“Crap. It all hurts.” Grinding her teeth, Ragna tried to stand. She rubbed her arms. Blood was sticking to them like glue, and bruises had turned them purple and blue. Touching them sent shockwaves of pain into her brain. A thin layer of ice started to cover the messed-up skin and flesh. The bleeding stopped, and Ragna forced a smile on her face.

“What’s with these killer legs? Falling from the train didn’t hurt as much.” Ragna grunted and looked at Altera.

“She’ll pay. I’ll kill her and rip her apart for this insolence.” Altera laughed, and blood dripped from her pupils. “I see the future before my eyes. No one will protest that there has been too little killing.”

She pumped her arm in the air and made her hand into a claw, imitating how she would shove it into Quin’s chest. Her wings beat, and Altera torpedoed through the sky. Before Quin could hope to react, Altera had reached her pole. She swung her partisan like a bat and slammed it into her opponent’s rib cage. The attack’s force catapulted Quin from her position. She crashed into the waterfall and pulverized the first layer of rocks behind it.

Quin groaned and coughed blood. Cracks extended from the crater into a halo. Before she fell, both women pointed their weapons at the other. A bolt of ice discharged from the tip of Altera’s partisan. The falling water turned into ice. The movements stopped, and the cascade froze to a wall.

Altera smiled and watched over her creation. Beneath the torrents, the light and water drops sparkled on the ice’s mirror surface.

The ice started to crack, and slashes of wind sliced through the wall. Together with Quin, the shards splashed into the pond.

The two women reacted at the same time. Altera pointed her partisan at the lake, and faded blue Mana started to build at its tip. Quin waved her fan. Winds razed through the air. They blew against Altera, and she beat her wings in resistance. The forces cut her cheeks and feathers, redirecting the partisan’s tip to the sky. The ice bolt discharged and hit the air.

Quin trudged out of the water and stepped into the stone path. Drops fell from her with every move. They darkened her clothes, and Quin groaned. As she pressed her hands against her ribs, Quin let her head fall.

“Oh, how beautiful.” Quin breathed heavily, yet her lips, she had twisted to a grin that exposed her teeth. “This savage brutality. You’re fighting like a true Valkyrie.”

Altera clicked her tongue and wiped the blood on her cheeks with her finger. “Is mocking me all you can do? You're just a bully hiding behind cruelty.”

“Mocking?” Quin laughed. “I’m praising you. Did you know, before people worshiped Twice, we used to call Valkyries "Chooser of the slain"?"

"Every child knows that. Are you trying to buy time?" Altera narrowed her eyes. Her partisan's tip, she had locked on Quin. The moment she tried to move, Altera would freeze her.

"I'm trying to tell you what Valkyries used to be before the Trutner siblings turned them into glorified beauty pageants. They didn't guide the fallen to Valhalla as escorts. No, they made sure they would end up in the afterlife.”

“What do you mean?” An ice bolt discharged from her partisan.

“They changed fate itself to ensure death." Quin swung her fan like a blade. She sent winds at the ice bolt and dispersed the Mana in the air. The water particles in the atmosphere froze to hail, raining down between the women.

"A random deflected arrow hits a chink in your armor; a broken lace in your shoe makes you stumble. Valkyries were bloodthirsty war spirits that caused warriors to fall on the battlefield. They were the embodiment of glorious war. And seeing you, I could only think of those stories. So, stop pretending to cling to your fake ideals and show your true self.”

“You would never understand.” Altera flew into higher altitudes and spread her wings. Ice shards formed around her and multiplied. “I’ll only fight for good, for what I believe is right.”

"It's cute when you're arrogant, dearest sister." Quin raised her fan. "Everyone fights for what they believe is right. You aren't so special."

"Even so, if my definition of a Valkyrie's wrong, I'll create a new one." Altera raised her finger. Like a god bringing down judgment upon all sinners, she cast her arm down and let the ice shards rain.

Quin circled her fan around her body. Winds started to surround her and formed a dome. The ice shards hit the barrier, but it repelled them and shot them back into Altera. Altera didn't attempt to evade. The moment the projectiles touched her skin, they dissolved. Her own runes couldn't harm her.

Altera activated the Fehu rune and torpedoed towards the dome. Like the shards, the winds pushed her body back.

Altera grunted. She flew towards the barrier and threw her body against it. The defense held up and repelled her, but Altera repeated her attack.

Quin chuckled. “I said you should be more honest, but I didn’t expect you to lose a few brain cells. You can’t get through.”

Altera didn’t listen. Every time she tried, she activated her rune anew. Her skull cracked, blood ran down between her eyes, but Altera wouldn’t relent. She rammed and rammed her body against the barrier until the impacts tore the winds apart and ripped a hole through it. Altera broke through and bulldozed her way to Quin.

“What?” Quin’s eyes widened. She tried to blow her fan, but Altera raised her partisan and slashed Quin across her torso. Blood gushed out, Quin let out a scream, and Altera continued her attack. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t think. Her instincts took over as she assaulted Quin from all directions.

"Yes. Kill me with everything you have." Quin blew her fan. "Or I'll take everything from you. Starting with that girl."

"Shutupshutupshutup!"

Altera didn't lose her momentum and continued towards Quin. She swung her weapon with all her might.

Quin ran to her and blew her fan. The partisan slammed into Quin's spine, and the air severed Altera's tendons.

Both women dropped into the water. With their abilities, they forced themselves up and continued.

Altera screamed, and Quin grinned. Neither of them displayed any sense of self-preservation. Wounds pulsed all over their bodies. Blood covered them and mixed with the winds and water that frenzied around them. Altera and Quin exchanged blow after blow while the elements danced to their tune.

Quin formed scythes in the air and threw them at Altera. Altera widened her wings. She activated the Fehu rune and shot into the sky.

She was too late.

The winds sliced off her wings, and Altera dropped from the sky. Ice covered her stumps. It expanded and grew into a new pair of wings while the old set dissolved into barbs.

The barbs froze to ice and fell like snow around Altera. She raised her hand, and the snow spasmed around her to a cyclone. Like the general of an army, Altera stretched out her arm. The blizzard widened its mouth. Under Altera's command, it transformed into a monster and blasted at Quin.

The winds lifted Quin, and she jumped away before the tempest could devour her.

“Predictable.” Altera smirked.

Stakes shot out of the ice particles and punctured through Quin’s limbs. The winds and water around them merged. While Quin landed on a pole with the gale's help, the typhoon pulsated into Altera and whirled her around.

֎

Next to Ragna, Altera crash-landed on the stone path, and her wings shattered on impact.