VALKYRIE SMASH

"Where… did you even come from…" Nino asked, grabbing her severed right arm with her left.

"Well, I've been here." Karim replied. "From the start."

He gazed at the crimson blade for a while as the halo over his head halted its movements allowing its Runes to become visible. Some disappeared and new ones took their place before they resumed spinning and once their shapes blurred the new halo appeared looking a bit different from the previous one.

"I thought I should get this one while I still can." He said.

Four red lines appeared beside him joining to form a small square, the small space it encased began to distort in a haze. Glancing at it once, the boy then pushed the Artifact toward it, but what happened didn't seem to be what he expected as his eyes widened a little.

"Right… I guess that's why she always kept it out…"

"... I see you learned the runes for Pocket Dimensions." Nino said, letting a smile play on her lips. "Unfortunately for you, that sword cuts right through the entrance. It can't be stored in such a space."

Though she didn't recognize it at first, Nino quickly understood that the boy was trying to place the Artifact in a dimensional storage he created. Nevertheless, Atropos' Scissors cut down the connection between the outside world and Poket Dimension causing the small square that served as the entrance to disappear.

"Is that so…" looking at the crimson blade, he then let out a sigh. "Guess I have no choice but to carry it around."

"Who said you can have it?" Nino said. She grasped the Needle in her left hand transforming it into a Yari. At the same time red particles began to appear around her gathering to form multiple spears.

"Sorry about your arm." Karim said. "I don't really want to fight so…"

"Drop the sword and I might consider letting you go." Nino replied. "You already betrayed us once. I won't let you get away with it a second time."

"If you think I would do that then you're an idiot." The boy said. "I already said I don't really want to fight so… make a single move and I'll teleport away."

Nino gritted her teeth, fastening her grip on the Yari. Despite what she said, fighting with one arm wasn't something she had a lot of confidence in. The boy also had the ability to create miniature black holes for some reason. This wasn't the first time she saw it, but she still found it difficult to believe that he unlocked the Runes that allowed him to use such a powerful ability despite claiming to have very little experience.

"Say, you told us that you would join the other side to survive, right?" As she spoke, Nino hoped that someone would notice her situation and come in to assist her. "The Primordial has already been dealt with and we are on the Path to victory, is there really a reason to go with them?"

The boy lingered for a while, studying the Valkyrie with his eyes. A loud explosion roared in the distance catching their attention, but only he shifted his gaze.

The Dimensional Rifts continued to spread. More Fallen poured into the Nephilim world but most looked nothing like the ones they have seen before. Most didn't even resemble humans, having become abominations monstrosities spawned out of a nightmare. Some were the same size as a human, others were as large as the Titans. Their forms varied and so were their powers, but one thing they all shared was the crooked crown like halo over their heads, the symbol of the Madness that had infested their minds.

"When I first arrived here, I had to survive against the lady in the red dress." Karim said after a while. "All I had to do was make sure I didn't get hit. It wasn't easy, but I managed."

"Hmm. That's quite impressive…" Nino commented. Though she hid her reaction, she was actually genuinely surprised. After all the Nephilim queen wasn't an easy opponent to face. Doing so after learning to use Runes only recently spoke of the amount of talent the boy has.

Though she intended it as praise, the boy didn't seem too pleased by it. He must've suspected that she was stalling for time, however there was no sign of urgency in his expression.

"You've won this battle and your enemy is making their retreat. But don't be mistaken." Turning his eyes to her, he looked into Nino's eyes and spoke with utmost seriousness. "No matter what you do, you'll always end up losing this race. As long as you aren't willing to do what it takes, you'll always fall behind those who do."

"What are you sa-"

"The Olympians didn't just accept me, you know?" He cut her saying. "Surviving against the lady in red wasn't enough to earn my place so… I had to kill one of them to prove my worth. Unlike you they don't tolerate weakness. They don't bother with ensuring that the weak survive that's why they will always be ahead."

"... Karim…"

"I want to be strong. That's why I will be going with them." Turning around, the boy added one more thing. "I'm not sure if we'll ever meet again, but if we do, I won't spare your life a second time."

Before she could react, Karim disappeared from Nino's sight. The fact that she couldn't feel his presence meant that he had teleported farther than her reach, showing that he had no intention of fighting her, heading straight for the portal to the Olympian world without hesitation.

Losing an arm was pulling on her consciousness threatening to make her pass out. Though she feared disappointing Sam now that she failed to retrieve her sister's artifact, her only choice was to return to the palace.

The surviving Olympians received orders to retreat. With the Valkyries joining the battle the balance was soon altered putting them in a bad position, but thanks to the Dimensional Rifts they found a chance to flee leaving Freyja's Children to fight against the Fallen.

Miku made the choice to end Apollo putting a hole in his head as soon as he attempted to escape her chains. CS rampaged for a while after losing sight of Artemis. Without a direct order from Sam she probably would've followed after the Olympians just to hunt down the huntress, but thankfully she came back to her senses and went to help the others suppress the Fallen.

Juni, along with Tove and her disciples, contributed the most to the defensive line. Their giant mechs held back the largest of the monstrosities, and though they suffered their share of damage, they still managed to take down quite a few.

Under those circumstances the evacuations had to be accelerated. Even as their ship approached the palace, Mimir instructed a number of Nephilim to start moving the human survivors to the portal room. Though the Primordial of their world has been turned into a Key, the Whispers of Madness spilling from the Dimensional Rifts still posed the same danger so a number of Cleansers were positioned around the Bifrost to ensure no one list their minds before crossing.

Tears flowed from Kamala's eyes as she stood in front of the pillar of light. She remembered the time Ramla spoke of her visions and how the only ones that led to their survival were those that had similar endings. Unfortunately, the old seer wasn't able to witness those moments, but thanks to her efforts, the people she sought to protect managed to reach a new, much safer world.

Once all of the humans crossed, it was Sam's turn to go. Unfortunately he was unable to find a solution to his predicament and was forced to transport the Key without the proper precautions. He could only pray that the world doesn't begin to collapse the moment he arrives, and that he would have enough time to set the global scale anti-inter-dimensional travel barrier as well.

Before stepping into the pillar of light he had ensured that the Bifrost was destroyed to prevent any Fallen from spilling into his world. To achieve that he left a number of drones behind and instructed the Nephilim and Valkyries who were still fighting to make their retreat. In the end quite a few monstrosities still managed to follow them to the other world, but once the portal closed they were all dealt with easily.

What was supposed to be a short recon mission ended up as another large scale operation. Never in his life did Sam expect things to escalate so much so quickly, but once again he has managed somehow.

His first trip to another dimension was quite hectic and despite having returned home he still had many things to take care of.

After everything that had happened, he realized that more goals had been added to his list when he had barely taken a step toward achieving the first. In addition to stopping Loki and rescuing Alice –both the original and his beloved– he now has to gather Aether Keys and stop any lunatic from reaching Akasha. He also had the Valkyries and Nephilim to worry about so from the looks of it he was going to be busy for quite some time.