The Kneeling Valkyrie

However, the arrow rain the Demon Queen had anticipated never fell. Instead, a series of terrified, bloodcurdling screams pierced the air.

“Ah—!”

“Blood Skull Legion!”

“Don’t come near—!”

For the first time, a look of utter shock froze on the Demon Queen’s face. She whipped her head around, her gaze snapping towards the high platform.

The shooting platform, once considered an absolutely safe vantage point, was now the scene of a one-sided massacre.

A horde of Blood Skull Legion soldiers, clad in heavy armor and wielding battle axes and sharp blades, had charged into the fragile maidens’ corps like wolves among sheep.

Behind them, more Blood Skull Legion soldiers continuously scrambled up the high platform, emerging through a burnt-out breach in the side wall.

Fighting shoulder to shoulder, they brandished their blades and axes, commencing a furious slaughter.

“For the First Heavenly King! For revenge!”

“Slaughter those cowardly women who only know how to ambush!”

The maidens’ corps quickly fell into disarray. Numbering only a little over thirty, they instinctively flapped their wings in a desperate attempt to escape the carnage, but could not take flight.

Stripped of their ability to fly and their advantage of distance, the delicate maidens were like paper dolls before the arrayed charge of the demon warriors.

Blood splattered, and severed limbs rained down from the platform. Occasionally, a maiden, desperate and disoriented, would leap from the high platform.

Wawalde continued his charge, not bothering to ponder ‘why the demons were fighting amongst themselves.’ His gaze remained fixed on the Demon Queen.

Just then, a flash of silver lightning darted forth. His peripheral vision caught sight of a fluttering blue butterfly, and his gaze uncontrollably followed it.

The blue butterfly seemed to pursue a slender, graceful figure. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a butterfly at all, but a bow-shaped hair ribbon tied to a fishtail braid.

Wawalde stared, recognizing her instantly. It was Sovenia!

Her running posture remained as graceful as a fawn’s. The hem of her short skirt fluttered with every stride, each lifted leg exposing her full thighs, white as snow and taut as two unsheathed daggers.

A helmet hung from her waist, strikingly familiar.

Wawalde recognized it immediately. It was his helmet.

His tattered, sweat-stained helmet, swinging precariously from her slender waist, looked like the most precious trophy in the world.

‘Why?’

‘Why had she come back? This was hell!’

Yet, she had returned. For him, a fool destined to die, whom she had only met a few times.

Wawalde felt his heart clench, a sharp pang of sorrow rushing to his nose. She had clearly had a chance to escape. She was so cautious, always hiding behind him, so afraid of pain that even a spanking would bring her to tears.

Yet, she had returned. For him, a fool destined to die, whom she had only met a few times.

“Stupid dog! I’m here to save you!”

Her cool, clear voice, remarkably, cut through the din of the chaotic battlefield with immense clarity.

Firelight glinted in her golden eyes as she brandished the Moonlight Blade.

“I’m here! Those are the people I tricked!” She pointed towards the Blood Skull Legion, who were wreaking havoc on the high platform, and winked at Wawalde.

Wawalde’s azure eyes blurred instantly, filling with tears. Through his hazy vision, the silver-haired girl shone so brightly.

He choked back a sob, a wave of warmth dispelling the bitterness in his chest. He could only manage to utter, “Miss Sovenia…”

Sovenia, still running towards him, saw Wawalde’s tearful expression. She nearly broke character and burst out laughing on the spot.

‘This is simply marvelous. All I did was bring people to seize a head, run towards the stupid dog-meat shield, and shout ‘I’m here to save you.’ And this ridiculous, idiotic beheading enemy already looks like he’s about to cry.’

‘This is the expression I wanted to see. Cry, be moved, you stupid dog.’

‘As long as you’re alive, this game comes to life. The Demon Queen’s ‘no flying’ rule provided a perfect opportunity for this attack.’

‘Now she’s entangled with Skullcrusher and his demon dragon pet.’

‘Now, only you remain as the last parameter in my ‘victory equation.’ Be a good boy, stop acting crazy, and in your adherence to humanity’s foolish and weak vows, carry me away and spank me.’

‘Just sever the head from that idiot Skullcrusher’s shoulders and toss it to me. I will then reveal my true form and let you witness the immense power of the First Heavenly King.’

‘Then, while you’re stunned, I’ll throw you towards the Demon Queen and immediately use ‘Incinerate’ again, blasting you and implicating her, just like last time.’

‘I refuse to believe the Demon Queen will survive this time. As for you, you’ll become my stepping stone, just like Skullcrusher.’

Sovenia swiftly reviewed her grand tactical plan, just as the ambitious pronouncements in her heart were reaching their crescendo.

The Demon Queen, locked in combat with Skullcrusher and his ground-bound demon dragon, merely spared a glance from the corner of her eye and uttered two words: “Kneel.”

Just two words.

There were no dazzling light effects, no earth-shattering explosions, only pure, unadulterated authority.

Sovenia’s brain didn’t even have time to transmit the command to ‘resist.’

Her long, powerful legs, which she took such pride in, instantly lost all their resolve, collapsing to the ground as if by reflex.

“Thud—skid—”

She dropped hard onto both knees, and due to the momentum of her previous charge, she slid forward in her kneeling position for a full three meters across the floor, coming to a halt directly in front of Wawalde.

One moment she was running like a Valkyrie bathed in moonlight; the next, she had executed a perfect *dogeza* slide-kneel.

Sovenia: ‘…’

She looked up and saw Wawalde. Wawalde, in turn, looked down at her.

The air seemed to still for a single second.

The tears welling in Wawalde’s eyes were abruptly swallowed back.

‘…Damn it! Demon Queen! I’ll r*pe you, kill you, behead you, and offer you as a sacrifice!’