003

Asagi stood in the center of a large white bridge, the only connection that the kingdom had to the rest of the world. The battleground of the Valkyrie, and at the same time their graveyard.

It was a beautiful bridge of intricate and beautiful design. Its brilliance always kept in shape due to the magic that repaired it at the end of every night. The blood of the Valkyrie who died protecting it, all signs of their life washed away.

The woman felt that today she would join many of her fallen sisters as today she would be facing her counter, and the other Valkyrie weren't in any condition or position to help her tonight.

"So I finally get to join them." Asagi raised her only hand up to her face. The last time she had fought her counter, the day she received her weapon she lost her left arm and one of her eyes. It had been a year since then, and in that time she had only ever just barely survived.

"I wanted to meet the new blacksmith at least once, then maybe I could have heard your voice at least once, Murasame." The sword on her hip seemed to glow for a second then its/ light dimmed.

[Murasame's ego unavailable, damage to the weapon is too significant]

The distant sound of giggling slowly crept up, as the beasts who took her left arm appeared. Hyena-like animals grown to the size of elephants, Long bony figures covered in a large cloak holding a staff in one hand, and other small creatures.

Water from the air around her condensed into the shape of an arm. A trick she used so that her disability didn't interfere with her ability to fight.

She placed the hand on the sheath of her Katana then dashed forward across the bridge now that she could see her enemy. She covered the hundreds of meters in a few seconds drawing her blade a moment before contact.

She cut through the neck of the leading Hyena, water reaching from the blade and slicing through the next three behind it. Asagi pushed herself into the air by extending her arm of water then pulling it back up with her.

[Sufficient height reached, Activating Skill: Blade dancer of the stormy sky.]

The clouds above her seemed to fall, morphing into blades of water. Hundreds of them formed slamming into the ground and the enemies on it.

Asagi landed in a plume of water that washed the corpses off the bridge. She had done it to wash away the fog of blood as well. The tiny particles froze easily and shredded the lungs.

When all the dust cleared she stood before a large wall of ice made from her own splash. The monsters had turned it all to ice and those with an ice attribute were moving through it as if the frost was air. All she ended up doing was giving herself less space to work with.

"Damn ice bastards." The woman looked at her options, most of her arsenal would end up becoming useless before it was even slightly effective. Worse than that she would soon be without her spare arm, as she could feel it getting sluggish. The water was starting to freeze.

Unlike in the past where she was younger and had a strong will to survive she hadn't felt so strongly about making it out alive.

Living wasn't the reason she slowly broke into a sprint, not even close. It wasn't about protecting the people inside the walls, they didn't give a damn about the Valkyrie as long as they were safe behind the walls.

She couldn't give up because she refused to shame the names of everyone who died before her.

One of the witches swung the staff in thier hands revealing the monsterous humanoid shape underneath. It's bone thin arms producing more power than looked possible.

Agasi blocked it with a bit of trouble and the contact caused ice to grow on the blade. She smashed it off then quickly stabbed the creature through the chest. Small pellets of water shot out through the body hailing other enemies with razor like shots of water.

A hyena lunged at her but she cut out it's front teeth, jumped into it's mouth and cut her way out. She let out a roar of determination moving from logical thinking to relying solely on her Instincts. She kept fighting, and even if she died her body would have kept fighting.

. . .

"Are you sure you didn't over do it?" Asagi could hear a male voice, hints of suspension on his tongue.

"I think I did not do enough master. No normal human would have been able to survive with the injuries that she has." Replied a soft feminine voice.

"Well duh, I wouldn't survive a big gash like that in my stomach." The man's reply was mocking but it was somehow lacking sarcasm. "Hope she doesn't die though, as a man I hate to see a beautiful woman die."

Asagi shot up at the comment and realized that her eye wasn't closed rather covered with a bandage. She removed the bandages from her eye seeing a man and a woman.

"What the fuck? You're not as dead looking as you were this morning?" Shu said looking a little weirded out.

"Master, The Valkyrie have a special ability that after combat if seriously injured they can absorb the divinity of their weapon to rapidly heal over the course of a few hours. That's why they fight alone." Vermillion explained as she knelt down to Asagi, removing all the bandages. "It puts the weapon into recovery."

"To keep everyone from having down time at the same time huh?" Shu put a hand to his chin and his eyes seemed to dim just a little. "Vermillion, give her the sword back for me. I need to get busy again."

"Yes master." Vermillion stood to bow her head as Shu disappeared down the stairs.

"Was that..?" Asagi paused her question already knowing the answer, and instead switched gears. "Where's he going?"

"To work. This morning before your arrival he had been trying to learn more about this workplace." Vermillion having now removed all the bandages burned them using magic. "To answer your next question you are here because you passed out in front of the store."

Agasi pulled her legs under her and lowered her head. "I am sorry for the inconvenience to you both, if there is anything I can do to repay you both?"

The smile on Vermillion's face had changed, the bloodlust coming from it had made even Asagi freeze for a second.

"Then do not die, from the way he reacted my master has yet to experience death and it may shock him too much to grow." Vermillion took a cloth from the coffee table handing it to Asagi. It was her sword Murasame.

She unwrapped the weapon and it felt completely different. The power surging from it was bewildering.

"Master has repaired the weapon if only slightly, grumbling about twenty percent. This is the first weapon he has worked on." Vermillion finished. "If you die then he will surely feel guilty."

Asagi nodded her head quietly holding the sword to her chest. Though her curiosity as a swordsman was burning she just had to test.

She returned just the slightest bit of bloodlust. One moment she imagined herself drawing the blade, and in the next she could see her decapitated body sitting on the couch.

Asagi's hand shot up to her neck and felt for her head which was thankfully still attached.

What had just occurred was Asagi's instincts as a fighter. At a certain level ones instincts can decide a battle before a sword is ever drawn. Due to the brains own cockiness it's more likely that you'll be shown to be a little better than you are.

Just now she was killed before even drawing her blade. Vermillion Reyes was dangerous.