Silence.

Silence lingered.

But that silence soon faded to the sounds of a fiery inferno, and Angela gasps, eyes flying open and she sits up from her prone position, gasping for breath. Her arms feel burnt, and her clothing and armor is singed. Her skin is raw and red on her palms, and she feels the searing heat of a nearby fire. Her head is pounding, and she checks to see if anything else is badly hurt. She coughs on the noxious fumes that linger in the air, and looks around frantically, looking for answers on what just happened.

She remembers Val pulling one last sadistic trick, an attempt to destabilize the whole reactor and bring it crashing down on them. Drenar somehow had reacted in time and flung the offending detonator at Val. She’d gotten her barrier up in time to protect the team. She hears shouts, screams, people encouraging others to get up, but the sound is all muffled–like cotton in her ears.

The detonation didn’t rupture her eardrums, but she still hurts all over, and bears the pain as she looks around, and sees Drenar and Joey propped against a damaged console, patches of fire are everywhere. Joey’s trying to get him up, but he’s burnt and groaning in pain. If he wasn't a Maridian silver like her, he'd have been literal toast. Julia is helping up Nick, and Levine is dashing to pull one unfortunate Talons soldier away from the fire that threatened to burn him alive. The man doesn’t exactly protest at this unlikely help–in fact, there seems to be an unhealthy amount of burning going on everywhere.

She focuses on the priority. “Joey, is Drenar alright?!” she shouts out, and can barely hear her own voice. Joey looks in her direction, but shakes her head. Angela taps the side of her head for emphasis. Joey, how bad is he hit?!

It’s not bad, he’s a little cooked, but nothing I can’t fix! Joey grabs a canister and gets Drenar to drink it, and tosses one to Angela. Regen potion, those burns look bad, I think you took the brunt of that!

Believe me, you did, Samarina says with a grunt. Angela gulps the alchemical healing agent, and feels recharged and her hearing sounds less muffled. But there’s a commotion at the far end of the room: a massive thud, and the sound of scraping metal. There’s a dread of knowing that familiar manic talk could only come from one source.

“Foolish heroes, why must you fight? You all shall die, ‘fore you take flight!”

She’s up in an instant, and everyone else is still recovering. Levine opens fire with his rifle, but Val's energy lash flares through the smoke, grabs the weapon and sears his arm, and flings him backward into a heap by a steel girder. He shouts in pain, and is slow to rise. The smoke dissipates just enough for Angela to look on in horror. She reaches for the weapon that isn't there–her autobow is gone, as is her sword. That manic dragoness is burnt, her armor slagged, wounds drip blood and her face–the skin is burnt on one side of her face, revealing muscle and tissue dripping.

Much to her horror, the wound heals over the damaged tissue, and she's grinning like a primeval demon, and there are too many teeth to fit into a human mouth. There is no sanity left in this monster now, and she'd just taken a point-blank explosive and walked it off. Julia swerves to grab her, but Val is quick to counter and flings her to the side with inhuman strength, and continuously drags that infernal sword. She's wounded for sure, and Nick tries his best to fire off his rifle, but a blast of that violet energy knocks him backward, leaving him reeling in pain and secured to the floor, where the coils of energy writhe and keep him pinned.

Joey turns and grabs her staff off her belt, all the intensity of the night etched on her face. Angela spots Luminari by the edge of the platform, teetering precariously, and in danger of falling to the machinery below, which is still somehow going. Val keeps advancing towards Drenar, murder draped on her half-healed face.

“How the hell are you still alive, you murderous diva?” Joey screams in outrage. Val responds by throwing a globule of energy at her, and the blast is barely parried by her staff. The mage steel glows, but isn't burnt. Joey grabs a potion off her belt and gulps it down, and Angela reaches past burning debris, searing her arm while Val knocks Joey aside where she bangs into a railing. Val is determined to address her. She’s slower, but she’s still dangerous.

She has to get Luminari. Because with no weapon, she's got no chance against this monster. Val sees this motion and springs over the short distance, cleaving down towards her. She won’t dodge in time.

A gunshot rings out that is utterly deafening, and Valosterla is knocked off trajectory with her spell barrier flaring. The blade cleaves down by momentum alone and barely misses her, embedding into the concrete pad of the floor and tears a trench in the process. Angela turns to see the source, and it’s Nick, holding the massive anti-material rifle and cycling the bolt. That antique of a rifle is powerful enough to send Valosterla skidding back three meters, where she glowers at the man who dared to interrupt her fun.

“Where’d you get that thing, it looks older than you–”

Nick cuts off her response by cycling the bolt back, and the weapon bucks against his shoulder. He grimaces from the massive recoil and the round sends Valosterla backward. Her barrier deteriorates further, but it's still intact! He rises to a braced position, gritting his teeth. “Angela, get the blade, Drenar is still hurt, hurry!” He only has so many of those rounds in the magazine, and Angela sees the blade teeter off the platform. She reaches out with her telekinetics, and the blade halts its drop into the precipice below.

Not only does the blade seem to have a magnetic pull, it comes to her outstretched hand by instinct–more complete control than she’s ever had over her telekinetics, and a surge of energy shoots up her arm. The sword practically hums in her hand, and the runes of the blade glow a muted grey-blue color. She surveils the room–Drenar is still down for the count, groaning, while Joey tries to get him back up to fighting shape. Levine is down, and reaching for his sidearm. Kyle is trying to get everyone moving and return fire against the few Talons soldiers still standing. The damage to this chamber is catastrophic.

*CRACK*

Nick just fired off his third round from his staggered position with the energy bindings trying to pull him back, but he still manages to strike true with his aim, and Valosterla is sent reeling. But her arcane barrier holds. Julia rises up and lassos Angela with plasma energy from the short distance, giving her every bit of effort.

“Let’s finish this.” If this is their only way to stop this monster, then it’s up to them, and she charges into the fray and Luminari feels vibrant and alive in her hands, and power surges from the edges of the blade. Is this what Drenar feels when he’s holding it? This immense surge of strength, and an unwavering resolve to stop the monsters of their world?

Her blade strikes true just as the fourth round staggers Valosterla, and Nick gasps as the coils tighten. Valosterla snarls at this interruption in her slaughter, and is too slow to stop Angela from skidding past that deathly swing of her infernal sword. Luminari flares with light and skims her torso, parting metal and shearing through flesh with equal ease, and bypasses the arcane barrier entirely.

Valosterla screams and throws a coil of that purple energy at her, but she’s moving far faster than she has any right to. Her limbs feel like coiled steel and she dances and dodges past Val's swings.

Nick fires off his last round, and shatters the arcane barrier in a shower of golden sparks, where she’s laid out against a heavily damaged console, smashing the metal inwards and buckling the plating of her armor. She wheezes from the impact, but the round still didn’t get through!

“You think I can’t kill all of you?” she snarls, even as she creates distance and taps her wrist–a trickle of regen potion splashes out of the ports but she glares at the damaged armor. She’s still bleeding lightly and slashes mightily at Angela. She’s too fast for this monster now, and she throws her another swipe, parting metal but not deep enough to damage her. The conduits of red liquid rupture on the armor, and Valosterla grunts. She launches a point-blank energy blast, but she deflects it with her sword, and the blast impacts the ceiling, raining chunks of debris that fall dangerously close by.

Julia manages to lasso Val with her energy and holds her in position just long enough for Angela to thrust with her blade, right at an open section, and land a brutal blow at Val’s abdomen, driving deep. She grasps the sword blade with her gauntleted hand and leers at her, grimacing against the pain, and smiles evilly. “You’re still just a little girl trying to be a hero, Shalinde. I’ve shaken off worse against better foes than you.” She manages to extract the blade and throws Angela backward with a wave of purple sparks that emanate off her body, throwing everyone backward and leaving her skin in stinging pain all over. Val splashes a canister in the brief moment of safety for her, and clutches her abdomen. Those sparks solidify and entangle everyone, even Julia, who writhes in pain from the energy burning across her.

But the bindings don’t wrap around her. She throws herself back onto her feet, sword poised and ready. She's always kept steely focus in every fight, and this is no exception. “Do you know why you’ll lose, Val? Because you don’t have people at home waiting for you to come back safely, or friends to protect.” The words come from her, but she feels more than a fleeting influence from Samarina, and strafes silently, footsteps clanking against the concrete floor. All she needs is one good shot through that armor, and she can end this nightmare. “You can't ever fight against that and hope to win.”

Val springs forward and cleaves mightily, and they're locked in a fast-paced duel. Angela dodges and swerves beyond the reach of that deadly blade. But this monster is fighting for keeps. The mighty blade of Luminari sings with a crystalline calling, swerving through the air with lethal grace, each blow turned away or inflicting minor damage on her towering foe. Val keeps shrugging off this damage as if it doesn't bother her. She continually surges that vile dark energy, trying to zap Angela, but she just keeps missing!

That's when she notices Luminari is glowing brighter and brighter, absorbing the blows. Is it charging from these repeated attacks? She swerves to avoid a particularly close strike, and Val roars in frustration. “I've met Valkyries easier to kill than you lot, where does this strength come from?!”

The fight continues to dance across the ruins of the plant, past dying foes and burning consoles, all the while the people of Asqualia grab each other and attempt to seek cover from the deadly spectacle of two apex warriors. Angela is grace and daring, dodging swings with no margin for error, while her foe is getting increasingly frustrated. What she needs to watch out for is that deadly dark energy--luckily Val has been telegraphing it quite plainly. Luminari continues to tear away at the armor--parting the plating, severing conduits, and each time she blocks that sword, the energy builds. She's going to keep doing that!

“What's the matter, my fellow kin? Having a not-so-winning night? You should go throw in the towel, limp back home, quit this silly fight!” she taunts in song. The energy stored in the blade is reaching a peak, and it's practically vibrating in her hand. But how to release it–

Val finally shoulders her and gets past Luminari, and slams Angela into a console. That gauntleted fist smashes into her, and her kinetics soften the blow. She cries out in pain, trying to push back another hit. She reels from the hit, from radiating pain that is threatening to overwhelm her. She has to put up a defense, or she's done! There's a charge of energy going from Luminari to her arm, down into her core, and she feels it. That shard of mana thrums with power inside her, and she grits her teeth, keeping Val's deadly blade from cleaving down against her. She braces Luminari in a cross of blades, and she tries to drive the blade aside by brute strength, but she holds firm. Val tries to bear down and smash her again, but she grabs Val's outstretched arm, and holds her in position. She uses her telekinetic field to hold her in place, and strains every muscle in her body against the might of this monstrosity. She's got a maybe a few seconds before her strength gives out!

You've got this, Angela.

Power surges through her body, and gleaming crystalline scales start to emerge over her body. Fiery might fills her being, and she screams out in fury. Bright blue-white light surges from her scales, and the energy blast hits Valosterla at point-blank range and sends her flying. She impacts into the far wall, where she groans. Energy still pulses through her fingers, and Val gets up. She’s still got more left, but how–

The answer comes in the form of swinging Luminari as an extension of her will, and a beam of bright white-blue light surges from the tip of the blade and slams into Valosterla, who screams and is blown backward from the impact. She impacts the chamber wall puts a crater into the concrete. The crimson sword partially blocks the blow this time, but she’s hurt, and moving slower. Angela takes a determined step forward, utterly focused on ending this threat once and for all. That power still present in the scales crawls up her arms, and she feels the presence of wings emerging from her back, involuntarily. This power that courses through her, is unparalleled.

And she’s only using it for one thing–to end this nightmare. She advances with resolve. “Valosterla Roshanikov, you desecrate our world with your violence, you tear apart families and loved ones with your cruelty. The blade of the Valkyries has judged you, and found you a blight upon the world. This is no redemption for what you've done, or the terrors you've inflicted on your victims."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Oh, enough of this farce!” Valosterla rises from the now cracked and broken floor, looking particularly incensed at the situation, and everyone is up and aiming their weapons at her–Angela included, and a globule of that bright energy sits poised on the tip of the blade, waiting to be unleashed. “You all think this changes anything? You’re a stupid little girl playing a hero. That’s all you’ll ever be, you and the rest of your pathetic friends. I have killed Champions and goddesses before, and killing you? It’ll be less effort than those. And you, Rashalda? For this slight, you, everyone you’ve ever loved, and everyone you’ve ever known is going to die, one at a time!”

It’s at this point that Drenar rises unsteadily, looking a little less crispy, and draws his dagger. The blade resonates with power in an audible chime, while he holds his autobow with the dagger aligned with the forward grip, and stands beside Angela, along with Joey and Julia, now free of the bindings. They look like they’re fighting the pain of those burns, and he still manages to smile grimly.

“Val, seriously, you act like this party is over. Nah, it’s just getting started. You’ve just managed to piss off everyone in this room beyond belief, and it’s not just me you should be worried about.”

Val summons another globule of shimmering violet energy, and there’s murder in her eyes by the way she leers at each of them in turn–and Angela in particular. "And you...I can hear that ringing sound, it's killed my song!" she accuses.

“Aiming to please, psycho!" She would bow mockingly, but this dragoness needs a whole lot of killing to make the world a safer place. "So how about it, Val? You claim to have killed gods and Champions, and yet, we’re still standing!"

“I’m not done hurting you yet!” Her words are a poisonous spell upon the air, and she glances down at her injuries, slow to fade this time. “I just want you to have a glimmer of hope before I crush every one–”

Angela fires off another beam of pure energy at that monologuing bitch with just enough force to obliterate the wall again, and Drenar stares at her, while she glares with righteous fury at this madwoman. She's got plenty of energy left to turn this walking war crime into a pile of ashes, as she should. “Damn, Angie, you could at least wait for her to finish the monologue!”

She takes her focus off of Valosterla for a split second to glare into his soul. “I think this experience has made you an adrenaline junkie, Drenar Tiberus Rashalda!” He looks mortified at this statement.

“Fates. You sound like my mom. And not in a good way, when you say it like that. So, uh, beam swords…how do I do that?” She focuses back on Valosterla, who still needs to be dealt with, permanently.

“Hell if I know. I’m figuring this out as I go. Joey was right, we're not letting her get out of this room alive."

She would say that she didn’t miss it, but there’s a massive blast as the barricaded door to the power plant blasts inwards. The four-inch thick blast door misses Valosterla by a handful of centimeters–the fates are still being too kind to this bitch. Before they can react, several smoke grenades go off, obscuring their vision. She doesn't hesitate and charges towards Valosterla, determined to end this threat once and for all. Drenar is sprinting with her and Julia is already firing, and Joey flings an alchemical canister that detonates in a controlled blast, dissipating the smoke.

She dashes through the smoke and slashes with pent-up fury at the translucent barrier that has now separated her from the monsters. King is standing there in his armor with a small contingent of armored knights, weapons readied but not firing. The barrier doesn't yield, but it does crack. King peers at them in turn, his hand on a remote, and nods slowly. “This battle is at an end, Shalinde. Consider yourselves the victors.” Valosterla rises unsteadily from her staggered position, and leers at him angrily.

“Where have you been?!” Val snarls, and hefts that blade of hers in a decidedly threatening way at her partner in crime.

Maybe they’ll kill each other. That would be fitting, Samarina suggests.

No. This monster has to die by our hands, Sam. We can't bank on that. She murdered your children. That's what you said, right?

She slaughtered those under my care. I was too weak to stop her, Angela. It is the regret I have carried ever since I came back into this world, once I recognized her. She tenses and tries to slash at the barrier again, and it cracks further. King responds by clicking another button, and the shield flares with intensity. With deadpan calm, even!

“I’ve been holding off the Valkyries, Val. If you insist on engaging further, you will be overwhelmed and killed to a man. We are withdrawing. The outcome of this battle has been decided, and it is not in our favor.” Valosterla almost brings the sword in for a slash, but hesitates. King regards all of them with a slight bow. “Well done, heroes. But this is a small tactical loss on a bigger playing field. I still have contingencies."

“King, let the barrier down. I will slaughter them all!” Val screams. He tilts his head and sighs.

“Do not make the mistake of choosing a hill to die on, Val. Focus on the bigger picture.” Angela narrows her eyes at this fiend, should she play to the chaos? King has some other game he's playing, and Julia had been vague in her recollection of what had happened at the teleportal chamber. There is more to this man than his immediate actions.

“Just gonna slink away, nurse your wounds, and come back and kill us later?” Angela growls. She swings again at the barrier and Luminari flares with light, cracking it again. King adjusts his disheveled armor vest. Even now, this man has time for composure? She'd almost applaud his bravery against the half-dragon, supercharged teenager she's become--and that's a sentence she never thought would ever enter her mind.

“Like we're letting that happen,” Drenar chimes in, weapon held ready and aimed at King. “I told you what would happen if you defended her, King. You decided to ignore my warning.”

“Everyone still has a role to play, Rashalda. Even Val.” Val responds to this indignity by growling at her savior, and he drops down a tri-folded plating set, as does one of the armored knights. “Don’t judge too harshly. After all, the broken men you've left in your wake in the past week would say that you indeed, are the monster.”

“King, we’re sacrificing men to exfiltrate you and the VIP while you chit-chat, it's time to go!” One of the knights barks, and rips off his helmet to reveal a man with close-cropped blond hair, a scar on his nose, and soft blue eyes, and he's incensed at the delay. King acknowledges him with a soft sigh. “King, we’re gonna have a flock of very pissed-off Valkyries in our face in about thirty seconds! We need to go!”

“I'm not done here King, I'll slaughter them–” Val is finally silenced by that stony gaze of disapproval from King, and she's more than guided onto the charged one-time-use teleportal pad where she disappears, along with three of the other heavily armored soldiers. King breathes a sigh of relief.

“Thank you for the candor. I will be cleaning up her mess for a while, but I still need her alive.” His words are more than restrained, Angela notices, and he clenches his jaw tightly.

“You already have another right-hand man? I guess Lavernius didn't mean anything to you,” Julia snipes after pointing to the unhelmeted knight, and King turns to her, a somber look in his eyes. It's the closest thing Angela's seen in him that resembles remorse. “You and Val have something to chat about, later.”

“I already know.” The defeat in his voice is almost palpable. “And I will never forgive her for it.”

“Sucks, doesn't it? Losing someone you care about hurts in places you can’t reach. Now you know what that feels like, King.” It's the most vicious thing she's ever heard Drenar utter. He's tensed and ready to jump in to kill these fiends, if that barrier wasn't in the way. King says nothing to the venomous question. “You keep playing this game, King, you will always lose. Always. The only winner in her mind is herself. And she will kill everyone on her path to power.”

“Roland! Ten seconds!” his associate screams out and has the teleportal primed and ready. King reluctantly steps onto the platform as shouts and the sound of heavy bootstraps approach the smoke-filled doorway. King takes one last look at them, and nods.

“One parting piece of advice, Champions. By the time you realize the truth…it'll be too late. I would say farewell, but…it's just until we meet again.”

King disappears in a flash of light, and Angela slumps, all the energy, all the fight suddenly going out of her. Drenar looks like he's finally run out of steam, but still has enough to grab her before a bout of dizziness sends her to the floor. Julia is leaning on Joey, and she doesn't look too steady either. There's a deep gash in her leg that she hasn't addressed. Angela looks down at herself –small wounds cover her from a night of nonstop battle, and it feels like Val had possibly bruised a rib and burned her torso, just a little.

The crystalline scales are gone, as are her emergent wings. That one, is still beyond her. But she's alive.

They're all alive. And it's all she ever could have asked for.

“Is…is everyone alright?” Nick looks like he has significant energy burns on his arms and one across his neck, and he rubs at it gingerly before tossing the cumbersome rifle aside, and grabbing his sidearm to address the incoming traffic. His left arm is limp, and he grimaces when he touches it. “Levine was right. Broke my damn shoulder firing that thing.”

“Told ya…the math wasn't in your favor.” Levine rises past the debris and looks unsteady, and Kyle skidded down from the debris pile to address a wound on his head.

Angela can hear one last lingering note from Luminari, a calming note that lets her know the danger is finally, finally over. She more than gently wraps her arm around Drenar, and lets out a soft sigh. “Did we win here?” He runs his free hand through his messy hair, and all that fury is gone from his eyes. He spends more than a second contemplating her question.

“If by winning, you mean, not dying by the end of the week, Angie, and ensuring a lot of people get home safely to their loved ones? Then yeah. This feels like a win. And we really needed one.”

“Guys…no one won tonight.” Joey's somber assessment while she stands by Angela’s side feels like she's losing her composure, and she hands Luminari to Drenar before putting a reassuring arm at Joey's back. She's trembling slightly, and she needs reassurance more than anyone else in the room besides maybe Kyle. Internally…it's taking her all not to fall apart, the way she keeps herself just shy of sobbing.

“No. But what we did here Joey…by all rights, no one should have walked away alive on our side. It's a small miracle.” A flash of silver and brass through the smoke, armor glowing with illuminated golden runes on their greaves and armlets, and their seamless dispersal into the room, lets Angela know the real heroes are here finally.

The Valkyries sweep into the room, grace and daring rolled into one. They wear a combination of a soft shell outer armor like the modern military, with rigging, and straps keeping their equipment secured. Heavy brass and silver breastplates protect their core and hips, and their wing-tipped helmets that are a dusty bronze color are their signature amongst the haze of the room. The armor flows with their movements effortlessly and without encumbrance.

The Valkyries almost seem too surreal for her brain to register, and they move with ethereal grace, stopping to help the wounded, and shout with focused fury at the fallen foes to lay down their arms or meet a swift and deadly fate. Their motions are flawless, their training unmatched in how they move in perfect unison.

And the one that closes to meet them, standing tall and ripping off her helmet, and almost breaking down in tears, is the one she'd expected. She has all too familiar matted black hair and shimmering blue eyes, and she looks at all of them, out of words for what she is witnessing, and her lip trembles. Julia smiles faintly, while still being supported by Joey.

“Hi, mom. I think we’re all in deep shit when we get home, but…I’m glad you’re here now.”

Kiera closes and gives her daughter a tight hug amidst the commotion in the room. More Valkyries arrive and secure the room. She motions for all of them to gather, and grabs Drenar and Julia at once. There are a few soft words between them that Angela can't make out…and maybe that small moment should stay between them. Even she isn't spared a vice-like hug of love and affection by the mighty warrior, coated in grime, dirt, dust, and blood. Kiera hasn't had an easy time in their hasty rescue mission.

“We're here now, kids. We're going home.”