The Games We Play- Shaman c41 (Patreon)

Raynor rested for a bit when they returned from the hunts. After that, he returned to make arrows for both.

With the amount of souls he has, it will take a while, a long time, until he runs out of soul ammo.

Now that he thought about it, he has many of them.

And Ullr’s warning about Skadi coming after him makes him want to prepare—and maybe impress?

It makes him feel strange. This encounter is the first time he is actively going after a female. That aura and hunter aesthetics are making him— interested?

Of course, first, they will fight, and the winner will dominate the relationship.

But for now, he is carving and filling the arrows with souls.

As Raynor was doing his work, Ullr wasn't just sitting around. The Hunter God was also working on his arrows.

‘My instincts tell me she is coming for us, and she has a small army of giants.

I need to prepare for this.’

Around five hours later. It was time.

The Shaman midway noticed that the Norse God’s aura was tense. That made the hunter make his preparations. What he did was cut ice and turn them into rough human shapes. Then he filled them with souls.

He did create a few. They will work like grenades.

Ullr noticed those and walked over to inspect.

“Are these?”

“Yep. My darling is coming here, isn't she? So, I thought, why not prepare some gifts?” Raynor reasoned as he handed over a single human-shaped statue.

“She is. My senses have never failed me before, especially when I am on a hunt. It's one of the reasons why she never killed me, even when she had an advantage.

She has her giants and the frost, while I have snow and hunt.” After inspecting the statue, he handed it back to the Shaman.

“Keep some. All you need is to throw these. They are pretty fragile. The moment it cracks, it will explode. Each of these statues has three souls stored in them.

They are ready to blow up.” Raynor gave three to Ullr.

“I suppose.” The hunter inspected them one more time. Eventually, he decided to tell him what he had on his mind.

“When this is over, I would like to ask a favour.”

“Oh?” Raynor looked curious. What is the Hunter God thinking?

“Could you teach me a few things about Shamanism?” The Norse God enquired. He was pretty serious.

“I could; I don't see why not.”

“That's good. I am sure I can return that favour. I am certain a few things could get your attention in Asgard.”

“No need. I already know what I want.” Raynor swiftly replied. There was a grin on his face.

“Hmm? That's quick.” Ullr looked surprised.

“Yep. I want to visit Muspelheim.”

Raynor’s request made the Norse God look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Muspelheim? I could take you there, no problem. We do regular clean-ups there, too. I think Shamanism is worth more than that.” The God of Hunt reasoned with him.

“Shamanism isn't hard; what is hard is mentality and synchronisation with nature, as you said before,” Raynor explained with a sigh.

“It's like swordsmanship. I can show you the swings, but it depends on whether you want to be a master swordsman.” The Shaman tried to explain how shamanism worked.

“So it's like any other skill.” Ullr pondered. However, he still pressed on that.

“Regardless, I request that you think of something better than Muspelheim.”

The Norse Gods don't think these values are the same for proper trade. He wants something of similar value.

Raynor, for a second, frowned, then started to think.

‘Muspelheim, fire— oh, I know.’

“Then I want your dwarves to show me blacksmithing.”

“Deal.”

~~~~~~Skadi~~~~~~

The Goddess grinned as she finally pinpointed their location.

‘Snow will not hide you from me, Ullr.’ Her eyes were on a place where a perpetual blizzard was happening. In this storm, she could see a hill with a single entrance.

Once locating her target, she turned to the side where blue-skinned giants were waiting for her.

“Begin with bombardment.”

“...Yes, Goddess.”

The giants started to rip the ice from the ground and pick up. Then, throw it at the hill.

The massive ice boulders giants picked glowed white before they were thrown.

The mana in boulders was agitated, so upon impact, the ice blew up.

The explosion shredded portions of the hill.

‘I do wonder how long they will hide.’

Skadi, for a second, smirked, but her smirk disappeared as she jumped back.

A glowing arrow nearly hit her!

‘An arrow with a soul! Damn that Shaman!’

While she was able to dodge the giant behind her received in his leg, and it blew up.

With a pained roar, the giant collapsed, taking another giant to the ground.

“Damn those arrows!”

Skadi snarled as she summoned her bow and was ready to slaughter, but one of her opponents hurled an object at her from the cave.

“Hmm?”

It was a small humanoid statue!

Her eyes briefly widened as she saw the statue crack, and ominous light started to erupt from it. Her danger sense flared to maximum as she used her divine energy to dodge. The explosion was massive as it took out five giants at once!

The soul-based explosion shredded the giants; they turned to ice the very next second.

‘Fuck them! These things are dangerous! How could they just play with souls like this!?’

Skadi was furious. Before she could command her giants to continue, arrows started to fly towards her.

The Jotun Goddess created her skiing slates and proceeded to ski away to dodge.

But then another statue ended up in front of her.

Her eyes widened in horror.

She crossed her hands as it exploded, sending her flying away like a ragdoll.

“I knew you were not as fragile as those giants.”

The familiar voice of that human commented.

“You damn barbarian! Using souls like that! Have you no shame?”

“Shame? Darling, those souls are ritually acquired through a war. These souls are processed ammunition for me.” As he said that, he pulled out his conduit sword.

“Shall we proceed to our second dance?” As he said that, he fused Leviathan's soul with his blade.

Skadi slowly stood up and created a couple of short blades.

“I have no idea where you get this confidence that you can win in close range, but I will ensure you are under my foot when this is over.” She said with a cold tone; her eyes started to glow as her divine aura surrounded her.

“You will see when this is over.” As he said that, he was surrounded by a blue flaming aura as well.

Silhouette of a massive serpentine creature surrounded him.

“This time, I am prepared! Defend yourself!” She lunged at him. Raynor swung at her.

Their blades collided. Skadi swiftly needed to counter spiritually infused water with her ice as it was like an avalanche slamming into her.

“This is the Infamous power of Satan Leviathan, Goddess Skadi! Serpent of the End! The prophesied end of the world!”

The massive serpent spoke at that moment; the amount of water magnified severalfold.

‘H-How!?’

Her eyes widened as she saw souls literally burning around him!

“Y-You madman! You are burning souls like fuel!!!”

Skadi complained with panic as water, like a flood, slammed into her and sent her flying into the hill like a ragdoll.

‘She is powerful. I needed to burn over 220 souls to counter that attack. Gods sure have raw power.’ Raynor thought to himself as he clenched his blade. The recoil later would be a bitch to deal with.

He floated down and looked at the heavily breathing Skadi.

She looked at him with fury in her eyes.

“You could have killed me with that attack! But you decided to slap me away instead! This is the second time you nearly killed me!” As she said, she slowly stood up. Her reserves were nearly empty when she tried to counter that flood. But this lunatic uses literal souls to win the exchange.

“Heh? Did my Goddess notice that?”

“Don't mock my intelligence! If you want to have me, you must try better than just detonate souls!

“Indeed. What does my Goddess have in mind?”

He asked her with a curious tone.

“You have to win in a fair fight, in close quarters. What do you say? Are you chickening out?” She goaded him.

“Hah. You do realise that the longer you resist me, the bigger chance there is that I will kill you and harness your soul for myself?” As he said that, he dismissed his fusion and sheathed his blade.

Skadi looked surprised for a second.

‘He is nuts! No! He has no sense of fear! Or has no value in life at all.’

Once he dismissed his weapon, he motioned for her to come at him.

“Since you want to die so much, I shall give you that!” She lunged at him and tried to deliver a fist.

But that moment, she saw his eyes turn into a canine yellow, and he just dodged at the last second.

‘What the!?’

She tried several more times with faster speed, but he kept up as streaks of blue ghostly flames followed his silhouettes.

Before she could complain, a wolf's howl erupted from Raynor, and then two fingers slammed into her gut.

A loud wheeze erupted from her mouth as she grabbed her stomach and nearly collapsed.

“Haaah—Haaah—Haaah!” Skadi tried to breathe as she was holding her stomach.

“I compressed the entirety of several wolf bites into two fingers. That's around several tons of spiritual force manifested in brute strength. You are durable, my beloved.”

“D-Don't mock me human!” She looked at him furiously. Her black bangs were sticky to her forehead as she was sweating buckets by this point.

“Mock? Where did you get this idea? I don't mock; well, I do mock before I kill, but so far, this was a serious fight of me trying to court a Huntress.”

“Damn you!!!” She slammed her foot down, and ice shattered around this location.

Raynor looked around. He was impressed by her sheer power.

“IF you think this has won my heart, then you are mistaken! You need much more than that!” Once again, she dashed at him. This time, she had ice around her.

Each swing had extremely sharp shards of ice. But once again, Raynor dodged them! It was as if he could see from different angles and move before they arrived!

Each time he does that, his eyes are that of a canine!

‘A shaman power!’

The Goddess then tried to attack with a much more broad range. But that moment— her skiing slate’s stuck! Just for a fraction of a second.

‘Shit! His water manipulation!’

The Jotun Goddess forgot that he could wield water! All he needed was just a little bit to disrupt her battle rhythm!

Before she could drop on her ass, another two fingers slammed into her gut! Making her cough blood! He broke through her defences again! This time, her consciousness nearly blacked out!

With a grimace, she was slammed hard into the ground on her back.

“S-Shit! Damn— You—” Her breathing was all over the place. He slid over to her side and crouched down.

“You fought well. The last part was me literally dancing with death.” He chucked while saying that.

“Stupid. I was trying to kill you. Did someone hit your head?” She said that with a resigned sigh.

“I am a hunter. That's what we do. We hunt much more dangerous beasts. Dancing with death comes by nature.” He said that while sitting down on the ice next to her.

“I suppose that is why I lost. Just how many souls did you burn to keep up with me?” She asked in a bitter voice. Her pride was shattered!

“These past 2 minutes around 1977.” He said without beating around the bush.

“...Damn you, lunatic.” She exclaimed with disbelief.

“... I am a guy who single mindedly pursues his target.” He said that with a shrug. He doesn't care much about the wealth he lost in this fight.

“I can see that.”

“What now? You are going to make me your trophy?” She asked with a frown.

“Nah. I am only going to ask you to be mine.” He said that with a straight face and earnest voice.

For a second, she blinked but then asked the obvious.

“And if I decline?”

“Then you can go.”

“...Are you mad?” She was his enemy! She tried to kill him a bunch of times! Her swings went for his organs! If she even landed a single earnest punch, he would have turned into meat paste!

“Not at all. Think about it. You leave, and we will continue with the hunt. You will return, and we shall dance once more. Once again, I shall be victorious, and again, I shall ask the same.”

“...You damn serious!?”

Her eyes were wide as she didn't blink. He said this with such certainty that she felt weak in front of his resolve.

“Very.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Fine. I request one more fight. I want you at your best, and I shall be at my best. It will be our last fight. If I kill you, then so be it. If you beat me, then I shall be yours.

What do you say— hunter?”

“It's Raynor Valeron.”

“ Raynor, what do you say? Do you agree?” She asked him with narrowed eyes. This time, there won't be any tricks. That explosion has severely weakened her.

But this last time, he will face the bulk of her power. If he is successful, then she shall accept him. But if she wins, then she shall kill him. That's all there is to it.

“Sure thing. My Goddess.”

“Not yet. If you want to call me your Goddess, you must beat me.” As she said that, she slowly stood up. She has recovered quite a bit. This plane is her home, after all.

“That sounds golden. Goddess Skadi.” As he said that, he slowly stood up. She immediately noticed his bad state. This human pushed himself to the brink.

She snorted; there was a smirk on her lips.

“Good. Then I will give you a week. After the week is over, we shall fight.” As she said that, she proceeded to slide away.

Raynor looked at her disappearing form. He gazed for a bit before collapsing on his ass.

His face paled as sweat started to roll down his face.

“You seriously burned all those souls to have this conversation!?”

Leviathan said with a pouty voice. There was a noticeable blush on her face. He was able to ‘crack’ Skadi’s icy heart. By this point, Leviathan’s heart had melted away a while ago. The only issue is that she was just a soul, and Raynor is not pursuing her!

“Think of this as training.”

“...Well-Well, it was glorious.” Ullr, watching this from a boulder some distance away, could only comment with a smile.

“I will ask people to make a song or a poem for this ‘battle of love!’ in Asgard! Before you know it, Raynor Valeron, you will have your images carved into walls around Scandinavia!”

Raynor ignored that and instead looked around.

“...Oh, you're already done with Giants?”

“Of course. Go and absorb all those soul remnants for your Frost Spirit. You should have it ready for that fight.” His smile shifted to a severe look.

“Yeah. I thought the same thing. She brought quite a bit of them for this battle.” Raynor tiredly looked at all of the piles of ice.

He rested for a couple of minutes. Seeing that it's not work, he burned a soul to improve his recovery.

Once he recovered enough, he slowly got up and collected the remnants of the souls.

The process took a while as he was tired, and there was quite a bit of remnant of souls. She even brought several well-developed spirits.

By the time he finished, the pendant had transformed. It was no longer ice but blue glass. The eyes and tribal markings of the pendant form of frost spirit were glowing.

“He has awakened.” Raynor softly spoke with wide eyes and a grin on his face. He has done it! The birth of the most natural elemental spirit is complete! This spirit was the spirit of Nifelheim!

“Good. Now that you have him. Your odds of victory should be higher.” Ullr was pleased that Raynor had created a giant eater. That much he can sense from that pendant.

“Of course. It's I have her, or I am dead. There is no middle ground.” Raynor said with a scoff.

“Hmm, I see; regardless, we will meet again, either in the halls of Valhalla or the next hunt.”

“Precisely, now let's get something to eat! I am starving.” With a sluggish voice, the hunter slid to the cave.

As the Shaman entered the cave, Ullr grinned at him.

‘To think there is a human who can keep up against a god. Grandfather was right. This kid is next, Scathach.’ Ullr recalled what Odin had said to him.

~~~

Skadi stumbled into her icy fortress, nearly collapsing on the frost ground. Her breathing was erratic and all over the place.

There was a slight blush on her cheeks. The beauty kept telling herself that her emotions were like this because of her empty reserves!

That's right! Next time! A week later, she will kill him! Yes! She will slaughter that hunter— Raynor Valeron!

“Raynor—Valeron!” The wall she was leaning against cracked from the pressure she was exerting.

Her eyes were trembling as she had an excited look. Her emotions were all over the place. It has been a very long time since she felt that way!

“When I am done with you— Hehehe, I will have you under my feet! I will make you my slave! I shall use your abilities to assist me in destroying Asgard! Hehehe~”

By this point, Skadi had forgotten that she wanted to kill him. Nope, by this point, she wants him alive and follows her whims!

Part of her already accepted that he was worthy to stand next to her. Well, more like behind her, like a good minion!