Combatant Side Story: Flight of the Valkyrie

The mansion of Ojou-sama was as opulent as one might expect from the shadow ruler of the city. Perched upon a massive cliff with an overview of the entire city it resembled more a palace then a mansion. Or perhaps fortress would be the more fitting description. After all this mansion was initially constructed as Rasheul’s final stronghold during a siege.

Surrounded by a cliff on three sides, there was only one path attackers could take, moving up the winding road, while defenders rain arrows and magic down on them. Once they reached the top, they would be faced with walls high enough to rival Rasheul’s city walls and a double steel gate.

Even breaking through here would only get the invaders to the outer perimeter. A killing field without any cover that ended by a second massive wall which served as the last line of defense for the mansion proper.

While that was long before the Sama Family bought the Fortress and made it their headquarter, most of it’s defense capabilities are still intact to this day.

Three minutes had passed since the massive steel gates had opened and a carriage was speeding down Noble Hill towards the arena.

The goons stationed on top the parapets surrounding the outer perimeter remained vigilant. Last night, security was suddenly ramped up. The reason was never given but with an organization as big as the Sama-Syndicate it was impossible to prevent rumors from spreading. The most frightening of which was that a Dark Lord was just about to attack the mansion.

Suffice to say it made for a rather stressful night shift.

But as night finally gave way to dawn and nothing happened some of that tension dissipated.

Just then.

An imposing figure was walking fearlessly up towards the gate, causing the guards to immediately be put on edge again.

It was not the feared Dark Lord but it goes without saying that this individual was still well known among them.

The strongest Galmon.

Valkyrie.

There was no rush in her gait. She walked slowly and deliberately, exuding utter confidence with every step.

Finally, she came to a stop directly in front of the gate.

For a few seconds, nobody said a single word.

“This is the mansion of the noble Ojou-sama!”, one of the guards finally shouted down at her. “State your business!”

Inwardly, Valkyrie sighed. This was not exactly her preferred way of handling matters. Slowly, she pulled out a letter of one of her pockets, cleared her throat and started reading in a monotone voice.

“Hark ye, o Bandits base and Brigands boorish. Thou arth basking in thee presence of thee third of thee zwölf Ritter of thee Great Witch of Miracles. Wa...Walkrue...Walkuere? Walkuere. *ehem* Walkuere, die...Fliegende. Thou dareth impudently taken captives one of her...majestes minions. I command...hold on..commend...I commend thou for thine bravery. Pose daringly. However. Bravery and Recklessness are two sides of thee same coinage. Thine ill begotten gains will be thine darkest hour. Point towards the gates. I hereby commend...no, its command this time. *ehem* I hereby command thou to bend thine knee and submit to thee most exalted of lieges and future sovereign of thee continent. Wait five seconds, then continue dramatically. Ind...Indu….Indubibi...I N D U B I T A B L Y . I doth understand that submitting with nary a fight would be most uncouth. Hence, I shall allow thou to mount a token of pointless resistance. But enough talk. Have at you. Wait ten seconds, then obliterate."

...

“THE FUCK WAS THAT!”

“Don’t screw with us!”

“Hey, someone get reinforcements! NOW!”

As the guards shouting became more and more frantic, Valkyrie sighed once more, gingerly stored the letter away and positioned herself as she mentally count to ten.

“Shit! She’s serious! Shot! Shoooot!”

The guards drew their pistol and opened fire. These were mere pistols, so Valkyrie ignored them.

Then she pulled her right fist backwards, her entire arm crackling with dark energy.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!

The fist exploded into the gate causing the steel to bend inwards as if someone punched the surface of a calm lake. If the metal was anything sturdier the entire gate would have been wrested out of it’s hinges. But as it was mere steel, Valkyrie punched right through, creating a fist sized hole in the process.

The Galmon then grabbed the edges of the created opening and ripped it open even further.

“HOLY FUCK!”

The terrified guards could only look on as Valkyrie entered through the destroyed gate. There was a second gate that suffered the exact same fate before Valkyrie calmly stepped into the outer perimeter.

The former killzone had since been transformed into a lush and beautiful garden. Various fountains and statues dotted the landscape. One of them even depicted a Valkyrie.

But none of that was of particular interest to the strongest Galmon. Her attention was taken up by the numerous goons that greeted her. Some in front of her, other taking positions on the towers to her back. Valkyrie was surrounded by all sides by about twenty men.

…

Not enough.

“If you value your life, flee. I will not chase you. Should you stand your ground, I will respond in kind.”

“F-F-FIIIIIIIRE!!!!”

The twenty men strong front gate security detail opened fire on the intruder. Surrounded as she was, it was impossible to defend from all angles.

And yet, not a single bullet hit her.

That was not due to lack of aim from the guards. Valkyrie have a 99% evasion rate. In other words only one of a hundred bullets would be able to find its mark.

“As you wish.”

Valkyrie slowly walked through the bullet storm and arrived at the nearest goon.

“Wah?”, the Goon, now at point blank range, frantically shoot a few more times. It seems he got lucky too as one of these bullets happened to find it’s target and caught Valkyrie right in an unprotected section of her stomach.

The strongest Galmon did not even flinch.

Bong.

She bonked him lightly on the head with her shield, causing the goon to collapse to the ground.

Then she leisurely scanned the area for her next target.

RATATATATATATATATATA!!!!!!!!!

Valkyrie immediately hurled her shield around and defended against the incoming projectiles.

In two of the watchtowers surrounding the mansions inner perimeter were magic Gatling guns stationed. An ancient artifact, heralding back from the time of the Holy Magic Sect.

An accomplished mage can cast about three to four Fire Arrows in quick succession. Beatrice, before her loss of magic, was able to do so with up to twelve.

Now each of these devices harried Valkyrie with the equivalent of 100 Fire Arrows per second.

Rather then a Fire Arrow, this resembled more the high level spell Fire Laser. Under normal circumstances, Valkyrie’s 99% Evasion would avoid the vast majority of them, but these Spells also came with the True Hit Perk. This allowed them to ignore Evasion and hit 100%

A single Fire Arrow was nothing more then an insect bite to the strongest Galmon but the sheer quantity of it was having an affect.

Figuring that getting out of their range was the better choice of action Valkyrie dashed to the side and take cover behind one of the statues.

!

She was completely out of the line of fire and yet, the Fire Arrows curved around the statue and attacked her directly.

Guided spells, while rare do exist, but these fire arrows went beyond even that. These were smart spells capable of avoiding any obstacle until they made impact with their target.

Naturally, that also completely eliminated the concern of friendly fire.

Furthermore, these gatling guns were powered by Holy Casket mana batteries, holding 500 times as much charge as the most cutting edge mana batteries the magic Kingdom of Zeth was capable of producing.

This was a weapon completely removed from modern times. Any attempts of replicating it resulted in failure. In fact, the Church deemed any ancient weaponry of the Holy Magic Sect Balance Breakers and forbade their use.

“Good! Keep it up! Keep her pinned down!”

Of course, if the Valkyrie would be able to get close to the gatling guns, she could certainly destroy them. But a Valkyrie was a close range fighter. There was nothing she could do against an attack that was out of her reach.

The **** mercilessly continued. Her small shield was not enough to cover her entire body. Valkyrie could block one of the gatling guns with her shield but that meant she was open to the second one and of course the rest of the goons. In short, Valkyrie was in a veritable storm of bullets and her wounds started mounting.

And yet...a thin smile was visible on her face.

“S-shit. What the fuck’s up with this bitch?”

“Ignore it, keep firing!”

Two of them might be slightly troublesome.

And then, just like that Valkyrie lowered her shield.

Was she surrendering?

No...she pulled it back?

While the strongest Galmon was certainly the stuff of legends, not many ever saw one in action and survived to tell the tale.

Thus, the goons made one fatal miscalculation.

That Valkyrie was a close rang fighter.

The shield turned projectile flew through the sky. A surprised yelp was heard as the shield collided with one of the magic gatling guns causing it to explode in a fiery inferno.

The goons could do nothing but cry out in dismay.

“S-stand fast! The stupid whore just tossed her shield away! She’s defenseless now!”

To be sure, Valkyrie had no more means of defense but it didn’t seem she was very keen on defense in the first place. Instead, she simply tanked the remaining gatling gun and went on the offensive again. Each strike of her, felling one of the goons.

It did not matter if her opponents attempted to fight back, defend or evade. Every target she picked fell to the ground with one single strike of her hand

It was not even a punch. Valkyrie dispatched her opponent with a chop of her open palm.

It was a tremendous display of superiority.

Under any other circumstances, morale would have no doubt collapsed entirely. The reason that the Goons were still holding strong could be attributed to a number of factors.

First, the goons were doing damage. Even with an evasion rate of 99%, the sheer quantity of attacks resulted in more and more injuries for the strongest Galmon.

Second, reinforcements were quickly showing up, making more then up for the few casualties the Goons sustained thus far. Before long, Valkyrie saw herself confronted by no less then 50 guards.

And third, the Sama-Syndicate had monsters of their own. In fact, compared to the Sama’s family's trump card, this strongest Galmon was nothing!

When all was said and done, Valkyrie was nowhere near as strong as the legends made them to believe.

“Out of ammo! Falling back!”

“Reloading!”

“Position 3 needs reinforcements. Squad B switch with Squad E.”

“Resupply Point at Delta.”

Perhaps, calling the operatives of the Sama Syndicate goons was somewhat misleading. Despite their rather crude disposition, they were able bodied and well coordinated. They took clever advantage of the terrain and made many attempts to attack from her blind spot.

Individually, they wouldn’t be able to hold a candle against a Tournament combatant but together they made up a **** to be reckoned with.

Valkyrie was very proud of them, the same way a mother would be proud when their child takes their first step.

“The fuck you’re smiling at cunt?”

“Did you really think you can attack the Sama Syndicate and get away with this?”

“Fucking slut! You are going to fucking pay for this!”

“I’m turning you into my personal cock sleeve, bitch!”

Emboldened by their clear superiority, the goons started to hurl insults at the Galmon. This too was part of their strategy to sap an enemy’s spirit.

Still, Valkyrie stoically endured the attacks, defeating a Goon every now and then. Even so, she was incapable of making a dent in their numbers.

Suddenly a loud scream erupted from one of the towers and the second Gatling gun stopped firing.

“The second one too?”, one of the goons cried in shock.

“D-Did it overheat?”

Somewhat.

After all, Eternal Flame had snuck herself into that tower and set it aflame.

Having a body made completely out of fire certainly had it’s advantages. Especially one that can fit into every nook and cranny.

Valkyrie looked towards the burning tower with a tinge of regret. She did tell that child to stay back but perhaps taking all of the glory was a bit selfish of her.

At the same time, the goons felt a similar feeling of regret as their second prized artifact was obliterated.

“Ignore it! Just look at her! She’s on her last leg! Keep the pressure up!”

To be sure. At this point now less then 14 bullets were lodged into Valkyrie’s body. An additional 45 resulted in glancing shots. At the same time the Fire Arrow Barrage had singed numerous places of her battle armor and her body. And of course, she had lost her shield.

No matter how you look at it. The Valkyrie was in a horrendous state. Meanwhile the number of goons had only increased.

Surely victory was just around the corner.

And yet, there was that smile. That infernal smirk that made their blood run cold. It was almost….almost as if she was enjoying this.

“That is enough!”

A commanding voice caused all of the goons to immediately cease firing. Valkyrie stopped her attack too, looking towards this new challenger.

“M-Mistress Feena? It’s dangerous here! Please stay back!”

“Continuing this any further will only increase our casualties. I take it from here.” The young, green haired woman calmly moved forward, brandishing a whip in her hand as she greeted Valkyrie with an easy going smile.

Valkyrie’s eye were immediately drawn to the whip.

Any Galmon instinctively knew what that was.

“You are a Monster tamer?”, the strongest Galmon asked.

“I dabble in it”, Feena responded casually.

Any Monster, no matter how strong, can be tamed. All a Monster Tamer needed to do is attack a sufficiently weakened target with that whip.

Taming wasn’t quite as powerful as the spell of obedience and came with it’s fair share of drawbacks, but every Galmon was keenly aware of the danger a Monster tamer represented.

And of course, among monsters there is scant a human profession more reviled then the Monster tamer.

“Please don’t hold it against me”, Feena smiled innocently. “I’m really more of a masochist.”

“How fortunate”, Valkyrie narrowed her eyes. “Because I do believe in corporal punishment.”

A dark aura engulfed the outer perimeter, so powerful that most of the goons were petrified to the spot. A few even started crying or otherwise lost control over their bodily functions.

It wasn’t that these humans were weak. They were trained professionals, that stared **** in the face many times.

They were simply confronted with something that triggered an instinctual reaction. Something ingrained into Humanity since they were first walked the continent.

That they are prey.

“So, this is a Valkyrie’s battle aura...magnificent.”

And yet the main recipient of that aura, simply smiled. Rather, there was a curious glint in her eyes as she regarded the strongest Galmon. Very well. I will face you not as Feena, the treasure hunter but Feena Sama, one of the three flowers of the Sama family.”

Valkyrie did not respond, merely glared at her opponent.

She could tell.

This child was strong.

“Here I come!”

Feena dashed forward with great speed. At the same time, her whip lashed out.

It was a clunky and cumbersome weapon. One intended for punishment, not battle. But because of this, very few had any experience in facing a whip user. Much less an expert like Feena.

In addition, this special whip was customized with a true hit perk. Valkyrie’s 99% Evasion was powerless against it.

And with how weakened the Galmon was, it shouldn’t require more then a single attack.

The whip snaked around in an utterly unpredictable way and produced a clear strike on Valkyrie’s back.

“Yes!”

Shouts of encouragement and triumph came from the goons.

Feena looked Valkyrie directly into the eyes.

“O, Monster wild and free. Accept my contract of thralldom and serve under me as my obedient familiar.”

A few seconds passed with no one saying a word.

Then the strongest Galmon grabbed the whip holding hand.

Yes, this child was strong.

If all the other children here were three year olds, then she alone was an eight year old.

Which meant she will have to put in a tiny amount of effort.

The strongest Galmon squeezed.

“Ah…!”

Feena had **** but to let go of her weapon

“Ehehehe…”, Feena smiled somewhat sheepishly. “Looks like I have miscalculated your power. You are still going strong, huh?”

Valkyrie still did not respond. Instead, she pulled Feena to the ground and put her over her lap, face down.

Then she pulled her short skirt up, revealing no underwear beneath.

“H-Hey…” the treasure hunter complained as her butt was suddenly on full display. “A-are you serious?” She struggled, but try as she might she had no chance of freeing herself from this iron grip.

“Naughty children must be punished”, the strongest Galmon declared as she used her left hand to keep Feena pinned down and raised her right.

“W-Wait...Let us…”

SMACK!

The open palm landed squarely on Feena’s rather cute behind, causing her to moan. A second smack followed right after.

Meanwhile, the goons could only look on helplessly as one of their Mistresses got punished in a most humiliating fashion. To be fair, this was not exactly a rare scene in the Sama household. Still, the only one who was allowed to dish out punishment was Ojou-sama.

“To tame Galmon’s is wrong”, Valkyrie meanwhile spoke calmly while smacking the soft but firm cheeks over and over again. “How would you like it if we turned you into our pets?”

Feena responded with a shudder. Naturally, Valkyrie was not using her full power. Still, this child was rather strong. She did not need to hold back as much.

“To walk around on all fours and bark when your master commands it. Do you have an idea how degrading and debasing that is?”

Feena shivered. “Y-Yes..master..wan..wan….ah…..aaaaahhhh!”

The strongest Galmon raised an eyebrow. What a curious reaction. Was she applying too much **** after all? Has the human gone mad with fear?

The stop of spankings did not go unnoticed, as the human wiggled her red butt.

“P-Please continue….I’m a naughty giiirl…”

What a curious human, Valkyrie mused. According to her friend Sylphid a so called bare butt spanking is the proper way of punishing a human, but she couldn’t help but feel that this child was reacting not exactly in a way that was appropriate.

She still had a lot to learn about human culture.

Then, suddenly her head whipped around towards the mansion.

Valkyrie’s crave to fight strong opponents, thus they have developed something of a sixth sense for them. Right up until now the strongest power in this proximity was Sylphid.

But that just changed.

A new power has appeared.

And this one was no child.

Wordlessly, Valkyrie pushed Feena off her, regrew her shield and began dashing towards the mansion.

“H-Hey!”

“Someone stop her!”

Immediately, the goons started shooting again, but it was utterly ineffective. The Valkyrie effortlessly broke through the defensive wall of goons and waltzed straight through the gate that separated the gardens from the mansion proper.

“S-shit! This is really bad! We barely have any troops left in there!”

Meanwhile, Feena stood up, pulled her pants up and ran to the gate house. There she immediately activated the magic vision on the emergency frequency.

“OJOU! GET OUT OF THERE NOW! SHE BROKE THROUGH!”

“Mistress Feena. Your orders?”

Feena took a deep breath, before addressing her troops again. “Casualties?”

“They seem to be fine. Most of our guys appear to be just knocked out.”

Feena nodded. “Leave a few troops back to take care of them. The rest gives chase. Reinforcements from all over Rasheul are already on their way. Don’t worry. Ojou-sama has matters under control. She always has.”

The goons nodded and immediately rushed back into the mansion.

Feena, spared a few moments to make herself decent again and then, with a smile, followed.