The dark angel floating above them really incited Brynhildr’s desire for battle. She wasn’t a brute that enjoyed just any battle, only worthy opponents got her blood boiling, and the dark winged being above them fit the bill just right. Powerful and sinister looking. Just as she was about to jump out of the shield, Reginleif stopped her with a hand placed on her shoulder. “Bryn, wait. There might be a problem.”

Brynhildr looked at her sister in confusion. “What is it? After all this sitting around a worthy opponent presented herself to us and you want me to wait?” It wasn’t just her eagerness that was the problem with waiting. The dark being had not stopped putting wide holes into the other warriors while the two protected themselves under the shield. Not that she really cared about the dwarves, who were just about to attack them before the angel arrived, or her so called ‘allies’, but it was a bit iffy to just let them all die without doing anything. They were supposed to be on the guild’s side after all.

“The power boost I’m getting from her. It’s the first time I’m getting such a large one since training with master.” Reginleif stated with a serious voice.

This really caught Brynhildr’s attention. All their Authorities had their own peculiarities. Reginleif’s powers slanted towards supporting her comrades, so it had limited direct combat application, made up by her support abilities which were amazing. The thing was that Reginleif’s Authority was very limited use against weak opponents, and perhaps the most powerful of the bunch against strong ones. She gained a boost to all her abilities and physical characteristics based on the power of the enemy.

“She’s an immortal?!” Brynhildr asked in shock. The question was legitimate considering that their master was immortal and if Reginleif received a power boost of similar margin from this angel…

“I’m not sure. There’s something very strange going on here. It’s as if her powers are in flux. My point is, be careful and be prepared to retreat on a moment’s notice. We may need the rest of our sisters to face this enemy.” Reginleif emphasized her last point. Brynhildr was perhaps the strongest direct combatant of the group and Reginleif’s support made her even stronger, but facing something comparable to an immortal would be too much to ask from just the two of them.

‘So the order is already sending in immortals to the empire. Things are getting really serious.’ Brynhildr thought to herself. One of the main reasons their group of Valkyries was asked to come here by the freelancer’s guild was because they could match an immortal to a point without actually being one. Thus they got the advantage in power without escalating the conflict to the level of actual immortals. But if the order was already sending immortals…

Brynhildr dashed out of the shield at full speed and felt the power supplied by Reginleif spreading through her. As soon as she did several blades made of blue energy flew at her, but Brynhildr could ignore them. One of the main effects of her Authority was that any hostile energy was greatly dampened when it got close to her. Spells and ki attacks would fizzle and dissipate. She wasn’t immune to such effects, but it came fairly close. Any spells powerful enough to not fizzle out completely would run into her protective ki and her magical armor. Those dark objects that had impacted Reginleif’s shield earlier might be different though, as they seemed to be solid objects accelerated to great speeds. The dampening effect might slow them down or make them miss, but not stop them.

The dark angel was still floating in the air, theoretically safe from Brynhildr’s sword, but several platforms made of white light suddenly appeared beneath her feet to allow her to run up towards the angel. The platforms were created by Reginleif, and their honed teamwork allowed the latter to know exactly where to place them. As Valkyries, they could fly to an extent, but in aerial combat you had a major advantage if you had a foothold like this to push against when attacking. Also, picking a flying battle with an angel was a really bad idea as their flying ability worked differently.

Apparently, their little trick didn’t catch the angel off-guard, or it simply didn’t care, as Brynhildr noticed no sign of surprise while closing the distance with a speed that was impossible to follow by most. The angel clearly didn’t have that problem. For a very brief moment, Brynhildr thought she saw a wondering look in the angel’s eyes as if the being was considering how to counter her charge. As Brynhildr’s snow white sword slashed at the angel, a black blade made seemingly of pure darkness intercepted it.

The image was rather imposing even to Reginleif. A blond haired warrior goddess clad in pure white armor and wielding a white blade that reflected the light of the sun with a bright gleam, crossing swords with a dark angel with black wings, black hair and a dark blade that seemed to be sucking the light from the surroundings. It was worthy of becoming a priceless painting. Or it was until it became clear that the dark angel had an advantage in this encounter.

Brynhildr was pushed away from her overhead swing, but not due to a wide difference in strength she was glad to see. The dark angel was stronger than her, and Brynhildr was already freakishly strong according to her sisters. The thing was, the angel wasn’t stronger by much. It was more thanks to the fact that the angel seemed to have an even better footing standing on the empty air. It was as if it was standing on solid ground, while Brynhildr had just jumped with her swing to add power to it. That added power had worked for a fraction of a second, but then she had gotten pushed off.

‘So this is doable at least.’ Brynhildr thought to herself. ‘I should have the advantage with Reginleif’s full power behind me.’

Her positive thought disappeared as quickly as it had come when suddenly several lights from holy spells surrounded the angel. It was not hard to guess that those were buffing spells, which was immediately confirmed as the two crossed swords a second time and she was forced into parrying the angel’s blow instead of blocking it. ‘Of course it would have access to holy spells. It’s a fucking angel!’ Brynhildr berated herself for missing the obvious.

Reginleif had her own slight problems. Normally this would be the point at which she would use various methods to strike at the enemy, to either hinder or at least distract them. The problem was that the angel had not stopped attacking her even though it was now locked into combat with Brynhildr. She was forced to direct most of her power into maintaining the protective barrier as it was continuously hit both by weapons of blue power and some small black objects that shook the barrier even with all the power she applied. Those attacks weren’t even aimed to really kill her, just to keep her occupied. The angel had probably figured that fighting the two of them at the same time would be a problem, so it directed the ranged attacks that were useless against Brynhildr at her instead. She just had to trust Brynhildr for now, while she supplied all the power she could. 'At least those black things aren’t hitting Bryn for now.’

The aerial dance of blades gained in both speed and power as hundreds of strikes were exchanged. Brynhildr was being pushed to the extremes of her skill. She was a proud Valkyrie born to wield a blade, and a part of her Authority granted her sublime skill with the blade. Yet the annoying angel was able to match her blow for blow. Both of them constantly tried to lead each other into traps while trying to take every advantage they could. This was the first time since gaining her Authority that Brynhildr fought with someone that could equal her with the blade. Even their master couldn’t do that, as she had been the previous holder of the Authority now possessed by Reginleif. It was vexing. It was also exhilarating. Brynhildr was grinning from ear to ear as she fought.

The others present were wholly unable to follow the movements of the two as they moved so fast. The only thing they could tell was that the fight was balanced on a knife’s edge as a single mistake could spell the end for either combatant as a bundle of light and a bundle of darkness rapidly crashed into one another. As Reginleif realized this, she resolved to use one of the nastier aspects of her Authority. Her normal weapon was a halberd with a long thin pennant hanging from it, but now she drew out a short thin rapier made of the same white metal as Brynhildr’s blade and armor and Reginleif’s own halberd. Then she plunged the white blade through her own right palm.

Brynhildr suddenly noted the angel yelp more in surprise than in pain as it received a wound on its right palm which was holding the dark blade single-handedly at the moment. That was due to the angel being in the middle of a jumping slash while dodging over her own blade. She knew what had happened as she had seen Reginleif use that nasty power several times before. Her sister always had a wicked timing, using the power just when it mattered, and this time again the angel lost its grip on the dark blade and the blade plunged towards the ground.

Reginleif cursed silently as the pain hit her. She could inflict the same damage on the enemy as she did on herself, but that came with a price. The pain from the injury was tripled and could not be blocked in any way. Plus the wounds she inflicted on herself with the thin rapier were a real bitch to heal. ‘Hopefully Bryn can take advantage of the situation.’

Brynhildr tried her best to take advantage as she quickly changed the trajectory of the previous blow and to inflict a decisive wound. This trick would only work once and she needed something decisive. Unfortunately, her blade was intercepted by a black gem that suddenly expanded into a large shield. She also sensed several similar objects flying at her from multiple angles, and she was forced into taking some distance. As she looked up she noted several dark gems and small pearls floating around the angel who was now examining the wounded hand and sneaking looks at Reginleif who had a similar wound on her hand. Apparently, it only took the one time for the angel to make the connection, which was kind of worrisome in itself.

‘Well, at least it is wounded now. Even if it has holy power, wounds inflicted with Regin’s Authority can only be healed with natural healing over time.’ Brynhildr was ashamed of her inability to take advantage of the opportunity but realized another thing. If that gem had not become a shield, then it most likely would’ve been used to attack Brynhildr instead. So small victories and all that.

Her joy disappeared once again as she watched the wound on the angel’s hand close. “Bloody hell! That was supposed to be much harder to heal than that.” She voiced her curse. She couldn’t know of course that this particular angel had a Beowulf heritage and had excellent regeneration speeding up the recovery.

She retreated back to Reginleif. “We have to go for the big finish. I don’t think we’ll win a war of attrition.”

Reginleif nodded in agreement and gathered her powers, which luckily were boosted due to the power of their enemy. The pennant on her halberd unfurled and seemed to suddenly extend endlessly, in a flash it had surrounded the entire area and several shackles of white cloth shot from the sides towards the angel. The angel was extremely fast and tried dodging the shackles but these bindings were impossible to dodge as they were everywhere, and soon the angel was bound from several places. “Hurry! I don’t think I can hold it for too long.” Reginleif murmured. This technique was excellent but very power consuming.

Brynhildr leapt into the air and raised her white sword above her head, and made a slashing motion towards the dark angel. A beam of white energy shot from the tip of the blade towards the angel who was unable to dodge. This was the most powerful attack the two possessed and they had several good reasons, mainly from experience, to expect it would at the very least injure the angel heavily. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed.

A dark field of energy extended above the angel, perfectly blocking the incoming stream of white energy. Both Valkyries could recognize an Aegis when they saw one, though they had never seen a completely black one before. Neither had they ever heard of one created by a single person that could take the kind of blow dealt by Brynhildr. The single attack was powerful enough to punch through an Aegis used by a full army of paladins.

“Enough of this nonsense!” They heard the exasperated voice of the dark angel utter. Suddenly they felt a great power of darkness and death radiating from the Aegis that still stood despite the blow it had just taken. The two Valkyries could feel the dark and seemingly evil power sapping at their strength and even trying to suck away their life-force. The two were able to resist, but the others were less fortunate.

The remaining Red Dwarves and the ‘allies’ the Valkyries had brought with them suddenly started to decay while alive as the life was sapped from them. It was almost like they had grown old suddenly, and they quickly turned into decrepit husks. The two Valkyries hissed at the sight of the clearly evil power. “This can’t be a member of the order. It isn’t a templar or even close to a paladin. It’s a blackguard!” Reginleif huffed in indignation.

Blackguards were the name for the holy warriors of dark gods, similar to paladins and templar. Even the order had a certain amount of people serving the dark gods among their number, but there was a stark difference between a templar serving the dark gods and a full blackguard. That difference was in their use of power. The ways blackguards used their power was almost uniformly agreed on to be evil, and not just chaotic and dark. Their powers usually worked at the expense of others and brought them suffering. Such as sapping the life out of them like the two had just seen. Blackguards also worked mostly for their own benefit instead of a cause.

Brynhildr wasn’t sure if she agreed. She noticed that the elves had all been spared from the life-sucking power, and she had already crossed blades with the angel. Some people said that the best way to know a person’s character was to cross swords with them. The angel was not a saint by any measure, but a blackguard? That was a little different. The angel had felt more like someone disinterested in the morality of the methods used. Just another tool in the toolbox. Not that she had much time to consider, as the black blade appeared back in the angel’s hand.

She also noted that the pearls and gems somehow inserted themselves into the blade. There was a palpable change in the blade as the gravity started distorting around it. There was no doubt that the blade was now extremely heavy, yet the angel was holding it as if it was weightless. “Time to go Regin.” Bryn suddenly decided and grabbed her sister in order to retreat.

They could always try for a rematch later on with their full group, and while the Valkyries reveled in battle, continuing this fight looked more like a suicide.

------

Dee watched as the two annoying women bade their retreat. Normally she would chase down enemies that dangerous, but that didn’t feel like a very good option at the moment. Blocking that white beam of power with the Aegis had taken a lot out of her. She had tried using just Umbra’s power infused with the death element. It wasn’t that she was in danger of running out of holy power, just that channeling that much of it in one shot was very taxing, especially since she already had to rush here with the fastest flight speed possible. She’d gotten closer with the portals of course, but the bloody things had been a bit uncooperative and dumped her a fair distance away.

There was also the fact that her right hand was still busted. She had managed a surface regeneration to try and fool the swordswoman, but inside it wasn’t fully fixed yet. She wouldn’t be able to apply full strength to her blows. For some reason, she also didn’t feel like hunting the two women down. Something told her they weren’t too bad despite taking part in this whole farce with the hostages, and she didn’t really feel the need to kill someone just for fun either. Besides, she still had to protect Faylen. Who knew what could happen during the time she spent chasing the two women. She had been forced to leave Noyala behind for maximum speed.

‘So those were combat related Authorities.’ Croestia commented.

‘Yeah, that swordswoman was a real pain. She might have been the best pure sword fighter I’ve seen. I barely kept up with her.’ Dee replied. The bloody old man at the great wilderness was more powerful as an opponent, but that was more due to his strength. The golden haired woman just now had more pure skill. If the fight had been longer Dee would’ve been forced to assume her normal form for extra strength and the extra two hands. Fighting with just two had been a bit of a handicap truth be told. For some reason though, she didn’t want to advertise her presence within the empire and her normal form was rather recognizable, what with all the tails and white fur.

‘Let’s check up on Faylen.’ Dee said after a moment.

Dee floated down towards the mansion. The surviving elven guards had seen the earlier battle and decided to not stand against her. She had saved them in a way after all. There were several dwarven bodies inside the mansion as some had slipped past the guards, but Dee wasn’t all that worried. After all that time spent with Faylen, she could recognize Faylen’s mind in the mindscape and knew that her friend was alive. There was no hostile feeling within the mansion either, and Dee couldn’t detect any living beings aside from elves inside.

She found Faylen and some of her family in a large room up on the second floor. Apparently the guards had gathered all the family members here to more effectively defend them. There were a dozen high-rank elven guards nearby and no dwarf had made it this far in. They would have eventually, but they got a wee bit distracted on the way. These guards also made way for Dee as it was glaringly obvious they would only endanger their charges for nothing if they tried stopping Dee. Inside the room were two older couples, which Dee assumed to be Faylen’s parents and maybe aunt and uncle, as well as Faylen and a young man who looked enough like Faylen to identify him as her younger brother.

Faylen smiled widely as she noticed Dee approaching. “Dee! Perfect timing as usual. We saw your fight outside. You’ve really grown.” There was a hint of wistfulness in Faylen’s voice. The girl she had picked up on a whim had become so much stronger than her in such a short time.

“Faylen.” Dee replied simply and pulled the elven woman into a hug. The two had not seen each other for a long time. Too long.

“And who are you supposed to be?” An elder gentleman interrupted the reunion. He appeared to be the strongest person in the room and was most likely the leader of House Arazana, which would make him Faylen’s father.

“I’m the one who has come to take Faylen to safety.” Dee replied, looking over the shoulder of Faylen, whom she was still hugging.

The man huffed. “I don’t think so. A member of our house will not need protection from someone as evil as you.”

Dee had almost forgotten that she was still using the Dark Avariel appearance, which made it kind of surprising that Faylen had managed to recognize her actually. Combined with her two halos and the display earlier truly made her appear quite sinister. An alluring but sinister Fallen Angel. “I was not asking for your permission. You’ve already shown yourselves incapable of protecting her, and you most certainly can’t stop me. So what are you going to do? Talk me to death?” She wasn’t feeling very diplomatic.

The man turned to Faylen. “You say something! It seems you’re acquainted.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll take my chances with the so called evil being instead of a family that was all too ready to marry me off for political favors.” Faylen was quite happy to go along with Dee. She had been almost imprisoned here, ready to be carted off for a political marriage when the opportunity presented itself.

Of course the man and Faylen’s other family argued, but Dee wasn’t feeling like arguing back, so she swiftly swept Faylen into her hands and simply floated out the window. “Not that I don’t mind being carried like a princess, but this is a little weird.” Faylen commented as soon as they got out of the immediate area. “Mind letting me down?”

Dee was happy to oblige. For now, they had gained enough distance anyway. “Did you have some place you wanted to go?” Dee asked.

“Well there are some things I would like to get from my old house and I need to inform the servants on what happens next, but it’s clear that I can’t stay there. My family will find me there if nothing else. Did you have something in mind?” Faylen turned the question around.

“The way I see it you have three options. Option one, you seek asylum from the Radiant Sun, which would most likely end with you going back to the impending war. Also, me and Razark are kind of breaking our relations with them, so there’s that. Holy Orders are another choice I suppose. Option two, Mazatl will take you with her to the Saurians. I think she wouldn’t mind doing that. Option three, I know of a community I happen to have ties with and I know they wouldn’t mind having another templar with them.” Dee listed the general plan she had formed while rushing here.

“I assume I can’t just go with you for now? Yeah, I suppose not. I can guess you’re neck deep in this mess already and I might get in the way. So you’re talking about the Four Winds, right? That sounds alright for now, though I would love to exchange some information with Mazatl before going. The Saurians don’t really appeal to me in general even if she is great.” Faylen decided.

“Four Winds it is then. We’ll have to pick up a friend of mine on the way. I had to leave rather abruptly once I found out what was going on with the mercenaries and hostages they’re taking. I think you’ll like her.” Dee started explaining with a smile.