Still on his knees, he grabbed the handle of the hammer with both hands and closed his eyes.

Around him, starting from below, the air began to follow a swirling trajectory.

His body began to emit gray smoke.

Dag, concentrating to the maximum, was able to control the physical properties of the matter that produced his body.

The gray gas rotated around him and from below it came upwards.

Within minutes, a gray vortex fully enveloped Dag.

The gas began to converge towards his arms, then towards his wrists, rotating around them, thickening more and more.

Dag clasped the handle of the hammer tightly.

The gas became liquid and began to flow on his hands.

It continued to flow on the handle of Magni's weapon.

Dripping down, it soon completely covered the head of the hammer.

Dag remained with his eyes closed, focused on the movements of the liquid.

The fluid came over Magni's back and moved towards his head, leaving the hammer uncovered.

It climbed on Magni's head, reaching his face: once it got on his forehead, he began to branch out, splitting into many small strands of dark fluid, which entered within him.

In his nose, in his mouth, in the hollows of his eyes.

Dag in his head tried to imagine what kind of action the fluid had to perform. He had to make sure that with its chemical characteristics, it was able to extract Magni's power from the still fresh blood of his muscles and organs.

He could hear the sound of every drop of fluid flowing into the inner hollows of his Master's body.

He squeezed harder the handle of the hammer in his hands, recalling the liquid towards him.

From inside Magni, the fluid began to flow back to his back, climbing on his neck and shoulders.

Slowly, the many filaments came together in a single ma.s.s, which continued to flow toward the hammer, which adhered to Magni's back.

It began to get on the weapon, little by little.

Dag loosened his grip, trying to control the movements of the dark liquid.

Small bubbles appeared on the smooth surface of the liquid, which began to enter the pores of the rock of the hammer's head.

When almost all the fluid was inside the weapon, Dag clasped the handle back into his hands, forcing the fluid to chemically join the rocky particles.

Focusing on the sound inside the hammer's head, Dag heard the sound of the ongoing chemical reaction.

It was working!

The liquid was beginning to settle, becoming part of the rock's texture.

"I'm doing it, Master. You'd be proud of me" Dag said.

After about ten minutes, all the fluid had entered Magni's weapon, finalizing the process.

Dag stood up, grabbing the hammer.

A huge power came from that weapon: in Dag's hypothesis, the hammer in that way would take on special characteristics, related to Magni's great powers.

Dag looked at his master's body once more.

"I will return your body to the earth. It will fertilize trees and plants near your farm. Another life will be born from your flesh and the memory of your deeds will be preserved for eternity" Dag continued.

He leaned back toward Magni, taking off his belt.

He wore it and put the hammer in his lining.

He lifted his body off the ground, resting it on his shoulders, and walked toward the exit.

Despite the absorption of powers, Magni's corpse had not undergone any kind of mutation or deformation: the physical change was inside of it, it was not visible.

He crossed the room and the others next to it: the Castle Of Mork was deserted.

Dag thought of Hjalmar's death and its aftermath.

He was the King of all the Renegades of Skjold.

The news of his death would have traveled around the planet and surely some of them would seek revenge.

Maybe they would have proclaimed a new king.

In any case, Dag had to stay alert, the dangers could hide around the corner.

After a long walk with Magni's body on his shoulders, Dag finally arrived at the exit.

A huge iron door, with spikes on the outer side, was open: immediately after it, Claire was waiting for him along with a large group of prisoners, now free women.

Dag went towards them and walked out of the castle, leaving its dark corridors behind him.

"Come on, let's get away from this place" he said.

All the women followed him as if he were their leader.

"And now? What do we do?" said Claire.

"We don't know where to go" said a young woman, from behind.

"Don't you have a home? A village? I could escort you to the nearest village... from there you could start again, make a new life..." Dag said.

"I don't think it's a good idea. They're women, you know how little a woman is worth without a man by her side in this world" Claire interrupted.

"They would end up dying in the middle of a street, begging, or raped by some b.a.s.t.a.r.d" he continued.

Dag kept walking, thinking.

"You could help them find their place in society" he said, turning to Claire.

"I'm not going with them" she replied.

"Umh?" said Dag, astonished at her determined answer.

"And where will you go?" he continued.

"I'll come with you" Claire replied, looking him in the eye, smiling.

Dag chuckled.

"Haha... we'll not even talk about it" he said.

"The choice isn't yours. If you don't want me to come with you, you should kill me right away" Claire replied.

"Wow. It didn't look like that, but this chick is so tough!" thought Dag.

"I warn you... it seems that the dangers follow me. If you come with me you will probably risk your life" he said.

"You will teach me how to fight! So I won't get in your way!" replied Claire, full of herself.

"Hahahah" laughed Dag.