Red. A color the Valkyrie was used to very well. From the lands she flew above when fighting the Calamities to the sky of the new world which brought a more unforgiving war. To Zero Five, however, the color red meant many other things. From the ribbon of her uniform to the halo over her head and the sword in her hand. But if she had to say it herself, the most vivid memory she had of the color was the red liquid spilling from the wound that man received.

Their battle against Loki was one she would never forget. Her opponent was far more skilled, having more control and relying more on tricks than the mindless Calamities she had fought up to that point. Even though she had received a great boost to her abilities, she was still barely able to keep up with the golden blades her opponent threw at her, and because of her lack of power her charge received a wound that could’ve taken his life.

Thankfully, the Doctor had survived, although not without undergoing an irreversible change. Five blamed herself for what happened that day, as did her two comrades who were there that fateful day. She wished she could turn back time and make everything right, but unfortunately she had no choice but to keep going forward.

Five hated the color red. In her eyes, it brought nothing but tragedy. The Fallen and their crooked halos, the ominous light in the heads of the Black Stone Giants, and now the red lightning raining from the sky.

The red lightning was cold. Wherever a bolt fell sharp ice crystals formed, creating a beautiful sight that soon crumbled as more bolts rained down.

Despite her best attempts, Sitta was struggling to keep up with the constant strikes of the red lightning. Her barriers shattered one after the other, freezing the instant they came into contact with the strange phenomenon. Fortunately she only needed to hold on for a little over twenty seconds, no matter how powerful their opponent was, a constant stream of such powerful attacks was impossible to keep for long.

Just as the light from the last attack faded, Zero Five held her odachi at waist level and leaned forward preparing to move the instant the blueish box around them disappeared.

“Go!”

On Sitta’s signal, Five stepped forward, her figure blurring for an instant. She broke through the wall of ice that had formed around the box and came face to face with her opponent who intended to shatter the barrier now that it was weakened.

Though only half of her face was hidden underneath the mask, there was no sign of her expression changing, no surprise at the obstacle that appeared in her way. Her crimson dress fluttered along the wind, unaffected by the tendrils of red electricity dancing around it, the only signs of damage done to it being a few, barely noticeable cuts here and there.

Thor, the current Nephilim queen, was a true horror on the battlefield. Her movements didn’t show the slightest hint of mindlessness despite her being under the control of someone else. She met Five’s blade with her lance, tilting it ever so slightly so it would slide along its surface causing the ponytailed Valkyrie to bounce off carried by the speed of her own movements.

The crimson haired queen had her eyes on the ginger at the back and she coated her lance in the crimson lightning preparing to strike her down. Unfortunately before she could teleport the remaining distance another translucent box materialized in front of her blocking the way.

The gaze from behind the oni mask drew her attention and she quickly moved aside. An instant later the blade of a katana cut through the place she was in.

With her attention back on the masked Valkyrie, Thor raised her lance high then pointed it at her. Red lightning shot forth, its tendrils racing to see which would claim its victim first. But no matter how fast it was it couldn’t catch something that wasn’t there and so Five avoided its cold embrace by teleporting away.

The Nephilim queen remained cold and uncaring. Her body began to glow as she increased the output of her Force Field. A moment later white lines began to appear all around her, creating a strange web trapping her at the center. Trenta appeared a small distance away with her back turned to the woman in red. She slowly slid her blade into its sheath activating her ability, but the white lines shattered the moment they made contact with the queen’s powerful protective aura.

Though she managed to guard against I Am The Storm easily, Thor quickly raised her lance to block Five’s katana. The crimson blade had a layer of blue covering it turning the whole weapon into an alluring shade of purple, one the Nephilim found too dangerous to ignore. Unlike the previous attacks, this one managed to cut through the red lightning and the Nephilim’s force field and chipper at the obsidian weapon, leaving behind a small cut.

“Get out of there!!!” Came Sitta’s cry.

The masked Valkyrie let the strike if her opponent blow her away before teleporting. The crimson haired queen tried to follow but found herself inside another box that blocked her movements if only for a couple of seconds.

“What were you thinking!!?” Sitta asked, her face pale. “Nino warned you to not let the lightning touch you!!!” 𝒪𝓥𝐿xt.𝓒𝞸𝗆

“I… I know…” Five replied, tilting her mask and releasing the breath she was holding in. “But we don’t have much choice…”

One look at her legs and she understood why the Japanese doll had warned them about the lightning. Since they aren’t humans the Valkyries had no reason to worry about freezing temperatures, but at some point their bodies would begin to crumble. Focusing most of her Force Field on her odachi left her with only a thin layer to protect herself. That much was evidently not enough as only a small spark was enough to penetrate it, sprouting a number of red crystals from the frostbite eating at her skin.

She quickly cut them away but that didn’t do anything to the frozen part. The pain it caused her was negligible, but if she continued to receive such damage her movements would suffer at some point.

“How are we supposed to get that mask when none of our attacks can land?” Trenta asked, sounding rather annoyed.

“Our only choice is to keep going until we take her down.”

Despite their current situation, Five didn’t feel discouraged in the least. Though the gap between their powers seemed too wide at first, she was confident of her ability to take down the crimson haired queen. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but a part of her knew that she could.

The red lightning continued to rain down on the small box Sitta conjured and the ice crystals continued to pile up on its surface. As they waited for the storm to end, Zero Five closed her eyes and breathed in. The enemy was strong and a single mistake could cost her her life. She needed to protect herself, but focusing on defense meant dealing next to no damage. The Force Field had an upper limit. It wouldn’t run out as long as the output remained within that limit, but attempting to produce more meant risking it collapsing, robbing her of the ability to fight.

‘That lance…’ Five thought, an image of the crimson haired queen appearing in her mind. ‘It wasn’t enhanced by her force field…’

Something told her that she knew about the strange obsidian weapon, though she only saw it for the first time back when Mimir had shown them the recordings she had. Even back then, the ponytailed Valkyrie seemed to have an instinctive understanding of the lance. It was a strange feeling, but she didn’t let it bother her until now.

A material strong enough to stop a weapon enhanced by the maximum output of a Force Field. Was it something the queen created through her halo? If so, replicating it shouldn’t be impossible for the Valkyries. Five tried to focus on the queen’s image trying to distinguish the runes making up her crown like halo, but the attempt ended in failure as even her eyes couldn’t capture a still frame of the spinning runes.

‘No.’ Five shook her head, refusing to give up. ‘Doctor entrusted me with this. I can’t fail him. Not again.’

Her mind wandered back to the last battle and how she failed to see it to its end. The grave injuries she received had robbed her of her consciousness and left her plummetting to a sea of fire. If it wasn’t for her friend’s help she would’ve died right then and there.

Death wasn’t something that scared her. Her greatest fear was betraying the expectations placed on her by her friends and the man she loved. She was entrusted with freeing the Nephilim queen because, among both the available Valkyries and the Nephilim, she was the strongest.

‘Doctor…’ Once again she took a deep breath. ‘Please watch over me…’

Red. It was the color Zero Five hated the most. Whether it was the ruined landscape of her world or the blood spilling from a gash in human flesh, she hated the sight of it, and from that hate a dark desire began to spring out from the depth of her mind.

Her slender fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword. Anger flooded her chest bringing with it a calmness that ignored the circumstances around her and the odds of her winning the battle without losing a limb or two. A thin haze began to form, enveloping her body in a black shadow that isolated it from the rest of the world. The shadow grew thicker for a while, but then it seemed to compress all of a sudden, hardening around the Valkyrie’s graceful body and taking the vague form of a suit of armor.