An overwhelming howl began to resonate throughout the forest. The sun was beginning to set, making the planned time of arrival slightly later than what Ulrich originally anticipated. Trees and branches could be heard breaking and snapping, growing louder and louder the closer the beast became. Ulrich sat unflinching, while Atalanta readied her bow and was prepared to fire at the creature whenever it appeared. Atalanta couldn't help but admire Ulrich's seeming fearlessness.
What Atalanta didn't know, was that Ulrich was meditating and trying his best to keep his aura and magical energy from becoming erratic. Ulrich had studied many things in Valkyria, one of the most important things he had learned from them was to harness emotions and control them. He was afraid, however, he was taught that it wasn't exactly a bad thing to be afraid. To not be afraid would be inhuman. All beings feel fear, it is overcoming that fear that allows humans to surpass their limits. Facing one's own fear will make one stronger, that is the philosophy he had gleaned from the valkyries.
He was afraid of failing and letting the beast continue to rampage throughout the forest. His failure would result in the deaths of many more innocent civilians. That is why Atalanta could sense a raging storm within his aura and magical power, because he was willing to give up everything to accomplish this goal, whether that be through a reckless plan or his willingness to use his families famed lust for battle. However, there was also another reason. It was because of his father.
"My son, you are still too young to fully understand this, but one day, I'm sure that you will come upon a situation where you will finally understand what I am going to tell you. I have no affinity for any of the magic swords of Camelot, and I may barely pass as a Demi-god ranked knight. So, I ask you, why can I do what I do, and come out on top despite my lack of strength?" Ulrich remembered sitting on his father's lap at the time.
"You are the strongest father, mother has told me many of your stories. I think you can do it because you are the strongest." Ulrich's father let out a loud laugh, before patting his son on the head. Ulrich remembered the overwhelming size of his father's hands and the feeling of safety he felt when around him.
"I wish that were the case my son. No, I persevere, even with the odds stacked against me. Sure, strength can be measured by your magical power, or even raw power. However, when people have those things, they tend to lose things and forget what's important to them. I can do what I do, because I fight for more than just myself. One could say that I never fight alone, for I fight to protect the futures, the wishes, and the families of our home. I always have you with me, so I will continue to fight until I can no longer. Remember this Ulrich, one day, you will have to make a choice, fight or flee. When you decide, remember those who are with you, the ones in your heart and the futures of all those you wish to protect. Would you want someone to protect you, if you couldn't defend yourself?"
Ulrich looked up at his father and nodded his head. His father smiled at him, before his face turned serious. "Just remember this my son, when you fight, make sure you don't forget who you are, for if you do, then you will end up the person who is taking away people's dreams."
A loud crash rushed through the air. The first trap had been tripped. Ulrich's eyes opened up. More and more snaps of traps could be heard. Ulrich stood up calmly and pulled his sword from the ground. "Don't fire until the explosion has happened!" Ulrich yelled to Atalanta. Her face had an awestricken look to it. What explosion? The Wolf then burst into the woods and into the clearing where Ulrich was standing. His legs and chest had large spears and stakes embedded in them.
"Fenrir huh, I was really hoping it would be one of your brothers, but I couldn't ask for a more worthy foe." Ulrich spoke quickly as he pointed his blade at the wolf. Fenrir seemed to acknowledge the human's bravery, as it bowed its head slightly before howling loudly. The sound was deafening, luckily, Ulrich didn't need to hear the beast to kill it. Fenrir charged forward with great speed, despite its size. Ulrich stood unflinching until the beast was but five yards away from him, at which point, a magical explosion was released at the feet of the beast, temporarily blinding him. "Fire now!"
Atalanta quickly began to shoot her magic enhanced arrows at the beast, mainly aiming for it's joints, in an attempt to help limit it's mobility. The arrows managed to pierce the beasts tough hide, however, it didn't seem bothered by the attacks. While she continued firing arrows, Ulrich dashed forward quickly and ran his blade against the side of the beast, making a long cut along its side. His sword seemed to begin to devour the blood of the beast, the same way it devoured the sunlight. Atalanta stood stunned at the blade, but quickly regained herself.
Atalanta quickly relocated while firing arrow after arrow, but Fenrir finally regained his senses and howled once again and spun around, smashing his tail against the tree that she had just leaped from. The force caused the tree to completely shatter at the base and it began to fall. Ulrich gathered magic into his hand, concentrating on the form it should take, before finally letting out a fireball that Fenrir managed to barely dodge, however, not without some singed fur. He began to charge Ulrich, however, he simply took a leap backwards while smirking.
As soon as Ulrich leaped away, a light erupted from where he stood. Fenrir still dashed forward, however, he was halted in his tracks, almost as if he had hit a wall. Atalanta looked at the ground and noticed a shield rune placed on the ground. She then noticed Ulrich run a complete circle around Fenrir, triggering shield runes all around Fenrir. Each one causing it's own light to emerge, resulting in Fenrir being trapped inside of a barrier of rune shields. As he thrashed against the rune barriers, Ulrich stuck his sword in the ground and lifted both his hands in the sky, before firing massive balls of flame into the air, one after the other.
Atalanta could tell the runes were starting to break, so she began to curve her arrows into the opening of the barrier, hitting Fenrir all over his body. Ulrich then began to chant, however, Atalanta couldn't hear a word of it. Suddenly, the inside of the barrier began to fill with water. She then saw that dark clouds had begun to converge quickly into the area. The water was now submerging half of Fenrir's body, when Ulrich suddenly lifted one hand into the sky. Atalanta could feel an immense magical presence begin to converge into the palm of his hand, before noticing sparks of electricity forming between his fingertips.
"Let's see how you handle this!" Ulrich yelled loudly as he grabbed his sword, imbuing all of his electric magic onto it before throwing it up into the air, where it would land inside of the barrier filled with water. Atalanta was dumbfounded, how would this damage him? It would be a minor electrocution at best, but just as that thought crossed her mind, she noticed Ulrich's hand was still in the air. He brought his hand down with great force, which seemed to cause a bolt of lightning to come crashing down towards the metal sword, which was also imbued with lightning.
Just as the lightning hit the sword, the sword hit Fenrir's wet fur, which then spread through the water. A massive explosion of electricity caused the barrier to break, but also threw Ulrich back a few feet. Atalanta was surprised at the sight of such a tactic. To use fire magic to create a thundercloud in the sky, imbue his sword with lightning to create a receiver for the lightning that would come from the thundercloud, and to use a defensive miracle to hold back the lightning until the exact moment his sword hit the wet fur of Fenrir was a tactic that must have required an immense amount of calculation and timing to actually pull off. That didn't even account for the preparation or magical energy needed to execute it.
Ulrich had taken a fair brunt of the explosion, causing him to become slightly disoriented. He slowly made his way to his feet, staggering and stumbling as he did so. It was clear that the barrier was now broken, however, neither Ulrich, nor Atalanta could see Fenrir through the smoke and dust from the explosion. Suddenly, Fenrir whipped his tail around, causing the dust to dissipate and also caused Ulrich's sword to violently fly through the air, impaling him through his right shoulder.
This caused Ulrich to once again fall to the ground, however, the pain seemed to bring him back to his senses. He quickly pulled the sword out of his shoulder, and then gathered flame into his hand and proceeded to sear his wound shut. He knew that he would no longer be able to use that arm for the rest of the fight. Atalanta was able to shoot her arrows and keep Fenrir's attention, who was injured by Ulrich's trap. Ulrich grabbed his sword with his working arm and began to make his way to another area, of the grove.
Ulrich then let out a whistle, Fenrir turned and saw Ulrich, who was in a one handed sword stance. Fenrir quickly charged towards Ulrich, however, as it was doing so, it had finally triggered Ulrich's pitfall. The wolf fell inside and let out a loud cry. The pitfall had spikes inside of it, however, it only managed to trap half of his body, luckily, Ulrich had also set up some sharpened stakes to fire at the pitfall, which managed to pierce Fenrir's tough hide.
Atalanta was able to quickly maneuver to a tree nearby and did as Ulrich instructed, and proceeded to shoot arrows into the eyes of Fenrir. The eyes of Fenrir seemed to be hard as steel, as her arrows had no effect. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate and gather her magical energy. Ulrich could feel a surge coming from the trees, so in turn, Ulrich began to muster all of his magical power, what little he still had remaining, and channelled it into his sword.
His stance was not a stance meant for dueling or fighting, no, what was not seen by Fenrir or Atalanta, was that Ulrich had been using this stance, which was primarily used by fencers, for something else entirely. Ulrich had used the blood of both the great wolf and his own, to write runes in the front of himself with the blade. Ulrich then began his runic chant, "Uruz, Hagalaz, and Dagaz, by my command, bind!" The three runes then began to move on top of each other, with Ulrich using all of his magic to stabilize the binding of the three blood runes.
Fenrir began to thrash about, as he saw Ulrich's runes and could also sense a power coming from the trees, a power that frightened him. Suddenly, he could feel the roots of the forest begin to wrap around him. Though, it was clearly not being done by the two attacking him. The roots then grabbed ahold of his neck and held his head in place, though it was only strong enough to last for a moment. However, that moment was all that was needed. Ulrich thrust his sword forth while letting it go, resulting in them passing through the runes. The runes seemed to thrust the sword forward with tremendous momentum. It was almost like shooting a magic arrow, but with a sword. Atalanta released her arrow and, for a moment, it seemed as if time itself had stopped.
The sword and arrow moved with such speed that multiple booms could be heard through the air, though only those that could move faster than sound would be able to hear them all. They both hit Fenrir's eyes, easily penetrating them and even going through the top and bottom of his head, respectively. The sword continued through the forest, crashing through trees until it could no longer be heard. The arrow landed in the ground where it had made a large crater. Fenrir's head fell to the ground.
Ulrich then began to lose feeling in his legs and began to fall, however, Atalanta had already caught him before he hit the ground. She could barely feel any magical power left inside of him. "Ulrich! Are you okay?! Say Something?!" She exclaimed with great passion. She grew worried, as she had never seen someone use rune binding so quickly after just learning how to use regular runes. The runes he used were all fairy runes, yet, he was able to make an offensive based rune attack using only fairy runes. Also, to use blood sacrifice as a catalyst for casting the rune was also something she hadn't expected from a beginner. She then heard Ulrich begin to cough.
"I'm fine princess, I just used some magic beyond my means. The defensive runes on my body are what's keeping me going for right now. I just need to catch my bearings" Ulrich had a faint smile on his face. Atalanta couldn't help but be impressed by this young prince's ability to endure such pain. Everything he had done, the blood sacrifice, multiple rune castings, rune binding, nearly exhausting his magic supply, and being impaled by his own sword, would have been impressive for a hero of legend. Yet, this young prince was able to accomplish it. Was he demigod rank already?
"Call me Dianna, that is my name in the kingdom. Come on, I'll sit you next to this tree. You rest, I'll confirm that the beast is dead." Dianna quickly turned around and began to make her way to the beast. Ulrich looked at her, admiring her beauty and courage, at least that's what he tried to do. His vision was blurry and he was seeing double. His head felt like it was splitting and his shoulder was in agonizing pain. Every little movement he made felt like his bones would break at any second from the stress he put his body through.
Ulrich then heard a voice, "You must stop her, the beast still has enough strength for one final attack." The voice was ephemeral, almost like it was communicating through thought, however, Ulrich couldn't ignore what it just said, but his body refused to move. "I can give you enough power to save her, but it may cost you your life. What will you do?" Ulrich remembered his father in that moment, the answer was obvious, and the voice seemed to acknowledge his answer. Suddenly, he felt a jolt of magic course through his body.
Dianna was now next to the beast, it was clear that both of their attacks had done the job. Nothing could have survived such an attack. She felt a sense of relief as she turned, not noticing the beast raising it's claws in the air, and bringing them down upon her with great force. She then saw Ulrich race towards her with incredible speed. He proceeded to wrap his arms around her and turn so that she was out of reach. However, the claws of the beast proceeded to shred the back of Ulrich, easily bypassing his remaining armor and defensive runes. Blood spouted from his back. Dianna noticed that Ulrich didn't have a look of pain upon his face, no, he still remained smiling.
It was as if time stopped. Dianna saw the beast's last breath give way, she saw Ulrich's blood fall slowly onto the ground, she could feel his grip slowly begin to weaken. He had saved her from certain death, at the cost of his own life. Ulrich's grip weakened, but he remained standing for a moment. She could say nothing and do nothing, except begin to cry. Why did he risk his life for her? She then began to remember the past three months they spent together. She realized that it was because of what he said, and it also led her to realize that she was important to him.
Suddenly, she came to her senses and grabbed onto Ulrich, who quickly fell to his knees. He couldn't speak. It was clear that he had spent all of his energy to protect her. Suddenly, Ulrich pulled her down with what little strength he still had. This confused her even more, until she looked back and noticed that he now had an arrow in his chest. She quickly picked up her bow and shot a magic arrow into the location from which he was shot. All Dianna remembered, was seeing a red mist where she had shot.
She looked at her hands and her body and noticed all of the blood on her body. Ulrich's blood. She looked at him, laying on the ground. he was clearly unconscious and his breathing was becoming slower and slower. She began to try and heal him and give him magical energy, but no matter how much she tried, it wouldn't work. Only a god could survive such an ordeal. Ulrich wasn't a god. No, he wasn't a god, nor did he possess a god's blood, but what if he did? Dianna then looked up, the storm clouds Ulrich had made had now dissipated, and all that remained in the sky was the moon and stars.
She took out the arrow from his chest and held him close. "Please forgive me for this Ulrich, but I can't allow you to die like this. The moon goddess promised you protection and has had her eye on you for awhile now. Never experiencing love, how could she know what it felt like? Well, now she knows." Dianna bit her thumb and began to draw a symbol around Ulrich's body, it was the symbol of the goddess of the moon and beside it was a cross with a star in the middle. "All Father of the Trinity, please listen to this child's request."
Three voices were then heard, a voice of a child, a man, and a woman. "Young deity of the moon and hunt, what ails you child?" The voice was soft, yet commanding. It made Dianna bow her head in reverence.
"I, Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt and Moon, humbly ask that you allow me to transfer my divinity to this young prince and noble warrior. He has saved my life, a god's life, while risking his own life, and I can think of no greater sacrifice worthy of divinity." She began to cry at the thought of her pleas going unheard.
"You are willing to give up your divinity, for the life of this human?"
"My blessing cannot save his life, only by giving him my divinity will I be able to save his life. For me, I am willing to sacrifice it, if it means I may be able to see him again." Unknown to Artemis, the All Father was smiling down upon this young goddess. Humanity, his creation, had managed to touch the heart of a deity. So much, that she was willing to trade places with him.
"Divinity, as you know is both a blessing and a curse for those in the human realm. He may lose himself, however, it is my hope that you will be able to restore him when the time comes. Step into the middle of the cross, Artemis. One, shall be two, and two, shall be one. Consider this a gift young one. When you wake, find him, and wake him from his unstable mind." Artemis was confused at his final words, but before she could speak, she blacked out.
Blood was all over, Dianna was on the ground with an arrow underneath her. Ulrich could see unseelied fairies approaching. He looked back at the wolf and realized quickly who caused this calamity. His eyes glowed a bright silver, and as he held out his hand, a golden bow appeared. He pulled the string back and an arrow appeared, before shooting it into the forest. The arrow managed to split into multiple arrows and proceeded to decapitate the unseelied fairies that were approaching, even though they were cloaked in the darkness and shouldn't have been able to be seen. He saw that Dianna was covered in blood. He then walked over to the corpse of the wolf and took out a dagger that he had on his belt. If it was a wolf they wanted, it was a wolf they would get.