The Training Area — the training facility of Valhalla's central headquarters.
Every conceivable amenity had been assembled here for the purpose of cultivating Valkyrie combat ability.
It began with the basics: a physical conditioning gym and a shooting range, followed by combat training rooms stocked with battle dummies of every conceivable configuration.
There were simulation rooms running on virtual reality, and even a sprawling pool designed for underwater operation drills.
To call the Training Area a massive theme park dedicated to self-improvement would not be an exaggeration.
"Is it true? Arishia and Senior Leila are actually sparring…?"
"Apparently Senior Leila was the one who proposed it."
"This is going to be fun! Who do you think wins?"
"In a one-on-one, I'd have to say Arishia…."
The Arena — one of the Training Area's many facilities.
Built exclusively for Valkyrie-versus-Valkyrie combat, it was among the most popular venues in the entire complex.
Valkyries, born to fight the Erosion Species, tended by nature to be fiercely competitive.
It was only natural that they would flock to a place where the question of who was stronger could be settled definitively.
*Quite the audience….*
Having learned all of this through my terminal, I swept my gaze around the space.
The Arena was open — anyone could watch whoever was fighting inside.
Valkyries were scattered throughout the stands, all of them watching this way.
Arishia and Leila were both well-known figures, after all.
Word of the match had spread, and the spectators had come in droves.
*Well, it doesn't matter. I intend to win.*
No point worrying about the peanut gallery right now.
I shut them out and turned my attention forward.
There was Arishia, roughly fifteen paces away.
Her outfit was rather striking.
A skirt that fell to her ankles, a sleeveless top that left her shoulders bare.
Heavy military boots on her feet, and in her hand, an axe taller than she was.
Her hair — red as churning magma — was pulled back into a single tail, and she fixed me with a gaze sharp enough to draw blood.
*Arishia in her Combat Suit is adorable…. If only her expression were a little less murderous.*
What she wore was a Combat Suit.
A battle uniform designed to draw out a Valkyrie's full power — the real thing, not a training approximation.
It meant she intended to take this match seriously.
Accordingly, I had changed out of my exercise clothes and into my uniform as well.
It clung to every line of my body, stiff and uncomfortable.
And yet, strangely, wearing it made me feel like power was coursing through me.
*So there's a reason we fight in uncomfortable clothes.* I found myself genuinely impressed.
*Still… Arishia really is so much stronger than me.*
Standing there before the fight began, studying Arishia's bearing —
I could feel something radiating off her. An aura, for lack of a better word.
Difficult to articulate precisely, but….
An instinctive sense that she was stronger than me. Visceral and undeniable.
Like standing in front of a starving lion.
Arishia must have been sizing me up in turn, calculating her odds.
She twisted that pretty face of hers into something ugly and opened her mouth.
"You dare provoke me with that little power of yours…? You pathetic little princess."
*Arishia is… very angry….*
Understandable, when I thought about it.
Arishia was A-rank. I was B-rank.
Even among Valkyries of the same rank, individual skill created clear hierarchies.
A full rank of difference made it nearly impossible to call it a real contest.
And yet I had been the one to challenge her.
She clearly interpreted it as a deliberate insult.
*The shield means I won't die, but…. I should be a little nervous.*
Combat in the Arena required equipping a specialized shield.
The effect was simple: when the device detected an impact the user could not survive, it deployed a single-use defensive barrier.
Naturally, the moment the shield activated, the match was over — a loss.
Arishia had a foul mouth, but she wasn't a bad person at heart.
She wouldn't keep attacking after the shield broke.
But by the same token, any hit she landed before that point would land in full.
It would be best to avoid taking hits wherever possible.
"I'll make sure you can't get out of the infirmary for a good long while."
"My, how frightening. Could you go easy on me?"
"Ha — it's too late for regrets now!"
*Clack.*
The blade of Arishia's axe, folded in half, rotated and snapped open.
Her personal weapon, moving in response to her will.
She had simply entered combat mode, and yet the sheer presence it carried was overwhelming.
I shifted my own weapon into combat mode as well.
A flat, pure-white gun with a peculiar shape — almost like a toy.
Its name: Nail Gun. A tool that fired nails.
That was right. Just as Arishia's personal weapon was an axe —
The personal weapon of Leila, whose body I now inhabited, was a Nail Gun.
Not, of course, the kind used on construction sites.
This was a Nail Gun whose projectiles could punch through thick concrete. A terrifying thing.
"Die die die die die!"
"You can't just tell someone to die to their face!"
Arishia kicked off the ground and came at me hard.
A perfectly honest charge — no feints, no misdirection.
The momentum was like a tank bearing down at full speed.
Naturally, letting her close the distance would put me at an overwhelming disadvantage.
I raised the Nail Gun and moved to check her advance.
*I need to aim for her legs!*
*Thunk. Thunk.*
Nails flew at supersonic speed, targeting her legs.
A clean hit would punch straight through muscle.
But Arishia didn't slow down even slightly.
She angled her axe diagonally like a shield and deflected every single nail.
*As expected of an A-rank Tanker… Halfhearted attacks won't work on her….*
Ashen Valkyrie — the game this world was based on — had four classes.
Tanker, Dealer, Supporter, Specialist.
Arishia's class was Tanker, and specifically a damage-heavy Dealer-type Tanker at that.
I, by contrast, was a long-range Dealer with pitiful stats.
This was a fight where I absolutely could not afford to give up ground.
*I have no choice but to obstruct her vision…!*
I fired the Nail Gun at Arishia's face.
The moment she raised her axe to block it, I rolled sharply to the side.
Arishia tore through the space where I had been standing a heartbeat before.
I fired at her exposed back, but she spun with her axe and deflected the nails without effort.
"Stop running!"
"If I take a hit from you, I'll actually die!"
"Then die quietly!"
Arishia reset her stance and closed the distance with her axe leading.
My attempts to check her legs were blocked just as uselessly as before.
The moment she drew near, I aimed for her face again.
"The same trick twice…!"
"Ngh…?!"
But this time, it was slightly different.
The instant Arishia recognized I was going for her eyes, she twisted her body sideways.
At this angle, even if the nail connected, it would catch her shoulder.
She held that position and tracked my movement to the very end.
No wonder they called her a genius.
Her killing intent was clear: she would not fall for the same trick twice.
There was nothing for it. I extended my left hand toward her.
"Blue Thunder!"
"Tch!"
*Crack.*
With a thunderous boom, blue lightning erupted from my palm.
Leila's innate ability as a Valkyrie.
The effect was simple: it fired a bolt of lightning.
Apparently deciding that taking that head-on was a bad idea —
Arishia abandoned the opening and stepped lightly back.
*I didn't want to use that yet…. I let my guard down.*
But I was in no position to feel relieved.
I had just burned one of five uses on that.
Leila's innate ability was, frankly, pathetic in terms of performance.
Five uses. That was all she got for an electric shock that delivered a moderate impact.
No wonder she was stuck struggling at B-rank.
Still, the firepower was higher than the Nail Gun, at least.
I had wanted to save it for a critical moment if I could….
*Well, what's done is done. Consider it the price of underestimating Arishia.*
She really was strong.
There was a reason she ranked among the powerful A-ranks.
The gap between her and a B-rank like me was the distance between earth and sky.
The matchup was unfavorable for me on top of everything else.
If this dragged into a war of attrition where she slowly ground me down, my defeat was certain.
But I had knowledge of the source material.
Right now, in this moment — Arishia's fatal weakness.
If I could draw it out, I had a genuine chance of winning.
*Adorable but infuriating little brat…. I will absolutely shatter that pride of hers, and then she'll be calling me "big sis" and following me around everywhere…!*
The situation remained unfavorable, however.
Wary of the lightning I'd just used, Arishia circled me in a constant, restless orbit, her footwork never stopping.
Like a wolf waiting for its prey to drop its guard.
I kept my eyes wide open, tracking her every movement, ready to react the instant she lunged.
"Hah!"
*Crack.*
The solid floor caved in with a sound like something breaking, and Arishia came at me with her red hair streaming behind her.
I fired the Nail Gun to check her ferocious charge.
But this time, Arishia opened herself up deliberately.
*She's planning to take the hits that only graze her!*
Not a bad call.
Her skin was tough enough to deflect pistol rounds.
She even had a regenerative ability that healed wounds mid-combat.
She was probably calculating that she could absorb minor damage and end the fight quickly.
Of course, I had anticipated exactly that move.
"Ugh… that hurt…?!"
*Thud.*
A nail that had seemed to fly wide suddenly changed trajectory and buried itself in Arishia's side.
The unexpected pain made her grimace and stagger.
I seized the moment, stepping sharply back to maintain distance.
How had a nail that appeared to miss suddenly struck her? The method was nothing complicated.
The nails fired from the Nail Gun were a special alloy with high electrical conductivity.
So I had simply charged a nail with electricity just before firing and steered it remotely.
She apparently didn't come to the training facilities often.
She had probably never imagined Leila could apply her ability this way.
For me, it was a reasonably satisfying blindside.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't underestimate me."
"A pathetic little princess… doing something like… this!"
Arishia's face twisted around the nail buried deep in her side.
She reached down, dug her fingers into the wound, and wrenched the nail out by force.
Red blood dripped onto the floor, but Arishia was tough — she'd probably recover quickly enough.
*I was aiming for her throat, ideally…. That level of precision control is beyond me, it seems.*
A roar erupted from the spectators watching the fight.
They had probably assumed I would be crushed without landing a single hit.
Drawing first blood was clearly not the outcome anyone had expected.
But there was no composure on my face.
The situation was far worse than it appeared from the outside.
I had burned through a significant portion of my resources… and the nail-steering trick probably wouldn't work a second time.
So I looked at Arishia seriously and said:
"Arishia. Stop holding back."
"…What?"
"You haven't used your innate ability once. Does that mean you don't think I'm worth it?"
"Th-that's…. I don't need to use it on someone like you!"
Even as she said it, Arishia couldn't hide the flicker of unease in her expression.
She had clearly never intended to use her innate ability at all.
My words had struck somewhere she hadn't expected, and her reaction showed it.
Which was precisely why I decided to push further.
"Are you keeping it in reserve? As insurance?"
"Insurance?"
"Even if I win like this — you can always say you would have won if you'd used your innate ability. That's the excuse you're preparing, isn't it?"
"Haaaa?! W-what are you — don't make me laugh! As if I'd ever—!"
"I won't fight you again after this. Even if you come after me saying you would have won if you'd used it, even if you grab my sleeve and beg — I won't give you a rematch. Not ever."
"Grr… you… you…."
Oh, that landed. That really landed.
Does it sting? Does it sting to hear this from someone you dismissed as weak?
I delivered the finishing blow to her face, now flushed crimson with rage.
"Arishia. Pathetic."
"AAAAAAGH! YOU — I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
*Whoosh.*
Scorching flames erupted around the enraged Arishia.
Flame Barrier. Her innate ability — wreathing herself in searing fire.
I shielded my face with my arm against the wave of heat rolling toward me.
Because I absolutely could not let her see me smiling.
*I've won.*
This was the only way I could beat her.
The plan known as: Operation Dry Arishia Out Like a Squid.