000

For the white wraith, that tiny fragment of my power had been transformative.

The creature"s energy had multiplied several times over! It shook itself, dislodging fragments of old armor as sharper blue-white plates grew beneath them. Its wings expanded and slammed open, sending a blast of wind through the chamber.

The wraith looked at me again. Its eyes had changed from colorless grey to bright blue. There was more intelligence in them now. And hunger.

"Oh," I whispered.

The monster lunged. It crossed the space between us far faster than before, swinging one chain horizontally while driving its opposite claw toward my chest. I ducked beneath the chain and caught its wrist.

The impact drove my feet several inches into the stone.

I grinned.

The wraith twisted with surprising skill, using my grip as leverage to throw its body sideways. One wing struck me across the face hard enough to launch me through an empty pod.

Glass exploded around me.

I landed in the remains of the machinery and looked down at the shallow scratch across my cheek. It healed immediately.

The white wraith watched the regeneration. Then both chains lifted. It understood. Maybe not the details, but enough to know I possessed more power than it had taken. The hooks covering its chains opened eagerly.

I climbed out of the broken pod and brushed glass from my shoulders.

This had started as a hunt for proposal materials.

Now I had a question. How much could it absorb?

The sensible approach would be to kill it immediately. Its life-draining ability made it dangerous, and allowing it to consume more of my power might create a problem. Gemma had warned me specifically about underestimating unknown monsters.

On the other hand-

I was curious. The creature had multiplied its strength after absorbing less energy than I used to heat a frying pan. What would happen if I gave it more? Could its body adapt indefinitely, or would it eventually reach a limit?

"That is incredibly irresponsible," I told myself. And yet curiosity won out. Mostly because I wondered what the monster would taste like after evolving from my power.

The white wraith roared and charged again.

Golden light erupted around me. My human body expanded violently as I released my true form. The laboratory trembled. Ancient machinery collapsed beneath the pressure of my aura, and several intact pods cracked simultaneously.

Golden paws struck the floor.

My back rose toward the ceiling. Ten enormous tails unfurled behind me, each thick enough to crush buildings and long enough to stretch across the chamber. Blue foxfire ignited along my fur, illuminating every corner of the ancient laboratory.

The fifty-foot golden fox that filled the chamber was far larger than the wraith.

For the first time, the creature hesitated.

Its chains lowered slightly. Every predatory instinct it possessed screamed that something had gone catastrophically wrong.

I lowered my head until one massive golden eye stared directly into its blue ones. "Come on," I rumbled. "Are you gonna give up the chance to evolve further?" The words vibrated through the mountain. "I want to see what you can become."

The white wraith"s fear lasted less than a second. Then hunger overcame survival instinct. It threw both chains around my foreleg. The hooks latched into my fur, and power began pouring out of me.

This time, I let it. Blue fire raced down the chains.

The wraith"s eyes widened. Its body convulsed as a torrent of demonic life force flooded into organs never designed to process anything on that scale. The floor beneath it melted. White armor turned sapphire. Its muscles tore apart and rebuilt themselves faster, larger, and denser.

Wings expanded until they struck both walls. New chains burst from its shoulders in sprays of pale blood. Its roar deepened until it shook the entire mountain.

I felt the first genuine resistance when the creature pulled against my leg.

My fox grin widened.

— Thor —

...After what felt like genuine hours of scrubbing, Thor finally managed to remove the stench from his body.

He stood waist-deep in the river and cautiously sniffed his forearm. Cold water. Soap. Wet leather from the armor he had washed beside the bank. No rotten fruit. No lingering trace of the green cloud that had struck him with enough force to launch a god through three trees.

Thor sniffed again, more deeply this time. Nothing. "AT LAST!" His triumphant shout echoed through the forest.

Several Wudwuds gathered along the riverbank immediately started laughing.

Thor"s expression darkened.

The small forest creatures had been watching him scrub himself for most of the evening. Some sat on rocks eating fruit. Others had brought their children to observe. At one point, a particularly bold Wudwud had demonstrated Thor"s flight through the air by throwing a pink fruit against a tree.

They had all found that hilarious.

Thor glared at them. He considered scolding the creatures for failing to warn him about the Congalala"s vile intestinal weapon. No honorable warrior expected an opponent to turn around and blast me with a cloud of poisonous flatulence in the middle of a wrestling match!

Then Thor remembered the Wudwuds repeatedly describing the beast as "stinky."

They had mentioned the odor at least six times. One had pinched its nose while speaking about it. Another had performed a surprisingly accurate pantomime of the Congalala bending over.

In hindsight, the warnings had been perfectly clear.

That did not mean they were entitled to laugh for hours.

Thor climbed from the river and pointed an accusing finger at them. "A warrior"s temporary misfortune is not a subject for endless mockery!"

The Wudwuds laughed harder.

One fell backward off its rock. Thor briefly considered summoning lightning close enough to frighten them, then decided Jane would probably disapprove of terrorizing tiny forest people.Instead, he snatched up a towel and dried himself with as much wounded dignity as he could manage.

Night had settled over the forest while he bathed. Glowing insects drifted among enormous trees, and pale flowers opened beneath the three moons. Strange roars occasionally sounded in the distance, promising no shortage of worthy opponents.

His armor lay disassembled along the riverbank. Thor inspected each piece before putting it back on. The enchanted metal no longer carried any trace of the Congalala"s stench. He fastened his bracers, secured his chest armor, and draped his red cape over his shoulders.

Mjolnir rested on a nearby boulder.

Thor extended one hand. The hammer flew into his grasp. That simple action still filled him with relief. For days after Odin had cast him out, Mjolnir refused to move beneath his fingers. Kunou had lifted it effortlessly, renamed it Sparkling Lightning-Chan, and then discarded it after growing bored. Thor had traveled to Skyrim powerless and furious, only to discover that the Nords cared little for his titles.

The Companions had made him work.

They made him hunt, carry supplies, clean equipment, and fight without relying on divine power. They laughed when he complained and struck him when arrogance made him careless.

Somewhere during those difficult weeks, Mjolnir had judged him worthy again.

Thor would have preferred never to lose it. He would also have preferred if Kunou stopped reminding everyone that she lifted it first.

The dead Congalala remained in the clearing beyond the river.

It had fought well before resorting to dishonorable chemical warfare. Thor had eventually defeated it by striking it unconscious with its own stolen fruit, then breaking its neck before it could unleash another cloud.

The hide remained largely intact, exactly as he wanted. Its pink fur was thick and unexpectedly soft. Jane would look magnificent in a coat made from it.

Thor also intended to bring Jane one of the monster"s unusual organs to study. He had no idea which organ produced the gas attack, and under no circumstances did he intend to investigate personally.

He would let the scientists decide. Now he only needed to transport the carcass back to Haru.

The world shook.

Every glowing insect in the surrounding forest vanished at once. Water rippled across the river as a surge of magical power rolled over the land. Trees groaned beneath the pressure. Leaves tore free of branches and spun through the air despite the absence of wind.

Thor went still. The Wudwuds stopped laughing.

A second surge followed the first. This one was greater. Far beyond the forest, something enormous released a deafening roar.

The sound arrived like a physical shockwave. Water exploded upward from the river. Birds fled from the canopy in panicked clouds, and distant monsters cried out in alarm.

The Wudwuds screamed. Every one of them scattered simultaneously, diving into hollow trees, burrows, and patches of dense vegetation. Within seconds, Thor stood alone beside the river.

He knew the first power. "It"s Haru."

The second presence was unfamiliar. And growing.

Thor seized his helmet, forced it onto his head, and tightened the last straps of his armor. Mjolnir spun once in his hand before he launched upward. He broke through the forest canopy in a burst of leaves. Lightning gathered around him as he rose above the trees. From that height, he could see the forest stretching across the horizon, broken by rivers and enormous stone formations.

The source of the disturbance lay in the mountains beyond.

Blue fire illuminated the night.

Thor climbed higher.

Another impact shook the world.

One of the distant mountains split down the center. The upper half slid sideways, trailing stone and dust before crashing into the valley below. The resulting plume rose thousands of feet into the air.

Thor narrowed his eyes.

Two titanic figures battled among the peaks.

The first was unmistakable. Haru"s true form towered over the surrounding landscape, a golden fox nearly fifty feet tall with ten enormous tails. Blue flames crawled through his fur and streamed from his jaws. Every movement sent waves of demonic power across the terrain.

Thor had seen Haru transform before when Hela had asked to see her beloved's true form.

The other monster was new. It stood more than one hundred feet tall, large enough to dwarf even the fox Demon Lord. White and silver armor covered a body assembled from the traits of several different apex predators. Its upper limbs were thick enough to uproot ancient trees, while broad wings stretched across the valley. Blue light pulsed beneath its scales. Several enormous organic chains emerged from its forelimbs and shoulders, each one moving like a living serpent. Two had wrapped around Haru"s torso. Others struck at his tails, tearing through stone whenever he dodged.

The monster pulled.

Haru"s paws carved trenches through the mountainside as the chains dragged him forward.

The giant fox lowered his head, planted all four legs, and pulled back.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then Haru twisted. He tore the white monster from its footing and swung it through an entire mountain.

Stone erupted outward. The creature vanished into the collapsing peak.

Thor whistled. "That is an impressive beast!"

The white monster burst out of the opposite side before the rubble finished falling. Its chains wrapped around a nearby mountain spire, using the anchor to redirect its momentum. It swung around the peak and struck Haru across the face with both hind legs.

The impact created a thunderclap.

Haru flew backward. His enormous body crashed through a stone ridge and disappeared in an avalanche.

The white beast landed on all fours, roaring toward the fallen fox. Blue energy intensified beneath its armor, and its body visibly expanded. New scales grew across its chest. The chains became thicker and longer.

Thor"s warrior instincts sharpened. The creature had grown since he first saw it. Even at this distance, he could perceive threads of Haru"s energy moving through the chains. The monster was stealing power from him and using it to evolve.

That should have been alarming.

Instead, exhilaration surged through Thor"s blood. This was a true monster. A creature capable of trading blows with a Demon Lord, demolishing mountains, and growing stronger in the middle of combat. A worthy opponent from a world built around hunting impossible beasts.

Perhaps Haru would permit me to join the battle?

The avalanche exploded.

Ten golden tails erupted from the rubble and wrapped around the white monster"s legs. Haru pulled it off balance before launching himself upward. His jaws closed around one armored shoulder.

Blue foxfire detonated between his teeth.

The monster screamed as flames consumed half its upper body. It drove its chains into Haru"s sides, drawing more power even while its armor melted.

The transferred energy rebuilt the damage almost instantly.

Its new scales grew back blue instead of white.

Thor laughed. The sound boomed across the forest. His worries about the Congalala, the ruined evening, and the hours spent bathing disappeared. This was why he had come to the Forbidden Lands. Not merely to win Jane"s affection. To remember the joy of facing something strong. Thor swung Mjolnir overhead. Storm clouds formed in seconds, swallowing the three moons. Lightning flickered through them as the hammer pulled him toward the distant battlefield.

Then he remembered the corpse.

Thor stopped in midair and looked back toward the forest.

The Congalala remained beside the river, surrounded by Wudwuds who had cautiously emerged from hiding and were already poking at it.

He pointed Mjolnir toward them. "Guard my prize! I shall return!"

The Wudwuds waved. One immediately climbed onto the monster"s stomach.

Thor decided that was good enough. He turned toward the mountains and accelerated.

The sky cracked behind him. Lightning wrapped around his armor as he crossed the forest, flying toward the battle between the golden fox and the evolving white wraith.

"Fear not, future brother-in-law!" Thor shouted. His voice rolled across the landscape like thunder. "Your future good-brother comes to aid you!"

The white monster smashed Haru through another mountain.

Thor grimaced.

"And I remain your good-brother!" he added hastily. "Not your good-son! We shall never speak of that possibility again!"

— Gemma —

Gemma had been sleeping peacefully beside the warm embers of her forge when the entire cave began shaking.

Tools rattled against the portable workbench.