?


    Her mind still consumed by ale and lust, Helga strangled her way to the holy fountain of evesting life. Through its very waters, the Valkyries rose from the dead no matter how many times their bodies perished in battle. However, this time, instead of inviting new life from the ornate fountain of golden statues of lions pouring out water, she''de to destroy it once and for all and dere the start of the end for the world of As and themselves.


    Bare naked before the fountain, she looked up at it for a moment while the rest of the Valkyries finally pulled themselves off of Helga''s body. Lathered with sweat, saliva, and all manner of fluids, the queen dipped her toe into the fountain''s water before sinking her body into it.


    Letting her body wash up in the fountain, sheid back with her back leaning against the circr rim holding in the holy liquid. Sshing the water over her arms and legs, she hummed a song to allow herself to enjoy thesest few moments of peace.


    "Join me…" She said, ncing over at the soldiers that stood behind her watching.


    Beingrge enough to house an entire army, the fountain spanked for miles, which just so happened to be more than enough for Helga''s soldiers to dip their toes in as well. Bringing her attention back to the front, Helga nced up into the heavens at the barely visible lion faces soaring into the clouds.


    "Wash away your worries, your doubts, and prepare for a battle that''s bound to get you killed," hearing their queen''s words, the soldiers moved forward and finally began getting into the holy spring.


    Had it been another time, they would''ve severely been punished for training the water as adult bodies, but since the end of time was near, they needed the spiritual revival without being forced into new bodies. Thus to attain such a feat they needed to wash their sins away in the holy fountain of ever-giving.


    "Haa," entangling her fingers with the girl seated beside her, Helga leaned onto her shoulders and huffed a tired sigh. "So sweet, so tender."


    Closing her eyes, she tried her best not to bite into her skin, for now, that they were in the fountain, no sins were supposed to bemitted. Yet, the me of longing kept burning her heart, she''d cared for these flowers for so long that she felt practically inseparable. However, in that time, with nobody to share her burden, with nobody to help her calm, she''d grown quite desperate for the attention of the soft and gentle kind.


    Opening her eyes, Helga nced up at the girl who was smiling warmly at her. The Valkyries were no stranger to their queen''s affection, they''d just kept it a secret since it could''ve led to negligence while performing their duties.


    "My queen, can you, perhaps, tell us that tale of how you defeated the god of monsters?" Asked the girl and the others began crawling closer with a curious glint in their eyes.


    "Etherios, you mean?" Helga tried to confirm, and the girls all nodded in unison. "Sure, I''d love to tell you that story."


    For the rest of the few hours, the queen spent her time exining how she took down the traitor Etherios and turned his body into the de thatter helped her kill As and Destinia. The Valkyries listened to her with perked ears, and every so often even voiced some questions that left them baffled about the whole retelling of the past.


    Although some of them had been present with her through those very battles, their deaths after those incidents have taken chunks of their memories out of their minds. The only thing left intact without ever being touched was their desire to serve and fight alongside worthypanions.


    Once her tale concluded, it came time for them to carry out thest step before ending the banquet. Raising to their feet, they all sprouted their wings and took flight. Conjuring their weapons from tridents, bows, swords, and spears, they got ready for the queen''s orders to bring down the fountain of life.


    "The symbol of eternal life, you''ve served us well, but it''s time for eternity to forever be forgotten!" Helga dered and the Valkyries struck the fountain with their weapons and began tearing it into rubble.


    Like a ho''s swarm, the soldiers lunged onto the lion statues and crumbled them bit by bit until thend of Valha was rained with dust. With the fountain now gone, the Valkyries had but one life, thus even if some of them ended up surviving the war, they''ll gut their own bellies to join theirpanions on the other side.


    ''Eternal peace, prosperity, and love, finally, you''ll be ours!'' Thinking to herself, Helga conjured her own de and lunged towards the fountain statues. With a single slice of her de, the pair of lions were cut clean from the torso. Falling to the ground, the upper portion of the statues crushed the rim of the fountain.


    "Destroy it all!" Helga ordered, finally getting back into her stern disciplined self.


    Watching it all from the safety of theherworld, the prince of hell prepared his own army of hellspawns as well. Like critters they crawled out ofva, from his steaming blood they arose and began crawling up the walls of the scorching realm.


    "Crawl out of thisnd of burn and hide in the shadows until it''s time for us to reveal ourselves!" Seated at his massive throne, the prince nced down at its spawns springing to life from his scorching magma-like blood.


    His very body made of charred stone, he breathed fumes, and his nerves coursed with infernal mes. A sigh alone was enough to turn a lushnd into a desert, yet much weaker and cowardly than Helga or even Haruki, he made sure to keep the attention to himself to the bare minimum.


    ''Spies, an army, a solid n to take over, I have it all lined up. Just need everything to be executed well, but with that demon putting Riley on the sides, I can''t use her on the battlefield.'' Ever since Haruki had ordered Riley to look after the kids after the battle started, the prince''s anxiety was soaring through the roofs. Ideally, he wanted her to be the one to stab Haruki or Helga in the back, but with her being sent to the otherworld, the only way for him to make use of her was through ckmailing Haruki with the lives of the children left under Riley''s care.


    Thankfully for him, it didn''t seem like anyone capable of fighting would be around her in the otherworld, and the only one capable of giving trouble would be Fay, but she was no fighter and he knew it well.


    "That leaves the dragons, but they''re not helping either side it seems," with everything lining up in his favor, a creepy smile crept up on the prince''s face.


    Dreaming of his freedom in the overworld, he couldn''t wait to take thend for himself. The desire to rule amongst all heavenly bodies was the strongest in him, but his inability for foresight was what had held him so far. Against As, he couldn''t lift a finger, and against Helga, there was not even a chance. However, with Haruki, using some form of maniption he could''ve outsmarted him but only if he managed to take care of Helga first.


    Instead of nning ahead, however, he was too lost in dreams of glory once he got rid of all thepetition. In his mind, he was already ruling over the leftover humans, the monster tribes, and scattered viges of demi-humans.


    "I deserve it…" He muttered, his eyes ncing into a bright future that may or may nevere to be. "Trapping me here, making me so weak, only capable of overseeing blood contracts and the ilk''s, I''ll finally defy that arrogant Creator and take my rightful ce as this world''s new god and ruler!"


    Too caught up in his delusions, he spent most of his time daydreaming about the potential glory all the while having no clue what it meant to rule sentient beings instead of crittering monsters that did whatever youmand. Thus even if he were to take hold of the world, the very threat of being backstabbed never urred to him, instead, he only dreamed of glory and what he''d do once the world was under his grasp.


    Needless to say, he assumed himself perfect in his ways and thus was doomed for failure sooner orter. Making matters worse for him, the naive prince never checked to see if he could even control Riley when she was far away in the otherworld. And the pets of thete mistress of dark were keener than he expected, perhaps even keen enough to sniff out the parasites guing the minds of his hellspawn.


    But that remained to be seen, as there was still time before Haruki sent her off into the otherworld along with the kids, Ste, and Fay.