A wall of thorn stakes shot from the ground. The water splashed against the wall, but more water emerged from the surrounding pools. Altera summoned further barriers and connected them to a cage. The water streamed its masses without rest. From all directions, it hammered against the walls and leaked through the gaps.

“How long will this hold?”

Ragna groaned. She leaned her arm against Altera’s shoulder, supported her body as she stood.

“Long enough. Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry. But what are Quin’s abilities? How can her weapon control the wind?”

“It’s her Ysbryd.” Altera rubbed her forehead and stood up as well.

“Her what?”

“Ysbryd. It’s what those born in Glast call their Fylgja. It’s functionally the same. The only difference is that instead of giving you an ability, the Ysbryd creates a magical weapon. For example, if a Fylgja allows you to throw lightning, a Ysbryd creates a sword that can throw lightning.”

Ah. That explained how that assassin Kaguya fought with her arbalest during the first level. She had used this Ysbryd.

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

Altera looked away. “I forgot.”

Ragna arched her eyebrow. “Again? That’s not like you. Is everything okay? Quin said you were under medication.”

“What? Are you saying I’m crazy?” Altera slammed her partisan into the ground. Her voice exploded as the stone started to crack, and her eyes seethe with rage.

Ragna gulped. “I…I was just worried.”

“Well.” Altera forced herself to smile, and Ragna stepped back. “It’s none of ‘yer business.”

Ragna took a deep breath and straightened her posture. “Fine. Then, let’s discuss strategies. Can she use any runes?”

Altera didn't realize how much her behavior had changed. They needed to talk. But if she tried to pry further, Altera would lose her shit and go berserk. Altera might kill her by accident. She had to postpone their discussion until after they had defeated Quin.

“She can’t. I once got my hands on some classified documents that described the experiments Avalon’s government used to perform in Utgardian concentration camps five hundred years ago.” Altera shuddered.

“Disgusting.”

“I agree, but one of the tests confirmed that the people of Utgard lost the ability to use runes after the war. Anyway. Can you use your runes to deal with the water?”

Ragna nodded.

“Good. And I’ll deal with that bitch.” Altera ground her teeth and grinned. “She’ll swallow her words and pay for the insults.” She spread her wings. “I’m releasing the thorns. Be ready.”

The cage faded away, and Ragna stomped on the ground. As water masses fell upon them, ice rose from the ground and froze the liquid to a statue.

Altera soared into the sky. A line of ice shards appeared, and Altera shot them at Quin. In response, Quin blew her fan. The winds increased in their ferocity and started to howl. Altera dived as feathers scattered from her wings’ tips and the shards splintered into pieces.

“Do you know what your problem was?” Quinn jumped from one pole to the other and evaded the thrust of Altera’s partisan, blowing her fan anew. “You think like the common people and adhere to their logic. It tarnishes your potential.”

Altera didn’t retort back. Instead, she danced around the winds, evading their slashes, and attacked with another barrage of frozen projectiles. But within seconds, the wind sickles pulverized them.

Altera activated the Fehu rune and dashed through the winds. They cut through her face and skin; they ripped her feathers apart. Blood ran down, but Altera ignored it all and charged through an invisible forest of needles. She dissected with partisan Quin’s bamboo pole and redirected her weapon. Trying to impale her, Altera stormed upwards. But Quin performed a backflip and landed on another bamboo pole.

“See, how effective you are when you’re in sync with your mania? She blew her fan and created new winds. “If you want to be a Valkyrie, then act and think like one. And for that, you have to understand, what applies to the common folk doesn’t apply to us.” Quin jumped backwards to another bamboo pole and avoided Altera’s attack. “Have you ever wondered why so few Valkyries go to therapy? These abilities are manifestations of our psyche. So, why do most of these end up as abilities meant to harm or for battle? What does that say about our personalities?”

Altera attacked her again, and Quin blew her fan. As Altera jetted through the winds, she dissected Quin’s bamboo pole. Quin jumped on another one, and the dance between the sisters-in-law continued.

While Ragna tried to keep the waters that prevented her from progressing, Altera and Quin raced across the battlefield.

“We're broken, afraid, and our hearts suffer from an emptiness we need to fill. These spirits in our souls resonated with our cries and manifested an ability to fight for our bliss. The greater the deficits in our life, the more we need the power to fight, and the more they’ll activate. Most humans are too content. Their emptiness is not great enough; their desires too minuscule to wish to fight and hurt.”

“So what? What’s wrong with being happy? Aren’t we allowed to achieve our dreams?”

Altera thrust her partisan, trying to impale Quin or dissect the poles and then impale Quin. Quin sicked the winds at Altera through which she forced herself.

“That’s why you’re weak. When you manifested your Fylgja, you were under medication. Your volatile brain had experienced a moment of serenity; all your issues were temporarily gone. So, all that remained was your simplistic dream to become a Valkyrie, and you received the mere ability to fly.”

Quin landed on another bamboo pole. Altera charged towards her, and Quin readied her fan when Ragna cut the shaft in half. As Quin fell, she summoned a wind that caught her and brought her to the stone path.

Ragna stomped on the ground, and ice started to cover the stone. Quin blew her fan, and winds scratched the ice as they halted its progress and turned it to powder and water.

Ragna swung her saber, and Quin folded her fan, blocking the sword with it. In the same breath, Ragna drew her seax and attacked Quin with it. She moved to the left and avoided the second weapon as well. An ice spike shot from Ragna’s saber into Quin’s face. Quin avoided it in the last second as she dashed backwards, allowing Ragna to continue.

But Quin blocked every attack.

“A hidden weapon is a good thing to have. Not just in combat.” Quin folded her fan open, shielding herself from each sword strike. “But you lack experience in the two-sword style. It’s too predictable.”

Ragna summoned icicles between her fingers and threw them at her opponent. Quin bent her body, and the projectiles flew past her into the waterfall. With her free hand, she pushed herself against the ground. Quin jumped backwards and landed on the rim of the pond with the waterfall. She opened her fan and moved her arms.

The water that rushed from the hill stopped its fall. Instead of hitting the lake, the streams redirected their flow and burst to their master. And the lake followed. Two snakes dancing around Quin’s steps to a song only they knew.

“It’s over.” Quin raised her arm towards the sky, and the water-snakes plunged like ferocious beasts at their prey, submerging it with their volume. But then they did not move. A white layer had covered the snakes and froze them.

“What is happening?” Quin looked everywhere. The ice progressed further, growing from the snakes until they connected to one solid slide of ice.

From the sky soared Altera. Quin blew her fan to strike Altera down, but before she could do that, she turned around.

Ragna surfed over the ice and attacked with her saber, forcing Quin to block the attack. As if she was skateboarding on a ramp, she slid over the construct. With the Fehu rune, Ragna glided to the other end, and Altera joined her.

Together they rode the ice slide. Whenever Quin tried to defend against Ragna’s strikes, Altera would find an opening and attack with her spear, immediately sliding away from her. And whenever Quin attempted to block Altera, Ragna would hit her. Back and forth, they slid, attacking and alternating until Quin parried Altera's attack and found the opportunity to turn her fan around. She blew it against the sky and created a storm that blew Ragna away.

She crushed against ice. Quin then grabbed Altera’s arm. Like a ragdoll, Quin spun her sister around. She slammed against Ragna with enough velocity that the two crashed through the slide. Like a pebble skipping through the water, they flew into the distance. Chunks of ice flew around, and fissures tore through the construct, letting it crumble. Quin blew her fan and defogged the mist that had risen from the crushed ice.

“You took my words to heart, but you still have much to learn.” She performed a backwards flip and landed on a bamboo pole.

“Achieving happiness and balance in life is great for the common people, but it cannot apply to us. We shall never be content with our place under the sun. Instead, we have to ask why the sun shines in the sky and question its rule. We are always yearning, always striving for the happiness we shall never achieve. But this very act is the will to power that allows us to manifest the ability to rise above the common folk. We reject their common sense and substitute it with our own rules and logic.”

“Spare me your sophism.” Altera growled. “What do you think we are? Despots? We are not better than others and not above the rules.”

“Then why did you stop with your medication? You could live a normal life with a stable mind. But you knew if you wanted to become a Valkyrie, you had to draw power from your disorder. Despite the risks, you let your mania affect you because, in the realms of the Valkyries, common sense and rules do not apply.”

Mania? Did that mean…?

Ragna looked at Altera. Her posture had become a crouch. She had widened her arms and wings and made her free hand into a claw. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she hissed. Any second, Altera might jump at Quin and maul her like an animal.

Yet, Quin didn’t show any reaction.

“We are idols, and to rise above others, we have to indulge our imperfections. Do not heal your wounds. Use them to obtain more power and change the world to your ideals. You want to progress in your path, then break further and further and gaze into the abyss.”

Quin opened her fan and turned it around. It showed them the same picture as the other side but with inverted colors. Half of the creature on its sheet was glowing.

“Otherwise, you will fail. No, I will punish you. Against the rage of a dragon, you are powerless. Once the dragon glows to its fullest, it will be over. Nothing of you will remain. Marvel at my Ysbryd, Dìguó zhī nù. Face the dragon’s reverse scale, my imperial wrath, and it will end in your demise. As you are now, there is nothing you can do. Become broken idols and reach new heights. Even a carp becomes a dragon once it climbs up the waterfall. So, struggle. Suffer. Bend together and reach for what is beyond your reach.”