Thor saw the blade strike true and he bellowed in angry glee, twisting volcanically to wrench the blade free. He did not even think of evading the boiling black blood that erupted from the Dragon's wound but took it all; the wound, the blood and the pain – his own, now, and all the beast could deliver in order to mock it, to defy it...
A pause, each staggering ...
Leviathan seemed stunned.
The Dragon raised its head toward Thor for a single, strange moment, green eyes wider and dimmer. It seemed unable to understand ...
Thor took a breath, saw something there.
“Behold the truth!” he cried, circling. “Your master's strength ... has an ending!”
Leviathan snarled, hating.
Thor laughed through bloody lips. “Only the power of the Almighty can defeat you, beast! So come! Let us see if his blessing is upon me!”
The Dragon roared and Thor leaped, all the weight of his superhuman body behind the edge of the battle-ax and the blow was a dream, moving so quickly that it seemed never to have moved at all. It was here and then it had been buried to the hilt beneath Leviathan's head.
Leviathan turned from the blow with no scream at all, tearing Thor's glowing steel from the wound and Thor whirled back, striking again at the neck to send a chunk of blood-black armor sailing into the blazing air. Then Thor's arm flashed out, snatching the neck once more and Leviathan reared, lifting Thor above the dark, dark floor to ascend into the red-black space.
Thor grappled, bellowing in fighting madness to cling tighter and tighter still, hurled forth by his spirit to cling to the death.
The battle-ax in his iron fist stretched far into darkness behind him, and Thor swung it once more, smashing the steel through the Dragon's armor as Leviathan screamed and surged, dark fangs descending savagely toward him but Thor twisted to avoid the gaping wide jaws that glanced wildly off his chest.
Thor lost breath as the fangs tore ribs from his side and he lifted the battle-ax high, knowing he had entered the last and final domain of this battle where victory would come from heart, and strength, and strength of will, and the will to win.
Roaring volcanically, Thor buried the battle-ax between the demonic green eyes and Leviathan swayed back. But there was no respite as Thor tore the ax free again, raising it to smash it down with all his heart and weight once more, burying the wide wedge between the eyes like a thunderclap. Then, breathless, Thor tore the ax free again; battle, battle all that there was and he hammered the steel a third time between the eyes to send the crescent blade to the hilt.
Leviathan winced, head dropping.
It swayed ...
Fell back through darkness ...
Thor saw the distant ground approaching, red-darkness streaming past them and together they struck the cavern floor and then Thor was rolling, freed to find himself rising in flame, the battle-ax still locked in his burning grip.
Bathed in fire, Thor stood his ground.
Leviathan rose, snarling, black in blood
Crouching and laughing, blinded by pain and somehow freed from pain, Thor stood in another time and another place where heroes made a defiant last stand against a dark world, claiming victory for the light.
Words were nothing, but Thor heard himself taunting.
“Always darkness falls to light,” he laughed, moving to the side. “Always darkness falls ... Your master was defeated at the beginning, beast! And he will be defeated at the last!”
A blinding charge and a black-clawed blow that Thor could not see was the only response and Thor felt a burning impact in his chest, unable to understand the wound but knowing it was deep and mortal and then the dragon-head was before him, screaming and howling.
White fangs, darkness ...
But Thor feared nothing, nothing ...
With stunning strength he reached out, shoving the head aside and he twisted to strike deep. The majestic battle-ax cut into the armor and Thor tore it free like a man chopping wood. Then in a flash the battle-ax, the ancient battle-ax that seemed to forever sever flesh from spirit was raised again and Thor brought it down with superhuman force, sending another chunk of armor sailing into the black-red air.
Leviathan screamed in pain and surged wildly forward, blasting Thor into a stand of stalagmites and Thor heard himself howling through a haze of red blood. Then his forearm swept violently back to thunderously shatter a stone column and Thor found his feet to swing the ax forward once more, striking the Dragon solidly across the neck.
Stunned, Leviathan swayed its head back, screaming, and Thor surged inward, grappling as they fell together to the dirt where Thor struck, scraping and pulling with bone-burned fingers to tear chunks of armor from the beast.
As one they rolled across the cavern floor, taking the battle to the death and Thor recognized wildly that he was howling a Nordic death song that his mythic grandfather had taught him, a death dirge he had long forgotten.