----Chapter 39----
The sky was paling with the first light of dawn. Clouds drifted across the fading moon, casting long shadows over the ruined ground.
For a brief moment, the battlefield lay in silence, their figures outlined in shifting light as the clouds drifted on.
"If you think you can beat me without calling on the Valkyrie's power, then you're dead wrong!" Rietta shouted, her voice echoing across the Incans ruined village.
"No," Azre said firmly, her grip tightening on the Executioner's Blade.
"Just as Ives said before, I will never use that cursed power again."
Rietta's crimson eyes widened, her brows furrowed in disbelief.
"What!? Are you mocking me? You think you can defeat me a mere mortal without the Valkyrie's strength!?"
Her manic laughter split the air, then twisted into a fierce smile.
"Fine then… if you won't use it, I'll force it out of you. Doesn't that sound better?"
Her grin stretched as she stuck out her tongue, licking her lips like a starving beast.
The silence shattered.
"You will die in my hands, Valkyrie!" Rietta screamed, hurling a storm of corrosive chains. Everything they touched withered instantly, crumbling into dust.
Azre darted aside, sword flashing as she deflected each strike.
CLANG! Metal rang with every impact, sparks scattering as the chains drove deep into the stone floor.
One after another they struck, shaking the ruins with the force of their blows.
Rietta pressed harder, claws slashing in sync with the lashing chains. Azre fought to keep up, her guard straining under the unrelenting pressure.
Step by step, she was forced back until her boots slammed against the ruined wall.
Her eyes widened. "No way…"
Rietta's lips curled into a grin.
"Too bad, Valkyrie; there's nowhere left to run!"
She retracted her long black nails, then ripped the embedded chains free. The screech of metal tearing from stone echoed through the ruins.
Twisting the links around her arms, she forged them into heavy gauntlets that hissed with corrosive miasma.
Azre planted her feet and raised the Executioner's Blade. Radiance surged as she summoned a protective veil, praying it would hold.
Rietta's manic laughter cut through the dawn. Her crimson eyes glowed as the clouds thickened, smothering the weak morning light.
"Sacred Art: Illuminating Veil of Holy Light!" Azre cried. Her sword flared with blinding brilliance, cutting through the gloom like a second sunrise.
"Useless!" Rietta roared. Her fists crashed down in a relentless barrage, each strike dripping with corrosive rot.
Azre parried desperately. Steel rang with every blow, but the impact still drove her back against the wall.
Then the pain struck searing, sharp. Her lungs burned with every breath as the gauntlets spewed poisonous miasma, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep it from seeping inside.
The ground seemed to tremble from the aftershocks of each punch Rietta landed.
Although Azre managed to deflect most of them, somehow one blow slipped through her guard when Rietta released another batch of chains, coming inside her body like extended tentacles, binding Azre's both hands and feet.
A clean hit slammed into her gut.
Azre yielded in pain as the poison rot crawled slowly through her body.
"See! You're no match for me. You're nothing but a fragile mortal. You bleed, you feel despair, and soon will have a painful death," Rietta hissed.
Rietta grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up as she spoke those brutal words, trying to crush her morale.
Azre's face was miserable, enduring the intense pain. She didn't even have enough strength to open both of her eyes.
Then, Azre begins to cough with blood due to the poisonous miasma released by Rietta's corrosive chains.
Is this the end for me? Maybe I'm not really suited to become the beacon of hope like everyone believes I was.
Azre closed her eyes. Signs of her giving up.
✦ ✦ ✦
When she opened them, memories of her childhood flashed back.
She found herself standing on a vast grassland, filled with flowers wherever she turned her head.
Enchanting blue skies stretched above, dotted with pure white clouds. Enviel, a small town not far from Ragnafiore's capital city, lay in the distance.
She remembered how simple life was back then. It was almost a lifetime for her that she once again felt this feeling of freedom, silence, and peace.
Her knees suddenly dropped. Tears fell into her eyes as she grasped her chest, casting away all regrets and the heartache of seeing the deaths of the people she meant to protect.
Somehow, she finally felt salvation inside her heart.
When all the pain vanished, she felt sudden relief as a long-distant, familiar voice called to her:
"Azre, let's go home!!"
She suddenly heard a voice behind her. She turned and saw her father gently guiding her stance, arranging her posture. Confused, she realized she was now holding a wooden sword in her tiny hands.
"Come on, Azre. Swing like this," Eldhar said with a warm smile.
At first, she stumbled and tripped, swinging wildly. Eldhar laughed heartily and gently held her hair back.
"Someday, you will become a fine knight. Greater than anyone in the whole empire!"
Azre giggled, shaking her head.
"But I don't want to be better than you, Dad. It's okay if I'm just second to you."
"Is that so! Haha… alright, second to me, dear," Eldhar said, laughing along with Azre.
Though she failed many times, her eagerness made her an easy learner. His personality firm yet loving shone as he guided her, the scene filled with comedic charm.
After her last swing of the wooden sword, everything suddenly vanished into thin air, including her father's image.
She was confused.
Then everything turned to white.
"Azre my dear!!" A familiar voice called her name it was her mother.
She blinked, and from the blur, everything became clear. She was now sitting alongside them at the table. It was already dinner time.
"Mom, what's this soup?"
Her mother smiled warmly.
"Well, today it's something quite special. Ta-da! It's your favorite Halmian stew." She lifted the lid to reveal the steaming pot.
"It's homemade, with Halmian ox meat."
"Did you know," she continued,
"Dont you know that, the Halmian ox is a very large yet, a very domesticated creature? It can only be found in Ragnafiore territory.
Its meat is incredibly tender and juicy. Its massive body is covered in thick fur, and it's one of the few ox species without horns.
They're very easy to care for you just leave them on the grasslands, and they eat peacefully.
And their fur can be used to make coats, boots, and other items.
They've fed our people for generations. Truly nutritious and very important to our empire."
Eldhar nodded along while savoring the stew.
"I know, Mom, you've already told me that a dozen times before," Azre said with a small pout.
"Is that so! Hehe… sorry, Azre my dear. I just got carried away again," her mother said with a warm smile.
"It's okay mom".
Azre calmy smile in respond
However, somewhere on the back of her mind, seeing all of this again, Azre realized: How is it possible that I forgot all of this!?
Then unease returned. Her chair was dragged away from the table while her mother and father continued talking, unaware of her being pulled away.
Everything became gray suddenly. She tried to reach out her hands to them, but they were too far away.
"Mom!! Dad!! No!!"
Feeling satisfied?
Azre stood in a plain gray room.
"You!"
A familiar voice clapped.
"Yes, I am me. The Valkyrie within you."
"You showed me those memories?"
Quite wonderful, weren't they?
"You only want to use my body again. If you take me, you'll kill everything I love!"
Of course I'll use your body as my vessel but this time, I'll make sure there's no coming back for you.
Azre's eyes narrowed.
"Then what happens if my body dies? Won't you die too?"
The Valkyrie froze.
"Oh… forgive me. I forget you're too arrogant to admit it. If I die, you die as well."
How dare you! the Valkyrie shouted, angry.
"I don't know why you've been sealed away inside me. But if I can use your power to protect the people I care about and save lives, then I'll make a deal with you."
✦ ✦ ✦
Back in the ruins, Rietta held Azre in her hair, body limp.
"Looks like the legend of the Valkyrie was nothing but a façade by Hollon, how terribly frustrating," she said.
Rietta removed all chains binding Azre as the rotting curse almost reached her neck.
Then she released her sharp, long black nails and aimed straight for Azre's throat.
"Farewell, Valkyrie!! You die now!"
Time slowed.
Then light.
Golden threads surged along Azre's body, coiling from her crown down her spine. Sparks raced along her arms, wrapping the Executioner's Blade in radiant filaments.
The miasma recoiled, steam rising as if burned by invisible fire.
Rietta froze mid-lunge, crimson eyes widening in disbelief. The claws she had aimed at Azre's throat trembled and she instinctively backed away, nearly stumbling, as if the very air around Azre had turned lethal.
Azre's eyes snapped open, golden threads shimmering across her skin. She didn't move yet she only felt the power surging inside her, alive and hers to command.
This is mine. I decide what happens next.
The world held its breath. Stone, dust, and morning light froze in place, suspended between life and death.
Rietta's voice cracked, shaking with disbelief:
"No… way… it's impossible!"
The moment was frozen Azre awakened, Rietta stunned, and the battlefield teetered on the edge of chaos.