XLI. The Horns

In the meanwhile, Kval pulled the axe from the ground.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?! I'm sick of you!"

Loading the shot, Kval tried to hit Dag, ready to kill him.

With a slight movement, Dag dodged the axe blow and grabbed it with one hand.

With a stunning facility, he disarmed Kval by pulling the weapon away and clutching the blade, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

"Aaaah!" yelled Kval, frightened. He flinched as if he had seen a monster.

His indestructible heavy metal axe had been shattered by one hand.

Continuing to retreat, Kval stumbled upon a branch and fell backwards to the ground.

"Who the fuck are you?! What are you?!" he said, staring at Dag.

Dag was there, still.

His sword on the ground near his feet.

His musculature was still increasing, due to Call Of The Berserkr.

His eyes fixed the void and one of his pupils turned to deep purple.

Dag began to walk towards Kval, who crawled backwards.

He got up and quickly tried to throw a direct punch at Dag, who parried the blow with one hand and clutching it mightily, shattered all his fingers' bones.

Kval knelt down in pain, touching his hand.

Dag grabbed him by the horns and lifted him off the ground. Stretching his elbows and applying strength on them, he broke one.

Kval uttered a heartbreaking scream. Those horns, though they had popped in an instant, were part of his body.

"Stop! You can keep the necklace! It's yours if you want it! Let me go!" pleaded Kval, as Dag held him up by a horn.

Dag kept feeling that sensation of omnipotence inside his body. Kval seemed to weigh as much as a gnat. His power had increased dramatically by drinking the magenta blood.

As Kval continued to beg for mercy, Dag shoved his horn under his chin, piercing his throat and jaw. The tip of the horn came out of Kval's mouth and with it a river of thick blood.

At the sight of the blood, Dag felt a strong sense of enjoyment. He didn't know why, but at that moment, killing was the only thing he wanted.

He continued to sink his horn into Kval's throat, which began to gurgle: his eyes were injected with blood and his arms began to hang down strengthless.

With his other hand, Dag tore the necklace from his enemy's neck.

Then in a quick gesture, he pulled the horn towards him, tearing off Kval's jaw, shattering several bones in his neck and skull.

With his face half-open and completely covered in blood, Kval fell to the ground dead.

Dag stood there, standing still to observe Kval's nerves moving his dead body for the last time.

He stood up and looked at his blood-soaked hands.

He had been able to kill such a strong enemy without weapons, and had shattered an axe as if his hands were as hard as titanium!

That didn't make any sense. With his skills only, he wouldn't be able to fight Kval. He owed his victory to that mysterious magenta blood.

He looked at the vial on the ground: it was empty, he drank all its content.

For some strange reason, his "dark" powers were tied to that fluid: based on the amount he took, they increased.

His muscles began to deflate, but within him, the feeling of stillness and power remained. Maybe the effects of the fluid were permanent. Dag didn't know much about it.

The only thing he knew was that the No. 10 emblem was in his hands.

With that emblem, perhaps he could come back to the Temple Of Orn.

All four bodies were around him. The woman, the two men, and Kval.

He approached the woman's body and pulled the arrow from her head.

He turned it on itself and wrapped it in her own cloth cloak. He lifted her up and walked back the trail.

On his shoulders, he did not feel the weight of the corpse.

While walking, he soon glimpsed Thalos wandering through the trees. He must have smelled blood. He was probably far from him, otherwise, he would have run to help him against those men.

The fight lasted only about ten minutes.

Thalos saw Dag and began to approach him, but he stopped a few feet away. He watched him carefully, trying to smell it.

He began to growl at Dag.

Dag looked at him carefully: he did not seem to have anything strange, his eyes were still normal in color.

"What's going on, my friend? I almost got killed, do you know that?" he said.

The wolf calmed down after hearing his friend's voice but continued to keep the distance from him as he walked.

Thalos acted as if he did not recognize Dag: perhaps his smell was different, or he was simply frightened by the corpse he carried on his shoulders, covered by the cloak.

"Follow me, Thalos! Don't worry, it's always me!"

Dag kept on walking and after reaching the trail, he continued to the farm.

He slowly felt the effect of Call Of The Berserkr completely fading away: perhaps this time its effect lasted longer.

After a long walk, Dag finally arrived at the farm.

It was a sunny day, the sun shone brightly through the mountain.

Dag placed the woman's corpse in front of the farm.

Making sure she was far enough away from the entrance, he took some straw and dry grass at the border of the nearest wood and created a homogeneous carpet where he rested the woman's body.

With the metal stick and the fragment of Pyrite, he set everything on fire.

Within a few minutes, both the straw and the woman were burning.

Dag stood watching as if to pay homage to the dead man.

"Brave God Thor, if you can hear me, make sure you lead this innocent soul into Valhalla. She fought to the death to save her husband's soul, let them meet again and toast with you and Odin."