https://youtu.be/V6TPgwy-nRk

"That damned witch...I'll make her regret ever showing her face..."

Svafrlami had spent the last few days in a rather poor mood, and who could blame him? That warrior and that witch were so infuriating! He'd sent his scouts to try and monitor them, but he hadn't heard anything about the duo. Maybe they had tragically died, or maybe they were in hiding. Hopefully the former.

As these days went by, Svafrlami grew more and more stressed, spending most of his time barking orders and issuing punishments to his men. His bad mood was especially unfortunate for Dvalin and Durin, who were usually in close proximity, and thus suffered the worst of his anger. For slight transgressions, they'd be skewered with the same swords and spears that he used to routinely threaten Oz with. It was overall a bad week for everyone involved.

Today, Svafrlami was sitting on his throne, stewing to himself over these recent happenings and finding himself most disgusted as he looked back on Oz's sheer defiance most of all. He'd practically witnessed a cardinal sin right before his eyes. He closed his eyes in contemplation, knitting his hands together while Dvalin and Durin watched in worry. The black-clad Dvalin was visibly saddened, scared for his boss' mental state, while the white-clad Durin stood in resigned silence, more concerned for himself.

Eventually, however, a gentle knocking could be heard on the door, and Svafrlami opened his eyes, sitting up with a glare. "Enter."

The door opened right on cue, and Svafrlami's eyes narrowed before quickly widening again as he watched Oz walk through, dressed in his celadon silk robes. Immediately, he pointed his finger at him, and Oz reflexively prepared himself to dodge, but Svafrlami decided to stay his hand, sighing and shaking his head before slamming his gauntleted hand on the arm of his chair.

"Dvalin, Durin! I demand privacy." he announced, and at once, the two dwarves disappeared through the back door, leaving him alone with Oz. Svafrlami did his best to remain outwardly composed, hiding his surprise at seeing that unwelcome yet uncharacteristically solemn face. "So, you're alive..."

"No thanks to you." Oz replied calmly, a dissonant and most likely fake smile on his face as he took a bow. "Good day to you, Svafrlami."

"May I ask why you're here?"

"Just...verifying something." Oz told him, looking around the place. "Keeping in mind the events of last week, can I assume I've been discharged?"

"You think there's even a chance that I would want you around?" Svafrlami muttered, staring coldly at him and sending shivers down his spine. "What a sick joke. Get out of my face."

Oz took a deep breath, facing Svafrlami's vitriol with a calm expression. He refused to be intimidated. "I was merely checking." he said, bowing his head before turning around with a wave. "Farewell, Svafrlami."

Svafrlami watched Oz leave, not saying anything until the door shut behind the young warrior. The moment he was alone, the commander's face twisted into a sick smile, and he let out a small chuckle. "All this fretting about your status...and you just show yourself at my doorstep! What a mistake you've made, 'hero'." he said, not caring that nobody else was there to hear him. The gears in his brain were turning, and there was no way he had time to worry for the insignificant! "And you'll regret it. Oh, how you'll regret it."

He looked up to the ceiling of his aureate office, letting out another, more satisfied laugh. "I hope you're watching, Arngrim." he said. "Watch! Watch how I destroy this man in your likeness! You'll see just what happens to those who cross me, you barbaric berserker! Just watch!"

In his euphoria, he let out a slightly louder cackle. And Arngrim, whoever that was, did not respond.

.........

And so, the sun set that day, and rose later, as was the natural order of things. Morning came, and Svafrlami hummed a whimsical tune to himself as Dvalin and Durin waved fans towards him, keeping him cool. He was waiting, after all. Why not wait in comfort?

Not too long later, the guest of honour arrived, entering the room on Svafrlami's signal. With her long, auburn hair, this time allowed to flow freely, her purple military tunic, silver trousers and boots, and the winged badge signifying her rank as first class. She looked straight at him with an icy expression, and he gave her a seemingly genuine smile. "Welcome, Yuri."

Yuri stood before him and took a bow. "You summoned me, Sir Svafrlami?"

"Of course I did." Svafrlami nodded. "I have a task to be done, after all. One that I can only rely on the strongest, smartest and most gifted of knights for. And among your generation, you, Yuri, are a treasure."

"I-I'm flattered, Sir..." Yuri nodded, taking a deep breath and kneeling before him, her hand on her chest. "What are my orders?"

.........

"My dearest grandson, it is unlikely you to visit me at this time. What brings you here?"

"I'm afraid I bring bad news, grandfather Odin. I'm sure you've heard of the Hel's Angels by now, yes?"

"Indeed, I have. Thanks to our efforts, however, the Knights will be keeping things under control."

"But what if that's not enough, grandfather? I have reason to suspect a traitor among us!"

"A traitor, you say? I was not aware of this. How can you be certain?"

"He behaved most erratically during our last witch hunt! He defended our enemy, and even slew a number of our men to protect her! I thought he had been bewitched, but as I looked back on it, I realised he had to be acting on his own!"

"...I see. And he got away?"

"Unfortunately so. Should I hunt him down and finish him off?"

"Wise as that may be, we must be certain. Who is this traitor?"

.........

"I'm sure you've heard of the Hel's Angels by now, yes?" Svafrlami said, parroting the words he'd spoken to Odin just last night. Seeing Yuri nod, he continued. "Most unfortunately, I have reason to suspect a traitor within our ranks."

Yuri nodded patiently as Svafrlami went on. "Unfortunately, despite me being so sure about this, Odin insists on getting proof before taking action." he said, pouting a little. "You don't doubt my judgement, do you, Yuri?"

"Of course not." Yuri nodded quickly.

"Then you'll have no objections about doing this for me, will you?" Svafrlami raised an eyebrow, seeing Yuri shaking her head as a cue to continue. "I need you to keep an eye on the man known as Oz Abendroth - and I know you've met him. Report any evidence you find to me, and I'll look into it."

Yuri's frosty mask cracked, her eyes widening a little as she remembered her brief interaction with Oz. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Could he really have been secretly evil? Svafrlami eyed her, noticing her brief faltering, and shook his head, sitting up straight. "Is that doubt I see in those eyes, Croce?"

"Of course not." Yuri nodded, standing up as she reminded herself that her duty came before all else. "I'll observe him, Sir."

"Then off you pop." Svafrlami made a shooing gesture. "I do hope you don't fail me. All of Gelhalla rests on this, Yuri."

"I won't disappoint." Yuri took a deep, reverent bow before turning around and leaving. Svafrlami slouched in his chair, putting on his signature smirk once she was gone. He chuckled to himself, trusting that things would go exactly as planned.

.........

https://youtu.be/6rTdW-651Lw

A morning in the life of Oz Abendroth was surprisingly standard. Morning person that he was, even at the late time he'd arrived the previous night, he was still up no later than seven o'clock in the morning. Rising up from his sheets, he stretched his arms and legs, looking around his room.

The wallpaper was green, with no patterns on it, and the bed itself had a yellow duvet and pillowcase with an ornate depiction of an ouroboros. There was a white desk with his books, a glowing runic rock, and a small vase of flowers on it, located right below a set of shelves with some books on it.

He got up, preparing to get to work as he showered, getting dressed into a new outfit. Different from his usual attire, he wore a set of robes, this time a darker, more forestlike green and made of a thinner material, and a white hooded overcoat on top and green boots underneath. He wore the hood down and did his hair up in a ponytail, satisfied in his attire and ready to set out for the day.

As he stepped out of the room, however, he came across something most strange, that he had somehow missed on his way to and from the bathroom. He saw a door - one that he was certain had never been there before. He raised an eyebrow, inspecting it closely, and saw that it was made of a reddish-pink wood, with an ornate silver doorknob. And he had to wonder - just how had he missed this until now? It was definitely different from his door, which was white with a golden knob.

He summoned his gun and held tightly onto it, while with his other hand, he turned the doorknob. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked, so he pushed it open and walked in, seeing a room inside that was definitely not there before. It was rather large, for sure, with pink walls and a velvety red carpet on the floor. The mini-chandelier on the ceiling was off right now, and the room had many things like wardrobes and multiple chests of drawers, all silver in colour. In the middle of the room was a very spacious bed, whose scarlet quilts and pillows looked very fluffy and comfortable to sleep on.

So naturally, he couldn't help but envy Freya, the woman currently sleeping on them, once he noticed it was her, and wondered just what she was doing in his house. Composing himself, he stepped closer, watching her closely and taking a deep breath.

"Sorry about this..." he murmured, noticing just how peaceful she looked like this, eyes closed, snoring gently. He gently tapped her cheek, transferring a tiny jolt of electricity from his finger and causing her to shake a little, her red eyes fluttering open. She looked at him and, realising it was an ally, smiled and sat up, stretching her arms.

"Ah...good morning, Oz..." she yawned blissfully. "I hope you had a nice rest."

"That, I did." Oz stepped back, smiling at her. "I don't mean to upset, Freya, but I can say with a reasonable level of confidence that this room wasn't always here. Would you care to explain?"

"Oh, this? I'm a sex goddess, so bedrooms are an important part of my domain. This was a piece of cake." she explained casually. "I figured I might as well, since I'm your Patron now. I hope this isn't a problem."

"Not at all. I was simply curious." Oz shook his head. "All I can hope is for you to enjoy it here, and that you don't eat all my food."

"...sure." Freya smiled, climbing out of bed, revealing her black lace nightgown that he tried not to stare at. He wasn't a rude man, after all. "I'll go get ready, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead. Once you get out of here, the bathroom should be to your left." Oz advised, slowly walking to the door. "I'll be waiting in the garden, in case you need me."

"Goodbye for now, then." Freya lightly waved at her new Guest, watching as he exited the room, closing the door behind him. She sighed, deciding to make things quick and not keep him waiting for too long. And thus, she began to get ready.

.........

https://youtu.be/RVFIcrCgNuQ

Oz's garden was as colourful as ever, with all the multicoloured flowers grown with tender, loving care. These flowers seemed to shine with all sorts of blossoming emotions. They seemed to smile at whoever was there with them. Was it any wonder then, that after his breakfast of goat-chocolate cookies and milk, he liked to go here and be in their company? Yes, the training dummy in the center also made it a good training spot, but he simply loved it here, too.

Now that he was here, he first practiced his magic - one particular magic. Remembering what the Warzone Radar felt like, he closed his eyes, attempting to stimulate his adrenaline with angelic magic. And for a brief moment, he opened his eyes, seeing the world bathed in a dark glow, with green patches and white streaks of light rising off from various places before the Radar almost immediately stopped, returning his vision to normal. He sighed, smiling to himself, as he knew that even though he wasn't there just yet, he was making progress.

Next was weapon training, which the Forge made all the more necessary. Contrary to Thor, Oz always had a preference for lighter, more graceful weapons, both when he was a human and now. They complemented his speed quite well, so given a choice, he'd rather not use anything larger than a sabre. Strength training was usually irrelevant, but his pathetic performance against Svafrlami reminded him that he needed to gain a lot more skill - and maybe even a bit of strength.

So he practiced his techniques, managing to get in quite a bit of training since Freya seemed to be taking her sweet time. Eventually, she emerged through the back door, watching him go at the dummy with a gun-and-shortsword combo. It was always interesting to watch him fight - and such finesse at the expense of power was unexpected from someone she assumed to be a Berserker.

But she had to speak up eventually. Stepping forth, she kept her eyes on him, noticing that he didn't seem to have detected her presence, and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Oh, Oz~"

At that, he immediately put his weapons away, turning around to face the goddess, and waved at her, smiling and panting. "Ah, Freya. You're finally ready."

"My apologies, Sir Oz. I did try to go as quickly as I could." she admitted, taking a quick curtsey. "Would you like some breakfast? It's the least I can do for you, since you let me live here."

"Thank you for the offer, but I must decline." Oz shook his head quickly. "I already had a plate of cookies and a glass of milk, and I found it most nourishing."

"...that doesn't sound very healthy."

"I do a lot of fighting and moving around. It burns a lot of calories." Oz pointed out, shrugging.

"I see..." Freya considered this for a little while, stepping closer to the einherjar and looking around the place. "This is a pretty garden. Did you plant all these yourself?"

"Mhm." Oz nodded, smiling slightly. "I've always been into pretty flowers, even when I was a human, so learning a bit of gardening just seemed like a natural next step. I'm glad you like them."

Freya nodded in response, hoping to spend a little more time in this garden during her stay at the Abendroth residence. As a love goddess, she felt like she was in her element here - it almost seemed to refill her batteries somewhat. As she stepped closer, she decided it was time to talk business.

"So..." she said, with Oz immediately noticing how she seemed to become more serious in an instant. "Just before I moved in, I looked into those Hel's Angels..."

"Oh? What did you find?" Oz asked, smiling a little. "Did you learn who their leader is? Where their hideout is? Perhaps you even stumbled across a magic artefact that will help me wipe them all out in one fell swoop!"

"Easy, tiger." Freya placed her hand on his shoulder, quickly conveying the message to curb his enthusiasm. "I followed one of them and learned that the Angels have taken over a few human settlements. But there's also a commander who's taken up residence in a certain Ine Castle..."

"Sounds like I'll need to head there first, then." Oz noted, sighing slightly. "Take down the commander so he doesn't get in the way, then move on to the towns and save them! Sound like a plan?"

"It certainly does." Freya nodded slowly. "You wanna head over to the Val Gate, then? I'll make sure to message you later."

"By all means." Oz took a small bow, putting his hands together before beginning to move towards the door. "I'll talk to you soon, Freya."

"Please make sure you don't die on this mission." Freya waved at him, watching him open the door and begin to leave. Before he departed, he waved back.

"That's a promise, then."

At that, he left, knowing where the Val Gate was and how to reach it, so he didn't waste any time. Freya, for her part, sighed, returning to her room to set up her mission control - a crystal ball to divine Oz's location, a psychic link set up with him to communicate when the einherjar entered Bifrost. And now, all she had to do was wait.