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Maddock, Bones, and Sorensen all attacked as one. Like ancient warriors of the past, each shouted a battle cry as they charged, hacking and slashing at Hoor’s massive frame.
Sorensen was the strongest and therefore opted to fight Hoor one on one for most of the battle. The tactic worked too, allowing the smaller and faster humans to dodge and parry their opponent, but Hoor was not unaware of them. A swipe from the beast opened Maddock’s arm. The pain was instantaneous and excruciating. The wound sizzled like acid had been poured into it.
Knocking the clawed hand away, Sorensen swung his axe as hard as he could, connecting with Hoor’s flank, causing the creature to wail as it dug in deep. The weapon’s energy surged into Hoor’s body, inflicting what should’ve been a deathblow. It didn’t kill him, but it did hurt him badly.
Clutching his side, Hoor backed away from the exhausted trio, evidently second-guessing his brutish assault. He had been more careful in the past but the fury that now consumed him had not only given him extraordinary strength, it had also burned away whatever humanity had remained. Including his intelligence.
Hoor, the man who would be a god, was no more. He was just a wild animal.
A twelve-foot tall, nearly invincible wild animal.
Bones hurled his axe at the beast. It rotated in the air a few times before slamming home, directly into Hoor’s right shoulder blade, the axe head sinking deep and sizzling with blue fire. With his massive bulk, Hoor couldn’t reach the weapon to dislodge it. The wedged blade continued to burn, sending out tendrils of plasma that pulsed down Hoor’s arm like veins.
Bones drew his Desert Eagle and, holding it two-handed, unloaded all seven rounds into Hoor, point blank, just like he had done to Haugen. Each bullet strike released a coruscation of electric blue energy along with blood that was instantly burnt to black dust.
Yet, Hoor still stood.
Even when Sorensen buried his own axe down in Hoor’s chest, he refused to go down.
The beast roared and backhanded Sorensen away, spilling him over the edge of the closest platform. Just like that, their berserker ally was gone, swallowed by the void.
Bones and Maddock regrouped, drawing together, and changing position in order to force Hoor to put his back to the edge of the platform. Right on cue, Tam and her surviving team opened up, concentrating their fire on an impossible to miss target—Hoor’s upper torso. Hoor staggered back a step, then another.
Maddock gripped Skofnung tighter while Bones dropped his empty magazine and slammed in a fresh one. As soon as the weapon was ready to go, Maddock charged. Bones expertly aimed and fired, this time aiming for the beast’s legs. He needed to keep it off balance long enough for his partner to drive the sword home.
Maddock did exactly that. With one strong upward jab, he drove the black blade into and through Hoor’s chest.
Instead of the customary blue energy, a black, smoky version of the stuff poured from the berserker’s wounds. An ear-piercing shriek filled the air, but it wasn’t Hoor.
The sword was screaming....
The souls of the berserker warriors infused to the blade?
Letting go of the still crying weapon, Maddock backpedaled and drew his own gun, unloading as many rounds as he could as quickly as he could. Each trigger pull was like a .50 caliber kick to the head, sending wave after wave of pain and nausea through his already spent psyche.
Falling to one knee in exhaustion, Maddock looked on and watched as Hoor’s heavy upper body tilted backward toward the precipice. But before the monster could fall, he caught himself and leaned forward, regaining his balance. He bellowed in pain and anger with every move he made.
But he didn’t fall.
Instead, he raised one massive foot, preparing to take a step forward.
Bones was beside himself. “Son of a...”
Like a serpent, a hand snapped out from behind Hoor and latched onto his left ankle, halting his intended retaliation. Grumbling in frustration, the giant struggled a moment, and then vomited a stream of black tar-like fluid. Stumbling, he kicked his caught leg, pulling the hand’s owner onto the platform behind him.
“Sorensen!” Maddock shouted, standing in hope.
The still partially-human berserker ripped Bones’ axe free from the other creature’s shoulder and jumped up and over Hoor’s head, yelping in agony as he landed. But without skipping a beat, Sorensen swiped the blade across Hoor’s neck, slicing it deep and wide. Blood, along with more of the tar substance, spilled from the wound, and the giant to staggered back.
Enraged and close to death himself, Sorensen threw the blade aside and charged, leading with his talons. At the last instant, Hoor mirrored his attack, so that they impaled each other with their claws when they met.
“No!” Bones shouted.
But it was too late. There was nothing he or anyone else could do to save the man who had become both monster and friend.
With the loudest battle cry yet, Sorensen drove the dying behemoth back toward the yawning drop. Hoor teetered on the precipice for what seemed like an eternity, and then both he and Sorensen were gone, disappearing into the blackness below. Maddock and Bones ran for the platform’s ledge, leaning over the side with the hopes of seeing Sorensen.
But he wasn’t there. Torbjorn Sorensen was dead, just like he wanted.
“It’s done,” Maddock whispered.
Bones nodded his agreement and then they both turned...to find Max holding a gun to Tam’s temple.