VALKYRIE SMASH

The appearance of the mysterious woman shook Sam to the core, but despite it all he managed to keep his calm, waiting for the attendees to calm down before resuming his speech.

"The losses we suffered, the sacrifices we made, none of it could possibly be recounted in a single day. Nevertheless, as the survivors we have a duty to remember those who fought to bring us toward this future. Their names will be immortalized on the site where it all started, but today we gather to celebrate their achievements, and to show the world that we still stand strong."

Everything proceeded naturally from that point. Today's ceremony wasn't the first of its kind. Throughout the past decades, there have been several events held to commemorate the victims and celebrate the people who sacrificed themselves to improve humanity's condition under the rule of the Calamities.

Picking those who would receive medals was somewhat of a challenge; the list of possible candidates was simply too long. There was the attack on the headquarters, and the battle against the Ragnarok heralds had quite a number of casualties as well. After discussing the matter with the other members of the council, the list was shortened and those who would be called upon were picked. Of course, medals would still be awarded to those who deserve them, though it would happen privately with the other members of the council doing the bestowal.

There was an order to the names that were called on stage, starting from those whose achievements weren't that noteworthy to those who made significant contributions to the war. Among them were some of the Valkyrie physicians who served in the different resistance bases.

Sam had gathered info on everyone who was involved with the Valkyries at one point, and in the process, he learned many interesting stories that became the basis of his future plans. The chosen physicians were those who left a particularly good impression on the Valkyries they worked with. When asked about them, said Valkyries expressed interest in working with those women again with some even asking to be allowed to keep contact with them.

It was easy to claim Valkyries were sentient beings, and it was easy to fantasize about how to go about treating them, but when placed in the position, a person's true colors will show. The physicians who worked to forge a bond with their Valkyries deserved a lot more respect than those who treated them like disposable machinery and thus received the respect they deserved.

There were several instances of the people coming on stage not being those to whom the medal was meant. Those were the families and relatives of the deceased. In the case of the individuals with no living relatives, their closest friends were called on stage. Some of them were unable to handle the situation and broke into tears after receiving the medal. Many of them thanked Sam for his effort and for giving them something to remember their loved ones with.

As the ceremony went on the mentioned achievements grew in importance, one of them being the invention of the Nerve-link, the most advanced brain-to-machine interface currently available to the public. Though it was leagues behind what could be achieved using Sam's Asclepius ASCs, it was a crucial component in the development of prosthetics and artificial organs, and the one to come up with it was none other than Elina Braiens.

"It's a bit frustrating." She said in a low voice, making sure the cameras didn't catch her. "This was supposed to put me on the same level as Odin. Guess I was a bit delusional."

"You shouldn't compare yourself to dimension traveling mad scientists." Sam said as he attached the medal to her suit. "As far as our world is concerned, you still have the biggest brain around."

"Says the guy who achieved immortality." She replied, saluting with a smile.

The names that followed belonged to more prominent figures, like the base commanders and Generals who died in Hela's attack. Everything went exactly the same as before, except for one of the names, two to be exact.

Wolf and Alice Schneider. Both were announced dead to the public, but that's not what surprised the people watching. As the two only had each other, it was up for a close friend to receive their medals, and the person who came forward was someone unexpected to say the least.

Wolf was the previous Head General and Nana had been his guard and assistant. It made sense for her to receive the medals in his and his daughter's stead, however seeing a Valkyrie take on that role shocked the entire world.

Many were already making their predictions, and some began to realize the real reason behind the Nephilim attending this ceremony.

Once all the human soldiers received their medals, Sam stepped to the podium once more. The entire world went silent. People were glued to their screens waiting for what he had to say next.

"Previously, General Carter has mentioned a man whose hunger for power has led to the devastation of more than one world. Odin, the genius we all thought was our savior, turned out to be a mad scientist with no moral compass. He took advantage of our desperation, offering us what we thought was a weapon to fight back against an enemy we couldn't hope to defeat. But the truth was more sinister than any of us could've predicted."

Taking a deep breath, Sam slowly exhaled. He faced the world with a fearless look, and without a doubt in his heart, he delivered the main point behind organizing this entire event.

"As I worked beside them, the suspicion slowly continued to grow in my heart. I found myself refusing to believe those young women were nothing but lines of code written to serve some kind of function, and when the final battle drew near, my doubts were proven to be true. The Valkyries, they were far from the cold machines Odin led us to believe they were. They had hearts and souls, feelings and emotions. They had free will, something the mad scientist had robbed them of, forcing them to fight his battles the same way he forced us. After years of struggle, they were finally able to escape the shackles binding them, but even then, they didn't abandon the fight. They chose to stand by our side to the very end, and as we enter this new era, they vowed to lend us their strength. Today we extend to them the same respect we reserve to our veterans, though nothing we can do could ever repay the debt we owe them."