Chapter 118: The God of Trickery's Scheme, The Valkyrie's Hatred!
It was like two local networks, originally disconnected and physically isolated in a sense.
Now, she had obtained a signal interface device from the other side.
By analyzing and decoding this device, she could connect to the opposing network through this interface.
Then, she began constructing a legitimate network user on the other side.
This network user would masquerade as the original owner of the signal device.
From then on, when entering that world, she would log in under the identity of the signal device's original owner.
At present, the forgery is nearly complete.
The progress stands at 90%, just a little more to go.
It's estimated that by the end of the fifth round of battle, it should be just about done.
And the fifth round is a crucial one, for it is here that the Valkyrie will propose the battle of Ragnarök. In a way, this very round is what triggers it.
But doesn't that seem odd?
This is clearly the beginning of the battle of Ragnarök, so how can its cause lie after its commencement?
Isn't this reversing cause and effect?
Normally, the [cause] should come first, followed by the [effect]. But here, it's the [effect] that precedes the [cause].
The so-called attacks by the evil dragons on humans were actually all the tricks of the God of Mischief.
From the very beginning—the elderly and children attacked by the evil dragons, even the dragons themselves—all were disguises of him, who excelled at transformation, luring Brunhilde step by step toward the abyss.
The God of Mischief who orchestrated all this—Loki—even had the audacity to claim with righteous indignation that this was her trial.
He said her failure to see the truth led to this outcome, that it was all her fault, her failed trial.
And so, the Allfather Odin also endorsed this reasoning.
At this point, she understood what humans truly were in the eyes of the gods.
Guiding humanity toward the future? In the end, humans existed merely as vessels for their blood.
But what could she, a demigod, do about it? Nothing!
At the time, after she impaled him, he didn't die immediately.
Upon learning the truth, he exchanged two blows with Loki.
The first strike—his weapon was shattered by Loki.
The second strike—he suddenly touched the still-stunned Brunhilde, transforming her into a weapon.
That single strike sent Loki flying!
And this wasn't a sneak attack—it was a direct, frontal assault that sent Loki reeling, blood spewing from his mouth.
But that was all he could manage, for the remnants of his life afforded him only that much strength.
It was this strike—more precisely, the strike after forcibly transforming her into a divine weapon—that showed Brunhilde the hope of deicide.
She delved deep into the Valkyries' so-called divine weapon forging, ensuring all twelve of her younger sisters mastered this ability.
Next was the question of how to slay a god openly and justly.
And that method finally appeared at a meeting she had waited nearly two thousand years for.
Originally, it was just a rule the gods had set as a joke. But since such a rule existed, wouldn't it be shameful to renege on it?
Thus, the provoked gods agreed. All that remained was for Brunhilde to find suitable human godslayers.
And of course, he had always been one of her prime candidates.
The ability to forge divine weapons was, after all, developed based on his techniques.
Even more astonishing was that he himself was developed from the runes—runes that Brunhilde had taught him in the first place. That was why she could quickly master the techniques he left behind.
If he were to cooperate, they could unleash unimaginable power.
Back then, even a rudimentary use of this power had wounded a high-ranking god. Now, they could surely challenge even the Allfather.
However—
"Sister Brunhilde, are you really going to send him out like this~?"
Reginleif's voice was thick with concern.
Her sister had finally summoned the one person who stirred the most complicated emotions in her—yet this person refused to let Brunhilde become a divine weapon.
If this were out of resentment toward her sister, it might make sense. But the issue was that her sister's summoning of him was... special.
The Akashic System's summoning of past individuals could be configured this way.
The target can be summoned during their youth, and the summoned individual would not know anything beyond that period, their memories stopping at that age.
Alternatively, they can be summoned with the appearance of their youth but retain the memories of their entire life.
For this Dragon-Slaying Hero, however, the summoning was not of his entire life but rather halted just before Loki's conspiracy began.
In other words, the Dragon-Slaying Hero now summoned remains unaware that her sister once betrayed him.
The reason for summoning him from this period is that her sister could not bear to face him knowing everything—even if it was Loki's scheme, she simply couldn't confront him.
The fact that her sister did such a thing proved she never truly trusted him, and that was a wound in itself.
Had there been a proper conversation where she explained the situation, Loki's plot might never have succeeded.
"Just trust him, I suppose."
Brunhilde could only force a bitter smile as she muttered those words.
Perhaps, even in this state, he could still slay Loki.
Back then, Fafnir had been a monster even the gods struggled to handle, yet he had managed to kill it. He had fought formidable foes before.
Though he later clashed with Loki once, that had been while he was already mortally wounded, delivering only two desperate strikes in a near-death state.
Now, the version summoned was at the peak of his strength—there was a real chance he could cut Loki down.
At the human-side passage leading to the arena:
"Oh? So after returning, I'm supposed to act like this?"
He had received a message from his future self.
"Returning" referred to him going back to the time right after slaying the dragon.
He had been summoned shortly after that very moment, so he knew nothing of what followed. Now, the message instructed him on what to do upon his return.
Perhaps only by acting accordingly afterward could he continue progressing in the role he was playing.
With that in mind, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for this Valkyrie.
For ordinary people, returning to their corresponding era was impossible—for them, those events were truly in the past, with only parts of their memories sealed away.
But for him, due to the system's influence, his soul was genuinely connected to that ongoing timeline and summoned across it.
Well then, time to make his entrance.
Thus, the two cards in his hand fully unlocked and merged into one.
This fusion wasn't facilitated by the system—it was his future self's own ability, already advanced enough to astonish even his present self.