Ivar and Cthulhu have gotten into a deadly stalemate, both gripping the deadliest axe ever wielded by a human, butting heads. In the end, Ivar manages to wretch the axe from Cthulhu's clutches with a firm push with his boot on Cthulhu's stomach, nearly sending them both flying back as Ivar rushes forward, Cthulhu doing the same both. Both of the god's arms shoot back as he stretches them out, splitting them into tentacles, Ivar raising his axe as Cthulhu's arm spawns teeth along the side the two clashing in the middle, Ivar's axe for once struggling to cut through Cthulhu's body.
The entire arena is silent as all they can do is watch in anticipation of who the winner will be. In the end, it is Ivar whose strength triumphs as his muscles keep bulging up slicing through Cthulhu's spiked arms, forcing himself closer step by bloodied step. Using his immense power to strike at each tentacle coming at him, Cthulhu is unable to produce one tough enough to stop Ivar when he strikes with both his arms. However as Ivar makes the final slice and leaps at Cthulhu for his deadly overhead strike, Cthulhu's shoulder warps and twists a little as the god grits his teeth. Suddenly his shoulder bursts open like a mouth, showing the swirling void inside of him. The new mouth catches Ivar's axe but still manages to force Cthulhu to his knees. "Your little tricks won't help you, puny god," He assures him pulling his axe up, As Cthulhu suddenly spins, striking at Ivar's leg, breaking it cleanly with a single powerful whip-like sweeping strike, making the Viking lose his balance as Cthulhu spins into punching position and throws a straight punch sending Ivar flying straight across the arena, and even still, tumble until he connects with the wall. Ivar slowly stands, gritting his teeth as he flexes the muscles in his legs, resetting his legs as he did with his arms.
"This is CRAZY!? H-how many bones has Ivar broken at this point!?" Pandora worryingly says, biting her nails, but she can't bite them off.
Icarus crosses his arms, under his wing cloak. "I'd say at least half his ribs… both his arms, in about three places, and now his leg. But it's fine. It has to be!" he assures and Pandora looks down.
"Just… how much pain is he in! He's so strong to be fighting like this!" She says, holding her mouth in disbelief as Ivar simply takes a deep breath and begins walking. On his broken leg without a shed of pain visible on his face. He sees Cthulhu rushing towards him, the horror falling over his own tentacles at this point with how many he's created, but every time he trips he corrects himself with another new tentacle.
Ivar tilts his head as he raises his axe. "There's no chance you can regenerate endlessly. You're nearly dead. That means it is time," Ivar says as suddenly every Viking in the arena is taken aback as Ivar reaches for his axe with his free hand. "Try to block this," Ivar mutters to himself.
Ragnar himself breaks his stern posture and takes off his helmet to hold it in front of his chest. "Cthulhu… what an amazingly powerful man you must be," he says to himself.
Pandora gulps as she can feel the potential energy suddenly erupting from Ivar's axe simply as he grabs the man-sized weapon with both hands. "W-why is this… happening? N-no way! NO WAY!" She says leaning on the railing with a bright smile on her face.
"What is it?!" Icarus asks in a panic.
Pandora laughs happily. "This HAS to be it! Ivar's TRUE strength! I thought it was so weird. His stories don't convey his strength properly at all! But now I get it! He was hiding his true strength!"
Icarus' eyes widen. "His true strength!? B-but his double-handed strikes? THAT wasn't his true strength!?"
Pandora gleefully shakes her head. "This attack. Ivar only ever used it once. And it was when he... died. According to the story his strength was so great in that moment he broke EVERY bone in his arms to use this move, simply by flexing his muscles! It's crazy! BUT AWESOME! Throwing all of that precaution away for one strike!? It was nicknamed..."
Cthulhu stops his approach as Ivar's arms suddenly bulk up even further and the eldritch monster puts up his tentacle-armed blockade which stopped his strike before, adding in an immense amount of teeth to stop it even easier! "You won't get me with a strike that predictable!"
However Ivar does not care, stomping the ground and swinging his axe with all his might, a ghastly crunching sound flooding the arena with every inch of movement his arms do. "BONE PULVERIZER!" Cthulhu can feel every single tentacle of his getting sliced open like they're butter, as he feels the entire left half of his body, from his shoulder down, getting sliced clean open. Then, silence. Followed by an explosion of energy as a humongous gash blasts down the entire arena and into the stands of the gods, followed by gallons of black blood shooting out of Cthulhu's body as his left side falls to the ground, Cthulhu unable to properly balance on just one leg, having to spawn tentacles to keep himself afoot. Cthulhu grits his teeth, coughing up blood, this blood glowing purple too, as he tries to repair his body as fast as he can, but Ivar, flexing his muscles once more swings at him again, Cthulhu putting his all into jumping over the one-handed strike.
"What… incredible strength. From a human..." Cthulhu says landing as he grits his teeth. "I can see why they fear you. Why would you not do this from the start..?" Cthulhu ponders. He looks at his opponent as he lands once again. His arms! He is struggling even to hold onto his axe. There is essentially no bone left in there. "I see. You put everything into one strike. To finish me off… Too bad. TOO BAD! AHAHAHAAAAH! I am Cthulhu!" He says as he grits his teeth a tentacle spawning from his wound. "It'll take more than that!" Another joins it, small tendrils emerging to fix his missing side. "To kill meeeeEEEEEEE!" He screeches as more and more tentacles wrap up the wound and slowly but surely he reassembles himself, though his form is more disgusting than ever before.
Icarus' eyes widen. "There it is! Cthulhu's reached it. The limit of his regeneration. In the beginning, he made a new arm in an instant. He can't POSSIBLY regenerate another fatal injury like that!"
Ivar pants, showing mild signs of fatigue finally. "I understand you. So let's finish this, Cthulhu. Once and for all," Ivar says as he flexes his arms once more, forcing every shard of bone in his arms into place once again.
"You UNDERSTAND me!? SHUT YOUR MOUTH! You don't get SHIT, puny human! Let's do this!" Cthulhu squats down his legs bending like springs once more, but they look unstable. Ivar steps forward, raising his axe once more. Cthulhu grits his teeth stepping down even harder, his legs even breaking and bleeding as he adds in his arm. "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to see that look of fear I know you're hiding!" He yells springing forward as Ivar's arms bulge with power, growing red from strain and internal bleeding, with a clearly pained look on his face. Cthulhu's tentacles and both arms all disassemble mid-air, assembling into his single gigantic fist, sprouting and pulsing with teeth and claws. He grits his teeth as both his legs also twist around into his arm, each adding to the immense mass of this single attack. ELDRITCH ABOMINATION: COSMIC HORROR! Ivar swings his axe down, even harder than before, simply the winds from his swing enough to make the gods duck for cover. BONE PULVERIZER! The two strikes collide sending an air-wave blasting through the arena, making gods and humans alike grip their seats, Icarus holding his wing out in front of Pandora to block the wind from her. Pandora moves the wing aside to peek and see what's happening. Down at the arena both attacks went through. Ivar's axe, jammed into Cthulhu's chest from above, lodged deep inside, teeth and bone-like protrusions from Cthulhu's skin, broken and shattered before finally getting Ivar's axe to stop. On the other end, Cthulhu's horrid arm has ripped through Ivar's side, spikes and teeth jutting out from the area around the impact, the giant monstrous fist having continued past, splattering against the wall and completely splitting apart, leaving a giant mess of jumbled up teeth, blood and tentacles behind Ivar.
"W-what's… what happens now?" Pandora says as the two seem to be in a stalemate. However her eyes fill with tears as Ivar's axe cracks and the head flicks off, sending the head crashing into the floor with a loud thud, Cthulhu spitting to the side as he pulls his arm back ripping Ivar's side even further, his guts starting to spill from the open wound. "No… Ivar!" Pandora utters as Ivar falls to the ground.
Cthulhu's arm retracts and forms into both of his arms and legs, the horror panting like crazy. "I hate you," he says looking down at Ivar before smirking as he turns back to the gods raising his fists. "SEE THAT!? I BEAT HIM!" He says with a laugh as the humans dread what has happened. Ivar has died.
Heimdall gulps. "The strongest Viking, who could battle armies, has fallen! The fight is over! The winner i-" However Heimdall catches his word in his throat all of a sudden.
Cthulhu's eyes go wide as he feels a looming shadow over his body and he looks back to see Ivar, back on his feet, holding his detached axe head over his head, his face clouded in darkness and a raging glare. Cthulhu puts up his arms to block, his face going pale. "What… are you!?" He starts as Ivar gives a roar so guttural, so powerful even the gods seem terrified as Ivar prepares to swing. Cthulhu can do nothing but wait, but before his swing goes through, Ivar falls forward over the horror, Cthulhu holding him up with whatever strength he has left.
Ivar smirks as he falls. "Heh. Gotcha good there… didn't I?" he says as Cthulhu feels the weight lightening as Ivar's body and weapon slowly turn to dust before him, Ragnar and his remaining sons closing their eyes as Pandora cries out from atop the human's side, Icarus gently hugging her with his wing.
Heimdall gulps as everyone is silent. "T-that concludes it with certainty! The match is over! The winner of the first battle of Ragnarok is none other than the Cosmic horror! CTHULHU!" He declares. There is still nothing but silence in the crowds, save for the silent cries of humanity and the very audible cries of Pandora. Cthulhu stands in the middle looking up at the sky, then at the gods, then back at humanity.
"Afraid huh?" He says looking at his bloodied hands. Red blood.
Cthulhu vs Ivar Ragnarsson
Match length: 10 minutes, 50 seconds
Deciding move: Eldritch Abomination: Cosmic Horror
Victor: Cthulhu
Cthulhu spots Pandora and gives a light smile. "Thank you, Ivar..." He looks towards Lovecraft who is sitting with a big twisted happy smile on his face. "And thank you, Lovecraft," He finishes and begins to walk towards the exit, seeing Zeus awaiting him with a chuckle.
"Veeeery well done little Cthulhu. I think you've more than earned your place as a god now," He says as Cthulhu stomps past him, without even looking at him.
"Shut your mouth, old man. Like I will take some pity prize. If I want to become a revered god… then what kind of feeling's it gonna invoke to have the title handed to me?" He says stomping into the darkness as Zeus strokes his beard.
"I see I see," He suddenly turns to Cthulhu who's walking away. "You DARE go against MY wishes, you little brat!?" He begins stomping after him when suddenly someone steps out from a side hallway.
An incredibly tall man, slim but fit, with tanned skin, and a simple crown-like piece of jewelry on his forehead, resembling a small ornate disk with wings, keeping his short orange, white-streaked hair well-kept and slicked back. He wears bright, orange, and gold robes, royal jewelry adorning all of his body. A ring on each of his fingers, all with a colorful gem on it, golden and blue bracelets on his wrist and upper arm, shins, and a black menat necklace that seems to resemble a bird's wings with a circle around its beak. He has large earrings, each resembling a cobra with a solid orange disk inside. To finish his jewelry he wears a belt with a golden scarab as the buckle. He's carrying a long ornate staff with hieroglyphic carvings up along the shaft, with a sun-like emblem on the end. He looks down at Zeus, his left eye completely white, while his right eye's pupil is bright orange. The skin around his right eye is adorned with a very particular, familiar Egyptian tattoo. "Zeus. I would like you to leave Cthulhu alone," He says simply, before casually walking along across the hallway he was already walking down.
Zeus pauses for a moment seeing the radiant glow of this man and chuckles, looking down the hallway where Cthulhu wanders into the darkness of it. "Of course of course. I was never going to do anything to the boy. Rest assured, I will leave him be… Ra."
Ra pauses and nods. "There was never any doubt," he says walking on. "Zeus. I would like you to follow," Ra says walking back down the hallway he just came from, Zeus glances towards Cthulhu before following as Ra requested.
Cthulhu heads back to his battler's chamber, the door appearing like a gate made of the mouth of a giant eldritch horror. He swings the door open walking in as the door shuts behind him he grits his teeth. "Bastard… Ivar. You bastard," He clenches his fists and suddenly starts smashing everything in sight. Bashing the walls and furniture to pieces, screeching off the top of his lungs. "YOU STUPID! PUNY! HUMAAAAAAAN! How DARE you scare ME!?" He yells slowing down, falling to his knees slowly, tears flowing from his eyes. "What… have I been doing? In your less than 50 years of life on Earth… how did you do so much?" He says slamming his fist into the floor, roaring off the top of his lungs, no longer a screech, but a roar. "You bastard… you really did get me, didn't you?" He says calming himself down as he slowly begins his healing process.
-Somewhere in Valhalla-
Ra leads Zeus down a bright hallway, onto a large glass bridge viewing over the gods' world. Zeus naturally follows him to a large dome-like appendage to the Valhalla Arena. Ra's personal viewing room. As he approaches, two servants quickly open the large golden gate for him, Zeus honestly finding this man's love for gold and brightness a little bothersome on the eyes.
The inside of the room is very poised and decorated neatly with many MANY windows and glass panels on the floor and a glass ceiling. Ra approaches a giant throne raised above the nude dancers he has dancing on either side of the room. The platform appears as a pyramid, with Hieroglyphs spelling his name carved into the sides with a staircase decorated in gold, and the throne atop is equally as impressive. He sits down, crossing his legs and gently resting his cheek on his hand as Zeus impatiently awaits for Ra to sit.
"I see your sense of style has not changed in a few thousand years. A shame real shame, boy," He says as Ra raises an eyebrow.
"My 'style' is not for you to decide. I decide. Ra always decides. Now onto the real matters at hand..." He leans forward, gently resting his elbows on his knees and his head upon his hands. "I would like you to step back and allow me to run this Ragnarok," As the words reach Zeus' ears there's a pause. Even Ra's dancers, all of whom had been instructed by Ra himself to dance, cease from fear as Zeus' face twists into a horridly angry face and he leans his head closer to Ra's pyramid.
"HaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!?"