Mythologica - Verg's Diploma Work

[Guy]

Karna is kicking ass and taking names in India, Achilles is being diva about the up-and-coming War of Troy, and Cu Chulainn is dueling against Gawain. At least the Cu shall be seen in the book.

Cu will be on it?

Excellent, you have a reader here :P.

[Verg Avesta]

Well, it had to happen.

Mythologica now officialy features a trio of Annie Oakley, Mary Read and Mochizuki Chiyome, being the leading figures of the mercenary force known as "Wild Girls".

[hero]

... I love you.

[Verg Avesta]

Aaaand translations!

Little backstory: After losing his first battle against Sigurd pitifully, Leo decides to learn to master his hand that now absorbs ichor if it is exposed to the air. By absorbing that power, he can momentarily become a hero, and be powerful enough to fight against other heroes. After learning that, he goes on to have a rematch with Sigurd, who is opposing his goal of preventing Caesar's assassination.
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”Oculus Omnituens.”

In that instant, knowledge filled my field of vision. My eye pulsed with gold. I could once more see the scope of Sigurd’s power, and how his skills in battle were divided. He wasn’t particularly fast when compared to other heroes and he brought to mind a human-shaped tank. Thus my best chance was to overcome Sigurd’s limit of speed. I would have to be faster than the wind itself.

“Prepare yourself, Prince of Xanten”, I said with tranquility that surprised myself. “I’ll show you the true power of my fantasy.”

Inside my mind a golden gate was opened with the speed of lightning, faster than any real gate could open. It declared it’s unconquerable nature with vulgarity that could only be manifested by the undefeated city. The wall of Rome that surrounded the actual concept of the city, and not just the physical form, opening up a road to that power that was also called the blood of gods.

“Invicta!”

The first of the seven locks opened with a crash.

Ten seconds remaining. Unbelievable power rushed into my body, filling it with presence I had never experienced before. I felt how I rose above my own physical limits, becoming a creature that had nothing in common with mere mortals. It would have been easy to lose myself into that tornado of strength, but the punisher of red and bronze that shrouded my right hand warned about the dangers of ichor. Thus I sharpened my mind and counted the seconds.

Five seconds remaining. The earth underneath me shook with my power. I saw how Sigurd’s eyes widened with surprise. He muttered something but the wind that coursed from my hand snatched those words and hid them into the gales. I also saw how a strange fountain of pale-gold color rose from my hand, almost akin to a wing that had latched onto it. It was the ichor that had anchored itself into my arm for further use. Like an additional part of my body that made me look like a surreal angel. But I was not an angel. I was a mortal with the power to change destiny. I was a hero.

Zero seconds remaining. I shut close the golden gate so hard that my whole mind rang with a sound. A lock snapped back to it’s place, stopping the treacherously beautiful flow of ichor. What was left behind was the brilliantly-colored shower that rose upwards through my right hand. It was the testament of my newfound power. My right hand drew my sword from the sheath and pointed it straight at Sigurd.

I was ready. I had become a hero. I had 15 minutes to beat Sigurd. And it felt just enough now that I had been strengthened by ichor. I could have never even imagined such an amount of power. I felt like I could have moved with the speed of sound. If my powers were even a fraction of how powerful I felt, I had a chance to defeat Sigurd.

No, I decided. I would defeat Sigurd.

“Grit your teeth together, Sigurd. This time I’ll punch a bit harder.”

I kicked the ground with my feet. In that instant I had travelled the meters that separated Sigurd and I. This all happened in a blink of an eye. Using my eye as help, I swung my sword from below to the skies, reaching for Sigurd’s throat. There was a loud bang as still-sheathed Gram and my own nameless sword crashed together. The impact created a pressure wave that rattled our ears and stripped the nearby trees naked from their leaves. I could hear the panicking yells of the servants in the house below.

I could not help it. I grinned.

“Now we’re finally evenly matched.”

What followed could only be called a storm of swords. My sword moved so fast that a normal eye would not have been able to keep up, and Sigurd was able to match my slashes only barely. I did a series of ten thrusts towards Sigurd’s stomach, and he was forced to defend himself with a wild swing. During that time I had managed to move behind him with one great leap. My sword split the air as it reached out for the weak spot in Sigurd’s back, but he returned my attack with the flat of his own blade.

I rolled to the side and attacked once again to Sigurd’s ribs. He had to jump over my sword to avoid the incredible power that the sword came towards him with. But in the air he was completely helpless. Thus I used my momentum to my advance and performed a roundhouse-kick straight to his back, making him fly quite a distance. The Prince of Xanten hit the wall of the house on the other side of the street and left behind quite the crater. I did not leave things half-done, however, and rushed after him, crossing the distance with a single, lightning-fast jump.

I struck and Sigurd answered by taking a hold of the sheathed sword’s flat. Using his sword like this, he deflected the strike, silencing the roaring power of my sword with Gram. Another wave of pressure was created and it made the people on the street fall on their backs. It even uprooted few of the trees nearby. The whole Palatium seemed to have gotten up to watch our fight.

Sigurd swung his sword in a large arc and forced me to retreat. I jumped to the roof of a new house and prepared to meet the next strike of Sigurd. Thanks to my speed and my eye I was able to react in time. With the twist of my wrist I was able to redirect Gram’s power to the side. I continued the movement with a half-circle-shaped slash that aimed for Sigurd’s throat, but I was once again parried.

I laughed without meaning to. This was the power that would allow me to save Rome from it’s dark destiny.

I turned into a lightning bolt that raged around Sigurd, dealing strikes from every possible direction. I moved so fast that even I myself wasn’t able to see anything else but flashes of the world that surrounded me. I trusted the information and routes of attack that my eye gave me, striking with every possible chance that appeared. My sword moved with the speed of a bullet, creating a web of slashes around Sigurd. He defended himself bravely, using only his experience and instincts to counter my incredible speed. I jumped and dived, evaded and parried, attacked and swung. I was akin to a possessed.

I was enjoyed every power-filled moment of it.

Sigurd finally hit the base of my sword with a well-placed strike and made my sword fly up into the sky, out of my reach. But it did not stop me. I kicked Sigurd straight into the stomach with my knee, which made him spit out gastric juices. He retreated slightly and continued to a jump with his momentum. Sigurd rose up to the sky like a comet, and the blood red color of his ichor veiled him, creating a rising line across the blue sky. I let out an enthusiastic shout and followed after him, catching up to him soon with my own leap. I felt as my own, golden ichor created the same kind of aura around me.

We were two shooting stars of different colors, creating explosions akin to fireworks to the sky of Palatium Hill.

I grabbed my sword from the flight and struck at the exact moment I crashed into Sigurd. What followed was an explosion that seemed to shake the air itself and drew the attention of people below to us. I spun around and kicked Sigurd straight into the chest, continuing with a somersault which gave me enough momentum to perform a slashing attack that would have cleaved Sigurd in half. Sigurd parried it, once again showing his incredible strength. That pure power made me fly backwards without meaning to.

The lightshow that was caused by our ichors lit up the whole sky of Palatium as we clashed together, releasing all our powers.

My last kick hit Sigurd into the back and made him fly downwards. He hit the street at the base of one house and made it rain stone and rubble. I used this chance to my advantage and drew my arm full of power. I threw my sword like a spear after Sigurd, meaning to end the fight with one hit. Sigurd’s unbelievable reflexes however saved him and he dove out of the way. The sword hi the house and made the whole wall come crashing down. Sigurd ran across this vertical wall, escaping the destruction.

When he realized I was up in the sky and without a weapon, Sigurd made an immediate turn and lowered his sword to his hip. I knew what was coming. I had met that attack before. A sword that could cut through anything. A sword that had once broken due to power of a god and was later reforged by the dwarf-smith Regin. A sword with a honorable title.

Sword that crowns the Kings.

“Gram!!”

The sword flew out of it’s sheath. A colossal cut split the sky. Wind, air and everything that cut touched simply vanished. The sword cut through the world as it reached out at me. That sword had done many great deeds and it was the personal symbol of Sigurd Fafnesbane. Any human would have been powerless before the might of that sword. They would have hung their heads and waited for their inevitable destiny.

But by beating that sword I proved my might as a hero!

I kicked the air and accelerated myself to incredible speed. I flew straight at Sigurd and the cut that was closing in, destroying anything that got in the way. Seconds passed quickly and in the far reaches of my mind I realized that I had only few minutes left before my powers would be spent. But that did not bother me. That was to be my final test of strength. Whoever would survive this would be the victor of this battle. Thus I challenged the attack of Gram.

And I won it by diving under it like an eagle.

I felt the void of cut air as it nearly touched my clothes. But I focused and gathered my strength to perform my final attack. I had won. My golden brilliance quieted the cut of Gram and enveloped me as if to symbolize the result of the battle. I saw the expression on Sigurd’s face. He could not believe his eyes.

The sword that could cut through anything had been beat through sheer speed.

I hit Sigurd like a missile, my elbow crashing straight into his chest. The corner of the street rumbled and was destroyed by the power generated by our clash, and the whole area was shaken by a quaking wave of pressure. Sigurd spat out blood. I might not have been able to wound Sigurd’s skin with my sword, but I could use blunt force to injure his inner organs.

With dexterity that I could not believe myself I spun to the ground level and rose up again. I performed a kick that shot Sigurd into another flight and I jumped after him. For a moment the two of us hung in the air above the buildings of Palatium, looking each other in the eyes. And at that moment Sigurd learned the truth. With my cunning and my speed I had arrived to the victory. I had done the impossible.

I had won.

“This is the power of my utopia!” My roar shook the Palatium.

I spun around. My foot descended like the axe of an executioner, straight into Sigurd’s chest. The force of my kick turned him into a human-shaped asteroid that plummeted towards the ground. Unable to do anything, Sigurd hit the roof of a domus and crashed straight through it. He also crashed through the floor below the roof, and then another one. He was finally stopped by the stone floor of the basement of that domus, letting out a pained shout and spitting out blood.

I descended with more grace. First to the roof of the domus, from where I jumped down two floors, down to the basement where Sigurd was lying on his back. He was badly bruised and his clothing was nearly destroyed. I knew, however, that this had only been a victory in round one. Sigurd was exceptionally powerful hero and he could fight once again after a few days, with full power nonetheless. But that did not mean I had not won.

As if it had been perfectly timed, I felt how the last fragments of ichor disappeared from my body. The golden wing that had veiled my hand melted away into the air and left behind only a strange feeling of emptiness.

Silence grew over Palatium Hill. The fight between two heroes had just ended, and nobody knew what to say. The only sounds that could be heard came from the destroyed buildings. Stone and other rubble fell to the streets, but that was it. Otherwise it was completely silent.

After that silence had gone on for a minute or two, Sigurd finally opened his mouth.

“Rather impressive…The power of your utopia.”

[Vritra]

Yesss thanks Verg.

[RacingeR]

For some reason the final parts of the battle reminded me of DBZ xD.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

Much win to be had with this update.

Shounen-y manpower, GO!! The way to become a hero is to punch one right in the face, right?