Gideon took a moment to think. He stood up and stared into the red eyes of the devil of the Upper Yard. There was no rage, but a stern seriousness. "Alright, then a fight it is" he knew there was no going around it or finding an alternative, "A warrior's fight, a warriors death" he walked over to where Jormungandr stood and picked it up.

They turned to face one another and before the battle began, the devil said "I'm sorry, I wish I could tell you more" he readied himself, some of his bones cracked.

"It's alright, just..." Gideon positioned Jormungandr, "Just do me a favor and don't hold back" this flickered a memory of his; Jacob, his father, always had fights, mock fights, contests of strength, it was his pass time, and his usual rival was Loki.

The battle started, they rushed at one another, exchanging swings and swipes, but no connection was made, no blood was spilled... yet.

There was a misstep by Gideon, the devil caught the blade in a one hand and with the other, he tried to deal a blow, but Gideon caught his wrist and with a kick sent him stumbling back, but Gideon stop there, he grabbed hold of Jormungandr again and swung it wide. The devil pulled back but not far enough to dodge the swipe entirely. The blade sliced against it's chest.

It's eyes darkened, his smile wide, his muscles tightened. Black out... once more. Gideon noticed this and because of that, he got serious. Time to end this... for both their sake.

The rain fell harder and lightning flashed more frequently as the two continued their battle. Every so often, Jormungandr would slam into the ground, or rake against the beast's flesh, but the thing didn't care, it would continue to move in to try and either slam, scratch or bite Gideon, to which the giant didn't falter, he did would he could to avoid any injuries, though he was in it for the win and for the end.

The blade sank down onto the beast's shoulder, but it moved in, throwing a strong hook with the other arm, but Gideon saw this coming and detached the ridged blade and with a few movements, the beast's entire arm was entangled by Jormungandr entangling it. The beast tried to pull away, but the more it pulled, the tighter the whip-blade got; blood seeped and ran down the blade and it's strings.

Gideon too a deep breath, clicked his teeth and released a blast of fire that enveloped the beast but after the fire dissipated, the beast stood, lightly scarred, but unphased. It stopped trying to pull away, this time figuring it would fight while in it's state, but Gideon was too quick, he sidestepped, then gave a hard tug and in just a split second, the beast's arm came off.

It roared in pain, but the lost of it's limb only delayed it for a mere moment, it managed to get close and ram Gideon, sending him to the ground. With it's only arm remaining, it would deliver punch after punch, the giant tried to block as much as he could with his arms raised, he had no choice but to drop Jormungandr just to be able to block better. But as the blows came, it became harder and harder to keep his arms up, each punch was like a boulder slamming into him, this thing's strength was insane.

Blow after blow, punch after punch, each one felt like lightning and each one sounded like thunder. Gideon began to feel numb, but with each hit, he began to feel anger build up. He was pinned, he was on the floor, he wasn't able to fight back against a one-armed being. Thoughts then flashed through his mind, once again of his mom, of his father, and of Loki. There was a world of trouble out there, trouble that stood in his way before he could find and fight Loki, and yet he is having trouble.

'Why? I can't be weak. My father wasn't weak when he went out to them. My mother wasn't weak for helping me escape'

Gideon's body stopped rocking from the hits, maybe the devil was getting tired, maybe he was lightening up.

'I can't be weak when they were so strong, I need to be strong to avenge them'

The sound of what seem like metal on metal rang in the air as the devil hit Gideon's arms which now seem a darker color, maybe bruises. Matters not. Gideon delivered a swift punch to the beast's head, knocking him off of him. The giant took the chance and got to his feet. As they both got their footing again, they stared at one another, anger in both of their eyes, neither of them intended on dying, neither of them intended on losing.

They closed the gap and traded blows, none of them caring about dodging. Blood flew through the air, bones cracked, one of the devil's horns broke off and flew across the field. Gideon roared as he quicken his pace, forcing the beast back, forcing him to take the defensive, even when he staggered, he kept up on the punches, to and fro the head of the devil swayed with each hit, Gideon wasn't aware if it was still conscious, though he didn't care, he didn't even allow him to fall, he kept up the assault, releasing his anger, making sure he poured out every attack, made sure that the enemy was defeated, made sure the pain of the man inside that devil as well as the pain within his own self melted away.

Lightning flashed and it ended. The beast collapsed to the floor, thousands of rain droplets leaped from the ground from the moment the large being made contact with the ground.

It was done.

Gideon stood there staring at the beast's corpse. He wasn't aware of how he gained the upper hand or if he had done the right thing or if there was anyway for him to gain any bit of information out of the situation, but the giant couldn't turn back now. He was tired, he was aching, but he stood there, his fists still tightened, staring down at his opponent.

"You have to be strong so you can take care of your mother when I get too old"[/b] his father would say.

Yes, he wanted to get stronger, but he didn't want to fight, it was too much trouble and he was scared of the world outside. cooking was his strong suit.

[i]"Don't worry about being the strongest, you can take care of your family by making the best meals" his mother told him.

He loves his mother as he loved his father. There had always been there for him and supported him no matter what, before they left Elbaf and after they left, their family was a strong one, which was why Gideon decided to fight so hard, to get that love back, to give his mom the best meal she deserve and to take her back to Elbaf, the home of the giants.

Gideon looked to the sky and yelled as loud as he could. He chose not to be weak, he decided from here on, that nothing was going to stop him from completing his goal, not even being stranded on an island high in the sky.

Lightning flashed again, the thunder couldn't even mask Gideon's yell.

Gideon found his fannypack on the floor back in the woods, he hadn't even noticed when he had dropped it. He then found Mjolgera nearby to which he pocketed. His cloths torn, his body aching and bloodied, he walked through the woods ever so slowly all the while humming a tune that he has heard he was a kid but can't remember from where.

The rain had stopped and the clouds began to part. The night was quiet, no animals or critters scurried and any random noises didn't grab Gideon's attention, for he was too tired and had much to think about and much to do. His life was near death, but he didn't care, he didn't want to think about it. He put all thoughts to the back of his mind, the only thing he wanted to do now was sleep.

It had taken him an hour to get back beneath the cliff where he stashed his boat. He dropped his fannypack into the boat and carefully placed Jormungandr to the side so that he wouldn't accidentally cut himself when he slept. He got into the boat and took the next couple of minutes staring into the sky, wondering what was next for him; how would he get down and if there was anyone that would take him down to the sea below.

Little did Gideon know, his life was going to get tougher and he would need to strengthen himself so that he would be ready for what's going to come crashing to him.

[End]