Damian was making his way quickly through the healing center, aiming for the main prayer hall. He had left Higgins behind and was growing worried for her. He was the main target of the soldier's ire, but it probably wouldn't be long before they turned their blade toward her.

  Hell, they had actually attacked her first. What right would they have to continue attacking her? She never claimed to be a Valkyrie. It wasn't her fault that her skill gave her wings. So what if she was shining so brightly that they couldn't tell the difference?

  Damian was lying to himself to ease his worried mind. He was moving as swiftly as he could to make it to the Valkyrie, his only hope.

  He had reached the end of a hallway an ornate door stood before him. Nervous that this one was locked as well, Damian carefully tried the handle.

  The handle turned easily, and the interior of the church's main hall came into view. It was slightly cave-like and somber, decorated and sculpted by the finest craftsmen. Stalagmites rose like columns around the exterior of the room that wore carvings of the Earth Goddess's deeds.

  They depicted her arising from the land and gifting bountiful harvests to barren lands. She brought the five continents together into one whole, wishing to create a unified people. Tall mountains formed at the collisions of the earth, only to be smoothed out at the wave of her hand. Under her watch, the world was at peace, and wars ended.

  Her figure appeared motherly, the caretaker of Tania. Mother of the forests. Peacekeeper of the night. Bringer of abundant harvest. Unifier of the people.

  The center of the church featured large stalactites suspended from the ceiling at fixed intervals. They depicted imagery of the Earth Goddess fighting against a dark mist, the evil god. She gave rise to the barrier mountains to shield the people from its terrible power.

  Now, those same mountains helped contain the dungeon monsters that roam from the abandoned dungeons in the center of the continent. And if the worst ever came, and the waves from the Dark Spire were unleashed upon the world, they would be the final line of containment.

  At the far side of the room, Damian saw the kneeling figure of the Valkyrie, hunched over and setting her forehead against the stone floor. She was praying at a statue depicting the Earth Goddess, or as some call her, the Earth Mother.

  The Valkyrie wasn't alone; several of the church's clergy were praying alongside her. It was a peaceful scene that brought about a sense of serenity. If Damian could paint, he'd have loved to capture this moment. But as things were, he needed to interrupt their prayer session.

  "Excuse me! I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have evidence that links Duco officials to the attack on Gamo! I need your help... Please." Damian was desperate, and every word he uttered laid his urgency and desperation bare.

  The small high he gained from tricking the soldiers had vanished entirely. He now faced the cold reality that his end would come if he couldn't gain aid here.

  The Valkyrie kept her head to the floor, continuing her prayer. Damian heard some shuffling from the hallway he had come from. Quickly, he pulled across a deadbolt on the door.

  Growing impatient, he walked to the center of the room and approached the praying figures. He stopped before reaching them. The Valkyrie was now standing up and facing him.

  She looked tired, so very tired, defeated. As if all the years of protecting the world the goddesses had left behind had cumulated and pressed down on her at this one moment. There was also a mix of something else... Worry maybe?

  "Where is the evidence?" She spoke in a soft voice. Her appearance quickly turned into that of a stalwart defender who could never crumble. Maybe Damian was seeing things earlier.

  "... It was destroyed by the military right outside the church... We have one more piece of evidence, but it's outside the city. If you could go and get my companions in the forest, they could give it to you. We need your help."

  "... I'm sorry, but I must adhere to the oath we made with Duco. If you had the evidence here, I could help you, but I am not allowed to leave this church to uphold the agreement."

  What nonsense is this? Why? It could all be so simple... Frustration was bubbling up from within Damian.

  He took a long look at the Valkyrie. It didn't look like she meant any harm by her words. She held genuine concern in her eyes with a hint of pain. All the anger in him quickly lost steam.

  Even with the power to destroy nations, she's restrained as well...

  "Then could you at least unlock the front doors? I need to get back to my friends..."

  "... The doors were never locked. You didn't try the handle."

  "What?"

  The front doors were slammed open, and the earth controller officer was walking in while one of the soldiers at his side dragged a tied-up Higgins. With a swipe of his hand, the soldiers began firing upon Damian, standing in the middle of the church.

  Ready to fight his way out and try to rescue Higgins, Damian was about to jump into his wind form when all the spells detonated midair.

  It wasn't stopped by a forcefield or anything of the like, but by the Valkyrie herself. She had basically teleported in front of him and taken all of the attack without putting up any resistance.

  The smoke and dust cleared, and she was standing there, pristine.

  "What brings you here today, Major Bradford?" The Valkyrie commented as if it were just your everyday meeting.

  "!!!..." The Major was about to blow his top, but then calmed down at the last second.

  "I am here for that murderer behind you! He assassinated Colonel Gregor! A capital offence!"

  "If I'm not mistaken, he simply defended that woman you have there. The Colonel had attacked someone whom he thought was a Valkyrie without being provoked."

  "! And is that not a crime! To pose as a Valkyrie?"

  The Valkyrie tilted her head a bit playfully. "Did she claim to be a Valkyrie? And is it ok to attack one simply because we wouldn't be harmed? If anything, the late Colonel destroyed what she was holding. A completely unprovoked attack."

  She put her hand on her chin and tilted her head as if in thought. She was clearly mocking the Major.

  "!!!... Regardless! I demand that you fetch that murderer!"

  Damian flinched and stared at the back of the Valkyrie with wide eyes.

  "Hmm~ Although we help uphold your laws, we are not bound to do so. You'll have to 'fetch' him yourself."

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Damian had never spoken to a Valkyrie before. He had only seen them from afar. But this interaction left him speechless and questioning everything he had ever known. Is this really one of the goddess's own?

  "... .. ." It seemed that the last comment made the Major speechless, as well.

  "Men! Seize him!" He wasn't stunned for long. His anger had fueled him past his confusion and into shouting orders—the default response for an officer of his standing.

  The soldiers at his side hesitated, staring at the Valkyrie.

  "NOW!"

  They started to charge at him, and Damian began to back away.

  He was in a bind. This entire time, he was looking for another means of escape. The only other door in the main hall was the one that led back to the healing center, and last he checked, it had soldiers behind it.

  There was also a large stained-glass window at the back of the church, depicting the day when the goddesses would return. If he tried to break it, would the Valkyrie let up on her protection of the building?

  Damian was about to try, but then a large object came crashing down through the church's front doorway.

  A familiar weapon came skidding across the stone floor. It was one of the javelins Alex had made for the defense at the wall. Taking a second longer to look, Damian noticed that the end was misshapen as if some brute had tried to sharpen it using a sword.

  Hadn't all of the javelins been destroyed during the defense at the Spire entrance?

  Not all, in fact, were destroyed then. There was still the one that had been used to puncture the back of the ape wraith's skull. Its tip had been blunted from the battle, and Damian had asked Donna to put it with the other materials they were going to give to Jimmy Lee.

  Little did he know, Alex had asked Donna to keep it. She wanted to frame it as a trophy from their great battle. Now, instead of being framed, it was being used as a rescue tool.

  "AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

  "WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHOOOOOOO!!!"

  "AAAAWWWAAAAAAWWWWWAAAAAWWWAAAAA!!!"

  Cries were coming from beyond the church doors, and soldiers were scrambling out of the way of something.

  "Oh, no."

  Instead of fleeing to the back of the church, Damian charged forward toward his pursuers. He ducked under a mace aimed at his head and had to turn intangible as a sword tried to stab him in the gut.

  Damian rolled on the ground and launched himself into a jump that carried him over the head of another soldier. With light feet, he stepped on two soldiers' heads, propelling himself forward.

  It was a fantastic display of acrobatic prowess, but he couldn't keep it up forever. His foot came down on another soldier's shoulder. This time, it was as if the man were covered in soapy water. Damian slipped right off and came crashing down.

  He slammed into the ground and immediately turned into wind. Three weapons were stabbed where he had just landed.

  He was already back on his feet, running toward Higgins, when something heavy landed outside in a large boom, and the sound of grinding ice echoed after.

  Damian could see it: A giant ball of ice had landed outside and was skidding toward the church's entrance. He could even see a brown tether connecting from within the ice to the broken javelin on the ground.

  The giant ball of ice slid across the ground, tearing up the stone. The only other thing in its way was the body of Colonel Gregor. No one had bothered to evacuate the officer's body, and it was crushed under the sliding ball of ice.

  Unfortunately, the ice ball didn't travel much farther; it had stopped well short of the church's front doors.

  Damian was still running throughout this and picking up speed. He didn't have far to go to reach Higgins. Major Bradford was also now turned around, staring at the ruckus the crashing ball of ice had caused.

  Perfect.

  Damian drew his blade and parried another sword aimed at his head while continuing to rush toward the Major. He had a new head to claim.

  Using a chunk of mana, Damian joined the wind and slipped past several guards. The Major must have sensed how close Damian was to his back and started to turn around while earth spikes spun in both his hands.

  But he was too late; Damian's blade was headed for his unprotected neck. It was like time was slowed as his blade started to cut into the Major's skin.

  Damn...

  The sword turned into wind before it could claim the man's head. But not far behind the failed attack were numerous abilities headed for the Major. All the soldiers behind Damian had unleashed their skills and spells to protect their commanding officer.

  Little did they know that instead of saving the superior officer, they'd be the ones to end his life. Or almost end it. Hardened rocks were forming over the Major's body, turning him into a statue, a defensive skill for emergencies.

  Spells landed across his body, only chipping off bits of rock. But the man remained unmoving throughout the attack; the skill was preventing him from rejoining the fight.

  Not thinking too much about it, Damian spun his sword to cut the ropes tying Higgins. She immediately grabbed one of her health potions and summoned a large ethereal shield with her other hand.

  Damian was going to trust his back to her. But before he could make it to the entrance, two more soldiers stood in his way.

  He could use his wind form and make his way through them, but his mana had almost bottomed out from the prolonged dash to the Major. Not to mention that it'd endanger Higgins.

  Damn.

  Damian could see that several of the soldiers outside had recovered and were now using their skills against the ball of ice containing his allies. Damian didn't know how long they could hold out; the urgency of the situation was mounting. Time was not on their side.

  Going to have to make some sacrifices to end this quickly.

  Damian's opponent on the right was swinging his sword at Damian's left flank. Instead of dodging or matching the attack, he held out his stub arm to catch it.

  Since he was missing an arm, they had bunched up the ends of his shirt into a bulge. To top it off, they placed the vambrace of his armor on the end. Damian was going to use it as a makeshift shield.

  The swing slammed into his outstretched arm and dug into the vambrace, cutting flesh and bone. "Gah!" Through gritted teeth, Damian resisted.

  He had expected that the vambrace wouldn't hold. It wasn't connected to the rune network of the rest of the armor. Only the wraith material's natural resistance was in effect.

  In a trade of blows, Damian exchanged the attack with a devastating slice against the armored man's hip. The soldier crumpled from the attack and began to fall on top of Damian.

  In equal parts panic and outrage, the other soldier stabbed his sword toward Damian. Using his last wind form, he floated past the soldier falling on him and dodged the stabbing attack.

  In the midst of his wind form, he had spun around and was already bringing his sword arm down. The next thing the panicking soldier knew was that he was missing his arm below the elbow.

  Damian had created a fellow disabled fighter, but he wasn't satisfied with just that. Misery loves company, but it loves those who are more miserable even better.

  To fully disable the soldier, Damian cut off his other arm. The poor man could no longer hold his child. But at least he might keep his life.

  Damian's path was now clear to the church's entrance. But the main issue still stood; they were completely outnumbered, and more soldiers were surely on their way.

  Ok, got to deal with more soldiers outside and create a path for everyone to get inside.

  Damian quickly cut down two soldiers standing at the entrance who had their backs turned to him while firing their spells at the ice ball. He was about to make his way to the left to clear more of them when he saw numerous blades fly out and stab soldiers in the jugular.

  Those flying blades quickly retreated and made their way back to their source down the hill. It was faint, but Damian could see blood red strings connected to them at the hilt. Elaina was supporting them from the shadows.

  With the new information, Damian headed directly toward the ice ball. It had drastically reduced in size and even had holes opening throughout. Alex was firing earth shots from her sword at the soldiers arriving from the steps behind.

  "Cancel the ice, move to the church!"

  The front of the ball melted instantly, and his friends tumbled out alongside a pile of empty mana potions. Donna was still maintaining the back half of the ice ball for a makeshift defense. She had chugged all those mana potions to sustain such a large construct.

  A spell shot toward Damian's head, and he used his sword to swat the ice bolt out of the air. He could feel a well of lightning in his sword now, begging to be unleashed.

  "Go!"

  Alex took the lead, holding her sword out sideways to take on more projectiles headed their way. Damian was now stationed at the back, repeatedly slashing at spells.

  The constant onslaught of abilities proved too much, and some attacks were making their way through his defenses and striking his body.

  But Jimmy Lee's handiwork proved resilient when properly connected to the rune network. Much of the magic was dissipated from the blows, and instead of piercing into Damian, it felt more like he was getting pummeled by fists. Painful, but much better than the alternative.

  With one more step back, they were now all in the church. Alex was beside Higgins, fighting the remaining soldiers inside with Fergus's support. Frey and Donna were closing the double doors with a slam.

  The constant barrage of attacks had stopped, but they still needed a way to lock the door.

  Hmm.

  Damian ended up sliding his prized sword between the two handles, sealing them in until someone strong enough came along who could snap his new sword in two. Part of him was hoping that the Valkyrie had extended her power to make his brand-new blade invincible.

  He really didn't want to lose it after just gaining it.

  'sigh'

  Although it wasn't over yet, he felt that he could finally breathe a little.