“Ah. The system breaker~” Caligo said while the Valkyries and Alina under his control struggled to break free from Icy’s binds with their own abilities. In contrast, Alina quickly swiped downwards as her claws sliced through the sheets of ice effortlessly. Covering her entire body with the Wave, she then floated above ground while watching and waiting for Caligo’s orders.

“It’s unlike you to come out of your hiding," Icy gestured forward before a pulse of blue shot out from her body before concentrating inwards, forming a blue blade made from the ice in her hand. She pointed the sharpened blade tip forward as steam flooded out from the body of the blade, "You shadow-dwelling coward."

“Only a fool move before he was ready.” Caligo shrugged, “Come. I am certain you want revenge for your sister, and I am right here.”

“Be careful!” The grand priests warned, “He doesn’t feel the same like before…something’s up with him!”

“Whatever it is…” Icy murmured, “It shall all vanish in front of my perfect synchrony: Ice Age!”

A circle of white suddenly materialized over the ground in between Caligo and Icy before a white veil of ice filled the enteior of the room as all flow of the Wave within fell under the influence of Ice Age.

“I am a Manifester of the greatest caliber, Caligo.” Icy said seriously as flakes of snow tumbled around the interiors of the columns and started to fill it up with bits and pieces of white, “And you are nothing but a man behind a desk.”

Then, Icy darted forward with the blade at the ready and her speed aided by the surging ice underneath her feet. With the blade tips creating a sharp hissing sound through the air, it clashed straight into Caligo’s arms as he reached up and parried.

His clothes became blown apart instantly upon the impact as the individual pieces of fabric exploded off his arms. Then, before they even landed, the Ice Age had frozen them up into tiny pieces that splattered on the ground around him. However, underneath his clothes were an arm that’s turned completely dark red as the flesh crawled creepily as if it had a will of its own, and two lines of white clenched around the edge of the blue blade.

"What...." Icy's eyes widened as she started to make out the grotesque formation over Caligo's arm. Her blade was bitten onto by…Caligo’s flesh, and he smiled lightly before tensing his arms as the parts of his flesh gripped even tighter, eventually shattering the ice blades before his other arm also deformed and morphed into a cloud of red mist.

“Perfect Synchrony: Nifelheim Devastation!” Icy called, activating her strongest attack that swept Caligo straight up from his feet and slammed him through the ceiling above. She then launched herself up like a rocket when Alina instantly moved upon seeing Caligo knocked up.

With her body coated in the outline of the Great Northern Wolf, but this time with the wolf’s eyes also fully crimson, she charged headfirst into Icy’s domain. However, her advance was immediately slowed by the outer boundary of the Nifelheim Devastation, which felt even colder than Icy's Ice Age.

“That was the last of your tricks.” Icy said, standing atop a pillar of ice as she watched Caligo being slammed into by a tornado that slowly started to tear his entire body apart. She reached her hands straight out, conjuring dozens of ice shards before sending all of them out into the tornado to seek after Caligo’s body and rip it all apart.

The same way that her family was ripped apart.

“S-STOP!” Caligo shouted, but his voice became quickly drowned out by Icy’s Nifelheim Devastation.

“What? What did you say?” Icy mocked before placing a hand by her ear while casually conjuring more ice shards next to her with the free hand, “Did you show such mercy before my sister was murdered by you?”

“ARGHHHH!” Alina growled as more Wave poured out from her body. Then, after pushing herself into the tornado, she leaped up, bouncing back and forth between the boundary of tornados before she launched herself at Icy for a melee swipe. Icy glanced down uninterestedly before her hands glowed brightly.

“Perfect Synchrony: Absolute Zero.”

The glowing light swirled around her hands before her Wave was fired off as a single concentrated blast downward, blowing Alina back and slamming her straight into the ground as layers of ice formed around her body and started crushing Alina downward.

“I said stop!” Caligo once again called out, this time his voice sounding more broken apart and distant. Yet, it also felt strangely more penetrating.

“If you want to live, beg for it!” Icy taunted even further, reaching another hand across before she prepared to completely freeze over Caligo when suddenly, his presence vanished from the middle of Nifelheim Devastation. Icy spun around rapidly, yet she felt nothing.

“I said stop, Alina.” Caligo’s voice now filled the entirety of the her domain, and Alina’s resistance became even stronger upon hearing Caligo’s voice. Icy spun around atop her pillar, trying to recapture Caligo’s presence in the Wave when in fact…she simply felt him all around her, “She is my opponent, for now.”

“You are nothing but a ghost now.” Icy said, turning around before she ramped up the intensity of her Ice Age even further, disrupting the air particles in hopes of drawing out Caligo.

“Without the Valkyries program, Talonia will fall behind, just like you are.” Caligo materialized as a shadow behind Icy as she twisted and sliced the blade straight through his body. However, the image of Caligo remained, and his handsome face now has dark red lines forming over it before a red circle over his forehead glowed a mix of yellow and blue at its center.

A pair of horns extended out from his temples, and he cruised forward, flooding her head with a cloud of red mist from his hands that directly projected horrific images of her little sister into her mind.

“Get away from me!” Icy screamed as she held onto her head. Quickly surrounding herself with Nifelheim Devastation, she finally created enough disruption to blow apart the ghosts of Caligo around her, "What are you even?!"

“I simply found the next step to the Valkyrie’s evolution. In faact...I am the next step.” Caligo said, reforming over everybody else within the cabinet meeting room, “I will bring forth the next great progression of Talonia, the entirely harmless and 100% effective partial demonic transformation. Rest assured, I share the same goal as you, and I want to see your program through just as much as you do. This was not for me, but rather for the future of Talonia."

“You are lying!” Icy felt a brewing presence behind her, and she turned around just as Alina grabbed onto her body with the gigantic wolf’s paw and smashed her face into the ground with a pressure that felt as heavy as the entirety of the Titan’s Spine itself.

“Your strongest fighter had been out-competed.” Caligo said, reforming his body as Icy dispelled her Ice Age, “You have done well to become as strong as you have, but you no longer have any other choice but to cooperate with me, in following through with your plan with a twist. I will give you this, however...I admit that the old system had its inefficiencies.”

“Your inefficiency ripped our family from us!” The grand priest declared.

“All recruitment was voluntary.” Caligo shrugged, “Necrovia had mandatory military service, and look where it took them?”

“And you think using propaganda for the Valkyrie’s program was any better?” The grand priest pressed, “The Descendants of Winterwais formed in order to help us deal with the grief from your barbaric practice! And you think we will willingly work with you?”

“I am afraid you misunderstand.” Caligo tilted his head as all of the Valkyries mirrored his movements and stared straight into the grand priest’s soul, “I never said willingly. When you toy with the technique of the demons, don’t be scared when it turned around and bites you in your old bald ass. And…don’t you worry…That twist will not be sinister at all.”

Caligo continued before wiping his hand over his face and blanking it with the thin white veil that completely obscured his facial features, “I will simply stand beside you when you give the general assembly.”

“Don’t…do it!” Icy cursed, “Never…give in to him…he must be killed…he must be…”

“Ah ah ah…” Caligo swirled his finger up without turning back, and Alina started applying more pressure downward as Icy’s bones started to crunch as her heart raced. She created a shell of ice around her body, but it wasn’t long before it started to crack as well, “Unlucky for you, Icy. You are strong because you can utilize Talonia’s natural elements, but the Great Northern Wolf was born within it. It dominated in it, especially after Alina's true powers had started to awaken.”

“So now…what is your decision, my old friend?” Caligo said, his blank face emotionless, yet his voice filled with satisfaction. The grand priest clenched his fist as he weighed his options. Then, he relented, letting out a sigh.

“You shall have our cooperation.” The grand priest said, “If it’s to replace the old Valkyrie’s system, then anything is a better alternative.”

“Very intelligent, as expected of you.” Caligo said as Alina instantly dispelled her Manifestation. Icy quickly ran off to the side before reforging her ice blades, “Then, I presume it shall be rather easy to convince your friends in the cabinet to reinstate my status as the minister of security in Talonia then?”

The grand priest turned around, and the head minister nodded without even a single word. Usually, it will be the Valkyries that are protecting the Kingdom’s interests, but if everything is under Caligo’s control, then he will simply go around unopposed.

“Excellent.” Caligo clapped his hands together before turning and walking out, “It’s been a productive outing, my girls.”

All of the Valkyries spun around simultaneously, and they all followed Caligo out, led by Alina at the very front. If not for the fact that he had just hijacked Descendants of Winter the same way that they hijacked the Talonian cabinet ages ago, people would have thought everything was going on swimmingly within Talonia.

The Valkyries were back together, led once again by Alina at the front with Caligo walking beside her with his face enveloped in the white veil of mists. It was as if nothing had changed.

“Now…the plan is officially in motion…” Caligo murmured, “From now on, my dear, no one will be able to threaten us anymore…Not the summoned one, not PORA, not Yarka...absolutely nobody.”