273 CCLXXIII. The New Form

After those seconds of frenzy, Gridd and Ellen raised their heads toward the two fighters, recovering from the blow almost simultaneously.

"I don't know what you want from this girl or Master Dag and I don't care. From today, our Clans are allies... any affront to him, will be an affront to us, so... leave this young Shieldmaiden's body and dare not bring chaos into the home of the mighty Odin, father of all the Gods!" Kjell shouted, preparing to fight in earnest.

"Captain!"

Reidar's voice caught the attention of Kjell and Freydis, who turned to Dag.

The dark, dense aura that enveloped his blow for several minutes had now disappeared.

All the skin of his body had become completely black, including that of his face, on which strange red symbols had appeared.

His hands were still resting on the ground and the transformation was not yet complete: the muscles of his arms increased slightly in volume, with an effect similar to Call of the Berserkr.

The same happened to his chest and shoulders, which pumped up the armor.

Dag screamed, shaking the air around him and touching his head with both hands, resting his forehead on the ground.

The scream terrified his teammates because it was very similar to Roar's baritone and deep voice.

Amid his thick blond hair, floating in the air, two small black horns sprang up, less long than those of the goat demon, but equally sharp.

He continued to writhe from the effort, with both elbows resting on the ground.

A strange dark aura enveloped him, remaining around him: unlike other times, even his companions, who did not possess Niva or similar abilities, could sense the feeling of it. It was something evil, deep and cold.

The temperature dropped further, directly proportional to the distance to Dag.

The noise of bones and muscles in contortion stopped, giving way to the hiss of the wind that had been generated by the transformation.

Dag put his foot on the ground and his hand on his knee, leveraging to stand up, slowly, as if he was in no hurry.

His companions, including Freydis, looked at him in amazement, unable to believe that his body had managed to retain all the energy absorbed by that enormous demon, which perhaps weighed more than 300 kg.

Freydis stepped forward, looking at the new Dag, waiting for him to reciprocate her gaze.

Very slowly and continuing to breathe anxiously, he stood up completely and raised his face towards her.

His right eye remained purple, shining much more than before, while his left became ruby red.

At the sight of that demonic eye, which promised nothing good, Karl backtracked and Gridd approached him.

"Gridd, I have a bad feeling..." he said, his voice flickering, as Gridd stood silently watching his brother.

Dag's body had increased considerably in size: his height remained the same, but the muscle volume of the entire body had almost doubled, making his physical morphologies similar to those of Roar.

The leg muscles had grown so much that his pants began to tear at the quadriceps, becoming very tight on the calves.

The two mighty arms were perhaps the point of the body that most affected the increase in volume.

However, Freydis's armband was still there, around Dag's arm, which had tied it tightly, allowing it to widen.

His breathing had become much heavier than before, he could feel that he needed much more oxygen than usual.

"Where... what... Freydis..." he thought, looking at what surrounded him in a confused way, barely remembering what had happened a few minutes before.

Suddenly his stomach began to grumble, caught by a sudden hunger.

Dag leaned slightly forward, resting his hand on his belly, feeling that irrepressible appetite.

He breathed deeply with his nose, whose sense of smell had grown exponentially.

A few feet behind him there was Sivert's pool of blood, mixed with the Roar purplish one, whose body had disintegrated at that exact point.

He quickly turned his head in that direction, feeling a primal instinct that went far beyond his comprehension.

Then snapped towards the pug and reached it in less than a second, landing on all fours next to it.

Without thinking, he lowered himself to the blood and dipped his hands, beginning to swallow it to feed himself, as a wild animal would do after killing a prey.

"Dag..." Freydis whispered, stepping toward him, who as soon as he sensed her presence, quickly raised his head towards her, who put her hand on her mouth, trying to hold back the disgust.

From Dag's completely bloodied mouth, he could see his teeth, which had become long and sharp, similar to those of a real predator.

He stood up and walked towards her, saying nothing, just breathing heavily.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, Freydis's immobility was chilling: the girl had remained completely stationary in the same position, with the obsidian claymore held with both hands and its tip resting on the ground.

The Shieldmaiden's eyes were on Dag, studying every detail of his transformation, calculating its time, size, effectiveness.

Gridd slowly retreated, failing to recognize his brother in those demonic eyes, which seemed to belong to another dimension.

Dag curled his nose and made a beastly noise, like the growl of a big feline, scaring her.

Just as Gridd rested her hand on the hilt of the sword, ready to defend herself in the event of an uncontrolled attack by Dag, he turned his head back again, pointing his eyes at Freydis.

He lowered himself to the knees and charged a dash, before sprinting at great speed towards her, continuing to growl uncontrollably.

Freydis stood still, raising the tip of the sword forward.

Dag charged towards her, running on all fours and following a strange curved trajectory, similar to that of a predator that wants to disorient its prey.

When he was close enough, she snapped forward, trying to hit him with a slash.

Dag, who had jumped towards her, seeing the rocky blade of the claymore come upon him, quickly moved his arm.