Valkyrie Smash

Chapter 289 Not like this.

The green arrow traced the sky like a laser beam. Though it was directed at the raven haired Valkyrie, it pierced the Olympian instead. A mistake that left the archer frozen as her mind refused to accept the reality of what just took place.

"... At…ropos…"

Artemis was in shock, her eyes wide open as she watched the scene. She stood in her place, still holding her arms up with her bow directed toward the sky.

It was the first time. In the hundreds of years she has lived so far, it was the first time her green arrow missed a target who was her sole focus. Her confidence erased any doubts about it piercing the imposter's heart, that's why she never predicted that Atropos would jump in to take the hit for someone wearing her sister's face.

[Found you.]

The world suddenly turned white as an unbearable pressure fell on the huntress. The mistake she made hampered her senses and caused her to forget the situation she was in, giving the beast she was trying to escape enough time to locate her.

Turning around, Artemis found herself under the gaze of a giant Sabertooth. Despite its mechanical frame and rigid shapes, the huntress saw nothing but a hungry abomination salivating as it glared at a helpless prey.

[Don't you dare run away now.]

~[]~

Up in the sky, strength began to leave Atropos' body as her halo faded away. Seeing the red wings on her back disappear, Nino came back to her senses and quickly rushed toward the Olympian, a terrible sickness rising from her stomach adding to the pain spreading through her chest.

"Sis!"

Atropos was motionless as she allowed herself to be caught. Her crimson blade slipped out of her hand and fell.

"... Why?" Nino asked, her delicate fingers trembling as she felt the blood flowing on her sister's back. "Why did you… why would you…"

Atropos didn't respond, her lips curving up as she spewed a mouthful of the crimson liquid. The pain was torturous, but despite it all the only thing on her mind was the gentle embrace.

"You… you didn't see the future, did you?" She finally spoke, forcing the words along with the coughs. "Of course… you didn't. Why would you… why would you… ask… all those stupid question… otherwise…?"

Nino was surprised, but at the same time she knew her sister would figure it out at some point. Indeed, she did not look at the future. More precisely, she didn't focus on the details.

Her Needle wasn't an all powerful tool that showed her the right track to victory. She has to look through all the existing Paths one after the other and determine the causes for success and failure in each one, choosing the Path she wishes to pursue in the process. Doing so requires a lot of time and mental power, which meant the young Valkyrie couldn't possibly know everything that would happen with the amount of time she had since retrieving her Artifact.

Nino did indeed check the Tapestry of Fate and chose the Path to victory, but she didn't absorb all the details, only glancing at the most critical Divergences and determining what must be done for the Threads to align with her desired Path. Because of that, she knew nothing of the conversation she had with her sister. She saw nothing, heard nothing and learned nothing.

All she knew was that, at the end of the Path, the final Divergence would determine who among the two of them would end up dead. She knew from the start that one of them would have to go, and because of that, she didn't dare peek at the conversation they would have, wishing to hear everything from her sister even if it meant leaving her future to chance.

"... Sis… I…" tears flowed out, drowning the words she wanted to say.

Despite her words, the pain Nino felt denied her previous claim. No matter how much she tried, her identity as Lachesis refused to be ignored, denying her the clarity of being a new person.

"Don't… hah… I guess you won't…" Atropos chuckled. "It's okay. This is… what I wanted… from the start… I… I'm tired… I just… want to rest…"

"... No…"

With the pain growing stronger by the second, Nino understood that she wasn't ready. She wasn't when her first life came to an end, and she wasn't now that her sister was facing the same fate. No one can be ready for death when it arrives, even more so for those who achieved immortality. Atropos seemed content with how things turned out, but her younger sister refused to accept.

"I'm… I'm sorry… Lachesis…" she said. "I… wasn't there for you… I… I couldn't protect you…"

"Stop!" Nino yelled. "Don't talk! I… I won't let you die! Hold on I will-"

"Don't… bother, Lachesis…"

"No! Not like this!" Feeling the warmth slowly leave her sister's body, Nino held her tightly. "I… I don't want to say goodbye! I don't want things to end like this!"

The emptiness in her memories fueled the pain and increased the suffering. Even with everything that happened between them, Nino –Lachesis– never stopped loving her sister. And how could she? Though she couldn't remember most of it, she was sure the three of them had a history together. They might disagree and they might fight. They might even try to kill each other, but the bond between them was so strong even death couldn't break it.

'No…' the Valkyrie thought, trying to organize her mind even as she continued to panic. 'I was lucky to come back as a Valkyrie. I can't expect the same to happen again…'

Death wipes the Soul clean of all its memories, it is for that reason that resurrection wasn't an option. Her case in itself was a miracle and because of that she couldn't expect the same to happen with someone else. If she wants to save her sister, she has to do it right now, otherwise she would be gone forever and they might never meet again.

"Listen, Lachesis…" couching another mouthful of blood, Atropos spoke again severing Nino's line of thought. "Zeus… wasn't… who killed you… someone… someone got to you first and… you couldn't stop them… they… they wanted to make a Key but… you got in the… way…" breaking into another fit of coughs, the Olympian trembled, unable to breathe due to the hole in her chest. Her regeneration ability was working at full capacity trying to fix her damaged organs, but Artemis' arrow was a special one and the cause it caused wasn't something that could be mended on the spot. "That's why… I told you not to… play the… hero… there is always some… lunatic… trying to become… god…"

Nino was frozen, her thoughts halted. The truth behind her death was something plaguing her mind since she realized who she was, but she couldn't remember no matter how much she tried. She tried to get an answer from her sister but the Olympian refused to give her one. Nino thought that her reluctance was uncalled for, but now she understood.

Lachesis didn't die at the hands of Zeus and his followers. Her Artifact was enough of a reason for them to come after her, and she was a traitor who refused to assist their ruler in his quest so if anyone wanted her dead then it would be the mad tyrant and his fanatic followers. But Zeus wasn't the only madman with a god complex out there in the endless multiverse.

Her desire to stop him would have, without a doubt, extended to anyone seeking to collect the keys, and if she made herself an obstacle in the way of anyone with such ridiculous ambition it was only a matter of time before someone powerful enough would rise up to the challenge.

'The Key…' she suddenly realized. 'Zeus isn't the only one who'll come after it!'

As if to respond to her thoughts, her ears picked up a faint sound through the chaotic clamor of the distant battle. It was the sound of glass snapping as cracks slowly spread across its surface, tiny shards falling from it as it crumbled little by little.

The world should've been on its way back to normal now that the Primordial had been captured, but the spatial distortions were still there. Not only that but new ones were appearing as well, and from the looks of it, quite a few of them weren't the kind that linked two points in the same world.

"Ah… so it has… already…" Atropos said.

Primordials were ancient beings created from pure Aether. They were the first life form, one that suffered no hunger, no thirst and had no desires, unlike everything that followed, or so it might seem at first.

The Primordials were ancient beings of boundless wisdom and knowledge so it made no sense for them to exist for the sake of existence, and so, all of them were born with the same goal, one that Zeus and many others were inspired to pursue soon after they got a glimpse at the truth.

Reaching Akasha, that is the goal of every Primordial to ever exist. Each of them carried a piece of the truth and thus could serve as a Key, but one Key wasn't enough and thus they had no choice but to devour each other hoping to inch closer to their goal.

Many across the endless multiverse would stop at nothing to get ahead in this race, but the ones in the lead were always those who have existed since the beginning of creation, and they had no intention of letting a bunch of primitive apes surpass them.

The world began to split and crack, distorting like a mirror that had been smashed again and again. Holes began to form showing beyond them nothing but endless darkness, and from that darkness, countless horrors spilled forth.