The giant was sitting in front of Tachi. They stared at each other.
"you were waiting for me? Ooooh, what an honor, but who are you, exactly?" Tachi asked.
The giant narrowed his eyes. "My name is Býleistr. I am a Jötunn. I was sent to stop you."
'So someone planned to send me to Jötunheim,' Tachi thought. He looked around, but saw nothing except immense mountains and snow covering every surface, except the ground where Býleistr stood. "Tell me, big guy, who sent you?"
He replied plainly, "Asgard's shadow."
The giant placed a hand on the ground and stood up.
"Well damn, you're a big baby. You're around, What, five meters tall?" Tachi laughed. "Too bad size isn't everything, and I'm kind of in a hurry, so I'll make this quick."
Býleistr's upper body was bare. Only a black fur covered his right shoulder. His left shoulder, however, was encased in a chunk of ice that looked like crystal. His white hair floated like a cloud. 'He's got some really elemental shit going on,' Tachi thought.
The giant cracked his neck, then his fingers. Each crack echoed like thunder, lightning snapping from his fingers as they popped. 'Lightning on the ground, then this, is he like Leif?' Tachi wondered. "So, you planning to take long getting ready? I don't have all day, you know—"
Býleistr suddenly launched himself at Tachi at an incredible speed and slammed his fist into the ground with full force. Tachi barely managed to dodge. 'This colossus is that fast?!'
When Býleistr's arm struck the ground, the same thunderous sound rang out, and this time, the earth shattered under the Jötunn's overwhelming power.
Tachi was now behind Býleistr, airborne. The giant turned instantly and tried to strike him with a horizontal kick, which Tachi dodged. 'Electricity runs through his body with every attack, I saw it leaking from his leg,' he thought.
Suddenly, Tachi heard a massive boom. He glanced behind him, the peak of the mountains several kilometers away had exploded from the shockwave of Býleistr's kick.
'I won't be laughing this one off…' he thought, eyeing the destruction.
The giant spoke, "How long do you plan on dodging? I thought you were in a hurry, Ehecatl."
Tachi, floating several meters above him, laughed. "Gotta let you have your moment."
Býleistr growled and stomped the ground. The rock cracked, and dozens of what looked like simple stones rose into the air around him. He spun his body to build momentum. "Then let me bring you back down!!"
He struck the rocks, turning them into real bullets that shot toward Tachi at full speed.
Tachi pushed off the air, launching himself toward the Jötunn while dodging the incoming stones. 'Shit, I didn't see that one—'
One projectile flew straight at him. 'No time to dodge!'
He twisted midair at full speed, generating enough force to deliver a downward kick that shattered the rock into thousands of fragments.
"I'll get you!" Býleistr stretched his arm toward Tachi. Electricity surged along it, from shoulder to fingertips, before bursting forward straight at the wind god.
Tachi barely had time to move his arm up and down, creating a gust of wind that redirected the lightning, sending it skyward until it dissipated.
Tachi kept charging. He reached Býleistr so fast the giant threw a punch at a spot where he was already gone. Býleistr followed with a palm strike, roaring as he put everything into it.
Tachi dodged by leaping over the hand, using Býleistr's fingers as a foothold to slow himself and slip beneath the giant's arm.
He reached the Jötunn's side, concentrated a massive amount of air around himself, used it to amplify his strength, and delivered a devastating kick to Býleistr's ribcage.
Under the force of the blow, the giant began to topple.
'Now!' Tachi thought, propelling himself high into the air, out of Býleistr's reach as the giant struggled against the fall of his gargantuan body.
Tachi took a deep breath and spread his arms. 'Sorry, big guy, but I'll have to end this fast.'
He exhaled. Cold air escaped through his hair like mist as he focused, locking his gaze on the giant. 'The temple!'
He snapped his arms forward, clapping his hands together and firing a condensed air bullet at full speed toward Býleistr's temple.
With a sudden burst of effort, the giant surpassed himself. "You won't get me like that!"
He shifted his footing, stopping his fall with incredible strength and planting himself back on both feet.
He raised his left arm in front of his head, clenching his fist in the projectile's path, bracing it with his other hand.
Tachi's attack struck. Býleistr's left hand exploded under the impact, but it slowed the blow enough to keep it from hitting his head.
"Not bad," Tachi laughed, "but you're not gonna fight with one hand, are you? Come on, let me go, buddy."
Býleistr stood below, upright. He turned his head toward Tachi and extended his shattered hand.
He smiled.
'What the—? No way..' Before Tachi's eyes, Býleistr's hand reformed,not of flesh, but of ice. The same ice as on his left shoulder.
'What the hell, his regeneration is way beyond that of a normal god,' Tachi clenched his teeth. 'Damn it. My fighting style isn't suited for someone this big, and protecting Akyo from all the debris while keeping him this high is a pain. And the air of this world… it's weird. My attacks are way slower.'
He summoned, as he had against Tyr, Freyja, and Loki, two swirling air vortexes around his arms.
Býleistr watched him, smiling. "So… you're finally taking this fight seriously, Ehecatl?"
Lightning spread across the Jötunn's entire body. His eyes began to glow, his hair darkened to gray, streaked with flashes, as if thunder rumbled within his mane.
"I don't have time for this," Tachi muttered as he launched himself forward.
The Jötunn laughed. "You're flying to your doom, Ehecatl! The elements have rarely raged so fiercely within me!"
He threw a punch, not to hit Tachi, who was still far away, but to release thousands of lightning bolts.
The lightning surged toward Tachi. He accelerated even more. A sonic boom rang out, he had broken the sound barrier. Tachi passed through the lightning as if it weren't tangible.
Seeing him closing in, Býleistr slammed both hands into the ground, teeth clenched, detonating lightning beneath the surface and ripping up a colossal slab of rock that rose between them.
The wind god thrust both arms forward and pierced straight through the massive boulder, coming face to face with Býleistr.
"How?!" the Jötunn growled, stepping back in panic.
Too late.
Tachi pierced through him, tearing apart most of his abdomen.
Tachi landed about twenty meters away, back to Býleistr. He heard the giant's body crash into the ground. "You're tougher than I expected, Jötunn."
He started walking away. 'Now, how do I get out of here?'
Suddenly, a sound behind him. He turned. Býleistr was standing back up.
'That's impossible?!' Tachi was speechless.
The giant's abdomen reformed from ice as he laughed. "You can't kill me, Ehecatl. You're doomed to remain in Jötunheim with me. And your friend will die before you find a way out."
He smiled, satisfied. Even if he couldn't defeat Tachi, he could still fulfill his mission.
Suddenly, behind Býleistr, a white crack split open in the air.
'What is that now…' Tachi frowned. "You expecting someone?" he asked.
Býleistr turned toward the rift. "No," he murmured.
In an instant, a silhouette burst from the fissure at full speed, struck Býleistr, and landed in front of Tachi.
Tachi floated slightly. 'What the hell?!'
He looked up at Býleistr. 'He, he has no head. He decapitated the Jötunn.'
Tachi looked down. A man was standing up, holding a massive acorn in his hand. His skin was dark, with an almost fiery hue. His hair was long, very long, and incredibly voluminous, an unnatural bright yellow.
The man looked up at Tachi. "Come down. We need to leave, fast."
Tachi didn't hesitate. He retrieved Akyo, who had been hovering over the fight the whole time, and joined the man. 'This might be my only way out of Jötunheim.'
He landed beside the stranger. "You good?" the man asked.
"Yes," Tachi replied shortly.
"Alright…" the stranger murmured.
He focused and stretched his arms forward.
He grabbed the air and tore reality itself open, creating a fissure with his hands. "Follow me," he said, stepping inside.
Tachi followed, shielding his eyes from the blinding white light. When he opened them again, he found himself in the garden where he had landed upon arriving in Yggdrasil.
The stranger was sitting on the ground, casually tossing his acorn into the air and catching it."Thanks," Tachi said.
"No problem." Said the man, focused on playing with his unusual weapon,
"But, who are you, exactly?" Tachi asked.
The stranger looked surprised. "He didn't tell you I was coming?"
"Who?"
"Odin sent me," the stranger explained. "He told me to guide a wind god who needed to save someone."
Tachi grew wary. "Odin? The usurper?"
The stranger laughed. "The usurper? Muninn came to warn me for him. Oh yeah, he also told me to give you a name. Magus, or something like that."
Tachi smiled. 'So Magnus really did send him. The kid's not stupid.' He thought, slightly smiling, "But you still haven't answered my question. Who are you?"
The stranger stood up, wearing a proud smile. "I'm one of the few beings who live within Yggdrasil. You should know me as Ratatoskr."