261 CCLXI. Thirst For Vengeance

A dense cloud of dust rose, preceded by a powerful aftershock of the ground, similar to that of an earthquake.

Amid the dust, the shadow fell from the sky finally took shape.

It was a being more than three meters tall, with two huge pointed horns that seemed to touch the sky.

His broad shoulders connected his voluminous chest to two mighty arms, long enough to almost touch the ground.

"It's not possible..." Gridd whispered, who had already seen that beast and soon recognized its long tail and the two hooves of the lower legs.

After the impact, the beast straightened up, showing off all his greatness in front of the 8 warriors immobilized in his sight.

As the dust began to dissolve in the air, the Sun illuminated his white fur and his face became recognizable in daylight.

"Roar..." Gridd continued, acknowledging the enemy Master who had managed to escape by knocking her out.

"Hello little girl... how's your back?" the beastly man asked, in a voice so deep as to seem demonic.

"Roar? Is he one of the Masters of horns Of Heimdallr?!" Ellen said, who couldn't believe that until recently, her Clan wanted to enter into a peace agreement with that monstrous being and his allies.

The giant demon-goat bowed, spreading one of his huge arms outwards and lowering his head, turning his sharp horns straight at them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Master Ellen" Roar replied, showing off his pointed teeth in a diabolical smile.

He looked up at Dag with his two little blood-red eyes.

"I see you've made some changes to your body..." Dag replied, who seemed the only one to keep his composure, even though he too was frightened.

"I knew that some skills of the Heimdallr Clan allowed changing shape, but... I've never seen anything like this" Ellen interrupted, firmly grabbing her real weapon in her hands, a rod with a metal spiked cylinder at the tip, which perfectly reflected Freydis's description.

"Indeed, that's it! Heimdallr is a God, that's true... but he doesn't have the power to create such a strong, incredibly perfect creature!" Roar exclaimed, responding to Ellen's perplexity, emphasizing the God's that he had revered up to that point weakness and highlighting his transformation, opening his arms to be admired.

"Besides being traitors, you also are heretics! Why did you come here, Roar?" Sander interrupted, stepping forward towards Dag who was at the feet of the beast-man.

The goat demon burst into an evil and sadistic laugh, during which his baritone voice, for a few seconds, tripled in a surreal way.

"I thought as you do once, old Sander... I also did not see the truth and judged Sondre, thinking that his heresy would lead him to death... but when I managed to escape with him, losing hope in everything I had believed up to that point, rejecting my own God... someone talked to me, making me a proposal" Roar continued, looking down at his opponents.

"Did the Xis talk to you?" asked Dag, in a calm tone, hiding the agitation of the moment.

His hands began to sweat, and despite his incredible powers, he felt an incredibly strong aura coming from that being, which he perceived as coming from another planet.

"The Frostsinners Lords have turned my pain into power, my anger into strength and greatness. All the blood you spilled on the island, Dag... it was a sacrifice more than enough, I just had to add a little pledge... but now... look at me, in all my majesty! Hahahah!" Roar replied, continuing to laugh sadistically, opening his arms and looking up at the sky.

"A little pledge...?" Gridd asked in a low voice.

"I am sure that Sondre, even if he had been awake, would have agreed to be sacrificed for a greater goal... to exterminate the inhabitants of this city, along with the Masters of its Clan!" the beast answered, whose gaze was dark as he prepared for battle.

Dag clenched his fists when he realized that the man's thirst for power and vengeance had crossed the line, leading him to kill his companion to receive something in return.

"How do you think you can do it yourself, insolent?! I don't see anyone with you and you're about to face some of Skjold's strongest warriors! How did you get to this square? How many innocent guards and citizens have you already killed?! You're going to pay for what you did, son of a bitch!" yelled Sander, who couldn't hold back, with his axe in his hands, charged toward the enemy, who stood still waiting for him with a malignant smile painted on his goat's face.

Despite the weight of Sander's body, he managed to move at incredible speed and jumped upwards, sticking the axe to the center of the enemy's forehead.

When the blade of his weapon entered the monster's skull, he stood still, smiling.

Soon after, he grabbed Sander's foot, which had remained in mid-air, keeping his weapon stuck and violently rushed him into the stands, breaking part of the walls after the impact.

"What...? Sander..." Kjell whispered, who until then had stood still and observed the combat.

Roar grabbed the axe stuck in his head and hardly tore it off, losing blood, which spilled to the ground in front of him.

Dag immediately noticed that it was magenta blood, realizing that by now, the soul of that man could no longer be saved and belonged definitively to the Xis.

The beast looked at Sander's axe, which in his huge hands looked like a toy.

He clenched his fist and the iron of the weapon bent like butter, emitting a squeak, as the handle crumpled on itself and the blades cracked under the bewildering force of one hand.

Besides Dag, everyone else couldn't believe what they were looking at.

Sander possessed high physical abilities, so much so that during the battle, some blows ricocheted off his body, causing him no harm.

Still, he had just been thrown away as trash and his weapon had been shredded and thrown to the ground, in the form of a shapeless pile of metal.