Arishia was a Valkyrie from Lorentz Industries — a company that no longer existed.
Not merely strong, but a Third-Generation Valkyrie engineered with her unique ability's synergies in mind.
And not a mass-produced model, either — she was a One-Off Type, built to pursue the absolute high end.
The cost of producing even a single one of her cells was staggering.
And yet, Arishia was an obvious defect.
Far from functioning properly, she cried out in pain at the slightest movement.
Her body simply couldn't withstand the greed that had pushed her performance too far.
Her unique ability, in particular — powerful beyond even her own capacity to control — made her an unmistakable problem child.
"You worthless failure! Do you have any idea how much money and time went into making you?!"
"Ngh… it, it hurts…!"
"Lorentz Industries was supposed to break into the top four corporations with this project!"
Perhaps it was the weight of absurd investment with nothing to show for it.
The director and researchers of the lab abused her openly.
They cut, sliced, and bled her body — her high regeneration making it all the more convenient.
Every day was a nightmare she couldn't even sleep through.
But Arishia had one ally in that hell.
"It's okay. I know you'll become an incredible Valkyrie someday, Arishia."
"Sugar… sis…."
"I'll always be by your side."
She was Sugar — a Valkyrie from the same lab.
Unlike Arishia, Sugar had manifested a unique ability that healed and strengthened other Valkyries.
Whenever Arishia came back in tears, Sugar would take her hand and sleep beside her.
To Arishia, whose every day felt like hell, Sugar was the only family she could trust.
No matter how unbearable life in the lab was, as long as her sister was there, it would be okay.
Arishia held her crumbling heart together and always managed to smile in front of her.
Someday, let's leave this lab together, Sugar.
But that precious wish dissolved like foam on water.
One day, the city's barrier was breached, and Erosion Species swarmed the lab.
Researchers fell one by one, their deaths marked by horrible screams.
As Arishia and Sugar fled from them in a panic —
"I'm sorry, Arishia."
"…What?"
Arishia was shoved by Sugar and tumbled into the swarm of Erosion Species.
The purpose was simple: to buy a few seconds to escape.
She had never imagined her sister would push her. She fell straight into the hollow teeming with Erosion Species.
The back of Sugar — the one she had thought of as family — grew smaller in the distance.
Arishia reached out toward her, a hand that couldn't reach.
"That's a lie…."
A betrayal by the only person she had ever called family.
As her body was ravaged by the Erosion Species, as she screamed in agony… Arishia thought quietly.
*Why did you abandon me, sis?*
Her fingers were gnawed off. Her eyes were torn by claws. Her thigh was ripped away. Her organs were pulled out.
Unable to endure the torment, Arishia let the unique ability she had always suppressed run wild.
A scorching blaze, as though every cell in her body had caught fire.
Arishia burned — along with every Erosion Species around her.
*It hurts… sis. My chest… it hurts so much….*
And yet, she wept in the midst of that terrible pain.
More than when the Erosion Species tore at her flesh and organs.
More than when the flames were so hot she couldn't even scream.
The moment Sugar abandoned her hurt Arishia more than any of it.
So she desperately searched for reasons why she was the one at fault.
Was it because she was a failure who couldn't produce results despite everyone's expectations?
Was it because she was always clinging to her sister, pestering her to sleep together?
In her fading consciousness, Arishia reached a conclusion.
*Because I was weak, and I was in the way.*
Weakness alone is a sin.
So I have to become strong.
Even after she was rescued by a Valkyrie who heard the commotion —
that thought never left Arishia's mind.
So she pushed herself until she bled every single day.
She trained her body to withstand her unique ability.
She fought and accumulated experience, all to become stronger than anyone.
The result was the fastest promotion to A-rank Valkyrie on record.
But even so, Arishia felt an emptiness that refused to be filled.
*I have to get stronger. I have to become an S-rank Valkyrie — the strongest there is…*
And so, on the day her abilities were recognized and she was brought to Valhalla's central headquarters —
she came face to face with Leila for the first time.
"Hello, Arishia. My name is Leila. I look forward to working with you."
Navy-blue hair and golden eyes.
Always gentle and composed — a girl beloved by everyone.
And yet, with an occasional strictness that reminded her of an older sister….
Arishia stared at her blankly and thought:
*Ah. This person. She feels like Sugar.*
A good-for-nothing hypocrite pretending to be kind.
So Arishia despised Leila.
Because she reminded her of who she had been when she was weak.
That reason alone was enough.
*
Arishia's unique ability: Flame Barrier.
The ability itself was supremely simple.
It merely wreathed her body and weapons in flames burning at several thousand degrees.
And since it also boosted her physical capabilities and regeneration —
for a Tanker class, it was a phenomenal ability with no equal.
Naturally, this left Leila with no realistic chance of winning.
She had already been struggling against Arishia before Flame Barrier was even activated.
A direct hit would decide things instantly — even a graze would be enough.
And yet, astonishingly, Leila was holding her own against Arishia with Flame Barrier active.
"Grgh! You coward! Stop running away!"
"I'm not running away. I'm simply taking one step back in the name of victory!"
"Shut uuuup!"
The method by which Leila — at an overwhelming disadvantage — was managing to hold on was simple.
She was running away from Arishia as hard as she could.
Arishia with Flame Barrier active lost her composure easily.
Even a small feint was enough to fool her into swinging wildly at empty air.
She had already disliked Leila to begin with.
Now that she'd lost her cool, she was even more prone to losing her head than before.
*This really isn't easy…. Even a graze and I'm in tatters.*
That said, Leila was hardly unscathed.
She'd already used her lightning as a deterrent three times.
Even a brief brush against the flames had done considerable damage.
All the rolling around had left her clothes and body in absolute shambles.
In particular, from her solar plexus down to her navel, her clothes had been torn clean open.
Arishia paused in place for a moment to catch her breath.
Then she stared hard at Leila and shouted with a look of utter disgust:
"You shameless hussy!"
"You're the one who did this to me?!"
Even Leila — scheming and devious as she was — felt genuinely wronged by that one.
She hadn't aimed for it at all; if anything, she was the victim whose clothes had been torn.
*Right, this rotten little brat is hopeless.*
*Someday I'll tie her up and spank her until she can't sit down.*
Nursing her grievances, Leila studied Arishia's complexion.
*Just as I thought. We're still before the original story's timeline. Her body can't keep up with her unique ability.*
Even from the outside, she looked utterly exhausted.
Flame Barrier was a powerful ability, but it came at the cost of enormous stamina.
After only a handful of exchanges, the bottom was already coming into view.
On top of that, Arishia's greatest strength was her monstrous combat instincts — the same trick never worked on her twice.
Having lost her composure, she was arguably weaker now than she'd been at the start.
In other words, if things continued on this trajectory, Leila had every chance of seizing the advantage.
"This is so annoying…. To think I'd have to use this against some useless little princess…!"
Arishia, her head swimming from the blazing heat, had noticed the same thing.
At this rate, she might actually lose to some useless little princess.
So before things got any worse, she decided to end it in a single stroke.
"I — I have to win…!"
Arishia gripped the axe handle with both hands and raised the blade high above her head.
The flames wreathing her shoulders surged and gathered along the axe's edge.
The sight was like someone hoisting an enormous Olympic torch.
From that alone, Leila read her opponent's intent.
*She's going to use a skill…!*
In Ashen Valkyrie, every character had their own skills.
Arishia's skill gathered flames and unleashed a firestorm that incinerated everything within a set range.
In simple terms: a linear, long-range, area-of-effect damage ability.
"Flame Barrier… Blazing Vortex!"
Arishia swung the flame-wreathed axe with all her might.
The Arena's reinforced floor was torn apart in its wake as a storm of fire came screaming toward Leila.
This was clearly a blow carrying every last ounce of Arishia's remaining strength.
If she could just dodge this, there would be a massive opening for just a moment.
With that judgment made, Leila immediately moved to evade.
But in that instant — squelch — her feet stopped.
*Wait — did she melt the floor with the flames…?!*
She snapped her gaze downward. Her shoes were fused to the ground.
It seemed the floor, melted by Arishia's flames, had bonded to her footwear.
This wasn't an accident. It was a trap Arishia had set deliberately. The color drained from Leila's face.
*Oh no, oh no, oh no — if I take this head-on, it's overkill…!*
The sheer force of it would deploy a shield from a mere graze.
She could feel Arishia's intent to end everything with this single blow.
So without a moment's hesitation, Leila pressed her left hand against her own side.
"Blue Thunder… gkh!"
"What the—!"
Leila fired a lightning burst directly into herself to blow her shoes off.
With a sound like a drum being struck, she went tumbling all the way to the Arena wall.
She lay there for a moment, twitching and unable to move — clearly in considerable pain —
but it was more than enough to carry her outside the wide blast radius of Blazing Vortex.
The firestorm, robbed of its target, demolished the wall and erupted straight up through the ceiling.
A genuine, full-force strike from an A-rank Valkyrie — even the sturdy Arena couldn't withstand it.
Screams escaped involuntarily from the spectators in the stands.
"L-Leila, senpai. Is she okay?"
"The Arena can't even hold up against that — just how strong is she?!"
"I… I've never seen the floor and wall break before…."
Murmur, murmur.
The crowd buzzed at the turn of events that had exceeded all expectations.
But Arishia paid the outside world no attention whatsoever.
She only watched as Leila struggled to her feet from the ground.
Click.
Leila's Nail Gun leveled itself at her head.
Arishia was momentarily immobilized from using Blazing Vortex —
and a translucent shield deployed before her eyes.
Even Arishia, durable as she was, couldn't withstand a shot aimed at her head.
The training shield had judged her defeat.
"I… lost…."
Arishia sank to her knees with a thud.
She couldn't believe she had lost to Leila — someone weaker than her.
It felt as though everything she had been chasing all this time had been wrong.
*Maybe if I hadn't used my unique ability, I would have won.*
*It was a power my current self couldn't handle.*
*Leila knew that, and she goaded me into using it.*
Ugly, shameful excuses circled through her mind.
In the end, she had no choice but to admit it.
She was weak. She hadn't grown at all from who she'd been as a child.
The fear she had been forcing herself not to look at came crashing down on Arishia.
She breathed in ragged gasps, staring at the floor.
*I don't want this…. I don't want to be abandoned again…. Why, sis — why did Sugar….*
So she hadn't noticed.
The fierce battle had put too much strain on the Arena's walls and ceiling —
and debris was falling directly above her head.
"Kyaaah!"
"Arishia! Move!"
At the voice from the stands, Arishia finally looked up.
And she saw the falling debris aimed straight at her.
There was no shield to protect her body now.
If she took a direct hit to the head, she might actually get hurt.
But for some reason, Arishia felt no will to move out of the way.
Even if she got buried under debris that size, she wouldn't die.
*None of it matters anymore.* Arishia let her eyes drift shut.
And then she heard the sound of feet pushing off the floor.
"Arishia!"
Whoosh.
Something warm and soft wrapped itself around her body.
A moment later, a jarring impact shook her — but strangely, it didn't hurt at all.
Unsettled by the wrongness of it, Arishia's eyes flew open.
And she saw something she couldn't believe.
"Le… ila…?"
"Ngh, a-are you all right?"
Leila was there.
Her forehead appeared to be split open — a line of blood was running down her cheek.
Only then did Arishia realize that Leila had been hurt shielding her.
*Why would she do something like this.* Arishia's temper flared.
"Y-you idiot! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Because Arishia… wasn't moving…."
"Something like this can't hurt me! That was completely pointless!"
"But…. I don't want Arishia to be in pain."
"What…. What does that even…."
Those were words she had never heard before.
No — no one except Sugar had ever said anything like that to her.
Of course they hadn't. In the lab, she had been treated as a test subject.
And ever since she'd come to Valhalla's headquarters, Arishia had always been strong.
Being comforted by someone felt deeply, profoundly strange.
*What a fool. Such a naive creature….*
*Now I understand. Leila is nothing like Sugar.*
*Then what have I been doing all this time….*
Arishia clenched her teeth and bowed her head.
Surrounded by fallen debris, as though only the two of them remained in the world —
Leila looked at her and spoke gently.
"If I won the match, you said you'd grant me one request, didn't you?"
"…Yeah."
"Let's be friends."
Arishia didn't want to answer.
So instead, she simply leaned her head against Leila's chest.
But for some reason, she didn't feel the same hatred she had before.
*I just want to stay like this, held in her arms.* Arishia closed her eyes.
Leila watched her settle down with quiet satisfaction.
And as she carefully stroked her head — as though handling fragile porcelain — she murmured inwardly:
*Annoying little redhead: successfully conquered~ All it takes is getting hurt for her and she falls for it immediately. Might as well build up some affection before she meets the Commander.*
Arishia would definitely look adorable making a pained face, too.
The sort of thought that only a truly terrible person would have.