Valkyrie Smash

"What's wrong, O almighty Nephilim queen? Could it be that things aren't going the way you expected them to be?"

Sam lifted himself up, his mouth twisting in a pained grin. He could tell something has happened, and from how the queen is looking at the floating screen it was easy to guess what it might be.

'Five and the others should've been out by the time the jet landed.' Sam thought. 'Were they able to learn how to use the formations in such a short time?'

"Mjolnir..." The queen spoke, her voice shaking with restrained rage. "You said they aren't able to create new hearts…"

"Eh!? Ah! That's right!" The silver haired Nephilim went deathly pale the moment she realized her mistake.

She turned to Sam with a sharp glare having discovered that he has been lying to her the entire time, however he only smiled in return.

"Don't look at me like that. Remember what I said back then?" Sam spoke, recalling the exact words he told the Nephilim not that long ago. "Creating an entire heart requires a lot of rare materials that we don't have. But we don't really have to create new ones from scratch."

"I see…" Black Thorn broke her silence. "You altered the inferior hearts to make up for the lack of materials. That's quite the genius idea."

"You're flattering me too much. I thought things were coming to an end when Ms. Mjölnir appeared earlier. Time was another thing we didn't have, but thanks to you we've somehow made it."

Though he was speaking confidently, Sam knew very well that there is a limit to how much his three personal Valkyries can do. Elina should've started the procedure on the next three volunteers, however even with with them they would still be on the losing end.

Right now he has to do everything in his power to negotiate a way out of this cursed war and the only way to achieve that is to have enough time to build their power even more.

"I've only had a few interactions with your people so far." Though his heart was pounding uncontrollably, Sam did his best to keep up the calm facade. "And if I had to describe you in one word, I would say you're naive."

Hela's brows twitched at the mention of the word and she turned her attention to him once again.

"Especially you, Nephilim queen." Sam said, not averting his gaze. "I'm told you're looking for someone named Frejya. Since she's the first queen, am I right to assume she's your mother?"

"Sister." Hela answered, her anger growing. "She is my sister."

"I see I see. That makes more sense."

Putting aside the way he spoke, Sam had already deduced the whole situation long before he stepped into the obsidian castle. The final piece he needed was what Mjölnir had revealed to him during the meeting from earlier and with it everything fell into place.

"Your mistake was resorting to force when you could've gone about this in a much different way. Odin knew how you would act, pulled your strings and led you into this war. The fact that you have yet to realize that you've been playing in his palm the entire time shows how lacking your understanding of the world truly is."

"... silence…"

"Hm?"

"I SAID SILENCE!"

Though he was expecting it, Sam didn't like finding himself on the cold floor again feeling like every part of him was being pulled down by an invisible force.

"Insolent human… what do you know?" Hela said, her shoulders trembling with anger. "Played into his hand, you say? Hah! I see you're as blind as you are foolish! Just look at your world! Does it look like your side is the one on top? It doesn't matter what plan my traitor of a father has, it doesn't matter how many times he runs. I'll follow the trail of blood he leaves behind and I will catch up to him at some point, even if I have to kill every last human in each world he steps foot on!"

"You… you still don't get it, do you?" Sam looked up at the throne, still grinning despite everything. "Your objective is… to take back your sister… you should've left massacring humans for later." Each breath he took came out as a pained gasp, however that did little to stop him. For some reason, seeing the furious glare of the enemy leader gave him the strength to go on. "Heck, if you asked us we would've helped you from the start... Instead you waited until most of humanity was dead before you made your existence known."

"... what?"

"Aaah! That's right, your majesty!" Mjölnir exclaimed, remembering something very important. "The humans in this world didn't know about us until recently! They didn't even know about the first queen until today!"

"What!? What are you saying, Mjölnir!?" Black Thorn asked, overtaken by surprise as well.

"It's very simple." Sam answered in her place. "You thought you were negotiating with our leaders… however Odin was the one in control the whole time. You actually did him a big favor by resorting to force instead of trying a different approach... Thanks to that he was able to convince us to help him without having to worry about his secret being unveiled."

The fact that he had created something like the Nephilim was proof of his genius, however when you realize that he had played both them and the humans you can't help but wonder how much of a sly fox he really is.

"This can't be…" turning her eyes to the blue skinned queen, Black Thorn spoke in a shaking voice. "Your majesty…"

It made sense for the Nephilim to be so shocked at the news. The war has been ongoing for an entire decade yet they made no progress toward their goal. If that wasn't a sign that their approach has been wrong the entire time then what else do they need to realize their mistake?

That said, the consequences of their actions were just about to catch up with them.

"I… I advise you to stop crushing me soon… Nephilim queen." Sam said, fighting the increased gravity and pushing himself up. "You… you don't really have as much leverage as you think… continue to provoke us like this and… I'll make sure you will never see your sister ever again."

Considering his position and the reality of him being nothing but a worthless weak human, any threat he threw at his enemy shouldn't have any weight to it. However for some reason Hela found herself retracting her power allowing him to relax before getting up again.

"Good… now let's work on an agreement that would satisfy both sides…" dusting himself and fixing his clothes, Sam cleared his throat and faced the queen again. "Sadly, with everything you've done to us so far, I think it's only fair for the conditions to favor our side. Is that understandable?"

Hela could only grit her teeth as she listened, and so did her closest advisor.

It was only now that the massacres they committed has started to backfire on them. Eradicating 80% of the humans in this world wasn't a problem before, however now that they have discovered how to use Arts it worked against the Nephilim.

There is no telling what the humans would do now that they've been driven into a corner. If the Nephilim continued coming after them like they've been doing so far, they would be risking them unleashing some of the prohibited Arts in a desperate attempt which might lead to devastating results.

Humanity has nothing left to lose. Any wrong move and the Nephilim would end up ruining their own chances at achieving their goal.

Still, giving in to the threats of a human after coming all this way, Hela couldn't bring herself to accept that. She understood that it would be bad to give them time to build their power, and she didn't really care what would happen to this world. Her only desire was to find her sister, and until that happens she couldn't risk collapsing this dimension.

"I will take your silence as a Yes." Though he spoke confidently, Sam knew very well that the likelihood of his enemies accepting his conditions is very low. Even so he went on as if everything really is in his control. After all his objective wasn't to negotiate peace but to buy time until they're able to level up the playing field a little more. "Here is what will happen from here on. First, you will go back to your own world."

"As if!" Black Thorn shot back, but Sam only glanced at her through narrowed eyes.

"As I said, you don't have much of a choice here." Watching as the purple haired woman bit her lower lip, Sam then turned to the queen and raised two fingers.

"Second, you must return Odin to us. His crimes against humanity can't go unpunished. He has to answer for everything he has done and face the punishment we choose for him." He waited for a couple of seconds but when no one offered a comment he raised a third finger and went on. "You've already done more than enough damage, the least you can do is leave us alone for a while. Once we're ready to resume the negotiations we will inform you ourselves. Until then you are to stay away from our world."

The terms Sam stated were quite unrealistic, mainly because everything he has done so far has been one big bluff. He was betting on the same short sightedness and naivete that affected the Nephilim's decision making up to this point, however there is no telling how long it'll take for them to see through what he said.

If they decide to continue with the war anyways he would be in really big trouble. As much as he liked the idea, ending the world just so their enemies wouldn't get what they want didn't strike him like a really great idea.

Black Thorn suddenly looked up then turned to her left, her eyes going wide. She quickly shifted her gaze to the blue skinned queen and spoke in an alarmed tone.

"Your majesty! I just received a report of three unknown individuals heading in our direction! The guards have already engaged them, however it-"

"THEN GO AND STOP THEM YOURSELF!" Hela shot up from her seat yelling down on her subordinate.

Watching that, Sam had to actively stop himself from smiling. At the moment Three, Five and Nine were heading straight toward the obsidian castle. A wave of Nephilim came out to block their way, however they made one little miscalculation.

Five's crimson blade cut through one of them with ease, Nine's mechanical arms twisted and crushed another two and Three's shield blocked their attacks as she pierced them with her lance.

The Nephilim are powerful beings. Their abilities far surpass those of average Valkyries let alone humans, because of that up to this point they've easily dominated any opponent they have come across. But things completely changed once their enemy obtained the same abilities as them.

The difference in combat experience between the Nephilim and the Valkyries is the same as that between civilians and veteran soldiers. Under the same circumstances, even if both sides had the same weapons and equipment, those trained on the battlefield will always have the upper hand.

The Valkyries were created with war in mind, unlike the Nephilim. They knew how to fight from the moment they opened their eyes and honed their skills through countless battles and near death experiences. Without the advantage they previously had, the Nephilim have no hope of overpowering the trio from the forty sixth base.

Several floating screens appeared around Hela, each displaying a different angle of the battle happening outside. Though they had the numbers, the Nephilim were unable to keep up with the three Valkyries who dominated the battlefield with ease.

As she watched her people fall one after the other, the young queen felt pressured into making a decision. She was about to open her mouth and agree to the deal proposed by the human, and though he could see that happening, Sam felt that it was far too early to celebrate.

And as if to confirm his fears, a voice came from the wide entrance behind him crushing any hope he previously had at getting his way.

"You seem to be in some really big trouble."

Sam's whole body went cold, a different kind of fear taking over him. Cold sweat beaded his forehead as he slowly turned to see who it was, praying to every god he previously rejected that the person he pictured wasn't the one standing behind him right now.

A petite woman with a thin body and modest curves, dressed in the standard female uniform issued by the Resistance. Her black hair was styled into a Bob cut and the glasses she wore had a thin red frame. Her Asian features were cleare to the eye, however the brilliant smile he has always known her for was now gone, replaced by a fake that hid a sinister presence lurking in the depth of her eyes.

"Shall I offer you some help, my dear dear sister?"

As he stood frozen in his place, watching what looked like his beloved girlfriend walk righ beside him without sparing him a glance, Sam's lips moved slowly, his voice coming out dry and hoarse.

"Shizuru?"