The temperature in the hallway dropped dramatically in an instant and a gust of wind blew through the enclosed space, a sign of the sudden change in air pressure.

The Valkyries were stunned. In place of the Olympians they were about to fight were three statues made of ice, each showing the last moment before the freeze enveloped them. They struggled to understand what had just happened but the Doctor’s voice quickly shook them out of their stupor.

“Venti! Take them out!”

Still confused, the green haired Valkyrie teleported above the trio ready to swing her spear. Unfortunately she was a second too late as a barrier appeared in her way. She quickly coated her weapon in the barrier breaking Rune and struck with everything she got, but the invisible walls kept coming one after the other.

Their source was the orb held in the small man’s palm. It was glowing with a faint orange light, streaks of white vapor slowly rising from it. The same was happening with the crystal on Perseus’ staff, showing that it was still active despite its owner being encased in ice.

“Well, I guessed as much…” Sam sighed.

The ice covering the three Olympians cracked around the joints as they trembled ever so slightly and parts of it began to peel off like old paint. Once they were sure that moving was no longer a danger to them, each of them broke out of the shell, falling to their knees and panting for air, their skin deathly pale and their eyes wide with horror.

“Dae… Daedalus…” the blond youth tried calling for his comrade, unable to put what he wanted into words. Venti’s attacks became more aggressive but the barriers kept coming. With trembling hands Perseus took the staff he was using to support himself and pointed it at the Valkyrie. The moment a series of Runes began to appear around its crystal, Sam called for his subordinate to retread. That didn’t stop the Olympian from continuing with the spell he was casting and a second later he fired a golden beam.

lightsnοvεl Three’s shield was enough to block it, but that didn’t matter. The beam itself wasn’t meant to do any damage.

“Damn… it…” Perseus mumbled, still struggling to catch his breath. “Since… since when…”

The heat from the beam had served to warm him up a little, but the temperature was continuing to drop with each second.

“Bloody… hell…”

Thankfully his short companion was back to his feet. It wasn’t long before the inside of the barrier was warm once again. Satisfied with the results, Sam no longer saw any need for him to continue with his little experiment so he allowed himself to relax. The halo floating over his head stopped spinning soon after and the atmosphere inside the hallway seemed to return to normal.

“I hoped to take you out in a single move but…”

“I… I see…”

The ice melted in just a few seconds. Each of the three Olympians was left with a few cuts here and there caused by the ice, but other than that they seemed perfectly fine, or so it seemed on the outside, at least. The same couldn’t be said about their mental state, though. The confidence they had before was now gone. They were starting to show more wariness toward Sam and his team and because of that no one attempted to attack for a while.

“Per… Perseus… what in the… world is… going on…?” Leonidas seemed to be having a much harder time, unable to stand up, leaning against the floor on all fours. He was trying to summon his halo but failed in doing so. His mind was a mess and the fact that it stopped working entirely, even if it was for just a moment, filled him with an inexplicable dread.

“To think… you already had the entire hallway full of your imitations.” Said Perseus. “The water molecules were nothing more than a distraction…”

A simple thermal scan was all that it took to figure out the range of the Doctor’s ability, or so Perseus thought. Turns out the man in the lab coat was a few steps ahead of him, having made more thorough preparations before their encounter.

When Sam entered the palace he used the sensors of his drones to perform a few tests, finding out the air pressure inside as well as the concentration of the different components that make it up. According to Mimir, despite not needing to breathe, the Nephilim kept the air filtration system going and maintained it regularly. That made Sam’s job a lot easier as he didn’t have to put a lot of thought into recreating the atmosphere of a space that had been closed for more than twenty years.

He kept producing particles ever since they entered, mimicking the different components he found out about through his analysis. About 75% became nitrogen while another 20% turned into oxygen. The rest were split into other components and water vapor made up only a negligible amount, but that didn’t matter once the entire hallway was filled with the fake air. By having the concentrated water vapor surround a small area around him Sam had tricked Perseus into lowering his guard, but the truth was that he and his companions were breathing the fake air from the start. They fell into his trap the moment they stepped into the hallway and they never even noticed it.

“Honestly, among the many ways I’ve seen the 23rd being used, this was the most creative one.” Said Perseus, taking a deep breath before turning to the left and pointing his staff at the wall. “But…”

With its crystal glowing once more and Runes forming several rings around it, light began to gather at the tip of the staff. A sphere of light formed after a few seconds, and with a bright flash the blond youth launched another beam, this one much larger than the first.

The resulting explosion filled the hallway with dust and smoke, but with the accumulated pressure finding an exit everything was suddenly blown outside.

“Now you can’t use that trick again.” Perseus smirked as he spoke.

The truth was that he wanted nothing more than to get out of that place. Though it might’ve seemed that he managed to free himself from the ice before it could do much damage to him, the truth was that all of his internal organs, especially his lungs, had taken a massive amount of damage. It would take a little more time for his wounds to regenerate, but until then he would be fighting in a less than favorable condition.

“I think you’re mistaken.” The Doctor said as he gazed at the destroyed wall. He then turned to the Olympians and allowed a smile to form on his face, this one being genuine, unlike the one he wore before. “You said it yourself, remember? I’m not supposed to be a part of our combat force. What I did was just test something I’ve been working on, that’s all.”

“… Huh?”

“It doesn’t really matter whether you can counter my trick or not. In the end the ones doing the fighting are going to be these girls.”

As if on cue, Venti lunged forward with an enhanced spear in her hands.

“Damn it!!!” Leonidas roared, forcing himself to dash toward the fearsome female warrior, holding his shield up as he tackled her.

Venti jumped into the air trying to avoid a direct clash, but the large Spartan wasn’t about to let her go past him as he quickly tore the round shield from his left arm and threw it at her with enough power to make his already aching body scream in pain. His efforts were in vain as all it took was a quick flip to evade the shield. In the same motion Venti flung one of her spears at the muscular man piercing his exposed right thigh and reminding him that he had forgotten to activate his force field.

“ARGH!!!”

Before he could increase his defence a golden beam pierced Leonidas’ chest. Glancing behind him he saw another Valkyrie pointing the barrel of her rifle at him and the next instant a barrage of energy bullets fired only to splash against an invisible wall and disappear.

“Curses!” Cried Daedalus as he stroked the surface of his orb. “My head hurts like hell!!!”

A shriek escaped him when he noticed the green haired Valkyrie diving down toward him with the tip of her spear heading straight for his head, but her move was blocked by another barrier, this one created by his blond companion.

“Damn it Daedalus!” Perseus shouted while pointing his staff at the Valkyries. “Just get it done already!!!”

“Okay okay!”

Venti was forced back by a laser beam but she immediately moved to attack again. The pain from having his body pierced helped Leonidas recover some of his vigor. The halo above his head returned and he quickly conjured a new sword. At the same time, golden lines began to appear on his skin drawing various shapes all over his body and surrounding it with a different air.

The eighth shockwave shook the palace announcing that only a few seconds were left before the last Titan fell. At the same time the short man seemed to have finished his preparations as rings of Runes began to appear around his orb.

“Finish the bastard! Leonidas!” He yelled. Just then a wave of aura exploded from the small orb and Sam immediately recognized what it was.

“Ichigo!” He called.

The pink haired Valkyrie was already on the move, gripping her pewter staff with both hands and concentrating. Her drones weren’t in the vicinity so there was no need for her to use the tool, however it helped her concentrate allowing her to expand her force field to a much wider area without expanding as much mental power.

“Die you-“

Feeling the effects of the enhancement he received from his ally vanish, Leonidas realized that he had walked into another trap with his own two feet. The anger he felt had masked his thoughts making him forget that the enemy had a Cleanser among them. By the time he realized it, he was face to face with a source of light the size of his head.

Triska had created a Proton Cannon at some point and then expanded it, using her halo to charge it with enough Balder’s Light to burn a continent. Knowing that he couldn’t dodge in time Leonidas tried to teleport, but the Rune didn’t activate making him realize he was inside an anti-teleportation barrier.

“Dam-“

His words were swallowed by the light along with his head. Increasing the output of his Force Field didn’t help much and in just a single second half of his body was erased leaving the other half falling to the floor.