade from himself before dropping it on the ground.

His target had fled, and he was no closer to finishing his mission then he had been before. His target had slipped through his fingers, and he vowed an oath that he would not escape again, as he dematerialized, and made his way back to the Tohsaka estate.