The God and the First Dragonborn pt 3
"It's best if you hurry, Miraak; very soon the gods around here will notice," said the giant, standing with his arms crossed as he watched the battle with a contained excitement, almost as if he were restraining himself from jumping into the fight.
There was a hint of envy in his gaze; envy for seeing Miraak face a god of war from another pantheon.
Percy didn't hear what the giant said, since his eyes were locked on the battlefield below them. The sand of the beach had sections that looked like liquid glass, still red and hot. The fallen bodies kept rising again; two immortal armies repeating an endless cycle, specters, skeletons, and souls dragged back to this world to fight. Or something very close to that.
Grover and Annabeth, who had also woken up, joined him in looking down. Their mouths were still open in pure astonishment; they were witnessing a transcendent battle. That beach which, under normal circumstances, would be full of tourists enjoying the sun, the sea, and the ocean breeze, had now become an apocalyptic battlefield.
Part of the island was completely destroyed by every impact between Miraak, Ares, and their troops. A helicopter flew over them before turning back immediately and fleeing; the pilot himself was overwhelmed by such a deep terror that he didn't even dare look down.
The same occurred with many patrols and even military units.
A primordial fear, impossible to ignore, rose from within every human being, forcing them to flee. Only a few brave ones, those who had already endured the panic of war, dared to approach… although it might have been better if they hadn't, since the two armies did not hesitate to wipe out anyone who stood in their way.
Modern weapons achieved nothing; the gunfire was silenced within minutes, forcing a general retreat.
…
In his draconic aspect, Miraak took his sword with both hands, just as Ares fell toward him like a meteor, shield first and completely engulfed in red flames.
Miraak did not dodge. Instead, he delivered a direct strike against the god of war's shield.
The moment they collided, a shockwave exploded outward; fire and shadows pushed against each other as if both forces were trying to devour one another.
Sparks burst from the clash between the sword and shield; they were locked in a suspended instant, a fraction of a second where nothing seemed to advance.
Ares broke the deadlock; he moved his spear and brought it down in a vertical slash, as if it were a sword.
"IISS SLEN NUS!" Miraak shouted immediately, aiming at Ares' chest. The god froze almost instantly… but only for a millisecond, just enough for the ice to shatter and the spear to continue its descent.
Still, that millisecond was enough for Miraak to move aside.
Ares' spear continued downward and carved a massive chasm in the sand; a strike capable of splitting mountains. The sand began sliding into the newly formed abyss, failing to fill it.
"FUS RO DAH!" Miraak roared to one side.
The shout struck Ares, but the god raised his shield and deflected the unstoppable force, redirecting it toward the battlefield. The blast swept away hundreds of specters, skeletons, and ghosts, launching them through the sky; many disintegrated instantly.
From the ashes, new specters rose, this time shaped like dragon heads, spewing fire and adding even more chaos to the confrontation.
"I'm getting tired of that stupid noise," Ares growled, annoyed at being hit by another FUS RO DAH so close.
Miraak only flashed a slightly arrogant smile as his sword moved toward Ares' neck.
But before they clashed again, both stopped and looked up at the sky.
Ares displayed a truly irritated expression; Miraak, on the other hand, held a serious gaze as he examined their surroundings.
"Let's finish this already, vagabond; I don't want to be discovered," Ares said with disdain, breaking eye contact with the sky. Then he launched a straight kick at Miraak.
Miraak spun skillfully and answered with another slash toward the god's neck.
Ares ducked just enough; the slash, driven by a cutting wind, continued across the battlefield, killing hundreds of creatures from both sides before crashing into a distant building. The structure was left almost split in half, with diagonal cracks and debris falling everywhere.
"Idiot; gods cannot die," Ares said mockingly to Miraak, as if he wanted to emphasize it on purpose. Then he slammed his shield into the Dragonborn's chest with full force.
The impact broke Miraak's guard and sent him flying several meters.
"You're already exhausted, aren't you? Arrogant bastard," Ares taunted when he saw that Miraak didn't even try to block.
"And if gods cannot die… they can learn to kneel," Miraak replied calmly.
Then he inhaled a massive amount of air.
Ares frowned at his opponent's words; at the same time, he realized Miraak had taken the hit on purpose. His eyes opened slightly, anticipating the shout that was about to come.
"I can't take too long; my father will notice immediately," Ares said, determined not to let Miraak finish his shout. Suddenly, his body began to release a golden aura that lit up everything around him. "Don't blame me for using my divine form; blame your mortal weakness," he added with contempt.
Miraak did not look away for even a moment. And then, one detail unsettled the god; a smile appeared on the Dragonborn's lips. Ares frowned, unable to understand why a mortal would smile right before being obliterated by pure divine essence.
He did not know that this was exactly what Miraak had been waiting for.
"JOOR ZAH FRUL…"
The tearing scream of the dragons. A forbidden roar that strikes directly at the existence of its target; a word of power capable of claiming the divine and turning it mortal, weakening it until it can be killed with ease. A Shout that should never work on gods… except that Miraak did not finish with the usual words.
The final word, the one he learned from the stone of this world, burned on his tongue like ancient fire.
"SULEYK."
"The truth of the mortal shatters your power."
Ares saw a red, dark, and vibrant aura burst from Miraak's mouth. He could not dodge it; he could not even lift his shield in time. The impact struck his chest, and for an instant, his golden form seemed to crack into fragments of light. An indescribable pain surged from the deepest part of him, from his ichor.
"AGHH!" Ares roared, overwhelmed by a pain he had never imagined. It felt as if his very existence had been torn apart. His knees trembled before one touched the ground from sheer weakness.
He noticed with horror that his divine form was beginning to crumble, slowly returning to its lesser state. It was as if he had received a direct wound to his divinity; something impossible, something unforgivable, something no god could tolerate.
"What did you do?" shouted Ares, now furious and, for the first time, truly afraid.
"Make a so-called god kneel," Miraak replied with the same disdain Ares had shown him all this time.
And without giving him the chance to react, he added:
"WULD NAH KEST."
Ares, weakened, barely saw the flash. Miraak appeared in front of him in an instant. The god did not lower his shield; he quickly rose to counterattack. But Miraak suddenly let go of his sword and grabbed another weapon from the ground, remnants of Ares' own power. However, with his divinity wounded, the god seemed to have lost part of his control. The flames of war dimmed, and part of his army collapsed.
Even so, Ares' pride did not allow him to fall without fighting.
"SU GRAH DUN," Miraak murmured.
The wind wrapped around his body, filling him with speed and strength. His first movement was a thrust straight at Ares' stomach. The god managed to protect himself with the shield, producing a metallic sound, hard and resonant, like a colossal bell struck with all the fury in the world; meanwhile, the sword exploded into fragments, unable to withstand the power of both.
Miraak did not stop; he grabbed the edge of the shield and pushed it aside. Ares widened his eyes in surprise just before dodging a direct punch to the face. He counterattacked by dropping his shield and thrusting with his spear, then landing a punch to Miraak's ribs. The Dragonborn took the hit, his body bending slightly.
But he responded with a brutal head-butt.
Ares staggered back two steps, feeling a strange heat slide down his face. He looked down and saw golden drops falling… his blood.
He raised his gaze, angrier than ever.
Then a hand-to-hand fight erupted, so destructive that each blow carried the force of a truck collision at full speed. The air trembled with every impact; the ground cracked in fragments; the beach twisted and broke under their fury.
Punches, kicks, knee strikes, head-butts; both fought like beasts in a death match. Blows that would kill any mortal, even many demigods.
At one point, the draconic aura around Miraak vanished. He kept fighting only with his fists; his helmet was lost in the scorched sand, and he ripped off the upper part of his armor himself because it hindered his movements.
"Come on, god of war! Is that all?" Miraak shouted, breathing heavily but still full of strength.
Ares, with a face twisted by rage, saw the golden blood scattered around him.
"Bastard… filthy plague… disgusting vagabond," he spat, ready to charge again.
But suddenly, the sky began to crack.
Both stopped instantly.
Luminous fissures, thin as lines of crystal, spread across the sky, growing brighter and more threatening.
"You've earned yourself an enemy forever… when I regain my divinity, this won't remain as it is, you hear me?" Ares shouted with fury. "And that brat as well; watch your backs."
He turned around as his body began to shine golden again.
However, cracks could be seen running through him; divine fractures that should not exist. Ares vanished in an explosion of broken light.
Both armies also dissolved suddenly, turning into dust that mixed with the sand and the ocean… with what remained of them.
Miraak spat blood to one side.
"Your divinity will return… only so I can tear it apart again. Your end is inevitable," he said with absolute calm while taking his greatsword from where it was buried in the sand.
Miraak glanced at it slightly and saw the faint cracks, barely visible, but enough to show he could not keep using it without it breaking beyond repair. After all, it was a sword that had faced the god of war himself, which was why he had dropped it earlier.
If Ares, out of pride, had not thrown away his own weapons, the fight might have gone differently. Miraak walked across what had once been the battlefield before picking up a backpack from the ground, as well as a dark helmet.
At that moment, the sky finished shattering…
Several powerful presences seemed to study the surroundings quickly. They saw nothing but destruction.
They did not find Ares.
They did not find Miraak.
They did not find the armies.
And after a few seconds of uncertainty, those divine gazes retreated.
Silence settled over the impossible battlefield..