"Valkyrie? Oh, now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time."
Sigrid's eyes first filled with surprise before shifting to deep nostalgia, as if the word "Valkyrie" had awakened memories buried deep within her for a thousand years.
"I must say, for a Midgardian, you sure know quite a bit. Yes, I was once a Valkyrie."
"The Valkyries, the elite female warriors under the command of Odin, King of the Gods. Even on Earth, where Asgard is no longer widely worshipped, your legend has endured through the ages."
Kagura spoke with admiration. "It is an honor to meet a Valkyrie, Lady Sigrid."
"Hahaha, now that's quite flattering."
Sigrid chuckled before her expression turned solemn. "But, young lady, the Valkyries may not be as glorious as the legends make them out to be."
As she spoke, memories from the past unraveled, a past filled with both honor and slaughter.
"Perhaps it was fate, or maybe karma. What we once did to others... was not so different from what Hela later did to us."
The Valkyries, also known as the Shieldmaidens were Asgard's most elite warriors.
This special unit, directly under the rule of the King of Asgard, was composed entirely of powerful and beautiful female warriors.
The Valkyries rode into battle alongside their king, serving as the vanguard that crushed any who dared challenge the might of Asgard.
As the strongest force in Asgard's army, the Valkyries owed absolute loyalty to their king.
Each one was trained to follow orders without question, their very existence dedicated to serving the throne.
Even if that order was to die.
Thousands of years ago, after Asgard emerged victorious in its war against the Dark Elves, King Bör made a crucial decision: to exterminate every last Dark Elf.
And so, the Dark Elves a race far older than Asgard itself were driven to the brink of extinction.
As Asgard's primary military force, the Valkyries played a leading role in this long and merciless campaign.
Wherever they went, the Dark Elves perished, their lands left in ruins, their bodies piling into mountains of the dead.
"Sounds like a horrific massacre, doesn't it?"
Sigrid watched Kagura's shocked expression and sighed. "You're right. That's exactly what it was a slaughter. One without reason, one we never questioned."
The Valkyries had been taught that the Dark Elves must die.
From Bör to Odin, the decree remained unchanged:
The Dark Elves were Asgard's mortal enemies, a race that threatened not just Asgard but all intelligent life in the universe.
Their existence, the king proclaimed, would plunge the cosmos back into darkness.
They had to be eradicated.
That was the order of the King of Asgard.
But was it the truth?
Sigrid paused, lost in thought.
"I sometimes wonder... why did the King of the Gods decree that the Valkyries should be women?"
"Was it because, in his infinite wisdom, he foresaw our fate that, in the end, we would abandon our mission for the sake of our consciousness?"
This was the fate of the Valkyries.
Though the Valkyrie unit remained a constant presence in Asgard's history, one truth remained unchanged those who left it did so for the same reasons.
Some abandoned their duty after finding love in foreign lands.
Some, having witnessed the suffering of the innocent, grew disillusioned with their purpose. Others simply longed for a different life.
As for Sigrid, she left because, in the helpless eyes of a young Dark Elf girl, she saw a light more pure than anything she had ever known.
"I saved Chisé. But at the same time, Chisé saved me."
Sigrid gently caressed Chisé's snow-white hair.
"She freed me from an existence of endless bloodshed and blind obedience. She gave me life. And in return, I will give her a life worth living."
It had been a routine extermination mission, another Dark Elf settlement hidden on a desolate planet.
For the Valkyries, these purges were not just battles; they were sacred acts of justice and honor. There was no room for doubt.
Yet, in that very moment, Sigrid hesitated.
She had already cut down a Dark Elf man, his severed head falling lifelessly to the ground. Her sword moved toward the next target—a Dark Elf woman.
But then she paused.
All around her, the screams of the dying echoed.
The Dark Elves' resistance had been feeble, their defenses shattered within moments.
The Valkyries met no real challenge as they cut through the settlement, hunting down every last survivor.
But... was this truly battle?
Was this really justice?
Before her, the Dark Elf woman cowered in the corner of a small hut, shielding a child in her arms, trembling in terror.
No. A warrior never turns her back to the enemy.
"Turn around and face me!"
The younger Sigrid roared, her grip tightening on her sword. "Stand and fight with honor! Then die with dignity!"
The woman turned, her tear-streaked face filled with despair as she pleaded, "Honor? Dignity? You monsters! You demons!"
"You slaughter us like beasts! Don't we even have the right to live?!"
"Silence!"
Sigrid gritted her teeth and swung her sword.
Blood sprayed through the air.
The woman collapsed, her lifeless fingers clutching Sigrid's armor, her dying eyes filled with a thousand unspoken questions, a thousand unfulfilled regrets.
But in the end, she would never find an answer.
"M-Mama...?! MAMA!!"
A child's wail pierced through the chaos.
The Dark Elf girl, barely able to walk, clung to her mother's rapidly cooling body, shaking her desperately.
But unlike her mother, the girl's eyes were different.
There was no rage.
No hatred.
Not even confusion over why her people were being slaughtered.
Her tears were pure.
Her sorrow, untainted by vengeance.
"Mama! Wake up, Mama!"
The little girl sobbed, shaking her mother's limp form.
"Mama, get up! You promised to lift me up high! You promised to buy me cake! Mama... Mama...!!"
The child's cries echoed through the battlefield.
And for the first time in her life, Sigrid felt something inside her break.
Sigrid raised her sword, but she could no longer bring it down.
At that moment, a flood of emotions surged through her, overwhelming her like a dam bursting.
'What am I doing?'
Was this truly the battle of honor she had sworn her loyalty to?
Was this what she had been fighting for all along breaking apart peaceful families, extinguishing innocent lives, and calling it justice?
For a fleeting moment, she seemed to see the vengeful spirits of countless slain Dark Elves clawing their way toward her, their hollow eyes filled with grief and rage.
No.
This wasn't honor.
This was an unforgivable sin.
Her battle stance wavered.
A stunned expression crossed her face, as though she had just awoken from a nightmare.
'Is there anything I can do?'
'How do I atone for my sins?'
'Will this child one day seek revenge on me?'
'If she kills me, will that erase my sins?'
No.
Hatred should never be an endless cycle of destruction.
'Clang!'
The sword slipped from her hands, crashing onto the ground.
Sigrid slowly knelt down and pulled the weeping Dark Elf child into her arms.
Just like Odin had done all those years ago in Jotunheim.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
Sigrid did not kill the child.
Instead, she protected her.
She raised her as her own daughter.
Strange, wasn't it?
A child's greatest enemy, the one who had slaughtered her family becoming her only guardian.
But this was fate's twisted path to redemption.
Sigrid gave everything to free Chisé not just from the cycle of vengeance, but from the burdens of her race's hatred and war.
One less warrior in the Valkyrie ranks.
One noble woman in Vanaheim, raising a child that was supposed to be her enemy.
Surprisingly, Odin did not reprimand her. He merely spoke in a calm voice:
"If you choose this path, you are no longer a Valkyrie. You are no longer an Asgardian. You will lose my protection. From now on, you stand alone."
Perhaps… Odin had chosen to stay silent because, once upon a time, he had done the same thing.
As Sigrid finished recounting her past, she let out a long sigh.
"I will dedicate my life to protecting Chisé, to freeing her from the hatred and war that plague the Dark Elves. That is my atonement. That is my vow."
Just then, a deep, gruff voice echoed from outside the yurt.
"Atonement? What are you talking about?"
A broad-shouldered man stepped inside.
"Uncle Hogun! Uncle Hogun is back!"
Chisé's eyes lit up as she ran toward him, throwing herself into his arms with an excited thud.
Watching the innocent smile on Chisé's face, he glanced over at Sigrid—
She was crying.
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