Archive of Our Own

In front of them, a dimmed hallway led outside, it too was illuminated by the light passing through a steel barred gate, halting any from entering, or exiting the lonely room. Yet, through the indistinguishable roars of the crowd, the figure's ears twitched as they heard something, a calling, and soon opened their eyes, revealing two blood-red pupils that pierced through the darkness, and stood, feeling the cool stone on their bare feet.

They soon began to walk towards the gate, a long fox tail trailing behind them as each step silently brought them closer to the shroud of sunlight that leaked through, until their entire figure was wrapped in its warm embrace, revealing the black sleeves that covered their forearms, ending on her exposed hands that adorned their many wounds from their endless years of fighting.

As they waited, the figure's tail slammed down to the concrete grounds, cracks erupting from the impact as it recoiled back to its previous position, the figure more focused on absorbing the outsides through the gaps of the gate. Bright, open space welcomed them as a large grassy field covered the ground, the only other thing being the stone path that led to the centre, and the large elevated arena that rose from the middle. 

Surrounding the fields rose four great buildings that ended in slanted steps that faced the arena, with every available space filled up by a crowd of faceless spectators, their details melding into a dizzying cloud that was the source of the indistinguishable roars. 

Yet, they were unable to wait no longer, as they did not care about the crowd's cheers or jeers, but instead the being on the other side of the field, also waiting as well behind a thick steel gate, and brought their right hand towards the lowest bar of the gate, slowly lower their legs, and began to lift the heavy gate. Loud creaks echoed all across the field as the rusty gears that were supposed to raise the gates themselves were forcefully moved, each second the gear unwinded did a loud metallic crack forced its way outside, causing the once wild crowds to falter into dead silence, the rhythmic breaks of the gears pounding onto their hearts, no matter how far they were from the source.

Suddenly, just as immediate was their forced opening of the gate, the figure immediately let go of their grasp on the gate, now on the outsides, the steel gate came crashing down to the ground, its impact shattering the very floor below, and sending a final blow to the crowd's hearts. 

Now with a thousand glares resting upon them, the figure slowly made their way towards the centre, and now being closest to the grassy fields that flanked each side of the stone path, they noticed that it wasn't just blades of grass that covered the field, but shattered pieces of blades, spears, axes were hidden underneath, patches of once green grass dyed red with blood, the magnitude of these only intensifying until they stopped on the stone steps that led up towards the arena, the ground around grasses, stained with dry blood, fallen weapons impaled the ground, forming a 'fence' that crookedly wrapped around the arena, each one rusted, deformed, destroyed.

Without any hesitation, the figure undid the buttons that held their cloak onto their body, letting it fall behind, and revealing their true nature. A young female with long brown hair that accompanied her fox-like features was revealed, her slender body defined through a nearly skin-tight black top, sleeveless, exposing her well-built physique, only for black sleeves to cover her forearms. Unlike her upper half, her lower was far more loose-fitting, as white cloth covered her legs, only stopping at her bare feet.

Soon enough, she ascended the flight of stairs, taken by countless others before her, she could feel something else rising in her core, no, burning, the unknown heat only engulfing her insides with increasing intensity as she took another step, then another...

Soon enough, as she took her final step onto the top-most step, the unyielding heat engulfed her as a whole, and unable to help it, a grin slowly etched itself on her face, that untempered flames within her was her growing excitement, the anticipation of a battle brewing...

Yet as she did, she soon noticed that her grin had caught the attention of the only other man in the arena, the well-suited announcer, frozen by the rather terrifying aura exuded by the fighter, it seemed as if the actions the woman took had cut off the announcer's speech. Yet as the two locked sights, the man quickly continued with his speech, but instead, cutting towards the very end.

"We have all waited long enough for this very fight! In all the realms, kingdoms, and countries! This tournament has brought with us our two strongest fighters!" The announcer roared, and like a spark dropped on oil, it rekindled the wild flames of the crowd.

"Having climbed through the ranks against the many other champions each kingdom has chosen, it was but comedic coincidence that both finalists are not of any kingdom, instead, hailing from the frozen wastes of the norths! The Ødemark! A land of nothing but death, it is a place so cold, breathing alone can freeze one's lungs, a place where the most dangerous of creatures lurk. It is kill or be killed, and these two have clearly shown that they can survive!" Unfazed by the crowd, the announcer continued, yet as he did, a cold glare caught his attention and he freezes in place.

It did not come from the woman, however, instead, the announcer turned his head towards the side opposite to the woman's, facing the dark halls of yet another gated entrance, the gaze was powerful enough to reach him from that distance, the intensity enough for the man to feel a thousand bars of steel on his shoulders. 

"Her sudden appearance in this tournament was quickly shoved under the rug as she quickly made her name known as a powerful untamed brawler! Having broken through the heavy armour of the Paladin Leeroy with just her bare hands in the semi-finals and overpowering the Kingdom of Manis' rising stars is the warrior of the north! Aspen Hunter!"

The woman winced at the introduction, but her focus was quickly brought onto the sudden creaking of the gate in front of her, the gate, this time, functioning normally, and once more does the crowd die down as yet another figure walked out of the shadows, cloaked in the same white as Aspen's cloak was, it was however tattered, the edges of his coat torn and shredded, revealing the many wounds that decorated the figure's body.

And just like Aspen did the figure drop their coat, revealing a man of similar age to Aspen, with unkempt grey hair, it masked the unnatural green eyes the man had. However, unlike Aspen, chains wrapped around his arms, acting as sleeves covering his arms.

"And on the other side is a man that has proven his might time and time again! In a world of magic does this man not falter, proving his might even with his inability of magic. Never will one underestimate the might of this man, displaying his superhuman strength befitting of an Ødemarkin, he is a seasoned veteran who has walked a bloody path towards where he is now! Carving through the famed Summoners of Arcadia, as well as the sword saint of Idah, is Igrim Vale!" The crowd once more erupted into a frenzying roar as the two fighters now stood eye to eye, their red and green gaze seemingly too much for the announcer, as he quietly took a step back, and raised his hand.

"So you made a name for yourself after you left the tribe," Aspen asked, her voice as sharp as steel, yet seemingly breaking away the tension between the two, though did suffocating atmosphere around them persisted.

"Still searching for your fated battle it would seem..." She added as her grin grew, revealing her fanged teeth as her lips separated.

"Did you come all this way just to tell me that? Old friend." Igrim replied, his deep voice shuddering as he went on to stretch his arms, both still waiting for the Announcer's signal.

"I've come to settle a score. That's all." Aspen countered as the two moved to their battle stance, both now smiling as the announcer drops his hand, the battle commencing.

In an instant, Aspen covers the entire length of the arena, appearing in front of her foe and driving her fist onto his face, Igrim quickly counters as he leaned forward, accepting her strike with his own from over his head, both fists meeting each other, resulting in a deafening blow that erupted from the impact, as well as a shockwave that pushed the unexpecting announcer off the stage, the whole attack happening in merely a second's notice.

Aspen quickly backs off as she barely dodges Igrim's other hand from burying itself onto her chest, only to use the movement by twisting her body, launching her leg off the floor and onto Igrim, who quickly blocks the attack with his arm, then moving from a block to a grab as he threw the woman to the middle of the arena.

Aspen quickly recovers as she gracefully lands back on the ground, the speed of her impact dying down as she does a quick backwards roll, launching herself once more as soon as she faced Igrim, using her bent knees to spring herself forward. Only this time, Igrim dashes forward as well, dodging Aspen's grab and grabbing her by the face, immediately stopping all her energy from the lunge, and smashing her face onto the hard concrete, marking the once pristine concrete battle floor with a red crater of Aspen's face.

Raising his hand, Igrim eyed the bloody head, his green eyes capturing every line of blood that dripped down Aspen's face, only stopping at her eyes.

"Boo!" Suddenly, he was greeted by Aspen's red eyes, who proceeded to crunch up her abdomen, lifting herself upwards and wrapping her legs around her rival's arm that held on to her head. With a shift of her body, Aspen flips Igrim over, the man landing on the hard concrete just like how he threw the female warrior on the ground mere moments ago.

Now on top of him, Aspen began a flurry of blows, each one shattering the very stone they were on, each crack only growing until they reached from one end to another. Yet, even with each punch taken, it barely takes a few seconds for Igrim to recover from the throw, completely unaffected by the blows of Aspen as he quickly catches Aspen's attack with a grab, his other hand driving into her abdomen, blowing her off him.

Landing on her feet, she suddenly falls on one knee, unable to recover from the clean blow that sent shockwaves across her body. 

"You-" Aspen vomits, "Yo-u could have thrown me off. And it wo-uld have been all over." She asked, yet, her sights were directed towards the stripes of red that now covered Igrim's face, spitting out some blood, it was evident that Aspen's flurry did in fact damage the man.

"Because I know who you are. Dawn Seeker. Just as you know me. What is victory? Without blood?" Igrim's green eyes once more glance down at Aspen, who could not help but let out a light chuckle, compared to the emotionless face of Igrim, who prepared himself for Aspen's next attack. In return, the woman recovered and brushed off the blood on her face.

"White Fang. I should apologize." She quickly enters another battle stance, "For look down on your glory!"

Once more darting forward, her hands began to change as her fingers began to lengthen, each one becoming more defined, her skin stretching until they could not stretch any longer, as blades made of bones tore through them, three per each finger.

As the blades burst out of her fingers, she took advantage of it, throwing out blood onto Igrim, the stream of blood that leaked out of her fingers moulded into one long blade of red. Immediately, the man dodged, quick-stepping to the side as the blade of blood easily cut through the edge of the arena as it landed. Only, Igrim was met with more of the projectile, side-stepping each and every one of them.

Yet as he did, he made himself closer to Aspen, who stopped her charge as she focused on firing more of those bloody slashes. With both now at arm's length, Aspen threw her right hand down onto Igrim, intending to cut his face with her blood-soaked claws. Yet, Igrim simply parries the attack with his left hand, swatting away Aspen's attack by aiming at her wrist, and going in for another punch with his right.

Aspen quickly recovers, tilting her head and dodging his punch, she aims her other arm at his abdomen, positioning it beside her waist as she goes for the attack. Igrim recovers his left hand from the parry, absorbing the entire strike by once more grabbing Aspen's fist. However, as he did, blood began to drip down from his hand as Aspen's blades dug through his palm, only stopping at his bones.

In need of space, Igrim slams his head onto Aspen, knocking her back slightly as he recovers. Looking at his shredded hand, he clutches it tightly and returns to the fight, taking advantage of the still-recovering Aspen and slamming his fist onto her face.

"Your magic has improved since I've left." Igrim remarks as he waits for his opponent to stand. While Aspen indeed have her magic, she knew she had less endurance and recovery than the pure physical brawler Igrim was. 

"And it looks like this civilized world has not softened you!" Aspen roared as Igrim could see her eyes beginning to shimmer, her rather long and unkempt hair signalling something has changed within her as it now flowed frantically against the winds alongside her tail. As if she had a second wind flowing around her.

Suddenly, as if time has been skipped, Igrim now finds Aspen just inches in front of him, as he sees an incoming kick aimed towards him. Barely blocking with his arm, Igrim counters by directing his other arm once more to Aspen's abdomen. Yet, before he could even land a hit, Aspen had already brought her leg back down to the ground, pressing it firmly, she propels her fist forward, landing a hit on Igrim's own abdomen.

As unflinching as he was, Igrim winces, for the first time during the entire fight, he showed some damage. But Aspen knew it was not enough, as she followed her attack with an uppercut, this time, it was Igrim's turn to be knocked back.

"Yes... Yes!" Instead of falling to the ground, Igrim has merely been pushed away, his bare feet seemingly sliding across the shattered arena, his head and body bent backwards. Yet as he stops in place, he slowly straightened his back, revealing his green eyes once more, and a smile replacing his once emotionless face.

"Remind me of the savage powers! Our people's greatest pride in the frost!" Igrim roared, more fired up now, and dashed towards Aspen, who returned the favoured and approached him as well, both readying their fist once more, arcing their arms as they reached a climax.

BANG!

Their fists meet once more, far more violent than before as it shudders the arena, loose fragments rattling about as the impact was enough to shatter Aspen's bone blades, it falling into pieces.

Igrim does not waste a second as he extends his already extended arm and grabs hold of Aspen, pulling her closer and landing another headbutt onto her face, he continues as he once more drives his other hand straight onto her abdomen as she backs away from the headbutt.

But unlike before, Aspen does not spit out blood, and neither does she back down from Igrim's blows. Instead, she grabs Igrim as he lands his blow to her abdomen, and pulls it to her side, bringing Igrim close enough for her to land a knee to his stomach. 

No. Her knee does not connect to his stomach, instead, Igrim backs off, revealing his hand, which grabbed Aspen's, having now blocked the attack. Without a thought, Igrim sweeps Aspen's only leg, bringing her down to the ground for a second time.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Igrim's fist crashes onto the marble floor as he jumps onto her, Aspen dodging each punch by shifting her head fast enough, unable to move as Igrim's knee was on her chest.

Gritting her teeth, Aspen's fists once more began to shimmer as a yellow glow wrapped around both her hands and curling them into a ball, she lands a hit on Igrim's chest and abdomen, launching him several meters into the sky. 

"I'm not done just yet!" Igrim roared as the chains around his arms began to be unwrapped, revealing 8 hooks attached to a line of chains. As they unwrapped, Igrim swung both hands, each one holding 4 of the chains, and as he did, the hooks tore through the arena like melted butter, each one trying to hook in the grounded Aspen, who dodged by the strands of her hair, dancing around the chains.

Suddenly, the chains stopped, seemingly stuck on the arena grounds. As it did, Aspen turned her head onto Igrim, who immediately pulled the chains, and came crashing down to the centre of the stage, everything around them erupting as fragments of shattered stone bounced off their battle-hardened, years of wounds and cuts only strengthening their skins. But no matter the sheer chaos around her, Aspen only holds her guard, staring at the centre of the arena, the cloud of stone fragments its most violent.

She could feel something. After many years of living in the frozen waste, hunting creatures many would call demons in their own right for sustenance, from towering lumbering behemoths peaked over the tallest of Ironwood trees, to wolves the size of carriages, their spiked iron fur sharp enough to break through stone as they themselves feasted of steel. She had conquered them all... however, this feeling, she felt like a child facing down a predator.

Readying her battle stance once more, the violent gusts of wind and rubble slowly died down, revealing Igrim once more, his shining green eyes staring blankly at Aspen. His chains bent and twisted around his arms once more, however, unlike before, his hooks now arranged themselves onto his fingers saved for his thumbs and took a stance like no other posture she has seen before.

No.

Galskap
'The savage winds that guide all'

It was his variation of their people's martial arts, his posture catching something in her eyes. Wild savage beasts unknown to any kingdom wrapped around his limbs, forming claws that extended further from the hooks only she could see, the cold freezing winds that dictated his movement only she could feel, the feral instincts that meditated his mind only she could tell. 

While the Igrim certainly had no ability to manifest any magic through the absolute absence of mana within his body, Aspen knew, there was no way around Galskap. No magic can oppose the freezing cold, no weapon can pierce absolute ice. The only way forward is Galskap and it alone.

Taking his stance as an invitation, Aspen lowered her back as one of her claws from her remaining hand that still had them began to grow out. Aside from the bladed claw, a handle emerged underneath it, and with a swift pull, brought out the bone, it now resembling a dagger.

As she moved into her battle stance, the arena once more fell into silence as the people around couldn't believe what they were seeing. With Igrim's previous attack, the arena was no more, half its original height cut down as fragments of stone now rested on the grass fields around the two fighters. Curiously enough, the fragments resembled that of a snowflake, eternally twisting strings of shattered marble reached out all the way to the bleachers, cold winds unfamiliar to them all drifting into the arena from all 4 sides, echoing howls of the winds providing the only sound from within the arena.

Aspen herself could feel the rushing winds as they began to flow around her, the winds blowing past her and against Igrim, who stood to resist them. Galskap was not restricted to one teaching or form. It did not have any teaching, as it merely reflected the primal way of life a user has gone through. 

While the flow of the cold winds guided Aspen, Igrim sought to challenge all, to oppose the very winds was to claim to be the strongest in his mind.

SCHING!

The sudden sound snaps the audience's thoughts back onto the fight, only, a large tear on the grass fields and the arena trailed behind Aspen, who now was on her knee, arms raised high as she blocked an attack from Igrim.

Her teeth clenched as the powerful blow took a heavy toll on her, yet her mind slowly calmed as she loosen her muscles, feeling the flow of wind now blowing past her, she quickly leaned backwards, giving in to Igrim's attack, only to quickly spin to the right, slashing upwards with her dagger with Igrim blocking the attack with his other hand.

Following the flow of the winds, Aspen dodged more and more of Igrim's claws, the woman becoming ever more graceful, her limbs flowing like water as she parries an attack, using her bone claws as a counterattack. Yet Igrim was fiercer than ever, blocking the hit with his chain-covered arm as he unravels the chains in his other hand, proving useful once more as the steel links crashed onto the arena floor, and with one swipe of his hand, a torrent of steel flies towards the woman.

However, just like before, Aspen masterfully dodges each chain bit, each time, her steps rhythmically bringing her closer and closer towards Igrim, her hands flowing around each approaching chain, only for her fists to curl up into a fist, and in an instant, she had bypass the last of Igrim's offences, her fist accelerating in speeds no normal person could compete to, impacting on his face.

The exchange happened far too quickly for anyone to see, yet what they did see was Igrim being launched down to the ground, his arms shielding his head as it cracked the stone on impact, his body violently smashed onto the ground, only stopping at the edge of the arena. His hand hanging over the edge, his upper body dangerously close to falling out of the arena.

At that moment, everything once more fell into silence as the sight of the once unstoppable Igrim now planted onto the very ground sank in deep into everyone seeing. For the first time in the many years the warrior had set his name into the hallmarks of the world as the most powerful warrior, he was now bleeding.

"HAK!" The man coughed out a splatter of blood as his breathing was unstable as he could still feel the aftereffects of Aspen's punch. Slowly, the man stood up and faced his rival who stood still in the centre of the arena, panting from exhaustion, the extensive use of Galskap having taken a toll on their bodies already.

The two knew what had to be done, they weren't just going to tire themselves with simple punches or kicks, they needed one decisive strike to finish off the other, and just as Igrim popped back his dislocated shoulder and nose back into place, he took up a stance nobody has seen before. 

Crouched down on all four, he tucked his arms and legs, compressing his body until only his back and head were seen.

However, Aspen could tell what he was doing as she too, has done it before. A stance that sacrificed all forms of defence, she could tell that underneath the cover of Igrim's torso, an overwhelming mass of concentrated energy built up inside him with his feet squarely planted on the ground, maybe even having embedded himself in the process, his arms and legs were ready to spring out at any moment.

Getting ready, Aspen replied with another stance that focused solely on offence, focusing her power and even her magic into her fist, she shifted all her weight into her single attack as well.

And with a roar, both unloaded all their built-up energy on each other, with Igrim bursting from his position and obliterating the ground beneath, he flew straight towards Aspen, his fist ready to annihilate his opponent. 

In the way of his charge, Aspen also sprung into action as she swung her fist, leaving behind a trail of red light, she took a step forward and met Igrim fist first.

First came the shockwave, and then a massive explosion erupts from the centre as the ground began to shake, with the viewers all around covering their faces in fear that random debris could hit them. Only, that did not happen, as pieces of the marble arena pinged off an invisible shield, a giant cloud of dust covers the ground as it pillars over where the arena was, none able to see what had happened in those final seconds...

As the cloud of dust settled, it revealed the two on the ground, the arena nowhere to be seen as its fragments dotted the grassy fields around the two, with Igrim standing, looking down at the fallen Aspen.

Both their hits connected with each other, yet unlike the audience, the two saw clearly what had actually happened, with the ground below Aspen giving way, the she-wolves balance becoming unstable as the power of her fist faded away, with Igrim's own forcing her to the ground.

In the end, Igrim was the victor, the last of the two standing, he took a deep sigh and faced the sky, closing his eyes as he let the sun's rays shine down on him, the cool breeze brought about during the near end of their fight drifted past him. Then, he turned to face the fallen Aspen, who laid on the grass in such a manner that one would think she was just sleeping and sighed.

"Tsh. Fighting in this tournament was a mistake. Damn rules." Igrim spat onto the destroyed ground around them as he extended his hand towards his fallen rival, who could only smile as Aspen raised her back from the ground, taking Igrim's hand as she stood up.

"But you still fought to win," Aspen remarked as she motioned to the ground Igrim stood on, his feet barely standing on a small piece of the arena half the size of their heads, affirming his victory.

"Then that would count?" Igrim smiled, cracking a joke for the first time since the two had entered the arena, since the two have seen each other many years before.

"Hmmm... No." With a single nudge on his chest, Igrim falls onto the grass, grunting from the impact, only to let out a merry laughter, reminding Aspen of their childhood in the frozen wastes as they played around, having no care about the world around them...

"Now that's the case, answer me. Why did you come to the city?" Igrim asked as he sat upright.

"Isn't it obvious?" Aspen turned away from the fallen man, also feeling the cool air that returned north from where it came from.

"I wanted to explore the world as well. I guess even after these many years, you still can't use that thick skull of yours to think." Aspen teased, her fox tail waving as she smiled at Igrim, who could only let out a sigh as he stood up.

"Very well then." He said calmly as he brought out his hand once more, extending it towards Aspen. "Just like before?"

With a smile, Aspen also reached out her hand and wrapped her hand around his.

"Just like before..."