[Location: Wildwoods, Midgard]
Okay, I seriously overestimated myself—
BOOM!
Why, you ask?
Well, that would be the ten-ton pillar of stone and wood that just slammed into the ground where my body had been standing a split second ago, exploding soil and snow like a volcanic geyser.
I hit the frozen earth on my shoulder, rolling awkwardly across dirt and brittle roots, every bone in my body rattling from the aftershock. My ribs screamed. My lungs wheezed. My pride wanted to strangle me.
I mean—yeah, I knew I wasn't Kratos. I wasn't even close to what Asura could be at his peak. But my brain, in its infinite genius, whispered: Hey, you awakened some flashy glowing veins and got goosebumps. Surely that means you can take on a mountain-sized troll on Day One, right?
Right. Brilliant.
Another quake split through the Wildwoods. I pushed up on one knee just in time to see the troll's molten eyes flare as it yanked its pillar free of the ground with one massive arm. Roots snapped. Ice shattered. The very air shook like it resented being forced to host this thing.
"Holy hell," I muttered. "This isn't a fight. This is suicide with extra steps."
The troll's head tilted at me, those molten cracks across its hide pulsing brighter as if amused. Then it exhaled. A blast of heat and sulfur rolled across the clearing, searing the frost off bark and turning snow into angry steam.
My instincts roared: Move!
I lunged sideways just as the pillar whistled through the air.
CRAAAAAACK!
A tree thicker than a truck snapped like a matchstick where I'd been a moment ago. The upper half toppled with a groaning crash, splinters raining down.
I scrambled to my feet, heart jackhammering.
The fight was funny on many stages; seriously, me—seven foot seven, veins glowing faintly with some half-baked mystical wrath—versus a fifteen-foot troll built like a mountain married a battering ram? Yeah. Comedy gold. Except the joke was currently aimed at my skull.
BOOM!
The pillar came down again, hammering the frozen earth so close the impact lifted me off my feet. My teeth clattered as I hit the ground on my side, air ripped from my lungs in a ragged cough.
"Alright—note to self: never, ever listen to the part of my brain that says 'Yeah, you got this.'"
Snow fell like ash. Steam hissed from the shattered ground. The troll lumbered forward, its weight alone bending the forest floor into a groaning protest. Each step was an earthquake, each exhale a furnace.
It wasn't just strong. It was overwhelming.
And here I was, breathing like a cornered animal, trying to convince myself I wasn't going to die again.
...
The troll roared—a guttural, ear-splitting sound that rattled my bones and sent birds screaming from the treetops. My body moved on instinct.
I dashed forward, my fists igniting with faint golden lines as my mantra surged, still weak, still half-formed. I ducked under the troll's swing, snow exploding in waves around me, and drove a fist into its knee.
CRACK!
The sound was promising. My knuckles screamed. The troll stumbled half a step—then its leg straightened as if my punch had been nothing more than an insect bite.
"...Oh come on."
The troll answered with a backhand that blurred through the air like a falling wall. I brought both arms up just in time—
BOOOOM!
The blow launched me through the trees. Bark exploded as my body tore through a trunk, then another, until I skidded across frozen soil and slammed into a boulder. My vision whited out.
Pain flared across my ribs, blood dripped hot from my nose, and somewhere in the mess of agony, my pride whispered, You asked for this.
I lay there for a second, coughing, trying to remember which way was up.
Why was I fighting? Why not run? Why not live another day and save the heroic speeches for when I wasn't about to be smeared into paste?
Because something inside me wouldn't allow it.
The mantra stirred, hot and furious. Wrath. My wrath. Not enough to transform, not enough to overwhelm this beast, but enough to push me back to my knees.
"I'm not… done yet."
The troll's shadow fell over me. Its massive hand reached out, fingers like stone branches ready to crush me into pulp.
I stood. Or rather—I forced myself upright, spine protesting, legs shaking.
"I said—" I roared back, my own voice raw, primal, echoing off the Wildwoods like something not entirely human. "—I'm not DONE YET!"
The golden lines across my skin burned brighter. My veins bulged, glowing like molten cracks in stone. My fists clenched.
The troll swung its pillar down again, faster this time. I met it head-on.
BOOOOOOM!
The ground cratered beneath my feet. Soil split. Snow vaporized into a sudden mist. My arms screamed under the impact, shoulders nearly dislocating, but I held.
For half a second, troll and man clashed in raw power.
Its molten eyes widened, surprised that something so small dared to resist.
I bared my teeth. "Not bad for a warm-up, huh?"
Then the pillar slid sideways, knocking me clear. I pinwheeled through the air and crashed shoulder-first into another tree. Pain lanced through me.
Think. THINK.
I wasn't going to out-muscle it. Not yet. But raw force wasn't everything. Asura—at his peak—didn't just swing fists. He endured, adapted, broke through with sheer will.
I staggered to my feet, blood dripping down my chin, and forced myself to breathe through the pain. My eyes scanned the clearing, the shattered trunks, the stones.
That's when I noticed—the troll was slower now. Its swings still carried enough force to break mountains, but each one left a pause, a lag, a moment of vulnerability.
My lips curled into a grim smile.
"Alright, big guy. Round two."
The troll roared again, bellowing so loud the night seemed to split apart. Steam poured from its molten veins as it dragged the massive rune-etched pillar in a slow arc across the snow, gouging the earth as though marking my grave.
I flexed my fists, shaking the numbness from my arms. My body screamed for me to stop, to curl up, to let the earth swallow me whole. But my wrath—the furnace beating inside my chest—refused.
"You're big," I spat blood onto the snow. "But I've beaten worse."
Liar.
The truth was, I hadn't beaten anything like this yet. Not in this body. Not in this world. Or any other.
But lies can be weapons, even if I was the only one listening.
The troll swung.
I ducked.
The pillar whooshed overhead, the force tearing my hair back. I surged forward, fists hammering like pistons into the troll's shin. One, two, three—each blow reverberated through my bones, splitting my knuckles, lighting pain across my arms like fire.
The troll's leg buckled slightly, snow exploding beneath its foot.
It growled, annoyed more than hurt, and its other hand lashed out. A wall of flesh and stone slammed into me before I could blink.
The impact cracked the air.
I flew—no, I was flung—across the clearing, the world a blur of white and black and bone-rattling force. My back collided with another tree, this one snapping in half like a toothpick.
I gasped, air and blood tearing out of my lungs in the same breath. My vision wavered, darkness gnawing at the edges.
Get up.
I coughed, spitting red into the snow.
Get up.
My body trembled, bones screaming. My wrists felt wrong. My ribs—shattered.
But the furnace inside me didn't care. Wrath doesn't ask permission. Wrath doesn't accept defeat.
I dragged myself up on shaking legs.
The troll noticed. Its molten eyes narrowed, glowing brighter. Like it was offended that I still stood.
It charged.
The ground quaked under each thunderous step. Trees toppled in its wake. Its pillar rose high, runes flaring with murderous light.
I steadied myself, heart hammering against my ribs like a war drum.
Ba-dump. Heat surged up my arms.
Ba-dump. Steam hissed from my skin.
Ba-dump. The cracks of molten light across my veins blazed, brighter than ever before.
"COME ON!" I roared, voice raw, primal.
The pillar came down.
I didn't dodge.
I caught it.
BOOOOOOOM!
The impact cratered the ground. Soil blasted outward. Snow vaporized into steam. Trees shook like reeds in a storm.
Every fiber of my body shrieked in agony as the force of the troll's weapon pressed me into the earth. My knees bent, my arms quivered, my shoulders nearly tore from their sockets.
But I held.
Teeth bared, blood streaming from my lips, I held.
The troll pushed harder, molten veins blazing. The pillar groaned, runes sparking with restrained power.
And me? I roared.
"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT!?"
The molten cracks on my skin erupted, glowing brighter. Steam poured off me in hissing waves. The earth beneath my feet shattered, spiderwebs of cracks racing outward.
For one, fleeting second—just one—I pushed the pillar back.
The troll blinked, stunned.
And in that heartbeat of shock, I let go.
The pillar slammed into the ground as I lunged up along its length, wrath propelling me faster than thought. My fist cocked back, glowing veins burning like molten fire.
"RAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
My knuckles crashed into the troll's face.
CRACK!
Bone split. Molten blood sprayed. The troll reeled, bellowing in pain, stumbling back a step.
I didn't stop. Couldn't.
My fists became a storm. Hammering again and again, every strike a scream, every impact a prayer of defiance. Knuckles split open, wrists snapped, but I did not stop.
The troll staggered. Its molten veins pulsed erratic, its eyes blazing with fury and pain.
Then—
Its massive hand snapped up, catching me mid-strike.
The world spun as the troll whipped its arm sideways. My body slammed into the ground like a ragdoll, snow and soil exploding around me.
Pain consumed me. My body didn't even feel human anymore—just raw nerves and broken bone.
The troll stomped forward, its roar shaking the forest. It lifted its pillar high, ready to end it.
And still…
Still I smiled through the blood on my lips.
Because I wasn't done.
Because wrath wasn't done.
"More…" I whispered, voice barely audible over the rumble of its steps. "I need more…"
The furnace inside me roared in answer.
My heart hammered.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
The molten cracks across my body flared, brighter than firelight, brighter than the troll's molten veins. Steam erupted in violent bursts from my skin.
The troll hesitated, confused.
I stood again.
Barely. Broken. But standing.
The mantra flared, an ember turning into wildfire.
Not transformation. Not yet. But close. A taste.
The troll roared in fury—
Let me tell you; Dauði Kaupmaðr means Death Merchant, and this particular troll is a Fire Troll, so—
Fire! Motherfu*ker!
The troll's roar ripped the night apart.
And then—
FOOOOOSH!
Fire erupted across the rune-etched pillar, licking upward in hungry tongues of orange and gold. The runes blazed like a hundred suns, each one burning with ancient power, carved to annihilate anything that dared to resist.
Heat slammed into me like a wall. Snow boiled into steam. Frost fled the trees. My eyes watered, my throat seared, and my skin prickled as though I stood too close to a forge.
"Oh… great." I coughed smoke from my lungs, spitting blood into steaming snow. "As if the oversized tree-club wasn't bad enough—you just had to add fire."
The troll bellowed, the molten cracks across its hide flaring brighter, feeding the inferno wreathing its weapon. Then it swung.
WHOOOOOM!
The blazing pillar carved through the clearing like a comet.
Instinct screamed. I dove.
KRAAAAAAASH!
The earth exploded where I'd been standing. Fire belched outward in a shockwave. Splintered roots erupted, soil turned to ash, trees ignited in a chain reaction.
I rolled through smoke and flame, came up coughing, half-blinded by the sudden inferno.
The pillar swept sideways, a second strike following the first. Too fast. Too wide.
I had no room to dodge.
So I met it.
BOOOOOOOM!
Fists against fire.
The impact rattled the world. My arms screamed, my shoulders tore, and flame engulfed me in a suffocating embrace. The smell of burning flesh hit my nose—my flesh.
But I held on. I pushed back with every ounce of wrath in my furnace, glowing veins flaring against the firestorm. My roar ripped through the inferno.
"RAAAAAAAAAH!"
The troll snarled, pressing harder. The pillar shoved me backward, feet digging trenches through scorched soil. My skin blistered, bones creaked, and my strength waned—
—until I let go.
The sudden release sent the pillar whipping sideways. The troll stumbled under its own weight, dragging the weapon wide in a fiery arc.
That was my opening.
I lunged through fire and smoke, fists burning, eyes blazing. My knuckles slammed into its gut once—twice—three times. Each blow cracked like thunder, spraying molten blood across my arms.
The troll reeled backward, coughing sparks and flame, but it wasn't down. Not even close.
Its free hand lashed out.
WHAM!
A wall of stone and flesh crashed into me. Ribs snapped like twigs. I was airborne again, the world a blur of fire and shadow until I smashed into the frozen ground. My chest caved, blood fountained from my mouth.
My body screamed at me to stay down. To quit.
But the furnace inside me refused.
Get up.
I rolled onto my stomach, coughing blood and ash, trying to drag myself upright. My arms shook, veins glowing like molten rivers.
Get up.
The troll's footsteps thundered closer.
GET UP.
I roared, voice shattering the smoke around me, and staggered to my feet. Wrath blazed in every vein, steam hissing off my skin in violent bursts.
The troll loomed through the inferno, eyes molten, pillar blazing hotter than the sun. It raised the weapon high, flames howling like a storm.
***
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