VALKYRIE SMASH

The blast from Triska's cannon blew a hole through the ceiling. The light faded after a while and the sounds of the battle raging outside searched the room.

For a moment neither side said anything, but when a stone from the crumbling ceiling fell to the floor Perseus seemed to come back to his senses, holding his staff up and preparing to shout another beam.

"C'mon." Sam said. "You should be much smarter than that."

Perseus looked stressed out terrified. For a moment, it seemed like he was out of options, but then the corners of his mouth curled up.

~[]~

Despite the incredible boost in defense she has received, Zero Five was still having trouble dealing with the crimson queen. Though it was difficult to notice considering its rough surface, the obsidian armor was covered in cuts and scratches with holes in some locations left by parts that had chipped off. All of that was caused by her opponent's own Obsidian Armament, but Thor's lance wasn't in a much better shape either. Constantly blocking a blade clad in a fully powered Force Field has left many marks on it, and with the ponytailed Valkyrie targeting the same spots again and again, the black weapon looked like it was on its way to being split in half.

The clash continued, each side filling with an attack immediately after parrying. Trenta stood at a distance, her right hand hovering over the hilt of her blade as she waited for the right moment. Sitta was exhausted. There wasn't much she could do at the moment, but having to anticipate the right moment to create a barrier was quite stressful, especially with the Titans' devastating attacks and the approaching Divergence.

After deflecting Five's Odachi Thor prepared to thrust the black lance at her, tendrils of red lightning dancing along its shaft. The Valkyrie was ready to evade and follow with an attack of her own, but then something odd happened.

The crimson queen disappeared without a trace. Five was stunned for a fraction of a second but quickly regained her composure before teleporting away, having expected an attack to follow from a different direction.

Appearing a few meters away from her previous location she gripped her sword with both hands intending to catch her opponent mid action, but when she looked ahead the crimson queen was nowhere to be seen.

Confusion struck the Valkyrie for just a moment, but then she whipped her head in the palace's direction, an ominous feeling gripping her chest.

"Doctor!"

~[]~

Venti was motionless for a second, the arm holding her spear slowly detaching from the rest of her body. She was too focused on the two Olympians that she failed to react in time when the red hair appeared in her field of vision, and before she knew it, the sharp point of the lance had pierced a hole in her arm. Sparks of red lightning rushed along the obsidian weapon and into her body. Ice crystals were already forming around the wound.

That was the end of it. Venti had no way out. It would would take only one second for the lightning to spread across her body and nothing she does could prevent that from happening. She couldn't even teleport away, and encasing herself in her Force Field would do nothing.

She already knew that her end would come sooner or later. She had seen many of her comrades go and now it was her turn. She was about to resign herself to fate completely, but then she saw a purple blade flash right beside her face. The cold embrace of death didn't reach her and as the realization hit her mind she quickly disappeared before the red lightning could reach her again.

Returning to Sam's side, the green haired Valkyrie fell to her knees and reached for her right shoulder. Her arm was cut off cleanly, but she was alive. The way she panted for air showed the amount of horror she had experienced, and after a few seconds her consciousness began to slip away, her halo had already dissipated.

"Venti!"

The first one to rush to her side was Ichigo. She wanted to reprimand her for letting go of the Doctor, but she then saw him kneeling by her side, a concerned expression on his face. For some unknown reason, she couldn't bear the way he looked at her so she turned away from him.

"The ice doesn't seem to have spread inside." Sam said with a sigh, having used his drone to do a thermal scan. Once he was sure she was safe, he turned his eyes to the green haired Valkyrie. "You did well. You can rest now."

Venti looked up with a start but no words came from her parted lips. She crippled her wounded shoulder and gritted her teeth, the frustration she felt visible to anyone watching.

She could hear the sound of metal hitting metal a short distance away. The clash was fast and brutal, making her doubt whether her contribution made any difference. In the end she failed to carve a path for them despite being chosen to be their vanguard and now she was being asked to sit down and leave everything for someone more capable.

"I… I can still…"

The last thing she wanted was for her to be considered dead weight, but despite her desire to rejoin the fight, she was unable to stay awake. Holding her in his arms, Sam noticed the tears at the corners of her eyes. He wiped them with the sleeve of his lab coat then turned his sight to the battle happening in front of him.

Thor had appeared out of nowhere and attacked Venti who was trying to take down Perseus and the short man, then someone else teleported in and slashed her arm an instant before the freezing red lightning reached her shoulder.

The situation confused Sam quite a bit and his expression showed that. The blond youth standing at a distance noticed it and a wicked grin spread across his face.

"What's this?" Perseus said, tapping the floor with his staff and straightening his back. "I see that you're confused, Dr. Sanderson. Did you not account for this to happen?"

Thor kicked the obsidian armor sending it flying before retreating a few meters. Five landed in front of Sam and the others while the crimson queen took a position before the two Olympians.

"Doctor, you have Lachesis and her Artifact on your side, correct?" The blond youth went on. "Did our battle turn out differently in the future you saw? Or could it be…" letting his smirk spread further, he added in a mocking tone. "Did you not anticipate the Nephilim queen to join?"

Perseus had a good understanding of how the Needle works and so he tried to find ways to work around it. The power to see the possible futures was frightening, however it wasn't as useful as one might think.

For it to be used to its full potential several conditions have to be met first, and even then the user still can't control what Path they would end up in.

Since she went to fight her sister, Lachesis had no way of witnessing what was going to happen inside the palace. Even if she were to learn about it later on she could only do so if her allies won the battle.

In conclusion, the only futures the Doctor knew about were those where he was guaranteed to win. If something unexpected were to happen then it would mean they were on a Path the Japanese doll didn't see, a path that would end in her and her allies' defeat.

Sam kept his silence. The Olympian was right; there was nothing about Thor intruding on their battle in the Paths where he reports the events to Nino so she could tell his past self. Most of the time, the fight would end swiftly only for Perseus to blow up the portal room. That part has been taken care of, but other than that they had nothing prepared for this situation.

'Calm down.' He thought. 'There is still a chance that this is a path Nino didn't see…'

This wasn't the first time the future turned out to be different from what they predicted and Sam knew it wouldn't be the last. He already made a point of taking everything the Needle shows them with a grain of salt, only using the information when making their plans and not expecting things to turn out as foretold. Whether the Path they were on was a dead end or not, has yet to be decided. Sam wasn't about to give up just yet, not that he ever had that choice. He would still keep fighting even if he knew that what awaited them was a dead end.

Five was already there while Sitta and Trenta arrived soon after.

"Triska." He spoke, turning to the gunner standing behind him. "Take Venti back to the ship. Have Mimir put her in an Eir until everything is over."

"... Understood."

Putting away her weapon, Triska took the injured Valkyrie into her arms and teleported away. Once they were gone, Sam stood up and looked at his Valkyries one by one, then at their enemies. His eyes stopped on the crimson haired queen, and as the silent tension continued to rise, he summoned his Runes and created his halo once more.

"Alright then." He said, taking a deep breath. "Let's get this done with."