Jorn, still in his bear form, glared at Shaman while also preparing for an attack. Smashing his paws on the ground, he propelled himself forward whilst opening a portal in front of him.
Entering the portal, Shaman had no idea how he would attack, but then she remembered she had [spatial rift].
Not wasting any time she opened up a portal herself and jumped into it. As she had hoped for, she saw Jorn in the same space.
'It seems like we go to the same dimensional space.' Shaman had appeared behind Jorn who had yet to notice her, giving her the perfect opportunity to attack. Wanting to try out the ice stardust sword, she opened a small portal around the back of Jorn.
Using the ice that was underneath the stardust, she shot ice spikes into it, which acted as a portal and ice spikes came out of the small portals she created around Jorn.
Quickly exiting the space, all she heard was a loud roar of pain before it was cut off.
Soon, a portal opened up and Jorn exited it with ice spikes all along his backside. The rage was visible on his face as although the spikes did minimal damage, it was enough to piss him off.
"Heh, glad to see you enjoyed it." Shaman wanted Jorn to become enraged again, as last time it happened, his attacks became a lot more straightforward and easier to avoid.
Jorn Groweld at Shaman's comment as he was unable to speak while in his animal form.
"Come on, I'm waiting." Shaman gestured at Jorn and it seemed like it was enough to get him to charge at her.
Running up to Shaman, Jorn lifted up his both paws and went for two simultaneous strikes, but before they could connect, he opened 2 smaller portals through which his paws disappeared. Another set opened up behind Shaman, but this did not bother her as she opened a stardust portal underneath her and slipped away.
Jorn pulled out his paws and went over to where Shaman opened her portal. What he didn't expect was for a massive ice pike to come out, piercing him right in the chest. The portal Shaman had used hadn't actually closed, but shrank in size making it hard to notice.
Shaking his body to break the ice, Jorn found his body getting weaker. Despite his upgraded form, it seemed he was still no match for Shaman.
More portals opened around Jorn and fire spears came shooting out of them.His fur catching on fire, he started burning alive as the spears which pierced his body were refusing to dissipate.
Shaman, poking out of a portal below Jorn, stabbed into his stomach and ran the blade across. Blood spewed out of Jorn. In an attempt to first get rid of the flames, he fell on his back. Unfortunately, that only worsened his wounds, his blood further soaking his fur. With such an immense amount of blood loss, he already started to lose his consciousness.
'Here I thought his bear form would have increased his combat strength, but I guess animal forms are really just for looks.' Shaman expected a bit more from the form, but it seemed to do nothing other than be intimidating.
Walking out of the portal Shaman was going to finish him off for good. Approaching his head, Shaman covered Kotetsu in wind that swirled around, creating a chainsaw-like effect.
"A shame that you did better in your human form. This one just made you a bigger target." It had dawned on Shaman that he had done more damage when he was a half-bear, where he was able to perform more complicated skills.
Jorn had started to return back to his human form and so he was once more able to speak.
"I WAS DESPERATE!" He screamed out as he was still being burnt by the fire.
"Oho I see, so you were hoping I would be scared, tch how pathetic do you think I am." Shaman was looking for an honest fight and to have it just devolve to someone getting desperate left a rather bad taste in her mouth.
'Since when could weak willed people get to tier 7.' Shaman, still being rather oblivious to how people got power in this world, found it ridiculous that someone like Jorn got to a higher tier than her.
'There must be more to this than just training and being born a high tier.' Shaman's first thought was, tiers had been given artificially and there had been no proper prior training beforehand.
'I need to ask Freja.' Needing to take care of Jorn who was on the verge of death, Shaman pushed those thoughts away and simply decided to later go ask Freja more about how the world works.
Raising her sword in the sky, she slashed down, decapitating Jorn's head.
Having officially ended the fight, all the soldiers that had come with the commanders now surprisingly cheered for their victory.
"Huh?" Shaman looked around confused, as she expected the opposite reaction, but then she thought back to the lion's mansion when as soon as he was dead, the guards had stolen all his belongings.
"Well done, I have to say, my hopes were not high." Freja had appeared by Shaman's side while clapping.
"Freja? Can you explain what's going on?" Having a growing suspicion that the soldiers were conscripted or were forced to fight, she still wanted a proper answer.
"Hmm I don't really know, but my guess is that the nobles had forced them to fight against their will." Freja had no idea, but she was going to capitalize on it nonetheless. Flicking her blonde hair, she walked in front of the soldiers and created her own platform made out of blood.
"Shaman, head back to the front of the gate, everyone is waiting for you there." As Freja was climbing up the stairs she quickly turned her head and informed Shaman where to go.
Shaman nodded her head and quickly rushed to the gate, however, when she started running, her ribs suddenly stung with pain.
"Shit I forgot they were still broken." No longer in battle, the pain from her wounds flared up in full swing, so she had to slowly make her way to the gate.
*
"EVERYONE SILENCE!" Freja's voice echoed out, bringing the cheering soldiers to attention as silence descended on the clearing.
"Ahem, good. Now I have no idea what's with your enthusiasm with your leaders dying, so if anyone would like to kindly inform me, I will allow him to speak." Wanting to gather information, she hoped that it was as simple as being happy to have been freed. One soldier had stepped forward and waited to be addressed.
"Speak!" Freja was impressed with their discipline, since she expected a bunch of people to try to speak up, but it seemed like there was a leader amongst the soldiers.
"W-we were forced to fight for the commanders, as the nobles had taken over our town and had threatened the families of many. As we were preparing, me and many others had planned this opportunity to rebel against the commanders if a full blown battle had occurred." The soldier felt extremely nervous as the pressure Freja gave off was enough to strangle somebody.
"Quite bold of you to plan something like that…. I like it." Freja smiled as she had planned to take in the soldiers from the very beginning. Furthermore, seeing as the nobles had taken over land in secret it would be a good opportunity to expand her little empire.
The soldier let out a sigh of relief, glad that Freja did not seem hostile towards them.
"Since you have been brought against your will, I want to offer you this." Freja had taken a moment of pause to make sure she had everyone's attention.
"I would like you all to join the regional army of Freya forest. Of course you will get the chance to see your families and you can opt out if you want, but I want to give you the opportunity to fight." Freja knew that if she did not allow them to back out, then she would be no better than the nobles.
The soldiers stood there silently, as they were conscripted against their will, but they were still rather tempted as the empress had given them a lot of freedom.
"Can we leave at any point and can you guarantee our family's safety?" A soldier amongst the crowd asked the questions that were on most of their minds.
"I can assure you that they will be safe. I am working in direct collaboration with the queen herself, so you should know it's always the people first." Freja did a small bow to show her sincerity and all the soldiers felt compelled to join.
"As it stands you will all have time to return home, so feel free to use this time to decide whether to join my cause. It also seems the nobles have been making moves in the fox realm right under my nose, so if you would like to join my personal crusade against them, now is your chance." a sadistic smile appeared on Freja as now she had to prepare to go on an expedition purging some people who were trying to take advantage of the queen's absence.
Murmurs of revenge spread among the soldiers, as many wanted to get back at the nobles for what they did. It seemed like these events happened to more than a few villages and the soldiers felt compelled to join Freja to stop it from happening again.
"If you want to stay, please stay where you are and if you wish to leave, start going home." Hoping she had convinced all of them, she waited for their answer.
Nobody moved from their position as many soldiers looked around, seeing if anybody was going to leave.
"WONDERFUL! Now follow me so we can get you ready. Don't worry it won't be long, I will set up teleporters so you can visit your families." Freja was pleased with the results, as she now has her one little army.
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