Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Taya closed her eyes, nervous that she couldn't even speak.

Meanwhile, the audience was completely wild: "Dag! Dag! Dag!" the citizens continued to scream in the square, while Dag turned and gently placed Taya's back at the statue.

Jens rubbed his eyes and shook his head, advancing toward the staircase, trying to recover from what he had just seen.

Dag, after leaving Taya on the ground, positioned himself next to him.

"People of Hevnen! We have a winner! Dag of the Hammers Of Thor is the Iron Alliance's new Warchief!" said Jens, pointing to Dag, who bowed his head slightly to greet the crowd, who raised their arms towards him, cheering him on as if he was a hero.

Dag waved, asking and getting silence: "This was a futile fight. I told you... in my vision, we should never again fight among ourselves, but only against those who want the evil of the people! Taya was my first Master when I was still a kid and I trained in the Jernhest Arena. If I am a capable warrior today, I owe it to her!" 

After these words, the crowd applauded warmly, and Taya, who was slowly regaining the sensitivity of her limbs, sighed and smiled.

Suddenly, Gridd grabbed Dag's shoulder, pulling it towards her, to talk to him in confidence.

"How the fuck did you do that?! Brother, you just blocked one of Taya's strongest attacks with one hand, paralyzing her! Your strength scares me, Dag!" she said, resting both hands on her brother's shoulders, who was embarrassed by the praise.

"I told you, Gridd. My powers have grown considerably. Without them, I would never have been able to defeat her" he replied.

"Don't say nonsense! I'm not just talking about that grayish smoke that made your arms as black as the obsidian... your fighting style has improved so much! You easily dodged some spear blows that I could barely see! Who taught you all these things?!" asked Gridd again, curious.

"You would have loved Master Magni. I wish I'd introduced you, he was a formidable warrior, the strongest I've ever known. His hammer and his teachings are all I have left of him" Dag said, nostalgic as he picked up his belt with weapons from the ground.

*clap*clap*clap*

"I underestimated you, kid" Taya interrupted, rising from the ground after recovering from paralysis.

"It's happened to a lot of people... it was nice to fight with you again, it reminded me of the Arena times!" he replied, acting like a loudmouth, but without losing self-control.

"I was sure your skill hadn't changed. When you were a student of mine in Jernhest, I knew your every move perfectly. In a short time, you completely changed your fighting style and that blew me away" replied Taya, who was genuinely impressed by the qualities of her former pupil.

Dag nodded, smiling, glad Taya wasn't angry with him for making her look bad.

"Involuntarily I was listening to your speech. You know, I hardly knew Master Magni, I only spoke to him a few times in Jernhest, when he came for the recruits, but it was enough for me to understand what kind of warrior he was, much stronger than me and Arne himself, who still militates in the Hands Of Tyr" she continued. 

"Arne? Yes, I remember him! He's the one who stamped the Berserkrs mark on my arm!" he said, trying to remember the man's face.

"Not only that… he is also the Chieftain of the Berserkrs' Order... it's a title he has earned by winning a 'friendly' competition that takes place every four years, in which Magni also participated several times if I remember correctly. Anyway, it has nothing to do with today, I was just trying to remember the past, but we'll have time to talk about it, right, Warchief?" asked Taya, leaning slightly toward Dag, who didn't believe his eyes.

"Hahaha, Master Taya! We don't need this bullshit! Nothing's changed, it's just a formality. Rather, let's figure out what our next move will be!" said Dag, who was full of adrenaline.

"Valkyrie's Assault. That's the name of my strongest skill. And you were able to block it with one hand. I had never seen anyone use such a technique. Did Magni teach you that?" she continued, stretching out the muscles in her arms, which were still sore.

"Yes, it was a skill that only he knew. It's called Adamant Mountain and I had the honor of learning it during training and perfecting it over time" said Dag, proud to master Magni's personal technique, being the only one capable of replicating it.

As Dag spoke to the other Masters, the crowd was still in turmoil, and Reidar and Karl were trying to reach the stairs, talk to their captain, and congratulate him.

Suddenly, a hooded man passed among the people, bumping into Reidar's shoulder to make room. 

He looked at him, but the man continued to walk undaunted, trying to get away from the square in a hurry.

Karl and Agnes were way ahead of him, almost arriving at the open space where Dag was arguing with Taya and Gridd.

"That man seems to be hiding something... his way of walking is too suspicious" thought Reidar, who began to follow him unnoticed, unable to resist curiosity.

The hooded man turned back and noticed that someone was walking in the same direction.

He accelerated the pace even more until his fast walk became a run, which also triggered Reidar. 

The two quickly left the crowd.

The man crossed a bridge and kept on running.

Although Reidar did not know Hevnen's roads well, he managed to keep up with him, like a hunter chasing prey. 

The man kept going and turning around, with Reidar on his tail. 

After several hundred yards of running, inadvertently the man's dark burlap robe became got tangled on the branches of a tree that hung on the road.

"Hey! Hey you!" shouted Reidar towards him.

He continued to walk forward and when he lost his disguise, he discovered his true identity: he wore armor, which judging by the colors and style, was not of the Sons Of Freya.