Worlds Collide

The ground beneath him began rumbling.

"!!!"

Without thinking he jumped backwards, 'Shit.', his jump was slightly unstable leading to him falling over and rolling momentarily.

Looking back up he witnessed the bones fly up into the sky like fireworks, breaking apart into tiny blue frozen crystals.

All around him the earth continued to split and break apart gradually revealing a flowing blue river made of the same energy.

[Tutorial Goal]

'I was wondering why you hadn't appeared before...'

[Survive Niflheims Territorial Expansion Into Muspelheim, The Hell Of Flames]

[Time Remaining, 30:00]

'So that's why.'

A chill spread through his body as the blue energy began clashing with the heat of Muspelheim.

Blisters and frostbite began spreading across his body simultaneously, his skin deforming, melting and then freezing all at once.

But more of his body was frozen than burnt due to the bones.

"URGH!!!"

The pain and his years of survival experience clashed in unison.

With bloodshot eyes, he attempted to ignore the pain.

'Ignore it Ariel, ignore it.'

He began analysing everything again.

The earth beneath his feet had torn apart for as far as the eyes could see, the bones around him had either disintegrated already from the clash or broken apart as crystals.

'And this won't end for another 30 minutes, even the platform I'm currently standing on can break at any moment.', his body began twitching under the immense pain and pressure.

'And that's not the only problem I have, my body can't handle this much longer.'

BOOM!

An eruption of blue energy flooded out directly in front of him, spreading a shockwave outwards at incredible speeds.

"Hold.", lowering his stance he braced for the impact.

But a moment later he felt like his efforts would be completely futile.

'Wait a second.'

The wave of energy loomed high above him as it surged downward, its power blasting the air apart as it approached him.

'Am I dead?'

Its magnificence filled his view.

At this moment, Ariel experienced what it truly felt like to be hopeless.

Gazing at the massive wave his breathing turned soft. Each breath he exhaled was a blue, cold mist, frozen by the power contained within Niflheim.

'Cold?'

'That's right!'

[Survive Niflheims Territorial Expansion Into Muspelheim, The Hell Of Flames]

'Currently, Niflheim and Muspelheim are fighting, so if I want to survive against Niflheim!'

Swoosh!

His right hand ripped his skull mask off, throwing it at the wave before him.

A wave of heat blasted at his face once again, but this time it was even more powerful than when the clash between the two began.

'Take it all off.'

Part by part, the set of 'armour' he had built for himself was thrown away.

The heat began melting his skin away at a much faster rate, revealing supple pink flesh beneath.

Sizzle...

The flesh began burning up rapidly into charred meat.

'I've never been through this much pain but compared to what she's experienced... This is nothing!', the hair on his head burnt straight off, a sulfurous odour wafted through the air but he could no longer smell.

His nose was welded together as the flesh and bone began to melt and fuse as it was cooled from Niflheim's power.

'Faster!', he could no longer breathe, his nose was shut and he couldn't open his mouth or else he'd lose the only other way he could breathe.

The world grew hazy on him but his hands never stopped moving.

'I have to survive.'

Blood seeped through his eyes, evaporating directly as it made contact with the flames.

But Niflheim's energy wasn't waiting for him.

It arrived.

The energy overwhelmed him instantly.

If you looked from above, it would seem like an ant attempting to survive a tsunami, his efforts were in vain.

The cold energy pounded at his body, crystallizing his skin, slowly shattering him into pieces.

'My left arm.'

He had gotten every bone off except the one on his left arm in time.

Crack.

Beginning from his fingertips, the arm was gradually immersed in a merciless ice cage, 'Better than dying.'

The spread of ice stopped in between his elbow and his shoulder.

Splatter...

A shower of frozen flesh and blood broke away from his body.

'But is it still not enough?'

His consciousness began to fade, he was surprised that he had even been able to stay awake for this long.

Rumble...

Suddenly, he felt the entire world stop moving.

No, to be accurate, the world couldn't move.

"Huuuurh!!!", a growl from the primordial age bellowed through the frozen world, quickly separating Muspelheim and Niflheim, preventing their war from continuing.

An unusual safe zone quickly formed at Ariel's level.

"I can breathe again? What just happened.", opening his mouth he found that he was able to talk and breathe, his previous precarious situation miraculously ended.

"My eyes.", he tried opening his eyes but nothing was happening, it felt like they were being forced to remain closed.

Lifting his right arm he began tearing the connection that had formed between his upper and lower eyelid.

"Tch.", biting the gum within his mouth, he dealt with the pain of moving a hand that contained no skin and torn muscles and continued ripping his eyelids apart.

"Finally."

The moment his eyes opened another bellow blew through the skies.

"HISSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!"

Another shockwave collided with him.

"Urgh!", his body was flung backwards, rolling and crashing through the shredded grounds, blood spewing across the sky, and ice crystals that still lay on his body broke apart.

After a few more meters his body came to a halt.

"What in the world-", using his right arm as a clutch he raised himself.

"Is that.."

Gods.

Perhaps Devils?

Mythological Creatures?

There they stood, beings that he never imagined truly existed.

"Hah... And here I had all these plans, to think that I was this puny all along..."

A self-deprecating smile sat on his face at this moment.

'To think I was arrogant enough to believe I had a chance against 'Them'.'

On the left lay an enormous serpent, its dark scales shimmered under the suns light, malice frothed from deep within those scales, this malevolent energy systematically swallowed the world's energy, growing stronger by the second.

Rebelling against Yggdrasil, its horns curled up towards the heavens.

The size of this monster was beyond comprehension, not even his eyes could pick up its full size, in fact, he could only see its head.

"Nidhogg the 'Malice Striker', the one who gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil-"

And then to the right...

WOOSH!!!!

Hellish flames burst out of this giant.

Oil-slicked black hair flowed down his shoulders, extending down at least 50 meters, his face chiselled like a sculpture made by Michelangelo. His chest exposed out to the world, the layers of muscle presented like a piece of art.

Horns also pierced through his skull, greeting the serpent above it.

His skin, however, was a deep red, as if it was made of the very flames that came out of him.

Raising its right arm a sword slowly came to existence, the flames wrapped around and tightened, condensing to form a blood-red blade, no hilt, just a blade.

Its hand was the hilt.

"Surtr the Flame Giant, the guardian of the frontier..."

'How much longer do I have to survive...'

[Time Remaining, 4:38]

'How did so much time pass? Perhaps when everything froze?'

'Nevermind that for now, it seems optimistic, but my chances of survival if those two clash is 0%, and that's not including my physical condition and my constant bleeding. It's a miracle that I'm still alive.'

"But even so... This matchup doesn't look fair in the slightest."

Surtr was the same size as just one eye of Nidhogg, if he was an ant in comparison to that energy wave, then that energy wave is an ant compared to Nidhogg.

"What have you come here for, Nid!"

Surtr did not back down before the serpent, his roar was powerful enough to cause the serpent to shake slightly.

"Hiss... They intruded...", from deep within its scales malevolent ghosts began screaming as souls flew out from within and began swimming together with the malicious dark energy.

They interweaved and danced through the sky.

"They intruded once again?", anger was visible in Surtr's eyes.

Flicking his sword to the right the flaming energy that made up the sword dissipated, revealing his hand once again.

"What do they want from us this time!"

"Hiss... An entertaining show of course...", its mouth parted revealing a long slithering tongue, but on this tongue, a long tattoo in the shape of a shield was engraved.

Grip.

The flaming giant clenched his fists, "Just like when they did that to you before all of us."

Nidhogg lowered his head slightly.

"Wait, that means what we're doing right now is also a show..."

[Error] [Error] [Error]

[Tutorial Ending Early]

Silence.

Both beasts slowly turned their head towards his location.

Gulp.

His throat moved slightly, swallowing down whatever remained in his throat. But before this deafening silence, the usually quiet gulp was unusually loud.

[Error] [Error] [Error]

[Tutorial Ending Early]

Their eyes met his.

He felt it deep within his bones.

At this moment he was the prey...

And they were the predators.

[Error] [Error] [Error]

[Tutorial Ending Early]

"This... Isn't a Tutorial..."