Chapter 101 - Advent Of The Valkyrie

The strength of Arthur's guards had far exceeded his expectations, the cruelty of their actions too.

However that did not shock him and his co-conspirators more than Arthur's reaction to Ursan's summoning.

"W-what?!"

"Impossible!!"

"How can a devil spawn?!"

Jarox who was watching the battle from his small pocket realm was nonplussed. His co-conspirators were not any better.

But they did not have the chance to be shocked for too long, that was because of what they heard next.

||Finally, I found you rats.||

The moment he heard the true voice speaking, Jarox turned around and was met with the figure of a tall man standing in his pocket realm.

His three pairs of jet black bat like wings showed his identity as a devil. In his left hand was a head, the head of a god Jarox recognized.

'Those bastards sold me out!'

He didn't have the time to be dumbfounded by Arthur, he quickly roused his divinity and moved to clash with the devil in front of him.

◇　◇　◇

Ursan used his trump card, the ability granted to him by a god.

"Advent of the Valkyrie!"

Hearing that, Lute who was playing with the other grandmasters present, frowned deeply.

'To think a god was involved.'

The valkyries were a race of beings that were known for being subservient to gods, at least majority of them were.

Even so, 'Valkyrie' was also a title given to the war maidens who executed the orders of a god.

In this case, it was not an actual member if the Valkyrie race, but a half god, half flugel, who was one of Jarox's daughters.

Being a half god, she possessed something that most gods had.

Divinity.

Arthur had sensed the hidden divinity from the Valkyrie who was summoned through the necklace on Ursan's body.

A winged war maiden, wearing golden armour and wielding a silver sword, appeared behind Ursan. 

The Valkyrie's blessing had multiplied Ursan's power by several times!

He was elated, he was sure he would be able told defeat Arthur with this.

However, the cold voice he heard made both he and the Valkyrie who descended to shiver in fear.

[How dare you, use the power of a god?!]

Arthur's body acted up.

His negative energy that was calm flared up again.

It wanted to destroy the divinity in Ursan, it wanted to devour the divinity in the Valkyrie.

Although Arthur had divinity within him, this negative energy only battled it for dominance in his body, but it never tried to destroy his divinity.

However, when it came to the divinity of other beings, it always acted up.

Hades had sensed it once and theorized it was probably because he was the prophesied Child meant to end the gods.

As such Arthur rarely used his wings whenever Hades or any of the servants he brought with him were around.

It was not long this reaction began, just around the same time he noticed his energy flow resuming.

Currently, Arthur's wings were spread out, and they were acting like energy conductors for him. It took him a while but he had managed to find a way to use his magic and aura without making his divinity respond.

Yet, the presence of the divinity of another being roused it, both his divinity and the negative energy within him.

And then, four words came to his head at the time.

Four words that he unconsciously spoke out loud.

[Authority of the Progenitor.]

His voice was low, barely audible, even Lute who possessed superhuman hearing did not hear it.

"Your highness!? Your highn-."

Lute couldn't finish his words, he sensed something from Arthur.

'Impossible! This is just like an Authority!'

A small domain opened up around Arthur. It was not too large, about the size of a small house.

However Ursan and the summoned Valkyrie felt strength leave their bodies.

'W-what is this?!'

The Valkyrie was the most confused, she could see that Arthur was in the middle of the grandmaster realm, he was someone that she, an inferior stage Legendary, could easily take care of.

However she felt weakened in his presence, her divinity refused to respond to her, she could barely put strength into her wings to maintain her flight.

Arthur who was struggling to hold back the negative energy that threatened to pour out of him, heard a calm voice in his head.

[Master, let it out. Just let it all out.]

Celestia could tell what Arthur was doing and she could also tell that the end result would be detrimental to him, and so she told him to let it out.

And like so, a dam broke in Arthur.

The cracks on his skin spread out all over his left arm. And then they disappeared as if they were never there.

Then they spread out again and disappeared shortly after, this phenomenon repeated it self several times.

Arthur looked towards Ursan who was trying to take distance from him, the Valkyrie too was also doing the same.

He stretched out the hand that held Celestia towards them, a silver energy surged from within his body and filled the sword.

"Sword of Victory."

Unlike before, the golden light was replaced by a silver coloured light.

A torrent of energy was released from the sword and moved towards the duo who were trying to distance themselves.

"HAAA!"

With that battle cry, the Valkyrie forcefully roused her blue divinity and filled her silver sword with it.

She raised it against the wave of silver moving towards her.

**BBBOOOM!!!!

The explosion was too great, the building couldn't take it, and half of the large castle that was behind them was completely destroyed.

Ursan was on the brink of death, the Valkyrie however, protected him.

If he died, she would be unable to fulfil her mission and be returned back to her sisters.

She could not endure the humiliation of failing to defeat someone who was merely an intermediate stage grandmaster, and a devil to boot.

'My strength has lowered by an entire stage!'

She sensed her strength drain from her body, as the divinity she hurriedly mustered was as barely enough to stop the attack.

Looking towards Arthur, she saw he was preparing for another attack, she decided to respond in kind.

For a brief moment, both Arthur and the Valkyrie stared each other down, in an effort to get an edge. However, they soon realized that it was pointless, and charged at each other head-on.

"Aura Claw."

The still slightly enraged Arthur, unleashed a three lined aura filled with his negative energy.

"Divine Punishment."

The Valkyrie's sword glowed with the blue light of her divinity. Her sword easily blocked Arthur's energy Claw.

The two clashed weapons and unleashed a flurry of hyper speed strikes against each other. Small cuts began accumulating on their bodies.

After a few minutes, they jumped backwards at the same time. 

Their states, where quite different.

The Valkyrie had various cuts over her body, her left wing had been damaged by Arthur's sword, and her armour had cracks on it.

However, Arthur was completely fine, no visible injuries to speak off. Even the cracks that were spreading on his body due to him using much more energy that it could take were disappearing as soon as they appeared.

'I saw my reflection on the Valkyrie's sword, my left eye was blue. So I'm guessing my time powers are automatically rewinding my wounds.

Even so, the only reason I can still last this long, is definitely because of Lute.'

Lute wasn't just standing around dumbfoundedly, he knew that Arthur was trying to release the excess energy in his body but his body couldn't take it.

As such, he was continuously healing Arthur with the power of life.

Arthur's power of time could rewind his wounds temporarily for only a small part of his body, like an arm or a leg.

Then what about the other arm? Or the other leg? Or his torso? Or his wings that were conducting far more energy than they were supposed to and were also continuously being damaged as a result.

It was all Lute!

The healing abilities of a demigod with an authority over life were not to be underestimated.

He could continuously heal Arthur for hours and would not break a sweat.

Having the reliable Lute healing him, Arthur went wild.

He poured magic into his legs and took off at a speed faster than before, to Ursan who was barely conscious, it looked like he disappeared from the spot he was. 

He reappeared behind the Valkyrie and launched a surprise attack.

'Aura Blade!'

The Valkyrie reacted quickly. She turned around and used her sword to block Arthur's blade.

"Tch." 

Arthur clicked his tongue in disappointment.

Then, the Valkyrie swung her sword, and Arthur immediately swung downwards!

***BAM!

Silver sword and semi-transparent blade crossed, and the two wielders competed in strength.

Neither side was pushed back at all, not even the slightest bit.

However, the Valkyrie's face darkened at this occurrence.

'I don't have time.'