CHAPTER 38

Gate of Valhalla

The God of Death, Crossed Thanatos, is drawing near, ripping through dimensions to find Seiya. We helplessly shrink back.

However, a ray of light appears in the midst of the emerging darkness.

“Stop right there, creature of darkness.”

Before Thanatos stand numerous deities, speaking with strong voices as they surround the supremely evil being in the public square.

“I do not know where you wandered here from…”

“…But this is no place for evil such as yourself.”

“You shall perish for your sin!”

Whoa! The Goddess of Wind, Fraala; the God of Lightning, Orand; and the God of Ice, Kiorne! Three well-known deities have come to help! Looks like we got lucky! They’ll take care of that monster for us!

As if they are trying to live up to my expectations, Fraala casts a wind spell, Orand throws a bolt of lightning, and Kiorne shoots a crystal of ice…but Thanatos continues its methodical approach as if nothing happened.

“N-nothing’s working on it!”

Fire doesn’t work and neither does wind, lightning, or ice! Does any magic work on this thing?!

“Hey…Ristie…”

There is a hint of worry in Elulu’s voice. I want to tell her everything is going to be okay, but I’m not even confident I can force a smile onto my face right now. I hesitate when…

“Rista! Rista, you in there!”

Now Mash is shaking me.

“Look! Master Seiya’s…!”

“Huh…?”

When I look in the direction they’re pointing, I see Seiya already hastily running away without us.

“…?! Th-that jerk…! Where do you think you’re going?”

We chase after Seiya, who appears to be running in the direction of the sanctuary… Hold up. I’m getting some serious déjà vu!

“Wait up for us, you jerk!”

But even then, Seiya doesn’t slow down. When he arrives at the sanctuary, he throws open the door and dives in.

I arrive at the sanctuary’s entrance, struggling to catch my breath. Curious, I suddenly look back and find that Thanatos is already close behind, dodging the deities’ magic while floating in the air.

“Eek! Ristie, he’s right behind us!”

“H-hurry! Get inside!”

After plunging inside, we immediately close the entrance door. Thereupon, I hear footsteps. When I look up, I see Seiya running up the staircase to the second floor. However, right as I try to follow him, the entrance bursts open with a bang and the God of Death comes in.

“Eeeeeep! He even followed us into the sanctuary!”

But a god with masculine features standing near the door steps in front of the God of Death as if he were a guard.

“Begone evil! How dare you step foot inside the sanctuary! I, Arx—God of the Fist—will crush you into a fine powder with my unrivaled— Blaaargh!!”

“Y-you shall pay for what you did to Arx! I—the God of Sumo—shall be your next opponent! Divine Hundred Hand Sla— Blaaargh!!”

One after another, various gods within the sanctuary valiantly challenge Thanatos, but unsurprisingly, nothing works. They’re at least doing a good job slowing him down. We sprint up the stairs.

“Seiya! Come on, wait for us!”

We somehow eventually manage to catch up with him.

“That monster is essentially only going to target me. All you three need to do is hide somewhere.”

“W-we’re not going to abandon you!”

Even after making it to the second floor, Seiya doesn’t stop running down the hallway. That’s when an all-too-familiar muscular man with a beard appears before him. While holding a platter with a large cake, Cerceus says:

“Hey! I see you’re back already! Check this out! I just baked a cake using a new recipe! I spent a lot of time and effort making this delicious, marvel—”

“I don’t care. Move.”

While Cerceus pridefully holds out his cake, Seiya pushes it back right into his face. Cerceus screams, “My caaaaaake!” before falling to the ground. After that, Mash, Elulu, and I run past Cerceus and his cake-covered face.

H-how horrible! I’m definitely going to eat the next cake he bakes to make it up to him!

Once that’s decided, we run into yet another goddess. The hunched-over recluse and Goddess of War, Adenela, smiles with unhealthy bags under her eyes.

“S-S-Seiya…! Y-you came back to me!”

Seiya stops before Adenela and says:

“Adenela, I need you to stop that monster following me. If you do that, I’ll make sure to spend some time with you on my next visit.”

“What…? R-r-r-r-really…?!”

Adenela unsheathes her sword, then glares at the nearing evil.

“I-I’ll protect y-you, Seiya!”

She gets into a unique stance as if she is drawing a circle.

“F-feast your eyes on this…! Ultimate…Eternal Sword…!”

After sliding in range of Thanatos, Adenela swings her sword, creating afterimages of the blade just like Seiya’s Double Eternal Sword or maybe even greater! Adenela repeatedly slashes his body in the blink of an eye.

Whoa…! I guess that’s the real thing for you! Her speed and power are incredible!

But each slash splits Thanatos into another monster. Two bodies become four. Four bodies become eight. Eight bodies become sixteen. Sixteen become…

Unable to take any more, I yell out to Adenela:

“You’re creating more monsters! Stop!”

But Adenela continues to attack as she looks over at me with a troubled expression.

“I—I can’t…stop…h-halfway through…the move…”

Seiya pats me on the shoulder.

“She’s useless. Just as I expected. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

H-how rude can you be?! I think that to myself, yet we leave Adenela behind and start to run off. Concerned, I look back—only to find her being crushed by so many Death Gods that they almost fill the entire hallway. But eventually, the Thanatos in the middle absorbs and merges with the others before coming after us again.

N-not even Adenela, the Goddess of War, can defeat it?! Wh-what are we gonna do?!

After running all the way across the long passage, Seiya sprints up the staircase to the third floor.

“Seiya! Aimlessly running away isn’t going to help!”

Before I even know it, I find myself panicking as the invincible monster slowly closes in on us.

“Ugh! What are we going to dooo?!”

When I cry out on the verge of tears, Seiya looks back at me.

“Rista. Relax.”

“I can’t! I mean, you said it yourself! You have no idea how to beat that thing! How do you expect me to relax at a time like this?!”

Seiya speaks with his usual indifferent tone despite our impending doom.

“Yes, I did say I have no idea how I’m going to defeat it. But I have already come up with a way to deal with enemies who I don’t know how to defeat.”

“…What?”

“I heard she likes to paint, despite her appearance.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Who is ‘she’?”

“She apparently enjoys painting on the rooftop of the sanctuary, gazing over its one-sided view of the spirit world.”

“Okay? So who is it?”

Before I even know it, I am at the top of the staircase. Seiya places a hand on the door up ahead.

“R-Ristie! Seiya! It’s too late! He’s right behind us!” Elulu yells out behind us almost simultaneously as Seiya opens the door wide.

The moment it opens, a strong gust of wind blows by, shaking my bangs. On the moderately slanted stone rooftop of the sanctuary is a goddess.

“Th-that’s…!”

Just as Seiya said, she doesn’t look like she’d enjoy painting. The Goddess of Destruction, Valkyrie, wears only chains around her chest and lower body. She stares hard at the canvas with a paintbrush in hand. Valkyrie is so focused on her work, she doesn’t even notice us.

“W-wait, Seiya! Are you telling me that you plan on getting the strongest goddess in the spirit world to fight Thanatos?!”

“Exactly. But judging by what I know about her, she wouldn’t help us even if I begged. That’s why…”

The door flies open, and Thanatos springs out onto the rooftop. As Seiya faces him, the God of Death extends his cross, launching it at Seiya. After briefly glancing back, Seiya dodges the attack at the very last second. The cross continues growing until it rams right into Valkyrie’s canvas and skewers her painting.

“Perfect. It worked,” Seiya quietly whispers.

H-how cruel can he be?! He purposely got Thanatos to destroy her painting?!

“No… It can’t be… I was… I was so close to finishing it…”

The cross piercing the canvas shrinks, returning to its wielder. Thereupon, Valkyrie glares menacingly at the culprit, then slowly stands. A silver, fierce aura emits from her body.

“Look what you did, ya little shit! I’m gonna tear those limbs off one by one and cave that stupid, tiny head of yours in with them!”

Her undignified words echo throughout the spirit world.

“Get over here. You don’t want to be too close.”

Seiya gestures for us to come over to the corner of the rooftop. When I walk over to him, I look back out of curiosity to see what’s happening and find Valkyrie already holding Thanatos’s head in her hand.

Sh-she’s fast…! How did she do that?!

“Drop dead, you worthless grunt…”

The aura enveloping Valkyrie’s body instantly expands as it gathers in her right hand, which is holding Thanatos’s head.

“First Valkyrja: Shattered Break!”

Whoaaa! So this is the Goddess of Destruction’s special attack?! I-it looks strong!

…But nothing happens. After a few moments, Thanatos’s body turns into smoke, only to slowly disperse like mist. Escaping from Valkyrie’s grasp, the God of Death materializes a short distance away from her.

“What? A ghost, huh? Tch. All right, bring it on!”

Valkyrie promptly places a hand on the chain around her chest.

“First Valkyrja: Astral Break!”

The chain slithers through the air like a snake before wrapping around Thanatos, tying him up.

W-wow…! She has a move that can be used against ghosts, too?! That’s amazing! She can handle any type of opponent like this! Now, she’ll surely be able to…!

However, a black aura oozes out of Thanatos’s body, instantly turning the chain around his body into ash. Along with it, the links covering Valkyrie’s chest shatter as well, thus breaking her posture.

What the…?! N-nothing is working! Not even the Goddess of Destruction can defeat this thing?! I fall into despair like never before.

I can’t believe that not even the strongest goddess in the spirit world can defeat him! He has no weaknesses! This is the perfect life-form that transcends all! There isn’t anything in the universe that can defeat it!

“Hee-hee… Ha-ha-ha-ha… Heh-heh-heh-heh…”

After suddenly dropping to her knees. Valkyrie begins laughing. However, before long, her laughter turns into rage as the blood rushes to her face.

“Order! Ishtar…!”

Her roar shakes the heavens.

Order?! She’s going to unlock her goddess power!

Valkyrie’s silver aura instantly transforms into a blinding white light, signaling that she has received Great Goddess Ishtar’s permission.

J-just how much stronger is Order going to make her?!

I use Scan on Valkyrie…and gasp.

GODDESS OF DESTRUCTION, VALKYRIE
LV: 999
HP: 99,999,999	MP: 9,999,999
ATK: 9,999,999	DEF: 9,999,999	SPD: 9,999,999	MAG: 9,999,999	GRW: 999
Resistance: Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, Ice, Earth, Holy, Dark, Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Curse, Instant Death, Status Ailments
Special Abilities: Status Limit Break
Skills: Valkyrja
Personality: Fearless

Wh-what incredible stats! So this is the true power of the strongest warrior in the unified spirit world!

I’m sure Seiya also saw. He faintly nods to himself by my side.

“No other deity even comes close. But, well, I suppose it’s only natural for gods to transcend the limits of human understanding.”

I have never seen such limit-breaking stats before! But even then, she’s still fighting a legendary monster that is immune to all attacks. We watch the battle with bated breath, wondering what the Goddess of Destruction will do.

After letting out a deep sigh, Valkyrie softly places her left hand over her right wrist, then points it at Thanatos. Thereupon, an overwhelming aura that could swallow the entire unified spirit world bursts out of her body.

“Take this…! Omega Valkyrja: Gate of Valhalla!”

I unintentionally imagine that something will shoot out of her hand, but I’m wrong. A thick miasma rises into the air as a monstrous gate appears over Valkyrie’s head. There’s a gypsum statue of a goddess’s face on the top of the ancient gate.

Is this summoning magic?! I bet she’s summoning something to come out of the gate!

The black gate isn’t made of bars, so what’s inside is shrouded in mystery. But before long, the gate slowly begins to open, releasing the miasma along with it. When the mist clears, I can finally see what’s inside, leaving me aghast. Behind the gate’s doors, a creature robed in black and carrying an iron cross appears—the God of Death that transcends conception—Crossed Thanatos.

Mash and Elulu shriek in astonishment.

“What?! Wh-why?! Why was Thanatos behind the gate?!”

“Don’t tell me that it split into two again?!”

But there are no copies of Thanatos around. The only God of Death is the one standing behind the gate… And it’s the one who has been fighting Valkyrie!

“Wh-what kind of attack is that?!”

The instant I mutter that, the eyes of the gypsum goddess statue open atop the gate. What I thought was an inanimate object drips crimson blood from its mouth.

“Gi-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh!”

Eerie laughter echoes as if from the pits of hell. I look at the goddess statue cackling as blood pours not only from its mouth but the eyes as well.

“…?! What is that?!”

I think I just wet myself a little.

Thanatos tries to crawl out of the gate, but the black door gradually closes along with the laughter. Countless spikes attached to the inside of the door slowly pierce the invincible God of Death, crackling and popping as if bones are being broken.

“Aaa…aaaaaa…”

I suddenly hear what sounds like a groan coming from Thanatos’s face—the deep abyss. Then…

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

The God of Death, who I thought was void of emotion, starts to scream! But even Thanatos’s cries are drowned out by the insane laughter of the bloody goddess statue.

“Gi-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh-geh!”

Clang!

The door to the gate shuts along with a heavy clank. Then a few moments go by as the miasma clouding around the gate disappears almost simultaneously as the portal itself fades out of existence.

In the midst of our silence, Valkyrie mutters:

“The moment it transcends the law of causality and opens, it swallows the enemy without exception. That is the Gate of Valhalla.”