They collided in the center of the ruined street with a force that cracked the ground for a hundred yards in every direction.
Anansi's staff met the Necrosword in a blinding explosion of gold and black. The impact sent a shockwave tearing through the battlefield, hurling debris and broken armor into the air. Sparks of pure divine energy and devouring darkness erupted outward as the two ancient forces locked weapons, neither willing to give an inch.
Gorr pushed forward with raw, unrelenting power, the Necrosword screaming as it tried to devour the golden light of the staff. Anansi held firm, golden threads coiling around the black blade, burning where they touched. Their faces were inches apart, Gorr's sunken eyes filled with cold hatred, Anansi's molten gold gaze steady and unyielding.
"You should have stayed buried and forgotten," Gorr snarled, voice low and venomous.
"You should have stayed locked in your cage like a good dog," Anansi answered coldly.
They broke apart and clashed again.
The Necrosword became a whirlwind of blades, scythe, spear, whip, cleaver, shifting forms faster than thought as Gorr attacked with brutal, efficient savagery. Every strike was meant to kill. Every movement carried the weight of a thousand slaughtered gods.
Anansi met him blow for blow.
The Staff of Anansi spun in fluid, precise arcs, golden light trailing behind it like living silk. Webs of pure energy erupted from its tip, binding, burning, redirecting. Where Gorr was pure destruction, Anansi was control, weaving the fight itself, turning Gorr's aggression against him.
A massive overhead cleaver strike came down. Anansi sidestepped and slammed the staff into Gorr's ribs, sending him skidding backward. Gorr recovered instantly and lashed out with a whip of pure shadow that cracked across Anansi's chest, drawing blood. Golden light flared as the wound tried to seal itself.
They circled again, breathing hard, neither willing to look away.
Odin, still bloodied from earlier, watched with a wide eye. Thor pushed himself up from the rubble, Mjolnir returning to his hand. Malice stood frozen for a moment, silver hair whipping in the wind, crimson energy flickering around her fists as she stared at the being wearing Peter's face.
Sable, still kneeling where Peter had been, whispered under her breath, "That's not him anymore..."
Anansi and Gorr charged again.
This time the clash lasted longer, a furious exchange of blows that lit up the ruined streets of Asgard like a second sun. Golden webs and black tendrils tore at each other. The Necrosword carved deep gashes into the ground. The staff cracked stone with every impact. Neither spoke now. Words had been left behind.
Only will remained.
Gorr drove Anansi back with a relentless series of strikes, forcing him toward a collapsed tower. Anansi spun the staff, planted it, and launched himself upward in a golden blur, coming down hard with a strike that forced Gorr to his knees for the first time.
The God Butcher looked up, black blood dripping from his mouth, and smiled that same tired, broken smile.
"You're stronger than before," he rasped. "Good. It will make this more satisfying."
He rose in a surge of shadow and slammed into Anansi with renewed fury, the Necrosword blazing with stolen divine power.
The two of them crashed through a building, through another street, through the ruins of what had once been a market square. The fight was no longer contained. It was a storm of pure force tearing through the heart of Asgard.
And neither of them was holding back anymore.
---
The two of them tore through the ruined market square, weapons colliding in explosions of gold and black that shattered what little remained of the surrounding structures. Neither gave ground. Neither showed mercy.
Then, in the middle of a particularly vicious exchange, both of them struck at the exact same moment.
Anansi's staff cracked across Gorr's jaw with enough force to send him flying backward through a collapsed wall. At the same time, the Necrosword slammed into Anansi's side, hurling him in the opposite direction. They crashed into the rubble on opposite ends of the street, the impact shaking the ground.
For a brief moment, the battlefield went quiet.
Gorr rose first, wiping black blood from his mouth. He didn't charge this time. Instead, he raised the Necrosword and sent a barrage of living shadows streaking across the distance like black spears. Anansi answered in kind, golden webs and arcs of divine energy cutting through the air to meet them. Explosions of light and darkness filled the space between them as their attacks collided mid-air, neither able to fully break through the other's defenses.
Gorr's voice carried easily across the ruined street, cold and mocking.
"Look at you," he snarled. "A pale shadow of what you once were. You're weak. A fraction of the god you used to be. I can see it in every move you make. And when I'm done with you... I'm going to take everything you care about. I'll make sure you watch every second of it."
Anansi stood slowly, golden eyes burning with a cold, controlled fury. The staff rested loosely in his hand, but the power around him had sharpened into something far more dangerous.
"Taking pity on you has proven to be my greatest mistake, Gorr," he said, voice quiet but carrying across the battlefield like a blade. "Just as threatening the people I love... has just become your greatest mistake."
He moved.
There was no roar this time. No wild charge. Just pure, focused intent. Golden light erupted around Anansi as he launched forward in a blur, the staff becoming a streak of pure force. The attack was colder, sharper, more precise than anything he had shown so far, every strike aimed not just to hurt, but to end.
Gorr barely managed to raise the Necrosword in time. The impact drove him back several steps, black blood spraying from a fresh wound across his chest. Anansi pressed the assault without pause, each blow carrying an ancient, merciless weight that forced even the God Butcher onto the defensive.
From the edge of the battlefield, Odin watched with a grim, almost nostalgic expression. He wiped blood from his own mouth and spoke quietly to Thor, who had managed to drag himself closer.
"There it is," the All-Father murmured. " It's been a long time... but once more I'm reminded why Anansi was the only one who could ever make me fall in line when I was younger."
Anansi didn't hear the words.
He was already driving Gorr back, step by step, the golden light of the staff burning brighter with every strike.
And for the first time since he arrived in Asgard, Gorr looked something close to unsettled.
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