Chapter 90

---Breezehome, Next Morning---

Locating our destination sometime during the night, Yamato surveyed the site and made note of all points of interest. Having Luxion present us with her findings, while we were eating breakfast, Aela, Lydia, and Serana were amazed by how much information was collected. Allowing them to explore Skuldafn as if they were there physically, it finally dawned on them just how easy it would be for Otherworlders to take over Nirn. Grateful that we were kind, respectable people, not ruthless conquerors, they began to wonder why people from other worlds had not already enslaved them and stripped their world of its resources.

"Just out of curiosity, Victor, are worlds like ours a common sight out there?", Veronica asked, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

<Allow 0 me to answer that question, Master. Currently, in the Galactic Republic, there are over fourteen million documented Class M worlds with Type civilizations. This planet falls into those two categories.>

"Class M worlds are planets that can sustain life without outside intervention, and Type 0 civilizations are ones who have barely advanced past the horse and cart.", I elaborated further, "In most interstellar nations, it is forbidden to interact with civilizations below Type 2. While not strictly regulated, the country your planet resides in goes to extreme lengths to ensure you are left alone."

"So then technically, you should not be here then, right?", Aela inquired, with a playful smile, "My mother warned me to stay away from bad men like you, guess it is too late now. Oh well!"

"Yes, that is correct.", I acknowledged, in a serious tone, "I suppose that means I will have to nullify our relationship and erase everyone's memories of us. Such a shame…I was really looking forward to all the adventures we were going share out there."

"Now hang on a minute, I was just joking!", Aela remarked, in a worried tone.

Cracking a smile, Aela realized I was joking as well. Letting out a sigh of relief, the women giggled at how flustered she had been over my comment. Telling all of them to shut it, Aela quickly switched topics to move past her embarrassing blunder. Wanting to know exactly where in Skuldafn the portal to Sovngarde was, as Yamato had not recorded anything about it, she was curious if there was some trick or mechanism to open it.

"The portal is currently closed right now, but this is where it is.", I said, moving the camera view to the large, stone courtyard in the middle of the ruins, "In order to open it, we will need a special staff currently in the possession of an undead lich named Nahkriin. He was a prominent priest in the Dragon Cult that controlled most of Skyrim in the Merethic Era. Be cautious when we fight him, Nahkriin is a master of both Destruction and Dragon magics."

"We will also have to contend with a small army of Draugr, ancient ruins like these are usually full of them.", Lydia added, "There is also a chance dragons will show up to defend the ruins too. Sovngarde is where Alduin collects his power, so he is certain to have additional forces nearby just in case."

Hearing all the foes we were going up against, Aela and Roxanne began grinning ear to ear. Having grown bored with the lack of combat late of real combat lately, they were excited to finally get a workout in again.

"Since we will be miles away from anyone at Skuldafn, everyone is free to use our more modern arsenal today. Aela, Lydia, and Serana, you are welcome to try out some of our weapons as well, just know your options will be a bit limited.", I stated, tossing my dishes into the washing basin, "Is everyone ready?"

Chugging down the last remaining sips of coffee and tea, the women tossed their dishes in the basin and gave me a thumbs up. Having Yamato teleport us into the armory, while everyone else grabbed their preferred weapons of choice, I showed Aela, Lydia, and Serana the weapons they were permitted to use. Settling on Energy Shields and Swords, Aela and Lydia began to familiarize themselves with how they worked while Serana toyed around with a pair of Plasma Daggers.

"You sure you want daggers?", I asked, with a curious look.

"Haha, I know, it does not fit in with traditional Nordic culture, but I prefer these over a normal sword. While many of my countrymen like to charge into battle screaming their lungs out, my style is more slipping behind enemy lines and slitting their throats or bombarding them with magic from a distance.", she replied, as she skillfully spun the daggers around in her palms, "That will not be a problem, will it?"

"So long as you are happy, it does not matter to me.", I said, shelving the rest of the equipment, "Aela and Lydia, are you good?"

"Oh yeah!", Aela laughed, slicing the heads off several training dummies, "These weapons are fucking amazing!! There is no way in hell I am going back to steel weapons ever again."

"Agreed, it is far easier to move around with this equipment than the gear I typically use. Do you have lighter armor that we could use?", Lydia inquired, looking around the room.

"We can take armor improvements at a later date. For the time being, attach this to your armor.", I said, tossing them each a Holtzman Shield.

Affixing the units to their right shoulders, several thin layers of light quickly enveloped them before becoming transparent again. Receiving confirmation that the shields were online and operational, I quickly tweaked a few parameters to ensure they performed optimally. Questioning what the devices were and what that light was, I told Lydia to swing her usual sword at Aela. Looking at me like I was crazy, Aela told Lydia to just do it and get it over with. With Aela's blessing given, Lydia drew her steel blade and swung it at Aela's arm. Abruptly stopping just a few millimeters from her skin, my housecarl found herself unable to push it any further.

"By the Eight…", Lydia said, attacking Aela several more times, "Why can I not touch her?!"

"Objects that exceed a certain speed are blocked by those Holtzman Shields. They will not protect you from magic, but they will stop physical attacks with ease.", I told her.

"That is cheating!", Serana laughed, "So all we must do is avoid magical spells? That is child's play."

Asking the others if they were all set, Angelica and women gave me an affirmative nod. Having everyone gather round, I gave Yamato the command to teleport us down to the Nordic ruins.

---Skuldafn---

Beaming us down to the stone courtyard, Yamato put us down right in the middle of the courtyard. Visually scanning the area for threats, Roxanne spotted Nahkriin wandering around the edge of courtyard blissfully unaware of our arrival. Confirming that no other enemies were present, three of the women broke away from our group and made a mad dash for the dragon priest.

"I will go high, Roxanne will go low, and Serana will deliver the final blow from behind. That work for you ladies?", Aela asked, in a hushed voice.

"Sounds like a plan to me.", Serana said, turning invisible and heading off on her own.

"Understood, do you need a boost?", Roxanne questioned, tapping her shield with her sword.

"I can already tell that the two of us are going to be best friends.", Aela answered, with a big grin, "Of course I will take that boost!"

Waiting till they were within one hundred feet of Nahkriin, Roxanne temporarily sheathed her blade, raised her shield up, and dropped into a power slide. Leaping onto the shield, Roxanne used every ounce of strength she had to launch Aela into the air. Raising her sword high, Aela released a boisterous battle cry as she began to descend toward Nahkriin. Caught completely off guard, the dragon priest whipped his staff around attempting to slam it into her side.

"Not today you old bag of bones!", Aela laughed, placing her faith in the Holtzman Shield I gave here, "Take this!"

Stopping the momentum of the staff completely before it could touch Aela, Nahkriin was left wide open to her devastating slash. Slicing through his armor and bones like warm butter, she created a gaping hole in his breastplate and ribcage. Slamming her shield into the dragon priest's face to stun him, Aela jumped out of the way allowing Roxanne to bulldoze in with her shield.

Crashing into him like a semitruck, the impact shattered what remained of his ribcage and sent him flying backward. Giving chase, Roxanne drew her blade and promptly removed cut off the arm that held the staff. Grabbing it and retreating with Aela, Nahkriin was about to blast them with magic from behind when Serana drove both of her blades into his back. Narrowly missing his magic core, she cursed herself as he quickly raised the alarm.

"Paal Bo! Paal Bo!!", Nahkriin shouted, before Serana silenced him forever.

(AN: This stands for Foes Have Arrived. The "have" is omitted as its meaning is clear in this case. Do not ask me, take it up with the people on the forums lol.)

Grabbing his mask, before chasing after Aela and Roxanne, the two women reached us just as the Draugr began pouring out of the ruins. Raising their rifles, Angelica, Clarice, Deirdre, Mylene, and Olivia began chipping away at their numbers as they surged toward us. Tossing me the staff, Aela, Roxanne, and Serana looked to me for what came next.

"Sorry guys, my skills are a bit rusty. Who would have thought being several thousand years out of practice would do that to someone.", Serana laughed, with an apologetic grin.

"Do we make our stand here or proceed into Sovngarde?", Aela asked.

"It does not make much of a difference, we either fight them here or fight them in Sovngarde.", I remarked, launching a rocket at the horde from my wrist launcher.

<Captain, you have three dragons inbound from the northwest. ETA is five minutes.>

"Are any of them Alduin?", I inquired.

<Unfortunately he is leading the group, Captain>

Fully aware that we could not kill him in this dimension, the decision to drag this fight into Sovngarde was made for us. Driving the staff into the pedestal, the ground under our feet began to violently shake. Telling the women to prepare for a dimension jump, a few moments later, we all fell into the portal together.