I stood among the ashes of Kokabiel's followers, Laevateinn's flas finally dying down to nothing more than warm tal in my grip. The sword vanished back into my inventory with a thought.
Father Dante was sowhere behind , probably staring at the devastation with wide eyes. I could hear his ragged breathing. But he could wait.
Rossweisse ca first. I don't know what Loki has done with her, but as much as I wanted to confront Loki back then, there is a huge chance he and Kokabiel would have escaped and hid again. I can't risk that.
As much as I hate it, I was forced to make a hard decision.
I reached into my mana and activated the tracking spell I'd placed on her gear bag. The magic responded imdiately, a golden thread of light appearing in my vision that led north through the mountain passes. She was alive. The spell wouldn't work if she wasn't.
But alive didn't an unhard.
"Leon," Father Dante's voice carried across the scorched battlefield. "What about—"
"Five kiloters north," I said without turning around. "There's a cabin Loki ntioned. That's where we'll find her."
"How can you be sure?"
Because I put a tracking spell on her before we left. Because I plan for contingencies.
"I'm sure."
I glanced at the treacherous mountain path ahead. Narrow ledges carved into cliff faces, loose scree that shifted underfoot, and crevasses deep enough to swallow a building. For soone like Dante, it would take hours to navigate safely.
Ti Rossweisse might not have.
The grimoire materialized beside , pages turning to the spell I needed.
"Flight."
Golden wings of pure mana ford at my back. I turned to Dante, who was staring at the magical construct with wide eyes.
"Can you handle flying?" I asked.
"I... what?"
I grabbed him under the arms and lifted off. Dante let out a startled yelp as we rose above the mountainside, but he didn't struggle. Smart man.
The tracking spell led north through the peaks, a golden thread cutting straight through the air. No need to follow treacherous paths or worry about loose rock. Just a direct line to where Rossweisse was being held.
"This is incredible," Dante breathed, looking down at the landscape rushing past below us.
We flew for maybe ten minutes before I saw our destination.
"There," I said, pointing ahead.
The cabin sat in a small clearing, surrounded by pine trees that had been bent and twisted by constant wind. It looked innocent enough. A simple wooden structure with smoke rising from the chimney. If I hadn't been following the tracking spell, I might have mistaken it for so hermit's retreat.
But the spell led directly to the front door. And there were too many footprints in the snow around the building for it to be empty.
"Guards?" Dante whispered.
I counted the heat signatures through the walls. "Three inside. Two more making rounds outside."
"How do you—" He shook his head. "Never mind. What's the plan?"
"You stay here. I go in."
"Leon, you can't just—"
I was already moving.
The first guard never saw coming. He was patrolling the western side of the cabin, sword in hand, eyes scanning the tree line for threats from the wrong direction. I ca up behind him and snapped his neck with a quick twist. He dropped into the snow without a sound.
The second guard was rounding the corner just as I finished with the first. His eyes went wide when he saw standing over his partner's body. He opened his mouth to shout.
I threw a rock.
The stone took him in the throat hard enough to crush his windpipe. He fell backward, clutching at his neck, making wet choking sounds that died away to nothing.
Two down. Three inside.
I approached the front door and pressed my ear against the wood. Voices.
Rogue exorcists, from the sound of it. And at least one fallen angel mixed in.
I drew a knife from my inventory.
"Think the boss will let us have so fun with her before—"
The man never finished the sentence before I smashed the door open and put the knife through the base of his skull, severing his spinal cord. He dropped without a word.
His partner spun around, manifesting a light spear. Fallen angel.
"What—"
I was already moving. My hand closed around his throat before he could finish. I squeezed. There was a wet crack as his windpipe collapsed.
Now for Rossweisse.
The cabin was larger than it looked from the outside. Besides the main room and storage area, there was a kitchen and what looked like two bedrooms. The tracking spell led to a door I hadn't noticed before, partially hidden behind a hanging coat.
It was locked. And not just with a simple latch. I could feel mana radiating from the wood. Binding spells. Wards designed to keep sothing in rather than keep intruders out.
I placed my hand against the door and channeled mana into it. The wards recognized my power and tried to resist, but they cracked and shattered like glass.
The door swung open.
Beyond was a narrow staircase leading down into darkness.
I made my way down the stairs, each step creaking under my weight. The air grew colder as I descended, and I could sll sothing that made my hands clench into fists.
Blood.
The basent was a single room, lit by a few flickering candles. Chains hung from the walls. Dark stains covered the floor. And in the center of it all, hanging from shackles that glowed with suppression magic, was Rossweisse.
They'd hurt her.
Her silver hair was matted with blood. Bruises covered her face and arms. Her valkyrie armor was gone, replaced by torn and bloodied clothing. But it was the dagger protruding from her side that made my blood freeze.
The sa dagger Loki had used to stab my clone. The blade glistened with Eitr, and black veins were already spreading from the wound.
And standing right beside her, one hand still on the dagger's hilt, was Loki himself.
"Ah, there you are," he said conversationally, as if we were eting for tea. "Right on schedule."
I started to move, but he pressed the dagger deeper. Rossweisse's eyes went wide with pain, a strangled sound escaping her lips.
"I wouldn't," Loki warned. "One wrong move and I twist this blade. The Eitr will reach her heart in seconds."
"Don't."
"Oh, I don't think so." Loki's smile was cold and calculating. "You see, Leon Mishima. You're strong. Stronger than I anticipated. "
The black veins were spreading faster now, crawling up from the wound toward her chest.
"But strength has a weakness," Loki continued. "And that gives leverage."
"And since I can't kill you," he said, pulling the dagger free with a wet sound, "I'll make sure you pay in other ways."
Rossweisse's scream echoed through the basent as the poison spread unimpeded. Her eyes t mine, filled with pain and desperation.
"Until next ti, dragon," Loki said with that infuriating smile.
He vanished in a swirl of shadows, leaving alone with Rossweisse's agonized cries.
I crossed the room in three quick strides and examined the shackles. Runes. Designed specifically to suppress divine power and prevent escape.
I grabbed the chains and pulled. The magic tried to resist, then gave way as my enhanced strength overca the enchantnts. The shackles shattered, and Rossweisse collapsed.
I caught her before she could hit the floor.
The Eitr was spreading fast. Black veins crawled up from the wound in her side, and her skin was already turning pale. The poison was designed to kill gods. A valkyrie wouldn't last long against it.
But I had a solution for that.
I reached into my inventory and pulled out one of the Senzu beans.
Unlike the original, these Senzu beans could heal everything. Injuries, sickness, disease, poison. Even sothing as exotic as Eitr.
Loki would have never expected I would have sothing like this
"Hey, Alessia." I said softly, cradling her against my chest. "Stay with ."
Her eyes fluttered open. Pain and confusion filled her gaze, but she was conscious.
"Leon?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Is it really you this ti?"
"It's . I need you to eat this." I placed the bean in her mouth.
Her eyes went wide as the magic took effect. The black veins began to recede. The wound in her side closed. Color returned to her cheeks as the healing accelerated her recovery and purged the poison from her system.
"That's... incredible," she breathed. "They really do work as you said."
Then she threw her arms around my neck and buried her face against my shoulder.
The relief that flooded through was overwhelming. She was alive. Hurt, poisoned, tortured, but alive. For a mont, I just held her, letting myself feel the simple fact of her breathing against my chest.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly, my voice heavy with guilt that had been eating at since the mont I'd realized Loki had taken her. "I knew they had taken you. I could have co sooner, but I wanted to understand their plan first. I let you suffer..."
The words tasted bitter. The rational part of knew I'd made the right call. But the part of that cared about her wanted to tear myself apart for every second she'd spent in pain. Didn't make the image of her hanging in those chains, bleeding and broken, any less burned into my mory.
"Leon," she whispered, pulling back just enough to see my face.
Before I could apologize again she pressed her lips to mine.
The kiss was soft, tentative at first, then deeper as I responded. When we finally broke apart, she rested her forehead against mine.
"It doesn't matter," she breathed. "What matters is that you ca for ."
"Thank you," she whispered against my neck.
I held her for a long mont, feeling so of the tension I'd been carrying finally start to ease. She was safe. The plan had worked. Kokabiel was dead, his followers destroyed, and even if Loki had escaped, he'd lost most of his assets.
The cost had been worth it. I just hoped I'd never have to make a choice like that again.
"Co on," I said eventually. "Let's get out of here."
We made our way back up the stairs and through the cabin. Rossweisse paused when she saw the bodies of her captors, but she didn't say anything. She just stepped around them and followed outside.
Father Dante was waiting where I'd left him, though he looked like he'd been pacing nervously. His eyes went wide when he saw Rossweisse.
"Thank God," he breathed. "Are you alright?"
"I am now," she said.
"What happened to the guards?"
"They won't be a problem anymore," I said.
I looked back at the cabin, then at the smoke still rising from the distant battlefield where I'd killed Kokabiel and his followers. Loki was still out there sowhere, planning his next move.
The next ti I see that son of a bitch will be the day he dies.
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