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Kaze no Stigma:Volume1 Chapter5

2013-01-12T18:53:23Z

68.116.215.178: Undo revision 219332 by 37.107.45.7 (talk)

== Chapter Five - Rescue ==
=== 1 ===

Kazuma and Ayano sat on a wide seat within a side-room, quietly waiting for their arrival in Kyoto via the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen Shinkansen].

The air conditioning was very pleasant, and the environment was also quite cozy. However, most people preferred squeezing into the over-congested train chambers over sitting in the same room as these two.

The unpleasant atmosphere around them made it difficult to stay in that room.

This is infuriating.

This is so infuriating!

Ayano shot murderous stares straight at Kazuma, who was sitting diagonally across from her.

Even though it was impossible not to notice her, Kazuma did not even look at Ayano. He shook his leg comfortably as he skimmed through a magazine he bought from a stall.

Ayano shifted her view back towards the scenery outside once more.

She currently felt worse than she ever had in her entire life. Having to work together with Kazuma made her very unhappy. Not to mention that her father, Juugo, seemed to have more faith in Kazuma's abilities rather than hers, which agitated her even more.

She stubbornly forced herself to face the window while glancing at Kazuma. From the looks of it, he was completely different from the way he was four years ago. He didn't seem very different to the naked eye, but in her heart, he had already jumped up several levels.

She hated Kazuma very much - she could guarantee that with a fist hitting her chest.  However, her eyes just couldn't divert from him. Unknowingly, she had begun to go in pursuit of Kazuma, observing his every move. Ayano would not tolerate such actions.

(Speaking of which, this is totally unbelievable! How did he become so strong in just four years?)

The Kazuma four years ago was just like a stone by the roadside. Rather than bullying or looking down on him, this view was more like the natural action of removing him from sight.

It was the same even during the “Successor Ceremony”. Kazuma joined the ceremony only because Genma forced him to. The match between Kazuma, who could not even use Enjutsu, and Ayano, wasn't even a fight. After all, everyone knew what the outcome would be even before the ceremony.

(But I heard that his fighting skills and other Jutsu were pretty good...... No! Why am I trying to spot his good points!?)

Ayano shook her head fiercely, removing all of her unpleasant thoughts. She organized her breathing and raised her head. At this moment, her eyes met Kazuma.

“......You seem very happy.”

Kazuma was not mocking her. He was simply surprised.

“Who...... Who would be happy!? Just being with you annoys me more than anything else!”

"Is that so?"

Kazuma replied lightly. He took out a cigarette from a hidden pocket in his jacket as though nothing had happened.

“Hey! Don't smoke in this small room!”

(...Here we go again.)

As she shouted in complaint, Ayano began to have doubts about her uncontrollable emotions. As long as Kazuma was near her, she seemed to unconsciously turn aggressive.

Her emotions weren't simply those of hate. After all, Ayano is the type of person who completely ignores those she dislikes. It wouldn't be possible for her to even lift her head to talk to them.

(So this must mean I don't just hate him, I hate him very very very much!)

She used farfetched logic to sooth the unpleasant feeling in her heart. But, just from looking at that detestable person chewing his cigarette and taking out a lighter, Ayano went on a rage once more.

“Are you deaf? I told you not to smoke!”

Kazuma filled his lungs with smoke and released it slowly. The air between them became thick with the smoke. After repeating the same actions once more, he met Ayano's angry stare.

“......I heard you.”

The voice reached Ayano's seat along with the smoke. Watching Ayano getting choked by smoke, Kazuma continued to pollute the air with secondhand smoke.

“...You imbecile!”

Ayano stared at Kazuma's mouth. The spirits quickly responded to the will of the master of fire's descendent.

Bang!

An explosion sounded off. The cigarette that Kazuma was chewing on was burned down instantly. If Kazuma had spat it out even a moment later, his own mouth would have been scorched.

“Heh heh!”

Ignoring Ayano, who seemed proud and pleased with herself, Kazuma took out another cigarette. This time he set up a kekkai around himself, sealing off any flame spirits that may try to get out of control.

Ayano furiously stared once more at Kazuma, who began to produce more smoke. Infuriatingly enough, the smoke went through the kekkai and began to taint her surroundings with its white fumes.

“Stop being stupid, we have to discuss our plans for the mission!”

Ayano fought hard to subdue her desire to burn down the entire train sector and instead proposed a plan for cooperation. It seemed that it was very shocking for her when her father scolded her and called her brainless. All of Ayano's emotional growth could be said to have been developed by Juugo.

Kazuma said calmly,

“If it's the two of us, there is no plan. You just fight Ryuuya, and I'll stay away and cover you. Is there any other way?”

"......Why do I get the feeling my job is much more dangerous?"

[[Image:Kaze no Stigma vol 01 185.jpg|thumb]]

Ayano also knew that this was the most efficient way, but she felt that something wasn't right. Since she didn't completely trust Kazuma, she always got the feeling that she was being set up by him.

“This is your family's problem! Shouldn't you work harder for it?”

"For someone who's getting paid for this, you sure sound proud. Mercenaries should fight at the front line! You're obligated to protect me."

"You mean you're that weak?"

Kazuma gave a snort of contempt and said,

“You cannot survive without someone to protect you?”

"You......"

Kazuma then said something even ruder to Ayano, who was so angry that she was at a loss for words.

“Listen well, and remember this. I have no energy to spare to protect you. Ryuuya is very strong. Stronger than me, and of course even stronger than you. We both have to use our powers to their limits, or there's no way we'll win. Even if you don't trust me, at least try to do it for today! Otherwise, we're both screwed.”

Kazuma said everything so frankly and calmly that Ayano was unable to rebut. She knew that she was losing her momentum. A strong ki was restraining her to the extent that she could not even move a finger.

“I...... I got it already......”

The only resistance she could put up was a tone that sounded as though she was fighting back, because she felt that if she didn't make any attempt to resist, she would have been conquered both physically and mentally and would never be able to resist again.

“But it's just for today...... If it weren't for a time like this, I would never......”

She tried her best to rebut, but Kazuma did not reply. His presence earlier seemed to have vanished without a trace, as though it was just a dream. Kazuma relaxed his whole body and lazily fiddled with his cigarette. Ayano thought to herself, he's just like a poisonous bug.

(......What a mean person.)

She scolded in her heart. Why am I so afraid of this self-degrading nicotine addict? What an embarrassment.

“I'm going to sleep.”

She left this line and shut her eyes. She suddenly opened them again to stare at Kazuma.

“If you try anything funny, I'll burn you!”

"Don't worry! I'm not interested in creatures that have yet to become a woman."

“...............!”

After hearing such a rude reply, Ayano held up her fist and stood. However, Kazuma merely continued to read his magazine without paying any attention to her, clearly acting out what he had just said about not being interested.

In an instant, Ayano came to the verge of tears. She blinked her eyes, which became wet without a proper reason, and returned to her seat and closed her eyes.

Her uncertain feelings became a whirlpool in her heart. She was no longer sure if she was angry or sad anymore.

(Why should I even bother with that guy......?)

Unable to verify her own feelings, Ayano locked her confused thoughts into the depths of her consciousness. She then forced herself to concentrate on sleeping. Within a few seconds, Ayano forgot all about her unhappiness and gave off peaceful breathing sounds.

After confirming that Ayano was asleep, Kazuma purified the air in the room. The air that he had polluted became clean in a second.

Telling the wind spirits to purify the surrounding air indefinitely, Kazuma focused his mind on the surroundings. He let his senses become synchronized with the wind spirits.

His consciousness fused with the wind. His body, which became an empty shell, smiled lazily in a way that Ayano would have scorned.

(Gee, this girl can really sleep.)

Having thought about the possibility of being attacked while on the move, Kazuma found it hard to relax. Even though his search radius was a massive ten kilometers, when moving at three hundred kilometers per hour, it wasn't very assuring especially considering that that monster could easily attack from more than twenty kilometers away.

Even though this was only to make himself feel more secure, Kazuma continued to keep his guard up. Even if he sensed an attack, he would only be able to block one hit. The enemy has no reason to focus on Kazuma, because simply destroying the whole cabin would allow him to meet his objective.

(After the first strike, I need to escape quickly before the second hit...... And on top of that, I even have to bring along a burden. Is it possible?)

Looking at the "burden" that was sleeping soundly, Kazuma mumbled to himself,

(I guess I have no choice but to just do it......)

No matter how bad the whole situation seemed, the only way out was to take action proactively. Passively waiting for a chance to come by would only result in death.

In the end, however, all of his precautions were too late. The Fuuga clan disappeared without a trace and was yet to be found. They were probably on their way to the sacred grounds. In fact, they might even have arrived already!

He did not intend to let the Fuuga clan's ambitions to be fulfilled. Even though one reason was to save his cute brother, Kazuma had decided long ago that anyone who uses a human as a tribute must die.

......There might be people in the Fuuga clan who were against the revolt, so he needed some way to take care of those people......

Remembering the words of the clan chief, Kazuma showed an evil smile.

(Let me help you save some energy!)

Juugo wouldn't have to decide what to do with the Fuuga clan. After all, Kazuma had already decided on the death penalty for everyone in the clan.

The journey after getting off the train required a car. After exiting the train station, the two headed to the car park as instructed.

Because of the possibility of having to go around the entire mountain, a four wheel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_Rover Range Rover] was prepared. Kazuma placed the key he obtained from Juugo into the ignition and switched on the GPS before starting the engine.

Ayano came in from the door at the other side and sat down. Apparently wary of Kazuma's driving capabilities, she took up the seat belt immediately.

“Don't put on the seat belt.”

Kazuma said as he looked at the GPS.

“Why?”

"Ryuuya is much scarier than a car accident. Be prepared to jump out of the vehicle at any time."

“......Understood.”

“Then let's go!”

Kazuma swiftly stepped on the pedal to accelerate.

The Range Rover did not meet much interference and went swiftly down the road. After leaving town, they took a scenic route and went around to the back of the mountain.

“Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What?”

“You mentioned earlier, Ryuuya's wind is berserk, right? Won't the spirits you control go berserk as well?”

"Well, if they're just attacking, it should be fine. But I doubt they'll stay that way if our fight drags on."

"Are you sure it's going to be okay?"

Ayano asked doubtfully.

“Believe me! Well, in that case, why don't I just test it out- Incoming!”

Kazuma's wind retaliated the black wind that came from above. A furious gale burst from the crashing winds, shaking even the heavyweight Range Rover.

“Jump out!”

As if pushed out by Kazuma's voice, Ayano kicked the door down and jumped out. After jumping out, she realized that Kazuma had ordered her, and she became angry.

"Don't boss me around-"

She glared at the driver seat, but there was no one there anymore.

Somehow, Kazuma had quietly jumped out of the car. Since the car's door was closed, there was no way to imagine how he jumped out as, logically speaking, he should have gotten into action after Ayano.

"Wait......"

Once again speaking over Ayano, Kazuma raised his finger and pointed slightly upwards. Ayano's eyes reflexively followed in that direction.

(Dammit......!)

Kazuma was in control, and she was being toyed around with. She felt like she was unable to move by her own will.

She was so angry she wanted to kill him, but apparently there was no time for that. A shadow came down from the skies where Kazuma was pointing at, and into the center of Ayano's vision.

A corrupt youki, darker and duller than even his black suit. Thin lips, a straight nose, and a proper face that might have once been handsome if it weren't paler than a mask.

“Ryuuya......? I didn't notice at all......”

If it weren't for Kazuma, she would have been killed without even seeing Ryuuya. A chill went down Ayano's spine.

“Don't take him to be same as the Fuuga clan. If a first rate Fuujutsushi hid himself, an Enjutsushi would never be able to find him. Once you get into a melee battle, don't let him get away no matter what.”

Kazuma gave a fearless smile to Ayano, who was frozen from the tense situation.

“So...... Are you ready?”

"Don't order me around. Just do your job and cover me!"

After throwing that sentence, Ayano dashed out. As she ran, she pulled out Enraiha, and shot a fireball to show her might.

“I told you, that won't work!”

Kazuma grumbled in shock from Ayano's stupidity.

Ryuuya quietly stood before the approaching fireball. The scorching flames crashed into Ryuuya, who did not do anything to defend himself.

Kaboom!!

"That's not enough! Keep pressuring him!!"

Kazuma shouted, watching Ryuuya become surrounded in flames.

“I know! I told you not to boss me around!!”

Ayano waved her Enraiha as she replied. She did not expect such a low level flame to do much harm against that monster. It was good enough to simply divert his attention.

(However...... There is nothing that Enraiha cannot destroy!)

But......

Thang!

Her swing with utmost confidence was repelled with a clear sound.

"What......!"

Ryuuya cleared away the flames and closed in at Ayano. She could clearly see the pitch black claws, about thirty centimeters long, coming out of those pair of bending curves.

Did he use those to block Enraiha? Ayano did not even have time to think about it.

She used the red blade to repel the claws that sliced at her from the left and right. Just as she tried to retaliate, the opponent already vanished from sight.

(From behind......!?)

She instinctively swung her blade, somehow catching Ryuuya. The pitch black claws blocked Enraiha, with screeching sounds marking the impact.

Their weapons clashed, but in terms of size and power, Ayano was at a disadvantage. She forcefully pushed forward her blade, jumping back and using the force from Ryuuya's push to create some distance between them.

“What the hell have you been covering, Kazuma!?”

Ayano did not look away from Ryuuya, but furiously scolded her partner who was doing nothing. However, she did not get a reply, no matter how long she waited.

“......Hey, Kazuma?”

With a very unpleasant premonition, she hesitantly called out to Kazuma again. This time, she finally got a reply...... in the form of a distant voice transmitted by Fuujutsu.

“I'll be going first! You handle Ryuuya. Good luck!”

Hearing the playful words from the wind made Ayano stand dumbfounded for ten seconds.

“........................”

Ayano stood with her head bowed down. Suddenly, golden flames burst out of her body. Maybe she was holding the hilt tightly, because the tip of Enraiha shivered slightly.

Ayano raised her head, and glared sharply past Ryuuya as if she could see the despicable person who had slipped away long ago.

Ayano shouted in a trembling and furious voice.

"You...... You damn traitor!! Watch it! After I beat this guy, you're next......!!"

Her shout echoed throughout the empty mountains.

=== 2 ===

At the same time, Kazuma was gliding thirty meters above the ground.

“That girl sure is energetic. Anyway, just don't die, and try to buy me some time!”

As he muttered something that would infuriate Ayano if she had heard it, Kazuma began his search for the seal.

"Is that it......?"

There was no need to even search, as he found the target, the Samadhi Flame, instantly. With Kazuma's spiritual eyes, finding such a bright, shining flame was as simple as looking for the sun.

Kazuma temporarily descended to the ground and called the wind for one final jump. This time, he jumped much higher than previously before and easily went above a hundred meters. It would be better described as flying!

He lost almost no altitude as he sailed to the area above the seal, observing the situation below him.

"Hmph...... Found my brother."

From a bird's eye view, the events going on at the sealing grounds could not be any more obvious. Perhaps in an attempt at concealment, the sealing altar was smaller than expected.

Hyoue and Ren were at one corner, with about twenty people surrounding them. Contrary to Juugo's prediction, it seemed that the entire Fuuga clan participated in the revolt.

Kazuma stopped the wind, and, as if walking down stairs, descended from a hundred meters above the ground with ease. Once he was about ten meters from the surface, Hyoue raised his head......

“Too slow!!”

Kazuma placed a gush of wind between Ren and Hyoue. As he blew Hyoue away, he reached out for Ren.

“Ren......!!”

He seemed to be conscious. Ren reached out as far as he could, grabbing Kazuma's hand.

Kazuma pulled the tiny body to his chest and hugged him tightly. With that, they glided horizontally somwhat before landing softly.

“Ren, are you okay?”

It was hard to believe that the gentle voice asking this question belonged to the beast who cruelly left Ayano.

“Ye...... Yes......”

"Very good...... Good boy."

Kazuma let Ren down and looked peacefully at Hyoue.

Hyoue, who had finally managed to get up, stared back at Kazuma with hatred.

“You...... How did you...... So that's what happened. You used Ayano as bait to infiltrate this place by yourself? What a despicable man you are, sacrificing a girl.”

"You have no right to say that about me, you damn old man who offered your son to the devil. What can you say about yourself? Ryuuya's consciousness should be gone without a trace by now!"

“So what of it?”

Hyoue replied without a care, acting fearless. Obviously, he had never regretted it.

“Why don't you think about this instead: If the flames of Kannagi are the Purifying Flames, then the winds of Fuuga are the Winds of Corruption! Our justice is to corrupt the world and fulfill our own desires! And for that justice, sacrificing one or two sons is nothing!”

Ayano would have thought that Hyoue was insane. However, Kazuma understood his thinking very well.

When failure was not allowed, only the strong can fight righteously. If someone with insufficient power hoped to win, he could only seek to give up the morals of a human.

Wanting to seek his personal desires, even if it meant being looked down upon or being blamed by the whole world... It was all too familiar to Kazuma. Even so, he did not intend to let Hyoue off.

“But everything is over now. Haven't you played enough?”

"Not yet! It is not over yet!"

Hyoue laughed fearlessly. His bloodshot eyes still did not show any sign of despair.

“If you think you have won, you are so wrong.”

“Is that so? Feel free to give it your all!”

Kazuma spoke in a way that would enrages any opponent. Ren, who was hiding behind him, laughed as well. However, the normal Ren would never give off such an evil smile.

Ren pulled out a hidden dagger and slowly stabbed it into Kazuma's waist.

Kazuma's body shook lightly, and his eyes widened.

“Ho......hohahahahaha! Fool! You shall die in the hands of your own brother!”

Hyoue laughed loudly, but his eyes began to narrow with doubt soon after.

Ren had stopped moving along with Kazuma. Or rather, Ren was trying to pull the dagger out, but it would not budge.

“What are you doing, 'Ren'! Kill him quickly!”

“I think that would be very difficult!”

Kazuma suddenly stretched his left hand forward, and in it was the dagger that was supposed to be in Ren's hand.

“You...... How did you......”

"Ren" gave a moan. Kazuma threw the dagger away and turned to face him.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice such malevolent youki in his body?"

Kazuma widened his hands to grab "Ren"'s face.

"Ren" struggled painfully. Kazuma easily overpowered him and began to gather ki.

"I don't know what you put inside, but this is Ren's body."

After saying that, Kazuma released his ki.

“Go back to hell!”

His strong ki instantly vanquished the youma that was in Ren, giving no chance for it to escape. Holding Ren's weak body, Kazuma waited for him to wake up.

“Argh...... Ah...... Nii-sama......?”

“Oh, you got up.”

Kazuma's voice was as calm as if all the tragic events that had happened at the hotel were just a dream.

“Nii...... Nii...... Nii-sama!”

Ren remembered everything. Just as he was about to run up to hug his brother, Kazuma raised his hand to block him off.

“Nii...... Nii-sama?”

Ren had an unpleasant premonition from his brother's smile, and hurriedly tried to retreat...... But it was too late. Kazuma's hands grabbed Ren's cheeks and pressed hard into them.

“It...... It hurts......”

Kazuma ignored Ren's cries and, continuing to smile, stretched his cheeks to the sides.

“Why did you get caught so easily? You're a guy! Do you think you have the right to play the damsel in distress? Why do I have to come all the way to Kyoto to rescue you, you rascal?”

“Aii...... Aii errm soo saoii, iisama (I...... I am so sorry, Nii-sama)!”

Ren waved his hands and legs nervously, shedding tears and begging for his brother's forgiveness. Maybe after seeing this scene, he could no longer be angry, so Kazuma loosened his fingers.

“That...... That was so mean, Nii-sama......”

“You idiot, if you were someone else, I would have beaten the hell out of you.”

Pressing on his painful red cheeks, Ren raised his head up with watery eyes. His cute gesture could almost instantly knock out big sisters with strange interests. However, it didn't work on Kazuma. He pushed Ren away coldly and faced Hyoue once more.

“We've fooled around enough, I guess. Shall I make my move now?”

“Hmmm......”

Hyoue groaned. Kazuma's presence was completely out of his calculations. Not only did he possess great power, his techniques were also unbelievable.

Hyoue had never seen anything like the exorcism that Kazuma had just performed. He had made it look easy, but in reality, it might have been a very sophisticated and delicate technique. It was extraordinary for him to have been able to activate it in an instant.

“It seems like deciding to use you was the biggest mistake I made.”

“Yes, I think so too. If it weren't for all these petty tricks, maybe the Kannagi clan would have perished by now!”

The reason why Kazuma agreed so readily was because he knew that this would deal another blow to Hyoue. Kazuma never held back on anything that could distress other people.

"But why!? Why do you try to stop me!? You should know very well the hatred of someone who was bullied! The humiliation of being forced to kneel before others! You should have experienced them, felt them too!

You hate the Kannagi too, right? You despise them, right? Aren't we all the same? You should be on our side!!"

Ren lifted his head to look at his brother. As Hyoue had said, Kazuma had been through situations very similar to the Fuuga clan. Even though he had said that he no longer hated the Kannagi clan, wouldn't Hyoue's words remind him of his hatred once more?

“Yeah, that's right. My feelings are like yours. I wouldn't care less even if the Kannagi clan died out.”

“Nii-sama......!?”

Ren's expression changed immediately as he grabbed Kazuma's hand.

After seeing this scene, Hyoue smirked. If he could get Kazuma on his side, the battle situation would be turned around instantly. Even if Kazuma did not join him, as long as he no longer interfered......

“In that case, we have no reason to fight anymore, do we? I am not asking you to help, but to just stop interfering with us, as destroying the Kannagi clan is our wish.

These three hundred years, we were controlled by the Kannagi clan as slaves. Three hundred years! Our ancestors did commit a sin in the past. But just how long must we pay to redeem ourselves!? When will we ever be forgiven!?”

Kazuma silently watched Hyoue, who burst out with such passion and emotion. He took out a cigarette from a hidden pocket and lit it with a lighter.

“Besides, why must we pay for sins our ancestors committed? Why must we be used and humiliated like slaves? What crimes did we commit? No, no, no! I cannot accept this! I will never acknowledge the Kannagi's arrogance! This is a justified revenge! I have every right to destroy the Kannagi clan!”

“......Are you done yet?”

Stepping on the cigarette ashes with his foot, Kazuma asked,

“So you have nothing else left to say?”

After understanding the true meaning of that sentence, Hyoue widened his eyes in shock.

“You...... Still want to go against me...... Why? Why do you try so hard to please the Kannagi clan? You have such magnificent powers, and yet, why!?”

“Because the clan chief offered 100 million yen to hire me.”

Kazuma said frankly. Hyoue became dumbfounded, unable to say anything.

“Nii-sama......?”

Ren raised his tone and asked suspiciously,

“So that means Nii-sama came here to work? Not to save me?”

“My belief is to take whatever you can. It's just killing two birds with one stone!”

Ren's doubts were not erased even after hearing Kazuma's explanation. Kazuma faced his brother, who was looking at him with accusing eyes, and smiled bitterly.

“It's not easy to stay alive. One day, you'll come to understand that too...... Hey. Where do you think you're going, old man?”

Kazuma spotted Hyoue, who tried to escape while the two were chatting. He halted at Kazuma's words.

“So are you finished praying? What a coincidence that your God seems to be in the area too.”

Hehehehehe. Kazuma purposely sneered to mock his opponent.

“......Don't think you have won just yet!”

Hyoue's face grew red with anger. He gave a signal, and about ten people of both genders came out. Kazuma lazily looked at the daggers and clubs that they were holding.

“No matter how many Fuuga people come out...... Hey wait... Old man, what did you do to these people?”

These practitioners, who had unfocused pupils and staggering steps, were obviously not conscious.

“These people forgot the pride of the Fuuga clan! They are dumb fools who willingly wanted to be slaves of the Kannagi. They should think about who they are, to try to persuade and stop me. So I took away their consciousness, and they are now puppets. Hahahahaha......”

Hyoue's laughter was earsplitting. The look of that stubborn old man was beyond ugly.

"So how about it, Kazuma? These people are loyal to the Kannagi! They are practitioners who are righteous and respectable! You, who is a follower of the Kannagi, should not be able to kill them! So tell me, what are you going to do......?"

“This.”

Kazuma stopped Hyoue's speech and cut off their heads, all at the same time. As if it was just a joke, the ten heads flew up into the sky at the same time and landed on the ground one by one.

“You...... You bastard! Against innocent people who were merely being controlled...... Are you even human?”

“You stop talking about me. I'm not some hero of justice. I don't care if they're being controlled or blackmailed: Anyone who points a knife at me is my enemy. A little girl would be no exception.”

Hyoue was at a loss of words after hearing his cold-blooded declaration. At that moment......

“Da...... Damn you!”

A man broke from the lined up Fuuga clan, which was now half as large as it was before. Kazuma had killed his wife just now. Since his wife was unable to accept Hyoue's ambitions, her consciousness had been taken away. However, if the Kannagi was destroyed, she would have been turned back to normal, and they could have lived in a happier place than before.

“Woahhhhhhh!!”

The man threw wind blades at Kazuma. However, compared to Kazuma's wind, they were tiny and pitiful.

Kazuma seized control of those tiny wind blades and chopped off the caster's head with them. The man's head fell on the floor and rolled to a stop by his wife's head.

No one dared to move. The image of a person wrapped in northern winds and bringing down heartless punishment was just like a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinigami shinigami] descending upon the real world......

“Ah ah...... By the way, how many people are left?”

"Wa...... Wahhhhhhhh!"

Those lazy words were just like a signal. The Fuuga clan lost control of themselves and scattered away.

“Stay...... Stay there!”

No one listened to Hyoue's orders. Even if it was just one step further, everyone fled from Kazuma as if their lives depended on it. A fear that surpassed the teachings of the Fuuga clan had taken control their hearts.

By now, the Fuuga clan was no more. But to Kazuma, the real problem began only now.

“Nii...... Nii-sama, you really overdid it! There was no need to kill those people who were controlled, was there!?”

Kazuma had to comfort Ren, who was tearfully interrogating Kazuma.

“Oh? Is...... Is that so?”

To Kazuma, he was already acting with Ren's feelings in mind by trying to prevent unnecessary deaths......

“Let's...... Let's put this aside for now, and take care of that old man first!”

Kazuma used Hyoue as a shield to change the topic.

“Sorry to make you wait. Are you ready?”

“Damn...... Kid......”

Hyoue angrily spewed out infinite curses at Kazuma, who was never shy with his words. He was now alone after having been abandoned by his subordinates.

Of course, he himself had tried to escape several times. But each time, Kazuma had stopped him.

Even when Kazuma turned around or was busy trying to comfort Ren, his eyes never left Hyoue.

“However, it is not over yet. Nothing has ended yet...... Bastard! Did you think that without Ryuuya, I am just a useless old man?”

Kazuma stayed quiet. This sentence was not fit enough for him to even reply to.

“If that is what you think, then you are very wrong! Ryuuya was not the only one who obtained power from the contract!”

“Ryuuya obtained nothing.”

Kazuma corrected him coldly.

“That guy lost everything.”

“Hmph, that is but a small problem.”

Hyoue then said at the top of his voice,

“Watch closely! This is the Power that I have obtained!”

As he made his declaration, an abnormal youki began spreading everywhere. Space was sliced open, and, from an unknown, hidden world, it...... No, they...... appeared.

“Wahhhhhh!?”

Ren screamed loudly, and for good reason. The two of them were now surrounded by all kinds of youma, packed so tightly together that even water might not have been able to get through. They were probably over a hundred strong.

Hyoue laughed out loud from behind the horde of youma.

“So, how is that? Shocked? This is my power!”

“......and how is this 'your' power?”

Kazuma countered lazily. The power that Hyoue was so proud of was nothing more than low level youma borrowed from the one that possessed Ryuuya. Borrowing something that was borrowed. As his power was something that had been borrowed twice, Hyoue himself possessed no power.

“Small issue.”

But Hyoue did not seem to care.

“I will meet up with Ryuuya, so why don't you stay and play with these guys!”

With that, Hyoue mingled into the large group of youma and disappeared.

The remaining two people were surrounded by the youma. It seemed like there was no way out of this. Ren became tense from fear.

“Nii...... Nii-sama...... I shall take care of the ones in the back......”

“Don't move, I'll take care of them all at once.”

As Kazuma had said, it was something that happened in the blink of an eye. A rapid wind from the skies became a metal hammer and came straight down, smashing into the surface. All of the youma were ripped and crushed by the tremendous force.

(How...... How powerful......)

Ren held his breath as he watched it happen. What a scary power. If it was power like that, it was not hard to understand how it had defeated Genma.

“What are you waiting for? Quickly, run after that old man!”

Kazuma grabbed Ren, who was still standing shocked, to fly off, but,

“......Ahhh?”

At this, Ren turned back and asked,

“What's wrong?”

Kazuma hesitated slightly before asking back,

“......Ayano came here too. Can you feel her?”

“Huh......? No, nothing.”

Ren continued to try to detect a presence...... But he could feel nothing.

“But, Enjutsushi are not good at detecting presence in the first place......”

“Not to the extent that you are unable to detect an Enraiha in battle...... Looks like she lost.”

“How can that be?! Impossible!”

Ren declared instantly. He was absolutely certain.

This was a sign of absolute trust. It was impossible for the wielder of Enraiha to lose, just like it was impossible of heaven and earth turning around.

“If Nee-sama's ki became quiet, then that means Nee-sama has already won. There can be no other possibility!”

“Let's hope so. That would save a lot of effort.”

Kazuma played along with the confident Ren, and once again picked him up as if he was an item.

“Let's meet up with Ayano first! It'll be troublesome if she dies.”

“Is it okay to not chase after Hyoue?”

“We have plenty of chances to kill that old man...... Let's go!”

Kazuma leaped up with that shout.

=== 3 ===

The wind was very gentle, yet at the same time forcefully took them up to the skies. They overcame gravity easily, flying past tree branches to an even higher place......

“Wow...... This is great...... What a magnificent view!”

Perhaps since it was his second time flying at a high altitude, Ren began to enjoy the spectacular view from above. Even though Kazuma wanted to let him watch longer, he continued to increase their speed.

“Huh? Is it over already?”

Ren said sadly as he realized they were beginning to descend.

“When this is over, you can watch for as long as you want. Just bear with it for now!”

The two of them landed on a small, empty area.

“She's here...... See? I was right after all.”

"Nee...... Nee-sama!?"

Ren doubted his eyes. Ayano was stained with blood all over and was coming towards them. She was dragging herself with staggering steps and seemed about to fall down at any time.

Enraiha was just barely dangling from her weakened, drooping right arm. The tip of the blade scraped the surface of the earth as she moved and produced an exceptionally earsplitting sound.

Ayano stopped before the two of them. Completely covered with wounds, she glared furiously at Kazuma with eyes that seemed as if they would shoot out fire.

“You lost completely!”

Kazuma did not seem to care about Ayano's murderous intent. His cold words did not carry any guilt of leaving behind Ayano as bait.

“You asshole......”

Ayano squeezed out the last of her remaining strength and pointed her Enraiha at the despicable traitor before her. A beautiful, shining flame surrounded the crimson blade.

However, she no longer had any strength to swing the blade. Ayano dropped Enraiha, which stopped shining and rolled onto the floor, and collapsed into Kazuma's arms from lack of strength.

The divine sword that fell to the ground began to disappear as if merging with the air.

“Idiot. Trying to swing a divine sword with a half-dead body? Of course she'd overexert herself and run out of strength.”

Kazuma's heartless words never reached Ayano's ears. She was completely unconscious. Her face was pale beyond pale - It was as white as a corpse.

“Nee-sama! Ayano nee-sama!”

“You're so noisy, shut up.”

Without even turning his head, Kazuma ordered his screaming brother to be quiet and grabbed Ayano's hair to lift up her face. He was apparently checking her body condition, but the way he went about it was so rough that he did not seem to be worried about Ayano.

After a long moment, Ren asked, flustered,

“Nii-sama, Ayano nee-sama is going to be fine... right......?”

“Nope, she's dead meat.”

Kazuma mercilessly crushed Ren's expectations.

“How...... How can that......”

“The wounds themselves aren't much. The problem is the youki that entered her body through them. She's just one step away from having her body be completely overrun by youki.”

He gave a diagnosis as if he was a doctor, but real doctors would most definitely had complained about his cold-blooded and straightforward words!

“But, what kind of youki could freeze a divine child of the flames, and Enraiha together with her? Just where did that old man Hyoue find such a youma?”

“Now is not the time to discuss that problem, right? If you don't save Ayano nee-sama soon......”

“Ren, catch.”

Kazuma suddenly tossed Ayano's body at Ren.

“Wah!”

Even though Ayano was slim and completely drained of strength, she was still far too heavy for a twelve year old youth to carry. The two of them fell onto the floor together.

“Wha...... What......”

Ren, who meant to make a fuss, suddenly realized how cold Ayano's body was. Even though she was still breathing, she was no different from a corpse. When Kazuma had said "freeze", it was not a metaphor - It was the truth, literally.

Ren, as an Enjutsushi, could clearly sense Ayano's flame of life burning out with every second.

“Is...... Is there no way to save Nee-sama, Nii-sama!?”

“Hmm...... It's not that it's impossible, but......”

“But what!?”

“It would be a waste.”

An indescribable silence filled the scene. Like a puppet, Ren stared at Kazuma with a frozen expression.

Kazuma watched Ren silently as well.

“......What did you say?”

Ren broke the silence with an exceptionally dull voice.

“It would be a waste.”

Kazuma repeated it calmly once more. He spoke naturally as if stating an obvious fact.

“It's a really valuable medicine, and I probably won't get another one like it.”

He shrugged his shoulders, as though saying that it can't be helped.

Ren could not believe that there existed someone who would say that a medicine was more important than a human life, and that the someone was his own brother. He expressed his shock in words.

“That is not the problem, is it? If this continues, Nee-sama will die, and saying that using medicine is too wasteful...... That cannot be true, right?”

“It's not a big deal even if Ayano dies! It's not like the main bloodline will die off completely. You can just inherit the Enraiha. Then our old man would also be very happy.”

This was the first time Ren had ever heard such inhumane words. The blood in his body grew hot as if boiling, and the flame spirits gave off a cheerful sound in anticipation of a battle.

“What's wrong?”

Kazuma looked at his brother, who bowed down in silence, with caring eyes.

“Don't......”

“'Don't'......?”

"Don't joke around with me......!!"

Ren's roar struck Kazuma as a physical shock. Kazuma used his ki to perform the lowest level of defense, smirking while letting Ren hit him.

Only Kazuma could understand that this phenomenon was the result of the spirits responding to Ren's rage.

(Yes, that's the way to go.)

The characteristic of fire is “aggressive flames”. A strong rage is the key factor of synchronizing with flame spirits. They will never lend their full powers to a human who is usually calm and timid.

Only when one possesses great rage, and is able to control that rage, can one be a first rate Enjutsushi.

Filling the area with stifling heat that felt like a metal smelting furnace, the flame spirits responded to Ren's rage and continued to gather.

“Give me the medicine.”

Ren ordered softly. He had no need to roar now, as he knew very well what he needed to do. If the opponent decided to resist, he would have to get the medicine even if he died in the process. Whether he succeeded or not was inconsequential - This was something he had to do.

“Okay...... I got it, don't threaten me anymore.”

Kazuma raised his hands to surrender. He was unable to keep his smile. With a calm fighting spirit and the mental energy to control it, Ren had already began his journey to become a first class Jutsushi.

Kazuma walked past Ren and stopped by Ayano, who was now lying motionless on the floor. Looking down at her, he toyed with a bottle he took out from his hidden pocket.

To say that he did it without hesitation would most definitely be a lie. After all, it was an extremely rare and valuable medicine. But even so, as long as it was for Ren's growth, he did not mind paying such a price, especially since it did not cost him a single cent in the first place.

He kneeled by Ayano's side and considered tipping the contents of the bottle into Ayano's pale lips, but gave up in the end. She did not seem to have the strength to even drink it, and spilling the medicine would really be a waste.

Kazuma stretched his hand under Ayano and lifted her upper body. He drank the medicine himself, then closed his lips onto Ayano's as if throwing his entire body onto her.

“Wah!”

From the corner of his eyes, Kazuma could see Ren, who was at his side, flushing red yet staring, mesmerized, as Kazuma poured the medicine into Ayano's lips by mouth-to-mouth.

[[Image:Kaze no Stigma vol 01 219.jpg|thumb]]
(Hmmm............)

Ayano first felt warmth. Something seemed to be quickly removing the youki that was invading her body. Heat, or rather, life, came back bit by bit.

She slowly began to detect the situation around her. She knew she was being surrounded by a powerful force, and that a warm, healing spiritual energy was coming in from her lips.

Ayano felt as if someone had just pulled her back from the gates of death gently, yet powerfully.

She opened her eyes slowly, and, at the close distance that her eyes instantly focused on, the one before her was......

"......!!!"

Ayano's consciousness became awake in an instant and she used all of her strength to push Kazuma away.

Kazuma moved away lazily, as if he saw through Ayano's cute reactions out of nervousness, and steadily stood up.

(I...... I was kissed......? Why......?)

Ayano pressed her lips with her left hand. Her right hand was tightly hugging her own body. Like a weak girl who had just been assaulted by a rapist, she closed her legs tightly and contracted her body.

(What's going on......?)

It was impossible to understand the situation, as she did not know what was going on.

Maybe due to the youki that had invaded her, her memories did not seem to add up. Not just how she wanted to cut Kazuma with her sword - She could not even remember how they met up in the first place.

She lifted her head to look at Kazuma suspiciously, who stared back calmly as though he was observing some animal in an experiment. Actually, he was observing how effective the medicine was, but it was impossible for Ayano to know that.

Anger began to grow within her. After taking away a girl's kiss, and her first kiss at that, the other party did not even seem to have a shred of guilt. She could not accept this at all.

“What the hell were you doing......!!!”

“Is that how you talk to your benefactor?”

“Huh......?”

The cold reply weakened Ayano's attitude. Ren ran over with wet eyes and raised his head to look at Ayano, fighting back tears.

“Nee...... Nee-sama......”

It was hard to imagine that the now revived Ayano, who was brimming with energy, was about to die just now. Even her wounds and blood had disappeared.

“Nee-sama! Nee-sama! Nee-sama!”

Ren was happily hugging his beloved "sister" tightly as he began to cry. As if trying to confirm that this was not a dream, he continued to hug Ayano with all his might and continued to call her name.

Even though he was just a kid, a twelve year old still has some arm power. Though Ayano was uncomfortable, she still insisted on rubbing Ren's head gently.

“Ren, calm down...... Everything's fine. I will protect you, so don't be afraid......”

“Idiot.”

Kazuma mercilessly shot down Ayano. Ignoring her murderous intent, he continued,

“Ren was worried about you. You were totally thrashed by Ryuuya earlier and almost died. By the way, the one who saved you is me, so be grateful.”

This speech, made by someone who claimed to be her benefactor, made Ayano's temple entangle together. Ren stopped his tears and immediately froze once he felt the strong atmosphere that could silence a crying child.

Ayano suddenly lowered her head and looked at Ren. She grabbed him, who was subconsciously trying to run away, and pressed his shoulder, asking with a scary face,

“Is that true?”

“Huh...... Huh......”

Ren looked troubled, unsure of what she meant by the question. Ayano moved closer and repeated once more,

“That guy said he saved me. Is that true?”

Shivering, Ren answered in a soft and delicate voice,

“It...... It is true. Nii-sama, he took the medicine...... then...... mouth-to-mouth......”

“Forget this.”

Ayano stopped Ren's reply softly. The hand that was pressing his shoulder became more forceful, as if she was looking at Ren from above. Seeing her fake smile, Ren was so scared that his legs went limp.

“You saw nothing, understand?”

Ren silently nodded.

“Oh yeah, what did you make me drink? It's not something with weird side effects, right?”

Ayano asked suspiciously. She knew that she almost died just now, so she could not trust something that was able to completely cure her in just a few minutes.

“Elixir.”

Kazuma replied simply.

“Elixir? You don't mean that, what's it called, 'Water of Life'!?”

“Ehhhhhhhhhh......!?”

Ayano, and in fact even Ren, who was on the verge of tears, gave off sounds of surprise. This was normal, since the so-called "Water of Life" is a miracle drug with amazing effects, made with the essence of alchemy. It is said to even be able to revive the dead. It is uncertain if such a miracle drug, or even its formula, exists at all.

"That kind of thing... Where did you get it......"

“Before that, don't you have anything to say?”

Kazuma seemed very calm since the beginning, in contrast to Ayano, who was shocked. Realizing what Kazuma meant, Ayano reluctantly thanked him,

“......Thank you.”

“Don't mention it. I'll just charge extra. Maybe another hundred million will do.”

“You...... You bastard! Can't you ignore some losses to help someone!? Isn't it too low for a human to measure everything in terms of money!?”

“You think this is something that can be bought with money!?”

“Argh............”

Kazuma raised his voice imposingly, making Ayano speechless. This was the first time Kazuma became so emotional. Apparently, his precious medicine being used made him feel very unhappy.

Indeed, something like elixir cannot be bought with money. It is something that can even revive the dead. It's not hard to believe that many people would want it even if it made them bankrupt, and selling it for just a hundred million was simply outrageous.

Even so, Kazuma managed to change his mood with just one sigh.

“Never mind. Let's forget what happened in the past! Oh yeah, Ayano. So, why did you lose?”

“......Why are you asking such a thing?”

Ayano replied bitterly to the question that shattered her pride.

“Of course I have to ask. I always thought of your Enraiha as the ultimate weapon. If it's useless, then I have to rethink the whole battle plan. Therefore, tell me, what's going on? Don't tell me Enraiha can't burn Ryuuya even if it cuts into him?”

“Huh...... Errr...... That is......”

Kazuma's gaze at Ayano became colder and colder, sapping her ability to speak. She was too scared to make eye contact, so she shifted her eyes about randomly.

“You mean, you didn't even hit him once? All of your attacks were predicted?”

“Hmm............”

“And you panicked, releasing Enjutsu that was completely repelled by his wind.”

"Errm... errr............"

“After taking his onslaught of one-sided attacks, your injuries continued to increase.”

“..............................”

“In the end, you somehow managed to escape. Since this is too embarrassing for you to bear, should I praise you on your ability to run away?”

“Wha...... What!? How can you say such a thing!?”

Ayano finally lost her temper from listening to Kazuma's cruel and heartless comments.

“After telling me to trust you so proudly before, in the end you just ran off and left me behind with a few words! For someone who leaves the biggest problems to other people, what right do you have to say such a thing!?”

“Oh, sorry.”

“......Huh?”

Ayano widened her eyes at this unexpected reply. She had expected him to retaliate by mocking her vigorously, so it was unimaginable that he would apologize so honestly.

As if he could not let it go, Kazuma continued,

“I never expected you to be that weak.”

Ba-doom!!

An explosive noise came from her heart. Crackling sounds began to surround Ayano. Ren quickly retreated away from Ayano as if bouncing off.

“I thought that before I rescued Ren, you could at least buy some more time. Too bad, I guess I was too hard on you after all. Sorry.”

Ayano gripped Enraiha's hilt with all of her strength. Her fighting spirit spread throughout her body, and the fallen leaves by her feet started dancing in the air. In the night of autumn, the temperature quickly rose until it became hotter than a sunlit day. Ren tensely watched as he was roasted by the hot air.

“When you tried to cut me before...... Back then, I had thought that you were taking it easy on me, since I'm part of your family. I totally didn't realize that you were serious, sorr......”

Ayano moved her hand to shut Kazuma up. With all of her concentration, she mercilessly and unhesitatingly swung the Enraiha.

“Oh oh!”

Kazuma easily shifted his body and avoided her initial swing. Following his movements, Ayano slashed diagonally upwards, but Kazuma escaped to the left.

(Don't even think about escaping!)

Ayano twisted her hand and pulled Enraiha back. With the blade pointed at Kazuma, she stepped out forcefully, ready to lunge forward with a stab......

“Nee-sama!”

Since Ren rushed over and hugged Ayano's waist tightly, Enraiha missed its target.

“What are you doing, Ren? Get away now!!”

“No! Now is not the time to be doing this, is it!?”

Ayano was speechless at being reprimanded by a boy four years younger.

"Nii-sama too! Why did you do something so detestable!?"

Ren directed the blame to Kazuma as well. The youth had finally gotten his responsibility up by now, realizing that nothing good would come out of leaving the two of them to do as they wish.

“I didn't annoy her.”

“Then why did you say all of that?”

Ren continued to ask Kazuma, who was replying randomly. A distrustful aura surrounded him.

“Just relieving some stress. That's all.”

“.................................”

“The one who was supposed to be our final weapon turned out to be a little kitten. Anyone would want to complain, right?”

“Nee...... Nee-sama...... Calm down......”

Ren tried his best to comfort Ayano, who seemed ready to explode.

“......I know. I won't get angry anymore, so you can let go now.”

Ayano, weakened by Ren's face that was on the verge of tears, said that with some measure of calmness. She exhaled as if letting out all the air in her lungs, relaxing her rage in the process.

“By the way, did you take care of Hyoue?”

“Nope, he escaped.”

"......What?"

Ayano suddenly shouted back. No matter what she said, she had deep faith in Kazuma's powers. If Kazuma was actually unable to finish off someone like Hyoue......

“......What happened?”

“That old man summoned over a hundred youma at once. I was busy taking care of that when he took the chance to run off.”

“Over a hundred?”

Seeing the doubtful Ayano, Ren confirmed Kazuma's words.

“It is true, Nee-sama. Youma that blocked all vision! Nii-sama used one move to get rid of all of them! The reason why we failed to catch Hyoue was......”

(To save Nee-sama......)

Kazuma stopped Ren from completing that sentence. Kazuma pressed his fingertip onto Ren's lips, awkwardly silencing him.

“What are you trying to hide?”

“Nothing important. Anyway, the biggest problem now is Ryuuya. If this happens again, we'll die for sure.”

“......You still intend to fight?”

Hearing this, Kazuma proceeded to judge the cowering Ayano.

(I never expected her to be so weak mentally.)

But now was definitely not the time to let her continue being depressed. He planned to fight against that monster alone, but the suffering and efforts had to be shared by everyone. That is Kazuma's belief.

“What, are you scared? Well, I won't blame you, since you lost so miserably just now. The next time you're caught, I promise not to laugh.”

After being completely humiliated in such a way, Ayano's cheeks became so red she put on blushers.

“Even if I can't win, at least I can commit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku seppuku] before the enemy catches me! I won't leave even a cell to those guys! I have that kind of determination, so don't look down on me!”

She rebutted angrily. Her spirit was plenty, but the content was unacceptable.

Unsure of how to respond, Kazuma's eyebrows creased together as Ayano continued,

“What I meant was that we should head back and reorganize our fighting force. Since Ren is already rescued, there shouldn't be any risk of the seal breaking, so......”

“Rejected.”

Kazuma bluntly refused Ayano's suggestion.

“It won't work out if we're attacked while moving. If the entire transport vehicle is destroyed, are you sure you can escape?”

“But they won't be stupid enough to kill Ren, would they? If they do that, they can't break the seal.”

“Hyoue's goal is to destroy the Kannagi clan. From the looks of it, he hates the Kannagi clan to the core. Releasing the seal placed upon their god was probably just one of the ways he planned to do it.”

Even though he used the word "probably", Kazuma was actually very certain. If Ayano saw that insane hatred with her own eyes, perhaps she would be able to understand!

To Hyoue, God or Devil is nothing but power. In his heart, he only thinks about how he can use them. Since he had Ryuuya, who could be used to destroy the Kannagi clan, he did not need to obsessed over breaking the seal of their god.

"Besides, they'd win if they kill us. My old man is now heavy with injuries......"

“That was your fault!”

“Don't talk about that right now. No matter how powerful the clan chief may be, his body can't fight. The branch family is completely useless. In other words, if we die, it means the end of the Kannagi clan. Got it?”

After hearing his logical analysis, Ayano had no way of rebutting. Even though she knew that Kazuma was right, her body naturally rejected the fact that she would have to fight against Ryuuya once more.

But before she could recollect herself, Kazuma raised his head to look into the sky.

“No time to think...... We've been found.”

“......? Didn't you set up a kekkai?”

“Yeah, but after what the two of you did, I doubt it'll last.”

“......I'm so sorry.”

“It's okay...... By the way, Ren.”

“Ah, yes?”

Ren, who was called suddenly, replied in a rising voice.

Kazuma then made a cruel declaration,

“Hyoue will definitely target you, because he'd still want the power of a God. But we'll be struggling with just Ryuuya, so there's no way we can protect you. Therefore, handle your own problems by yourself.”

This sentence seemed to imply "you might as well die if you're a nuisance", so Ren became tense upon hearing it. But he recovered in a while, and looked back at his brother with determined eyes.

“I...... I got it. I can handle someone like Hyoue by myself. If I lose, I shall commit seppuku before I get caught, so I won't cause any trouble for Nii-sama. Will that do?”

Ren said, with a pale face.

Kazuma, unsure whether to laugh or cry, stared at Ren, and then turned his head to Ayano.

“Man, because you said such stupid things, now Ren has no clue what he's fighting so hard for.”

“What stupid things? As the main family of the Kannagi clan, this kind of determination is only natural!”

Kazuma, rather than concerning himself with Ayano, turned to Ren instead. He grabbed the tiny head that stood before his chest.

“Wha...... What's the matter, Nii-sama?”

“Ren, let me tell you the rules of this game. 'The survivor always wins'. Simple enough?”

Ren was at a loss due to the sudden roughness, but Kazuma continued without caring.

“Someone without the will to live will lose for sure. This is a rule that will never change, so remember that.

Listen well. You're just a kid - No one thinks you're of much use, so just doing what you can will be enough.”

“Doing what I can......?”

“That'd be 'to live'. Don't try to beautify death with terms like 'self-sacrifice'. Death is the end of everything. You'll lose your past, present and future in an instant. There is no way to start over. It is the absolute end.”

Unable to lose nor sacrifice, Kazuma could not accept exchanging the future of a twelve year old for peace.

He did not want to lose anything important anymore.

“But as long as you're still alive, there will be a chance to turn the tables around. So, even if your teeth are knocked out, you have to swallow them back along with your blood. No matter how pathetic or shameful it seems, never give up on surviving. Even if you must struggle to the very last moment, that is your battle. Can you do it?”

Kazuma looked at Ren closely, and Ren returned his gaze in the same way.

Never give up, never throw hope away - That is what is required to win. That is what Ren learned from Kazuma. His pale face regained its natural color, and the dread of being pushed to a dead-end faded from his eyes.

(I am not alone.

There are people who protect me, people who support me, so all I need to do is finish whatever I can. Because this is the best way to make the current me, who is still immature, useful.)

“Yes!”

Hearing such an energetic reply, Kazuma gave off a gentle smile. Ren was comfortable with having his head rubbed so roughly.

“So then...”

Kazuma pushed Ren backwards lightly and told Ayano, without shifting his eyes,

“......He's here.”

Ayano raised her head to look into the sky. As if slicing open the blue sky, a black shadow darker than darkness itself emerged from a point in the sky. Following that, the shadow expanded quickly, clearly revealing its face.

“So he's here......”

Ayano mumbled in a trembling voice after seeing a human shadow form.

The black shadow, who seemed to be able absorb all light just by opening its arms like wings, landed on the ground. Kazuma smiled evilly at the demonic opponent that stood there silently.

"Now, let round two begin......"

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| Return to [[Kaze_no_Stigma|Main Page]]
| Back to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
| Forward to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
|-
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</noinclude>

The Circumstances Leading to Waltraute's Marriage:Volume1 Chapter 1

2013-01-06T05:23:07Z

68.116.215.178: /* Part 7 */

==Chapter 1: Jack and the Beanstalk was Set to a Backdrop of Norse Mythology==

===Part 1===

A Valkyrie descended to the human world of Midgard.

She had long blonde hair and white skin. She was tall for a woman, but had a much more slender frame than a man. It was a balance that could not be maintained by any soul born of a human mother. Her beauty was not the type that was meant to draw the opposite sex to her. Her beauty was wrapped in a chill like a flower offered up to a slaughtered foe.

Her appearance was that of a woman in her mid-twenties, but human aging did not apply to a Valkyrie. She had been fighting for much, much longer than that.

The armor she wore was green. However, that was just one aspect of the armor. It was magic armor that could freely change its properties to suit the situation. The aurora seen in the northern sky was actually the constantly changing light produced by a Valkyrie's armor.

She held what looked like a bluish-white spear in her right hand, but it was made up of the very lightning that fell from the sky. A swing of her weapon was enough to slaughter all who had made themselves enemies of the heavenly world of Asgard. They would be destroyed down to their souls and unable to even join the realm of the dead. That divine punishment was known as the Spear of Destroying Lightning and it held enough destructive power to warrant such a name.

“Is that all?”

She was surrounded by nothing but rubble.

The name of the maiden who glowed radiantly amid the blackened scenery was Waltraute.

She was tall but only when compared to a human woman. Even so, she stood triumphant above all those around her. She had crushed, wiped out, and burned away all those who had been taller or larger than her.

No one could imagine that a false temple gaudily decorated with gold and marble had stood there not long before. All that remained was black. Pitch black. The garish decorations had been torn down and all that was left had turned pure black as if to attest to their sins.

Sinners.

Heretics.

Those rebels who had joined with the giants to intentionally create monsters and then used the offspring as slaves had all been purged. They had committed three major sins. Loving those beyond their species was not one of them. It was joining with the giants for their own personal greed that had been one of those sins. The second had been using the offspring as tools. Even if they were half human, using anyone with a human soul as a tool was a sin. And the last was that they had offered up their young to join with the giants rather than doing it themselves. It had been judged that the ultimate punishment was required.

…Actually, Odin had only ordered Waltraute to sort out the souls of the youths who were like to die in the disturbance and lead only those necessary to Valhalla, the great hall of the heavenly world. However, she had used a bit too much strength as she had a tendency to do.

Thanks to that, it had all ended before a large-scale tragedy could occur, and all of the owners of the souls she was supposed to guide had survived.

There was a reason Valkyries did not stand at the top of everything even though they were the strongest when it came to pure power.

Without giving even a glance to the survivors who had their heads hanging down, Waltraute looked up into the sky and spoke to someone who was not present.

“Report. Situation 3469 is complete. …I suppose the ruler on the throne is angry again. But I suppose the queen of the realm of the dead is also gnashing her teeth at missing out on those impure souls. With that in mind, let’s just call this even.”

The humans living in Midgard would likely be unable to understand some of what the gods said. They purposefully tried to keep the humans from understanding more than they had to.

“Understood. So I have authorization to return. Tell Heimdallr to guide me along the route. Over.”

As she finished speaking, a single ray of light burst through the dark clouds above her head. It fell directly atop Waltraute. The next thing she knew, a giant white horse was standing next to her. Waltraute climbed atop the horse and her hair floated up unnaturally. Once that change in gravity reached the white horse’s giant body as well, Waltraute’s very existence would be temporarily split into pieces and she would leave the human world of Midgard while overcoming all forms of aerodynamic restrictions.

But then…

An error occurred in the return process.

A boy was weakly clinging onto Waltraute’s right leg as she sat atop the white horse.

“A survivor, hm?” said the Valkyrie with an emotionless look in her eyes. “Do you wish to head to Valhalla to experience the battles of the heavenly world? You need not be so hasty. If you continue to possess such a valiant and just soul, that time will surely come.”

“So beautiful.”

The boy’s context-less comment was spoken with a hoarse voice.

He was looking at Waltraute’s golden hair that was reflecting the light shining down on her.

“Can I have some?”

Waltraute fell silent.

Valkyries had but one role to play for the humans of Midgard…or so it should have been. From experience, she knew there were irregular situations that would occasionally occur.

In other words…

Sometimes, a man would fall in love with a Valkyrie.

“I am sorry, but I cannot do that,” she replied with an icy voice.

The boy did not seem to understand the situation.

“Why not?”

“We live in different worlds. The world tree Yggdrasil divides up the nine worlds. The divisions between worlds may only be crossed for the purposes of a battle. That is why I am here in Midgard now. Crossing those divisions for no reason would cause a battle in and of itself.”

“Ohh…” The boy’s mouth opened wide but it was unclear what exactly seemed to have impressed the boy. “So you can’t stay here?”

“I am not saying I cannot, but I see no rational reason to do so.”

“Mhh…”

“?”

“I can’t accept that. This isn’t the time to talk about things in that way.”

“Hm?” Waltraute looked slightly puzzled.

Waltraute did not understand the subtleties of human romance, so she chose the method her experience had taught her was the quickest option of dealing with such problems.

She grabbed the Spear of Destroying Lightning in her right hand.

She intentionally made it start noisily sending sparks flying every which way.

“Whatever the reason may be and whatever that person may say, a Valkyrie has the authority to deem anyone who stands in her way as evil. Be warned that anyone who blocks my path is destined to fall defeated before me.”

“Hm? Hmm? So if I beat you, you’ll do whatever I ask you?”

“Mh!? Wait a second!! What kind of roundabout thinking led you to that conclusion!? I was merely saying that anyone who got in my way would meet a bitter fate!!”

“I see… So I could marry you…”

“You’re just assuming you would win!! A-ahem. Soul born in the human world of Midgard, do you truly believe that frail glow of yours is enough to stand up to Waltraute, the fourth sister of the nine Valkyries?”

“Let’s fight!! Let’s fight!! Waltraute, tell me the rules of the fight!!”

“Dammit! I let my name slip out!?”

But Waltraute was not so cruel as to actually begin a competition of strength with that boy of Midgard as she would utterly demolish him.

(Oh, I know. I can give this human an utterly impossible challenge.)

That was the standard pattern for goddesses and princesses from all over the world both in ancient and modern times.

Waltraute cleared her throat and said, “My challenge to you is to scale the world tree Yggdrasil with your own strength. Once you arrive at the heavenly world of Asgard, I will accept your marriage proposal.”

(There is no way he can do it. Not even a Valkyrie like me could manage that. A soul born in the human world will likely be too overcome with awe upon seeing the world tree Yggdrasil to even touch it.)

“…What does ‘scale’ mean?”

“It means ‘climb’ and is usually used in the context of a mountain or a cliff!! I am telling you to climb up that giant tree with just those two hands of yours!!”

“Ehh!?”

“Th-that’s right. How about that? Can’t do it, can you? Simply impossible, isn’t it? Give up here and join with a human woman like a proper human man. A neighborhood childhood friend can be a surprisingly excellent choice. And now, I will be going.”

“All you have to do is climb a tree and you get to marry a Valkyrie!? I-I have to go tell everyone!!”

“Wait!! This is not a custom of my race! This is a competition that is only valid between the two of us!! If a large number of humans begin trying to climb the world tree Yggdrasil, the head god Odin will mistake it for a rebellion!!”

“Then I’ll climb it! If I climb Yggdrasil, I get to marry you, right!? You’re the one that said it, Waltraute!!”

“Mh.”

It seemed the boy truly intended to attempt the challenge, but Waltraute could not treat the challenge lightly as it was a competition with a winner and a loser.

The Valkyries were the members of the gods that dealt with battles and they were something like the strict guardians of competitions in the human world of Midgard.

Whose jurisdiction the world tree Yggdrasil fell under was a bit vague, but the competition was rooted in the human world of Midgard, so she had to be strict about it.

Also…

If the challenge was nothing more than something the boy had come up with, Waltraute could simply refuse to participate. However, Waltraute had been the one to suggest the challenge and the boy had accepted. That meant the competition had become official the second the boy had okayed it. Waltraute could not back out now.

“F-fine then. I will accept the competition. But a soul of Midgard will never be able to scale the world tree Yggdrasil.”

“I can do it.”

“The heavenly world of Asgard is literally above the clouds. If you run out of strength partway up and fall off, only death awaits you. Are you still willing?”

“I can do it.”

Even under Waltraute’s icy gaze that could cause heretics and even giants and dragons to tremble in fear, the human boy gave a defiant response.

(Those are the eyes of a warrior.)

But in the next instant, the boy gave a big grin, swung one arm around in a circle, and said, “Okay, I’ll climb up before you know it! Once I’m ready, I’ll head to Yggdrasil, so you wait at the goal point in Asgard!! That’s another rule!!”

“Wait,” said Waltraute suddenly from atop the white horse. “Why do you wish to marry me so much?”

“Hm?” The boy replied almost immediately. “Because you’re beautiful.”

“…”

“Waltraute, I will definitely climb up Yggdrasil, and we’ll get married when I do!!”

Once Waltraute returned to the heavenly world of Asgard, Heimdallr the watchman asked her a question.

“…Why didn’t you just refuse?”

A Valkyrie usually remained completely expressionless, but Waltraute’s cheeks reddened slightly and her eyes darted away when he asked that question.

“O-once the competition had been established, I could hardly just refuse him outright!!”

Heimdallr had been wondering why she had not simply returned to Asgard from the beginning, but before he could say anything further, Waltraute’s eyes darted away once more and she continued speaking.

“That’s…That’s right. It’s a competition, so I had no choice!! I am a strict guardian of competitions after all! Whatever it may entail, I must let it carry out to its conclusion once it has been established!!”

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re letting this go because he said you were beautiful and said he would marry you after he managed to climb u-…Eeee! Eeee!!””

“Could you explain to me what part of what I said led you to believe that? And could you give an explanation for why you are grinning like that?”

“I-is this invisible wall that is hard as thick concrete nothing but your aura of intimidation!? No, wait! I get it! I get it! Don’t bring out the Spear of Destroying Lightning! Wait, wait!!”

Heimdallr trembled in fear when faced with that grand destructive power that was being used to hide Waltraute’s embarrassment.

Whatever she may have said, her true feelings were clearly visible on her face.

Most everyone was too frightened of her to try, but Waltraute was surprisingly weak to those who maintained a strong will while interacting with her.

===Part 2===

On one end of the heavenly world of Asgard were the seven runways of Bifröst.

They may have been known as “runways”, but the process by which they were used was quite complex. The user’s “existence” was split into pieces, and they could then be freely sent to any of the 9 worlds while ignoring all aerodynamic restrictions. It was not a complete “teleportation”. Technically, the user was accelerated to 97% of the speed of light, but the size of the nine worlds meant it was more or less instantaneous.

The Valkyrie armor that was broken to pieces along with Waltraute would react and spread out. That process caused a giant aurora to fill the night sky when a Valkyrie was sent flying through the sky.

It was largely due to Bifröst and the Valkyries that the Æsir were able to display such tremendous power in the nine worlds. It took a slight amount of time to begin the process, but in exchange, a military force made up of the Valkyries and the spirits of the dead known as Einherjar that were under their control could be sent wherever they were needed. The earlier annihilation of the heretics should be enough to demonstrate how much of a threat that was.

And…

Waltraute was now peering down to the human world of Midgard from the edge of Bifröst. Heimdallr the watchman was in charge of controlling Bifröst, so he was utterly fed up with the Valkyrie that was obstructing the path.

“Um, if you stay there, the 3rd runway can’t be used…”

“You have seven of them. The loss of one or two is no big deal.”

“Um, do you have any idea how many dozens of flights come through every hour? This is an issue of efficiency and distribution. You’re causing a traffic jam. Surely you know how blocking a seemingly empty lane can cause a huge backup on the highway. If you block the 3rd runway, the percentage of late flights will jump up to-…”

“What is your point?”

“Oh…um…nothing…I guess…Sigh…”

When she glared at him, Heimdallr shrunk down like he was preparing to close himself up in a small box.

While crouched down, Heimdallr said, “But was there really any reason to take that verbal promise seriously?”

“H-hmph! I do not think that boy from Midgard can climb the world tree Yggdrasil. But now that the competition has been established, I must see it through to the end as a Valkyrie. In the best case, he will make it to the base of the world tree and be too overwhelmed to do anything more. In the worst case, his awe upon seeing Yggdrasil will be too great and he will not even make it to the base.”

“…So in the ‘worst case’, the boy doesn’t even come for you?”

The glance that was as sharp as a spear that Heimdallr received in response to his unwanted comment caused his entire body to freeze in place. He realized he could not make his body any smaller than it already was.

Waltraute composed herself and said, “At any rate, I am only watching over this competition to its end. And that end will be the boy’s loss. If he does not show up, that counts as a loss. Once that happens, I will be freed from this nonsensical verbal promise of marriage.”

“Um…”

“It is true that the boy had the eyes of warrior when he announced he would climb the world tree. Those were the eyes of someone with a will strong enough to challenge a Valkyrie to a competition. But words are cheap. He is sure to lose his nerve when he sees the true recklessness of this challenge…Why are you interrupting me?”

“The boy has arrived.”

“!?!?!?”

Waltraute frantically looked back over the edge of the 3rd runway and to the human world of Midgard.

“Impossible…Impossible!! Does that boy have no fear of death!?”

“ ‘That he would go this far for an unrefined, battle-crazy girl that wears armor year-round like me just sets my heart aflutt-…’ No, I was just kidding! Please! Please forgive me! I won’t make any more liberal translations of your thoughts, so please spare me from the lightning!!” As Heimdallr held his hands up to cover his head, he looked down toward the surface. “J-Jack Elvan was it? According to the data we have on him, he comes from the middle class on Midgard.”

But of course, the boy had not arrived in Asgard.

The base of Yggdrasil was in Midgard. The boy had made it to that giant tree.

He truly seemed intent on climbing up that tree.

Any normal human would have been too filled with awe at the site of Yggdrasil and with a general fear of heading to another world to even think about trying to climb the world tree. Nevertheless, that boy had burst through those limitations.

It was called a tree, but the trunk was as thick as a standard-sized city was wide, so it felt more like rock climbing. The complexly intertwined branches and hollows almost turned it into something like a labyrinth.

Waltraute used magic to enhance her already superhuman senses (not that she was human in the first place), so she just had to stare down with her eyes wide to see every step the boy took.

At the base of the world tree, the boy said, “I have my handkerchief, some snacks for if I get hungry, and a water bottle. Okay, time to go.”

“He’s extremely lightly equipped!! Wait, he’s not even wearing boots! Those are sandals! At least prepare a lifeline…Ah, he started climbing! He really started climbing!! He started climbing up Yggdrasil in sandals! What do I do!?”

“…Th-there would be nothing wrong with you heading down to save him, right? You can just head down and grab him. I can open up one of Bifröst’s runways for you.”

“You fool!!!!” Waltraute’s iron fist sent Heimdallr’s giant form rolling across the runway like a pebble. “I am a heavenly being that rules over battles and I watch over all events with a winner and a loser!! I cannot interfere in a competition with clear rules!!”

“B-bghh…bbh…”

Heimdallr let out a groan without even a shred of intelligence in it, but he was not listening to what Waltraute was saying. He had more important worries.

Meanwhile, something happened down at the surface.

Even though Asgard was literally above the clouds, the boy was sitting on a branch and reaching for his water bottle after only climbing about 10 meters.

“Hahh…I’m exhausted.”

“You weakling!!” shouted Waltraute.

“U-um, ten meters is pretty high up for a human,” commented Heimdallr.

“That is not the issue here! He said that he would climb Yggdrasil and marry me. Even if the reward is completely ridiculous, it is still a sacred competition with a Valkyrie. And yet…And yet…that bastard!! Only 10 meters!? That is an insult to the one whose fate hangs in the balance here, is it not!?”

“Um…So basically you’re upset about that being as far as his feelings for you went and you want him to try a little harder? …Gyaaahhh! I’m sorry!!”

Waltraute seemed to want to avoid using her overwhelming strength on Heimdallr himself (despite the punch from earlier), so she started destroying the runway of Bifröst. Heimdallr began apologizing with all his strength because Bifröst’s destruction would do serious social damage to him.

But then he noticed something.

He pointed down toward the surface and said, “Look at that. There’s something down there!”

“Mh?”

Waltraute looked down and spotted a white cat approaching the boy who was resting on a branch of Yggdrasil.

For some reason the cat was able to speak the human language.

“Hey, there. What are you doing here? It’s dangerous being this high up. You’ll get hurt if you fall.”

“…That’s surprisingly good advice for a talking cat,” commented Heimdallr.

“…”

The boy responded by saying, “I’m climbing the world tree. Waltraute is waiting for me.”

“I-I am not waiting!!”

“But you aren’t trying to stop him either,” added Heimdallr.

“Of course not. This is a serious competition!!”

The cat then said, “But look up. Do you really think you can climb all the way up there?”

“I can,” replied the boy.

“How about you head down instead. If you go to Jötunheimr, you can find some magic water<ref> This may refer to '''Mímisbrunnr''', the magical water who holds wisdom. Odin sacrificed one eye to drink from this well </ref> that will give you any knowledge you wish for.”

“But Waltraute isn’t there.”

“If you drink the water of knowledge, homework will never be a problem again.”

“…Really?”

“Really, really. So give up on going somewhere as boring as Asgard and come with me to-…”

That was when Waltraute threw the Spear of Destroying Lightning.

With a tremendous noise, a bluish-white spear stabbed down in a straight line from heaven to earth. It passed directly in front of the boy and mercilessly struck the talking white cat down to the very depths of the surface.

Lightning.

The symbol of divine punishment.

While breathing erratically, Waltraute shouted down at the surface knowing full well her voice would not reach.

“Don’t interfere with a serious competition, you fool!! Do you want him to gain a body that cannot even reach the realm of the dead!?”

“Th-the kitty… The pretty kitty…!?” said Heimdallr.

“That was actually the Midgard Serpent!!<ref>Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, was one of three children fathered on the giantess Angroba by Loki, the Norse god of mischief and trickery.</ref> When Útgarða-Loki tricked Thor, that giant snake aided in Útgarða-Loki’s illusions by transforming into a cat to leave Thor unprepared!! Look, the transformation is starting to come off. Creepy scales are starting to cover its body!! No competition can be fair with a monster like that involved!!”

“Oh, you’re right. It really is Jörmungandr,” said Heimdallr.

Waltraute folded her arms in front of her armor’s breastplate.

“Honestly. Even a beast powerful enough to stand on the same level as Thor is getting in the way… This is why you cannot take fate lightly. That boy need only think of the competition. Giving him that is proper manners as his opponent.”

“But the boy seems worried about the snake that fell to the surface. He’s climbing back down to check on it.”

“~ ~ ~!! Take. This. Competition. Seriously!!”

Waltraute started childishly stomping her feet in frustration, but she had only just declared that she would not directly interfere.

===Part 3===

After looking after the cat that had fallen to the surface, the boy began climbing Yggdrasil once more. (Incidentally, the cat tried to warn the boy again, but this time out of actual devotion rather than as a trick. However, it was driven off by a number of Spears of Destroying Lightning. She insisted this was because she would be responsible if the boy ended up getting to know the snake in the middle of the challenge.)

“So you don’t want him looking at anyone but you?”

“Ah?”

Heimdallr the watchman curled up under the crushing pressure of the piercing glare and immense aura of intimidation that were sent his way.

After the interlude with the cat, the boy continued to climb up the giant tree without obstruction. (Or rather, nothing was able to approach him while Waltraute had her frightening gaze on him.) As nothing was happening, Heimdallr started letting out yawn after yawn, but Waltraute’s gaze was as intent as ever.

“At this rate, he might actually make it all the way up.”

“Tch!! But if that happens, I have no choice! This was a serious competition!! I, Waltraute the fourth of the nine Valkyrie sisters, will of course perfectly carry out her duty as the loser! E-even if that means I must marry him!!”

“I see. I see.” Heimdallr had grown bored, so he carelessly let a comment slip out. “You keep going on about marriage, but what exactly do you plan to let that boy do once you marry him? Are you prepared to ask him the age old question of, ‘Would you like dinner, a bath, or the third option which you had damn well better choose’?”

“I-I am not going to lose, you fool!!”

“Of course, the acrobatics of the naked apron are basically a given with newlyweds.”

“Wh-what? What is this naked apron you speak of?”

“Well, you take it and you do this,” said Heimdallr as he explained it mostly with some vague gestures.

“…!?!?!?”

Without thinking, Waltruate brought down her fist and Heimdallr very nearly became one with the 3rd runway.

“B-bbhh!! Bgegbgbb!!”

“H-how much of an idiot are you!? I simply cannot believe that you could have such perverted thoughts!!”

“G-gbh… But the passion of newlyweds often leads them to cross those perverted lines. They tend to calm down a bit after a year, though.”

“S-so my loss comes with that kind of penalty?”

“You’ll have to head into the bath to wash his back and feed him small fruits directly from your mouth. Oh, and youthful indiscretions put serving him food on your nude body just barely in the range of the acceptable. By the way, I prefer the dolce type with whipped cream and strawberries over the proper type that uses seafood.”

“Wait, wait, wait!! How can the word marriage have so many different chips piled up on top of it!?”

“But I thought you weren’t going to lose.”

“Uuh…!?”

“No matter how many chips are piled up, it doesn’t matter so long as you win, right?”

“Th-that is exactly right.”

While trembling, Waltraute folded her arms in front of her breastplate and struck an impressive pose. She then shouted from the bottom of her gut.

“N-none of it matters as long as I do not lose! I just have to win!! As a Valkyrie, a heavenly being that rules over battles, I am a master of competitions!! I do not even need to think about the possibility of losing!! Mutter, mutter…”

“But the job of a Valkyrie is to gather the souls of those who valiantly died in battle, so aren’t you actually more associated with the losing side of-…bgyaaahhh!! Don’t strike me on the end of my elbow like that! Ah, my arm’s gone numb!!”

As those residents of the heavenly world argued, something changed.

“Hmm. He seems to be having trouble.”

“Look how high he is. He is bound to get tired after climbing a tree this long. In fact, I think climbing up using pure physical strength and without any guidance from you would be impossible even for the human Siegfried in his heyday. I am a Valkyrie and I am not even sure if I could do it.”

“No, that isn’t what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Well…” Heimdallr pulled out a clear stone slate and called up a few pieces of data. “The world tree Yggdrasil does not actually divide up the nine worlds. And it holds up the heavens and the earth.”

“So?”

“Um, do you know the relationship between altitude and atmospheric pressure? The higher you go, the less oxygen there is. Divine beings like us are fine, but I think a human child is in trouble if he does not have oxygen.”

“…”

Waltraute’s face gradually paled.

“So…what exactly…does that mean?”

“We know for a fact that boy is climbing Yggdrasil and approaching Asgard,” said Heimdallr as he looked at the data. “But the closer a human gets to the heavenly world, the closer he gets to death. I believe that boy will die if he does arrive…”

“Wait, wait, wait.”

Waltraute stopped Heimdallr with one hand.

If the boy lost, his hopes would be dashed, and if he won, he would die.

Waltraute insisted that she had no desire at all to marry the boy, but she could not stand for the competition to be unfair.

Basically, Valkyries were obsessed with competitions.

Brynhildr, the oldest sister, had once failed in a similar issue involving marriage. The human Siegfried had cheated on her (he had been given a potion to erase his memories, so he had not realized what he was doing), so she had plotted his death. When that plot had succeeded, she attempted to take her own life.

“I made sure to report this incident to Odin and received proper authorization for the competition. We cannot have him treating a child climbing the tree as a rebel after all. And that eyepatched god of war vouched for the fairness of the competition. The head god saw this as a fair competition, so why is something like this happening!?”

“Maybe this was the reason Odin gave you authorization.”

“What…?”

“That bearded old man does not hesitate to cause wars in the human world just to obtain some skilled souls of those killed in battle. Actually trying to climb Yggdrasil would require bravery on a ridiculous level and everything is going well so far. That god of war would want a soul like that very, very badly. In other words, he might have purposefully overlooked the flaw in the rules in order to have that boy die and join the Einherjar.”

===Part 4===

His actual feelings were a bit more complicated.

In the great hall at the innermost portion of Valhalla, the one-eyed war god Odin sat on an extremely ostentatious throne. He exchanged a glance with his wife Frigg.

Odin looked about 40 and Frigg about 30, so they did not particularly look the part of the gods who had watched the entire history of the world. However, their appearance had no connection to their age because they had eaten the apples of immortality grown by the goddess Iðunn.

“I am opposed to this,” said Frigg. “Whatever your reasons may be, you are interfering with their efforts to acquire a family. Not to mention killing one of them.”

“You only think that because you are the goddess of marriage. And I think the way I do because I am the god of war and battle.”

“…”

“We cannot allow Waltraute to join with a human boy. Surely you know that intellectually even if you feel otherwise.”

“Are you referring to the fact that the Valkyries are a set of nine and that set is what controls the military force of Einherjar?”

“Even if they are nine individuals, their essences are connected. Waltraute alone is the same as the other eight. If she yields to a single human, that binds the other eight as well. The right to command the entire force of Einherjar will indirectly fall to that boy.”

“Yes, the Wagner Method. But is there any reason to go along with it? If you kick out Waltraute, you should still be able to maintain the Valkyrie system.”

“One role of the Valkyries is to provide a link between gods and men. They cannot be reorganized based simply on the circumstances of the gods. That is the entire point of the Wagner Method and why their form is that which is easiest to imagine for humans. …Surely you know why the Valkyries appear as beautiful women,” said Odin lightly as he sat atop his throne.

His throne was named Hliðskjálf and it gave any who sat in it the power to see across the entire world. Wagner was a very out of place name for that setting and time period, but he was able to use that throne to draw in information from “other places”.

“This is quite a problem,” said Odin despite not sounding troubled in the slightest. “We cannot have things turn out like that. Why do you think we have been gathering the souls of those who died in battle? It is all for the sake of the final war of Ragnarök. The evil spirits and giants are bad enough, so we do not need a third force joining in the fray.”

“And so you are going to take that boy’s life?”

“It is only a problem because it is a marriage between equals.” Odin gave a bitter smile to Frigg’s criticism. “But a Valkyrie has complete control over the souls of those who have died in battle. The opposite cannot be. Once that boy has died and become an Einherjar, Waltraute will have control over him. Once that happens, he cannot control Waltraute. Nor can he gain control over the Einherjar forces. Once that happens, we can happily celebrate their marriage.”

He took the idea of human life so lightly because he was the god of war.

He was not a god that protected those participating in a war; he was a god who preserved the state of war itself.

To those who got wrapped up in the war, he may have seemed like a wandering disaster (with a will of its own).

Frigg on the other hand was a goddess who helped humans join together and create new life, so she could only sigh. People often had difficulty understanding how the goddess of all types of marriage could end up married to someone as horrible as him.

[[Image:Waltraute_v01_037.jpg|thumb]]

But with the way the head god was, it would have been difficult for the world to continue on without a productive goddess like her by his side.

“At any rate, that boy must die no matter what you think.”

“I do not wish for that boy to fall in battle. If he does, their relationship will no longer fall into the category of marriage,” said Frigg. “Also, even if that a boy loses his life here, there is no guarantee that he will be picked up as an Einherjar, is there?”

“That is not my responsibility.” Odin shrugged. “I control those humans who have valiant souls. If he does not meet that requirement, then I have no duty to protect him. I am not about to steal a soul that has fallen into the realm of the dead.”

“I see.” Frigg sighed. “While that child may look gentle, a lot of violent emotions are hidden within. Do not blame me for what happens if this plot of yours is discovered.”

“Ha ha. What can a single angry human do?”

“That is not who I meant.” Frigg looked over toward the entrance of the great hall. “I was referring to Waltraute.”

In the next instant, a great trembling shook Valhalla.

At first, Odin thought a large explosion had occurred within. It sounded like the gods had started fighting to the death.

But he was wrong.

The tremendous vibrations continued and grew closer as they did. This was not the sound of a fight. Finally, Odin realized what it was.

“Footsteps…?” Sweat dripped down the ridges of the head god’s nose. “Mere footsteps are giving off this much resolve? Wait, I never gave Waltraute this much output!!”

“Anger over your interference with the competition is just a front. A maiden’s rage can grow without limit when something gets in the way of her love. But I suppose a god of war would not know anything about that.”

“Kh. In other words, that boy carelessly crossing between the nine worlds has caused a distortion in the very concept of battles!? How much did the three Norn goddesses of destiny know about this? Is this going to hasten the final war of Ragnarök!?”

“Sigh. You war-obsessed idiot…”

The doors of the entrance burst open. The thunder god Thor, who held the #2 spot when it came to power, came tumbling into the great hall.

“E-eee!! Father!! Father!!”

“What is it, Thor? Your face looks beat up and your hair is all frizzy!”

“I-I lost in a battle of thunder… My entire identity as the thunder god has been denied, so what am I to do now!?”

The area on the other side of the open doors was pitch black.

The killer intent emitted by sapient beings was supposed to be invisible, yet Odin clearly saw an illusion before his eyes.

It was obvious who was emitting it.

The darkness and thickness of the shadow showed the approach of the danger.

As he leaned against the wall on one side of the great hall, Loki gave a thin smile and said, “…Hm. The world destroyed by a single love. Not bad.”

“When the hell did you get here!? And don’t think you can become the star if you keep making those Chuunibyou-esque comments, you lover of temporary pleasures!!”

Odin had fallen into a complete panic, so he started yelling at someone completely unrelated to the danger at hand. Seeing that, Frigg brought one hand to her cheek and sighed yet again.

She had to wonder why all the men in the heavenly world knew so little about the subtleties of romance and never did anything for women.

She silently thought they could learn a thing or two from that boy, but actually said, “At least try to calm her down. This is a little too soon for you to be heading into the twilight, don’t you think?”

===Part 5===

Ignorant of the issues involved for those adults (or rather, gods), the boy continued grabbing at the rough bark of the world tree Yggdrasil on his way to Asgard.

However, his breathing grew erratic.

His face grew pale.

He entered an altitude sickness-like state, but it would not end there. As he continued on, there would be even less oxygen and the atmospheric pressure would fall. As the air grew thinner, the temperature dropped due to the loss of the atmosphere’s insulation. A cold wind reminiscent of midwinter blew through the area around the boy.

It would not have been surprising had he stopped there.

But if he lost consciousness, he would end up falling down to the surface from that high altitude.

As the boy continued grabbing the bark despite the blood oozing from his fingertips, two ravens flew up to him.

They spoke simultaneously.

“Hi there! I’m Muninn!!”

“You’re Huginn!!

“We were forced to run over and give you a message!!”

“We were forced to run over and give you a message!!”

The boy who had not been at all fazed by the talking cat replied, “But you flew.”

“He played the straight man! Now we know you’re not too far gone to do that!!”

“Anyway…ahem. We have a message from Waltraute. Are you ready?”

“…Hm. I really shouldn’t get any help from her while climbing Yggdrasil.”

“This is important information about that very competition. And we don’t really need your permission, so we’ll just tell you. Here goes!”

“Mhh…”

The boy looked displeased, but the ravens’ voices changed.

They now spoke with the voice of that Valkyrie he had met. Muninn and Huginn stood on the boy’s left and right shoulders so the boy could listen to the voice as if he was hearing it via headphones.

“Can you hear me, boy? I now know more or less what that bearded old man is planning. For a human, it seems there is little difference between approaching the heavenly world of Asgard and approaching death. Odin purposefully overlooked that fact to bring you into the army of Einherjar.”

“…”

“If you do not wish to die, climb down from Yggdrasil now. That is what I wish for as well. Surely the marriage you have imagined is not one that occurs after your own death. And I did not set up this challenge for it to have such a ridiculous result.”

The boy fell silent for a bit.

He remained perfectly still while clinging to the bark.

The two ravens tilted their heads as they looked at his face from the side.

Finally, the boy raised his head and said, “You must be enemy characters sent here to mislead me!!”

===Part 6===

Meanwhile, Waltraute tore at her golden hair with both hands as she shot Spears of Destroying Lightning every which way into the sky. This surprised the female driver of the chariot of the sun so much that a solar eclipse very nearly occurred.

She had brushed aside her stubborn posturing and bent her competition-crazy beliefs in order to help that boy, and yet he had rejected it.

“Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! How could this happeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnn!?”

“…And after he showed no doubts about that cat that suddenly started talking.”

For his unnecessary comment, Waltraute grabbed Heimdallr with one hand and swung him around.

Seeing that, Frigg cut in, “Can’t you say you have recognized his great efforts and go save him?”

“I-I…I simply can’t do that, Lady Frigg! Doing so would make the competition invalid preventing it from every being concluded! No conclusion would mean putting it off forever and…no, wait, wait! I would essentially be forfeiting the match myself which would mean…vahhh vahhh!!”

“…Hmm. I see you think more like Odin when it comes to this kind of thing. (Of course, you could resolve everything by proposing to him yourself.)”

Waltraute was too stubborn to do that, but the human boy would obviously be unable to reach Asgard under his own strength.

[[Image:Waltraute_v01_047.jpg|thumb]]

It was obvious she would have to do something to save that boy (and for them to get married, but Waltraute would never admit it herself).

“(Heimdallr, Heimdallr.)”

“(Uuh…Cough. What is it, Lady Frigg?)”

“(Do you have any good ideas as to how to get Waltraute to go to that boy?)”

“(If so, I would not have let her push me around this long.)”

“(How about we send in another Valkyrie?)”

“(She already struck down the Midgard Serpent for interfering. If another Valkyrie approached him, a war amongst the Valkyries would probably break out with them yelling about NTR this and NTR that.)”

“(I have heard that the essences of the nine Valkyries are connected, but I suppose they still fight due to their individual differences.)”

“Hmm…”

The two gods could not think of any truly good ideas.

But as the boy did not have much time, they decided to suggest every idea that came to their mind.

“Waltraute, what if you make it so you lose rather than having the boy win? The competition is set to end when that boy reaches the heavenly world where you are waiting for him. So if you head down to the human world first, you would ‘lose’ and be able to marry him.”

“I cannot do that!! I cannot intentionally lose a competition someone is risking their life over! That would be blaspheming that boy’s serious efforts!!”

“Um… He just has to climb up with his own strength, right? I can send down an airtight flying swan boat for him. He can pedal it himself, so…”

“No, you fool!! He has to do it with his own strength! Tools he prepared himself are one thing, but a tool handed to him by a third party is out of the question!!”

“This Valkyrie is a giant pain in the ass.”

“This Valkyrie is a giant pain in the ass.”

The two gods may have simultaneously grumbled in complaint, but they were not ready to give up yet. That human boy was in real danger (and if he died, Waltraute would likely physically destroy the heavenly world).

However, it seemed Waltraute refused to lend the boy a helping hand no matter what happened and she would use her top-class spear to strike down anyone else who might try to interfere. It was more or less impossible for the boy to reach Asgard under his own strength, so the two gods could only wait as the countdown until the end of the world continued.

But then Frigg clapped her hands together.

“I know! Waltraute, what about this?”

“?”

===Part 7===

As he grabbed at Yggdrasil’s bark, the boy could tell his fingertips were gradually losing feeling. The air was thin, his ears were ringing horribly, and the cold wind ripping into him was robbing his body of heat. His consciousness began to grow cloudy and he could no longer feel pain in his hands that were ripped open and bleeding.

He could climb no further.

Nor could he head back down.

He really did understand. He understood that his request had been reckless. The boy’s young heart accurately came to the conclusion that the pain and cold he was feeling were punishment for trying to obtain what he did not deserve.

But…

He continued on nonetheless.

“…Wal…traute…”

He did not give up. He knew he had been wrong, but he still did not give up. And so the boy ignored the blood flowing from his palm and forced his cloudy mind to make his body move. The boy did indeed continue on up even if it was at a rate no faster than a caterpillar crawling up the tree.

“Wait for me… I will…definitely win…”

And then the boy’s hand slipped.

He did not know if it was due to strength leaving his hand or if it had merely slipped on the blood flowing from it. Even though he could not feel pain, he could still feel that the hand was no longer supporting his weight and that he was beginning to fall. A chill ran down his spine, but he could not stop his body now that it had begun to fall.

The boy’s expression remained unchanged in that final moment

He did even have the presence of mind left to change his expression.

He did only one thing.

He reached out his hand.

He stretched it upwards.

He reached for the giant rough trunk he was supposed to be holding onto.

He was not swinging his arms around in an unsightly desperate attempt to regain his balance. He was trying to continue on despite knowing it was hopeless and impossible.

He knew he could only reach air, but he still stretched out his hand.

In that moment when the boy should have fallen upside down towards the surface, he suddenly felt support return to his body in midair. The next thing he knew, the suffocating lack of oxygen and slicing cold wind were gone. A beam of light had shone down from beyond the dark clouds. And two arms were now supporting the boy.

It was Waltraute.

The golden-haired Valkyrie was riding a white horse.

The boy had no idea how she had appeared, but even as Waltraute held the boy in midair, they continued to fall down according to gravity. However, she expressionlessly had the giant white horse effortlessly land on a narrow branch of the world tree.

The boy’s first question showed what he cared about more than the fact he had survived.

“…Did I lose?”

“No.” Waltraute shook her head. “You were the victor of this competition.”

“How?” asked the boy while being held in the Valkyrie’s arms. “I fell from Yggdrasil. I didn’t make it to Asgard. I got help from you partway there, so I lost….”

“That is not the proper way to look at this.” Waltraute looked the boy directly in the eye with her icy (in appearance only) eyes. “It is true I reached out to help you. But that is only because you made me do so. I had no intention of helping you. I intended to merely observe no matter what happened. However, you made me break my own rule. It was you that made me want to reach out to help you so badly that I would break my own rule. For that reason, my arrival here was accomplished with your own strength.”

“…I don’t really get it.”

“The rules stated that you would climb Yggdrasil with your own strength. If you hold the power to summon a Valkyrie, then having me take you to Asgard is still using your own strength, is it not?” Waltraute then added, “The rules also stated that you would win when you arrived in Asgard where I waited. I must accept defeat as penalty for leaving Asgard in the middle of the competition.”

===Part 8===

Some time later, the boy was still in the human world of Midgard and Waltraute was peering down from a runway of Bifröst on the edge of the heavenly world of Asgard.

This interfered with Heimdallr’s work, so he looked troubled as he asked, “How long are you going to do this?”

“Sh-shut up. He went through a lot. It only happened because of the faulty rules I came up with, so I need to observe him to make sure there are no lasting effects.”

“If you’re that worried, you could have chosen not to live apart…”

“Make no mistake, you fool!!”

Waltraute’s iron fist flew and sent Heimdallr writhing in pain from enough damage to immediately kill someone who was not a god.

Paying that no heed, she continued, “I-I did not want to get married in the slightest!! That was the only method I had to retrieve that stubborn boy from Yggdrasil! If I had not gone through that process, I would have been unable to help him. I am not attached to him. Not in the slightest!!”

“U-uuh…”

“With that in mind, it should be obvious that we are living separately. I have no intention to let the formalities of his rescue alter the way I live my life. If I did, it would just be a bother for him anyway. Hey, are you listening? I’m asking if you’re listening to me!!”

As Waltraute grabbed Heimdallr by the collar and shook him around, Frigg, the goddess of marriage, spoke up.

“If that boy came to the heavenly world, he would die. And it would be difficult for you to remain in the human world permanently. Isn’t that the real reason you had to tearfully choose to live separately?”

“Please do not joke about that!! I-I am having enough trouble with this as it is!!”

Heimdallr then made an unnecessary comment as he hung in midair.

“I-if it’s that much trouble, why don’t you just break up with him? There is always the option of divorce. Frigg would know more about it than m-…gbeeehhh!?!?!?”

Heimdallr had expected Waltraute to silently start strangling him, but instead Frigg elegantly lifted up the sides of her long skirt and started kicking him in the back. The goddess had a lovely smile on her face all the while.

“Do you really think you should be using that word in the presence of the goddess of marriage?”

“Eee!! I’m sorry! Please help me!! Eeeee!!”

Heimdallr continued complaining, but Frigg did not care.

She was certain that stubborn Valkyrie would say something troublesome if she learned about divorce. People like her needed to be able to tell themselves they had to stay married because they had no other choice. After that, she would finally begin doing what she truly wanted to do.

“So how is the boy?” Frigg asked the newlywed Waltraute.

“Th-the same as always. He spends his mornings learning how to read and write and spends his afternoons training under a mead maker… Wait…ahhh!!”

Waltraute cried out when she glanced down toward the surface.

Frigg looked confused, so she looked down to the surface as well.

“Nwha ha ha ha!! So you are the soul of the human world it is said climbed the world tree and married a Valkyrie! I will take you with me and add you to my army of evil spirits!!”

“Who are you, lady?”

“I am no mere lady, boy? I am Hel. I am the queen of Niflheim, realm of the dead. I will give you the special privilege of referring to me by name. But only so you can plead for your life!!”

“A queen…I-I see…”

The boy’s expression made it clear he did not quite understand what was going on, but he bowed down nonetheless.

However, this seemed to provoke the queen of the realm of the dead.

“Y-you’re bowing down to me…? But everyone always calls me the cruel queen or says I ridicule people’s attachment to their life… D-don’t do that!! No one has ever done that before, so I don’t know how to respond…!”

“Hey, the old shaman guy said Niflheim is a world of ice. Is that true?”

“H-heh. Yes, it is. Niflheim is a prison of eternal ice! It is a frightening place that provides eternal suffering of hunger and cold to souls of the human world like you! Scary, isn’t it? You can cry if you want, but I’ll still be taking you to Niflheim!!”

“Wow, a world of ice. …Is the whole world really made of ice!? That’s amazing! I bet you can make tons of ice candy there!!”

“…Hah? No, wait…”

“Today’s really hot, so I bet Waltraute would love it if I made her some ice candy! I have to go to Niflheim right away!!”

“You can’t!! For a soul of the human world to go to Niflheim, it has to die! Do you understand? Do you really understand that!? Oh, damn. He’s not listening at all. But…wait. Maybe I can just invite him like this. He said he wants to go, so there’s nothing wrong with it, right? …Heh heh heh. So this is a soul rare enough to lead a Valkyrie astray. He will make a powerful addition to my army of evil spirits. Y-yeah, that’s it. This is all for my army of evil spirits! I don’t care about the boy at all! I need to make sure there are no mistaken ideas about that…”

And on that day a great number of Spears of Destroying Lightning fell down to the human world.

A local shaman was known to have said that abnormal weather was partially caused by something nearby.

<references/>

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| Back to [[The_Circumstances_Leading_to_Waltraute's_Marriage:Volume1_Illustrations|Illustrations]]
| Return to [[The_Circumstances_Leading_to_Waltraute's_Marriage|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[The_Circumstances_Leading_to_Waltraute's_Marriage:Volume1_Chapter_2|Chapter 2]]
|-
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</noinclude>

The Circumstances Leading to Waltraute's Marriage:Volume1 Chapter 1

2013-01-06T05:12:28Z

68.116.215.178: /* Part 3 */

==Chapter 1: Jack and the Beanstalk was Set to a Backdrop of Norse Mythology==

===Part 1===

A Valkyrie descended to the human world of Midgard.

She had long blonde hair and white skin. She was tall for a woman, but had a much more slender frame than a man. It was a balance that could not be maintained by any soul born of a human mother. Her beauty was not the type that was meant to draw the opposite sex to her. Her beauty was wrapped in a chill like a flower offered up to a slaughtered foe.

Her appearance was that of a woman in her mid-twenties, but human aging did not apply to a Valkyrie. She had been fighting for much, much longer than that.

The armor she wore was green. However, that was just one aspect of the armor. It was magic armor that could freely change its properties to suit the situation. The aurora seen in the northern sky was actually the constantly changing light produced by a Valkyrie's armor.

She held what looked like a bluish-white spear in her right hand, but it was made up of the very lightning that fell from the sky. A swing of her weapon was enough to slaughter all who had made themselves enemies of the heavenly world of Asgard. They would be destroyed down to their souls and unable to even join the realm of the dead. That divine punishment was known as the Spear of Destroying Lightning and it held enough destructive power to warrant such a name.

“Is that all?”

She was surrounded by nothing but rubble.

The name of the maiden who glowed radiantly amid the blackened scenery was Waltraute.

She was tall but only when compared to a human woman. Even so, she stood triumphant above all those around her. She had crushed, wiped out, and burned away all those who had been taller or larger than her.

No one could imagine that a false temple gaudily decorated with gold and marble had stood there not long before. All that remained was black. Pitch black. The garish decorations had been torn down and all that was left had turned pure black as if to attest to their sins.

Sinners.

Heretics.

Those rebels who had joined with the giants to intentionally create monsters and then used the offspring as slaves had all been purged. They had committed three major sins. Loving those beyond their species was not one of them. It was joining with the giants for their own personal greed that had been one of those sins. The second had been using the offspring as tools. Even if they were half human, using anyone with a human soul as a tool was a sin. And the last was that they had offered up their young to join with the giants rather than doing it themselves. It had been judged that the ultimate punishment was required.

…Actually, Odin had only ordered Waltraute to sort out the souls of the youths who were like to die in the disturbance and lead only those necessary to Valhalla, the great hall of the heavenly world. However, she had used a bit too much strength as she had a tendency to do.

Thanks to that, it had all ended before a large-scale tragedy could occur, and all of the owners of the souls she was supposed to guide had survived.

There was a reason Valkyries did not stand at the top of everything even though they were the strongest when it came to pure power.

Without giving even a glance to the survivors who had their heads hanging down, Waltraute looked up into the sky and spoke to someone who was not present.

“Report. Situation 3469 is complete. …I suppose the ruler on the throne is angry again. But I suppose the queen of the realm of the dead is also gnashing her teeth at missing out on those impure souls. With that in mind, let’s just call this even.”

The humans living in Midgard would likely be unable to understand some of what the gods said. They purposefully tried to keep the humans from understanding more than they had to.

“Understood. So I have authorization to return. Tell Heimdallr to guide me along the route. Over.”

As she finished speaking, a single ray of light burst through the dark clouds above her head. It fell directly atop Waltraute. The next thing she knew, a giant white horse was standing next to her. Waltraute climbed atop the horse and her hair floated up unnaturally. Once that change in gravity reached the white horse’s giant body as well, Waltraute’s very existence would be temporarily split into pieces and she would leave the human world of Midgard while overcoming all forms of aerodynamic restrictions.

But then…

An error occurred in the return process.

A boy was weakly clinging onto Waltraute’s right leg as she sat atop the white horse.

“A survivor, hm?” said the Valkyrie with an emotionless look in her eyes. “Do you wish to head to Valhalla to experience the battles of the heavenly world? You need not be so hasty. If you continue to possess such a valiant and just soul, that time will surely come.”

“So beautiful.”

The boy’s context-less comment was spoken with a hoarse voice.

He was looking at Waltraute’s golden hair that was reflecting the light shining down on her.

“Can I have some?”

Waltraute fell silent.

Valkyries had but one role to play for the humans of Midgard…or so it should have been. From experience, she knew there were irregular situations that would occasionally occur.

In other words…

Sometimes, a man would fall in love with a Valkyrie.

“I am sorry, but I cannot do that,” she replied with an icy voice.

The boy did not seem to understand the situation.

“Why not?”

“We live in different worlds. The world tree Yggdrasil divides up the nine worlds. The divisions between worlds may only be crossed for the purposes of a battle. That is why I am here in Midgard now. Crossing those divisions for no reason would cause a battle in and of itself.”

“Ohh…” The boy’s mouth opened wide but it was unclear what exactly seemed to have impressed the boy. “So you can’t stay here?”

“I am not saying I cannot, but I see no rational reason to do so.”

“Mhh…”

“?”

“I can’t accept that. This isn’t the time to talk about things in that way.”

“Hm?” Waltraute looked slightly puzzled.

Waltraute did not understand the subtleties of human romance, so she chose the method her experience had taught her was the quickest option of dealing with such problems.

She grabbed the Spear of Destroying Lightning in her right hand.

She intentionally made it start noisily sending sparks flying every which way.

“Whatever the reason may be and whatever that person may say, a Valkyrie has the authority to deem anyone who stands in her way as evil. Be warned that anyone who blocks my path is destined to fall defeated before me.”

“Hm? Hmm? So if I beat you, you’ll do whatever I ask you?”

“Mh!? Wait a second!! What kind of roundabout thinking led you to that conclusion!? I was merely saying that anyone who got in my way would meet a bitter fate!!”

“I see… So I could marry you…”

“You’re just assuming you would win!! A-ahem. Soul born in the human world of Midgard, do you truly believe that frail glow of yours is enough to stand up to Waltraute, the fourth sister of the nine Valkyries?”

“Let’s fight!! Let’s fight!! Waltraute, tell me the rules of the fight!!”

“Dammit! I let my name slip out!?”

But Waltraute was not so cruel as to actually begin a competition of strength with that boy of Midgard as she would utterly demolish him.

(Oh, I know. I can give this human an utterly impossible challenge.)

That was the standard pattern for goddesses and princesses from all over the world both in ancient and modern times.

Waltraute cleared her throat and said, “My challenge to you is to scale the world tree Yggdrasil with your own strength. Once you arrive at the heavenly world of Asgard, I will accept your marriage proposal.”

(There is no way he can do it. Not even a Valkyrie like me could manage that. A soul born in the human world will likely be too overcome with awe upon seeing the world tree Yggdrasil to even touch it.)

“…What does ‘scale’ mean?”

“It means ‘climb’ and is usually used in the context of a mountain or a cliff!! I am telling you to climb up that giant tree with just those two hands of yours!!”

“Ehh!?”

“Th-that’s right. How about that? Can’t do it, can you? Simply impossible, isn’t it? Give up here and join with a human woman like a proper human man. A neighborhood childhood friend can be a surprisingly excellent choice. And now, I will be going.”

“All you have to do is climb a tree and you get to marry a Valkyrie!? I-I have to go tell everyone!!”

“Wait!! This is not a custom of my race! This is a competition that is only valid between the two of us!! If a large number of humans begin trying to climb the world tree Yggdrasil, the head god Odin will mistake it for a rebellion!!”

“Then I’ll climb it! If I climb Yggdrasil, I get to marry you, right!? You’re the one that said it, Waltraute!!”

“Mh.”

It seemed the boy truly intended to attempt the challenge, but Waltraute could not treat the challenge lightly as it was a competition with a winner and a loser.

The Valkyries were the members of the gods that dealt with battles and they were something like the strict guardians of competitions in the human world of Midgard.

Whose jurisdiction the world tree Yggdrasil fell under was a bit vague, but the competition was rooted in the human world of Midgard, so she had to be strict about it.

Also…

If the challenge was nothing more than something the boy had come up with, Waltraute could simply refuse to participate. However, Waltraute had been the one to suggest the challenge and the boy had accepted. That meant the competition had become official the second the boy had okayed it. Waltraute could not back out now.

“F-fine then. I will accept the competition. But a soul of Midgard will never be able to scale the world tree Yggdrasil.”

“I can do it.”

“The heavenly world of Asgard is literally above the clouds. If you run out of strength partway up and fall off, only death awaits you. Are you still willing?”

“I can do it.”

Even under Waltraute’s icy gaze that could cause heretics and even giants and dragons to tremble in fear, the human boy gave a defiant response.

(Those are the eyes of a warrior.)

But in the next instant, the boy gave a big grin, swung one arm around in a circle, and said, “Okay, I’ll climb up before you know it! Once I’m ready, I’ll head to Yggdrasil, so you wait at the goal point in Asgard!! That’s another rule!!”

“Wait,” said Waltraute suddenly from atop the white horse. “Why do you wish to marry me so much?”

“Hm?” The boy replied almost immediately. “Because you’re beautiful.”

“…”

“Waltraute, I will definitely climb up Yggdrasil, and we’ll get married when I do!!”

Once Waltraute returned to the heavenly world of Asgard, Heimdallr the watchman asked her a question.

“…Why didn’t you just refuse?”

A Valkyrie usually remained completely expressionless, but Waltraute’s cheeks reddened slightly and her eyes darted away when he asked that question.

“O-once the competition had been established, I could hardly just refuse him outright!!”

Heimdallr had been wondering why she had not simply returned to Asgard from the beginning, but before he could say anything further, Waltraute’s eyes darted away once more and she continued speaking.

“That’s…That’s right. It’s a competition, so I had no choice!! I am a strict guardian of competitions after all! Whatever it may entail, I must let it carry out to its conclusion once it has been established!!”

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re letting this go because he said you were beautiful and said he would marry you after he managed to climb u-…Eeee! Eeee!!””

“Could you explain to me what part of what I said led you to believe that? And could you give an explanation for why you are grinning like that?”

“I-is this invisible wall that is hard as thick concrete nothing but your aura of intimidation!? No, wait! I get it! I get it! Don’t bring out the Spear of Destroying Lightning! Wait, wait!!”

Heimdallr trembled in fear when faced with that grand destructive power that was being used to hide Waltraute’s embarrassment.

Whatever she may have said, her true feelings were clearly visible on her face.

Most everyone was too frightened of her to try, but Waltraute was surprisingly weak to those who maintained a strong will while interacting with her.

===Part 2===

On one end of the heavenly world of Asgard were the seven runways of Bifröst.

They may have been known as “runways”, but the process by which they were used was quite complex. The user’s “existence” was split into pieces, and they could then be freely sent to any of the 9 worlds while ignoring all aerodynamic restrictions. It was not a complete “teleportation”. Technically, the user was accelerated to 97% of the speed of light, but the size of the nine worlds meant it was more or less instantaneous.

The Valkyrie armor that was broken to pieces along with Waltraute would react and spread out. That process caused a giant aurora to fill the night sky when a Valkyrie was sent flying through the sky.

It was largely due to Bifröst and the Valkyries that the Æsir were able to display such tremendous power in the nine worlds. It took a slight amount of time to begin the process, but in exchange, a military force made up of the Valkyries and the spirits of the dead known as Einherjar that were under their control could be sent wherever they were needed. The earlier annihilation of the heretics should be enough to demonstrate how much of a threat that was.

And…

Waltraute was now peering down to the human world of Midgard from the edge of Bifröst. Heimdallr the watchman was in charge of controlling Bifröst, so he was utterly fed up with the Valkyrie that was obstructing the path.

“Um, if you stay there, the 3rd runway can’t be used…”

“You have seven of them. The loss of one or two is no big deal.”

“Um, do you have any idea how many dozens of flights come through every hour? This is an issue of efficiency and distribution. You’re causing a traffic jam. Surely you know how blocking a seemingly empty lane can cause a huge backup on the highway. If you block the 3rd runway, the percentage of late flights will jump up to-…”

“What is your point?”

“Oh…um…nothing…I guess…Sigh…”

When she glared at him, Heimdallr shrunk down like he was preparing to close himself up in a small box.

While crouched down, Heimdallr said, “But was there really any reason to take that verbal promise seriously?”

“H-hmph! I do not think that boy from Midgard can climb the world tree Yggdrasil. But now that the competition has been established, I must see it through to the end as a Valkyrie. In the best case, he will make it to the base of the world tree and be too overwhelmed to do anything more. In the worst case, his awe upon seeing Yggdrasil will be too great and he will not even make it to the base.”

“…So in the ‘worst case’, the boy doesn’t even come for you?”

The glance that was as sharp as a spear that Heimdallr received in response to his unwanted comment caused his entire body to freeze in place. He realized he could not make his body any smaller than it already was.

Waltraute composed herself and said, “At any rate, I am only watching over this competition to its end. And that end will be the boy’s loss. If he does not show up, that counts as a loss. Once that happens, I will be freed from this nonsensical verbal promise of marriage.”

“Um…”

“It is true that the boy had the eyes of warrior when he announced he would climb the world tree. Those were the eyes of someone with a will strong enough to challenge a Valkyrie to a competition. But words are cheap. He is sure to lose his nerve when he sees the true recklessness of this challenge…Why are you interrupting me?”

“The boy has arrived.”

“!?!?!?”

Waltraute frantically looked back over the edge of the 3rd runway and to the human world of Midgard.

“Impossible…Impossible!! Does that boy have no fear of death!?”

“ ‘That he would go this far for an unrefined, battle-crazy girl that wears armor year-round like me just sets my heart aflutt-…’ No, I was just kidding! Please! Please forgive me! I won’t make any more liberal translations of your thoughts, so please spare me from the lightning!!” As Heimdallr held his hands up to cover his head, he looked down toward the surface. “J-Jack Elvan was it? According to the data we have on him, he comes from the middle class on Midgard.”

But of course, the boy had not arrived in Asgard.

The base of Yggdrasil was in Midgard. The boy had made it to that giant tree.

He truly seemed intent on climbing up that tree.

Any normal human would have been too filled with awe at the site of Yggdrasil and with a general fear of heading to another world to even think about trying to climb the world tree. Nevertheless, that boy had burst through those limitations.

It was called a tree, but the trunk was as thick as a standard-sized city was wide, so it felt more like rock climbing. The complexly intertwined branches and hollows almost turned it into something like a labyrinth.

Waltraute used magic to enhance her already superhuman senses (not that she was human in the first place), so she just had to stare down with her eyes wide to see every step the boy took.

At the base of the world tree, the boy said, “I have my handkerchief, some snacks for if I get hungry, and a water bottle. Okay, time to go.”

“He’s extremely lightly equipped!! Wait, he’s not even wearing boots! Those are sandals! At least prepare a lifeline…Ah, he started climbing! He really started climbing!! He started climbing up Yggdrasil in sandals! What do I do!?”

“…Th-there would be nothing wrong with you heading down to save him, right? You can just head down and grab him. I can open up one of Bifröst’s runways for you.”

“You fool!!!!” Waltraute’s iron fist sent Heimdallr’s giant form rolling across the runway like a pebble. “I am a heavenly being that rules over battles and I watch over all events with a winner and a loser!! I cannot interfere in a competition with clear rules!!”

“B-bghh…bbh…”

Heimdallr let out a groan without even a shred of intelligence in it, but he was not listening to what Waltraute was saying. He had more important worries.

Meanwhile, something happened down at the surface.

Even though Asgard was literally above the clouds, the boy was sitting on a branch and reaching for his water bottle after only climbing about 10 meters.

“Hahh…I’m exhausted.”

“You weakling!!” shouted Waltraute.

“U-um, ten meters is pretty high up for a human,” commented Heimdallr.

“That is not the issue here! He said that he would climb Yggdrasil and marry me. Even if the reward is completely ridiculous, it is still a sacred competition with a Valkyrie. And yet…And yet…that bastard!! Only 10 meters!? That is an insult to the one whose fate hangs in the balance here, is it not!?”

“Um…So basically you’re upset about that being as far as his feelings for you went and you want him to try a little harder? …Gyaaahhh! I’m sorry!!”

Waltraute seemed to want to avoid using her overwhelming strength on Heimdallr himself (despite the punch from earlier), so she started destroying the runway of Bifröst. Heimdallr began apologizing with all his strength because Bifröst’s destruction would do serious social damage to him.

But then he noticed something.

He pointed down toward the surface and said, “Look at that. There’s something down there!”

“Mh?”

Waltraute looked down and spotted a white cat approaching the boy who was resting on a branch of Yggdrasil.

For some reason the cat was able to speak the human language.

“Hey, there. What are you doing here? It’s dangerous being this high up. You’ll get hurt if you fall.”

“…That’s surprisingly good advice for a talking cat,” commented Heimdallr.

“…”

The boy responded by saying, “I’m climbing the world tree. Waltraute is waiting for me.”

“I-I am not waiting!!”

“But you aren’t trying to stop him either,” added Heimdallr.

“Of course not. This is a serious competition!!”

The cat then said, “But look up. Do you really think you can climb all the way up there?”

“I can,” replied the boy.

“How about you head down instead. If you go to Jötunheimr, you can find some magic water<ref> This may refer to '''Mímisbrunnr''', the magical water who holds wisdom. Odin sacrificed one eye to drink from this well </ref> that will give you any knowledge you wish for.”

“But Waltraute isn’t there.”

“If you drink the water of knowledge, homework will never be a problem again.”

“…Really?”

“Really, really. So give up on going somewhere as boring as Asgard and come with me to-…”

That was when Waltraute threw the Spear of Destroying Lightning.

With a tremendous noise, a bluish-white spear stabbed down in a straight line from heaven to earth. It passed directly in front of the boy and mercilessly struck the talking white cat down to the very depths of the surface.

Lightning.

The symbol of divine punishment.

While breathing erratically, Waltraute shouted down at the surface knowing full well her voice would not reach.

“Don’t interfere with a serious competition, you fool!! Do you want him to gain a body that cannot even reach the realm of the dead!?”

“Th-the kitty… The pretty kitty…!?” said Heimdallr.

“That was actually the Midgard Serpent!!<ref>Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, was one of three children fathered on the giantess Angroba by Loki, the Norse god of mischief and trickery.</ref> When Útgarða-Loki tricked Thor, that giant snake aided in Útgarða-Loki’s illusions by transforming into a cat to leave Thor unprepared!! Look, the transformation is starting to come off. Creepy scales are starting to cover its body!! No competition can be fair with a monster like that involved!!”

“Oh, you’re right. It really is Jörmungandr,” said Heimdallr.

Waltraute folded her arms in front of her armor’s breastplate.

“Honestly. Even a beast powerful enough to stand on the same level as Thor is getting in the way… This is why you cannot take fate lightly. That boy need only think of the competition. Giving him that is proper manners as his opponent.”

“But the boy seems worried about the snake that fell to the surface. He’s climbing back down to check on it.”

“~ ~ ~!! Take. This. Competition. Seriously!!”

Waltraute started childishly stomping her feet in frustration, but she had only just declared that she would not directly interfere.

===Part 3===

After looking after the cat that had fallen to the surface, the boy began climbing Yggdrasil once more. (Incidentally, the cat tried to warn the boy again, but this time out of actual devotion rather than as a trick. However, it was driven off by a number of Spears of Destroying Lightning. She insisted this was because she would be responsible if the boy ended up getting to know the snake in the middle of the challenge.)

“So you don’t want him looking at anyone but you?”

“Ah?”

Heimdallr the watchman curled up under the crushing pressure of the piercing glare and immense aura of intimidation that were sent his way.

After the interlude with the cat, the boy continued to climb up the giant tree without obstruction. (Or rather, nothing was able to approach him while Waltraute had her frightening gaze on him.) As nothing was happening, Heimdallr started letting out yawn after yawn, but Waltraute’s gaze was as intent as ever.

“At this rate, he might actually make it all the way up.”

“Tch!! But if that happens, I have no choice! This was a serious competition!! I, Waltraute the fourth of the nine Valkyrie sisters, will of course perfectly carry out her duty as the loser! E-even if that means I must marry him!!”

“I see. I see.” Heimdallr had grown bored, so he carelessly let a comment slip out. “You keep going on about marriage, but what exactly do you plan to let that boy do once you marry him? Are you prepared to ask him the age old question of, ‘Would you like dinner, a bath, or the third option which you had damn well better choose’?”

“I-I am not going to lose, you fool!!”

“Of course, the acrobatics of the naked apron are basically a given with newlyweds.”

“Wh-what? What is this naked apron you speak of?”

“Well, you take it and you do this,” said Heimdallr as he explained it mostly with some vague gestures.

“…!?!?!?”

Without thinking, Waltruate brought down her fist and Heimdallr very nearly became one with the 3rd runway.

“B-bbhh!! Bgegbgbb!!”

“H-how much of an idiot are you!? I simply cannot believe that you could have such perverted thoughts!!”

“G-gbh… But the passion of newlyweds often leads them to cross those perverted lines. They tend to calm down a bit after a year, though.”

“S-so my loss comes with that kind of penalty?”

“You’ll have to head into the bath to wash his back and feed him small fruits directly from your mouth. Oh, and youthful indiscretions put serving him food on your nude body just barely in the range of the acceptable. By the way, I prefer the dolce type with whipped cream and strawberries over the proper type that uses seafood.”

“Wait, wait, wait!! How can the word marriage have so many different chips piled up on top of it!?”

“But I thought you weren’t going to lose.”

“Uuh…!?”

“No matter how many chips are piled up, it doesn’t matter so long as you win, right?”

“Th-that is exactly right.”

While trembling, Waltraute folded her arms in front of her breastplate and struck an impressive pose. She then shouted from the bottom of her gut.

“N-none of it matters as long as I do not lose! I just have to win!! As a Valkyrie, a heavenly being that rules over battles, I am a master of competitions!! I do not even need to think about the possibility of losing!! Mutter, mutter…”

“But the job of a Valkyrie is to gather the souls of those who valiantly died in battle, so aren’t you actually more associated with the losing side of-…bgyaaahhh!! Don’t strike me on the end of my elbow like that! Ah, my arm’s gone numb!!”

As those residents of the heavenly world argued, something changed.

“Hmm. He seems to be having trouble.”

“Look how high he is. He is bound to get tired after climbing a tree this long. In fact, I think climbing up using pure physical strength and without any guidance from you would be impossible even for the human Siegfried in his heyday. I am a Valkyrie and I am not even sure if I could do it.”

“No, that isn’t what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Well…” Heimdallr pulled out a clear stone slate and called up a few pieces of data. “The world tree Yggdrasil does not actually divide up the nine worlds. And it holds up the heavens and the earth.”

“So?”

“Um, do you know the relationship between altitude and atmospheric pressure? The higher you go, the less oxygen there is. Divine beings like us are fine, but I think a human child is in trouble if he does not have oxygen.”

“…”

Waltraute’s face gradually paled.

“So…what exactly…does that mean?”

“We know for a fact that boy is climbing Yggdrasil and approaching Asgard,” said Heimdallr as he looked at the data. “But the closer a human gets to the heavenly world, the closer he gets to death. I believe that boy will die if he does arrive…”

“Wait, wait, wait.”

Waltraute stopped Heimdallr with one hand.

If the boy lost, his hopes would be dashed, and if he won, he would die.

Waltraute insisted that she had no desire at all to marry the boy, but she could not stand for the competition to be unfair.

Basically, Valkyries were obsessed with competitions.

Brynhildr, the oldest sister, had once failed in a similar issue involving marriage. The human Siegfried had cheated on her (he had been given a potion to erase his memories, so he had not realized what he was doing), so she had plotted his death. When that plot had succeeded, she attempted to take her own life.

“I made sure to report this incident to Odin and received proper authorization for the competition. We cannot have him treating a child climbing the tree as a rebel after all. And that eyepatched god of war vouched for the fairness of the competition. The head god saw this as a fair competition, so why is something like this happening!?”

“Maybe this was the reason Odin gave you authorization.”

“What…?”

“That bearded old man does not hesitate to cause wars in the human world just to obtain some skilled souls of those killed in battle. Actually trying to climb Yggdrasil would require bravery on a ridiculous level and everything is going well so far. That god of war would want a soul like that very, very badly. In other words, he might have purposefully overlooked the flaw in the rules in order to have that boy die and join the Einherjar.”

===Part 4===

His actual feelings were a bit more complicated.

In the great hall at the innermost portion of Valhalla, the one-eyed war god Odin sat on an extremely ostentatious throne. He exchanged a glance with his wife Frigg.

Odin looked about 40 and Frigg about 30, so they did not particularly look the part of the gods who had watched the entire history of the world. However, their appearance had no connection to their age because they had eaten the apples of immortality grown by the goddess Iðunn.

“I am opposed to this,” said Frigg. “Whatever your reasons may be, you are interfering with their efforts to acquire a family. Not to mention killing one of them.”

“You only think that because you are the goddess of marriage. And I think the way I do because I am the god of war and battle.”

“…”

“We cannot allow Waltraute to join with a human boy. Surely you know that intellectually even if you feel otherwise.”

“Are you referring to the fact that the Valkyries are a set of nine and that set is what controls the military force of Einherjar?”

“Even if they are nine individuals, their essences are connected. Waltraute alone is the same as the other eight. If she yields to a single human, that binds the other eight as well. The right to command the entire force of Einherjar will indirectly fall to that boy.”

“Yes, the Wagner Method. But is there any reason to go along with it? If you kick out Waltraute, you should still be able to maintain the Valkyrie system.”

“One role of the Valkyries is to provide a link between gods and men. They cannot be reorganized based simply on the circumstances of the gods. That is the entire point of the Wagner Method and why their form is that which is easiest to imagine for humans. …Surely you know why the Valkyries appear as beautiful women,” said Odin lightly as he sat atop his throne.

His throne was named Hliðskjálf and it gave any who sat in it the power to see across the entire world. Wagner was a very out of place name for that setting and time period, but he was able to use that throne to draw in information from “other places”.

“This is quite a problem,” said Odin despite not sounding troubled in the slightest. “We cannot have things turn out like that. Why do you think we have been gathering the souls of those who died in battle? It is all for the sake of the final war of Ragnarök. The evil spirits and giants are bad enough, so we do not need a third force joining in the fray.”

“And so you are going to take that boy’s life?”

“It is only a problem because it is a marriage between equals.” Odin gave a bitter smile to Frigg’s criticism. “But a Valkyrie has complete control over the souls of those who have died in battle. The opposite cannot be. Once that boy has died and become an Einherjar, Waltraute will have control over him. Once that happens, he cannot control Waltraute. Nor can he gain control over the Einherjar forces. Once that happens, we can happily celebrate their marriage.”

He took the idea of human life so lightly because he was the god of war.

He was not a god that protected those participating in a war; he was a god who preserved the state of war itself.

To those who got wrapped up in the war, he may have seemed like a wandering disaster (with a will of its own).

Frigg on the other hand was a goddess who helped humans join together and create new life, so she could only sigh. People often had difficulty understanding how the goddess of all types of marriage could end up married to someone as horrible as him.

[[Image:Waltraute_v01_037.jpg|thumb]]

But with the way the head god was, it would have been difficult for the world to continue on without a productive goddess like her by his side.

“At any rate, that boy must die no matter what you think.”

“I do not wish for that boy to fall in battle. If he does, their relationship will no longer fall into the category of marriage,” said Frigg. “Also, even if that a boy loses his life here, there is no guarantee that he will be picked up as an Einherjar, is there?”

“That is not my responsibility.” Odin shrugged. “I control those humans who have valiant souls. If he does not meet that requirement, then I have no duty to protect him. I am not about to steal a soul that has fallen into the realm of the dead.”

“I see.” Frigg sighed. “While that child may look gentle, a lot of violent emotions are hidden within. Do not blame me for what happens if this plot of yours is discovered.”

“Ha ha. What can a single angry human do?”

“That is not who I meant.” Frigg looked over toward the entrance of the great hall. “I was referring to Waltraute.”

In the next instant, a great trembling shook Valhalla.

At first, Odin thought a large explosion had occurred within. It sounded like the gods had started fighting to the death.

But he was wrong.

The tremendous vibrations continued and grew closer as they did. This was not the sound of a fight. Finally, Odin realized what it was.

“Footsteps…?” Sweat dripped down the ridges of the head god’s nose. “Mere footsteps are giving off this much resolve? Wait, I never gave Waltraute this much output!!”

“Anger over your interference with the competition is just a front. A maiden’s rage can grow without limit when something gets in the way of her love. But I suppose a god of war would not know anything about that.”

“Kh. In other words, that boy carelessly crossing between the nine worlds has caused a distortion in the very concept of battles!? How much did the three Norn goddesses of destiny know about this? Is this going to hasten the final war of Ragnarök!?”

“Sigh. You war-obsessed idiot…”

The doors of the entrance burst open. The thunder god Thor, who held the #2 spot when it came to power, came tumbling into the great hall.

“E-eee!! Father!! Father!!”

“What is it, Thor? Your face looks beat up and your hair is all frizzy!”

“I-I lost in a battle of thunder… My entire identity as the thunder god has been denied, so what am I to do now!?”

The area on the other side of the open doors was pitch black.

The killer intent emitted by sapient beings was supposed to be invisible, yet Odin clearly saw an illusion before his eyes.

It was obvious who was emitting it.

The darkness and thickness of the shadow showed the approach of the danger.

As he leaned against the wall on one side of the great hall, Loki gave a thin smile and said, “…Hm. The world destroyed by a single love. Not bad.”

“When the hell did you get here!? And don’t think you can become the star if you keep making those Chuunibyou-esque comments, you lover of temporary pleasures!!”

Odin had fallen into a complete panic, so he started yelling at someone completely unrelated to the danger at hand. Seeing that, Frigg brought one hand to her cheek and sighed yet again.

She had to wonder why all the men in the heavenly world knew so little about the subtleties of romance and never did anything for women.

She silently thought they could learn a thing or two from that boy, but actually said, “At least try to calm her down. This is a little too soon for you to be heading into the twilight, don’t you think?”

===Part 5===

Ignorant of the issues involved for those adults (or rather, gods), the boy continued grabbing at the rough bark of the world tree Yggdrasil on his way to Asgard.

However, his breathing grew erratic.

His face grew pale.

He entered an altitude sickness-like state, but it would not end there. As he continued on, there would be even less oxygen and the atmospheric pressure would fall. As the air grew thinner, the temperature dropped due to the loss of the atmosphere’s insulation. A cold wind reminiscent of midwinter blew through the area around the boy.

It would not have been surprising had he stopped there.

But if he lost consciousness, he would end up falling down to the surface from that high altitude.

As the boy continued grabbing the bark despite the blood oozing from his fingertips, two ravens flew up to him.

They spoke simultaneously.

“Hi there! I’m Muninn!!”

“You’re Huginn!!

“We were forced to run over and give you a message!!”

“We were forced to run over and give you a message!!”

The boy who had not been at all fazed by the talking cat replied, “But you flew.”

“He played the straight man! Now we know you’re not too far gone to do that!!”

“Anyway…ahem. We have a message from Waltraute. Are you ready?”

“…Hm. I really shouldn’t get any help from her while climbing Yggdrasil.”

“This is important information about that very competition. And we don’t really need your permission, so we’ll just tell you. Here goes!”

“Mhh…”

The boy looked displeased, but the ravens’ voices changed.

They now spoke with the voice of that Valkyrie he had met. Muninn and Huginn stood on the boy’s left and right shoulders so the boy could listen to the voice as if he was hearing it via headphones.

“Can you hear me, boy? I now know more or less what that bearded old man is planning. For a human, it seems there is little difference between approaching the heavenly world of Asgard and approaching death. Odin purposefully overlooked that fact to bring you into the army of Einherjar.”

“…”

“If you do not wish to die, climb down from Yggdrasil now. That is what I wish for as well. Surely the marriage you have imagined is not one that occurs after your own death. And I did not set up this challenge for it to have such a ridiculous result.”

The boy fell silent for a bit.

He remained perfectly still while clinging to the bark.

The two ravens tilted their heads as they looked at his face from the side.

Finally, the boy raised his head and said, “You must be enemy characters sent here to mislead me!!”

===Part 6===

Meanwhile, Waltraute tore at her golden hair with both hands as she shot Spears of Destroying Lightning every which way into the sky. This surprised the female driver of the chariot of the sun so much that a solar eclipse very nearly occurred.

She had brushed aside her stubborn posturing and bent her competition-crazy beliefs in order to help that boy, and yet he had rejected it.

“Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! How could this happeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnn!?”

“…And after he showed no doubts about that cat that suddenly started talking.”

For his unnecessary comment, Waltraute grabbed Heimdallr with one hand and swung him around.

Seeing that, Frigg cut in, “Can’t you say you have recognized his great efforts and go save him?”

“I-I…I simply can’t do that, Lady Frigg! Doing so would make the competition invalid preventing it from every being concluded! No conclusion would mean putting it off forever and…no, wait, wait! I would essentially be forfeiting the match myself which would mean…vahhh vahhh!!”

“…Hmm. I see you think more like Odin when it comes to this kind of thing. (Of course, you could resolve everything by proposing to him yourself.)”

Waltraute was too stubborn to do that, but the human boy would obviously be unable to reach Asgard under his own strength.

[[Image:Waltraute_v01_047.jpg|thumb]]

It was obvious she would have to do something to save that boy (and for them to get married, but Waltraute would never admit it herself).

“(Heimdallr, Heimdallr.)”

“(Uuh…Cough. What is it, Lady Frigg?)”

“(Do you have any good ideas as to how to get Waltraute to go to that boy?)”

“(If so, I would not have let her push me around this long.)”

“(How about we send in another Valkyrie?)”

“(She already struck down the Midgard Serpent for interfering. If another Valkyrie approached him, a war amongst the Valkyries would probably break out with them yelling about NTR this and NTR that.)”

“(I have heard that the essences of the nine Valkyries are connected, but I suppose they still fight due to their individual differences.)”

“Hmm…”

The two gods could not think of any truly good ideas.

But as the boy did not have much time, they decided to suggest every idea that came to their mind.

“Waltraute, what if you make it so you lose rather than having the boy win? The competition is set to end when that boy reaches the heavenly world where you are waiting for him. So if you head down to the human world first, you would ‘lose’ and be able to marry him.”

“I cannot do that!! I cannot intentionally lose a competition someone is risking their life over! That would be blaspheming that boy’s serious efforts!!”

“Um… He just has to climb up with his own strength, right? I can send down an airtight flying swan boat for him. He can pedal it himself, so…”

“No, you fool!! He has to do it with his own strength! Tools he prepared himself are one thing, but a tool handed to him by a third party is out of the question!!”

“This Valkyrie is a giant pain in the ass.”

“This Valkyrie is a giant pain in the ass.”

The two gods may have simultaneously grumbled in complaint, but they were not ready to give up yet. That human boy was in real danger (and if he died, Waltraute would likely physically destroy the heavenly world).

However, it seemed Waltraute refused to lend the boy a helping hand no matter what happened and she would use her top-class spear to strike down anyone else who might try to interfere. It was more or less impossible for the boy to reach Asgard under his own strength, so the two gods could only wait as the countdown until the end of the world continued.

But then Frigg clapped her hands together.

“I know! Waltraute, what about this?”

“?”

===Part 7===

As he grabbed at Yggdrasil’s bark, the boy could tell his fingertips were gradually losing feeling. The air was thin, his ears were ringing horribly, and the cold wind ripping into him was robbing his body of heat. His consciousness began to grow cloudy and he could no longer feel pain in his hands that were ripped open and bleeding.

He could climb no further.

Nor could he head back down.

He really did understand. He understood that his request had been reckless. The boy’s young heart accurately came to the conclusion that the pain and cold he was feeling were punishment for trying to obtain what he did not deserve.

But…

He continued on nonetheless.

“…Wal…traute…”

He did not give up. He knew he had been wrong, but he still did not give up. And so the boy ignored the blood flowing from his palm and forced his cloudy mind to make his body move. The boy did indeed continue on up even if it was at a rate no faster than a caterpillar crawling up the tree.

“Wait for me… I will…definitely win…”

And then the boy’s hand slipped.

He did not know if it was due to strength leaving his hand or if it had merely slipped on the blood flowing from it. Even though he could not feel pain, he could still feel that the hand was no longer supporting his weight and that he was beginning to fall. A chill ran down his spine, but he could not stop his body now that it had begun to fall.

The boy’s expression remained unchanged in that final moment

He did even have the presence of mind left to change his expression.

He did only one thing.

He reached out his hand.

He stretched it upwards.

He reached for the giant rough trunk he was supposed to be holding onto.

He was not swinging his arms around in an unsightly desperate attempt to regain his balance. He was trying to continue on despite knowing it was hopeless and impossible.

He knew he could only reach air, but he still stretched out his hand.

In that moment when the boy should have fallen upside down towards the surface, he suddenly felt support return to his body in midair. The next thing he knew, the suffocating lack of oxygen and slicing cold wind were gone. A beam of light had shone down from beyond the dark clouds. And two arms were now supporting the boy.

It was Waltraute.

The golden-haired Valkyrie was riding a white horse.

The boy had no idea how she had appeared, but even as Waltraute held the boy in midair, they continued to fall down according to gravity. However, she expressionlessly had the giant white horse effortlessly land on a narrow branch of the world tree.

The boy’s first question showed what he cared about more than the fact he had survived.

“…Did I lose?”

“No.” Waltraute shook her head. “You were the victor of this competition.”

“How?” asked the boy while being held in the Valkyrie’s arms. “I fell from Yggdrasil. I didn’t make it to Asgard. I got help from you partway there, so I lost….”

“That is not the proper way to look at this.” Waltraute looked the boy directly in the eye with her icy (in appearance only) eyes. “It is true I reached out to help you. But that is only because you made me do so. I had no intention of helping you. I intended to merely observe no matter what happened. However, you made me break my own rule. It was you that made me want to reach out to help you so badly that I would break my own rule. For that reason, my arrival here was accomplished with your own strength.”

“…I don’t really get it.”

“The rules stated that you would climb Yddrasil with your own strength. If you hold the power to summon a Valkyrie, then having me take you to Asgard is still using your own strength, is it not?” Waltraute then added, “The rules also stated that you would win when you arrived in Asgard where I waited. I must accept defeat as penalty for leaving Asgard in the middle of the competition.”

===Part 8===

Some time later, the boy was still in the human world of Midgard and Waltraute was peering down from a runway of Bifröst on the edge of the heavenly world of Asgard.

This interfered with Heimdallr’s work, so he looked troubled as he asked, “How long are you going to do this?”

“Sh-shut up. He went through a lot. It only happened because of the faulty rules I came up with, so I need to observe him to make sure there are no lasting effects.”

“If you’re that worried, you could have chosen not to live apart…”

“Make no mistake, you fool!!”

Waltraute’s iron fist flew and sent Heimdallr writhing in pain from enough damage to immediately kill someone who was not a god.

Paying that no heed, she continued, “I-I did not want to get married in the slightest!! That was the only method I had to retrieve that stubborn boy from Yggdrasil! If I had not gone through that process, I would have been unable to help him. I am not attached to him. Not in the slightest!!”

“U-uuh…”

“With that in mind, it should be obvious that we are living separately. I have no intention to let the formalities of his rescue alter the way I live my life. If I did, it would just be a bother for him anyway. Hey, are you listening? I’m asking if you’re listening to me!!”

As Waltraute grabbed Heimdallr by the collar and shook him around, Frigg, the goddess of marriage, spoke up.

“If that boy came to the heavenly world, he would die. And it would be difficult for you to remain in the human world permanently. Isn’t that the real reason you had to tearfully choose to live separately?”

“Please do not joke about that!! I-I am having enough trouble with this as it is!!”

Heimdallr then made an unnecessary comment as he hung in midair.

“I-if it’s that much trouble, why don’t you just break up with him? There is always the option of divorce. Frigg would know more about it than m-…gbeeehhh!?!?!?”

Heimdallr had expected Waltraute to silently start strangling him, but instead Frigg elegantly lifted up the sides of her long skirt and started kicking him in the back. The goddess had a lovely smile on her face all the while.

“Do you really think you should be using that word in the presence of the goddess of marriage?”

“Eee!! I’m sorry! Please help me!! Eeeee!!”

Heimdallr continued complaining, but Frigg did not care.

She was certain that stubborn Valkyrie would say something troublesome if she learned about divorce. People like her needed to be able to tell themselves they had to stay married because they had no other choice. After that, she would finally begin doing what she truly wanted to do.

“So how is the boy?” Frigg asked the newlywed Waltraute.

“Th-the same as always. He spends his mornings learning how to read and write and spends his afternoons training under a mead maker… Wait…ahhh!!”

Waltraute cried out when she glanced down toward the surface.

Frigg looked confused, so she looked down to the surface as well.

“Nwha ha ha ha!! So you are the soul of the human world it is said climbed the world tree and married a Valkyrie! I will take you with me and add you to my army of evil spirits!!”

“Who are you, lady?”

“I am no mere lady, boy? I am Hel. I am the queen of Niflheim, realm of the dead. I will give you the special privilege of referring to me by name. But only so you can plead for your life!!”

“A queen…I-I see…”

The boy’s expression made it clear he did not quite understand what was going on, but he bowed down nonetheless.

However, this seemed to provoke the queen of the realm of the dead.

“Y-you’re bowing down to me…? But everyone always calls me the cruel queen or says I ridicule people’s attachment to their life… D-don’t do that!! No one has ever done that before, so I don’t know how to respond…!”

“Hey, the old shaman guy said Niflheim is a world of ice. Is that true?”

“H-heh. Yes, it is. Niflheim is a prison of eternal ice! It is a frightening place that provides eternal suffering of hunger and cold to souls of the human world like you! Scary, isn’t it? You can cry if you want, but I’ll still be taking you to Niflheim!!”

“Wow, a world of ice. …Is the whole world really made of ice!? That’s amazing! I bet you can make tons of ice candy there!!”

“…Hah? No, wait…”

“Today’s really hot, so I bet Waltraute would love it if I made her some ice candy! I have to go to Niflheim right away!!”

“You can’t!! For a soul of the human world to go to Niflheim, it has to die! Do you understand? Do you really understand that!? Oh, damn. He’s not listening at all. But…wait. Maybe I can just invite him like this. He said he wants to go, so there’s nothing wrong with it, right? …Heh heh heh. So this is a soul rare enough to lead a Valkyrie astray. He will make a powerful addition to my army of evil spirits. Y-yeah, that’s it. This is all for my army of evil spirits! I don’t care about the boy at all! I need to make sure there are no mistaken ideas about that…”

And on that day a great number of Spears of Destroying Lightning fell down to the human world.

A local shaman was known to have said that abnormal weather was partially caused by something nearby.

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