Highschool DxD: A New Opportunity - Chapter 45

Part 3

MC’s POV

Days when by, and it was soon time for the tournament to start. I had been doing my research on the things from the Valkyries side. Their names and faces was the bȧrė minimum, I even got my hands on some of their fighting style. However, despite that, I couldn’t let my guard down.

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“Everyone, I am happy that all of you are participating. As you already know, this will be a joint tournament and you will find yourself fighting against people other than Valkyries, Einherjer. However, it seemed that the number of participants this year we’re more than what we accounted for so there will be a slightly change to the way we will run the competition this year.”

Whom I believe to be a teacher from Rossweisse-san’s college was giving a speech in front of us who were summoned. I felt slightly moved, being surrounded by all these beauties wearing those ėrȯtɨċ armors yet they all had dignified expressions. Even the precious Rossweisse looked gallant as she paid utmost attention to the speech.

“We decided upon a type of race, and it will scored by performance, remember that arriving first is important but the method you use is important as well. Since Valkyries are more well-rounded in the type of battlefields they can be deployed, we agreed that we should give them a little advantage. Many of you have gone through this type of training every year, so you won’t find this strange. It will be a simulation of a raid. Of course, it will done in the sea.”

The teacher proclaimed, murmurs were heard around but I could hardly mind them.

To send a cat into the middle of the sea, what kind of sadistic bastards were they? I had enough after having to get my ȧss back to the mainland. Those cannibals were too much for the poor me, I whacked them over and over but they would just try to get back at me, since they were ‘normal’ humans, I did not feel like killing them at the beginning, but thinks never go they way you want.

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“Nora-kun, we need to make preparations.” Rossweisse-san shook my shoulder.

Without me noticing everyone dispersed, I got lost in my memories so I did not notice.

“Wake up Nora, if you are like that now then you should stay here now instead of joining us on the boat.” Nur furrowed her eyebrows. “They gave us some time to make arrangements, but they will provide the basic equipment so we could head out to the teleportation circle, the port will be waiting for us. From there, they will directly send us with a mass teleport spell to the starting line.”

Even though she suggested that I don’t participate, she still explained me what the next move is like she is expecting me to go anyways.

“Nora-kun, what do you want to do? I don’t want to force you. I would be happy to have you with us, but if you really want to stay…” Rossweisse-san muttered.

Her worried tone made me feel like I shouldn’t have gotten distracted before, I cause her and Nur-san to worry.

“I told you, I will become your strength so don’t go abandoning the cat. As for what to do, you are free to choose, Rossweisse-san is the team capitan.” I declared.

“Ehhhh?” “Huh?”

Rossweisse-san and Nur-san both looked at me like I said something strange.

“Didn’t you guys already decide what to do next? Why are you surprised?” I asked.

“No, well, I just told you what they said to us in case you were not paying attention.” Nur-san commented.

“I always thought Nora-kun would be leading us, I don’t have that kind ability and Nur also said that she left it all to you.” Rossweisse-san said.

Eh? Seriously? I am flattered but that is no good.

“Listen, Rossweisse-san is the capitan, not me. It is good to ask about everyone’s opinion but you can’t make me the leader. I am outsider here, who knows when I will leave. This is your story, you must strive to show your worth using your own decisions not someone else’s. I will be right beside you so do your best.” I encouraged the valkyrie.

I caught the brief darkening of her expression and Nur-san as well but I pretended to ignore it. I am staying mostly for my selfish dėsɨrė to change her fate, or rather, to make her have a fullfilling college life. I will not deny that I will be sad to leave their side, I became good friends with them.

“Alright, I will do it.” Rossweisse-san hesitated briefly. “Only because you two are at my side.”

Giving us a soft smile she hardened her expression in an instant. Two people, similarly dressed as them had walked our way. A pair of young women, one slightly taller than 1.65 mts while the other one was around 1.60 mts.

Not only Rossweisse-san but even Nur-san looked shocked, no, she even peeked at me as she bites her nails, cold sweat is pouring down too. What the heck?

“Greetings, Rossweisse and Nur.”

The first figure spoke in polite tone while the second figure nodded behind her. The two figures were wearing the same outfit as the two girls on my side so there was not much to describe on that are other than having different measures in what I know you all imagine. The figure who spoke had long white hair that reached her waist and garnet colored eyes, she looked sort of stoic but she was able to express her feelings with no problems given that she gave my team members a warm smile. The other person has short silver hair that reaches her chin, two long bangs adorned her face with the left one being dyed in red, she had blue eyes and it was worth noticing that on her hands she had gauntlets with pointy finger tips that looked very sharp. They kind of resemble claws and I couldn’t help but feel some affinity building up, that girl might have a similar fighting style like mine.

“I am was honestly surprised when I heard you two would participate, I am looking forward to face you, two of the hailed geniuses. You will be great opponents and I hope we can face each other.”

The white-haired one spoke.

I knew that Rossweisse-san skipped grades and was considered pretty smart but to think Nur was one as well. To think that the girl who wakes and groggily tried to take a bath without checking if there was someone inside was that smart, the world is a large place.

“N-No, I am hardly what you are expecting, Eira.” Rossweisse-san stuttered.

Indeed, I did not meet her in person but she is one of the strongest contesters for this competition, Eira, The snow maiden. A nickname that came partly from her name and the other one for her fighting style using ice magic and causing blizzards. If she is Eira, the other girl with red bangs must be Hilde. She might lack a nickname but that does not make her weak, she has the reputation of being hard to deal with due to her aggressive style.

“S-Senior, w-what brings you here?” Nur-san nervously asked.

Why is she acting like that? No, why is she continuously peeking at me with that guilty expression?

“I came to wish you good luck, I had heard rumor about you yet I never had the chance to meet you so I used this opportunity to do so. Also…” Eira-san looked at Nur-san meaningfully before she looked around until she caught sight of me. “I wanted to meet you.”

By now, Nur-san is sweating bullets, what the heck? I am not a smart kitty but something tells me I should knock Nur-san’s head.

“I heard you are a special Youkai.” Eira-san muttered.

I ain’t special lady, I am just a simple cat.

My two team members are just speechless and are not reacting. Wait, Nur-san is moving lips, it is… ‘sorry’. Damn, it has something to do with you after all.

“We are short on time today, but I am curious about you, I would like that we could sit and chat sometime if possible.” Eira-san said before turning around and leaving.

Hilda-san did not say a word through all that, she simply nodded before turning around, not before glancing curiously at me. Damn, did I almost get picked up by a girl? Probably caused by Nur-san, should I be happy that she almost caused me to have a date with a girl or should I be angry that she sent that girl my way?

“E-Eh, Rose, I think we should leave…” Nur-san tried to leave but she got stopped in place.

My hand held her back.

“Rossweisse-san, feel free to think our course of action without minding the time. I need to have e a chat here with my dear friend Nur-san.” I smiled.

For some reason both girls started to shake from fear, I wonder why.

Rossweisse’s POV

“Nur, are you able to control the water below the boat so it goes faster?” Rossweisse inquired.

“Nora is such a bully, I hope this does not leave a mark.” Nur rubbed her forehead only to notice she was being spoken to. “Huh? Ah, yes. I can do that, if you want me to do so just tell me.”

That was good to hear.

“Nora-kun, you told once you could use some Youjutsu spell to blow strong wind, is that correct?” Rossweisse turned to the boy.

His lips curled into a smile and he nodded.

“Of course, this Nora has different set of skills that go from planting trees and flowers to warming your bed so you sleep in warm bed, what you mentioned is included in my skill set.” Nora playfully winked.

He is silly but he is reliable so Rossweisse could not hate him.

“Listen, I will start reinforcing this boat with magic so we can use or abilities the best we can. I doubt we are the only ones that have thought of this so you should be not be surprised.” Rossweisse muttered. “After I finish preparing the boat, I will focus on defense and each of you will take care of a different job. All for the sake of sailing successfully.”

Receiving a strong nod from her team members, Rossweisse felt more reassured.

Her idea to play a defensive role came from the fact that some of the guys were putting Canon’s on their boats. It was far from traditional sailing for these kind of boats, but this was not a regular raid. Many are probably considering sinking other boats to reduce competition.

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“Alright! Everyone is gathered here and the buffer time to prepare yourselves is over. You guys have to go from this point to this point. No need to worry about jurisdiction as we got permission to freely navigate in the sea. Use this change to get used to the human world. Some of the older students might be familiar with going there for their classes while someone of you live there, regardless of that, this is a opportunity targeted to those who do not have that kind of experience. Also, do be aware. You might face difficulties during the raid but be aware that you must not stray from the course since regular humans could spot you. My last remainder is that you must target each other’s lives during all this, this is an important rule.”

After saying all that, the familiar looking teacher created an illusion to show everyone a version of the map we should follow. From point A to B, the sea to sail will be the Northern Sea, the point A being in Germany and the point be close the United Kingdom’s Northern side. Rossweisse confirmed the locations and tried to memorize them, she also paid checked the map they provided them with before nodding. Everything was the same so there was no need to worry about getting a less detailed map. Just in case, she glanced one last time at the map created by the teacher.

?’s POV

“Remember that the illusion will be undone if you receive sufficient damage so be careful to accomplish what I told you to do. Do not harm them to the point of killing them or crippling them. I am sure you can do that.”

An old man could be seen talking to a large creature, a sea serpent, in front of an small island that lacked living people. He stroke his beard a couple of times after relying the message before turning around. The creature, one he was familiar with lazily sunk on the water before swimming away.

“Now that the last part of the raid has been prepared, all that is left is how this will turn out.”

After muttering that, he lightly waved his hand before teleporting away.

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The place he appeared was an humongous hall that had numerous chairs forming large circles surrounding a translucid sphere, people were sitting already before the old man arrived but he paid it no mind, he was aware of it since coming here. He strode to the center of the hall until he was in front of the sphere and when he tapped it lightly, images of all kind appeared on the air. No one in the hall panicked, instead, they stopped the middle of the chat they were having. The imagines had something in common, several people sailing boats were projected in them.

Nodding to himself after he did that, he took a seat near a figure wearing a hooded cloak.

“Still planning to wear that? I know you used it to visit the college in order to find a disciple but the people here know your real appearance, Skadi.”

Scratching his head, the old man spoke to the figure.

“Odin, old guy. I am sure the moment I did that you would ogle my body so let me reject that offer.” Skadi muttered without turning her head to look at Odin.

“Hahaha! You sure know me well.” Odin laughed.

Suddenly, he stopped moving. He noticed Skadi’s blood shot eyes looking at the projected images, she keep checking one image after another.

“Ice cream, Ice cream, where are you?” Skadi murmured.

Odin wanted to make fun of her by telling her that there was none but those blood shot eyes scared him a bit. He teased her quite a bit in the last letter he sent so he did not want to push her too much or she might snap right here. He was curious, but he turned to see the screen. By watching the competitions of the college students was one of the way they used to scout and recognize talents so they would put an eye on them. Soon, his eyes caught sight of one particular team, it picked his interest because there was a boy wearing a male version of the valkyrie’s college uniform, beside him were two beautiful girls with good rears so his attention was stolen away. However, he soon widened his eyes, the boy had turned to look at the direction where they had the familiar they used to transmit the images. The boy got between those good rears and Odin’s line of sight, he even got glared by the boy or so he felt. The boy probably couldn’t see him but the image transmitted him as such.

“Hooh, that is some interesting guy. If I am not wrong, Gondul asked me for a favor not long ago and it was an special permission for someone so that boy is…” Odin narrowed his eyes with interest.

The boy in the image shuddered before looking weirdly at the familiar and that made Odin want to retort.

“Ice cream, found you!” Skadi muttered in a happy tone.

Those words made Odin turn around and he saw Skadi looking the same image as him.

“This seems even more interesting than before.” Odin chuckled.

Rossweisse’s POV

“Out off the way!”

With that proclamation, the sound of canons was heard and a nearby boat that was carrying some Valkyries was sunk. A sneak attack that did not let the Valkyries react fast enough to create a magic shield, that was sufficient to cause their downfall. Rossweisse observed everything from one side while being careful to kept a spell ready to be launched.

The beginning of the competition, less than 20 minutes after it started, everything became a pandemonium. Just like she predicted, everyone had their own methods to speed up and that made them more or less equal in speed. However, thanks to that, it came as a duel of skills, they all had to show how good they could steer the boat and their way to navigate. Nevertheless, when the more skilled in sailing techniques and magic showed signs of getting further than the rest, it was when it started. The indiscriminate attacks aimed at everyone. To avoid being caught up in the cross fire, Rossweisse had Nora to stop creating wind so their speed slowed down by a lot until they came to a stop.

“Rose, we are staying behind.” Nur reminded.

The aqua-eyed valkyrie was aware of that, but she could not tear away her eyes from her fellow Valkyries struggling to find a floating piece of wood to climb to. Was this ok? She turned to look at her team members when-

“I know what you want to say, but let me ask you first. Rossweisse-san, what reason are you here for?” Nora spoke in a neutral tone. “You came here to fight for the first place. If we dabble around here, we will arrive at last place.”

He did not show any expression as he spoke.

Biting her lips, Rossweisse considered his words.

“Rossweisse-san, what is it that you want?” Nora pressed.

“Nora, stop it. You are making her uncomfortable she-” Nur wanted to cover for her but Nora glared at her.

“It is indeed uncomfortable, but she is being indecisive. There will be times where she won’t have the time to think things through. She needs to keep her real priorities straight, what is it that set to do? She must ask in a way that not leave her filled with regrets.” Nora spoke.

This person, he is quite awkward. Acting bad just to remind her of something important. He is always looking out for her.

“Rossweisse-san, have you still not- hey! Stop it, my cat ears are delicate areas, cats need them to be fluffy, it is matter of pride!” Nora complained.

Softly smiling, she ignore his neutral tone at the beginning before going for those fluffy ears. She ċȧrėssed them a bit rough because he was a acting a bit mean.

“I want to at least make sure they are staying afloat safely before we leave. At the end of the day, I don’t think I like abandoning people. I feel like I won’t be able to sleep soundly.” Rossweisse muttered.

Nora just silently stared at her with a sheer intensity that would usually make her turn her eyes away, but for some reason this time she did not feel pressured.

“Indeed, Rossweisse-san is not the type who leaves a comrade behind.” Nora smiled. “I believe that your line is pretty accurate right now. There has not been a rule that states how you cannot help each other or how finishing the raid first is the only purpose here. In fact, they told us to not aim at each other’s lives.”

After he said that, he pulled something out off his pouch. A small seed, no, several seeds. One by one he covered them with Ki before throwing them to the people floating on the water. They soon grew to from small trees that floated in front of them. However, there was one valkyrie who continued to struggle and could not hold onto the tree, she seemed to be drowning. Before she could read, Nora had already jumped to save her. Stepping in the middle of the air he soon grabbed her hand and pulled her, there was a rope tied to her legs and Nora cut easily. After that, the valkyrie clung to him for her dear life and refused to be put on the tree. It left Rossweisse with mixed feelings but she could not understand why.

“He said all that to you, but he was the first to jump ahead.” Nur shook her head.

“He is acting like that because I could not make up my mind, he is very kind but choose to be seen as the bad one just for the purpose of helping me decide. Even if he acted mean, I think he felt more uncomfortable than me.” Rossweisse said.

“He could’ve just told you like normal.” Nur pursued her lips.

Shaking her head, Rossweisse thought back and understood his reasons.

“He is just preparing myself. I would have to deal with mean people, or situations that did not let you think calmly. He wants me to always keep me priorities straight, just like he mentioned.” Rossweisse smiled.

“Hmph! I think he just enjoy teasing girls and pushing them to the verge of tears.” Nur snorted. “Rose, are you sure? We could lose if we do this.”

Speaking in a worried tone, her dear friend tried to make her reconsider.

“It is ok, I think I understand what Nora-kun has been trying to teach me. I want to show what I am capable of, but I don’t want to do it if I have to leave people behind. This is a simple competition, but because there is no real danger does not mean we should act any different. It is important to always stay true to ourselves.” Rossweisse started to look around their prepared baggage before pulling a blanket. “I think I would make you two prouder if I act like I truly am, instead of becoming crazy about wining. Fueee!? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Nur looked at with a moved expression, tears were about to spill from her eyes.

“To think you have grown up so much when I was not looking at you, you make me proud. Uwaaaaah!” Nur broke in tears.

Eh? Why? Rossweisse continuously asked herself that. She has not changed at all… hasn’t she?

“Wow, I leave for a minute and Nur is already in tears, as expected of the new Rossweisse-san, she can now even bully others.” Nora nonchalantly landed on the boat.

On his arms, the valkyrie he saved shook from fear and her face looked… flushed? Huh? The aqua-eyed maiden furrowed her eyebrows and even ignored Nora’s joke. She silently walked in front of him and ‘kindly’ removed the girl clinging to him before she wrapped her in a blanket.

“Nora-kun, we should aid more people, I will entrust you with the rescue while I will organize them over here.” Rossweisse muttered.

The boy only tilted his head before heading out.

“I should be happy that she is growing, but there is this bitter feeling as well, Nora is a dangerous foe. I don’t think Rose stands any change. Should I encourage her as I send her into the beast’s stomach? No, I guess I should persuade her to look for another guy, ah, but that is even more annoying. Could this be the feeling parents have when their children grow?” Nur stroke her chin in serious tone, but the teary face made her look comical.

Sighing at that, Rossweisse wondered if participating with them was a good idea. However, that thought was just an inner complain about their wackiness, they are the only people she would’ve ever done this with.

Watching over as Nora jumped from place to place creating trees to make something akin to boat, she wondered if it could be used in another way.

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“Well, I did not expect it to work so smoothly.” Nora nodded proudly. “As expected of Rossweisse-san.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, it was mostly made up by you. You created the trees we used and even provided the tools.” Rossweisse wryly smiled.

The boy refused to take the credit and kept pushing the accomplishments to her and Nur. Thanks to that, not only Nora but even Rossweisse was being looked at with gazes filled with admiration. Nur took in a nonchalant manner and started to promote Astrology around the saved people using her new found popularity.

Due to the combined efforts of Nora’s skill in making trees sprout from seeds at an incredible speed, they rescued many people and prepared a lot of wood to make several make shift boats. Not only Valkyries were saved, but even Einherjers. They were somewhat rude at first, but after Nora offered to have a chat with them they became obedient and respectful. However, Rossweisse found strange that they would shiver every time Nora did some shadow boxing, and he always aimed his fists at a low angle. Strange.

“Well, I think this could work.” Nora mumbled.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Rossweisse asked.

Nur who was happily mumbling something incompressible about finding possible fellow astrologists also got curious about his words so she looked at him.

“No, it is nothing much. I mean, I was thinking that perhaps we might have a chance like this.” Nora signaled for them to sit near him.

As they did so, Nora peeked around carefully until he took two blankets from his pouch and handed them to the two. Rossweisse only curiously looked at before she got urged to cover herself with it. Did he think they were feeling cold? They sailed around noon at it might be getting dark but it not that cold yet.

“Sheesh, what lecherous gaze. At least hide your intentions a little, I can easily detect that gaze, old man.” Nora sighed. “I was thinking that there might be something more to this raid. I mean, it started as a simple hunch, but the more this raid progress, the more I am getting the vibes that there is something else to it.”

Sitting, Nora urged her and Nur to take a seat as well so they followed his words and did a small triangle as they sat.

“How should I put it? Don’t you think it was strange that even after many people’s ships sunk, they still did not intervene? I found it to be suspicious, not to mention the fact that they did not step forward even after people were drowning.” Nora raised one finger. “That is only one thing if you consider the situation as a whole.”

Rossweisse and Nur were both silently listening to him speak, and the chatter around them had stopped at some point as well. People were paying attention to them.

“You must not forget that they are keeping an eye on us using familiars and probably magic so they failing to react does not seem likely. However, since that could be passed as they taking a bit to get here, let us put that aside. Then, what if we consider something else? There rules about this raid were awfully simple, but the most interesting part was how they did not put the lost of the ship as a losing condition.” Nora muttered.

He raised a valid point, however if that was true-

“Doesn’t that mean that it is allowed to steal other team’s ships?”

A voice that she could not locate was heard, it came from among the Einherjers given the gender it had.

“That is true, you could say that it a possibility as well. Stealing another’s team ship, repairing your own ship… or even help someone who is struggling in the water. All are possibilities that the broad rules allow, however, that it can be done does not mean it has to be done. You could get yourselves a ship, possibly catch up with the other teams and perhaps win. Let us ȧssume you did all that, but let me throw this question. What would happen later? After the competition finish, will everything go back to normal? Are you sure? What would you do if you won by stealing your comrade’s ship? Your trust built over years will not disappear, but you will others with the impression ‘He is the type to sacrifice friends if the situation push to it’, it might not look like much, but that small seed of doubt will be planted on your comrade’s minds. Depending on how you act on the future, it could lead to a full lost of trust.” Nora smiled.

The boy who was always kind showed a different kind of smile than what he usually displayed; it seemed to contain even a tiny amount of malice as he directed his eyes at a particular place. He was allowing at a male student located around the area where the voice originated from. The person he glared at tremble before lowering his head shamefully.

“Well, there is nothing wrong with that. I think that covering all the bases is not bad.” Nora voice made that student tremble more. “Anyways, if the case where you can do all that is possible, what if we all tried to work together?”

This time, more than one person reacted, few snorts were heard.

“How are we supposed to finish the raid together? Should be share the reward equally? This is supposed to be tournament where we are competing against each other.”

This time, the person made himself known. He stood and expressed his opinion boldly. His words allied with the thoughts of the many people present as Rossweisse could spot several of them nodding along.

“Indeed, we are competitors. However, the rules were too vague. Do you think a raid where only a few could do it is enough for the large number of people present?” Nora pointed at everyone surrounding him. “I think it is not, they-”

“They have something else planned, something that might require the participation of more people.” Nur excitedly raised her hand.

Like a student asking for the teacher’s permission to speak but speaking before given permission, she seemed to be excited at her discovery. It made Rossweisse chuckle when Nora patted her head a called her good girl before she got angry for treating her like a kid.

“Nora-kun, do you think they might also plan to evaluate us that way?” Rossweisse muttered. “Instead of expecting everyone to finish the raid, they plan to evaluate how we acted during the whole ordeal. That way, they can gather more material on us and knowing one of the reasons for this tournament, it could help them find out about our strengths and weakness, that way the Gods would be able to hire the appropriate individual.”

Nodding at her, Nora smiled.

“That is how it is.” Nora said.

“Rose, do you think that we might face obstacles on the way? It could be either harsh weather created by them or maybe some kind of enemy.” Nur reasoned. “Just in case, I think we should prepare a counter measure for possible scenarios. The ones we had in mind did not cover that possibility.”

Nodding at that, Rossweisse was about to talk when she noticed the way everyone looked at her team change. It initially contained gratitude but it had change and now contained a bit of respect.

“We might not be as skilled as you in magic, but i would like to offer out knowledge in naval battles.”

The person who spoke before raised his voice again.

“As your seniors, it would be too shameful for us to not help you by advising you too.”

Some of the Valkyries they had saved stood up and got closer to them.

Rossweisse panicked and turned to look at Nora for advice over what to do, but he had turned into a cat at some point and had curled up on his spot. The boy, now cat, closed his eyes and seemed to be taking a nap. The aqua eyed valkyrie smiled at that, but she also felt slightly guilty. He was probably tired because he was running from one place to another helping others just like she asked him. Beside her Nur also showed signs of fatigue but kept a bright visage. Thinking once again that she is blessed with great friends, she gently picked Nora and let him rest on her ŀȧp. She has to do her best since her friends are doing the same.

3rd Person POV

A black cloaked figure looked blankly at the scenario surrounding him, similarly dressed as him, individuals were lying on the ground unmoving. They all had one single wound, a hole in their ċhėst just where their hearts were. The wound was made by a red spear, just like the one that was piercing his own ċhėst. Glaring behind him he could see the figure of his attacker. A beautiful woman who wore a body suit that clung to her voluptuous figure, she had purple hair and piercing red eyes that did not leave his figure. Any man would be delighted to gain the interest of such an attractive person, but he only felt dread, she did not allow her sight to leave him so he was unable to escape while she was distracted.

“Damn you, Scathach.”

Cursing in a horse voice, the figure called the God Slayer behind him. Even after being warned about her danger level and taking several precautions to not be found out by her, she still appeared. Like a reaper, she harvested his subordinate’s lives effortlessly. Begrudgingly glaring at her, he felt his life slipping away until his eyes closed.

“Fuuu, I must be getting rusty, I took too look to deal with people like this.” Scathach pulled her spear. “Nonetheless, just like he ‘predicted’, they came here. They planned to snatch away these sea creatures? If what i have been told is true, then they planned to corrupt them, making them even more powerful than they usually are. It is a shame that I will not be able to fight a mighty foe of that caliber, but neglecting my duty to keep them out of the human’s lands due to my wishes is out of question.”

Tracing a symbol, a rune, on the air, caused a fire that started to burn the corpses of her enemies to light up.

“The questions is when will my prey- Ahem, pupil arrive. He told that it was today when I would meet him. I even left many clues and pieces about this place so he would start investigating but he never told me how the meeting would come to be.” Scathach stroke her chin thoughtfully. “He did tell me that he would come to meet me due to his terrible luck, but that is absurd. Meeting such a beautiful teacher can’t be considered as such so perhaps went through something…”

Glancing at the point where the barrier had been broken through made Scathach widen her eyes in surprise. She soon turned her eyes to the sea creatures that warily kept their eyes on her while bȧrėly hiding their killing intent, their numbers were easy to count for Scathach and soon she found the problem. She did not allow even a single one to be snatched by the black cloaked individuals; however, it seemed that while she was taking care of them, one had escaped to the human world.

Gripping her spear tightly she considered storming out and hunting that creature but she shook her head a moment later. Closing the hole in the barrier was more important or more might flee the moment she steps out. The black cloaked people could also use this change to infiltrate again. She could only pray that no unlucky soul finds themselves facing the Beast of Billows.

“Hmm? Unlucky? I recall that he said that his luck was… Ah!” Scathach realized something and hastily started to repair the barrier.

Rossweisse’s POV

Several hours of sailing passed and Rossweisse continuously checked the provided map. If her calculations were correct, they would be arriving at their location in a few hours. No, given Nur’s words, they might even face the group that came returning from the location after the successful raid before they arrive at the location. Soon, Nora who was in his cat form lazily laying on her ŀȧp raised his head.

“That’s… Rossweisse-san, have everyone get ready. Multiple ships are approaching.” Nora muttered in a serious tone of voice.

She failed to see anything with her nȧkėd eyes and the valkyries tasked to use long distance Recognizance Magic had not given the signal of enemies approaching, but Nora wouldn’t joke about it so-

“Everyone, grab your weapons and stand by. Long range squad must take the rear and get ready to attack at a moment’s notice. Magic users should take their respective roles, reinforcing the ships, raising their durability and reducing our moving speed.” Rossweisse raised her voice.

There were those who did not question her actions and instantly reacted, however, some people had questioning looks. They glanced at the look outs and saw them to be a loss so they looked at Rossweisse in a confused manner. Their stares made Rossweisse tremble slightly, she wondered if she gave the wrong order and how they would all get angry at her, however, her negative thoughts were blown away soon enough.

“Take a deep breath; do not look around with an insecure expression. Keep your glare sharp and steady, I did not play around with you, soon you will see what I mean. In the meantime, I want you to prepare mentally to what is to come; there is a dangerous guy to deal with. He keeps getting hit with magic but the attacks seem to be failing to deal any damage.” Nora warned.

Following his advice, she steadied her gaze and spoke again.

“Get ready to fight, they will arrive soon.” Rossweisse kept her expression neutral.

“There has not been a warning from the look outs, how can-”

“Enemy ships spotted, I repeat, enemy ships spotted. Everyone should take their battle positions!”

The ones who were about to talk back to Rossweisse shut their mouths embarrassedly; they turned around and ran off to take their spots without uttering another complain.

“It is normal for them to have doubts given that you are bȧrėly taking the reins of the group.” Nora muttered after taking his human form back.

“Taking the reins… I don’t think I am fit to lead them, I think Nora-kun can do that better.” Rossweisse furrowed her eyebrows.

She could see everyone running around making preparations, due to their conversation before regarding the possible situations they might face, they prepared several plans. Nur could be seen running along while giving orders, task that her friend took upon herself to help her.

“Well, whether you are fit or not, that is something we will see. I believe you have more than enough charm to attract people, remember your study group, you became the center of them in no time, even here, the valkyries all follow your words after saving them and the talk from earlier. Give yourself more credit, you cannot say you have failed if you have not tried, failure is the mother of success after all.” Nora took out his bow.

“Nora-kun, my classmates, over 60% of them went to the study lessons just to see you, and the girls we saved steal glances at you sometimes. They do respect me, but I am sure they would happily ignore what I tell them if you spoke.” Rossweisse retorted.

Even though she said that with a serious intention, Nora looked at her like she said the most ridiculous thing.

“Don’t be silly.” Nora sighed.

Why does he try to believe in someone like her but he denies reality? Could it be that Nora is… an airhead?

3rd Person POV

Sitting on the hall, Odin stroke his beard as he watched the progression of the competition. It took a lot of effort to stop Skadi who almost went berserker while yelling ‘My precious Ice Cream’ when the boy almost got hit by a magical during the initial phase but she remained composed after that. He kind of felt pity for the boy, Skadi hardly showed such a reaction towards anyone so there is bound to be some chaos in the future, chaos caused by the socially awkward goddess. Shaking his head, he focused on one of the images projecting how the leading groups entered into the castle he prepared and took a wooden ċhėst from deep inside. That hasty team got ambushed as soon as they left and another team took the raid reward, but soon they would face several other teams waiting to do the same as them. In particular, there was a guy who managed to form a group with some Valkyries. He could recall him as the only guy other than the boy to form a mixed team, however, Odin frowned slightly when he noticed the look on the Valkyries face, somewhat unfocused.

Odin sighed before standing up and getting closer to the images, he examinated them all and failed to find something.

“Did that guy fall asleep again? How would this raid get interesting if the main actor does not show up.” Odin muttered.

With that thought in mind, he prepared to head out again. Hopefully, he will wake up easily and he won’t have to kick him awake.

Part 4

Rossweisse’s POV

The person Nora had warned her about soon could be spotted with the nȧkėd eyes. It was a guy over 2 meters tall with a muscular build, one far too developed to the point that it looked unnatural. The upper part was bigger and the legs looked small. However, he did not look comical but rather scary. In his hand he carried an axe that you would normally use with both hands, nontheless, he carried it with only one. Rossweisse recalled what Nora said when the guy was closer ‘That kind of axe can be used to hunt dinosaurs, damn’ and she smiled slightly.

The man in question was being followed by several ships, at the front, Rossweisse could spot familiar faces of her seniors trying to catch up while they sent their own attacks at him. Nevertheless, the attacks failed to reach him as his own team members stopped the attacks with shields conjured by magic. The man had to handle the propelling of the ship on his own and soon failed to properly escape. Soon enough, he had to join the efforts to defend the ship and a wooden ċhėst he kept close to him.

Rossweisse continued to observe everything in great detail, the other side had probably noticed her group since she could spot some people who pointed their way. Nevertheless, she was bidding her time. It was an opportunity to observe the other side’s fighting style and a good chance to let them waste their energy.

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Right now, Rossweisse was not the only one watching with a serious expression how the fight, no, the one sided beating that was going on in from of her. The man left his team to guard the wooden ċhėst while he jumped into one of the attacking group’s ships. It was not like they allowed him to do so without trying to take him down, the Valkyries riding that ship all used different spells to attack him, even using a joint attack that created a tornado of fire, but the man did not even try to evade, he just swung his oversized axe over and over until the attack was broken apart. After landing, he did not dabble in fighting the members one by one, he even ignored the small scale magic shots he received, they crashed into his body but he did not budge. It could’ve been her imagination but Rossweisse could’ve swore that when he received the attacks, some of the tattoos he had on his arms shined. After that, the guy swung his axe and split the boat, once again some of the tattoos on his arms shined and Rossweisse could feel like the patter of the tattoos was similar to that of the runes used in magic spells.

“Nur, can you prepare something for me?” Rossweisse called out.

“Anything other than money can be prepared.” Nur joked to calm down her uneasiness.

Listening to her friend that despite being nervous after watching the display of that lone enemy tried to remain composed and sound like she had enough room to joke, Rossweisse lips curled up slightly.

She noticed that Nora had disappeared at some point and she slightly panicked, countless negative thoughts invaded her mind and she looked left and right on pure instinct while trying to capture his figure, but she caught sight of him an unconsciously relaxed only to widen her eyes when she saw his location. The dumb cat was half way swimming to the dangerous guy’s boat. For the first time, her expression crumbled and the corner of her lips twitched.

“Rose, what is wrong?” Nur asked in worry after noticed her expression.

“I want to ask for two things actually. First, I want you to be ready to used one of water spells to drag that guy over there down to the sea when lands on this ship so stay close to me after you rely that to the others using communication magic, remember to not speak out load just in case he happens to arrive here before we are ready and happens to hear you.” Rossweisse spoke.

Glancing at the guy who sunk yet another ship before jumping to her senior’s ship, Rossweisse and Nur watched as he engaged in a fight with her seniors Eira and Hilde. Hilde did not directly attack him but created a hail of snow that blocked his eye side and as soon that happened, Hilde jumped in and aimed at his unarmed side before planting a fist on his side, but the attacked seemed to have failed to inflict any damage as the guy swung his axe at Hilde who evade by ducking before restlessly using the opening of using such a large weapon to hit him more, however her attacks still failed to injure him. Eira aided her comrade by creating snow creatures with the forms of bears that attacked the guy. Watching with her mouth slight agape, Rossweisse wondered if physical attacks had no effects on him, she doubted that her senior would hold back while fighting so she could only ȧssume such a thing. Remembering that Nora was headed to such a dangerous place by himself, Rossweisse wanted to smack his head.

“About the other thing, I think we should spare with Nora again, two against one that is.” Rossweisse said.

Her friend gave her a thumbs up in response to that.

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The battlefield moved and they finally came to fight each others. Canons firing could be hear and the organized actions of her group brought a disadvantage to the other side who tried to move for their own sake instead of collaborating. The group she was leading, one that Nora called ‘Rossweisse Protection Army’ and made her extremely embarrassed, had quite the odds individuals. One example would be the girl Nora saved from drowning, she chanted unorthodox magic, the magic circle she created appeared on top of her hands and she planted her hands on her opponents body, by then, the magic circle reacted and send the opponent staggering backward few steps and she linked that technique with her regular attacks. Combined with the support from other front liners, she became a corner stone in the front row group so the rear group could focus on their barrage of attacks.

Suddenly, the ships began to tilt from one side to another, making more than one person to lose their balance. Her grop, however, did not react too much when that happened. It was obvious since she had planned to make the water turbid and cause the other side to have trouble reacting to the changes.

“Do not miss this chance, keep the pace. Rear liner group, do not continue to attack the other teams, focus on their footing, if they lose that, they are bound to show a bigger opening. They won’t be able to evade or dodge that easily in the water!” Rossweisse shouted.

Her role had been mostly staying in place for a while to guide the groups and ȧssist them if they were struggling while Nur at her side kept making preparations to a certain something she will soon need. Just as she thought about it, she caught the attention of that guy. Landing heavily on the ship she was standing, the bulky guy stared at her. It made her shudder like never before, she could tell that beneath his current expression, he seemed to be hiding lecherous thoughts. She had been subjected to something like that before but it was never this strongly.

“You are the cause, as long as you get taken down. They will fall easily…”

In a dark tone of voice, the guy spoke. Several of the teams on her side tried to aid by attacking the guy but they failed to even pick his interest. He leisurely walked step by step as he looked at her, and Rossweisse swallowed her spit as she held her ground. Behind her, Nur hastily chanted again and again, she wanted to add more power to her spell to make sure it did not fail. However, when the guy was over 5 meters close to her, a splashing sound was heard beside the ship before someone jumped from the water, landing lightly on the ship, Nora jumped again until he landed in front of her and the guy.

“Klaus, stop your actions.” Nora muttered.

The guy, Klaus seemed taken aback when he was called by Nora and he unknowingly stopped.

“Rossweisse, we need to flee now. Something is coming at full speed. We cannot face that.” Nora turned around and spoke in a grave tone of voice.

It was Rossweisse’s turn to be taken aback, it was the first time Nora spoke in such a tone.

“Everyone! Stop fighting now! We must flee now.” Nora shouted.

“Hmph, a mere coward.” Klaus snorted.

Raising his axe to attack Nora, he seemed to find him annoying.

“You too, idiot! Your boat is no more, the ċhėst sunk as well so there is no need for you to fight there is no reason-” Nora hastily evaded to one side.

Klaus had bloodshot eyes and glared at the spot where the axe got stuck.

“You bastard!” Klaus glared at Nora with killing intent. “My ticket for glory!”

“NUR! Do it now!” Rossweisse yelled.

Calling her friend that had not reacted, Rossweisse immediately chanted a spell and soon magic shots struck Klaus but he did not even bother to look at her.

The sound of fighting around her had disappeared at some point the boats kept shaking back and fort, did Nur spell caused this? No, she had an ominous feeling, one that was hard to describe, the words that could describe what she felt at this moment was… death looming over you.

“Damn it, it is too late now…” Nora muttered with a grim expression.

Slowly turning her head back, Rossweisse caught sight of it. Her eyes widened to the extreme and her lips unconsciously trembled. Her whole body went cold and she lost strength on her legs.

Slowly emerging from the sea, an humongous creature made its appearance. First the head popped up from the sea, the eyes of the creature were bigger than her so she could only pale in fright to the sheer size it would have when it fully showed itself and humanoid figure made itself present.

However, the creature would not wait for Rossweisse to calm down at all, thus it soon showed its full body, or most of it. An overbearing presence, a large built that was covered in a white armor-like shell or perhaps those were its bones. However, the armor, as Rossweisse will refer to it, looked threatening enough. All over the armor, protuberances with spikes shape could be observed, adding to its dangerous appearance. A long tail fully covered in spikes would rise above the water then sink back, causing the turbit water to shake the ships even more. Having a length over 70 meters long, the creature had thick limbs and just by being there cause waves to surge. Rossweisse could tell with any deep analysis, they could not beat it, and they might die, no, they will die. She was certain that everyone here thought the same, it would only take a moment before for them to die-

“YOU BUNCH OF IDIOTS!” Nora shouted. “WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!? DO YOU WANT TO DIE!? STAND UP! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME!? STAND UP! THIS IS NOT OVER, IT IS IN TIMES LIKE THIS THAT YOU SHOULD GET PSHYCHED UP, STAYING HERE MEANS CERTAIN DEATH, BUT IF YOU GET YOUR ASSES OUT OF HERE YOU CAN SURVIVE, EVEN IF THE FUTURE LOOKS BLEAK, YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY! DON’T GIVE UP JUST YET, DON’T GIVE UP ON YOURSELF.”

His words brought a change to the stagnant movements of everyone. Rossweisse turned to look at him, but he was not look at anyone in particular he kept his eyes on his surroundings. She could see his bleeding lip, one action that showed how he regained his bearings, yet, from the slightly trembling of his hand, it was not like he was completely fine. Nonetheless, it was praiseworthy how he was the only one standing up in this kind of situation. The creature looked with interest at the boy who was still able to move despite its presence.

“Do not tell me you guys want to die here? Do you want to see your friends dying in front of you? If the answer is no, then get the heck out of here now. Grab the guy near you and scatter in different directions, run as far and fast as you can.” Nora said.

His words had many implications, and no one dared to voice them out. Doing as he said would indeed be helpful, but it did not mean they all would be safe, if the creature showed interest in some, their fates would be grim.

“Escaping? Are you out of your mind? You guys are proud warriors, your goal should be to be like the ultimate warriors, the Berserkers! Running was never on their vocabulary, stand up and face that thing together with me, it can’t be as strong as it looks!” Klaus yelled.

Tattos on his body gave a strange glow as he easily moved and glared at the creature. Rossweisse had a bad feeling about that.

“It must be a trial set by the Gods, we must overcome them with valor and show them what we are made of.” Klaus excitedly spoke.

He seemed obvious to the disapproving stares he was getting and looked fearlessly at the creature before throwing his axe at it, his muscles had swelled even further than they looked while several of his tattoos shone again so he probably used a great deal of strength, Klaus had a smug expression give his pride over his attack but his expression soon froze. The weapon spun on the air at a high speed before landing on the creature, causing a loud clang sound, but that was it. The axe bounced off to the sea causing splashing sounds when it happened.

“GUUUUYAAAAaaaaaUUU!”

The angry howl of the creature was heard, it caused panic again but it was perhaps because of Nora’s words or the fear of death that made everyone’s survival instincts to push them to move but everyone scrambled away. However, a certain group could not and Rossweisse wondered how bad was her luck to be in that particular group.

The creature used one of its limps to carry the boat and put it on eye level before extending one of its claw-like hands toward the ones on bridge of the ship. Only three people remained on the ship, Nora, Rossweisse and Klaus. Nur and the rest of the people could not hold onto the ship when it was lifted from the water and fell to water. Rossweisse inwardly sighed in relief given that her friend was not in this predicament.

“You bastard, couldn’t you go and hang yourself on a tree alone if you wanted to die? Why did you drag us with you?” Nora angrily yelled.

Klaus only maintained a dark expression before he had an epiphany. With a crooked smile, he glared at Nora who looked warily and him then moved towards… her, grabbing her.

“It is a shame that it has to end like this, I would’ve liked to use that rune on you but this time you will have to be useful for me in a different way.” Klaus muttered before throwing her into the creature’s mouth.

“ROSE!” Nora yelled.

The boy moved as fast as he could to catch her hand, but it was useless. She did not evade Klaus nor did she failed to run away because she wanted too. She was at her limit, it was a miracle that she had not fainted. She could not reproach Nora about calling her with a nickname that only those close to her would use because she had not strength and the anxious face he showed her as entered the creature’s mouth was something she could not go against. Until the last moment, Rossweisse could that the boy whom she had not met for too long truly cared about her, a fiancé that she got because of her grandmother’s drinking habits, a person she initially suspected of deceiving her grandmother… she truly had amusing days with him at her side, and it was shame that it would end like that.

3rd Person POV

As soon as Odin putting a foot on the hall, he could feel a heavy mood. Before he could figure it out, a purple blur appeared in front of him and grabbed his clothes.

“Odin, you sick bastard! What did you send to test them? Ice Cream is in danger.” Skadi complained.

Skadi was glaring at him with a look that could kill so Odin felt cold sweat running down his back. He could feel several gazes on him so he understood that it was not only Skadi who found his actions doubtful.

“Relax, I just sent that lazy dragon king in disguise. He might be a lazy bone but he is not the type to go too far. He will only knock them down-” Odin stopped his words mid sentence.

Noticing the images shown, he saw the boy he had been observing before going nuts. He had suddenly pulled a strangely shaped bastard sword from the pouch tied to his waist, one that looked to big to be used by him, he attacked an humongous humanoid creature with it.. The boy crazily landed blow after blow on the creature’s head over and over, but he failed to cause substantial damage to it. He would jump on the air and attack gain and again like he couldn’t do anything else, he was all alone as the rest of the students were all fleeing in all directions. Finally, he reached his limits and used some sort of technique that changed his size. Using both hands, he stood in the air, just in front of the creature’s head and hit it with all his strength. The creature could not handle the blow and its head was twisted to one side, its mouth parted slightly, the boy jumped inside for some reason, not before changing back to his earlier form, something that was probably beyond his control as he almost falls to the sea when he failed to walk on the air.

Odin could not stand it anymore, some of the gods in the room had relaxed while other still looked at him doubtfully.

“Thor! Grab Sleipneir and get there, that is not Midgardsormr!” Odin instantly ordered.

Already waiting for his words as he expected such a thing the moment he saw the creature, he teleported at once.

In the image, the creature seemed to notice something since it started to flee, and it was minutes later that you could see another large creature arrive at the location. The disguise dispelled, Midgardsormr looked ready to fight. Several students could be seen from other perspectives of the image, They seemed to have found out the snake of the end and asked for help, but it had arrived too late, the creature had already fled. Only the disastrous scene of boats destroyed remained, and a weeping young lady who extended her hand in the direction where the creature had left.

“ROSE! NORA!”

She continued to call out but no reply came back to her.

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Author’s Notes

Sorry for delaying the chapter, migraine had me troubled last week for several days so I was not in a good shape.

Anyways, here is the chapter. A long one to make it up to you. You can see that several things happened here so I understand if you have many questions, feel free to ask them like usual.

I feel like I need to clarify this, but the Currid is the creature from the Naruverse, look for the image on Google and I hope I was able to convey its appearance.

I must also give special thanks to Kuro, my pal who helped me edit and who always listens to my ramblings. Thanks!

Good day to you…