Cornelius and his group stiffened as looks of fury crossed their faces and their pale skin flushed with heat.
Seeing his insults hit a nerve, Fenrir's smile turned malicious as he slowly walked forward, "Freya you see a shot take it and don't let anyone reach Luci."
Before Freya could respond Fenrir turned into a blur of motion as he shot forward. Fenrir reappeared in front of Penelope who hadn't moved from the front of the group, with a cold glint in his eye Fenrir's knife flashed through the air and drew a white line across her neck. Penelope only managed a short gasp before she disappeared in a flash of white light.
Freya blinked as she stared at Fenrir's wide back as he turned to face the now party of five. It had all happened so quickly in less than ten seconds, it was like watching an apex predator hunt.
The natural grace and fluidity of Fenrir's movement combined with his ruthless strike that happened so quickly there was no opportunity for resistance. For a second Freya imagined herself on the other side of Fenrir's knife and terror threatened to overwhelm her.
But then the world caught up and with a roar from Bruno, the nobles charged Fenrir who's only response was to smile and lower his stance and smile.
---
Fenrir's heart was pounding in his chest as he stared down the armed group charging at him. It had been far too long since Fenrir had felt his blood rushing through his body as everything around seemed to pop and his mind hyper focused on the different smells, sounds, and the flow of the air over his skin.
'Easy Fenrir, remember your breathing, control your rage.' Kerran's voice spoke steadily in Fenrir's mind, 'Channel it, don't let it control you.'
The sound of blood rushing through his body settled down to a dull background noise, 'Thanks Dad.'
Flipping his sword around in a reverse grip Fenrir let out a long exhale before he exploded forward to clash head to head with the large boy who was charging him down with his shield raised.
"Watch out Fenrir, this guy Bruno is strong, he took out three of our party members single-handedly." Fenrir barely heard Freya's warning when the warrior or Bruno lashed out with a quick diagonal chop with his sword.
Stepping to the side and crouching, Fenrir used his sword's edge to guide the sword over his right shoulder before moving inside Bruno's guard.
Fenrir's arm blurred as he drove his sword towards Bruno's ribs, but the clearly trained warrior took a step back as his shield seemed to teleport and Fenrir's knife sank into the wood with dull thunk.
Before he could pull out his sword from the shield Fenrir felt a rush of air from his left and he jumped back just in time to avoid a flurry of strikes from Cornelius and his dual swords.
Flipping over his back to stand upright Fenrir immediately switched into the bare hand fighting stance that his father had ingrained into him. Instead of two balled fists Fenrir's hands were loosely cupped with his thumbs tucked in tight against the edge of his palms and knees bent.
Just as he got settled Cornelius was on Fenrir, his swords flashing in a dizzying blur of speed and steel. Without a weapon Fenrir was forced to dance between Cornelius' swords, as he waited for an opening.
"Why don't you stay still and let me gut you like the worm you are!" Cornelius shouted in frustration, while he was fast Fenrir seemed to bend and flex at impossible angles to avoid his blades within a hair's breadth.
Fenrir's only response was to jump back as his hands blurred as he launched two throwing knives through the air.
Coming up short Cornelius stepped back as Bruno rushed forward holding up his shield to catch the two throwing knives that slammed into his shield embedding all the way up to their handles.
As he landed there was a bright flash of blue light from his right and Fenrir looked over as the one other unnamed mage unleashed a barrage of magical missiles at him.
Throwing his last knife at the swarm Fenrir was buffeted by the intense explosion from the magic and he rocked unsteadily. In that single moment of weakness Bruno appeared in front of Fenrir driving forward with his shield raised trying to run Fenrir to the ground.
"Freya now!" Fenrir shouted as he jumped and twisted, ending up with both his feet planted on Bruno's shield as he grabbed the handle of his short sword stuck in the wooden shield.
There was a small boom as a magical missile slammed into Bruno's back and at the same time Fenrir leveraged his weight as he dropped to the ground. With a roar Fenrir flipped Bruno over his back and slammed him onto the ground while ripping out his sword.
With a grunt Bruno slammed into the ground and Fenrir could hear the air rush out of his lungs. Jumping onto him Fenrir drove his shortsword down that would have pierced straight through Bruno's forehead if he hadn't disappeared in a flash of white light.
Standing back up Fenrir turned to face Cornelius who stared at him, his face a deathly pale color, "Artirius deal with the girls, Sarah support me with healing and Marcus shoot anything that moves! We're going to show these gutter trash filth what happens when they step out of line!"
Cornelius reached into his shirt and pulled out a small silver vial connected to a chain around his neck, "I was hoping to save this for the boss, but I think the satisfaction of taking a piece out of you will make up for it."
Fenrir didn't wait and he charged Cornelius who popped the cork on the small bottle and sealed his lips around the opening before tilting back his head and taking a long drink.
Almost immediately Cornelius' muscle's began to writhe like snakes under his skin as they swelled with power. His veins swelled like over inflated waterskins and steam poured off Cornelius in waves.
Fenrir stopped in his tracks as he watched Cornelius transform, overall he had gained nearly three inches and height and ten pounds of pure muscle. Sniffing the air Fenrir's nose curled at the smell pouring off of the noble. It was almost indescribable but the smell caused Fenrir to flash back to when he had gone foraging with his mother and discovered an abandoned beast lair. At the time the smell had made Fenrir panic as every instinct screamed at him to run away as fast as possible.
But this time was different, Fenrir wasn't afraid he was angry. His heart pounded like war drums that made his blood boil and the fury that he trained to control surged through his body like an unstoppable tide.