Stronger Together chapter 181

The next few days went by in a blur, between getting Billy and  Georgia and the other Alphas back to the main land and making  preparations for our big fight we had quite a bit on our plates. My  master finished up all the armor for the girls and we contacted everyone  and laid our plans, but in the end there wasn't too much to plan out.  Fenrir was a monster of cataclysmic proportions, he wasn't the kind of  enemy you fought, he was the kind of enemy you survived.

Raven  and Cinder spent quite a while reinforcing soldier field for the fight.  Since we doubted we could get Fenrir to wait long enough to lure him  out to Demonreach our only real option was to make sure the field could  take the heat so to speak. Sadly we had limited options since towers of  green and red flaming glass would be a bit obvious. Our only real move  here was to stick with subtle defenses that would hopefully limit the  damage. Our second option was to fake a meteor strike and then  anonymously donate money for the repairs, but people worked at that  field so we were hoping to avoid it.

However,  despite all the preparations made, I didn't feel any more ready for  this fight. Fenrir was like the boogeyman, getting ready for fight the  twins or Chastel or Shagnasty were one thing, those were people I hadn't  heard of barely knew about, but I grew up on stories of the god wolf.  Reading about gleipnir, the unbreakable chain that bound him, fashioned  from impossible things and said to hold until Ragnarok. In retrospect it  obviously didn't live up to the hype but still. Stories about that, and  how he bit off Tyr's hand and all sorts of terrifying legends regarding  the wold who killed Odin in Ragnarok.

This  was the first time I was fighting one of MY childhood monsters  specifically and I admit I was terrified. The Archangel Armor was a  nuclear level enchanted artifact and it should be enough but some part  of me kept coming back to the fact that this was FENRIR. Abstract  monsters from legend were one thing but what business did I have trying  to fight a fucking god eater. Because that's what he did. Fenrir ATE  gods. Like snap, gulp, no more deity. I hadn't even fought a real god  before, never mind the thing that they checked under their bed for  before they went to sleep at night.

I  felt a cool, delicate hand grasp my shoulder. Raven's voice came from  behind me, soothing my soul like spring rain on a hot day. "You're  spiraling." I turned to give her a sheepish smile and saw her returning a  soft one of her own "You haven't done that in quite a while. I can feel  your panic. But I only have one thing to say to you." She leaned up and  kissed me softly "I believe in you, I think you can handle this. But  part of being in a relationship is supporting you in anything, so if  you're that worried then just leave it to me."

My  heart almost melted as she returned my words from the island, and I  felt that uncertainty and fear dry up. It didn't matter what came at me.  I would be standing between it and this girl. Between it and all my  girls. I swallowed hard and leaned forward to pull her into a hug,  whispering into her ear "Thank you Rae. For always being there for me,  and for always knowing what I need." I pulled back with a chuckle,  subtly wiping my sleeve across my eyes. "So how is everyone else? You  been putting out fires all over or am I the only one freaking out?"

She  rested her head against my chest, her own laughter vibrating my body  "For the most part just you." I felt a flash of shame at that, but she  clearly picked it up because she leaned back and punched my shoulder.  "Stop that." I gave her a confused look, raising one eyebrow as I rubbed  my shoulder "Doubting yourself. Do you know why people aren't worried?"  I didn't get a chance to respond because she immediately answered her  own question "Because of you. They aren't worried because you're here to  see us through it."

I  snorted at that  but she glared me into silence before I could say  anything "It's true. I don't think you understand the impact you have on  everyone's morale. We may have been heroes back home, but you're the  one who pulls through when things look the darkest. The image of you,  glowing with divine light, smashing your metal fist into the powerful  enemies who have seemed like they might be the end of us is pretty much  seared into all our minds. As long as we have you the others don't need  to worry at all."

I  sighed. I didn't feel like I could live up to that, but I guessed that  was what being a leader was about. Fake it til you make it and all that.  If I needed to keep up a strong front to make everyone else more  confident that's what I would do, I owed them that and so much more.  Besides there was no use in everyone tearing themselves apart with  anxiety if I was already doing it. I smiled at Raven "I understand, I'll  make sure to keep a brave face on so they don't have to worry. I can do  that much for them."

She  giggled and pecked me on the lips "Don't expect too much of yourself.  We all know you're a huge worrier. You being anxious isn't affecting  morale or anything. We believe in you even if you don't believe in  yourself." I was more grateful for that than I could say, but  unfortunately I didn't have time to express that because I felt a  terrifying aura slam down over me. Raven looked up in the same direction  I did, releasing me from her embrace and stepping back "Well, looks  like the enemy has arrived."

Fenrir  wasn't holding back today, but it seemed like he might have condensed  his aura down. Whether that was to keep from disturbing any of the  civilians nearby or because he wanted to see the fear in our eyes before  we died I was pretty grateful. Aura tricks were less useful on me  because of all the godsteel, as evidenced by my casual jaunt through  Demonreach, and Fenrir's condensed presence didn't effect me like the  others. Of course the Archangel Armor I was wearing might have helped  too.

The rest  of them were in magic armor too, but it obviously wasn't of the same  level. As I tried to come up with a way to counter the aura of absolute  domination the god wolf was exuding I finally caught sight of the big  man strolling casually onto the field. He looked absolutely calm, like  we were meeting up for a beer or something, and when he saw us gathered  he gave a wolfish grin and waved. It was kind of sad that I knew one of  us would die in this fight. He actually seemed like an ok guy.

Sadly  Fenrir wasn't the kind of being that could live in the modern world. He  was a relic of a ruthless and barbarous history and would absolutely  kill anyone he felt like killing. Combined with the fact that he was  here to steal a kid from his mother I had no hope of talking things out.  Plus he wasn't the kind of enemy I could hold back against. If I didn't  put everything I had into this fight I was going to die and all my  girls and my teacher would go with me. This had been his decision, not  mine.

It felt  like eternity before the massive human form wolf arrived. The palpable  sense of menace he exuded effected my even despite my armor, making it  clear that this wasn't some supernatural effect, he was just a huge  terrifyingly ferocious guy. I felt the others all bunch up closer to me.  I wondered what exactly they were feeling here, without any of my  advantages, even with masters armor this must be unbearable but no one  even so much as squeaked. I was damn proud to have everyone on my side.

Fenrir  bared his teeth at us in what seemed like a friendly fashion "So, you  showed up. I wasn't sure, I half expected to have to hunt you down and  butcher you in your home. But it's always nice to see a true warrior in  todays day and age. You brought plenty of backup I see, but I don't  begrudge you your helpers." He raised an eyebrow "Plenty of pretty girls  with you, I'm impressed, but I've met enough Valkyries to know not to  underestimate a beautiful woman on the battlefield. Speaking of which,  hello Sigrun, you're looking well."

From  her constant references to him being an animal and an abomination I  expected her to be hostile, but she bowed perfunctorily at the waist and  nodded deeply "Lord Fenrir." We all cast her odd looks and she shrugged  "Lord Fenrir is after all, one of the gods. I dislike him greatly and  believe him to be a rabid animal, but I owe him some respect when  meeting in person, as I would any of Aesir blood." That was weird to me,  but I guess that was how the Norse did things. Somehow greeting someone  politely and then telling them she thought they were scum fit well with  Gard's personality.

Fenrir  barked out a laugh "I always did like you for that Sigrun. Some of the  other minor gods like to play pretend and treat me like a noble to my  face while talking bad about me behind my back, but that was never you.  Shame I wasn't your type, you'd have made a wonderful mate." He shrugged  with an easy smile "In any case, before we start I feel I should give  you some news. I took care of that little prophecy problem for you. Even  if I die here, no one will come looking for the cub. I figured when I  win it would be annoying to have everyone chasing after him anyway so I  settled it ahead of time. A bit of added incentive."

My  eyes widened, we had been combing our brains to figure that out. We  were planning to either petition Odin for protection of establish it  ourselves once we signed the accords, but if Fenrir said it was handled  it was. The big guy did a lot of scary things from what I could tell,  but lying wasn't one of them. I tried to banish the mental imagine  Fenrir stalking into Egypt and destroying their wolf god's shrine and  killing off whoever got in his way, but it kind of stuck with me. He was  definitely one of a kind.

It  was kind of sad in a way, to be depriving the world of a force of  nature like that. It was like destroying the pyramids. Fenrir had been  walking unhindered across this world since time immemorial and after  tonight he might never do so again. Of course I also might not ever walk  the earth again so I couldn't really feel too bad for him. I swallowed  hard and bowed like Gard had done, but a bit deeper. "Then no matter how  this turns out, thank you. It sounds like you'll be taking good care of  Connor if you take him and doing this just proves it."

He  snorted "I like you kid. That's pretty rare. I'll try to remember you  and your friends when you're gone. It's the least I can do." He stepped  back and spread his arms "Now, I figure it's only sporting to give you  the first shot, so go ahead. Set up your best blow and let me have it."  His eyes began to glow gold and his voice took on a bestial growl "But  fair warning, you better make it a hell of a punch, because after that,  I'm coming for you." And just like that, the fight was on.