The sands trembled beneath Anubis's paws as he burst from the pyramid's shadow, a streak of black muscle and gold-trimmed armor tearing across the battlefield on all fours. His claws tore deep gouges through the dust as he charged, sprinting low, almost wolf-like, but faster, much faster, than any beast the world had ever known.
Across the broken plain, Thor was already coming, his massive form cutting a brutal path through the ruins and corpses. Lightning danced across his skin, curling around his arms, flashing out in forks that cracked the air like whips. His hammer swung in wide, deliberate circles, humming with power, and each step he took seemed to leave smoldering craters in the sand.
For a moment the world narrowed, soldiers on both sides froze, watching the two monsters rush toward one another, no words, no spells, no mercy.
Then they collided.
Anubis slammed into Thor with a deafening crunch, claws raking, fangs snapping. Thor staggered, feet skidding through the dirt, but he answered instantly swinging his hammer in a low arc meant to shatter bones. Anubis twisted, almost serpentine, letting the blow graze his plated side instead of breaking his ribs.
Lightning exploded where the hammer struck, blasting sand high into the sky. Anubis coughed once, his body shuddering, but he didn't slow. He lunged again, raking Thor's side with his claws, tearing through the thick leathers and leaving deep gashes across the Norse god's flesh.
Thor snarled and brought the hammer up in both hands, smashing it into Anubis's shoulder like a blacksmith forging iron. The force hurled Anubis sideways, skipping him across the dunes like a stone on water but Anubis caught himself mid-air, twisting, landing in a crouch. Blood ran down his arm in thick rivulets, staining the gold bands on his biceps.
Thor raised his hammer to the sky, and the storm answered him.
A shaft of pure lightning stabbed downward—and Anubis charged straight through it.
The bolt slammed into his back, lighting up every scar carved into his flesh, burning through metal and cloth. The smell of scorched fur filled the air. But Anubis didn't slow. His body hit Thor like a battering ram, claws tearing at his armor, snapping and ripping.
Thor grunted, swinging upward. The hammer caught Anubis under the ribs with a sickening crack, throwing him up into the air. Anubis twisted again, baring his fangs in a snarl of pure rage and driving one clawed hand down onto Thor's shoulder, slamming him into the ground hard enough to crater it.
Thor roared, electricity exploding from his skin, blasting Anubis off him in a halo of blinding light. Sand turned to molten glass under the sudden heat.
Anubis landed hard, shoulders heaving, steam rising off his back where the lightning had kissed him. His right arm hung a little too loose—maybe broken. Maybe worse. But his golden eyes never left Thor.
Thor pushed himself to his feet, blood trickling from his lip, his hammer sparking violently in his grip.
They circled each other now—beasts sizing each other up. Thor's hammer spun lazily at his side, arcs of lightning crawling down the handle to his forearm. Anubis bared his teeth, blood-streaked but grinning, panting steam like some ancient engine.
Thor struck first this time, hurling the hammer end-over-end.
It screamed through the air toward Anubis's chest—but at the last second, Anubis ducked, the hammer missing his head by inches. He bounded forward, impossibly fast, claws flashing.
Thor called the hammer back it shot past Anubis's side, grazing his ribs and spinning into Thor's hand but not before Anubis closed the distance, driving a brutal slash across Thor's stomach, deep enough that blood spattered onto the burning sands.
Thor howled and answered with a hammer blow that caught Anubis square in the side of the head.
Anubis crashed sideways, gouging deep furrows in the sand but even as he tumbled, he kicked off the ground, launching himself back upright in a spray of blood and dust.
Both of them bled now. Both of them breathed like wounded bulls. Their shadows danced across the battlefield, thrown by the wild lightning splitting the sky overhead.
The war around them forgot itself for a moment—forgot everything but the sheer violence of these two creatures locked in mortal struggle.
And neither was willing to die first.
Anubis's chest heaved with ragged breath. Blood slicked his flanks, dripping in steady streams onto the scorched ground. His vision blurred at the edges, darkening, his body battered, broken.
But he did not fall.
Instead, his golden eyes flicked sideways—taking in the battlefield around him.
Valkyries. Scattered remnants of the enemy front line. Other creatures, twisted and armored in strange magic, circling warily, waiting for a weakness.
Anubis moved.
He lunged into the nearest cluster with terrifying speed, low to the ground, a shadow among flames. A Valkyrie tried to intercept him, silver wings flashing—but Anubis met her with a snarl, seized her midair by the throat, and ripped her clean in half. Blood sprayed in an arc across the sand.
He didn't slow.
Another Valkyrie dove at him, spear aimed for his heart. Anubis twisted, sidestepped, caught her arm mid-thrust—and shattered it at the elbow. Her scream was cut short as his jaws clamped down on her throat and crushed it.
Each kill sent a pulse through his body.
A low thrumming under his skin. Like something ancient and monstrous stirring awake.
Where blood spilled, his wounds knit themselves back together, bones snapping back into place, torn muscle stitching closed, the burns on his fur fading into old scars. His broken ribs creaked, reformed.
More enemy creatures closed in lithe, horned beasts and glimmering specters but Anubis welcomed them.
A horned warrior swung a wicked axe at him—Anubis ducked under the blow and drove his claws through the creature's gut, lifting it off the ground and flinging it aside like trash.
Two specters tried to flank him with spells—Anubis leapt between them, his body a blur, tearing them apart before their incantations could even finish.
His wounds closed faster now. His breathing steadied. His strength, once fading, now flooded back into his limbs like a dam breaking.
Thor watched all of this unfold, thunderclouds swirling tighter overhead, his hammer gripped in whitening knuckles.
Anubis turned his blood-smeared face back to Thor and grinned, jaws opening in a terrible, wolfish smile.
Without a sound, he dropped to all fours again, muscles coiling, eyes glowing like burning gold.
Then he charged.
Thor bellowed a war cry that split the skies and hurled his hammer forward, calling lightning down with it.
Anubis darted low under the blast—the ground exploded behind him—and he closed the distance in a heartbeat, colliding with Thor in a shower of sparks and blood.
They fought again in the heart of the storm—Thor, hammer flashing, every swing throwing bolts of lightning through the air; Anubis, tearing at him with claw and fang, dragging the Norse god to his knees more than once through sheer brute force.
Each time Thor struck him, Anubis bled.
Each time Anubis killed, he healed.
It was a cycle of brutality that ground the air between them into a haze of blood and smoke, both creatures roaring, striking, dragging each other down into the sand.
Neither yielded.
Neither spoke.
Only violence answered violence.
And above it all, the shield that crowned the pyramid shuddered with each blow, the storm boiling tighter, angrier.
***
Morpheus watched the battle with fascination before forcing himself to turn his gaze to the mysterious Valkyrie with the mask.
"Khufu," Morpheus said turning to his ally
Khufu glanced over, "Yes Morpheus what do you want now."
Morpheus chuckled, "You know me so well, how are our little sand soldiers doing are they ready?"
"Yes I can activate the formation at any time, luckily we were prepared this go around and I won't need your assistance."
"Activate it for the briefest moment will you? I want to meet that silver masked creature."