Record of Ragnarok: Sunset in Heavens - Chapter 3: Taking New Forms
Beowulf in his empowered form rushes at monster, as Typhon steps back, raising both his hands in defense. Einherjar closes distance in moment and swiftly throws two attacks in form of simple straight strikes. Typhon barely dodges one of them by slightly twirling aside, but as the second gets him...
BOOM!
Monster-god flies back for significant distant from sheer impact. Beowulf uses this moment of disorientation and advances again, preparing high-kick at his opponent's torso. Typhon scarcely brings one his arm down to block it, "serpents" of his hand reforming into more dense shield-like structure. He lashes this limb down to intercept Beowulf's leg.
CRACK!
Einherjar effortlessly breaks through this counter-attack, kicking Typhon's chest. He instantly follows this by jumping higher and launching another punch, which aimed right at monster's head.
[REALMBREAKER]
...with another loud THWACK, Typhon is sent flying back from sheer force of impact, now not even being capable to grow wings to stabilize himself. He harshly lands on ground, before coughing with blood for first time since start of their battle.
"Who the hell is this man..." Typhon thinks, slowly sitting up, using his not-kicked hand.
"A-and with such quick exchange, human overtakes the lead in fight. Again." Samedi comments int microphone, being far more quiet from sheer surprise over how fast tables turned again. "Gosh, thats kinda metal... Shouldve volunteer myself to fight, not to yell into mic, haha." He adds, purely to himself.
***
Viewers of this battle, both divine and mortal, has hold their breath for a moment. Humanity observes this in quiet awe, that yeah, another proof that they indeed capable of fighting back against Divine. Gods are either morbidly silent or shocked, with even Wukong and Thoth being slightly surprised.
"Preposterous. That should be impossible!" Lucifer seethes, while sitting in Abrahamic VIP room alongside two unknown gods. His 'quiet' rage is already on "veins visible on forehead" level. "I told them, this Ragnarok is useless. Useless trap thought up by this monkey!"
"Hmmm... Dragon-god really stole the good fight all to himself..." In Slavic VIP lounge, Perun grins while twirling lock of his beard. "And this mortal warrior... His strenghthening technique is kinda familiar, to say the least."
"As I truly thought..." In Roman VIP room Quirinus thinks, hand on his chin. "These fools of Divine Blood really took the bait of Titan and Sage. And now they had burnt on the very first battle." He outright smirks. "They're really believed in 'mortals cannot hurt divine'. Well, for such ignorance... They deserve what await them in future."
In quiet corner of monsterkind's lounge, Cerberus and Chimera are on their lowest morale, avoiding even peeking onto arena. Hydra outright tried to lunge at battlefield, but Echidna stopped her by simply placing a hand. "Tsshhh... Everything will be okay. He promised to." Mother of Monsters adds in quiet, unexpectedly-for-her soothing voice.
***
Mortal-sector of seatings, where conung Hrothgar sits smirking, observing the exchange down at arena with simple thought: "THAT'S OUR BEOWULF!". He's mostly surrounded by average people, but someone is trying to get closer to him.
"Can I-" "Sorry, I need to get through-" "Yeah, thank you." Someone closes distance with him.
"Ohohoho! Whom I see..." Hrothgar noticed this man, turning his gaze at him. Newcomer is tall young man with black hair in Norse warm clothes. "Cometh to see 'the madman' in action, Unferth?"
[Beowulf's (Highly Unsuccesful) Accuser - Unferth]
"Calm down, old man. Who even could guess back then that he would be SO strong compared to all of us?" Unferth huffs in annoyed tone. "Like, who... who ever you know, who's capable of such strenght? Or this weird empowerement?"
"Well, fair enough, young man. Though, I think I cracked at least one secret. May so." Hrothgar answers.
"And what is it?" Younger one raised his eyebrow.
"Even heard about berserkers? Norse warriors, that trade consciousness for true battle spirit..." Hrothgar started explanation.
"...how mushroom-eating guys even connected to this?..."
"Dont interrupt the elder!" Hrothgar glares at him, before bursting into laugh. "Anyway. You should know that berserkers' enchancement not only make them more ferocious... Its as well unlocks all their inner powers. Their bodies is capable to perform at their maximum, unbounded by any lock they usually haveth to prevent overexerting."
"You suppose that Beowulf can... remove these 'locks' by his will?" Unferth glances down at arena, then back at Hrothgar.
"Right! Though, performing on its own maximum... this put great stroll on warrior's body, but..."
"But we're talking about man, who supposedly swam in full armor and still slaughtered good dozen of monsters..." Unferth sighs. "His endurance is something."
"Well, that's our champion! Though, even for someone like Beowulf... entering a berserker state is very strenght-consuming, and it doesnt matter if you control it or not. He haveth to stop it shortly after, if he dont wish to fall powerless." Hrothgar strokes his beard.
"Fair... And you know, this still not completely explains why Beowulf is so powerful..." Added his companion. "Your regular berserker cant... punch craters or sent THAT thing flying."
"Well, not counting Beo, second strongest warrior with such skill I even heard about... was 'just' capable to hold the whole army by himself, while standing on one average bridge." Conung thinks. "And yet, while its magnificent in own way... perhaps its still far from what our friend can do."
"Wait, where and when this bridge standout even happened?"
"Dont know, young man. Heard about it from some other Norway king after I already died in Midgard. Most likely this deed happened long after our lives..." Hrothgar shrugs.
***
As Typhon was sent flying, Beowulf took a breath, quickly relaxing. His bulged muscles deflates to their normal state, as he shakes off his slightly-burnt hand, one that aches with dull pain after every succesfully landed strike.
"Seems that I am is too old for withholding this form for too long. Should I be surprised though? I promised myself to not use it... That was so long time ago..." Einherjar thinks to himself, before raising his gaze and seeing Typhon slowly sitting up. His eyes widens for a tiny-bit from surprise, as he starts moving closer to his opponent. "He's still capable to fight?"
"Unbelievable, indeed. Before, I havent met anyone who could survive a Grendel Splitter, let alone stay consciousness after such series of attacks..." Beowulf speaks. "I сould even enjoy this, if was I such a fool as younger myself. Or haveth fate of Humanity not depend on outcome." He adds in his own thoughts.
***
"This... This time I can't afford to lose...." Typhon thinks to himself. "It shouldnt go just right that..." His memories flashing, showing monster-god amidst of Greek-looking city. Multiple uncoscious gods are tossed around, as blonde-haired god in old Greek-clothes walks closer to him.
Memory followed by another, which seemingly happened shortly after. Typhon is lying, heavily beaten up, as this blond-haired god casually tells to him: "Hohoho, you truly has potential! I think, I'll keep you alive! If you break from Tartarus, we could have a rematch..."
"I've had failed my only goal once..." In present, Typhon adds in his own thoughts. "I CANNOT LOSE. NOT AGAIN. NOT WHEN I... NOT WHEN I FINALLY HAVE A CHANCE TO..."
***
"BEOWUUUULF..." Typhon roars furiosly. His body starts to hastily reconstruct itself, 'serpents' he consists of are being released in multiple swarms, as they fly around, forming a cocoon around him in mere seconds.
"Need to intercept." Human-warrior quickly thinks and rushes to his opponent, but as he closes distance...
Typhon cuts off his attempt by breaching the shell and suddenly launching himself into air. Wave of air washed over Beowulf from sheer impact of Typhon's takeoff. Beowulf and all the viewers looks up, only to see the monster-god flying high over ground.
He had grew up two large wings on his back, each of them spanning over multiple meters, being large enough to partially obscure sky. Unlike previous time, when Typhon used smaller wings to stabilize himself in air... these seems to be covered in something resembling a small feathers.
Monster-god's body also transforms: he seems to shrunk a little, turning more leaner and slightly shorter to easen his air movements. His legs changes into something far longer, which looks like large coiled serpents.
[THE APEX-PREDATOR OF SKIES: TITAN-HARPIA]
"O-okay, Typhon not only stands after Beowulf's series, but he seems to enter the new form!" Samedi comments from his position, looking down at monster. Typhon is flying not really high, so there still is big distance between two.
"YOU WAS PRETTY GOOD, MORTAL." Monster shouts from upward. "BETTER THAN MANY GODS I FACED BEFORE... STILL, IT'S TIME TO END THIS!"
Human warily took a defensive stand, when Typhon swings his wings in single powerful move, hurling something at mortal champion. Beowulf responded by making a swift move aside, but that was not enough, as one projectile scratched his shoulder, leaving a long thin cut there. The thing in question fled further, embedding itself into ground.
Beowulf quickly assessed situation by looking around and seeing ground being ingrained by good dozen of these things. They're small, pitch black, and remotely resemble feathers in form.
"Hm... I already saw him transforming his body into sharp pieces, but this..." Beowulf ponders, before he noticed that Typhon swung his wings again, sending another bunch of these feathers. Human quickly leaps away, even jumping to cover bigger distance, which helped him to avoid being cut again.
"...And he seems to become more hostile than before. This can be useful—" Just as he finished thought, another burst of projectiles was sent at him, forcing Beowulf to skip back. "If I understand true reason of his outrage..."
"You cannot win a battle by such cowardice way—" Beowulf only managed to say, before another bunch of feathers flies nearby him, as he barely dodges majority of them, with one still slashing minor cut on his face. "That could be a problem!" He snarls to himself, right when YET ANOTHER shrapnel of projectiles shredders into floor close to human.
Up in air, Typhon circles around Beowulf, swinging his wings in rapid way to sent more and more attacks. Fired feathers are regenerating in mere seconds, being instantly ready to get shot again. "CANNOT REACH ME, MORTAL!?" Monster-god mocks his opponent, who is occupied with dodging barrage after barrage of projectiles. "TIME TO GIVE UP! IT WONT HURT..."
Down at ground, Beowulf leaps back from one attack, barely dodges another, and steps away from third. And while human-warrior mostly succesful in his evades, two projectiles still hit him, one grazing his bitten arm and second his back.
"Ermmm, now we can see, how Typhon just forced Beowulf to run around like mouse in cage?" Baron Samedi adds, seeing the weird clash down below. "Oh, wait!-"
Beowulf had used another [REALMBREAKER] on arena's ground, raising dust and depris into air, which hides his exact location. Then he changes his position as silently as he could, seeing how bunch of feathers pierces dust and embeds nearby. And after that...
Human's insticts flares, signaling about something coming. Thoughts caught up in mere moment. "I'm not hearing swing of his wings!" Beowulf quickly jumps from his hideout into open air, only to see how Typhon has already dived down, lashing his leg with all his force.
[LASHING SERPENT]
Limb connects to ground with almost explosive force, cratering a far bigger territory than any previous strike that either human or monster launched.
"That's even more powerful than berserker-enchanced Realmbreaker..." Beowulf noted to himself, while quickly somersaulting away, as Typhon instantly turned to him and launched another dozen of feathers at him.
Monster-god dont gives any opportunity to breathe, otherwise: he closes distance, preparing another [LASHING SERPENT], which forced human to dash away and get right into firesight of hurled feathers.
"I havent such problematic fight since dragon..." Beowulf quickly jumps away, and yet again one feather gets him, not-deeply piercing his leg. He grits his teeths, pulling it out and tossing at Typhon, who's casually blocks it with wing.
"That's wont work on me, mortal..." Monster-god growls and launches himself at Einherjar, striking with another combo of feathers and [LASHING SERPENT]. And another. And another.
And another...
As Beowulf tried to counter attack by catching Typhon with surprise attack after he has dodged one series. Unfortunately for him, monster reacted faster, launching second [LASHING SERPENT] with his another limb.
"...!" Human noticed at last second, instantly doing everything he could to put out the power of upcoming blow. Which in this moment meant that he simply relaxed as much as he could, and pulled out arms from attack—too dangerous to sacrifice them to even attempt blocking this.
BOOM!
Lashing Serpent connects, sheer force clearly breaking few bones in Beowulf's body. He's sent flying, crossing half of arena, before performing another somersault. This let him succesfully land.
"Not bad, Typhon..." Beowulf speaks in pained voice. He looks far worse after all the cuts from feathers and received blow, which is further shown by how he coughs with blood. "Guess, it was my mistake to not finish you when I had the chance."
Typhon himself hangs in air, something flaring inside him about upcoming danger, as he holds one leg ready for another attack. Though, gods in audience seems to have different opinion, as they even started to openly root for him, nudging monster-god to finish this fight.
"LETS GO, TYPHON!" "FINISH THIS PEST!" "HUMANS SHOULD KNOW THEIR PLACE!"
"Can he really continue?" "Anyone would just die from this impact..." Geats in stands mumurs in concern, which brings attention of Wiglaf.
"CALM YOUR HEARTS, WARRIORS OF GÖTALAND! Cannot our leader fall to this..." Wiglaf looks at arena in weirdly confident way. "Remember, he killed a dragon, while being a crippled old man. There's nothing in this world that could stop Beowulf at his peak!"
Down at battlefield, Beowulf exerts his "berserker's unlock" technique again, muscles of his body bulging and tensing. "I dont wished to overuse this..." He holds his breath, focusing on his bitten hand.
"What you're trying to do, mortal..." Typhon closes their distance a little, prepared to strike.
Beowulf raised his arm. Memories flashed... Him underwater, group of weird beings going for attack. His needabilty to truly fight them, to even properly swing his sword there. Deed seemed impossible by simple man.
"If I use this on surface, then maybe..."
Typhon lunges into attack, using [LASHING SERPENT].
"It would work as I imagined..."
Hero of Geatland swing his arm with all his might and speed, as if he was holding a heavy blade underwater.
[HRUNTING CLEAVER SLASH]
With air cutting sound, sheer air pressure cutting through Typhon's lash, dealing a wide large wound on monster-god's body. Typhon couldnt even think about what just happened, as he had brought down to ground.
"A-AND WITH THIS, WE'RE SEEING ANOTHER EXCHANGE BETWEEN TWO! WHAT ATTACK WAS MORE SUCCESFUL?" Samedi hypes out, as audience sits in pure shock, nature of it depending on side.
"SEE!? JUST WHAT I TOLD YOU!" Wiglaf shouts in pride.
"T-THAT'S JUST CHEATING!" "ITS IMPOSSIBLE, NO ONE CAN-" Minor gods reacts accordingly.
***
In Egyptian VIP-lounge, Amun-Ra serenely observes the fight. He seemingly wasnt bothered by any moment of it, but his subordinate...
"That's truly... unexpected." Thoth ponders loudly. "I heard about vacuum blades, I saw them in action from swordsmen... but see them performed without cold weapon at all..."
"Indeed, I never saw them done in such way by humans..." Chairman of Gods suddenly speaks.
"...by humans? What you mean, Lord Ra?"
"Well, to say the least, Primordials and Dawn Generation—ones that opposed them during First War—were capable... not only for such things. This brings old memories..."
***
"So, that's surprising." Wukong scratches his head, observing the situation from holographic screen in their lounge. "Typh didnt show this flying form last time we saw him fighting. And to be honest, how his serpents even could turn into feathers? Even if its... not real snakes, okay."
"Seems like we're underestimated his abilities..." Prometheus sighs. "Typhon's body reconfiguration could be truly unbounded in terms of density and thickness of resulted material." Then he nods at screen, smirking again. "...and yet, Beowulf's combat provess and strenght are enough to counter even that."
"Can admit, I'm rather shocked by such performance from human. Beowulf isnt Sefira user and he's neither a demigod or something..." Wukong adds, using Ruyi Jingu Bang to take a book from nearby shelf. Its copy of 'Beowulf' poem. "This book. Feats related to his strenght? There. Why he's so strong? Nothing."
"Well, what I can say... Its another time, when gods' messing in Midgard had backfired against them."
"Some unrecorded thing?"
"Yes." Prometheus nods. "This kinda related to old prophecy of Norse pantheon's demise. One which gave its name to Ragnarok tournament..." He makes dramatic pause, looking at his partner. "Had you even heard about 'original' Einherjar?"
CHAPTER END
