VALKYRIE SMASH



Amidst the chaos of the battle, Sam, along with four of his Valkyries, were about to infiltrate Odin's palace with an objective in mind.

Their job was to reach the portal room so they could open the Bifrost and summon more Valkyries to join the battle. Of course, nothing could be that simple.

They were basically at the center of the enemy stronghold; there were many Olympians lurking around and since portals can affect the ritual, the portal room itself was going to be heavily guarded.

There was also a condition that had to be met before they could execute their plan. Using her powers, Nino had determined that their enemy wasn't going to give up on the Ritual even if they managed to free the captured Nephilim. The ring of giant Runes wouldn't disappear unless over half of those creating it abandoned their positions. As the Sacrifices are freed one by one, the Olympians would realize that they have no choice but to take their place, taking on the burden themselves.

That solved their biggest dilemma, drawing them closer to achieving their goal of obtaining the first key, which was what created the condition they had to follow.

The inter-dimensional portal punches a hole into the fabric of space, warping reality and connecting it with another dimension. That creates an interference that weakens the effects of the ritual, and with the Primordial having already arrived, there was a risk that it might be able to escape. The condition for opening the portal was to wait until the ritual was done. Once that's fulfilled and the Key is created, they would move on to the next step, which is overwhelming the enemy and stealing the Key.

"Not good…" Triska said, tapping her hand against a semi-transparent red wall. "It's an anti teleportation barrier."

"You gotta be kidding me…" Zero Three seemed quite annoyed, her eyes scanning their surroundings as she guarded the rear with her rectangular shield.

Breaking the barrier itself wasn't a problem, even if they didn't have the Barrier Breaking Runes. The problem was what came afterward. The caster most likely would repair it as soon as they entered, and once inside, they would be robbed of a very vital combat tactic.

Teleportation was one of the most important tools the Valkyries had in their arsenal. Fighting without it wasn't impossible, but not being able to use it reduced their combat abilities quite a bit. Of course, facing such a hurdle didn't mean they would turn around and head back. Nino has already seen several Paths where they face this kind of barrier, and though it was an inconvenience, they had to press forward no matter what.

"I'll break it." Venti said, taking a step toward the barrier with a white glow covering the head of her spear.

As he waited for them to be done, Sam turned his gaze to the monstrosity hovering high in the sky. A grotesque giant mass of tentacles writhed up there, gathering around five eyeballs that kept moving from one direction to the other. From where he was only the corners of three were visible, and the monster didn't seem to be concerned with his group at all.

Ichigo was still holding onto his arm ready to teleport away at any moment. He could feel her trembling slightly, clearly still affected by the time she was forced to endure the Primordial's glare for what must've felt like an eternity. Thankfully the monster had something else to deal with at the moment and wouldn't bother seeking its revenge on the Cleansers.

"It's alright." Sam said, placing a hand on Ichigo's. "You don't have to worry about that thing."

The pink haired Valkyrie looked up at him, her eyes widening a little. She then began blushing and a small smile bloomed on her face.

The sound of glass breaking drew their attention to the front. Venti already created a hole in the outer barrier, but it didn't take long for it to start repairing itself so they had to get moving.

The Palace Odin built wasn't an easy place to sneak into. It had a complex defensive system designed to deal with the countless spies sent after him and his daughter, and one wrong step could lead to certain death. Thankfully, the Olympians deactivated the system soon after they took over the place. They saw no need to bother making use of the defensive capabilities. After all they had their own forces to do the security, and they planned to leave the moment they got their hands on the Key.

That worked in Sam's favor; he no longer had to spend valuable time hacking into the system to disable it. All that was left was to use a secret entrance Mimir had pointed out in the schematics she had given him and stealthily sneak around to reach the portal room, but unfortunately that part of the plan was no longer an option now that they had to break a hole in a barrier.

"There!" A voice came from above.

Before they could look up three figures landed around the group. Each of them was a young man with a well built muscular body, wearing nothing but a skirt made out of leather and a helmet over their heads. In one hand they wielded a large halberd that leaned more toward the fantasy side in its design than the sci-fi one, and in the other they held large round shields engraved with various runes, although not the reality manipulating kind.

Sam's attention was drawn straight to the red crest on their helmets. One look was enough to make him realize they were Spartans, or that's what he assumed.

'They don't have halos…'

Since she chose to not go with him Nino was unable to see what kind of enemies he would run into. They bypassed that restriction by peeking at the Paths where he would report everything he encountered to the Japanese doll. That helped them learn what kind of enemies they would run into, but unfortunately that strategy had its limitations.

The Spartans –their real name according to Nino– were supposed to be mundane soldiers who came on this mission to have a chance at hearing the Whispers of Madness and getting a glimpse of the Truth. They're trained soldiers who're prepared to sacrifice their sanity just for the chance to gain more power, and death isn't something they're afraid of.

That said, even with all the training they had and the genetic enhancements they went through, in the end they're still no match for the Valkyries. But the enemy isn't so stupid that they would send mundane humans to fight against a superior species.

After peeling at the Tapestry of Fate Nino learned something important. The enemy knows that she had reclaimed her Artifact. Since they are aware that she is capable of seeing potential futures they took some precautions against her power.

Four more Spartans arrived, and another four followed. Soon enough their number surpassed twenty. Killing them was far from difficult. Triska alone could vaporize them with a weak Balder's Light. The problem was that they didn't know which one was a trap, and that made them hesitate to attack.

The Spartans are supposed to be mundane soldiers, but in this case not all of them were. Some Awakened were hidden among them, waiting for the right moment to attack. They were using the same weapons and shields as the normal soldiers as a disguise, but when the right moment came they would coat them with their Force Field and take the Valkyries by surprise.

"Alright." Sam said with a sigh. "Kill them."

Triska pointed her gun and Three prepared to throw her shield.

The soldiers stumped their feet on the ground then raised their shields, the runes engraved on them glowing faintly. As expected, the thin beam Triska fired bounced off without doing much damage, and the same happened when Three threw her shield at them like an oversized shuriken. The shields themselves were a decent piece of equipment crafted by Hephaestus himself. Normally they weren't given to the Spartans unless they're Awakened, but it seems they were distributed to make distinguishing between them a much more difficult task.

The Spartans stumped their feet once more then took a step forward, pointing their halberds at the five at the center. Their assault would soon begin and more reinforcements were going to be there soon, but Sam couldn't rush his decision.

One wrong move and things could go horribly wrong. That said, he couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

Stalling for time was the enemy's objective. They have their own portal gate so they're ready to escape as soon as they obtain the Key.

'I guess we have no choice but to risk it…'

"Venti." Sam gave the signal and the green haired Valkyrie saw her spear and prepared herself. At the same time Three focused her mind and Triska did the same.

The only option available to them was a simple frontal assault. Venti would be their vanguard with Triska providing cover fire. Zero Three was responsible for barriers.

It was going to be a straightforward battle with really close odds. The Spartans were going to attack at the same time. It didn't matter who they choose to block, the Awakened soldiers were instructed to wait to the last possible moment before activating their force fields, guaranteeing that their strikes would land and deal some significant damage. It didn't matter if they decided to use barriers either. The halberds the Spartans carried were made to mimick the properties of the white substance generated by the Barrier breaking Runes.

'Now, what are you going to do?' as the thought crossed his mind, Perseus let a confident smirk form on his face.

With how chaotic things were outside, no one was in the palace to catch him sitting on the Nephilim queen's throne, several screens floating in front of him displaying the battle from multiple angles.

The largest among them showed the five enemies that had infiltrated the anti-teleportation barrier a couple of minutes ago.

He predicted that someone would eventually try to reach the portal at the back of the palace so he prepared to intercept them, but even then it never crossed his mind that the man in a lab coat would be among them.

Perseus was convinced that the one they referred to by Doctor was just like him, a human with complete immunity to the Whispers, or someone who had intentionally isolated their minds so they wouldn't be affected by the Madness. He found the second case hard to believe, having deduced that the man came from a lower realm who had just discovered inter-dimensional travel, but everything he witnessed told him that his judgment might've been wrong.

'He's capable of using Runes, but…'

Seeing that he relies on his subordinates for everything, it was clear that the halo he created was just a ruse. Otherwise why would he delegate his protection to someone else when he was so short on hands?

'Well, not that it matters… He was going to die soon anyway…'

The tension could be felt even through the screen. The Spartans were closing in on the intruders, and it wouldn't be long before someone made the first move.

Perseus didn't take his eyes off the screen hoping to catch the moment when the first head goes flying, but as the seconds passed the smile he wore slowly faded, and seen enough he was staring at the screen with eyes wide in shock.

One by one, the Spartans fell to the ground. Some went rigid and keeled over, others held their hands to their chests as if in pain before slowly going down to their knees after which they got decapitated by a swift move from the spear wielder.

The Olympian was lost for words, unable to understand what was happening. Over twenty soldiers died just like that, and he didn't have the slightest clue as to what happened to them.

As his mind raced trying to comprehend what had just happened, a voice reached his ears.

[I can't believe this actually worked.]

It was the man with the lab coat. He had a smile on his face, looking quite surprised as well. A chill ran down Perseus' spine and for a moment he felt indescribable fear. He didn't understand why, but at that moment his opinion of the man completely changed.