Chapter 10: Gifts and Curses

"What the hell kind of power is that?" Jupiter rose from his seat, incredulous at the display before him. "Minerva, explain!"

"That sword was forged millenia ago, when demigods of the Norse pantheon tried to overthrow Lord Odin. They captured his finest smiths, the dwarves, and forced them to forge a sword of cursed magic and iron, capable of killing anything. Even a God," Minerva sighed. "I had thought it was lost, destroyed by Odin and his sons after they reclaimed it. Clearly he's had it stashed away until now, hidden among their Divine Arsenal."

"So by focusing on the shield this entire time, Tyr has been what, holding back?" Juno questioned. "He really was taking it easy on the human."

"Maybe he was just dragging out the human's suffering," Jupiter mocked, laughing. "I never knew the little wolf pup had it in him!"

"Or there's some kind of drawback to that weapon that he was avoiding. No weapon is truly perfect, after all," Minerva posited, silencing her family.

"A sword that could kill anyone in just three hits? This could be rather troublesome indeed," Jupiter mumbled to himself. His flippant nature hid the truth of the matter: the King of the Gods felt a twinge of fear begin to set in.

"Two more times being touched by this blade, and you will die."

Tenkai scowled; he wanted to accuse his opponent of lying, but he doubted Tyr would ever stoop to doing something like that. If he said the sword's curse could kill him in two more hits, then he could only assume it was the truth.

"We've gotta separate him from that sword!" Tenkai and Monogenes agreed, the monk launching himself backward.

"Naraka Shorinji Kempo: Konaki-jiji!" As he put distance between them, Tenkai stabbed the air with his staff in a series of random jabs and stabs. With each stab, a shot of invisible air shot forward like an arrow, one slicing Tyr's cheek as another struck his shoulder, and another across his side. The shots kept landing against Tyr as he did nothing to deflect or block them, slowly advancing upon his opponent.

"Curse of Three Evils: Death of the King!" Tyr moved forward, going for what appeared to be a simple forward horizontal slash with his sword. Tenkai stepped back, dodging the attack with relative ease, but then the truth of this attack was made clear: the same necrotic energy that had come from the sword to enact Dead Men's Flood came from the sword again, extending its reach ever so slightly.

Once again, Tenkai could only release a Kamaitachi immediately and without build up, relying on the force of the wind he summoned to block the blade and push him back from the brief clash. Launching himself back, he landed on his feet but froze, his lungs burning.

"Overuse of both of your abilities will-" Monogenes counseled, but was cut off by Tenkai's own thoughts.

"I know!" Tenkai hissed in his own mind. "I was trying to find an opening to go for his sword, but-"

Tenkai coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Overuse of Concentrated Breathing wasn't good for the organs, least of all the lungs. He could tell he had irritated them, going for so many breathing-enhanced techniques in rapid succession. Tenkai knew he needed to slow his breathing and take a moment to collect himself, but Tyr was not going to afford him that luxury.

Tyr rushed in, this time going for a lunging stab. Tenkai, however, knew what to expect; he held his staff up vertically, bracing his shoulder against it and rolling into the side of the blade, pushing against it to try and knock it aside. At that moment, he opted to lower his stance to pull off a twisting hammer attack. Twisting around the attack and lowering his body, he aimed a punch at the God's right kidney, before going a palm strike to Tyr's chest wound and a sweeping kick to the god's calves. What followed were a series of rapid strikes that found Tyr turned around and eventually knocked to the ground, his legs knocked out from under him and Tenkai using the force behind their movements to pull the God to the ground.

"Now we'll end it!" Tenkai thought, rearing back for another attack. He inhaled deeply, feeling the burn in his lungs as his muscles and organs were once again pushed to their limits. He needed maximum strength and resistance in his arms for this next attack. "Kamaitachi!"

Bringing the staff overhead, he brought the staff down like a scythe, the invisible wind blade gathering around it and coming down like a guillotine.

"Death of the King!" Tyr brought his blade up to block the downward strike, the blade extended by the curse.

Necrotic energy and razor winds collided, but neither fighter was willing to give the other the advantage. Rather than simply avoiding the attack by leaping or rolling out of the way, sword and staff collided against one another, each fighter doing their best to push against the other. It was a war of attrition, as to who would give up this clash first or whose muscles would give out.

Tenkai's body was screaming out in pain, focusing all of his force into this one attack, but he would not relent. He had to end this decisively and quickly, he thought, even if it meant damaging himself beyond repair.

Instead, it was Tyr who changed tactics. With his shield-hand, he brought it up under his sword, pushing against the sword with it and bracing himself. The runes and symbols across the shield began to glow a pale green, and a chill entered the air.

"Hrungnir's Teeth: Reflection!" With a bright blue light shining out from the shield now, Tenkai felt a blast of energy and wind come across his entire body, and he was pushed back by the blow.

His own wind and the cursed energy turned against him, Tenkai had been slashed and cut all across his body, his robes hanging off of him in tatters across his upper body.

"Wait, that shield…" Helios mumbled from above. "I've seen it before."

Pandora frowned. "I knew it! Svalinn!"

The daimyo gathered in the human audience looked to Prometheus for an explanation, who only shrugged in response.

"Don't look at me. Weapons are the domain of Pandora and her father," Prometheus admitted. "Always found them to be tasteless inventions, truth be told."

"A long time ago, a set of monsters appeared with the power of the sun. They were stopped before they destroyed the world, but the Heavens were afraid of something like that happening again. So my father collaborated with the dwarves to make a shield that even the heat of the sun couldn't break through. It absorbed the energy of the sun and redirected it, spreading light without burning everything to death."

"So the shield acts both as a mirror and a sponge, then," Prometheus mused.

"A cursed sword that can cut through anything and anyone, a shield that can absorb and reflect damage and even block out the light of the sun…and he thought to mock Tenkai for relying on tricks!" Hideyoshi grumbled.

"The Gods want to win, of course they're going to pull out all the stops. I would have done the same," Nobunaga said grimly. "When I introduced riflemen into my forces, I'm sure my enemies said the same about me. It will be up to Tenkai to find a way out of this."

"Two of Asgard's Divine Treasures, used in battle against a mere human," Tyr returned to his feet, letting out a deep breath that all could see.

"Used my own power against me, huh?" Tenkai chuckled despite himself, pain racking his body with each laugh. "Should've really brought that out sooner."

"So eager to die, are we?" Tyr taunted.

"No, just the longer this goes on, the more I get to see of your silly little weapons," Tenkai mocked. "And as soon as I figure out their secret, you're done for!"

"Konaki-Jiji!" Ignoring the pain, Tenkai released another series of jabs in the air, sending off wind projectiles with each stab.

"Try as many times as you wish, nothing will change!" Tyr roared, placing his shield to the side as he reared back with his sword. "Curse of Three Evils: Rock-Splitter!"

The sword burned with necrotic energy once again, but this time the attack was released into the air itself, the wind and energy mixing together as it consumed the projectiles completely. The slash widened, tearing through the dirt and soil. Tenkai could not dodge it, so he instead held his staff up horizontally to block it. But he was too late, the slash of energy connecting and ripping open the monk's chest in a bloody display.

Tenkai fell to his knees, chest bleeding and body shaking. He hadn't been hit by the sword itself so the curse was still only in its first stage, but the pain of the energy racked through his body. The audience sat on edge, wondering if the fight had already come to an end, but Tenkai smiled despite it all.

"I get it now," he said simply. "Your shield and sword each have their own magic spell. The sword destroys everything it touches, and the shield deflects everything it touches. How poetic…"

"I assume you have a point and aren't just wasting my time with this babble?" Tyr sighed.

"I was getting to that, so impatient! But that sword, it's a little too much for a guy like you to handle, isn't it?" Tenkai asked mockingly.

"Hold your tongue!" Tyr charged forward, going for a quick stab of Tyrfing, but Tenkai side-stepped it.

"That sword puts off way too much energy for even its wielder, is that it? That's the reason it took you so long to use it!" Tenkai reasoned, taking this chance to strike at Tyr's face with a simple jab of his staff. The rings of the staff sliced into the God's cheek, but he moved to swat Tenkai away with his shield.

Tenkai rolled with the hit, letting himself roll across the ground to avoid taking the full force of the shield swing. Ignoring that his blood stained the dirt as he moved, he continued.

"So the whole point of that shield is to absorb the backlash, so you don't end up killing yourself. But you can't have it both ways; you can either absorb all the damage from that sword, or you can try to reflect my attacks back at me, you can't do both!" Tenkai said.

Tyr paused for a moment, grimacing. "And what good does this knowledge do you?"

"I just have to find the right gap in your offense and defense, and then I'll win," Tenkai explained.

"And how did that strategy fare for your comrade in the first round?" Tyr said coldly.

"Keep Sanson-san's name out of your filthy mouth," Tenkai said suddenly and harshly. "He put his life on the line out of his sense of duty. What would some golden boy prince like you know about that? You say you're a warrior and talk of honor and dignity, but what have you ever done for someone other than yourself?"

"Don't speak so certainly of things you don't understand," Tyr almost sounded sad as he said these words. "I'm surprised you hold your comrade in such high regard."

"People who put their lives on the line for someone else have earned nothing but my deepest respect and admiration," Tenkai smiled somewhat. "It's just you that I can't respect at all, with your high and mighty attitude. If I'm being honest, I really can't stand you at all. You remind me too much of someone else."

"I'll take your bait, monk, even if I know you're just stalling for time. Who is this poor unfortunate soul who has earned your enmity?" Tyr sighed.

"Me."

Tenkai had spent this entire brief reprieve collecting himself, righting his breathing and falling into a steady rhythm. The pain in his chest was distracting, but now that he had the time to pause, it was a matter of letting the air flow through him, detecting every issue within his body. Cracked ribs, bruised internal organs, until he found the ruptured blood vessels. He wouldn't be able to do much about the pain or erasing the injury, but he could stop the flow of bleeding.

"Focus all of it in the injured spot, and force your body to undergo hemostasis…" Tenkai thought as he did so, feeling the bleeding slow down and inevitably stop. It was a temporary measure, and he'd certainly need stitches or proper bandages when this was done, but he could fight.

"By concentrating your breathing into localized injuries, you can forcefully trigger your body's natural healing factor…Samurai were an inventive bunch, weren't they?" Tyr sighed. "Still, it won't be enough."

The feathered cloak that had been wrapped around Tyr's shoulders this entire time had remained undamaged, unmoving during it all. But now, the cloak seemed to move as if it were possessed by a life of its own. The cloak seemingly split in two, each half raising up before twisting into a new shape. Two black and grey falcon's wings now sat on Tyr's back.

"This is the Queen's blessing, this is the third and last of my Divine Treasures: Valshamr," Tyr announced. "Now even your wind strikes will be used against you. This is my way of honoring your struggle, burying you under the weight of Asgard's Divine Treasures."

With one flap of the wings, Tyr launched himself forward, his speed increasing as he went into a corkscrew maneuver. Tenkai side-stepped it at the last second, but the sheer force of the wind sliced into his side, not unlike how he had used the wind to cut Tyr several times already. Tyr rather clumsily landed on the other side of the attack, still not used to his new wings. Frigg so rarely loaned out this power to anyone, it was his first time using it.

"This test run will have to be enough," he thought to himself as he turned and used the wings to launch himself straight into the air.

Everyone looked on as Tyr seemingly fled the arena, stopping in mid-air for a brief moment. Taking the sword in both hands and pointing it downward, everyone realized what he intended to do. His wings stopped flapping, and Tyr plummeted like a boulder falling from the sky, aimed squarely at Tenkai. Occasionally his wings would flap backwards, adding more momentum to his rapid descent.

The gods looked on in surprise at the seemingly suicidal plunge that he was taking for the sake of defeating this opponent. The humans could only call out and beg Tenkai to move out of the way, to flee or dodge. But instead the human came to a different conclusion.

"What if I meet him head on, just like he wanted from the start?"

Tenkai held his staff in that scythe-like stance and concentrated, bringing as much force and energy into his muscles as he could in preparation for the next strike. He knew if he messed this up, there was a chance it would all be over for him. Just as Tyr knew the very same thing.

"Naraka Shorinji Kempo: Kamaitachi!"

"Garmr's Fang!"

The blast of razor-sharp wind and the descending cursed sword collided, resulting in a brief moment where Tyr was stuck in mid air, his sword grinding against the winds that ravaged his body. With his shield strapped to his arm and busy absorbing the after-effects of the cursed blade, the pain from a thousand cuts was excruciating, but the God of War persevered. But the wind could not hold up against the force of the Nord's weapon or might, and he broke through, descending and bringing his blade down upon his foe.

At least, that was how it seemed. A massive dust cloud exploded from the arena upon Tyr's impact against the ground. When it cleared, blood had splattered across the arena. The razor winds had managed to tear through much of Tyr's armor, and the Norse God was standing on shaky feet, removing his sword from the ground. More surprisingly, his shield was now pulsing and glowing brighter than ever, almost rhythmically similar to a heartbeat.

Tenkai now had a large cut across his face, nearly losing an eye to it but taking much of the hit across a now mangled nose. The skin was fading to a slight gray already, the second token of the curse taking effect. What mattered more was that his staff now sat in either hand, broken into two pieces. At the last second he had tried to deflect the attack with his staff, but even his enhanced abilities from the Aeon he had paired with were not enough to fend off the power of a War God.

"You fought well. Some of your actions have tarnished your honor, but your sacrifice will be a great pity. For better or for worse, I will remember you, Tenkai," Tyr said grimly.

"You think just because you broke my weapon I'm done? Typical," Tenkai held the two broken halves of his staff out like clubs, taking a defensive stance. "And you're still preaching to me about honor. What has honor ever gotten you? If honor dictated you kill your best friend, would you? Would you do horrible things just because your lord told you to?"

Tyr paused, the words striking him.

"I watched the countryside burn in the name of honor, saw friends and family put to the sword for no good reason…I even killed the one person I truly cared for in this world, just to protect his honor," Tenkai's voice wavered for a moment. "So tell me what that honor is worth when it only brings about pain and destruction! Do you know anything about that, oh God of War?"

"I might know more than you think." Tyr sighed. "Let me tell you a story then, monk. It is of what I did to become the God of War, and how I truly earned the love and loyalty of my kinsmen."