Author's Note: For those who didn't know, the talking squirrel Atreus summoned in the previous chapter is Ratatoskr. In Norse myth, Ratatoskr is an ill-tempered squirrel who delivers insulting messages up and down the Yggdrasil between the unnamed eagle roosting in the highest branches of the World Tree and the vile dragon Nidhoggr who gnaws at its roots. For those unfamiliar with GOW4, Ratatoskr is the most entertaining runic summon you can acquire in the game. When summoned by Atreus, the Bitter Squirrel reluctantly burrows into the ground, digs up useful stuff like health, and then insults the crap out of you before leaving. The insults vary based on your health.

{The Temple of Tyr, Alfheim…}

The doors of the Realm Travel room opened, and in strode the grizzled man and his son.

"Summoning that distraction was a good move, boy. We have the light of Alfheim. Now, to Midgard, and to the Mountain."

"Yeah… I hope the witch is okay after what happened to her."

"Hm. She knew what she was doing."

"Who was chasing us earlier? Were they with the man who attacked you at our house?"

"I do not know. But your summon may have saved us where the Witch's protection stave could not. Her help seems dubious."

"It sounded like there were a lot of them. And wolves too. Maybe they could smell the stave? Sindri said there was boar urine in it, so maybe it was that? Yuck…"

"I do not know."

The man inserted the bifrost into a circular table. Small towers, showing each of the realms emerged from its surface, and the man willed it to send them to Midgard. The Realm Travel room shuddered. The great branches of the Yggdrasil tree wound and twisted all over.

{Temple of Tyr, Midgard…}

The doors of the Realm Travel room opened, and out strode the grizzled man and his son. The boy jogged over to Brok's smithy.

"Brok!" As the boy shouted his name, the blue dwarf cut his finger on a blade he was sharpening, sticking the wounded finger into his mouth to suck the blood away. The boy was so excited he didn't notice. "Brok! We just went to another realm, and we met your brother! Wait, not in that order."

Brok looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow, and turned to the man. "D'you let that seedsop put hand to your blade? You do know he lost his talent? Just up and left 'im one day. Tried takin' me down with 'im. Did he botch up on our girl?" He gestured to the axe.

The man put the weapon on a table. "Quite the opposite." Brok eyed the magnificent weapon up and down, and huffed.

"Well, s'pose a blind pig farts up a truffle now and again. But you know what I got? Consistency, and I got that comin' outta all my parts." He banged the axe head with a small ornate hammer. The runic crystals embedded in the axe haft glowed.

"What did you do?" asked the man.

"It's better." The man narrowed his eyes at the dwarf's words, but took up the axe. Brok continued. "Now, figured you two oughta be in the know 'bout some strange folks lurkin' these here parts."

"What happened?" asked the boy. "Were they the people who shouted at Jörmungandr? We were pretty far away, so we didn't hear what they said."

"Yup, and they saw fit to pay me a visit just after you two went along. They seemed pretty worried 'bout the serpent."

"The Serpent's not mean, though."

"Yup, and I told 'em as much, but the man in charge seemed the paranoid type all the same. Strange fella, he was. Undead-type."

"Undead?!" asked the boy. "It didn't try to kill you or anything?"

"Surprisingly, no. Quite the talkative guy as a matter o'fact. The feller's some sorta king or something around here. You can't miss 'im. Bare-bones skelli-ton type with fancy black robes and a buncha rings. Got weird magic which I ain't ever seen afore. He can raise some mean-lookin' undead..."

"Father, was that the Traveler we killed in Alfheim? How could he have used the travel room to get there?"

"He don't need to. He's got his own realm travel magic."

"But the witch said the Temple is the only way to travel the realms, right?"

"Look, kid, he cast his spell right in front of me. I knows what magic I saw. He's got a big icy lookin' brute with four arms and a halberd workin' for him. Reminds me of your pa, that one. The name's Cocytus or somethin'."

The man grumbled. "Hm… If they get in the way, we will deal with them."

"Sure you sumbitch. All the same, you'll be happy to know I made the lot of'em promise to leave ya alone if they ever founds ya. I think you'll be fine if you don't get on the skelli-ton guy's bad side."

"If they get in the way, we will deal with them."

{The forests of Alfheim…}

"Still no sign of your Death Knight, Mare?"

"N-n-no… Sorry…"

"It's not me you need to apologize to, you know. It'll be Lord Ainz when we get back."

"D-D-Don't say that… I… I'm scared…"

"Lord Ainz is usually pretty nice. I'm sure He'll let you off easy. He might even punish you like he did Shalltear when she had her incident. Although trying to kill Lord Ainz directly is a lot worse than losing one of His creations."

"I… I don't know if I want th-that, Aura."

"Well, maybe you should take better care of Lord Ainz's creations in the future. If you did that, you wouldn't have to worry about making Him mad."

"Y-Y-You're right… W-"

Aura hushed Mare. She whispered to him. "Do you hear that? Stay here, Mare." Aura climbed up a nearby tree, peering over the green roof of the forest. Not far away, a column of light, made of shimmering colors, slammed into the ground with a noticeable impact. Trees nearby swayed in a gust of wind that soon rushed out in all directions beneath the leafy canopy. A few moments later, a low rumble, like thunder, reached Aura's ear. She leapt down the tree. "I think it's that Thor guy! I just saw the column of light that Demiurge talked about!"

"E-EH?!"

"It'll be fine. Lord Ainz said to try and get information out him first, and then if he attacks, we should fight to get as much knowledge about his powers as possible. Remember?"

"He… he beat up Lord Wrath, though… He sounds s-scary…"

"Oi, keep your chin up, Mare. We've handled worse before! Remember the big invasion? Lord Ainz said we killed almost 30 level-100 invaders together before we… well, before they got through us. That was the highest kill-count in the invasion, after the 8th Floor count, of course. We're fresh, and we know better now, so this Thor guy shouldn't be too hard to handle if he starts attacking. Come on."

"O-o-okay…"

Aura, Mare, their steeds, and their undead guards crept through the tangled Alfheim woods, making slow but steady progress toward the point where the rainbow light had fallen. Mare stopped once his sister tapped his shoulder.

"Psst, Mare. Do you have your Ghillie Cloak?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Let's use 'em. Come on. Aurelius, hang back. If you see Fenny and Quadricile run off, follow them, ok?"

"As you command, Lady Aura."

The twins reached into their inventory spaces, pulling out two identical cloaks, like tattered cloth. They donned them, their figures blurring and quickly vanishing, even from the all-piercing gaze of the undead Overlords that escorted them. They moved the rest of the distance towards the nearby place in absolute silence and concealment. Only meters from a glade, they ducked behind a large tree trunk, and listened. Two men were speaking, arguing more like.

"I told you. We're going through all these places for this tattooed guy. We got all of Alfheim to go through, so shut up and get looking."

"Right. If we find 'em, I get the kid, right?"

"What is the matter with you? Keep your eyes peeled, and help me find them."

Aura whispered to Mare. "I'll get this started. Stay here and get ready for a fight. I'll set a timer for five minutes. Is that enough for you to buff yourself?" Mare nodded. Aura fiddled with a small wristwatch she had, setting the appropriate timer. She then removed her Ghillie Cloak, and walked into the glade. There were indeed two men in there. One tall, muscular, and blond, the other shorter and red-haired. They stopped their angry discussion to look at the newcomer. "Hi!" she said cheerfully. The two of them simply gawked. The bearded redhead replied, with a sarcastic grin, bordering on the unsavory.

"Well, if it isn't a little Elven princeling... tired of kissing Vanir ass all the-"

"Shut it, brother. You. Elf. We got questions for you and you're gonna answer them. Get over here."

"Oh, I can't right now, sorry. I got stuff to do too."

The redhaired man laughed, taking a mace and shield into his hands. "We're not asking."

"It's really rude not to."

"I don't remember caring, you little shit.【Blindr-Modr!】" The man smacked the head of his mace against his shield, and electric sparks showered from the runes on his shield.

"Perhaps you should…"

"Oh, leave 'im, we'll come back for 'im later," grumbled the blond, crossing his arms impatiently.

"What's that, brother? Just gonna stand there and take attitude from this pointy-eared twig? Fine! I'll put him down." The red-headed man strode over to Aura. He was nearly twice her height. He hooked his mace, still crackling with electricity, onto his belt.

With a hand as quick as lightning, he went to grasp Aura by the throat. His hand closed around nothing. She was gone.

"What the…"

"Too slow, brother!" chuckled the blond.

Aura had darted aside from the redhead. "He's right, you know," she said.

The man's expression darkened. "You-"

Before he could continue, Aura had taken her whip from her belt, and with a spectacular leap over the man, landed behind him. A single lash of the whip had it coiled around his legs, and she pulled on it as he tried to step forward. The man fell over, and Aura withdrew the whip, curling it up in her hand. He leapt to his feet in anger. The blond laughed, and drew a large sword from his back. Lightning arced up and down its deadly edge.

"Too tough for you, Modi? Need some help?"

Modi fell back side by side with his brother. "Shut it, Magni."

"Let me have a go!" laughed Magni, stabbing into the earth with his sword. He swung it up, a wave of lightning coursing across the ground at Aura. She holstered her whip, darted out of the electricity's path, and drew her bow, loosing four rapid arrows at the two brothers. Modi took both on his shield. Magni darted out of the way, one of the darts grazing his bare shoulder. Red blood oozed from the cut, but he paid it no heed. As soon as it hit his shield, Modi took up his mace, lobbing a projectile ball of lightning at Aura. She darted aside again.

The lightning struck the ground, shooting out in all directions, even to where Aura had moved to. Electricity coursed through her body for a painful moment, staggering her, but she quickly regained her balance. Aura thought to herself as the two strangers laughed at her.

I'm in a bad place here… I'm all by myself here without Mare and without my pets. That lightning attack traveled further than I expected. They both seem to have AoE attacks, but center their strength on their weapons. Are they martial-type classes? At any rate, Mare should be ready to fight in a few minutes. Once it's the two of us, the odds should even out, at least.

"Who's slow now? Where's the attitude now? Pathetic little blighter!" taunted Modi. "【Eldingar-drepa!】" The demigod pointed his mace at Aura, and lightning shot out, coursing through the air at the dark elf. She leapt out of the way, catching on to a branch of a tree on the outer edge of the glade. She put an arrow to her bow.

"[Rain Arrow]." A single arrow flew through the dense leaves of the tree. Gravity drew it downward, where it split once, then again, and again five more times into identical arrows. Aura heard a mighty swoosh sound, followed by a peal of thunder. She peeked from the dense leaves she sheltered in. Magni, in a single sword swing, had warded the attack off from himself and Modi. He recovered, charging at the tree she hid in. She somersaulted out of its branches, and Magni hewed at the tree. With a crash, it fell, its bark cut clean through by Magni's blade. He followed up with another swing, sending another tree crashing down.

"Not the challenge I expected, but I welcome it all the same!" roared Magni. He slashed again, and another tree tumbled down.

Aura landed gracefully in the middle of the glade, where Modi rushed at her, mace in hand. Once, twice, thrice, he swung the thunder-crackling bludgeon at her, and once, twice, and thrice, she dodged out of the way. After his third attack, Modi punched out with his shield, and with a dull clang, Aura stumbled back onto the ground. Her face ached momentarily. As she came to a stop, she saw Magni loom over her, swinging down with his mighty sword. It hit only the earth, a blast of lightning coursing through the ground. Aura rolled herself out of its path, and recovered her footing, a good distance from both of the brothers.

"Weak!" shouted Modi. "You got some serious balls for your size, you malnourished whelp!"

Aura's timepiece beeped. "Hey, Aura! Five minutes are up!" said a cheerful, high-pitched voice from the watch. Aura smiled to herself. Lady Bukubukuchagama's voice! Come on, Mare!

"Outta the way, Modi. I'll deal with 'im.【Thruma-Svipun!】" cried Magni, raising his sword. Its surface brightened, turning a blinding bright blue. The blond-haired demigod stabbed the blade into the ground, and a wave of thunder shot out of it all around.

"[Magic Shield]!" came the incantation of another spell. The surge of lightning met a translucent green barrier around Aura.

"What?!" shouted Modi. He spun around. "Look, brother. There's two of 'em!"

"Twice as much elf to put in their place!" replied Magni.

Mare stood on the opposite side of the two demigods, his wooden staff in his hands.

Modi continued with a smirk. "I'll take the princess."

"Don't tell me what to do, brother."

"I-I-I d-d-don't wanna fight…" whimpered Mare.

"Giving up already, huh? It'd be more satisfying to fight for the trophies on my wall," grinned Magni. "Well, can't have everything, can we?"

"No… it'd just b-b-be nice if y-y-you could just s-surrender."

Magni and Modi both burst into boisterous laughter at Mare's statement. "Guess they don't teach respect in this fucking shithole anymore," cackled Modi.

"That job falls to us, brother."

"Right. The Snowblind!"

Magni brought his greatsword slamming down on Modi's shield, as they shouted an incantation in unison.

"【Odr-Brodr-Blindr!】"

Aura and Mare instinctively turned away from the blinding flash that followed. A swirling cover of clouds appeared, extending into much of the forest around them.

Aura shut her eyes, unable to see further than her hand in the veil of stormclouds. She heard Mare cast [Dispel Magic], then [Control Clouds], but the obscuring vortex remained in spite of those spells. Aura put a hand to her Golden Acorn Necklace, connecting it with Mare's silver one. She focused her hearing, and the howling of the wind, the ambience of the forest, and the sound of her own breathing faded. Time seemed to crawl at a snail's pace. She heard only two sets of footfalls. One approaching, the other receding. Aura felt Modi's weapon swing through the air at her, from above and to the left. She drew back, avoiding the attack. Another swing, upwards this time. She moved aside. In her other ear, Aura heard Magni's weapon swing up through the air to crash down on Mare.

"[A-Aura, I can't see]!"

"[Mare, block to your right]!"

Aura heard a resounding clang a mere second later. Mare had parried an attack from Magni with his staff. Modi punched forward at Aura with his shield again, hitting nothing. Aura sidled around him, taking out her bow. She nocked an arrow, loosing it quickly at the demigod. A dull clunk. He was too quick with the shield. She heard the push and pull of Magni's muscles again. He was attacking.

"[Mare, to the left!]!"

Clang!

"[Above]!"

Clang!

"【Blindr!】" Modi shouted. Aura heard the subtle creak of his bones' joints. He was moving to smash his shield on the ground. An AoE attack? She jumped up, and with a twirl, caught onto the branch of a nearby tree, flipping herself up to stand in its boughs. The obscuring mist dissolved. Modi's shield hit the ground, a blast of lightning shooting out from its runes in a circle all around it.

"Mare! Go!" shouted Aura. "[Rapid-Fire Arrow]!" From her perch on the tree, she began shooting arrows at a blinding speed towards the two brothers, drawing their attention towards herself.

"[Twin Magic - Grasping Thorns]. [Maximize Magic - Stream of Lava]. [Triplet Maximize Magic - Call Greater Thunder]. [Widen Maximize Magic - Niflhel Wind]."

A forest of thorny brambles erupted from the soil, their barbs biting into the two demigods and halting their movements. Aura somersaulted out of the way as magma streamed from Mare's wooden staff and flooded the whole glade and beyond. Trees burst into flames from the sweltering heat. In a blinding flash of light, lightning fell from the cloudless sky, clearing the air and filling the glade. The air turned cold and the blazing trees died down as a freezing gale, the fourth spell, swirled around.

The whole time, Magni and Modi cried out from the pain.

"UNCLE! G-Get us out of here!" shrieked Modi at the sky.

"What's wrong with you? Had-" Magni was interrupted by a falling column of light, of shifting colors. It thundered into the ground and as it faded away, Magni and Modi were gone. And just in time, it seemed. Just as they left, Fenrir, Quadricile, the four overlord librarians, and the undead guards entered the glade. Aura hopped down from the tree she had been standing on. She glanced quizzically at Mare, who started jogging daintily towards her.

"[Cure Wounds]."

"Mare, what are you doing? I'm-"

"Aura… your nose…!" Aura wiped at her nostrils instinctively, and looked at the red stuff that appeared on her glove. That shield bash to the face…

"- fine…"