"How can they control you?! Is it that rune's fault? Inguz... yes, it has to be that, there's no other explanation..." Dag said, putting both of his weapons on the belt magnets, intending not to hurt his woman, while she didn't seem to think the same way.

Gridd shook her head, regaining consciousness of the present, and quickly walked toward the beast-man, sticking one of his swords on his shoulder and pointing the other blade over his neck, ready to slaughter him.

"How do we stop the effect of that rune?! What's going on with Freydis? Speak, you filthy being, tell us how to do it, before I take your head off your neck!" Gridd shouted, full of nervousness, as she turned the blade inside the wound on Roar's shoulder, which moved with it.

"Hahah... Inguz... the 'seed' rune... it can create a s.p.a.ce within the soul... a place where a process of transformation into higher states of being can take place... it is also called the 'internal growth rune' and there is no way to get rid of it. By now the girl's body belongs to the lords of the dark... they will decide what to do with her... I told you, you may kill me, but your war doesn't end there... it will never end! Hahaha!" Roar continued to chuck, looking at Gridd in front of him and Freydis out of the corner of his eye.

Gridd, unable to resist the anger, pierced the blade into the enemy's neck, spinning it and then rotating it 180 degrees, slas.h.i.+ng the beast's trachea, unable to sever his head, due to the resistant muscles of his neck.

A fountain of magenta blood splattered over her face and torso, while the enemy sank to the ground, his head attached to his neck only by a flap of flesh.

Ellen looked at her, glad that the Sons Of Freya's Master Of Offense dared to kill him without hesitation.

Meanwhile, Dag raised his hands to Freydis and swallowed in a vacuum, looking into her eyes, to see if there was still an ounce of her original soul inside her body.

He stepped forward, continuing to stare at her.

Her eyes were firm, pointed at him, the purple pigment of the pupil seemed to move within the surrounding black as if it was a globular cl.u.s.ter of stars separating from their galaxy.

The darkness seemed to have full dominion over her body and mind: dark veins were everywhere, making her circulatory apparatus almost entirely visible under her thin, light skin.

On the forehead, on the ears, on the chin, until it thickened around the eyes, wrapped in a gloomy and mysterious halo.

Even her fleshy lips, so beloved by Dag for their softness, had become as dry and wrinkled as the bark of a tree. 

Dag, after observing every detail, paused, as if he had forgotten everything else.

All the warriors stood by and watched him, hoping for a turn of events by Freydis, that maybe could still regain consciousness and waking up from that nightmare.

All but Sivert, who very slowly descended the stone stairs that led from the ruins of the temple to the arena.

"The Inguz rune is one of the most powerful spells in existence... only a very skilled sorcerer can create it and make it so effective... there is no way to stop its operation... the only hope you have to get your woman back is to forcibly detach it out of her body, young Dag..." the old man whispered, who seemed not afraid to die, so much so that he stopped just behind Freydis, who slowly turned her gaze on him.

Sivert grabbed his staff with both hands and with its tip touching the ground, he began to draw a symbol, similar to a rune.

Freydis kept on looking in that direction, turning her back on Dag, who after the old shaman's words had fallen into a deep sense of despondency.

"Odin, my lord! May Ansuz point to the source of evil that stains this sacred place, created by disciples devoted to you! Help us drive out the heretical invaders who tarnish your name and that of the Aesir! Protect your temple and the inhabitants of your city!" 

Sivert, after drawing a strange rune, which was apparently called 'Ansuz', began to invoke Odin's name, screaming out loud, with the last energies left in his body, pointing the staff to the ground and his arm and gaze upwards.

As he uttered those solemn words, Freydis slightly turned her head, as if those words were just an annoying sound in her ears. 

She moved her arm forward in the direction of the shaman: shards of dark material were fired at great speed in that direction, similar to obsidian, pointed, black, and s.h.i.+ny fragments.

Before Sivert could finalize channeling his spell, under the helpless eyes of Dag and the others, life slipped away from his body, as he was. .h.i.t by dozens of that sharp splinters, until he fell to the ground, lying on his own rune, stained with blood. 

"Oh my goodness..." said softly Sander, after witnessing the powers of the girl, that had just slaughtered the mad old shaman with a simple movement of her hand.

Reidar, while everyone was busy observing the scene, focused his attention on Roar's corpse, particularly on his head, which was still hanging around his neck.

For a moment, it seemed as if it had moved, but soon after he shook his head, believing it had been a hallucination due to fatigue.

Karl stood up, leaning against the altar, looking at his sister, of whom there was now nothing but the outer casing, her body. 

After cold-bloodedly killing the shaman, Freydis's attention was drawn to Dag's cry, coming from behind.

She turned to him, looking at him with her ghostly eyes, without saying a word.

"How long did it take me to find you, Freydis... how many times have I risked my life to get here... I have seen comrades die before my eyes, even Masters..." Dag said, thinking intently of Magni and Aslan, and detaching both weapons from the magnets of his belt, looking down, watching the tears fall on his feet.