Chapter 12 - Reginleif Stands!

As Reginleif stood in front of the priest named Mark she quickly put a rune of protection on herself. It wouldn't be all that effective since it was only a single rune but it would help prevent any broken bones if the man managed to land a hit on her.

Readying his fists Mark put his guard but completely, even if his opponent was a child he wouldn't hold back. The scar over his eye throbbed as he thought about the last time he was stupid enough to think just because a monster took the form of a child it was okay to hesitate in exterminating them.

Indeed this was the truth, heretics and monsters must be shown no mercy.

Mark charged at Reginleif like a wild beast, his steps causing indents into the ground with the sheer power in his legs.

"Fire!" Reginleif reacted to this quickly, sending a small fireball towards him.

Unfortunately he dodges this easily by moving to the side, but Reginleif had planned for this.

"Stone Wall!" She had written a rune for "wall" on the palm of her hand which she slammed into the ground creating a wall made of earth.

"Tsk! You mage always fight the same!" He despised the cowardice of mages, but he guessed that was to be expected from idiots that would turn to Devils for the sake of power.

He ran to the side of the wall only to be met with another rune directly in his face.

"Blast Away!" An explosion sends her rocketing back, but hitting him in the process.

Her back roughly hit the ground and she rolled several times losing her hat in the process before finally landing on her stomach.

"Ugh... haa... haa..." Her breathing was heavy and her arms felt a bit numb as she struggled to push herself back up.

"The Norse faction is all but doomed if they're sending barely trained children like you to fight their battles. Or perhaps they're just foolish, I wouldn't expect anything less from the heretical gods."

Reginleif hearing the man's unstrained voice looked up towards the cloud of dust with wide eyes, to see the man walking out of the dust was brushing himself off casually.

Those who fight for the church are trained and equipped specifically to combat heretical arts, that means of course even their outfits had protections against magic.

The Church of Necessary Evil was even more so as their entire duty was the extermination of heretics and the protection of the Church's secrets.

Mark walked toward Reginleif who scrambled to her feet in an attempt to prepare herself for another assault; unfortunately she was much too slow in her recovery and he was on top of her in an instant.

His fist firmly planted itself into her gut sending pain through her whole body as spit flew out her mouth.

"*cough* *cough* T-This... *cough* *cough* is nothing like training." For Reginleif a certain realization hit her as pain coursed through her body and she fell back down to her hands and knees.

"Strange, I was supposed to have crushed your lungs with that attack." Mark commented pulling his foot back and kicking Reginleif directly in her stomach sending her flying into the wall where she slid down slowly.

Pain coursed through her body as if it were her very own blood as she could barely even keep her eyes open to see the priest slowly walking towards her his steps oppressive and heavy, the only things she could hear past the ringing in her ears.

Mark ruthlessly with his teeth bared like an animal gripped Reginleif by the throat and lifted her up against the wall. His grip strength which should have probably snapped her neck merely stopped her airway suffocating her slowly.

"Ack, gaugh..." As she felt her life beginning to drain from her body, Reginleif began to understand what others meant when they claimed that their life flashed before their eyes.

Rather than her entire life however, what surfaced were memories of when she first became a Valkyrie. She had been an exception that was given the rank by Odin himself rather than having to take any of the rigorous tests or going through any screening processes.

This fact alone was a bit uncomfortable for the other Valkyries as such treatment was extraordinarily rare in the current age unless someone was particularly talented, even the Brynhildr of the past few generations wasn't chosen this way.

Unfortunately, Reginleif didn't completely measure up at first. So often the other Valkyrie would talk behind her back doubting her abilities.

"I know Odin chose her but are we really sure she should be here?"

"This is no place for children!"

"Perhaps Odin made a mistake..."

"How can she be worthy of the name Reginleif?"

"Have the Valkyries really fallen so far?"

These were some of the things that were often said in secret about her. Always doubt. Whether because of her age or her skill. That doubt often spilled over to Odin as well as her reputation somewhat reflecting onto him, the one that chose to put her in so early.

She was treated more like a cute mascot than she was a competent warrior, and had never even been sent on a mission more dangerous than a milk run. That's why she had to work so hard, why she trained so hard to the point of others thinking that she must be a young prodigy in magic.

Yet still until she was given her current mission by Odin she wasn't taken seriously at all.

She understood why of course.

For the most part the other Valkyrie were probably scared for her safety. They knew she wasn't ready.

Now she knew too.

She wasn't ready.

This man in front of her was someone that had likely experienced a number of battles, but he was still for the most part a regular human. He wasn't even using magic to enhance his attacks and yet Reginleif a person given the Valkyrie emblem equivalent to her name with so many years of history and strength behind it. Could not do anything to him.

She was weak.

She was inexperienced.

She was afraid.

And yet she felt something else in her heart. Something more primal. A greater kind of fear.

The proper fear of death. The kind of fear of it that one could only acquire through a true confrontation with death itself.

She wanted to live!

She wanted to prove her Valkyrie sisters wrong!

She didn't want to be weak, nor did she want to have to be saved all of the time by the people around her.

But yes more than anything she needed to survive this encounter!

The light in her eyes which had been dimming roared to life with her feeling of hope in her heart which pushed her forward and glared at Mark.

"What the hell is with that look witch!" He yelled his grip tightening however Reginleif didn't so much as flinch as at this point her entire body had gone numb.

She thought back to the feeling she had when she looked toward Cebrail previously and looked at her again as she stood nearby with the old priest on one knee in front of her.

When she looked Cebrail responded instantly, lifting her finger silver light formed at its tip point right towards them.

"Mark! Watch out!" The old man yelled but it was far too late as the beam shot out before instantly connecting with its target, putting a large hole in Mark's arm. Quickly he began moving back with his arm barely still attached by the small amount of flesh still on it and he looked towards Cebrail who was still pointing at him.

(That ring!!!) He finally noticed Solomon's Ring and suddenly flashes shot through his head, of a vampire princess which nearly took his head back when he was still a rookie exorcist.

"YOU! WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT RING!" He screamed in rage but was ignored by Cebrail who could only think of the silver haired Devils warning before.

Solomon's Ring was without a doubt going to get her into some serious trouble in the future if even some generic grunt can recognize it.

Mark was a very unlucky guy it seemed. In his short human lifespan he had managed to end up in a confrontation against two different people with Solomon's Ring. Two people destined to be rulers. Two people with luck on their side. And two people that normally wouldn't even spare a guy like him a second look. He was food for the rise of two beasts far above his weight class.

Cebrail dropped her hand and began moving towards the old priest once again instead of even glancing to see if Reginleif was okay.

Reginleif oddly was thankful for that. She felt like it meant the Angel princess truly believed in her, and she wouldn't let that belief be in vain.

"Hey!"

"Huhhhhhh!?!" Mark took his eyes off of Cebrail to look back at Reginleif with a look of anger plastered on his face. He looked more like a wild beast then he did a human.

"Fireball!" Reginleif called out drawing a rune in the air once again and sending out a ball of fire towards Mark.

"You brat! Didn't you realize it before?!? That crap isn't gonna work on me!" Mark dodged the fireball and, despite his hanging arm, charged at Reginleif with his good fist brought back ready to be brought down for a decisive blow. He seemed to have gone a bit crazy after seeing Solomon's Ring making him incredibly reckless.

However much to his surprise the young Valkyrie that seemingly was on death's door rolled out of the way and from behind her came a large earthen spike straight from the wall and straight into his chest.

"W-What?!?" The man exclaimed coughing up a bit of blood however that was the most he could do before his life faded and his arm dropped lifelessly.

Reginleif breathed a few heavy breaths before falling onto her butt her legs shaking from the encounter.

"Cheep! Cheep!" She soon heard the sound of Epis' cries so she turned her head to find Cebrail standing next to her eating a pack of sour candy, the old man she had been fighting was lying nearby unconscious.

Epis scurried from atop Cebrail's head down her body and finally came to a stop on Reginleif's leg confusing her a bit.

"Cheep! Cheep!" Suddenly a transparent barrier formed around the two and visibly Reginleif's wounds began vanishing one at a time, even her mana and stamina were being restored for the most part.

"So you can do something like this as well hm~" Cebrail sounded amused and as the barrier fell she picked up Epis by the scruff of its neck and gave Reginleif the rest of her candy.

"Good job Reginleif."

Reginleif stared at the Angel above her with wide eyes before smiling happily, "Thank you!"

(That's good. Her eyes have changed.) Cebrail thought with a bit of relief. Reginleif was still green however her confrontation with death seems to have been the experience she needed to climb even higher on the food chain.

"Well it's no time to rest. We still have one more guy to deal with." Cebrail claims turning around and walking towards the church.

"Ah! Wait for me!" Reginleif calls after her scrambling to her feet and chasing after her new friend.