Anansi didn't give him time to recover.
The golden light around him flared brighter, sharper, colder. He advanced with measured, relentless steps, the Staff of Anansi spinning in tight, precise arcs. Every strike landed with surgical intent. A crushing blow to Gorr's ribs. A sharp crack against his collarbone. A sweeping arc that opened a deep gash across his chest. Black blood sprayed across the broken stones, and for once, the Necrosword struggled to keep up with the damage.
Gorr snarled and lashed out wildly, sending a wave of living shadows surging forward. Anansi didn't even slow down. Golden threads erupted from the staff, weaving through the darkness and tearing it apart mid-air before he closed the distance again and drove the end of the staff straight into Gorr's sternum.
The impact launched the God Butcher backward through what remained of a shattered wall.
Anansi followed without hesitation.
He landed lightly in front of Gorr as the Butcher struggled to rise, and brought the staff down in a brutal overhead strike. Gorr barely managed to raise the Necrosword in time. The clash of gold against black sent another shockwave through the street, but this time Anansi's strength forced Gorr's arms down. Another strike followed. Then another. Each one heavier than the last.
Gorr tried to counter with a vicious horizontal slash. Anansi stepped inside the arc, caught the Necrosword on the shaft of his staff, and twisted. For a brief, shocking moment, he nearly wrenched the weapon from Gorr's grip.
The God Butcher's eyes widened.
Anansi leaned in close, golden eyes burning with cold fury.
"You came here thinking you would butcher gods," he said quietly. "You came here thinking no one would stop you. You were wrong."
He slammed his forehead into Gorr's face, then followed with a rising strike that sent the Butcher crashing into a pile of rubble.
Gorr spat black blood and forced himself back up, breathing harder than he had at any point in the battle. The Necrosword pulsed angrily in his hand, but even it seemed to sense the shift in momentum.
Anansi stood over him, staff resting loosely at his side, golden light still crackling around his form. He looked almost calm, but the cold intensity in his eyes promised no mercy.
"Get up," Anansi said, voice low and even. "I'm not finished with you yet."
Around them, the battlefield had gone quiet. Odin, Thor, and Malice watched in stunned silence as the Weaver of Stories systematically dismantled the God Butcher who had, only minutes earlier, been on the verge of overwhelming them all.
Gorr rose slowly, shadows coiling tighter around him. For the first time, there was something more than hatred in his expression.
There was anger.
And the faintest edge of something that almost looked like respect.
The fight was far from over.
But for now, Anansi was in complete control.
---
From the shattered edge of the Rainbow Bridge, the others watched in stunned silence.
Odin stood tall despite his injuries, Gungnir planted firmly against the stone, his single eye fixed on the fight below with a mixture of pride and quiet awe. Thor leaned heavily on Mjolnir, blood still dripping from a gash on his forehead, his usual boisterous energy replaced by pure disbelief. Malice, silver hair whipping in the wind, crimson energy still faintly flickering around her, stared with wide, burning eyes. Beside her, Sable kept a protective stance near where Peter's body had once lain, her expression caught somewhere between relief and pure shock.
None of them spoke at first.
Down below, Anansi continued his relentless assault. Golden light flared with every precise strike of the staff, forcing Gorr farther and farther back through the ruined streets. The God Butcher, who only moments earlier had been on the verge of overwhelming them all, was now being driven across the battlefield like a wounded animal. Every attempt he made to counter was met with cold, calculated force. Thor finally broke the silence, his voice low and rough.
"By the Norns... he's dominating him."
Odin gave a slow, grim nod, never taking his eye off the fight.
"I have not seen Anansi fight like this in centuries," the All-Father said quietly. "It is as if the years of restraint have finally been stripped away."
Malice's crimson eyes remained locked on the golden figure below. Her voice, when she spoke, was softer than usual, almost disbelieving.
"That's still Peter's body," she murmured. "But that's not Peter fighting."
Sable exhaled slowly, gripping her pistols tighter even though she wasn't using them.
"Whatever it is," she said, "it's the only reason any of us are still standing."
Another explosion of gold and black lit up the streets below as Anansi slammed Gorr into the side of a collapsed tower. The impact cracked the structure further, sending debris raining down. Gorr tried to rise, the Necrosword flaring angrily in his grip, but Anansi was already on him again, staff spinning, golden light burning away shadow, every movement sharp and merciless.
For the first time since Gorr had set foot in Asgard, the balance of power had completely shifted.
And high on the Rainbow Bridge, the survivors of the battle could only watch in stunned silence as the Weaver of Stories systematically dismantled the God Butcher who had nearly destroyed them all.
---
Anansi didn't give Gorr a second to breathe.
He came at him hard, staff spinning in tight, vicious arcs that cracked against bone and shadow with bone-jarring force. Every hit landed with purpose. A crushing blow to Gorr's ribs sent black blood spraying across the broken stones. A rising strike caught him under the jaw and snapped his head back. Another heavy downward swing nearly took his arm off at the shoulder. The God Butcher staggered, snarling, the Necrosword barely keeping up as golden light burned through his defenses like fire through dry cloth.
Anansi drove him through what was left of a collapsed tower. Stone exploded around them as Gorr was slammed into a wall hard enough to leave a crater. Before he could fully recover, Anansi was already on him again, staff cracking against his collarbone, then his knee, then slamming into his gut with enough force to fold him over. Golden threads lashed out, wrapping around Gorr's limbs and yanking him off balance just long enough for Anansi to drive a knee into his face.
For a stretch of the fight, it was almost one-sided.
Gorr was being beaten back through the ruined streets, black blood dripping from his mouth and nose, shadows struggling to keep his body together under the relentless assault. Every time he tried to counter, Anansi was already moving, stepping inside his reach, redirecting the Necrosword, and punishing him for every opening. The golden light around the staff burned hotter with every strike, and the cold, focused fury in Anansi's eyes never wavered.
But Gorr refused to fall.
As Anansi closed in for another brutal overhead strike, something in the God Butcher snapped. The Necrosword flared violently, drinking deeper, hungrier, pulling in every scrap of divine energy still lingering in the air. Shadows erupted from Gorr's body in a thick, thrashing wave—thicker and more aggressive than before. He caught the staff mid-swing with the flat of the blade and shoved back with raw, desperate strength.
The impact forced Anansi a full step backward.
Then another.
Gorr's eyes burned with bitter, animal resolve as he pressed forward. The Necrosword began matching the staff's speed again, black metal screaming against golden light. What had been a one-sided beatdown slowly twisted into a brutal, grinding exchange. Strikes that Anansi had been landing cleanly were now being met and forced aside. Shadows that had been torn apart earlier now held longer against the golden threads, wrapping around the staff and trying to drag it down.
Anansi's expression hardened.
Gorr spat a mouthful of black blood and bared his teeth in something that almost looked like a grin.
"You thought you had me," he rasped between clashes, voice rough and strained. "You thought wrong."
Their weapons slammed together again in a shockwave of gold and black that cracked the street beneath them.
This time, neither was pushed back.
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