Edward was running around the compound since early morning. He woke up in a good mood, and for some reason felt like burning some of his excess energy.

At this stage, such simple physical conditioning wouldn't do much for his body. His Minor Legend of Perseverance dramatically increased the effectiveness of training on his body, since all the micro injuries in the muscles healed immediately.

In the time since he became a Marked, his body was pushed to the limit again and again, under the watchful gaze of master Tarquin. By now, his physique alone reached near his genetic limit, and Valhalla’s power made him shoot right past the realm of human beings.

As a result his figure flashed past the shocked gazes of patrolling soldiers.

Edward’s casual run around the facility was more like a sprint. The warrior wouldn’t get tired either way, so he might as well give it his all.

***

After a while, Edward was sitting on a chair on the roof of his living pod. He wiped his wet hair with a grey towel, and took a sip of black tea, staring at the soldiers busy with packing parts of the facility.

They recently moved their forces even further, and it was time to move up the base as well. The personnel carried the heavy machinery into multiple trucks, attached the containers onto a moving base. A small convoy started forming in the middle of the base, and as the buildings around it got smaller, the convoy grew bigger.

For a moment Ed felt a bit guilty, lazing around while everyone else was working hard, but it was his day off after all… Two out three Marked patrolled the frontline daily, and it was finally his time in the rotation to get some rest.

He stirred the hot liquid with a silver spoon, before holding it out in front of his face. He tensed his forearm, making a couple veins pop out from under the skin. Some aura gathered toward his hand, but it stubbornly refused to surround the spoon.

Edward shook his head, he still couldn’t figure out how to push the aura around everyday objects. The deed was easier the closer the given object was to a sword. Ed wondered why. Maybe because a real blade already felt like an extension of his body at times.

The young warrior relaxed his body, and threw the spoon back into the glass, making it ring melodically.

‘Come to think of it… Where does Valhalla’s power even come from?’

‘Well obviously from Valhalla, but how does it get here from there? Where even is Valhalla? And what is it actually?’

Edward stroked the budding traces of his beard, wondering why nobody discussed this with him up to this point…

‘Is Valhalla a separate dimension? Is it really where Legends go after death?’

‘Well, if it existed on earth someone would’ve probably found it already. But what if it’s someplace else in the universe? But then, how does the energy transfer here?’

Edward changed his sitting posture, trying to get comfortable on the wooden chair he brought from indoors to the top of his pod.

‘Alright… things need to be done step by step.’

The young warrior focused on the inside of his body. The wind caressed his skin, and pulled on his white loose shirt, but the man stayed centered in his mind. He tried to wake up the golden aura, in a similar fashion when he manifested it voluntarily, but this time he paid attention to what happened before it was brought forward into the world.

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Nothing happened for a moment, but then there it was! A small golden spark lit up in his heart, before quickly flooding outward, guided by his resolute desire to bring it out.

He stopped calling it forward, before he became a living traffic signal at the top of the base. He already weirded people out enough as it was. Edward was already known as the ‘mad warrior’ in one place. He didn’t want to add ‘traffic light’ to the list of his nicknames.

But now at least, he knew that the aura starts manifesting from his heart outward.

‘But how the hell does that help me in any way…?’

“Ehh…” Now he understood why nobody bothered with researching this topic. It was probably pointless, he wasn’t even aware of any tools that could scan or detect aura.

‘Well… let’s leave it for another time…’

Suddenly a hurried voice started coming from his phone. He didn’t even answer a call…

*Edward? Edward? You there?*

‘That’s Layla…’

“Yeah, I’m here, what happened?” Ed stood up straight from his seat, bringing the phone to his ear.

*We have some enemy squads coming from different directions… One is coming from the north wing, near your position. It seems to be just a group of soldiers, they probably found out we’re moving today and want to slow us down. I know it’s your day off… but would you mind?*

“Ehh… alright, alright. But you know that I hate doing that…”

*I know… that’s one of the reasons I’m asking. Like it or not, you have to get used to it…”

“Fine, don’t worry… I’ll handle it.”

Edward jumped down, leaving the chair on the roof for the confused passersby to admire. He entered the room, grabbed the sword leaning against the wall, and ran back out. He jumped over the northern wall of the compound, alerting the nearby guards, and launched himself forward, pushing against the ground in a small eruption of golden light.

Almost flying over the next hill, he noticed the aforementioned enemy group, dressed in white patterned uniforms.

A thin layer of snow covered the ground. Doing his best not to slip, Ed dug the soles of his feet deeper, tensed his entire thigh, and propelled himself forward.

The closer he got to the target, the brighter the halo around his body became. The enemy noticed a shining light quickly getting closer. In a panic, they rose up the barrels of their rifles, raining down a hail of bullets towards the figure.

But no matter how hard they tried, the nightmare kept getting closer.

Edward was already barely a 100 meters away from the group. He readied his sword, pulling it out of the scabbard, and holding the blade close to his left shoulder. But before he could slash it across, the terrified faces of the soldiers reflected in his eyes.

The end of his sword trembled in the air, hovering like the shadow of death over his opponents, ready to pass judgement on their souls. Ed got closer and closer, but his arm refused to move.

‘Those poor fools were used as meat shields, disposable fodder just to slow us down, even for just a moment.’

‘Ehh… Layla is going to be disappointed.’

Edward’s sword flashed through the air. It passed right over the group’s heads, turned around, and using the pommel on the end of the hilt, hit the first soldier in the temple.

Before the limp body even reached the ground, the warrior’s figure moved like a blur between the enemies, knocking out each one in a similar fashion as the first.

The last member of the group managed to reach for the knife, a surprisingly good decision. Considering the rules of Valhalla, it at least had a chance of passing through the aura, unlike the bullets.

But in practice, Edward simply sidestepped the attack, and the soldier passed out, before even registering what hit him.

The young warrior looked back at the lying bodies.

‘Well, everyone seems to be alive… Time to call it in’

He reached towards his pocket, grabbing the cold metal phone. But as he pulled it out, a sudden chill traveled down his back.

He tried to turn around, but the next thing he knew was a painful sensation spreading around his chest, and flying through the air, completely disoriented.