Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

An almost completely destroyed and ripped fur coat covered him from the cold, and his long blonde beard tending to white tread along with his hair, caressed by the icy wind.

Atran got off his horse and pulled out one of his daggers, entrusting his horse to Kron, who grabbed the reins, but just then, Kranus said something.

"Stop, don't get close... this man has a familiar appearance..." 

"But... Commander! He could be dangerous, even if he's not armed" Atran continued, who at the time turned to Kranus and distracted himself from the man in front of him, who took another step forward.

Taking advantage of the moment of indecision, the injured man snapped forward towards Atran and as soon as he turned around, noticing the movement, he did not manage to dodge a strong fist that hit his face, emitting a noisy crash and causing him to fall to the ground.

"What?! Who the hell is that?!" 

"General! Help him!" 

The warriors, after witnessing that incredible scene, began to agitate, while Dag unexpectedly stood still, without intervening.

"Dag, we must help him! What's going on?" Freydis asked, confused.

"That punch was phenomenal... and it was performed with only one arm... this man is a very powerful warrior... who reduced him like this?"

Dag's response caught the attention of the Masters and Kranus, who along with Kron turned to the young Master, reflecting on his words.

"Son of a bitch... how dare you?! Aaargh!" 

Without waiting for new orders, as soon as he got up from the ground, Atran snapped at the enemy, pulling out the second dagger and pointing at his chest, to kill him instantly, but his shot was deftly dodged. 

Rotating on himself, the bloodied-faced man grabbed Atran's blonde hair and pulled him backward.

Then, when the General left the daggers on the ground to free himself from the grip, the stranger hit him with a warhead so violent that he too fell to the ground, in the same pool of blood generated by his arm.

"Ouch! What the fuck! Help me, what are you waiting for?!" Atran yelled, marveling that his comrades had not yet intervened.

Kron immediately raised his leg to get off his horse, but a hand from Kranus stopped him.

"Commander, that man is trying to kill Atran! Let me go, I want to help him!" 

"Stop! All of you! No one dares to help General Atran!" Kranus exclaimed, referring not only to Kron, but also all the other soldiers of the army, who gasped, not understanding the reason for that order.

"But... sir..." 

"Be quiet, Kron! Atran would never have been beaten like that by just anybody! Try to concentrate on his appearance! Looks like that man has no intention of attacking us! It's a matter between the two of them!" Kranus replied, who incredibly sensed what was really going on before their eyes.

When both opponents rose from the ground, Atran grabbed a dagger and tried again to hit the man, who dodged the first lunge, but not the second swing, which hit his knee, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

"I don't know who you are, but you've deliberately chosen to die!" Atran yelled, who punched the man in the face violently.

Another roar echoed in the snowy plain when the stranger blocked Atran's violent fist with the palm of his hand. 

"I can't believe it..." Dag whispered, witnessing the duel and focusing his attention on the man with a bloodied and unrecognizable face.

"It's true, I'm amazed too... he managed to block a punch from one of Krypstorm's best bare-handed fighters... that man is exceptional" Kron said, boasting of his colleague, confident of his victory.

"You haven't figured anything out yet, do you?" Dag continued, chuckling and looking at Kranus, who was the only one who understood what he was really referring to.

"Uh?" 

Gunnar, Wrage, and Kron couldn't figure out what he was talking about.

"Blonde hair and beard... fighting with bare hands... don't you think those two men look like each other?" the ice mage said, ironizing about their discovery and enigmatically trying to make it public.

"What?!" 

"Do they look alike?!" 

"We looked for the Lies Of Loki spy among the warriors, but we never thought he could be one of the Generals" Dag chuckled, ironizing that he had discovered just in time that there was another traitor between them.

"Are you saying that the stranger is...?!" 

Kron's incredulous words were interrupted by another violent punch in the stomach by the unknown enemy, who suddenly turned around and let his hair discover his face and reveal his true identity, hidden by blood and wounds.

The warrior who had inadvertently begun to attack one of their Generals was the real Atran, reduced to exhaustion, and deprived of his weapons and equipment.

"Fuck! Son of a bitch!" Kron shouted, who rejecting the idea of falling into the trap of one of the Lies Of Loki, jumped off his horse and dashed towards the fake Atran, pulling out a sword and trying to hit him.

He rolled to the ground and the sword hit the snow, tucking into it and then being violently pulled out by Kron, who looked at Atran with his eyes full of hate.

"Now things are starting to get interesting" Dag continued, whose irony had never been so macabre.

"Kron?! What the hell's going on with you?! Are you all crazy?! Not only you're not helping me against this bastard, but now you're also trying to kill me?! Have you lost your mind?! What the fuck is going on?!" Atran yelled again, opening his arms outwards and turning to Kranus and the rest of the army, who looked at him petrified.

The stranger, meanwhile, approached the dagger left on the ground and grabbed it, looking at its blade and touching it slightly with his hand.

"This belongs to me... now give me back the other one" he said, looking up and letting everyone recognize his somatic traits, which were identical to his interlocutor, being the same person.