Chapter 8: The Honored Ones
Tyr stood in the hallway on the Gods' side of the arena, waiting patiently for the time that his name was to be called to enter. He now wore a massive fur-lined cloak that covered his armor, the tail of it dragging behind him as he walked. On his prosthetic limb, a large golden shield was strapped to his forearm, and from his hip hung a massive golden sword, covered in runes.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway, and on instinct Tyr moved to kneel. "Stay on your feet, Odinson."
The words were cold and without affection, spoken by a red-haired Goddess. She was a statuesque figure, equal in height to Tyr or Thor, with long red-hair. Her outfit was simple, a green dress covered in a scale-like pattern. The same yellow symbols that marked Thor's own face were present on her own, furthering the resemblance between her and her son.
"Queen Frigg," Tyr identified, matching the woman's tone and energy as he straightened himself out.
"My husband seems to think that this fight warrants some degree of caution," she said disdainfully. "You are a God going to battle against a human. You wear the pride of Asgard on your back, figuratively and very literally."
"I understand, Your Highness," Tyr said quietly. For the first time in his life, he was able to meet the Queen of Asgard's gaze and saw the disgust and contempt she had for him.
"Still, even if that human pulls off some trick like last round's boy did, I expect even you won't have trouble putting him down. If it were either of my sons, I might have a bit more faith, but…" she trailed off, frowning at the War God. "My husband has wasted so much time and resources on you, to make you feel as important as our actual sons. See to it that he did not waste his time, Tyr."
With that, Frigg turned on her heel and left. Tyr took a deep breath, enjoying the silence for a moment. He and Frigg had never quite gotten along, and yet still some part of him had hoped that she might have been here to wish him well or send him off to battle with a smile.
"For father, for my brothers…and even for her," he said the last words contemptuously. "I must win. Hopefully humanity can find a way to forgive me for what must be done here today."
Adjusting the cloak once again, he began to walk towards the tunnel's exit.
"Your patience is about to pay off, ladies and gentlemen!" Helios called out, his chariot circling the skies of the arena. "The hard work of our construction crew has not only cleaned up the mess our last fighters left, but also prepared something special for this second round!"
"You see, the fighter for mankind made a special request for this battleground, and the Gods in their infinite mercy decided to grant it," Selene explained.
The empty arena that had been the battleground for Charles-Henri Sanson and Nemesis was gone, now replaced by a circular field of green grass. Vibrant green trees littered the field, outlining a stone path that wound around the site. All roads eventually converged, passing through many red torii gates, to a massive wooden temple that sat in the center of the arena. Three buildings, each connected by wooden walkways and platforms. Two stone lanterns seemed to come to life on their own, drawing their attention to the facility.
Nobunaga, Ieyasu, and Hideyoshi had joined Prometheus and Pandora in their balcony seats, looking over the battleground as it was finished.
"A perfect recreation of old Honnoji Temple," Ieyasu smiled, nudging Nobunaga gently with his elbow. "What do you have to say about that, old friend?"
"Your monk has a shitty sense of humor," Nobunaga replied dryly, crossing his arms.
"Why would this guy want a temple as his battleground?" Pandora asked.
Hideyoshi scoffed. "Home field advantage is everything in a fight. It boosts morale by giving you a familiar sight, it gives you knowledge of the terrain that your opponent may not possess. The ability to pick your battleground is an important skill for soldiers and generals alike."
"So why would the Gods agree to let us have this advantage, then?" Pandora continued.
"Because after that first win, they don't see us as a threat. They think they're humoring us, giving us this request. But Tenkai is going to prove to them how ridiculous of a choice it was for them to handicap themselves like this," Prometheus smirked.
Helios interrupted them once again, his voice echoing out through the colosseum. "First, the fighter for the Gods! Fresh off their first victory over humanity, this God has answered the call! What God could ever hope to compare to the great Thor in sheer strength, or Baldr in his purity of heart? Who could go to war with Mars himself and come out the victor? A champion of divinity, with his brother Thor he brought down the Frost Giant Hymir! He alone restrained and fought back against the wolf Fenrir when he rampaged through Asgard! Even with one hand, the sight of this God entering the battlefield is enough to make entire armies flee in terror. He is the Champion of the Norse, the Most Honored God in Heaven! Son of Odin, brother of Thor, he is…TYR!"
Tyr opted for a less ostentatious entrance than his predecessor, walking slowly out of the tunnel and allowing the cloak to drag behind him. Several Aesir and Vanir, the native Gods of Asgard, cheered and roared to herald his entrance. Several held up mugs or drinking horns in his honor, and many more stood up to salute their favorite general. Tyr stopped in the middle of the arena, at the stairs leading into the massive temple, and raised up his golden prosthetic hand into the air. Even with no words, the message was clear.
"I've got this," he seemed to say.
"And now his opponent, our fighter from humanity! During the Sengoku Era, Japan tore itself apart to determine who would become their shogun. In the aftermath of that bloody conflict, this man came from nothing and with no clan to his name and no prestige, he became the right-hand man to the shogun himself. Wise counsel, or shrewd manipulation? How did this man reach enlightenment and help build a country that persists even to this day? Even in death, he was honored as the Master with Buddha's Compassion. Is this human the closest that they ever got to creating another Buddha? After a life of peace, he descends onto the battlefield. The monk who built Japan, Jigen Daishi himself! Behold, NANKOBO TENKAI!"
In the humans' corridor, hundreds of Buddhist monks had gathered, laying on the ground in supplication to form a massive line on either side. Tenkai, now holding an ornate staff weighted down with multiple golden rings on the top end of it, walked slowly down the corridor, tapping his staff against the ground rhythmically as he moved. He muttered thanks to each monk and priest he passed on his way to the mouth of the tunnel.
Tenkai exited the tunnel, feeling the sun on his skin as he approached Tyr, meeting him in the middle. Whereas Tyr had exited to great fanfare, the human side of the arena was much more perplexed.
"Some monk? How's he gonna fight?"
"Is Prometheus for real, sending out monks and executioners? We need a real soldier or something!"
Tyr frowned, looking at the audience for a moment before looking down at the lanky individual that stood before him.
"I had been hoping for a true warrior. Perhaps Ptolemy or Gilgamesh might have been worthy opponents. There is no honor in slaying a monk," Tyr grumbled sternly.
"What, you refusing to fight? That might count as a forfeit, you know," Tenkai teased.
"Don't twist my words, human. Just because I had hoped to face a mighty conqueror or fearsome monster, doesn't mean I would dishonor you by standing down. You volunteered for this tournament, knowing you would face an opponent overwhelmingly out of your league," Tyr explained. "You may not be a soldier, but you possess the heart of a true warrior underneath it all. I shall show you the respect I have for you by letting you die with your head held high, on the battlefield."
"Don't worry about too much, Tyr-sama," Tenkai laughed nervously. "I lived a life before entering the priesthood, you know. I bloodied my hands plenty before becoming who I am today."
"What a shame that I'll have to kill you today," Tyr sighed. "I might've actually liked you had we not been enemies."
"I'll be sure to say some kind words when I send you to the other side," Tenkai responded.
"Alright, well this trash talk has been super weird, let's move on," Helios said uncomfortably, looking to Selene for help.
"Round Two of the Ragnarok, between the God of War and the Master with Buddha's Compassion, begins now!" she called out.
With that declaration, Tyr launched himself forward as if shot out of a cannon. With surprising speed, he brought up his shield-arm and slammed it down in an overhead swing. Tenkai nimbly leaped back, dodging the blow as it came down and shattered the stone and dirt that it made contact with. Tenkai realized rather quickly that had he let that attack hit him, it might've been enough to cave in his skull.
Tyr rose up quickly, lunging forward with his shield-arm, using the edge of it like some kind of bladed weapon in a horizontal swing. Tenkai side-stepped this one, sliding his staff into the crook of Tyr's arm. Using Tyr's own momentum against him, Tenkai guided the attack so that it would go too wide, missing the monk by a wide margin and leaving Tyr open to an attack. Taking his staff, Tenkai jabbed upwards with the weapon, slamming its metal rings and pointed end directly into Tyr's face. Tyr stumbled for a moment before reversing his swing, sending the shield back in the direction of Tenkai's body. The blind swing was lucky, though it only landed a glancing blow against Tenkai's torso, it still sent the monk reeling through the dirt and grass.
Tenkai stopped when his body collided into a nearby tree, falling to the ground and coughing up a single mouthful of blood. Even a glancing blow had done more than he had expected it to, while Tyr simply raised his good hand up to his face, removing it to see a few scant drops of blood on his gauntlet. Tenkai's face-stab had broken his nose already, though the pointed tip of the staff had failed to break all the way through the God's skin.
"I suppose it was too much to ask that one hit be enough to end this," Tenkai sighed.
"I'm made of sterner stuff than that, monk," Tyr growled, advancing on the mortal man.
"Clearly. I'll have to get a bit more creative, then," Tenkai smirked.
Tenkai reached into his robe, revealing three small black pellets that he threw in Tyr's face. As they made contact, the pellets exploded, erupting into thick black smoke that consumed the War God. As he coughed and swatted away the smoke, Tenkai prepared for a new attack. He changed his grip on the staff, positioning his hand so that his palm and fingers were at the base of the staff, lifting it up with a single arm. Maintaining this strange rigid posture with the staff, he jammed it and its pointed, ringed head forward like a spear in a flurry of quick jabs. Each jab was a fierce stab, pushed forward by Tenkai and breaking through the smoke. "Naraka Shorinji Kempo: Ameonna!"
The many stabs and jabs broke through the smoke, finding purchase across Tyr's upper torso and face. Even with Tenkai's lithe frame, it was as if each stab and strike sliced deeper into the God's flesh. Several cuts opened across his face and nose, and deep scratches began to form across his armor. To anyone watching, it made no sense how someone so feeble looking could land so many cuts into what looked to be an impenetrable defense and an unbelievably sturdy foe.
Tyr took several steps back, hiding behind his shield to defend against the blows. Unlike his armor, the shield remained stalwart and undamaged, though the force of it began to push him back. Tyr's eyes widened as he put some distance between himself and the flurry of blows from the monk. Catching his breath, he could feel the wounds now that they had opened; they were shallow due to him managing to side-step the most furious attacks at the last second. But still, how did this human manage to pierce and do any amount of damage to his army with such a pathetic flurry of jabs? Tyr hadn't even felt the metal of the staff's top even make contact with his face or body for some of these hits, so how had this happened?
"Naraka Shorinji Kempo?" Pandora repeated the words, head tilting. "How did he manage to pull that off?"
"Shorinji Kempo is a martial art developed by a Buddhist, based on the arts of Shaolin monks who preceded him." Ieyasu explained. "It came about after our time was long gone, but Tenkai must have been practicing it and learning it all on his lonesome even after dying."
"Why would he do something like that, he had no way of knowing it was ever going to be useful," Pandora asked again.
"This is more than a martial art, girly," Hideyoshi grumbled. "It's just as much about finding oneself and achieving inner peace as it is learning to defend yourself. Tenkai must have taken it up as a way to continue his enlightenment after death."
"But to name it Naraka," Nobunaga trailed off, arms crossed. "He's modified it or changed it in some way. That last attack was unlike anything in Shorinji Kempo, it was far too aggressive and showy."
"Naraka, another name for the realm of Helheim. He combined a martial art all about enlightenment and peace and combined it with the most hellish aspects of himself," Prometheus surmised, smiling. "He's even more twisted than I thought. Who better to fight the oh-so-honorable God of War?"
Across the way, the Norse Gods had cleared out a section of the stadium all to themselves. Frigg and Odin sat on rather ornate seats, Odin with his hands in his lap and Frigg with her arms crossed, both looking sternly at the display being put before them. Three seats sat nearby, though only one of them was occupied, by a lanky and androgynous God adorned in black and purple leathers, currently playing with a lock of green hair.
"Lefty is actually struggling here, isn't he?" asked Loki as he continued to play with his own hair.
Frigg scoffed. "Even Tyr knows better than to let us down, you little cretin. The Gods of Asgard put their trust in him. The human's cheating won't be enough to bring him down."
"Wow, I didn't think you'd have that much trust in him, Auntie. How motherly," Loki sneered, saying the last word with a certain degree of venom.
"Loki. Cease talking," Odin growled, earning the Trickster's silence for a rare moment. "End this farce now, son. Do not let this human shame us as they did Nemesis."
"Relying on tricks? Perhaps I thought too highly of you," Tyr groaned.
"Apologies, but I have no intention of making this a fair fight," Tenkai adjusted his grip on his staff, holding it in both hands as if preparing for a defensive gesture. "If we come to blows, you'd beat me every time."
"Even if you rely on these tricks, you'll never beat me. Loki could never hope to best me, even with his magic, so you will come up short in this endeavor," Tyr said. "Would you really rather die clawing and scratching at life, rather than going out with dignity?"
"You talk so much about dignity and honor...Honestly, it's sickening to me," Tenkai frowned. "Do you really believe all that, or are you just putting on a show for someone?"
This time, it was Tyr that frowned, silently reaching for the sword that hung from his hip. He drew the sword from its sheath, revealing the golden blade and the runes that covered it to the world.
"After that introduction and the display your comrade Sanson put up, I thought I might have found a kindred spirit. Someone who shared my sense of honor and duty, but it's clear that you are simply another trickster who fooled humanity into rallying behind you. If this is the best that mankind has to offer, then you deserve extinction." Tyr monologued.
In a split second, Tyr surged forward, swinging the sword down in an overhead attack. It was all that Tenkai could do to brace himself, bringing up the staff to block the blow in an overhead block. The sword failed to slice through the staff, surprisingly, but the sheer weight and force of the attack reverberated through the monk's body. Gritting his teeth, he felt his feet sink into the ground and the stone around him begin to splinter. While he struggled to block the sword, he felt a heavy piece of metal slam into his gut and send him reeling. Tyr had slammed the rim of his shield into Tenkai, knocking him backwards once again from the force of the blow.
Tenkai rolled across the ground, stopping himself by jabbing his staff into the ground to steady his roll. Bruised and battered, he slowly rose back to his feet. Nothing was broken, not that he could feel, but pain racked through his entire body. It had been so long since he actually went on the battlefield, it was all he could do to remain standing. Rather than advancing, Tyr pointed his sword forward.
"If you were to forfeit now, I'd let you die a warrior's death. Quick, clean. But continue, and you will be put down like a wild beast," Tyr cautioned.
"I can't do that," Tenkai said seriously.
"Then you have chosen the difficult way. Were it anyone else, I'd respect that decision," Tyr sighed. "Then come at me, without holding back. Employ your tricks, use your cheats, do whatever it takes to get ahead. That way when I strike you down, I can show you that the best of Asgard could never be taken down by a mere trickster!"
Tenkai's face remained grim as he took his staff in both hands, twirling it and spinning it in his hands as if he were performing an elaborate kata. To those in the audience, it might have looked like he was flailing wildly in panic or fear, or if he was attempting a bizarre intimidation tactic. Martial artists and hardened warriors realized that Tenkai would not waste time or energy on such inefficient or unnecessary movements. This was why Tyr remained standing, watching and waiting for Tenkai to finish his maneuver. In the stands, Loki, Prometheus, and Nobunaga alike leaned forward, their attention gathered by the sight of Tenkai's movements.
Tenkai finished the kata by jabbing his staff forward, through the empty air. For a moment, everyone paused, seeing nothing happen. Then suddenly, after a few moments, Tyr let out a surprised groan, and in the gaps of his armor a spray of blood shot out. Something had pierced through the gaps of his armor, slicing open his side. Tenkai had drawn blood without even taking a single step. Beside him, the image of a new figure apparated, floating beside the monk.
She appeared to be a humanoid female, with porcelain skin and raven hair that went down to the small of her back. Her clothing resembled a black kimono, decorated with red trim and a floral pattern at the bottom showing several large red flowers. A large red bow was tied, keeping her outfit held together. She and Tenkai spoke as one.
"How's that for a trick? Be careful, or the next one might just come for your head!"
A/N: Round 2 begins, Tyr versus the most obscure pick in my roster, Nankobo Tenkai. Apologies for the delays, as there have been some issues with work and being sick, plus I just went on vacation a week ago and have been adjusting now that I am back home. Also needless to say this chapter underwent a lot of drafts and changes until I felt like I got Tyr and Tenkai's characters and their voices "right".
Anyway, next time we continue with round 2 as we see Tenkai's Aeon partner in full and what Tyr is really capable of.