"Actually, I'm a good guy."
"I understand...Your Majesty the Eternal King,"
Looking at the well-behaved red ponytail Valkyrie in front of him, Shirou nodded in satisfaction.
He turned his head slightly. The naughty, troublemaking green twin-tailed Valkyrie had been tied up inside and out with black rope in three thick layers, like a hostage in an action movie.
Her mouth and eyes were covered with black gauze. She kept making muffled but defiant cries - "Hmm hmm hmm" - while writhing on the ground like a silkworm pupa.
The red-haired Valkyrie walked over and sat firmly on her sister's back. With a "pat" the green-haired one let out a mournful "Hmm," no longer able to budge.
"Please ignore this fool," the redhead said flatly.
Easier said than done when she's writhing around, Shirou thought. With a sigh he said, "I need to talk to you about something."
She tilted her head, listening attentively.
The situation was clear now. Skadi had been captured by Hel, who had gained three wheels and was approaching Skadi's level of combat power. Though Shirou didn't know Hel's ultimate goal, or "Father's" role, he knew he had to free Skadi before he left Asgard.
"If you want to help Skadi, why didn't you let us make a move before?" Adam asked.
Shirou patiently explained, "Hel had taken control back then. Acting rashly wouldn't have helped Skadi - it would've been suicide. If there's over a 30% chance, I'll risk it. But for things below 30% I wouldn't do it."
Adam nodded, understanding now. Shirou was clearly more seasoned - he'd already calculated their probability of success. Adam had focused only on potential gains, lacking that foresight from experience.
"But Hel controls Asgard now. And according to you, she doesn't trust any of us," Salter said with a frown.
"She has taken control, yes, but her distrust is exactly the opening we need."
Salter and Adam shared a bewildered look, completely puzzled by this.
After a pause, he patiently explained, "Imagine her suspicion as a blaze, and we are the ones holding the torches. When Hel sends us out on missions, she will watch us like hawks. But the more brightly our torches burn, the simpler it becomes to hide the embers burning within."
"You mean..." Salter understood and turned to look at the two Valkyries.
"I get it now," Adam said in surprise. "You mean we should draw Hel's attention, Mr. Assassin? So that while she's focused on us, she'll easily overlook them?"
Shirou nodded. "That's the idea."
As Salter and Adam considered this, they realized things weren't so simple. Because just as Shirou was preparing to leave Asgard, these two Valkyries appeared - the only ones not corrupted by the Network. What's more, why were they the only unaffected ones? Also, Salter recalled that before all this, Shirou had instructed them not to connect to the Valkyrie Network and wait on standby in Valhalla.
This was almost...too perfectly planned.
Could it be...?
Salter and Adam stared at Shirou in astonishment. Had the Eternal King calculated everything happening now?
After Shirou finished briefing the two Valkyries on their mission, he turned back to Salter and Adam, who were staring at him in shock.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing!" they both quickly shook their heads.
But they were now convinced — all of this must have been part of his master plan. Why else would Shirou be so calm and methodically strategizing? This had clearly been pre-arranged!
As expected of the Eternal King, Salter admired to herself.
As expected of Mr. Assassin, Adam thought admiringly at the same time.
Shirou could hardly believe two more empty-headed people were speculating about his "master plan". How could he have pre-arranged all this chaos? He was simply meeting each new plot with a counter plot, countering every move as it came.
He had arranged for the Valkyries to sneak into Asgard and replace the guards at the prison. Of course, given the Valkyrie Network allowing the enemy to easily expose them, this would be incredibly difficult. But their network was no match for Shirou.
He gave the Valkyries a lump of black mud to alter their Saint Graphs - changing them to match the cursed aura of the corrupted Valkyries. He then wantonly tossed more black mud around Asgard's ruins, recording footage to share with the chat group members on the Black Network.
This allowed for some surveillance and basic freedom of movement for the two Valkyries. It's just that this kind of surveillance consumed quite a bit of mana. Of course, Shirou now has so much mana that he could ignore such trivial consumption.
With these preparations complete, he finally felt at ease sending the Valkyries off to begin their covert missions. Meanwhile, he had Adam attract Hel and the Valkyrie Network's attention around Asgard - providing the perfect environment and opportunity for the Valkyries to operate undetected.
After making these arrangements, Sigurd also had readied his own equipment and called Shirou to leave Asgard together.
Shirou brought Salter out with him.
Seeing Salter, Sigurd asked in surprise, "King Arthur is coming too?"
"Got a problem with that?" Salter shot back, cold and firm. Now was not the time for pleasantries - her altered state made it very difficult to remain calm anyway.
Even with Shirou, she could be quite fiery these days. But Shirou's mild temperament made him adept at handling her moods. Whenever she lost her temper, he'd pacify her completely - leaving the Alter unable to vent any frustration at all.
Like Salter, Sigurd was gentle by nature, but his alteration had left him hot-tempered as well. Salter's provocation put him on edge. Gripping his demonic sword, he prepared to fight.
Seeing tensions escalate, Shirou stepped in with a smile. "I called Saber here, Sigurd. I'm not a valiant, invincible hero like you. I thought I might need some extra support on the journey, just in case. More people means more assurance, right?"
Hearing this, Sigurd nodded wordlessly.
He led the way towards the Bifrost, Shirou and Salter close behind.
Just as when they first arrived, Asgard's Bifrost was actually an elevator transporting them down below the realm. They emerged into the same withered forest, before the gigantic tree. But now the Valkyrie guards no longer belonged to Skadi - they served Hel. Each emitted a cursed aura, nearly that of full-fledged Alters. Clearly Hel had used the Network beforehand to alter the entire Valkyrie legion, gaining their loyalty.
In a way, Shirou had mimicked her actions by using black mud on those two Valkyries to give them a matching aura. The difference was he couldn't fully convert others into Alters with the mud. That was a basic rule of the black mud.
Now on the ground of Midgard, the group looked toward the Muspelheim Gate. According to Hel's briefing, Chaldea was on the other side - already rushing over after noticing abnormalities in Asgard.
Just as they were about to set off, a Valkyrie with long golden hair and black-rimmed glasses approached to declare tonelessly: "I am A-146, sent by Lady Hel to accompany you and relay updates from the Network."
A surveillance escort, was it? Shirou nodded thoughtfully then smiled. "Thanks for coming along."
Then the small group set off across the vast white snowscape toward the Muspelheim Gate.
...
Meanwhile at the Gate itself...
With a thunderous "boom", Brynhildr's divine spear pierced the last Valkyrie like a bolt, sending her crashing to the snow.
For a long moment, Brynhildr gazed silently upon the unmoving enemies. Not until a voice called her name did the warrior maiden finally turn.
Behind her, a white-haired girl resembling a snow fairy spoke her name.
Brynhildr sheathed the spear and slowly strode over to the girl, kneeling before her. "Master."
The girl surveyed the gruesome scene. "You went overboard, Brynhildr."
"Had I not acted, they would have killed us," Brynhildr said. "Besides, don't worry, Master. They can be revived in Valhalla."
The girl bit her lip. "I know, but still..."
Seeing her expression, Brynhildr said gently, "If it pains you, Master, please reprimand me as you see fit."
"Why would I do that to you? You're my Servant!" the girl protested. "Just...try to show some restraint next time."
"I am your Servant, Master, now and always," Brynhildr said. "Whatever ties or relationships I may have had with them in past lives, from the moment you summoned me, my path has been clear."
The girl fell silent, for Brynhildr had done no wrong here. These Valkyries had attacked without warning or cause. Her Servant did what was necessary to protect her—acted with ruthlessness because she had no choice.
Killing her fellow Valkyries could not have been easy, even for the legendary Brynhildr.
The girl said nothing more. She wasn't naive - she understood. Still, her gentle heart struggled to accept this cruel necessity. But unfortunately, although she was the Master, she couldn't stop Brynhildr.
"I wish Miyu were here," the girl lamented.
And in that moment, an alarming thought struck her:
"Something must have gone wrong in Asgard for the Valkyries to turn on us."
Brynhildr nodded. "Someone tampered with the Valkyrie Network, rewriting my sisters' Saint Graphs. That's why they attacked us."
After hearing this, the girl thought deeply for a moment before saying, "Let's go to Asgard and check it out."
"What about Muspelheim, Master?" Brynhildr asked. "We already promised Skadi we'd help her fend off Surtr. Without you, I'm afraid Lady Chloe won't be able to stop Surtr from breaching the Gate."
"Chloe isn't as weak as you think, Brynhildr," the girl said. "We'll leave this place to her."
"I understand, Master," she nodded.
The girl looked at the bodies on the ground again, snapped her fingers, and in an instant snow swirled, covering the corpses.
"Master...!" Brynhildr gazed at the girl, seemingly moved.
"It's the least I can do for them," she said softly, then turned and walked into the blizzard. Brynhildr hurried to catch up.
"Geez... just like what Gray ran into before, this is another weird Connection Point," she grumbled. "Even though its depth is only C-rank, this crazy stuff still happened. We can barely contact Chaldea now, let alone get back... If I'd known, I never would've rushed up here to Northern Europe with Chloe..."
Her complaints trailed off as her figure faded into the wind and snow, soon disappearing altogether.