I jumped from a tall peak, allowing my wings to glide me down.

My swords flew out, cleaving hordes of undead before they could even react. I slammed down into the center, rotten bodies and old bones blown away at my impact. The remaining numbers all turned towards me like a tide.

I reached out, Mirage flew into my hand as Dawnbreaker and Ascalon hovered nearby. My newest sword, shot up into the air.

Whisper, I had been calling it.

It was the way it cut through the air due to the runic engravings, it almost sounded like a whisper on the wind.

"30 birds." I swung Mirage, the sword phantoms shot out, cleaving more oncoming abominations. Dawnbreaker didn't stay still, it's golden light exploding out, burning away all that came into its path.

"Roooar!" A big one came stomping over, half its body skeleton, the other made of rotten flesh with several additional appendages haphazardly attached to its body.

Ascalon impaled it in the head, so fast and powerful that its head was utterly blown away at the impact. The undead body falling over, crushing smaller ones.

Behind me, a massive spider-like creature emerged from the ground dozens of arms adorned its body. It began to spit out a corrosive acid, I stepped back, dodging the splatters liquid with ease.

Withdrawing a talisman from my ring, I slammed it onto the ground. "ORDER!" I activated it, a pentagram formed under the spider, connecting to another one a few feet above it in the sky. They connected and obliterated the undead that was stuck inside.

"Seems wasteful for something on that level." I muttered, flinging a handful of talismans at some oncoming undead. They zipped through, turning into lights and shooting like stars across the distance before dispersing.

Hundreds fallen, yet even greater numbers took their place.

My body tilted down and I burst forward, slashing into another larger thing, it's rusted armor cleaved through in a single swing, I pivoted on my momentum and lashed out with a horizontal swing, decapitating a dozen or so more.

It was easy to dance around the archaic weapons that swung towards me, I could do it quite literally with my eyes closed.

Flicking a Rune here or there to destroy any who annoyed me in particular. I continued my assault on their endless numbers, my sword never stopping, body parts and more corpses' piled up, only to be trampled on by their kin.

My eyes shot up, I looked over my work and I realized it was time. My magical energy burst out, and I began to draw a single rune in the air.

A Primordial Rune.

It was a shield that Scathach performed against me in a duel all those months ago.

This attack of mine would be indiscriminate, but I wanted to test it out.

The runes way up in the sky began to actualize, my Whisper taking the job of drawing them under my mental commands.

It became darker, clouds gathered, and lightning crackled.

A massive figure formed in the air, completely made out of lightning that discharged from these intimidating storm clouds.

"Thor's Hammer."

The figured raised up it's 'hammer' and slammed it down onto the area.

Everything went white, bodies disintegrated, those capable howled in terror and distress and even as the power began to die down, only a scorched crater remained.

"Whew" I let out a breath, my shield fading and Whisper returning to my side. "Primordial Runes still take some out of me. And that last attack looked good, what do you think, Ddraig?"

[It had good power, the combination of Whisper to cast the spell while also not hampering your combat ability is impressive.]

I shared similar thoughts. If I tried to cast that spell before I came to this realm, well…..it would be nearly impossible to actually get off if someone just sat on me and pressured me enough.

I ran a hand over Whisper, feeling each Rune that was engraved.

What a wonderful idea, I still can't get over how well this sword worked out.

And my new spell worked out amazingly.

It wasn't connected to any of the nine realms as one may think, I already solidified those spells together into their own little category, this was merely another one I created. Different than the Light of Alfheim, Thor's hammer is pure destruction, whereas my Alfheim spell is more….'cleansing' in nature. I don't think it would have any effect on something like…an Angel. But there are good and bad points about every spell, I wasn't too worried about that little tidbit.

I thought for a moment, taking out a piece of parchment and a writing utensil, jotting down a few notes on how the battle went.

Well, everything here was cleaning up nicely, time to head back.

***

I walked through the massive castle doors, and I could immediately smell something delectable emanating through the entirety of the stone building.

"Are you cooking?" I saw Scathach turn around, seeing me walk into the 'kitchen'. To call it a kitchen was like calling a mansion a 'shelter'.

"I was in the mood." She replied, setting her wooden ladle down next to a large pot. She walked up to me, rather closely and began running her hand through my air. "It is getting very long, do you wish to cut it?"

I was a little surprised by her abrupt touches, but I calmed down immediately. This was pretty much par for the course these past several months.

I tugged at the length, almost going past my shoulders. "Huh, I didn't realize I could even have my hair grow, I'm supposed to be a minor shapeshifter."

"Mmm, perhaps an unconscious thought?" She offered.

"Probably. In the back of my mind, I assume it should grow, therefore I do it over time." I pushed my bangs out of my eyes. To be fair, I did like how full my hair felt right now.

I watched her step just a tad closer, reach her hands around my head and start fiddling with my hair. She bound it in a small little piece of fabric, giving me a ponytail.

"How do I look?" I asked, our eyes meeting.

"You will no longer be mistaken for a vagabond." She said evenly, turning around.

I quickly wrapped my arms around her. "Does that mean you like it?"

I felt her lean back just ever so slightly, allowing me this moment of closeness. "It is something I find attractive." She admitted. "Now, release me." She poked my arm. "I must finish the meal."

I let go allowing her back to her work, sitting down at the table. Though I think she was messing with me, bending over just a little more than she needed, shaking her rear right infront of my view.

"You know what would go good with this meal? Some alcohol." I saw her freeze up for the briefest moment before continuing her work. "How unfortunate that someone had drank it all!"

"I recall no such thing." She replied without giving anything away on her face

"Maybe that's the side effect of drinking all my alcohol in one sitting." I snorted.

And I meant that quite literally. I don't even really remember how it started, we had a drinking contest or something like that.  To say she out drank me, that would be like saying the ocean was a nice little puddle.

There were times where I was drunk and she did something to make me sober up, just so she could continue to beat me.

She is really onery when she's intoxicated too. I wouldn't say mean, but she definitely is more aggressive in her…desires, be they fighting or something else. Not to mention her words get very sharp as well.

Since the 'incident', our relationship had just become this strange thing and we didn't put any labels on it. When she wasn't in 'teacher mode' she was…almost bashful if I were to give it a term. She was willing to be close, to accept affection. Otherwise, it was Warrior Queen that did not hold back and was more than willing to kick my ass at the slightest offense, of which I admittedly gave her many reasons.

Frankly, it was more of a game at this point.

Scathach walked over to me, setting a plate down, and a bowl of soup she made. I wasn't aware what ingredients she made it with, but it smelled wonderful.

Before I could dig in, she plopped herself right down on my lap, looking at me smugly.

Yeah, this is how this woman did things. If she wanted something, she merely took it, there was very little hesitation on her part. Not to say she didn't respect boundaries, but she didn't pussyfoot around with her desires.

"Are you not hungry?" She tilted her head to get a look at me in the eyes. " Or perhaps, are you hungry for something else?" Her lips curled up as she wiggled her butt in my lap.

Dangerous.

This woman is absolutely dangerous in more ways than one.

Truthfully, at this point, I don't know why I still didn't give in. It wasn't really my pride anymore, its just…..for some reason I didn't want to cross that line until something was more official? Not like I was at all a prude...I still was perhaps holding out.

Yes, the irony of the reverse in gender roles for this specific situation wasn't lost on me.

My hand slid down, grabbing hers lightly as I brought it up, giving it a small kiss. "Thank you for making this for me. Maybe you can be a decent housewife after all."

She let out a small huff. "You would be lucky to have me as your wife." She gently poked me, leaning back into me.

I saw her frown slightly and couldn't help but feel a little concerned. "Is something wrong?" I asked her as she just gazed off into space for a moment.

"I merely have some thoughts on my mind." She shook her head. "Don't mind it, some things I wish to discuss with you later. Enjoy my meal, no other man has ever boasted about this Scathach cooking for them before."

***

Scathach trusted forward with her spear, the air distorting with the sheer force. Again, and again, in the time it took one to blink, her spear covered my vision.

I stood my ground, sword coming up to deflect each one out of the way, at most only a few small cuts on my outer body.

Following up, my sword lashed out, sweeping her from side to side, thrust that predicted her movements and attempted to create openings.

Her spear spun in ways that almost seemed impossible, her focus was taken to the next level, she practically moved before I even made my attack.

Expertly, every attack was also knocked away, deflected or parried, even with the use of a spear this close, she was easily able to defend against me.

There was no need to fanciful attacks or destroying the land. This was a match of pure skill, and I wasn't ashamed to admit, I was still far behind her.

I don't know how long we continued this little dance, our feet barely moving. I stepped forward to enter range, she defended, and I was pushed back for her onslaught. I barely made it through almost unscathed and pushed my own advantage again.

The joyful expression on her face was mirrored with my own, the thrill of combat, my sword moving towards her neck, only for her spear to try and find my heart.  Yet, there was no murderous air, no intent to truly kill each other.

She was truly a battle maniac. Not in the berserker sense, but the fact that she felt so at home on a battlefield. To trade blows with worthy opponents brought her so much satisfaction.

"Excellent" She declared, stabbing her spear into the ground. "You would have died a hundred time in that exchange if it were the you when we met all those months ago."

Genuine praise from her while she was in her teacher mode was far and few in-between. She didn't mince words, if she said you did a good job, you must have done something right.

"Praise me more." I said cheekily.

She raised an eyebrow, her fist coming up in a threatening manner. "Yes, you have graduated from an insect into a mouse. Congratulations."

"Yes, I couldn't have done it without you." I nodded. "Scathach, the trainer of mice."

"I see, you wish for a beating." She said simply, not being provoked at my words. "At this point, I am more than aware at your proclivities."

I of course did the most mature thing in the world and flipped her the bird.

"Alright, get over here you dandy boy, time to take your beating." She deadpanned, cracking her knuckles

"Eat a dick." I strategically retreated…very fast, and far away. Her laughter was beautiful, even if it did send shivers down my back.

***

Superduper busy, don't think i'll be able to get that second chapter out today, sorry. Barely was able to get today's chapter out as it was.

Anyways, if you want to support me or read 5 chapters ahead, visit my pat reon.com/astoryforone