Chereads / Tales of Apocrypha / Chapter 40 - For Love and Power

Chapter 40 - For Love and Power

Lagertha held Brant in her hands and saw how well he fought against the dark creature. She held him because his raw strength was fading away after he fought with her longsword. Lagertha turns around and notices Mundis transforming into something she never expected. Mundis transformed into what appears to be a human with a black longsword and black clothing for armor. He had a black cloak with a black mask; it was at that moment when all was revealed to the Wolf Queen.

The black clothing on the man with a blackened sword was enough proof that Mundis was a being who served Mephiles. The Demon Wolf hoped Lagertha would yield to him and serve him in making Midland the greatest of all kingdoms. The demons who served their king wanted Lagertha dead, and such treason would ruin the reputation of Midland's king. The Wolf Queen turns back around to see how Brant is doing; he could not move or open his eyes.

"Brant? Get up. Brant, get up!" Lagertha said. She shook him and said his name to see if he would heed her words, but nothing came out of his mouth.

"No. No. Brant, speak to me!" She shouted. She was extremely terrified that Mundis may have killed the young hunter and broke every bone in his body.

Lagertha continued shaking him to make him talk, and she had tears getting ready to stream down her face.

"BRANT!!" She shouted. The one and only friend the Wolf Queen ever had seemed as if he breathed his last.

The one and the only person who ever looked at Lagertha as a loyal friend and a lover may not live to see the end of this night. Lagertha started breathing heavily, and she began relating to when her mother died from the demons. Then, she kneels and places her head on Brant's chest to see if he is breathing. Both of them were already on the brink of death if they continued fighting the sorcerer beast.

Thankfully, Brant's heart was still beating, but he could not fight any longer against the giant demon. He used all of his strength to save the Wolf Queen from being devoured by Mundis's fangs. Lagertha became satisfied at Brant being alive despite how many times Mundis attacked him. She slowly lays him down next to a building they were standing beside, and she wanted him to keep resting. Having rest was the only thing Lagertha wanted Brant to do, and she wanted nothing more than to finish the job the knights of Clegane could not.

The Wolf Queen had so much anger and fury enter her soul after what Mundis did to Brant. The anger she had inside her heart was the anger that would make her inner nature burst into flames. Lagertha began breathing heavily and made her anger take control of her entire body. She would never forgive the servant of King Mephiles for nearly making her best friend take his last breath. But before Lagertha could do anything else, she turns around and notices the dark creature lifting his hands.

Lagertha stands up from the floor and keeps her eyes closed while introducing the sorcerer beast to her true strength. Mundis allowed red flames to appear on his hands, and he made the ground shake violently. The hellish flames caused a massive group of night creatures to appear before the Wolf Queen with weapons. They all carried swords, weapons, and spears to kill Lagertha and satisfy their lord and master. All of their eyes resembled the color of the magical flames; they were all dominated by the giant demon's magic.

Lagertha continued having her eyes closed and allowing her fearsome expression to be directed towards Mundis. Brant's attempted murder was beyond Lagertha's power of forgiveness; Mundis would pay with his life. As Lagertha became angrier, her body started heating, and her hand tightly squeezed the handle of her sword. A few areas of smoke began exiting her body, and she started having illusions of Mephiles. She had so much rage enter her dark soul; her mind no longer worked how human minds are supposed to work.

Before she knew it, she opened her eyes and stared at Mundis with all kinds of anger and fury. Lagertha gazed at the beast of sorcery like a wolf waiting to feast on its prey after being captured. Her eye color changed from brown to purple, and her pupils began being vertical to match what a half-breed looks like. Her strength increased to the maximum; her long hair strongly breezed with the wind as the midnight continued. The Wolf Queen held her sword and made her nails grow longer as she was ready to rip and tear her enemies to shreds.

"So it's true. I see what you are. You are the daughter of King Mephiles! A descendant of the conqueror of worlds!" Mundis shouted.

"Your bloodletting days are finished, servant of Hell! I will rip out your throat! Your blood will decorate my sword!" Lagertha shouted.

"You don't understand, do you? Your father's kingdom is the greatest of all kingdoms. He wants to save you and protect you from harm's way. It is with our hand that his word is carried out," he said.

"And I told your kind that I would rather die than treat with my mother's murderers! My mother did nothing wrong, yet your kind murdered her in cold blood!"

"So it's personal then. That makes things far more interesting. But you will not live if you continue any further."

"I'm coming for King Mephiles. I will fight him and make all of you rejoin your gods. I will make you all taste your own blood!"

The demons who stood with Mundis were already holding their weapons to strike fatal blows against the Wolf Queen. All of them heard enough from Lagertha's mouth and wanted their strength to outmatch hers. Then they all marched forward with their weapons pointed at Lagertha's face to decapitate her and use her head as a trophy. The beast who turned into a man stood and watched his servants finish what they came for. Lagertha's fingernails become way too sharp; sharp enough to sever a demon's head and rip open their chests.

An onslaught between the Wolf Queen against the demons began as Brant laid down, trying to recover his strength. But he cannot fight another night until his body is fully healed. Lagertha's fury was hot against the creatures of darkness, and her rage rested in her hands and her sword. Lagertha runs to three of the demons and ripped out their hearts, their throats, and their lungs. She ran to every monster and watched their blood and gore splatter all across the city road.

The Wolf Queen throws her blade straight and makes the unluckiest creature get stabbed in the middle of the head. She dashed, and she made her fingernails do the dirty work as the onslaught continued. Her rage spoke in volumes as she violently killed her enemies and made their blood paint the walls of Clegane. Lagertha pulls the sword out from the corpse's head and continues using it to fight against her opponents. Her best friend felt weak and empty inside; she fought for his protection and his safety.

Then Lagertha thought to herself, Brant, I will kill them all. These nails… are for you. These fangs… are for you. This sword… is for you! I'm going to be your beast! I will hunt them… all of them! They shall die like vermin!

She was a mighty mortal who succumbed to the darkness, yet she wanted nothing to do with their game. Lagertha tears them apart with both her longsword and her bare hands as Mundis watches on. He did not expect his servants to die so easily to a woman who is also the daughter of an ambitious man. Lagertha blindly swings her sword, and she watches every creature be sliced in half in such a brutal fashion. She made sure no monster rushed to the fallen hunter to take his soul and sell it to their king.

Lagertha fights back against the night creatures until she could feel herself fading away before the night ends. She could feel her arms and legs giving up after the many times she attacked the sorcerer beast. Mundis was not the first beast of sorcery and will not likely be the last one that Lagertha will face. She goes up to one more demon and clashes with the creature until her sword shatters the demon's blade. Lagertha kills that last demon before finding herself standing before the dark mortal who serves Mephiles.

Mundis appeared before her in a way that Mephiles appeared before King Harald on his triumphant day. Lagertha strolls toward the powerful man with a severed demon head as an example of her genuine power.