Ashur watched with a judgmental expression as Reginleif did her best to combat the four experts he had assigned for her today. The girl certainly had the will required to stick to the training, and she wasn’t untalented by any means. He had seen better, but Regin was certainly in the upper bracket in both aspects. There were certain problems with the girl though. At least one of those problems was big enough to force him to consider whether training her might be a waste of time.

The other Valkyries had to return to their home, partly because they had been gone for so long. They also knew that if they truly wanted to become stronger, then they needed to add more worthy people to ther weird group Authority. Two of them had been approaching the rank of an immortal when they left and Regin was rather close as well. She was the only one to remain here because she realized this was the best way to get stronger, at least for her, and valued that above going back. Ashur, in turn, made sure to put the girl under enough pressure to see growth, even though he wasn’t sure how much use it would be.

The main problem for the Valkyrie in question was the reason she was trying to get stronger. Regin was convinced Ashur’s previous disciple Dee was evil, and that it was her duty to cleanse that evil from this world. The issue wasn’t that the goal of that conviction was completely misplaced. Even Ashur had to admit Dee was morally grey to say the least, though she did help those she cared about. He had lived long enough to know that good and evil were all a matter of perspective, and at least Dee didn’t go out of her way to harm innocent people. No, the problem with Regin’s objective was that if she pursued the goal doggedly enough, Dee would eventually kill her. Dee might not have been someone who went out of her way to harm innocents, but she wasn’t a pacifist either. Far from it. And if Regin annoyed her enough, then eventually Dee would decide enough was enough and would have no problem killing the Valkyrie.

He was considering ways of discouraging the dimwit from following the path of doom, when the whole volcano started to shake. “Gods dammit, I paid those geomancers good coin to make sure this volcano would remain dormant forever!” He cursed and started thinking of ways to protect everyone present, as well as his home if possible. That thought was interrupted when a burst of power suddenly seemed to lance out from the side of the volcano towards the skies. That in itself would have been even more worrying, except for the fact that the burst of power seemed familiar. It looked suspiciously like the breath of a certain dummy dragon he knew. He should know, considering he had been on the receiving end of that breath weapon.

Ashur bolted to the edge of the caldera and looked towards the source of that earlier burst of power. It seemed to have come from inside the volcano and had made a fairly large but even hole on the side of the stony cliff. What made Ashur even more suspicious was the fact that the damage to the volcano seemed to be positioned in a way to cause the maximum amount of damage to the long set of stairs that ran down the volcano’s side. As if to confirm his thoughts, a familiar looking dragon clawed her way out of the hole with two small humanoid forms hanging on its neck.

“Stop destroying my mountain dummy disciple! This is the second time already!” Ashur roared at the dragon that had grown quite a bit from the last time they had met.

“It’s a volcano, not a mountain.” The dragon declared with a laugh. “That’s why we’re here in case you were wondering. I’m not familiar with all that many volcanoes. As for the damage, you can manage. I made sure to keep the damage minimal. There aren't that many ways to get to the outside when trapped inside the damn thing, and I was pretty sure you would prefer this to me poking a hole inside the caldera.”

‘You do remember you could’ve just used the shadows to bring yourself and the other two outside? We already know that would work from testing it with Shunkaha.’ Croestia whispered Dee silently.

‘Of course I remember. But if I had done that, then I wouldn’t have been able to see his look of annoyance. I also didn’t want to subject Nyx and Moirai to the shadow energy invading them. Shunkaha rather fairly pointed out the unpleasantness of the process. Besides, those stairs deserved it.’ Dee argued back. She really hated those stairs.

‘You know the two aren't as dumb as the wolf boy. If you had just warned them, then they could have used their own power to protect themselves from the detrimental effects of the shadows. But that’s not really the point, is it?’ Croestia gave up with a sigh as Dee’s draconic grin confirmed her suspicions.

“Hello again old man. It’s good to see you again. Sorry about your mountain. Dee was a bit too eager. You know how she gets.” Moirai greeted Ashur with a polite bow while she gracefully floated down from Dee’s back as the dragon form landed inside the caldera.

“Good to see you too, though I would have preferred a different circumstance.” The old man grunted. “You look different. Did you do something with your hair?” He pointed out the rather glaring change in color.

Moirai just gave a deep sigh. “We spent some time in the Plane of Fire, hence why we ended up inside your volcano. This is my mother Nyx by the way.”

“A pleasure.” Nyx stepped forward and gave a small greeting gesture. “Razark has told us many unflattering things about you.”

“All true, I’m sure.” Ashur grunted. He turned back towards Dee. “Dummy disciple, you’re going to have to do me a favor as thanks for wrecking my mountain again.”

“Volcano, and depends on the favor.” Dee hedged. She was not all that into doing favors anymore. The damn things seemed to get tricky even if they started off easily enough.

“I need you to do something about the dimwit.” Ashur explained the situation with Reginleif.

------

Dee found the Valkyrie getting back to training as the situation with their arrival seemed to pass. Regin had already engaged in battle with one of the four experts, while the others were observing by the side. Dee thought for a moment while secretly observing the woman. She wasn’t sure on the approach she should take. She was rather unused to these kinds of situations. In the end, she decided on a more direct route. If she was supposed to be evil, then why not play the part?

The four experts were suddenly thrown away by large black fists made of shadows. Dee had sent a small silent message to them with her psionic abilities to make sure they would not resist but would make it look convincing. This way Dee didn’t actually have to hurt them, but it still looked like she had. Regin, on the other hand, felt the entire weight of Dee’s Domain crashing down on her, as none of her abilities worked properly and her paralyzed body was lifted in the air by invisible hands. She saw Dee and recognition and anger flashed in her eyes.

“So how does it feel, seeing the object of your ‘righteous’ anger in front of you, without being able to do anything? How does it make you feel, knowing that which you consider evil is standing right in front of your nose, and you have no power to resist? I could slowly torture and kill your sisters and there’s nothing you could do about it.” Dee played up her darker aura and murderous feeling on purpose, even making her voice sound more sinister.

“I will kill you!” Regin screamed. “Your darkness shall be cleansed from this world! Even if it can’t be done by me, some servant of the light will step forward and take my place. My sisters will avenge me! Sooner or later we will get you, even if I fall!”

“Is that so? When we met for the first time, you could have plunged that white blade of yours into your own heart, and your sister might have been able to kill me thanks to your sacrifice. Unfortunately for you, now it would be nothing more than an annoyance. You missed your chance. You didn’t have the heart, and now it is too late. Your cowardice has doomed you.” Dee got closer to Regin. Their faces were so close to each other that they could see nothing else.

Regin tried to struggle but was unable to move. “We will catch up eventually! We will train harder and grow stronger! My sisters have the strength necessary! The light and justice will protect us!” Dee noted that the woman was really getting into her righteous fantasy. No wonder the old man had nicknamed her dimwit. Surely her own nickname of dummy was more misplaced, right?

“No, you don’t, and no those powers will not help you. Don’t you remember? The first time we met, two of you put up a pretty good fight against me. Granted, I was tired and worried about my sister, but still. After the old man started training you, you grew in strength faster than ever before, but still, I beat you easily. Not just two of you, but all of you. And now you’re starting to reach a plateau in your strength. That’s because you’re reaching your own limits. Even the old man can’t change that fact, so this is as far as you will go. Sure you might reach immortality, and combined with your Authority, that will make you powerhouses in certain circles. But my strength is growing even faster than before. I could kill all of you with ease and that is only becoming more apparent as time passes.” Dee argued with a rather reasonable tone.

She leaned in to whisper in Regin’s ear. “Let me ask you something. How many rank thirteen beings are there on Pantheon? Me becoming one of them is only a matter of time. This is something that even the deities have acknowledged. How confident are you that you and your sisters could beat someone of that level? Even if all of you lived until a ripe old age, training as hard as you can, you will never have the power required. We fight on completely different battlefields. You fight ordinary foes. On the other hand, when I dream dreams of conquest, the world trembles.” Dee was wildly exaggerating for effect, but it was working. She was also psionically implanting the feelings of fear and despair into Regin’s mind. The poor Valkyrie’s defenses were completely open in the current situation.

Regin’s face twisted. She wanted to argue against it, but deep inside she realized Dee was right. There had never been a Valkyrie that had been able to match an enemy of that level. There might be one in the future, but that person wasn’t any of her sisters. The gulf between them was too wide and growing. Dee was not hiding her tails, and Regin knew the significance of eleven tails. They were falling behind and would continue to do so. “Justice will prevail.” She managed to squeeze out with a hoarse tone. Her last bit of resistance.

“Will it? I seem to recall that there’s a saying that you Valkyries have adopted along with several other martial races. Justice is nothing but a word without the power to uphold it. You need to realize that there are things, in this world and others, against which righteous zeal is not enough to defeat. If I find you annoying enough, all I have to do is snap my fingers and you and your sister will burn in black fires capable of burning gods and then I will consume your souls. Go uphold your justice, but do it somewhere out of my sight. Am I making myself clear?” Dee intentionally radiated bloodlust and several dark flames floated around her, spreading the feeling of something unnatural.

There were tears in Regin’s eyes, but she knew this was not a fight she could win. Her principles argued otherwise but now she had to choose between her principles and her life. She might have the willpower and courage to self-sacrifice, but that was when her sacrifice had meaning. If she picked her principles here, she would simply throw her life away for nothing, only strengthening the evil she was supposed to defeat. “I understand.” She said quietly.

“Good.” Dee snapped her fingers, and all the feeling of danger and malevolence disappeared. Regin was dropped to the ground, but her feet didn’t have the strength to carry her so she simply slumped in an undignified heap. “Now then. Another question. What justice are you seeking anyway by trying to kill me?”

“What?” Regin looked up towards Dee with a stunned and confused look. This question seemed highly odd after the previous display.

“It’s a simple question even if the answer is not. What makes you think killing me would be justice? What makes you think you would not be performing an evil act instead? I don’t’ recall ever hurting you or your kind. Granted, we fought that one time in the elven forest, but that was because you tried to abduct my innocent sister. I killed those with you, but I got the feeling those were barely even allies to you. In fact, it rather looked like you were about to attack them before I arrived. That’s why I spared you. I’d rather argue that you lot were the unjust party in that little scuffle.” Dee tilted her head in question. She now looked drastically different to her previous ominous appearance, even if the only change was her expression and the air around her.

“That…but…clearly you’re evil! Your power is so sinister! There’s no way a person of good morality would use such methods. You are a blackguard of the worst kind!” Reginleif declared.

“That? Well, yeah using the elements of shadow and death rarely endears you to people, but that’s a rather hollow argument. As for being a blackguard, I do indeed drain power from dead enemies, but so do you. So does everyone. I’m just a bit more efficient at it. I’m also rather certain that the use of such powers doesn’t make one evil. I’m almost certain that you Valkyries are taught that it’s not the power one wields but how you use it. You wield a sword the same as any bandit or murderer, but what makes you different is how you do it and most importantly against whom. Tell me Valkyrie, have you ever seen me use my power against innocents? Have you even heard any rumors to that effect?” Dee pushed Regin further. She actually had killed innocents, but there was no need to advertise that.

“Servant of the dark gods!” Instead of trying to argue the point, as she knew she couldn’t, Regin tried another approach instead.

“Yeah, about that.” Dee said rather dryly and the holy symbol of Lumen floated out of her forehead. The woman holding a sun aloft was something found in every temple and was perhaps the most well-known symbol of all the light gods. “Also, something you should know. I’m her future Champion.”

“NO! There’s no way that can be true!” Regin could not handle the news and tried to deny it, but the symbol was there and could not be faked. If Dee had falsely claimed to be the future Champion, then the symbol would have reacted to the lie. Lumen’s power would have likely struck her down.

“Now, you’re not entirely wrong when you mentioned the dark gods.” The symbol of Umbra also floated out of her forehead. “I am also blessed by the Goddess of Darkness herself. I’m telling you this for one reason and one reason only. Things are not always simple and easy to understand. People and actions don’t fall into neat camps labeled good and evil, righteous and wicked, just and unjust. There are shades of grey, and I’m the perfect example. Sometimes the gods need fervent and righteous supporters that can also be a symbol of their principles. And sometimes they need someone who gets things done. I fall into the latter category. Just something for you to think about in the future. The next evildoer you kill might not be as evil as you think, or they might have good reasons to be that way. Or they might be just purely malevolent. Sometimes things are not that complicated.”

Dee decided this was enough and walked away. Regin was left stunned on the ground, not knowing how to move forward. Things used to be so simple for her, but Dee had destroyed that with such casual ease. Regin had also just lost the goal she had been striving so hard for. Now she was cast adrift. It would take a long time for her to recover.

“Was that something like what you had in mind?” Dee asked, when she reached the old man.

“No! I wanted you to instill some sense into her, not shatter her entire world.” Ashur argued back.

“She’ll recover. Maybe. If she doesn’t, then it might be better if you found out now instead of wasting more time on her and her sisters. If she can’t deal with that, then it wasn’t meant to be. Now then, I did you a favor, and I need one in return.” Dee replied with a shrug.

“That was supposed to be a favor? And wasn’t this whole thing in return for making a hole in my mountain?” Ashur grunted back displeased.

“Volcano, and who’s counting? There’s no need to keep track of such things between a teacher and a disciple. Besides, I think you’ll enjoy this.” Dee grinned in reply.

-----

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Nyx asked with apprehension as thousands upon thousands of lightning bolts were preparing to crash on them like a wall of destruction. The two Meilin were standing below Dee’s dragon form holding the shards of the elemental energy of lightning and air.

“This is a great idea. What better way to be surrounded by lightning energy than have the old man attack us? I have to say, he really has a knack for that particular element.” Dee stated. “Besides, it will give him a chance to vent some of his frustrations.”

“I was referring more to the fact that we're about to be burnt to a crisp with lightning!” Nyx argued more than a little worried, seeing that only a seemingly thin armor of light was protecting them. Or to be more precise, the armor of light was protecting Dee, and she was protecting the two Meilin. “Wouldn’t this be a good time to use that Aegis of yours?!”

“You’re such a worrier!” Dee laughed. “The Aegis would block the lighting too far away from us, and we need to be surrounded by the element. I don’t intend to spend an extra week in the Astral Sea because you got a little worried. Besides, I’m resistant to lighting to an extent.” They had actually only spent four days coming back from the Plane of Fire. Dee’s ability to navigate the Astral Sea improved as her level of power did. Still, that had been thanks to her connection to the fire element and the heat inside the volcano they aimed for.

“But we’re not resistant! Wouldn’t all this wind already be enough? We picked this place for a reason.” Harsh gale winds were buffeting the trio on their perch at the peak of a tall mountain. They had come here because Ashur’s volcano didn’t get much wind, and because the titan didn’t want to show off his form too much. The volcano housed many martial artists and students after all.

The reason Nyx spoke about the wind, was because there were no separate planes for air and lightning. The pairing of the two elements was so strong that they had formed a joint Plane of Storms instead. Many elements were paired as joint elements due to their close connection. Another close pairing was between water and ice, and a third one existed between nature and life. The latter two elements also had a joint plane, while ice and water had separate planes for some reason. There were theories among mages, but in the end, no one could say for sure why this was the case.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” Dee enjoyed teasing Nyx, so she didn’t mention that the flimsy looking armor of light was her most powerful defensive spell taught by Lumen herself. Moirai was more used to Dee’s antics and had already given up on worrying about such minor details. If Dee said it was fine, then it most likely was. “Let’s just hope the Plane of Storms will give us a more friendly reception than ice or water might. I don’t think those two would enjoy the presence of a pair of fire squirrels.” Dee continued.