Prologue

Part 2

The three warriors were at first oblivious to the clouds approaching above, but they were falling so rapidly that the quickly caught on. Brynhildr never took her eyes off the ragged figure, but the other two looked up in shock.

The clouds descended alarmingly fast; most people have never seen such a sight. The Valkyrie-Einherjar pair were naturally horrified… if you can imagine looking up and just seeing a wall of grey, rainy clouds falling towards you, I'd imagine that you'd be horrified as well.

However, the clouds seemed to ripple, forming inwards to form several pointed cocoon-shapes. The cocoons began to split apart, revealing above them the true, unmoved rain clouds. Unda and Pluvia widened their eyes in understanding that it was a spell, but they remained visibly shaken. The ragged man and Brynhildr never stopped staring at each other.

The cocoons began to swirl, and divided into tiny squares from the bottom up. These squares reformed to form human-shaped objects, and with a final swirl they would come to life: strange, twisted imitations of fleshless human bodies. They only bore one major noticeable difference to a human skeleton: long, clamping fingers sharpened to a point. Their faces were the only parts of their bodies which had flesh, but only their nose and mouth were existent; they eye sockets remain covered by melted black flesh.

Brynhildr charged at the cloaked man. Pluvia and Unda watched as the first blows were exchanged, and returned their attention to the massive horde of falling undead. Pluvia smiled as the rain rushed past the perverted corpses.

"They do not fight the rain, but rather imitate it; they disgrace it with their feeble attempts."

Unda looked at her companion and smiled knowingly, "Then, my First Einherjar, give them a lesson on just how rain should fall."

Pluvia grinned back at her, "They fall slower than the water; what makes them think they can beat me, who has perfected the technique of rain?"

He pointed his pistol towards the sky, and slid his left hand over the weapon, from trigger to the end of the barrel. By the end of his motion, it was glowing more fiercely than before. He took his aim, and the glow gathered at the tip of the barrel. He gave a small, amused laugh and fired.

A translucent, blue-black glowing bolt shot into the air; it disappeared above the falling horde. A flash of blue light, and a ring of blue-black energy formed far up. It started to fall, and as it did it became apparent that it was a rain of black-blue bolts all falling faster than the rain. They met the corpses with deadly precision and eliminated them with one shot; not a single bolt reached the ground.

The next thing the two knew, the shattered remains of the horde began to fall around them, no longer capable of supporting even undead life. Pluvia had completely eradicated them all.

"That's how its done," he said with a victorious smirk.

Unda smiled, but their joy was short lived. Two men, wearing similar rags to the other creature, appeared out of nowhere behind them. Both wore masks that were completely identical; they appeared to be subordinates of the other creature, whose mask was black, not grey, and a lot more decorated. They disarmed the pair with one hand, and restrained their arms. They slid the pair's weapon into their proper holsters, then placed their hands over their mouths and vanished.

But they took to long in their actions. In the time that they slid her cutlass into its scabbard, Unda had the time to let out a scream to warn Brynhildr before she was silenced with the hand over her mouth.

Brynhildr and her adversary jumped about, slashing at each other at seemingly random intervals (they were actually very precise about when to attack). They jumped around the roof, but eventually the fight led them to the sporting fields around the school. Every strike they landed on each other, shockwaves tore through the air and flattened the grass, occasionally leaving craters when the attacks where low enough. The agitated air around them was nothing compared to the agitated way they both moved; they were both angry and out to kill.

Pale sparks flew off Brynhildr's golden blade, and dark sparks off the black katana. When the blades met, they seemed to scream instead of ring with the usual metallic clang of swords. With each leap towards the enemy, the air behind them seemed to push at them, and once their swords met, that same air launched itself at the enemy with an equally powerful assault. It was as if the battle was not just between the two superhuman warriors, but between elements and weapons that were also sworn enemies.

Finally, they broke apart and stood facing each other, panting. The faceless figure regarded his opponent with caution, but Brynhildr seemed charged; she was full of adrenaline and a lust for battle that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Your pretty good, Valkyrie. Would you grace me with your name?"

"I am Brynhildr!"

"Ah, the first and greatest of all of Odin's Valkyrie. Also a loner; the only Valkyrie without a First Einherjar as a partner. Interesting that I should be pitted against one with such power, and such importance, so early in our struggle."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"I would indeed compliment your abilities. You are a worthy foe, one who I must devote my entire being to if I want to defeat. However, you are not my mission, and although I long to test my strength against you, I can not compromise my assignment."

Brynhildr, startled, said, "what…?"

"Lady Brynhildr, you have faced a Extraho Everto, leader of the Extraho Phasmatis. Rest assured that we will meet again, and I will defeat and kill you. My name… is Aether Letum! Remember it, Brynhildr Valkyrie!"

The blue pillars erupted around her again, and she once again moved with incredible speed to a place between the pillars where their fire could not touch her (her companions had done the same the first time). However, when the fire cleared, there was no one around.

With a start, she remembered what Aether's mission had been; she heard a scream at the same moment. She race back to the roof of the school, and found the remains of the creatures disintegrating into the rain; however, her companions where no where around.

She glanced around one last time, and realizing that she, the greatest of the Valkyrie, had failed, sheathed her sword. She decided on her next action, and was once again enveloped in light as she teleported away.