DIVINE CHAMPIONS 5: THE FROSTY FATES

THE DECOY ATTACK

The five divine champions stood still. The figure in front was nearing eight feet tall. He wore nothing but furry shorts. His shoulder had battle armor guards. His skin was greyish, and the slight amount of beard that was showing up, was black. His head was bald, and under the shiny bald head, the eyes as red as blood. It was as if those eyes were shooting fire. So much hate radiated from those red fiery eyes that Mikael's heart twitched. In his hand, there was a sword, made of blue ice. He smiled like an absolute evil. Mikael had never seen him before, but could bet on his own head that this was the mastermind of everything. The giant who disobeyed the Norns, the one who wanted to destroy the gods for killing his evil family. It was the infamous Bergfinn. The Giant King himself. "Look how you fell for my decoy attack." He spoke, as if everything around him froze, "Sneaking away, are we?"

Rishi made eye contact, and didn't lose it for once. Rick's hands spread out, and like holograms, all the runes spread out on his hands. This man never failed to surprise. Ishaan's hands heated up too, turning red, while Aitri just looked. Her face was hard to read. Berg started walking, as frost accumulated itself with each of his footfalls. The ground shook, as Berg spoke, "I'm pleased that you've made it so far. But also very annoyed. You sent those linnorms to fight my army, allowing me to carry their corpses back to Jotunheim. I'm very annoyed."

"Like we care." Rick said.

"Oh, you will. My brave army may have fallen to those snakes, but they have given me the chance to see you all. They may have attained the gates of Hel, but I will make you pay for each of their lives."

"So, you think you'll try to kill us and you would sit here and watch the show?" Mikael said, trying to be intimidating but failing miserably. 

"New one, eh?" Berg said, his eyes filled with malice, "You've done me a great service, boy. Your grandfather is on his way up. This is going to be fun. Anyway, what's the use of killing the five of you? With the disease that is the gods still in power, you five will die, end up in Valhalla, and once I'm out there having achieved my target, you will come back as the Einherjar to annoy me again. No, I will torture you so bad that when you die, you die deaths of coward, weak people, ending up in Hel, the point of no return." And so, he charged.

He slammed the sword on the ground, freezing the ground. As the frost neared them, it turned into rising icicles that could seriously hurt anyone. Mikael came in front of them, spread his arms and took control of the ice, stopping it in its tracks. An annoyed Berg slashed his icy sword at Mikael, who rolled away. And then, the couple happened.

Rishi punched the ice with full rage, breaking it up. Meanwhile, Aitri was still unmoved. Her eyes flared for a minute, and under Berg's feet, land separated, as his feet went in, and the gap closed, as Berg got stuck by his waist. Then, Aitri moved. Her eyes never lost sight of Berg. She lifted her hand, as Berg made a sound with his neck. Mikael found Rishi beside him, as they both watched Berg hold his neck tight, his huge mouth open, gasping for breath. While Mikael was surprised, Rishi smiled. Aitri was suffocating Berg, and she looked like an absolute boss. However, she was lurking dangerously close.

And before Rishi could warn her, Berg lifted a hand with difficulty, slapped the champion of two gods hard, and sent her tumbling away, knocking her out. The magic on the land ended, as Berg came up fully. And then, Mikael realized why Aitri had the lioness as her fylgja. Her pride went berserk.

Rishi swirled up in the air, and rained lightning on Berg. One after another, the lightning bolts pegged him back, but yet, the Giant King was swinging his sword dangerously. Ishaan came to play just then. He spread his wings and took flight. He turned to his phoenix form, and flew close to Rishi, putting himself in between himself and the sword. The sword drove itself through Ishaan's gut, making him squeak, and fall dead. Mikael felt as if his heart tore itself. Enraged, Mikael created an ice rink to climb and get higher ground. He ran over the curved rink like he had trained long back, and caught hold of the four foot long sword. He could feel the burning sensation, as the icy blade severed the top layer of his palm's skin. Blood gushed out and turned the ground red. However, his hands still did what it wanted. It formed smooth and thin ice around it, turning the sharp blade blunt. Rick, meanwhile, started speaking in Old Norse, "Mayekr awaken maktinn ór Loki, konungrrinn ór tricks." Mikael's Old Norse was no expert level, but Rick was channeling Loki's magic inside him. That unsettled the Giant King for once. As expected, some sort of mist was formed around them. Winds changed pace, as Rishi stood his ground, his eyes malicious. Ishaan's phoenix body caught fire, and quickly turned to ashes. And out of the ashes, out came a human Ishaan, just as he was before turning into a phoenix. He spread his wings, and slowly started steaming up. His whole body got redder, and quickly caught fire. Rick, meanwhile, disappeared.

A slightly confused Bergfinn looked around, awaiting what might come, pondering over possibilities. He shook off the ice formed by Mikael on his sword in a flash. Mikael had never felt so useless. And then, from above the sky, a portal opened. Rick landed on Berg's shoulder with a thud, a huge hammer in his hand. He slammed the hammer on the Giant King's head, opened a portal, and disappeared again. "Mik, cover Aitri." Rishi said. Having re-found his destination, Mikael ran back and formed a protective shield around Aitri, and defended her, watching on at the attacking side's work. Sadly for them, the opponent was a little too strong. He held the three on his own with his huge sword in one hand. On the other hand, he sent icicles to break the shield. His motive was clear: he wanted to kill off the person who had choked him for a while. Not on Mikael's watch.

Mikael closed his eyes, and prayed, "Out with a way, Lord Tyr. We can't defeat him like this. Help us."

That is when Mikael heard a huge thud. The ground trembled under Mikael. He opened his eyes, to see all three down on the ground. Berg had knocked them out. They weren't unconscious, but unfit to fight. Then, Berg took steps towards them. Aitri had just opened her eyes. Only Mikael stood between her and Berg. 

Berg walked as he spoke, "You don't think you are match to me, grandson of Surtr. Move out of my way. Or you'll perish too."

"So be it, then." Mikael felt lighter than ever suddenly. He suddenly felt more complete than ever. Inside him, the line 'grandson of Surtr' had charged something inside. He hated every bit of it, but he realized that this was the only way to save his friends. He had never complained out loud about his maternal heritage, but also had never accepted it. Now was the time.

"As your wish, then, champion of Ullr." The Giant King lifted his sword to strike, but Mikael had accepted his lineage completely. He defended himself with an ice shield, which broke immediately after the hit. Then, he let out what he was imagining in the last few seconds.

Fire raged out of Mikael's right hand, engulfing the entire blade of Berg's sword. With his left hand, he conjured an icy rod and waited. A shocked Berg watched, not expecting the frost champion to summon fire. But Mikael knew this could happen. Ice flames were existent, for somewhere inside him, there was fire. All he had to do was want to look for it. The flame moved away, softening the ice on the blade. Berg got over his shock, and arose the blade up in air, as Mikael held the rod with both his hands. Before he could bring it down on him, Mik used all his strength and smashed the rod on the blade, disintegrating both. 

Something snapped inside Berg. His malicious eyes turned explosive. His angry face turned madly wrathful. His teeth gritted, making loud sounds. In his wrath, he snarled, and screamed, shaking the entire surroundings of Urdarbrunnr, "My horse, my army, my weapon. You five will die the most gruesome deaths. I will stomp you with my hands." The four quickly got up, and stood beside Mikael, as Berg charged again. They all summoned their powers, ready to defend themselves and launch a counter attack.

But, as Berg brought his unbelievably muscly hands down, he seemed to hit an invisible wall. He screamed in pain, and looked at his hands. The muscular hands turned thinner by the second, weaker and weaker. It decayed, and looked like a dead tree's branches. He roared, as he looked behind the champions. Behind them, a familiar sound said, "Its a good thing we don't interfere in wars. If we did, your entire giant race would go extinct in a moment."

Urd, Skuld and Verdandi stood behind them. The great Norns had come to help of Midgardians. This was a historic moment.