Once the battle commenced, Skadi soared into the sky, surveying the shifting dynamics on the battlefield. By all logic, facing an opponent thousands of times larger than herself, humans should be the ones defending and evading. Yet the current situation completely defied Skadi's understanding.
Despite being an opponent she herself knew she couldn't defeat alone, Shiomi fought with extreme aggression. Though he should have been the defender, he had forced Fenrir into a passive position.
And—
"What the hell... is going on?"
From the moment they entered Valhalla until reaching this place, the landscape had been barren wasteland as far as the eye could see. Not a blade of grass, not even moss—only ice, snow, and rock. Yet now, trees capable of forming a forest had sprouted from this land. Even if the trunks grew crooked and twisted, it didn't matter.
For the forest seemed to possess a will of its own, growing toward the direction that bound and restrained Fenrir. With a single swipe of Fenrir's claws, the trees would be slashed down, yet more branches and leaves would surge upward with ever-greater fury, binding Fenrir ever tighter within their grasp.
Skadi's rune could only restore vitality to lives on the brink of death; it could not make unrelated life flourish in this barren land. She was the goddess of ice and snow, the cold winter goddess, and she did not possess the power to create life.
"...Power?"
At this thought, Skadi was startled, murmuring the word softly. Her eyes trembled slightly, yet she never let Shiomi vanish from her sight, her gaze fixed intently upon his figure.
At this very moment, Shiomi darted through the trees, occasionally landing upon Fenrir to launch attacks at its vital points. These strikes inflicted effective damage, yet failed to deliver a fatal blow.
This was Fenrir's inherent strength. Even wielding the Holy Sword, Shiomi—not its original bearer—couldn't unleash its full power through conventional means.
Yet despite this, the tide of battle was slowly shifting in Shiomi's favor. At this rate, the only solution would be to unleash the True Name of the Holy Sword of the Planet. Only that Holy Sword, which had slain the White Titan that ravaged the land millions of years ago, could cut down the Fenrir before him and break through this trial.
The bearer of divine power, or perhaps one destined to become a god? Regardless, Skadi was gradually coming to understand the extraordinary nature of this man.
No wonder even the Goddess of the Holy Lance...
"Damn persistent!"
Shiomi swung his sword down with a thunderous crash, sending Fenrir's head crashing into the trees, swiftly enveloped and entangled. Fenrir froze everything around him, while Shiomi continuously created new obstacles.
Whose divine power proved superior would ultimately control the outcome of this battle.
Then, a massive ice spike plummeted from the sky, spinning as it struck Fenrir's spine. The colossal wolf was pinned to the ground, unable to rise.
"How about a little help?"
Skadi slowly descended from her hovering position, asking from behind Shiomi.
He paused his assault, turning to smile at her.
"Didn't you already start?"
"That was merely a flick of the finger."
Skadi chuckled to herself, then abruptly sobered.
"Prepare to unleash the True Name of the Holy Sword. I, too, wield a Noble Phantasm."
Shiomi froze. Compared to his current opponent, he found himself genuinely curious about Skadi's Noble Phantasm. Whether as a potential future adversary or a present Battle Companion, it was information worth knowing.
He leapt upward, landing on high ground outside the forest after several bounds. He watched the forest, constantly destroyed and reborn, while Fenrir attempted to close in on him.
Shiomi swung his arm violently. Several clones burst from the trees, weapons raised to distract Fenrir. That beast possessed Divine Spirit-tier Magic Resistance. Rather than wasting time with Magecraft, close-quarters combat posed a far greater threat.
Skadi hovered in the air behind him, arms outstretched, chanting slowly:
"The city of shadows I know not, the city of shadows I possess. From the heavens above, come to this place—"
The surrounding space rippled like the surface of a lake, and the being that emerged from it startled even Shiomi. That place, deeply etched into his mind—the very origin of a million years and ten thousand journeys.
The core of the Land of Shadows, the royal city ruled by his master Scáthach—the City of Shadows.
Who would have thought that Skadi, who had merged with the entity known as 'Scáthach,' would wield this as her Noble Phantasm?
"Gate of Skye," she murmured, invoking the gateway to the demonic realm overflowing with death. "Bring me victory."
As the True Name of the Noble Phantasm was unleashed, what appeared was not a gateway to the Realm of the Dead, dragging all living things into its grasp. Instead, the City of Shadows itself emerged, enveloping them within its bounds.
"This is..." Shiomi felt his power surge.
"I do not know why I can wield this Noble Phantasm. Perhaps it is a blessing bestowed upon me by the Scandinavian gods for being left behind," Skadi said calmly. "Within this Noble Phantasm, anyone I acknowledge shall receive immense blessings."
But in truth, even without Skadi's acknowledgment, Shiomi already stood under the protection of the Noble Phantasm. It wasn't that she had acknowledged him, but rather that he was already cherished by the city's mistress. The love of Scáthach, Queen of the Land of Shadows, had always sheltered Shiomi within the Land of Shadows.
This truth stirred a quiet melancholy within Skadi.
A gale bearing a bitter killing intent swept in. Skadi snapped her gaze upward, seeing Fenrir had once again summoned the winds of Niflheim. With both enemies within sight, this choice was inevitable.
"How about this!" Skadi pointed her wand at Fenrir.
The winds of Niflheim could not immediately consume both of them. Though the power of the Noble Phantasm had diminished due to its prolonged duration, Skadi still felt the absolute zero coldness climb up her wand and into her fingers.
This was the consequence of bearing the full brunt of the attack; had she focused solely on protecting herself, it would not have been so severe. She was about to warn Shiomi, but saw he had already raised the Holy Sword.
"My name, the King's name, the Holy Sword's name. This radiance is the breath of the stars, the hope of victory—" Shiomi poured every ounce of his strength and Mana into the Holy Sword. "Excalibur!"
He squeezed the words from the deepest recesses of his being, invoking the True Name of the Holy Sword. Even with the original master's permission, wielding this power as one not chosen for it tore at Shiomi's body. Yet the power of life was compensating for this burden.
Fenrir opened its massive jaws, unleashing a torrent of frigid Mana potent enough to freeze all of Scandinavian lands, colliding with the Holy Sword's radiance. The clash nearly tore the heavens and earth asunder.
Until—
That golden light, unstoppable, severed the icy-blue radiance.
...
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