Ash wasn’t sure why the Valkyrie Gear needed to have a specific uniform, considering that the machine itself would change his outfit (and body) when he activated it. Still, he obliged anyways. The skin tight outfit was much more comfortable than the school uniform anyways, even if the sudden lack of insulation dropped his body heat a couple of degrees. With a quick stretch, the Vintrkind pulled out the Valkyrie Gear Miss Rivers’ had handed to him and snapped it on to his wrist.

The weight was familiar, if awkward. A whole week of testing with the device had made Ash intimately familiar with it. Of course, he wasn’t as tech savvy as Kyouko, but he was confident that he wouldn’t make a complete fool of himself on the battlefield. There was just one problem though.

With a wintry sigh, he made his way out of the locker room and into the training field. Or rather, the “arena”. Why they needed one of these Ash would never understand, but it certainly looked like a massive sports stadium. Walls of concrete enclosing around him, a glass ceiling letting the artificial sunlight shine down on to his skin, and a plain dirt floor covering the actual battlefield. Waiting in the center of the arena was none other than Magnolia herself, and their instructor not far behind her.

“Took you long enough,” the Asgard girl brushed her hair back and Ash quickly shot ice through his veins, forcing himself not to focus on how the skin tight outfit emphasized her curves. Blue eyes stared him up and down before sighing. “At least this time you’ve managed to dress yourself properly.”

“I had to take the suit out of the packaging.” And it wasn’t Ash’s fault that ties were complicated. “Are we starting the match now?”

“Hold your horses.” Miss Rivers sighed as she raised up a mechanical bracelet of her own. “Connect your Valkyrie Gear to the network first.”

Network connection that was… Oh right. The blizzard inside of him snaked its way down through his arm, sending his hair flying before it made its way to the Valkyrie Gear. With an audible beep, instructions and commands popped themselves into his head. This was the part of the process that always gave him a headache, but supposedly ‘thought control’ was the most efficient way of controlling the gear there was once you got used to it. Ash hadn’t, but he focused his thoughts onto the connection commands and the device automatically read his intent before linking itself up with the other Valkryie Gears in the area.

“Good.” Miss Ray’s voice resounded throughout his head. It was however, really disorienting due to the fact that the instructor hadn’t even opened her mouth to speak. “Now there’s no excuse for not listening to me. When I say the match is over, the match is over. Understood?”
Both students nodded. “Understood.”

“Now, deploy your Valkyrie Gears.” The petite woman commanded.

Magnolia flicked her wrist, a card materializing in her hand before she turned to Ash. “I’m told you have an Einherjar of your own?”

“Correct.” The white haired boy reached and called forth the card into his hands. It answered readily, and soon the familiar knotted snake design was staring at him once more. “Is that a problem?”

“It’s a waste is what it is.” She scoffed. “Einherjar aren't allowed to be used by students until they’re B-Rank Cadets, A D-Rank like you shouldn’t have even been allowed to touch one.”

Ash stared at her unblinking. “...I have a rank?”

“Ugh.” Magnolia most definitely did not facepalm, that wouldn’t have been suitable for someone of her stature. No, she merely pinched the bridge of her nose, which somehow seemed to annoy Ash more. “You really are ignorant aren’t you?”

“I missed orientation week.”

“So did I. That’s no excuse.” The asgardian girl sighed before giving the card in her hand a flourish. “Very well, allow me to educate you with the personal Einherjar of an A-Rank. Record Open!”

The blue machine on her wrist flashed as she placed the card up close to it. “Deploy - Achilles!”

A burst of energy and light engulfed Magnolia for approximately 0.01 seconds. That was the length of time it took for a Valkyrie Gear to actually deploy itself, though for Ash it always felt like it was much longer. Case in point, he had to shield his eyes in order to not get blinded before the transformation burst into particles revealing the Valkyrie Gear in all of its glory.

For the weapon of the future, it displayed very few mechanical parts. Save for the armored boots and some floating plates near the hips and shoulders, there was very little in the way of ‘technology’. Magnolia’s suit had been etched with a wavy blue pattern, but otherwise it remained unchanged. In fact it still showed just as much skin, now emphasizing her thighs. If Ash was being personally honest with himself, her outfit looked more like sporting equipment then actual military gear.

Though considering how his last encounter with a Valkyrie went, he couldn’t afford to underestimate it.

A spear materialized in the Asgardian’s hands before she jammed the end of it into the dirt ground. “Magnolia Hale, Ready!”

“A bit too much showmanship for my liking, but good enough.” The cowgirl instructor nodded before turning to Ash. “Whitelund, follow her lead.”

There was an awkward moment of silence before Ash finally admitted to the problem. “...I can’t.”

“Huh?!” Magnolia exclaimed. “What do you mean you can’t?!”

“I need to ‘ramp up’ to a certain threshold before the Valkryie Gear will deploy itself.” Ash explained, keeping himself cool. “I’ve been building up, but I’ll still need a few more minutes before I can use it fully.”

“...What an irritating drawback. Jotun won’t wait until you’re ready.” Miss Rivers shook her head. “Considering you’re using network connection though, I can assume your Valkyrie Gear is in partial activation?”

Ash nodded. Partial Activation, the phase even before Phase 0, where it deployed without an Einherjar. He didn’t even know it was a thing until the scientists had him specifically direct the winter in his body towards the Gear. Apparently the ‘intent’ was enough for the device to be operable—in the most barebones sense of the word—in his baseline state.

The instructor tipped her hat before sending some command instructions over the line. “Set the shielding function from passive to active, deploy it at maximum power.”

Magnolia blinked. “Excuse me Madam Rivers, but you aren’t planning to-”

“Correct.” The blue haired woman nodded as Ash finished fiddling with the setting, feeling the device’s energy settle over his body in a way that was almost ticklish. “You’ll be facing off against Ash like this. The shielding should prevent serious injuries.”

“I’m okay with it.” The boy continued to push the cold chill of frost through his body as he got used to moving with the shielding on. “It’s better than the last time I faced a Valkyrie, anyways.”

Despite his consent however, the blonde still looked conflicted. “Fighting against the equivalent of an unarmed civilian… To do such would be nothing but shameful!”

Ash snorted before letting the frost explode out of his arm, crafting a claw of ice that sharpened at the very tip. A cold breath escaped his lips as he got into a fighting stance. “I have my own ways of fighting back. Unless you can’t handle anything other than a Valkyrie?”

A furious twitch developed under the girl’s eyes as she angrily swung her spear into a stance of her own. “As if! Very well, Vintrkind or not, if you’re so intent on making a fool of yourself then I’ll oblige you!”

“If that’s settled then I’ll be explaining the dueling conditions,” the instructor declared as she began to move away from the inside of the arena. “Environment will be plain terrain, the time limit will be twenty minutes. Victory will come to whoever drops their opponents shield to minimum first. Avoid major injuries and lethal attacks. On my mark, the showdown will begin.”

Both Valkyries-in-training nodded, not once taking their eyes off of each other.

“Three.”

Magnolia’s spear glowed with energy, lines burning into the white haired boy’s vision.

“Two.”

The ice on Ash’s arms grew thicker, the blizzard beginning to pick up speed inside of him.

“One.”

They were both tense, ready to jump into action at any moment.

“Zero!”

A loud bang rang in Ash’s ears as Ms, River’s pulled the trigger on her revolver.

There was a loud whooshing noise as Magnolia’s form seemed to dissolve into a blur of blue and black, before suddenly everything went spinning. His Valkyrie Gear alerted him that he had already lost a fifth of his shield. Gritting his teeth, Ash quickly flipped himself in the air and let out a blast of ice towards the ground between them. Frost filled the air, sending him flying backwards before as he continued to ramp up the storm inside his veins.

“Playing defense won’t save you here!” Magnolia exclaimed as she twirled her spear around and blurred again. “This isn’t even the fastest that I can go!”

That was… A worrying thought. If Ash thought the lightning strikes from his first Valkyrie fight was fast, then Magnolia was the lightning. Not to mention that if he took any more of those hits, he’d be out of the fight before he could even activate his gear. It was only his winter-enhanced instincts that allowed him to dodge her spear strikes as she closed in on him and even that was at the level of just ‘barely’. Well that and one other factor.

“You lack experience,” Ash stated bluntly as he chucked shots of icicles at her. She slashed them away with ease but it was enough time to kick the ground upward and summon a wall of ice between the two of them.

“Excuse me!?” The asgardian yelled over the network as she broke through the wall. “I’m a Wing Candidate! I’ve had plenty of matches before this! How dare you!”

“That may be true, and I’m not sure what a Wing Candidate is, but...” Ash moved as he continued to ‘speak’. It was a bit awkward but communication over the network line moved at the speed of thought. That is to say, messages were transmitted faster than one’s mouth could put them into words. Which led to what was commonly referred to as ‘foot-in-the-mouth’ syndrome. “Matches are just matches. Spars can’t compare to the real thing.”

“Oh, and I suppose you know all about the ‘real thing’ don’t you?!” Magnolia shot back as she kicked off the ground and flew into the air. “Then by all means, share your foolish sophistry and I’ll prove it wrong this very instant!”

“What you’re missing is…” The Vintrkind struggled to convey his thoughts beyond vague feelings before coming up with the simplest way he could put it. “A lack of hesitation.”

Or in other words, killing intent.

Miss River’s had asked them to avoid lethal blows, but Ash had never been in a fight where the enemy wasn’t willing to end his life at any moment. He had been on the receiving end of every cheap blow and trick that one could experience, including actual gun shots. The white haired boy knew that he couldn’t exactly think smart like his friend could, nor could he fly or move at lightning speeds but he had learned at least some tricks in his time.

Ash held up his hands and let the blizzard inside of him roar free. A rapid fire barrage of icicles shot through the air like hail. Shivers ran rampant through his arms as the Vintrkind’s body temperature descended lower and lower, but at the same time his eyesight was only growing sharper.

The blonde audibly clicked her teeth as she began to weave through the barrage. “For your information, I am not hesitating. Going all out against you simply isn’t worth it; your little ice tricks aren’t even lowering my shield more than a percentage.”

“But the fact that you have to dodge them means it’s not futile.” The winter inside of him only served to bring out the boy’s raw, beastial nature. It wasn’t just killing intent or a lack of hesitation, but rather the pure, dogged determination to survive. “The moment I smell blood, the moment you drop your guard, I’ll rip you apart.”

There was a reason that he had earned the name ‘Vargr’ after all. It wasn’t his size or his powers that scared people. Most damning of all was Ash’s own nature, his blue eyes that looked like they could freeze oceans, that led to him becoming the wolf of the backstreets. Yet, the blonde he faced had a reaction unlike that of most people as their eyes met.

Magnolia’s reply didn’t come from the communications network, but rather the girl’s own lips as she stopped in the air and began to laugh. “Oh my, you truly are uneducated, aren’t you? Do you not know the myth of great Achilles, legendary hero of Troy? No, don’t bother, I can see the look of confusion from where I stand above you.”

Her spear glowed before with a twirl, she batted away all the incoming icicles. “Achilles was a mythical figure from long ago, who was bathed in the river Styx as a child, rendering his body impervious to all harm.”

“...Those are words,” Ash flippantly acknowledged as he prepared his next assault. Troy? Styx? He had never heard of them before, and he didn’t particularly care.

“Hush now,” The valkyrie replied. “You at least have enough of a brain to figure out what using Achilies’s Einherjar means right?”

“You can’t seriously be implying that you’re invincible.” The white haired boy denied. “You already admitted you’re taking damage, and you wouldn’t be fighting back if you weren’t.”

“But to you I might as well be.” She put a hand on her chest and gave a haughty grin. “I, Magnolia Hale, as an A-Rank Valkryie and a candidate to be the representative for all of Asgard, was given the mighty Achilles as my own personal Einherjar. And by drawing on his strength, my Valkyrie Gear reduces all attacks to the merest fraction of their strength. You might as well be trying to beat me with a rolled up newspaper.”

The fuck was a newspaper? No, wait, this wasn’t the time for that. Ash pushed the ice covering his body as far as he could, his claws now almost double the size of his actual flesh. “If it’s only a fraction of their strength, then I just need to hit you hard enough to take you out.”

“And how long do you think it will take you to do that? A day? A week?” Magnolia scoffed. “There’s less than twenty minutes on the clock. Forget it, I’ll take you out now and save you the embarrassment.”

“You can try,” Ash’s words came out of his mouth, short and curt. He tried to ignore how numb his tongue felt as he got in a ready stance. “But I’ve got a plan of my own ready.”

Well, ‘plan’ might be a bit much, but he did have something that would give him the edge he needed in this fight. The blizzard inside of him was ready to burst at any moment, and he took a deep breath before launching a blast beneath his feet and shooting himself up into the air. His claws glinted in the sunlight as he flew through the skies, ready to unleash his power.

“Let this be the end!” The Asgardian shouted as she raised her spear, a loud whirring sound reaching the white haired boy’s ears as it began to glow. Ash was close, but in a single moment she pulled her arm backwards before launching the spear straight towards him. It descended upon him, to remove him from the heights he so wished to claim. The Vintrkind wouldn’t let it. In a single instant, he took all the ice gathered on his body before blowing it up. His claws shattered like glass, sending chunks of ice flying as a frosty mist engulfed his form. Magnolia darted backwards as she glared. “What did you do?!”

“Did you forget?” Ash commented over the line. “Just why I came to this school?”

Her eyes widened, but by that point, it was already too late. The Vintrkind- No, the Valkryie’s voice resounded through the entire arena. “Record Open. Deploy - Loptr!”

In 0.01 seconds, it happened.

“Bifrost link initialized,” the machine on his wrist declared as energy poured into his body, transforming him. “Connecting to Einherjar. Einherjar found. Compatibility 90.02%. Deploying Phase One Armor Loptr.”

The blizzard, the winter, gave way to a clear sky as he—now she—burst free in a blast of light, clearing away the mist to reveal the snow-haired warrior maiden to the world once more. She lazily spun the pistol in her hand, the motion charging the inertia battery within it as she shot the astounded Magnolia a slight wink. “Well, now that the warmups are done, it’s about time to show you what I can really do.”