The ELF Shamash swung its Mimicry Judgement of Shamash broadsword, creating a wall of flames that destroyed three out of the eight Asleikr Mechs.
"Can you get it closer?" I asked
Otto used Void Archives to create his own Mimicry Judgement of Shamash, this time in gun form, and shot at ELF Shamash a couple of times, causing minimal damage.
"It's approaching." Durandal noted.
"It's a melee combatant. I need it to…" I was cut off as I realized I was approaching much faster than expected.
Quickly, I launched several blasts of Path Energy from the rapier, all of which flew wide.
I had practiced at a Schicksal shooting range, however I had not practiced with a target bearing down on me.
Durandal tensed, seemingly ready to jump into action. Otto quickly stepped back a few paces.
I fired a couple more shots, the ELF dodged most of them, however it caught the last shot directly on its mimicry Judgement of Shamash, probably hoping to block it.
Suddenly the flames went out, the ELF looked confused for a second before its facial expression froze up.
Given how it had been using Honkai energy to fly towards me, it continued to fly in that direction, hitting the side of the bridge beneath me, and falling into the water.
"Ah!" I shouted.
Durandal quickly dived into the water, grabbing the ELF before it could sink to the bottom, before surfacing and moving it to one arm.
"Ah Durandal, quick thinking but could have had one of the Mecha's retrieve it." Otto yelled out to Durandal.
As if to prove his point, one of the Asleikr mechs quickly broke formation and hovered near the bridge. Durandal ignored it and activated her battlesuits propulsion systems, quickly leaving the water and landing back on the bridge, laying ELF Shamash on the road surface.
"Now for the recovery of the Divine Key" Otto said, bringing the Mecha back into formation.
The Divine Key was a full-sized locomotive, probably as heavy as one, too.
Otto made several gestures in the air, before frowning. "Looks like the Divine Key is powering up."
"ELF Shamash probably activated it, trying to send it to the Sea of Quanta," I said.
I had warned Otto that this could happen. His only countermeasure was Durandal's ability to temporarily leap and create a portal in and out of the Sea of Quanta.
"Durandal?" Otto spoke up.
"Got it." Durandal made a superhuman leap and started flying towards the Divine Key using her battlesuits propulsion systems.
Landing on top of the locomotive, she couldn't do much to stop it besides waiting for it to enter the Sea of Quanta and then bringing it back.
The portal opened directly in front of the locomotive, and it started moving forward, complete with steam whistles and moving wheels, despite the fact that it was completely unnecessary as it was currently floating.
Definitely a Vil-V classic.
Durandal desperately held onto the outside of the Divine Key as it entered the portal, closing behind the key.
It was suddenly completely silent.
Around a minute passed, and nothing happened. I started to get nervous.
"Durandal can only return from the Sea of Quanta three minutes after entry," Rita said, sounding extremely tense.
Suddenly a large purple blast of energy appeared from nowhere, going right through Otto's solium body's chest and piercing straight through the bridge surface and several of the support columns.
Turning quickly, I traced the purple shot back down the road that the bridge normally served, originating from a rooftop about two blocks away.
Rita quickly ran off towards the source, presumably Raven, at superhuman speeds.
I turned to Otto and watched as he crumbled away, presumably transferring to another nearby avatar.
Raven had presumably known it was him from his use of the Mimicry Judgement of Shamash, and had decided with Durandal gone, he was the perfect target.
I suddenly realised that I was alone on the bridge, and quickly in the direction that Raven's shot had come from, since I was much closer to that side of the bridge.
However I was interpreted as the Durandal, Complete with Divine Key, suddenly returned to the sky above the River Thames. The Divine Key was quickly grabbed by the five remaining Mecha's, proof that Otto was still alive.
Durandal quickly flew back, looking like a normal person who had run a marathon.
Looking around she said quickly "Where is Rita and Otto."
"World Serpent shot Otto, destroying his avatar. Rita went after them, down two blocks on the right-side rooftop," I replied. I had no idea whether Raven was still there or engaged with Rita.
Durandal ran off, and Otto's voice came through my Schicksal earpiece.
"Jump on the Divine Key as it passes. Make sure to grab the ELF," he instructed.
The Mechas started pushing the Divine Key down the river, towards me and the bridge.
I quickly ran back to where Durandal had left ELF Shamash, which I attempted to grab with one hand before realising how unwieldy and flexible it was.
I strapped the rapier back to my belt, hoisted the ELF over both shoulders, and ran to the edge of the bridge.
Otto had matched the speed of the approach to my actions and I jumped off the bridge and landed on the top of the Divine Key, dropping the ELF to the surface and quickly dropping before I got taken out by the bridge supports, I grabbed onto the Divine Key with one hand, and the ELF with the other.
The Mecha's started accelerating, pushing faster and faster down the River Thames towards the English Channel, several of the Mecha's suddenly started projecting a realistic looking holographic projection of a boat around the Divine Key, almost completely covering it.
"How is Rita and Durandal?" I asked through the earpiece.
"Rita has engaged the World Serpent, and Durandal is approaching Rita's location rapidly."
I wondered how exactly World Serpent had found out about the plan to steal the Divine Key, or maybe they had just tracked Otto to London and had only acted when we had attempted to steal the Divine Key.
They must have still been unprepared until they took the shot, otherwise they would have probably shot Durandal instead of Otto, or maybe it was just that Jackel guy sucking at threat assessment and deciding that Otto was the greatest enemy.
The city was now moving by at a blur, and it was getting harder and harder to hold onto the outside.
The channel was getting wider and wider so I knew we were approaching the English Channel.
"What exactly is the plan? You don't expect me to sit on this thing all the way to Schicksal HQ, do you?" I asked.
"There's a patrol ship heading to a rendezvous point in the Channel. We'll stop there. You grab the ELF and jump on board," Otto said.
We shot out of the Thames into the English Channel, turned north, and continued until well clear of land.
Slowing down, I readjusted my grip on ELF Shamash and waited for the Key to stop completely.
A landing craft approached, hovering beside the Divine Key. The side door opened, and a Valkyrie peeked out and waved. I waved back and gestured for them to clear the doorway.
Grabbing the ELF again with both hands, I stepped back, ran, and jumped while ducking slightly. The superhuman jump was within my abilities.
I however, did not stick the landing, as soon as my feet hit the deck I rolled forward and onto my face, skidding along the landing crafts floor and crashing into the door on the other side.
"Nice landing." The voice of Otto spoke up from the projector in the center of the landing craft.
I dropped the ELF to the floor, jumped to my feet, and brushed off the nonexistent dust from my uniform. "Har har. How are Durandal and Rita?"
The A-rank Valkyrie closed the side door.
"Durandal and Rita are fine. The World Serpent operative managed to flee."
Grabbing the ELF off of the floor, and onto a chair before buckling it in, the chest high buckle holding it up by the neck.
"The operation was a success nonetheless, the Mecha's are heading towards Schicksal HQ as we speak."
I noted that on the operations display beside the door to the cockpit that the Second Divine Key, marked by a group of blue squares (the Asleikr mechs) was rapidly being surrounded by several additional contacts, more blue squares, labeled as RPC-6626's Air Support Craft.
I decided to sit next to the ELF and buckled myself in.
"What happens now?" I asked.
"Durandal and Rita are still pursuing and investigating World Serpent. The assault craft you are on is currently heading back to Schicksal HQ with the Divine Key."
I guess now that all my information had turned out right and Otto had the Divine Key I was now too valuable to be risked investigating World Serpent.
"I need to coordinate operations. If something happens, you have the frequency," Otto said, before the hologram disappeared.
That left just me and the other Valkyrie, who I didn't know, however they apparently knew me.
"Hey, you're the new S rank Valkyrie that just got promoted?" The Valkyrie asked.
"When did this happen?" I asked.
"A few minutes ago, I was checking the Schicksal intranet before we got redirected." They said.
"This is news to me," I muttered. I definitely didn't feel like an S-rank Valkyrie in terms of raw combat strength.
Actually, that wasn't exactly true, I had one shot the Herrscher that even Himeko with the Nexus System had struggled against, and ELF Shamash who had originally destroyed several city blocks in London.
Of course, that was through cheating using Path Energy, but since it came from me and not from something I wielded, I guess it wasn't actually cheating.
Still, I didn't feel as strong as an S-rank Valkyrie in raw power. I was stronger than normal humans, maybe B-rank level normally, but not stronger than Kiana.
Actually Kiana was essentially a clone of Durandal, the strongest Schicksal Valkyrie, so she actually had S-tier strength.
In addition, most S-rank Valkyries were only A-rank in combat strength even with Valkyrie armor, with the S-rank armor making up most of the difference.
I had never worn Valkyrie armor before. If I got injured, I could instantly heal, as long as I wasn't dead. I could also oneshot any Honkai beast or Herrscher, the greater the Honkai Energy, the greater the effect. I guess… I was actually somewhat overpowered?
I wondered if Otto would give me a set of S-rank Valkyrie armor.
"How much does a S-rank Valkyrie get paid?" I asked.
Wait a minute, this might mean that I have to do actual work.
"Pretty sure it's in the millions?"
Well, that was pretty nice at least.