What?

That was the first coherent thought Sigrun had upon witnessing what just happened before her. Her attack was nullified. Her Arts, which is capable of eroding all things in creation, was completely nullified by a simple blue hexagonal barrier. She narrowed her eyes. The smoke had cleared and revealed her new foe to her. This woman was unnatural. She was nothing like the Grandmaster’s Wife. She was leagues above her. A true monster.

“Val?” Embla shakily reached for her sister’s coat. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Valentina was here right before her. She had the same kind eyes as always. That same reassuring smile. Tears pooled at the edge of her eyes. The golden color of her left eye faded back to red.

“Em. We can reunite later. I need you to go. Get out of here,” Valentina said.

“B-But Val! We can help you! She’s too strong for any of us to take on alone,” she protested.

Valentina didn’t say anything in response. Instead, she turned around and patted Embla on the head. “Trust your big sister. Besides, do you really think I’d let myself die before coming back to you?”

Embla’s eyes widened. “Val… Val… Val!” Embla buried her face in her sister’s torso, staining her uniform with tears.

Valentina smiled and rubbed her sister’s head affectionately. She gently pulled her off and knelt in front of her. “Em, please. I don’t want you to get hurt. I promise I’ll come get you at the barracks after I finish this, okay?” Valentina held her pinky up.

“Pfft… I’m too old for a pinky swear,” Embla said, sniffling. Nevertheless, she held out her own pinky and interlocked it with her sister’s.

Valentina smiled.

Sigrun’s eyebrow twitched. Is… Is she ignoring me? Sigrun’s sword was covered in black mist. She raised her blade into the air and swung it, sending a wave of black smoke towards Valentina.

“Um… Val?” Embla said, looking over her sister’s shoulder.

“Like I said, trust your big sis,” Valentina said, standing up. She raised her hand and blue barrier made of hexagons blocked the mist, nullifying it upon impact.

“W- What?” Sigrun took a step back in shock. “How are you doing that?”

Valentina’s blue eyes changed color to that of molten gold. “You’re not the only one with an Arts.” She turned her gaze to Embla. “Go.”

Embla nodded and ran towards Yuki and the others. She turned back to see her older sister holding her hand out.

“Embla, your sister. Her eyes are-”

“Yeah, I know. Come on. Let’s head for the barracks,” Embla said, tugging on Yuki’s sleeve.

“But your sister!” Pandora said.

“She’ll be fine. My sister is… one of the Trump Cards of the Knights of Midgard,” Embla said proudly.

“Do you really think I’ll let her get away?” Sigrun said, watching as Embla and her party ran for the exit.

“You don’t really have a choice,” Valentina said.

Sigrun clenched her jaw. She whirled around, quickly releasing a blast of dark mist towards the group.

Valentina’s eyes widened. She took a step forward, disappearing and then reappearing next to Embla’s party. She raised her hand and created another blue barrier that dispelled the mist.

Her speed caught them all off guard. Sigrun had only seen her take a step while Embla and her party didn’t even notice her presence until she raised the barrier.

“S-Sis?” Embla asked.

“Go! I’ll handle this!” Valentina said.

Sigrun launched herself at Valentina, raising her blade and preparing to cut her down.

Valentina held her arm out. “Come to me… Ragnarok Blossom!” A pure white lance with floral patterns appeared in her hand. The body of the lance had a black lines that flowed in a helical pattern all the way to the tip of the weapon. She gripped its black hilt and thrust it at Sigrun, forcing her to go on defense at the last second.

What Sigrun didn’t expect was how much force there was behind the thrust. Valentina had hit her like a raging bull. No, the strength was far greater than that of a mere beast. This blow was enough to shatter the floor underneath them and send her flying all the way into the ceiling.

Sigrun gasped in pain. She crashed into the ceiling, bursting through the floor to the second level. “F-Fucking…” she gasped. She was on her elbows and knees. Her sword lay on the floor before her. “What a monster…” Sigrun grabbed the sword and jumped down the hall to the lobby.

There, Valentina stood in the middle of the devastation the impact of her lance had wreaked. She eyed the sword carefully. “Ragnarok Blossom: Second Shift: Black Lily.” A series of blue cubes surrounded the White Lance, breaking it down into a series of swirling pixelated squares. The squares swirled and morphed, reconstituting themselves into a one-handed longsword with a diamond shaped opening at the base of the blade, just above the hilt.

Sigrun tightened her grip on her blade. I can’t afford a drawn out fight, especially not against her of all people. She shivered involuntarily. Valentina’s golden eyes eerily resembled that of the Present Norn.

“Damnit… Hati, are you done playing with your food?” Sigrun said. She widened her stance and lowered the blade. “Enhance Parameter. Sword Arts: Consecutive Crane Peck.”

Valentina’s eyes widened. A series of high speed sword thrust filled her field of vision. She reacted quickly, parrying and weaving around each attack. She switched her grip on Black Lily. One of the high speed thrusts narrowly missed her face, cutting a small portion of her hair.

Her eyes narrowed and she ducked, getting within Sigrun’s personal bubble within an instant. She raised her blade, parrying Sigrun’s sword upward.

Sigrun took a step back. Her body glowed and she created a last second Body Double to take the hit from Black Lily.

“You’re really fast,” Valentina said, lowering her sword.

“And so are you…,” Sigrun said, returning her compliment. She lowered her stance again and dashed towards Valentina.

She blocked her strike and disappeared from sight.

Sigrun heightened her senses and barely managed to dodge Valentina’s attack.

The two disappeared, clashing across the room. Sparks flew everywhere. Furniture was reduced to nothing but rubble. Windows were shattered. Even portions of the ceiling fell in on them.

Sigrun reappeared in the air above Valentina. She raised her hand, summoning a massive ball of flames. She threw it at Valentina.

Valentina gripped her sword tightly and slashed the fireball, cutting it in half. A wave of air flew past Sigrun, slicing her cheek and cutting apart the chandelier.

The two landed on the ground and jumped away from each other.

She can cut magic too? Wait.. cutting magic? That means that… Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the stance Valentina assumed. Memories of that stance flooded her mind. The Sage Altarf’s Sword Style.

“Ouroboros: Encircling.” Valentina swung her sword, creating a half arc. A circular disk made of air flew from her blade, traveling at blinding speeds.

Sigrun’s senses managed to perceive at the very last blip. She ducked, watching as the ground was torn up before her very eyes. And in an instant, a loud explosion of wind reduced the wall behind her to pieces.

“Heh, Hati… she’s going to get a kick out of this,” Sigrun said, standing up. Black mist surrounded her body. “But so am I. I’ve never met a swordsman like you before. And you can use Ouroboros. Are you perhaps… do you know Sage Altarf?”

Valentina said nothing. She raised her blade. Without a warning, she instantly appeared in front of Sigrun.

Her speed was beyond what it was mere moments ago. Sigrun felt the air rush towards her a whole two seconds after Valentina had taken off. Her knee found a place within Sigrun’s face, shattering the front of her skull and sent her flying through the wall.

Azalea slammed her staff on the ground, creating an oceanic barrier around herself.

Hati slammed into the barrier, stabbing her claws through the shield slowly. A maniacal look of pure malice was on her face. She was savoring this. A predator toying with its prey.

Azalea gritted her teeth. This woman had taken her entire escort down in mere seconds. She lifted her staff and redirected all the water around Hati.

The sudden change caught the woman off guard. Azalea raised her hand and closed it. “Pressure Crush.”

True to its name, the pressure of the entire ocean fell upon Hati, crushing her body. The act was instantaneous. Approximately 15,000 pounds per square inch instantly converged upon Hati’s body. It was like watching a melon explode. Her blood turned the water orb black and a blast of wind escaped from the bubble. Windows for hundreds of meters shattered and the ground shook violently.

She dispelled the water orb and watched as Hati’s body fell to the ground. Hati’s body was more or less no longer a body. It was merely a collection of flattened paste mixed with her internal organs and viscera. Bone fragments stuck out from the pile of flesh alongside some of her large arteries and veins.

“...” Azalea moved cautiously towards the pile. Her gut was telling her that something was wrong. The moment she got closer, a black tendril shot from the pile of flesh and wrapped around her leg. “Ahhhh!” she cried out in pain. Serrated spines protruded from the tendril and dug into her calf. The tendril swung her in the air before slamming her violently into the ground. She coughed, spitting blood from her mouth.

“Hahahaha! That’s the most damage I’ve taken in a while… ever since I faced her.” Hati’s distorted voice came from her regenerating voice box. What looked liked a skull began to reform. The mass of flesh and black blood coagulated and merged together in the shape of a skull. That black mass ossified and became bone, fusing together, cracking horrifically with each connection. A squishing sound could be heard as her eyes formed along with her brain. The rest of her body followed in the same gruesome display of healing. Azalea tried not to gag. Her skeleton reformed, followed by her internal organs, and a sickening display of arteries and veins, wrapping themselves and embedding into the vascular tissue and muscles.

“You Miss Komatsu are a treat,” Hati said. Her body was now fully reformed. She looked down at the torn pieces of fabric on the ground. “You tore all my clothes… how inconsiderate of you.”

“W-What?” Azalea said, clutching her leg. She used her staff to pull herself up and began amassing more mana in her body.

“Who said you could get up?” Hati asked. The gravity within the area increased to ten times that of the norm.

Azalea felt the change and lurched forward, falling to her hands and knees.

“You managed to keep yourself somewhat up?” Hati asked in surprise, walking through the intense gravity as if it were nothing. Her hand shifted into a blade. “It’s a shame. If I had some Idunn with me, you’d be chock full of Elivagar by now.”

“E- Elivagar?”

“That serum your little army is investigating.” Hati grinned.

Azalea glared defiantly at her.

“Well, that’s not the face I’m going for but… it’ll have to-”

A loud boom caught their attention.

Sigrun crashed into the ground, sliding a few feet across the stone road and crashing into a nearby building.

“Sigrun? What the hell? Are you actually getting beat up by a bunch of kids?” Hati asked, lowering her arm blade.

“B- Behind you,” she spat.

Hati turned around to see the shadow of Valentina completely fill her vision.

Valentina slashed her sword.

She had no time to react. Her head slid off her neck slowly, landing with a plop on the ground. Her body stumbled, trying to maintain its balance after having the head severed.

“Y- You!” Hati croaked. “Valkyria!”

Tendrils emerged from her neck, snaking its way to the base of her skull. It attached to the opening of her head and quickly reattached it to the body. Hati had a look of pure rage on her face.

“Valkyria! You!”

“Hati,” Valentina said. “It’s been a while.”

Hati roared in fury. She dashed towards her, swinging her blade arm at her throat.

Valentina’s body shimmered out of existence and reappeared behind her. She kicked the small of Hati’s back. Hati flew like a cannon ball towards the same building Sigrun crashed into.

“Valkyria!!!!!” Hati burst from the ceiling and hovered in the air. Her body bubbled and spasmed. Her back burst. A series of tendrils decorated with razor sharp serrated spines shot towards her. The tentacles numbered in the dozens. A writhing mass of sinewy cords that barreled their way across the sky just to rip her to ribbons of flesh and bone.

Valentina closed her eyes and breathed. Everything slowed down. She could hear her heart beating inside her chest.

1

2

3

4

She opened her eyes. Prana covered her body. An errant leaf from a second story garden floated in her line of sight.

5

6

7

8

The leaf was cut in half.

“Ouroboros Maya.”

Light. That’s all they saw. The flash of metal and Valentina returning to her resting stance. The world had been cut at an angle. It was like a picture that had been snipped in half. But that single slash was the only one that could be perceived. No one had except for Valentina had the senses to see the countless slashes that she had done. They had only seen the final stroke.

And in her path, Hati’s tendrils were all instantly reduced to piles of finely cut meat so miniscule that they might as well have been reduced to individual cells.

Sigrun watched in horror and astonishment. Hati was… defeated? So this is what it’s like when the Valkyria gets serious, she thought.

Her eyes drifted to Hati. Her fury had reached a boiling point.

Valentina stood calmly. A small smile appeared on her face when she saw her opponent’s face.

“Not again… never again! If Jormungandr wants the Origin Arts, then he can take it himself! But I’m wiping this city out entirely!” Hati raised her hand into the air. A massive black orb appeared above her head.

A tug. That’s what everyone felt. An irresistible, omnipotent pull. It all centered around that orb above Hati’s head.

“A black hole,” Valentina said, feeling her feet sliding across the ground.

“Hehehe! Ahahahaha! Hahahahaha!” Hati cackled. “Get me once, shame on me… Get me twice, I’ll wipe your entire city from existence.”

Valentina’s jaw tightened. “Ragnarok Blossom: First Form: Snowy Rose.”

“V- Valentina! What are you doing!? You’ll level the entire city and everything for dozens of miles!” Azalea screamed.

“Don’t worry. I got this.” She gave her a smile. She pointed her lance at the airborne Hati’s Black Hole. A screeching sound unlike anything they had ever heard of filled the air. Small pebbles and pieces of rubble began to levitate off the ground. Strings of red and black energy began congregating at the lance’s tip. A small star that had the color of blood glowed brightly. Its light outshined everything in the general area, darkening the entire city.

“W-What…? That’s the…!” Hati’s face twisted in recognition and fear.

“Liberated Blood Lily.”

And the world was bathed in crimson light.

A beam of crimson and black energy cut across the air, penetrating the black gravity sphere in Hati's hand. In an instant, the sphere was dispersed and reduced to true nothingness. The energy beam continued to travel, higher into the atmosphere until it detonated miles above the ground. The heavens were torn asunder by the blast wave and a large red orb that rivaled the sun in radiance was seen across the city.

Hati's wrathful gaze fixed itself on the calm Valentina.

Valentina kept her weapon pointed at the woman.

"It's over, Wolf of Hatred. This is checkmate."