“That one at least seems small,” the avatar said pointing to one of about ten dragons flying above them. “It will still kill you within seconds of course.”

Brand bent his head as he followed her directions not wanting to move after finding a comfortable position on a bed of stone. “Not that one. Green dragons are usually poisonous, it's not really my specialty. Lookout from a red fire dragon.”

“Why would a fire dragon be in a frozen wasteland? Shouldn't there be ice dragons instead? Hells, why are so many dragons in one place at all?!”

“Firstly, what would be the point of ice dragons living where it's already cold. Its breath attack would be pointless or at least less effective.”

“Then where oh masterful and wise sage of the dragons would an ice dragon be, a fucking desert?”

Brand looked at her long moment like a child talking nonsense.”Secondly, we’re in the Dragon Tooth Mountains. It’s a dragon nest where they come to bread and lay eggs away from people like us who hunt them.”

“People like you,” she corrected. “I think we should be running for our lives.”

Brand sighed mockingly. “So much for the courage of thunderers.”

“I’m not a thunderer anymore,” she said bitterly.

The two went on in silence for several more hours spotting red dragons every once in a while. Sadly, they were fully grown and apparently not worth the trouble. All the while Brand made sure to conceal his presence using his focus. Dragons were known to have excellent magical perception and being found by so many would be a death sentence.

“Why do you even want to hunt a dragon,” the avatar groaned along with her stomach.

“We do need something to eat,” Brand answered with only half the truth. There were countless uses for a dragon's body but he only cared for their beast cores at the moment. The rest would have to wait as there was no way to travel with several tons of dead lizard.

“Their!” Brand exclaimed spotting a tiny red dot high above. He stood and immediately began increasing his mana throttling, then turned to the avatar. “We’re going to need to chase it for a while If we don't want to be attacked by more than one dragon at a time.”

Brand then exploded forward in a sprint, but quickly came to a stop when he remembered his traveling companion. Turning back, he saw her on the ground barely able to control her limbs which were becoming more translucent the farther away he got. Without meaning to, he'd found the limit at which her soulstone could be projected.

“I could just carry her, but that would be annoying, and she’s naked.”

Brand tried his best to not react but no amount of training could keep him unbothered if he was that close to a woman he already found very attractive. In the end, the striker opted to simply drag her along. He wove a gravity spell around the avatar then rooted her to himself at around 50 feet away. As he moved, she would too, never able to get closer or farther away and with the gravity spell making her weightless she could avoid being dragged across the ground.

“Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show,” Brand said before taking off at full speed once again.

*****

Thora wanted to scream her lungs out as her captor charged over a cliff and into the air. Even though he continued upwards, somehow finding footholes off the ground, she was still terrified. In her first life, she could fly, but just barely, so fighting in the air was something Thora rarely attempted. But even in the worst of circumstances, she was still under her own power. Now she was simply a kite, tied to a souring cannonball aimed at a scaly volcano ready to burst.

As the dragon came closer, the pride sealing away Thora’s screams was burnt away. The baby dragon seemed nothing like a child. It was like a flying whale, only twice as large and on fire. Thora couldn't see a single scale past the blaze, but huge black spikes were visible along its back and tail, each as sharp as any blade. With every beat of its wings, heat spread through the sky melting away the clouds. If the beast was on the ground, warriors would turn to ash if not protected with a powerful flame shield. A dragon was not a monster anyone fought alone no matter how powerful, so when her captor landed on the beast, Thora pretty much gave up on surviving.

As he ran across the dragon’s back, Thora assumed she’d be burnt, but to her surprise, she only felt slightly warmer. A sudden burst of speed sent her twirling around the beast like a moon orbiting a burning planet. It earned her a deep cut along both legs from a black talon that came too close, the heat cauterizing the wound instantly. The pain was excruciating but Thora was too distracted to truly feel it. She spun in circles ever faster when her captor punched the dragon in the eye then jumped out right in front of its smoke-filled maw.

The dragon roared, burning even brighter than before and swung its clawed wing at its attacker. Thora was sent tumbling in a jerking motion as the man pulling her along dodged with ease. He never retaliated in earnest, only firing mage bolts with no hope of harming the serpent.

Then, to Thora’s horror, the wind shifted as the dragon inhaled prophesying its breath attack right as she was pulled into its path. Her captor still didn’t try to escape. He stayed in place, basically begging to be turned to ash.

“This is it," Thora thought. The dragons opened its mouth, flooding the sky with black smoke. “I’m going to die again.” The smoke quickly brightened as flames rose from the depths of its throat. “I at least wanted a good meal and drink before heading back to Gimli.”

Thora closed her eyes as fire exploded from the dragon. She prayed, but not to any god. She prayed to herself for herself, hoping that somehow she’d slip by Magni and find peace in death.

“Shouldn’t I be dead by now,” she thought after waiting for several seconds.

She opened her eyes to see the dragon’s flaming breath wash over her captor and go no further. There wasn't a burn on his body or an aura of protection. He stood in defiance of the hovering beast, bathing in its flames as red-tinged lightning crackled around his body.

******

The flaming breath washing over Brand brought with it a great relief. He’d nearly run out of mana running into the sky and began feeling the cold air bite at him once again. But now, he felt pleasantly warm in a maelstrom of fire, only bothered by the foul stench that followed the heat. This was precisely the reason he’d sought out this particular type of dragon. He could contend with a lighting dragon or one with mastery over death, but then he’d have to split his attention in order tp keep the avatar safe. Heat was just so much easier to handle with his fortress aura and afforded him so much more mana with lightning coming next and death after that.

With so much power at hand, Brand began throttling his mana many times faster than before. He was hardly at the level he’d reached while facing Vara, which made him almost want to battle a god a second time just to feel such power again. His tattoos weren’t even glowing under the paltry display of power the dragon produced with its most powerful attack.

Producing a powerful shock wave, Brand kicked off the air bursting through the steady stream of fire. The dragon had no time to react as the striker slammed a fist into its chest using a cantrip to spread out the force of the blow. Instead of his arm piercing a burning scale like a spear, the beast was sent flying backward as if struck in the chest by a giant hammer, which in this case was not far from the truth.

It didn't roar or cry mostly due to the steaming blood gushing from its mouth that was still hot enough to cook a person in seconds. For a moment, it looked as if the beast would fall, but it recovered and-.

“Get back here!” Brand shouted as he chased after the fleeing dragon.

Jets of fire appeared along the dragon’s wings propelling it away faster than Brand could hope to run. “Sorry about this,” Brand said without looking at the avatar spinning around him wildly. He then soured through the sky with a flight spell closing the distance with the dragon in mere moments.

Brand pulled a hand back as he neared the dragon’s head. “Striker's Onslaught!” he called out, his tattoos finally shining from how fast mana was flowing through them. The striker then threw a fist heavy with gravity magic and felt a satisfying crunch when the dragon’s skull shattered, killing it instantly.

A few minutes later, Brand was back on the ground with the fire dragon’s blood and brains freezing in the cold mountain air. It no longer gave off heat as the magic allowing it to do so vanished with its death. So did its magical protection evidence by the delicious smelling layer of meat that cooked just before its flames dissipated.

Brand conjured an ax and tossed it towards the avatar. “Time to eat.” She caught the weapon out of habit more than anything else and stared at him bewildered. “Shit, did I break you?” He walked over to her when she gave no answer and flicked the top of her forehead rousing her from whatever state of shock she was in.

“You killed her!” The avatar shouted.

Brand turned to the dragon. “I'm pretty sure that's a male.” He groaned audibly. “Are you one of those idiots against dragon hunting? Look, that thing would have killed hundreds of people before it grew old enough to care. Those fucking lizards are nothing but a plague.”

“Not the dragon! You killed Vara with whatever magic you just used!”

“Yeah,” Brand said tiredly. “That's what I've been saying.”

“But you are lying! You have to have been lying!”

Brand shrugged. “I rarely lie in my line of work.” The gangsters he’d killed came to mind. “Most just don’t believe me.”

“Are you a king?” the avatar asked, desperate for an answer. “Or, or, or!”

She trailed off and began to sputter so Brand offered her a half-truth. “I’m a criminal. Drugs, sex, weapons, I run them all.”

“You’re just some gangster!” she shouted incredulously and raised the ax as if she intended to use it on him. “Entire armies wouldn't stand a chance against you, but instead of conquering nations, you deal in vices! Why did you even kill Vara?!”

“That crazy bitch was attacking the city so I don't have much choice,” Brand explained. “Sure, I caused my fair share of damage, but she would have killed everyone.”

“But it was a beast kin city.”

“And that makes it ok?!” Brand said, raising his voice. “You gods damned thunderers are just as bad as dragons. You'll kill anything that isn't human just to have a good time.”

“If not for the thunderers, beast kin would have hunted us to extinction.”

Brand scoff. That was the argument every racist piece of shit made to justify their beliefs. The beast kin were made by Vali in the wake of Ragnarok. For almost a century, their animalistic characteristics gave them an advantage over humanity. Resistance to the cold, night vision, and improved hearing and strength allowed for a bloody campaign that nearly ended mankind. Most thought the only reason they failed was thanks to Magni and gods like him, but those people were wrong.

“The thunderers didn't do shit to save humanity,” Brand said. “Magic saved us. Humans figured out cultivation before beast kin. Everything you’ve done since then has just been murder.”

“The thunderers have stopped those times from returning,” The avatar insisted.

“Magic keeps those times from returning!” Brand said. “Any advantage beast kin, the jötunn , or the fey have means nothing when the first gate is opened. Magic makes everyone equal. Thunderers are just senseless killers.” Brand’s anger flared as he thought of what the avatar said in the first moments of being free from the soul stone. “And I bet more than that, but you still defend them.”

The avatar looked at the ground in shame but then raised her head with determination on her face. “Can you kill Magni?”

“And can do plenty, if I had a reason."

“My afterlife wasn’t what I expected,” Thora said, her voice quivering. Then, she finally offering her name.

********

“What are we walking into?” asked the scout of Cull’s team. He’d just used his enhanced vision to spot Brand flying amongst the clouds. That was all well and good until he knocked a dragon from the sky. The display of power had shaken everyone’s spirit, everyone’s except Cull’s.

“Calm down,” Cull said. “This isn't a surprise. We all know what he’s capable of. Killing that dragon probably used up most of the mana he had.”

“And if you're wrong.”

Cull shrugged. “I’ll deal with it.”

********

Thora took a bite of dragon meat and watched as her captor cut into the serpent with a conjured ax. She’d just finished telling him about her time in Gilmi and the barbarism of Magni. To her surprise, he wasn't surprised.

“Gods are people too, and people can be terrible,” he’d said. “I’m not going to seek Magni out. The Aesir aren't my enemy, but if he gets in my way I can take him down.”

“Hey,” Thora called out. “You still haven't told me your name.”

The man stopped hacking at the dragon and looked at Thora. For just a moment he seemed to be trying not to react to something painful then spoke once the episode was over. “I go by Phantom, but some call me Phantom lord.”

Thora frowned. “You can’t be serious. That name is ridiculous.”

“I know,” Phantom admitted. “It's not the name I chose, but the one I was given.”

“What’s your real name?”

“You haven't earned that yet.”

Phantom went back to work, slicing his way deeper into the dragon. After a while, he was crawling around the beast’s insides. Thora vaguely wondered he’d end up like Sigfried. There was always the chance Phantom was a demigod like the fabled hero.

He emerged a few minutes later with a beast core the size of a tombstone. The core had a pinkish hue and radiated enough mana to cause rainbow-colored sparks to appear. One could buy nobility with such an item. It could probably open one of the higher gates in a single use. The core was the single most valuable thing Thore had ever seen.

“What do you plan to do with that?” she asked.

Phantom broke off a few small pieces of the core, placing it in his pocket. “I’m sending a message.”

He began writing glowing words on the remaining core with the tip of his finger in a language Thora had never seen. He left no part of the core uncovered by the time he finished then began filling it with some of his own mana.

“I have a friend with a teleportation focus,” Phantom said. “By sending that mana into this core I can-” The core disappeared in a pop of displaced air. “And there, message sent with barely enough mana to make it.”

“You really killed a dragon just to send a message?”

Phantom ripped a piece of cooked meat out of the dragon. “Well I was hungry and you could use some clothes. Its wings and scales and be used to make something.”

************

"What the fuck are you looking at!" Astrid yelled at the priest of Modi staring at her with a frown. He looked away at her attention, not saying a word. “Yeah, that's what I thought!”

“Is Shadow not available?” Gorm asked.

“And you!” Astrid said. “Wasting my time with useless meetings! Nothing has changed since the last one. The weapons and funds have been delivered on schedule, so why am I here?”

Gorm cleared his throat. “King Ragnar, um, understands that Phantom is indisposed. We would never demand his presents, regardless of the army gathering in the South,” he added offhandedly. “But other forces wish to make his acquaintance.”

“I’m not some lady in a fancy dress. Just spit it out.”

Gorm glanced at Modi’s priest before speaking. “Druids have been arriving at the castle. They're looking for all of you on behalf of Vali and his pack.”

Astrid leaned back in her seat then abandoned it completely to float in the air. “So why aren't they here?”

“You wouldn't have come with a stranger present and I couldn't allow one in this meeting without informing you without breaking an oath made in Modi's name.”

“Well tell them Phantom is busy, and so am I,” Astrid said, then decided to add a little something knowing an all-out battle with other strikers was around the corner. “Vellian spies aren't going to kill themselves.”

“Spies?” Gorm said in surprise.

“Don't worry we’ll handle-”

An object appeared in front of Astrid landing in her hands. It was as large as her torso and glowed with a faint light. It was a beast core without a doubt, but there was writing on it, written in a language the strikers taught during training.

Astrid read the message and smiled. “It looks like Phantom just killed a dragon.”

W, W, what!” Gorm sputtered. “Is that a dragon core?”

“Nearly depleted,” Astrid said, then drained the last of its mana. A wave of pressure escaped her body as her fifth gate opened. “Now it's completely drained.” she then tossed the core over to Gorm who caught it greedily. “And now it's yours.”

********

“Runa, I’m busy,” Uhtred said half-heartedly.

He was in one of Brand’s observation rooms and knew his girlfriend shouldn't be with him, but he just couldn't say no to the beautiful beast kin. Besides, she couldn't understand the language the strikers he was listening to were speaking. It was ancient and hadn't been spoken in hundreds of years. She was a distraction though, nibbling on his ear as she straddled him.

“What are they saying?” Runa asked in that lovely way that got Uhtred’s heart racing.

“How best to sabotage the north before their main force arrived,” Uhtred lied. In truth, Brunhild was briefing the new striker arrivals on the skills of her missing team.

Runa kissed him deeply, breaking off for only a moment to speak. “But you’ll stop them right?”

The shadows in the room danced as Uhtred spoke with more confidence than he felt. “Of course. You just focus on receiving your first blessing.”

Runa chuckled and enveloped her hand in shadows. “I‘m already blessed. You’re looking at the newest shadow touched disciple.”

Uhtred gave a silent prayer for the good news. Little did he know, Runa heard every word of her most faithful worshiper.