Ludwig Karlfeldt
Depths of a Dream, Deeper Still
??? - Night
---Even in the face of a Divine Monster, you retain a trained sense of inner calm; born from many years as a Tamer, as a human that has stepped forth to retain the balance of the supernatural and the mundane, to protect the peace of a world that some may even call "experimental-!"
It does not matter if the beast is faster than you.
It does not matter if it is stronger than you.
It does not matter if it has dragged you into a world of extreme cold, a reflection of ice at it's strongest, a deep-set chill that causes even your soul to shiver, your essence sensing the presence of a magic antithetical to it's own existence, a 'crack' in the engine called one's soul-!
It doesn't matter.
If you can't see it, make it go where you want-!
---For that, there is no need to move, simply wait for a chance to counter.
A circle of around ten meters, the only place where sight can exist; while the spiritual senses would ordinarily come to the fore in this sort of confrontation, the sheer amount of spiritual power present in the world around you serves as a dampener for the stronger signal of the wolf, or rather...
The entire world around you feels like that wolf does, this is only natural, as this storm of ice and snow was born from within it's own self-! This is not bizarre, this is a reality that comes with spells on this level, no, what's more concerning than that is that it's mind is just as difficult to find as it's body... You are not sure of the mechanism behind it, but sight of your target was often necessary to truly being to 'reach' into their thoughts, thus...
The wolf's refusal to appear is perfectly rational, of course one could spin this as cowardice, but thinking about it...
---If it does think of itself as superior, then the words of a human are meaningless to it.
Just noise.
What you say, what you think, doesn't matter in the slightest-!
An ant crushed is an ant proven wrong, no matter how calm and decisive it acted prior to it's death, and-
And-!
And-!
"...!"
-It comes-!
...Just as expected.
Magic flows.
Speed that far surpasses your own, the strength of a colossal giant whose frame you only get a glimpse of, like a bullet train emerging right from the edge of one's vision, but...
But...
But...
Magic carries you out of it's path.
Magic too, descends in a sphere of force.
---After all, now was the time to strike.
While the storm made it difficult for your senses to pinpoint it's movements, you are able to sense them the instant it comes within this 'ten meter' radius; it's not much time admittedly, but a Tamer can make it work.
---It had come at you from above, in essence, crush you not just with it's strength, but with it's colossal weight...
This was likely because of your endurance, in sharp contrast to your strength, Ludwig Karlfeldt was certainly a Tamer that could take a beating... No, not just that, your existence was also that of an ESPer, a being that some might call 'ascended,' a possible physical and spiritual evolution point for humanity, where a link to 'that place' is actively maintained, and-!
---If what you are looking for is a chance to strike, then this is the best one you'll get.
Thinking this being will ever give you an attack with a truly glaring opening is naive thinking, the most you'll get is this fraction of a second, the moment where the force of the body is being pushed down rather than ahead, it-!
Is caught up in an explosion of force-!
Of course, it is not enough to swallow the entirety of it's body.
The world certainly shrieks at the appearance of the Almighty, but...
This is not the full output.
A blast of power that rocks the right side of the body, the howl of a massive wolf seems to betray pain, pain that seems to egg it on more than anything else, a snarling monstrosity appearing in your vision just as fast as you had escaped it, but-!
You were prepared for that too.
If it pursues, it will likely do so in a straight line, coming straight at you like a monster should, and...
That makes it easier to hit.
Rather than an explosion of colorless force, you pour Reiki into your fist -easier to aim and launch- and-
---Stop.
Time slows down as you attempt to process the world in front of you.
---You stopped.
Not out of any sense of mercy, but simply because your 'sixth sense' had told you to do so... Your physical strength might be lacking, but in this you rarely were, a combination of knowledge granted from one's soul and your own subconscious, an instinctive "gut" feeling that all spirit users hone to the best of their capability... Not something that always gives a concrete answer, but a nudge in the 'proper' direction, yes...
---Don't shoot, it's a waste of energy.
---Something isn't right.
Yes.
You can see it now.
While the entity that had appeared to you had seemed like the real thing in all regards, had taken the brunt of an almighty spell with the vitality befitting a pseudo-divine opponent, you only realize as it closes in...
That that's not the enemy.
Not at all.
After all...
It's body is already flaking away to dust, like a destroyed spiritual construct or illusion-?! Ordinarily, you would be able to tell a fake apart from the original rather easily through use of your ESP, but-!
The storm was interfering, everything around you felt like it 'belonged' to the entity, an overwhelming mass of magic that made it difficult to sense when 'spells' were being prepared within it-!
This was it's world, that might even be literal, considering how this might all be happening inside of it's own head, yes-!
By the time you realize you've been tricked in some way, that the 'arrogant' wolf had known the 'proper' method of countering it's own approach and had manipulated you right back...
---It's too late to avoid the blow from behind, because of course-
-that is where the real one is now.
You fly.
Bouncing across the ground, slamming through a line of trees that would have left you dazed and gasping for air if you were not who you were, it still takes some effort to rise even when you know a follow up attack is coming, a victorious howl and thudding footsteps that shake the planet like an earthquake as a shadow breaks through the storm into your personal space, a monstrous wolf of golden eyes and gaping maw, and yet-
And yet-
And yet-
"...I see. So that's what is going on, amusing game I suppose, but unacceptable. The boy is one of my subordinates."
A familiar -if surprising- voice pierces through the cold with unsurprising authority...
Like some of the older self had leeched into the younger...
==Legacy Armament:==
As chains ensnare a colossal wolf... Chains that wind themselves around the charging body before glowing brightly as they seem to 'settle' in place, the chains of a weapon that is certainly not a COMP digging into the flesh, and-
"Lagerkvist-! You again!"
Fenrir AGI reduced to B-!
-turning it's back to you, in pursuit of a woman whose figure you can't see in the storm...
But who certainly seems...
To have somehow broken her way into this place...
---For her, not entirely impossible.
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Originally Posted by White Shroud
