Chapter 4

Fighting Tooth and Nail

With Heimdall declaring the start of the first round, the audience members leaned forward in their seats with bated breath, eager to see which fighter would make the first move. However, neither Lenin nor Sobek moved a single muscle, staying in their original position, gazing intently at one another. Seemingly analyzing each other for any possible weaknesses.

Finally after what felt like an eternity, Sobek broke the silence, speaking in his booming voice, "Listen closely mortal, I am feeling merciful today, so I shall give you one chance to forfeit this match and run away from all of this with your tail between your legs. Your kind will lose this showdown in the end anyway, so go and spend the last few days of your life in comfort and peace before your inevitable demise."

Lenin smirked at the Crocodile God's offer, "Very merciful of you Comrade Sobek, but unfortunately I will have to reject your kind offer, for I have no intention of losing this match, much less forfeit it." He spoke with an Irish accent, a fact owing to his English tutor being Irish. His voice also held a high amount of charisma, the confidence in it alone eased some of the human audience's worries even just by a little.

Sobek leered at Lenin, "Is that so? Yet you come here unarmed and in a simple suit, rather than armor. Whilst I have years of battle experiences and fought foes whose power far outstrips your own. You have sealed your fate, little morsel, I will crush your bones into POWDER and have you die by MY hands."

With that, Sobek's feet pushed back against the arena floor, launching himself forward as he charged toward Lenin with his stave raised, ready to be brought down upon the politician.

In response, Lenin raised his left hand, pressing the strange disk on his chest. Immediately, armor plates shot out from within the disk, shifting and expanding over his body till every part of him except his forehead and face were covered. Lenin now wore a armor set similar to one a medieval knight would wear, except more sleek and streamlined. He sported pauldrons on his shoulders, breastplates and greaves, all in a bright crimson colour with golden highlights. With a spin of his hands, a golden hammer appeared in his right, and a sickle in his left. the symbols of the Soviet flag.

No sooner had the process finished, Sobek was nearly upon Lenin, bringing his weapon down to strike the man's head off his shoulders, Lenin quickly reacted by jumping backwards, moving just out of the stave's range as it impacted the arena floor, leaving a sizable crater in it. Taking the opportunity, Lenin countered by swinging his hammer straight into Sobek's face whilst he was distracted, the tool made contact with the right side of Sobek's face with a mighty " WHAM!" sending the god reeling backwards from the impact, almost toppling over. However, at the last moment, he caught himself, regaining his balance by planting his stave into the ground to support himself

Sobek grunted as he wiped the trickle of blood dripping down his mouth, gazing upwards at the gods in the audience, gauging their reaction. Before looking back at Lenin with a furious look, pointing his stave at Lenin, "Well well, so that's your Divine Weapon huh? a suit of armor, as well as some building and farming tools? No matter, you fall just the SAME!" And with that he charged towards Lenin once again, unleashing a barrage of strikes and blows with his stave upon the man. Lenin quickly began using his weapons to counter each of Sobek's attacks. Now equipped with his suit, he was equally matched with Sobek in both speed and strength; great metallic clangs could be heard each time their weapons met as they danced around the center of the arena. Both fighters scanned their opponent for any opening or signs of weakness to capitalize on.

"AMAZING! Lenin is matching Lord Sobek blow for blow! The Crocodile God hasn't been able to lay a SINGLE finger on him! Who would have thought that a frail looking Politician would be able to go head to head with the dreaded Beast God of the Duat?!" Heimdall yelled over the noise. Meanwhile, the humans in the audience began cheering, their doubts about Lenin acting as their vanguard now put to rest, as he matched Sobek blow for blow,

"YEAH! LETS GO LENIN!"

"KICK THAT GOD'S ASS!"

"There's no way we're losing THIS round!"

Lenin grinned at Sobek, whose face had now contorted to one of frustration and fury, due to Lenin continuously parrying each of his blows. "What's the matter, Comrade Sobek? Didnt you say you would crush my bones into powder? Yet here I still stand. As fine as I was at the START of the match!"

At this taunt, the Crocodile God's breath became heavier, his eyes were bloodshot and his anger just barely contained. In his rage, the crocodile god grew careless, his blows focused more on damage than it did accuracy. It did not help that every so often, Sobek would distractedly glance upwards at the gods in the audience, trying to see how they were reacting to the fight. Their reaction in question, were still looks of fear and awe, both amazed and scared by the display of power put on by the two combatants

Noticing this, Lenin decided to play this in his favor, as their weapons clashed together once more, he deliberately took a step backwards after the heavy impact had pushed them both slightly away from each other, his weapons and guard lowered. Taking this act as a sign of weakness, Sobek let out a triumphant roar, this time raising his stave over his right shoulder, and with all his might bringing it down upon Lenin in a swinging arc.

"SAVAGE MAW!"

"WHAT'S THIS? Lenin seems to be retreating! And Sobek seems to be making full use of this, he's about to CAVE Lenin's skull in with his weapon! "Heimdall shouted at the top of his lungs.

However, quick as a flash, Lenin turned the sickle in his left hand upside down, its curved tip facing outwards. Before just as quickly bringing his blade back upwards. right towards Sobek's now exposed underbelly!

"REBELLIOUS CYCLE!"

The tip of the sickle hit Sobek's underbelly, and with a grunt of effort, Lenin quickly dragged the blade upwards. Hoping to cut the god wide open. This seemed like it was the end! Was the first round of Ragnarok No. 2 already concluded?

Not quite,

As Lenin tried to drag his blade across Sobek's underbelly, he realized with a start his blade had in fact not fully cut into Sobek's flesh! Rather, the blade had pierced the spot it had first contacted, before harmlessly sliding off the god's skin. How could this be? He had purposely waited till Sobek had fully exposed his much softer underbelly before going for such a risky move. Why didn't his blade strike true?

There was no time to think now though, Lenin quickly jerked his body to the side, just as Sobek's stave barely missed his head and struck his shoulder instead, enough to send him flying straight into one of the arena's walls "BAM!"

"WHAT A TWIST! Lenin PRETENDED to retreat to lure Sobek into a FALSE sense of security! Before jumping RIGHT back in with a VICIOUS counterattack! But in yet ANOTHER turn of events, his attack has seemed to have little to NO effect! And that seems to have given Lord Sobek the chance to FINALLY land a hit on the Father of Communism!" With how quickly the events had played out, Heimdall was only just able to give commentary on what had happened.

As the dust cleared, Sobek was seen cupping his wound in the area where Lenin had managed to strike him, trying to stem the bleeding. The cut was not as deep as he had thought, but it still pained him and blood slowly leaked from it, turning his hand red. Meanwhile, Lenin lay on the floor of the arena, dazed. But slowly and surely, he was managing to get up back to his feet.

Humanity gasped seeing their fighter struggling, just a moment ago they thought that they were so close to victory, yet the tables had turned on them once , the gods murmured approvingly of Sobek's strength and skill. Which curiously, seemed to snap the god out of his bloodthirsty mood. Huffing and puffing, Sobek glanced up to see some of the gods even applauding at him, which made his reptilian mouth twist, resembling somewhat like a smile.

His attention quickly snapped back towards pained groaning, as Lenin finally stood once again on his two feet, inspecting his left shoulder where he was hit, fortunately he could still feel and move it, though it felt a little bruised. His pauldron had taken most of the damage for him and was now badly dented and cracked.

"Not bad human, you're a pretty good fighter, not to mention a quick thinking strategist. Too bad you're just not on my level yet." Sobek taunted, Lenin coughed, spitting out some blood, "It was your sweat wasn't it Comrade Sobek?" He asked, ignoring the gods' taunts. "The water that you produce, it protected you from my blade somehow, that's why my blade didn't manage to wound you as badly as I hoped."

Sobek sneered, "Indeed human, My "SHIELD OF THE NILE" allows me to resist more attacks and blows than any other god in Heaven. The more precise and focused your attack is, the easier it is for my Shield of the Nile to minimize the damage."

"I see," replied Lenin, "So by focusing the tip of my sickle at that one precise spot on your underbelly, I inadvertently allowed you to maximize your shield's defensive capabilities to the fullest, yes?" Sobek smugly nodded as his reply.

At this revelation, Göll and Pandora gasped in horror, "This is BAD! Pandora said, '' So you're telling me that Lenin's ONLY way of damaging Sobek is to make his attacks as BROAD and UNFOCUSED as he can? How is he supposed to win like that? ''

Prometheus scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Fear not young Pandora, Lenin's sickle is not his only weapon. He still has his hammer, and that dealt a fair bit of damage to Sobek during the start, probably due to its larger surface area, which means his attacks with it are much broader and won't be as hindered by Sobek's shield as the sickle. And besides, I'm quite sure those two weapons were not his ONLY way of attacking."

At this remark Göll and Pandora both looked at Prometheus confused, "Not his only way of attacking, what do you mean Lord Prometheus?" Göll asked

— Hallway of the Einherjar waiting rooms —

Göll and Pandora followed Prometheus through the hallway of the waiting rooms, struggling to keep up with his fast pace. Before the Titan finally stopped in front of one of the rooms. Struggling to catch her breath, with her hands on her knees, Göll glanced up at the doors of the room to see what kind of person their first Fighter would be, in front of them was a simple wooden 20th century door, which Prometheus wasted no time knocking on it before entering.

Inside was a quaint and humble study area, a large shelf filled with books on one side, and a work desk filled with papers and documents in front of a cozy fireplace. Seated behind the desk writing in a leather bound book, was Lenin, who immediately stopped his work and looked up at the trio who had just entered his room. Göll and Pandora both raised an eyebrow seeing him, wondering why Prometheus had chosen such a frail looking person to be mankind's vanguard.

"Greetings Comrade Lenin, I have decided that you shall be the first of our combatants to participate in the first round of Ragnarok. You may consult young Pandora here about acquiring your Divine Weapon if you are willing to go." Prometheus said, placing a firm hand on Pandora's shoulder

Lenin smiled, "Of course I am much obliged to go forth and do battle, Comrade Prometheus. Honored even, that you would pick a man such as myself to lead the rest of our fighters into the showdown against the gods."

"That is excellent to hear Comrade Lenin. Now, please come over here and put your hand into the jar that Ms Pandora is holding in her hands, it's time to equip you with the necessary tools for the upcoming battle"

Getting up and walking over to the trio, Lenin politely nodded at Pandora and Göll, greeting them politely in turn, before reaching into the pithos and pulling out the crimson disk. Confused, all of them stared at it for a moment or too, before Lenin had the unexpected urge to put it on his chest and press it. After which, he found himself now dressed in red armor, with a sickle and hammer in his hands.

Lenin eyed his new suit in awe and wonder, with the armor on, his joints no longer ached, and his reflexes were better than they had ever been in his whole life, twirling his new weapons with ease, he said "I have not felt so MUCH energy at ALL in my whole life! And such beautiful weapons. The things your jar can create are of a MOST wondrous quality, Comrade Pandora." Pandora blushed at Lenin's comment and let out a small, "Thanks."

Prometheus chuckled at Lenin's enthusiasm, "That's good to hear Comrade Lenin, now please excuse us, we have other things to prepare, and you should make use of the time between now and the first match to practice with your new weapons." He said while ushering Göll and Pandora out, before he closed the door behind him, he quickly addressed Lenin once more, "Oh Comrade Lenin, one last word of advice, the jar creates Divine Weapons that best suit you as a person. So whilst practicing, I would advise you try and see if your armor has any hidden functions or abilities that may come in handy. But regardless, I wish you the best of luck!" After which Prometheus shut the door behind him and left with his two companions.

His curiosity piqued, Lenin glanced down at his armor for a moment, inspecting it for any secret buttons or switches, before shrugging and making his way to a training room to practice with his new weapon.

Up in the VIP section, Huitzilopochtli was cheering, "YEAH! WHOO! Sobek has got this in the BAG! That politician proved to be quite an unexpected fighter with those two tools in his hand, but with Sobek's Shield of the Nile, He might as well be carrying a DEAD WEIGHT in his left hand!"

Amaterasu turned to Ra, "So Lord Ra, it seems that you may put your fears to rest, that Titan and his human stooge doesn't seem to have any more tricks up their sleeves besides that fancy armor set. I say that the first round is well and truly ours for the taking."

Ra, who had been observing Prometheus's face the whole time, scoffed and leaned back onto his throne, "Indeed, perhaps I have given that fool too much credit than he truly deserves. Sobek will crush that human under his foot."

Back in the battlefield, Lenin chuckled slightly, "An interesting strategy Comrade Sobek, with your shield limiting your opponents offensive options, you are able to more freely attack them without fear of retaliation. Yet..." He paused.

"Yet what human? Spit it out." Sobek growled.

"No, no, it's nothing important," Lenin replied, "I just couldn't help but notice that the Beast God of the Duat seemed DISTRACTED during our first bout. But I'm sure that was nothing, yes?"

Sobek growled defensively, "I was not distracted by ANYTHING human! I may have underestimated you TWICE before, but this time you will NOT be so lucky!"

As the two fighters finished their exchange, Lenin and the audience noticed that Sobek's sweat had completely filled up the moat surrounding the arena's perimeter, and had now come up to the combatants feet. It didn't take them long to figure out that if the match dragged on for too long. The high water levels would undoubtedly give Sobek an advantage with him being the God of Rivers, Lenin would have to find a way to end the battle quickly if he wanted any chance to win.

Sobek smiled as he saw the rising water levels, He then dipped his stave's end in the water, and then began to spin it around with his two hands. Soon the stave was now a blurry spinning circle, which Sobek was moving around himself, causing a rainbow to appear from the sunlight passing through the mist generated by the droplets of water flying off his moving weapon.

While still spinning his weapon and churning up the water, Sobek began to approach Lenin, walking at a slow pace, but somehow the churned up water seemed to push him closer and closer to Lenin, as if the current itself was on Sobek's side. On the other side, Lenin began trying to move out of the way to dodge Sobek's incoming attack, but for him, the river current seemed to be working against. For every two steps he made, the choppy water seemed to push him back by one step. Now left with no choice but to face the approaching god, Lenin raised his two weapons defensively above his chest, awaiting to engage in another round with the Crocodile God.

"WHAT'S THIS? Sobek is making a move towards Lenin once again! And the presence of the rising water level has only seemed to grant him even MORE of an advantage than before! The Crocodile God is walking at an INCREDIBLE pace towards Lenin thanks to the moving water currents, whilst the Father of Communism is seemingly held in place by the very SAME currents!" the Watchman of the Apocalypse was now riding in a tiny little fishing boat whilst commentating to avoid getting drenched by the water.

The gods began cheering as they realised what Sobek was about to do. This was the god's signature move which he used in combat that earned him such a feared reputation. A move that when used in the right environment, could not only deal massive amounts of damage to the one on the receiving end, but also hold them in place, to ensure maximum damage was dealt.

Sobek grinned as he heard the cheers of his fellow gods, knowing that his stave had now reached maximum velocity. He let go of it and let it fly straight towards Lenin at dizzying speed. Lenin meanwhile, held his arms out, crossed his weapons over each other and closing his eyes, bracing for impact.

"UNSTOPPABLE CURRENT OF THE NILE!"

With a mighty "CRASH!" The full force of the heavy stave slammed straight into Lenin's own two weapons, forcing his arms to separate from their raised position. Even more shocking, was that due to the sheer force of that attack, Lenin's sickle now had a cobweb of cracks and chips across its blade. It barely held itself together for another second or two, before its blade broke apart into countless pieces.

From his boat, Heimdall yelled, "OH MY GOODNESS! The sheer power from Sobek's attack has DESTROYED one of Lenin's Divine Weapons! Lenin will now have to face the wrath of Sobek with JUST his hammer! Things are not looking too good for mankind!"

Meanwhile, Humanity were at a loss, with just one attack this god was able to shatter their fighter's weapon, were they really going to lose the first round? Up on the stands, Göll and Pandora were in shock, "What WAS that move? How was Sobek able to destroy Lenin's Divine Weapon with just one hit? His power levels must be INSANE!" Göll yelped.

Prometheus gritted his teeth, "That attack is an interesting one, whilst spinning his stave in the water, Sobek is able to control how the current flows, using it to propel himself foward towards his enemy, as well as limiting their movements, so that his attack, already boosted by the increased kinetic energy of him spinning it, can inflict maximum damage. It is an attack as unstoppable as the flow of the river Nile. Hence its name."

Seeing how worried the two girls were, the Titan quickly added, "Though, if Sobek is pulling out this move so soon, it means that Lenin must really be pushing him into a corner. And such a powerful attack will take time before even the strongest gods like Sobek can use it again, So I am confident that we still can win this round my friends." As he said this, he glanced upwards to glare at Ra, who at the moment was looking downwards at the arena with a smug smile on his face.

Both fighters had now gotten back into their fighting stances, Lenin grimaced at the sight of his broken sickle, but quickly recovered. Instead, he now held his hammer with both of his hands. Raising it behind his shoulder, ready to engage in combat once again. Sobek's eyes focused on Lenin's weaker, now more vulnerable left side. Whilst Lenin instinctively placed his right foot forward, so as to guard his injured left. whilst studying Sobek's face intently. He had a theory about the Crocodile God, and whether or not this theory was correct could give him the edge to win in their battle.

"It looks like both of our fighters have gotten back on their feet and are ready for round 2! Will the Beast God of the Duat win the match with both his mighty offensive and defensive capabilities? Or will the Father of Communism snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?" Heimdall's commentary broke the silence, as Lenin and Sobek narrowed their eyes at one another before charging once again at each other, both knowing that this battle was far from over.

Damn, writing the fighting scenes are a much harder challenge than I thought, I really hope that you guys like how it turned out since this is my first attempt at one of these. I will try to keep each round at most 5 chapters long? Hopefully that will be enough to make the fight actually entertaining without taking up too much time and chapters.