Chapter 132: The Valkyrie

It was an overly dull field, blue sky, white clouds, blazing sun—every day's view was the same.

"How long have I been here? Ten years? Thirty? A hundred?" Alekne, dazed, could no longer distinguish dream from reality.

The chirping of insects and the summer breeze still lingered in her ears; this place seemed no different from reality.

Memories and knowledge were minor bonuses in the hero's legacy, but for mortals, this gift might be too burdensome.

Kuku's longest stretch of life was perhaps like this—boring, inevitable, monotonous.

Alekne, suddenly reading this memory, seemed to have gradually lost herself.

It seemed she was being assimilated by the memory—at least this dullness from the ancient hero was seeping into her.

She did not know why she still persisted. Every effort brought no return; every wait ended in disappointment.

"This time, it will probably fail too." Even with magical enhancement, each cultivation cycle still took years.

Her duty was to silently guard this field, then wait for the moment failure appeared.

Adjust again. Wait again. Harvest failure again.

Is it meaningful? She didn't know.

Can it succeed? She didn't know.

Did she start down the wrong path? She didn't know.

The bewildered she—or it—knew only one thing: keep moving forward; perhaps a path exists.

Step by step, the dark elf girl's original restlessness had vanished completely; in this universe, her personal anxieties had become utterly meaningless.

She merely watched silently, waited silently, tended silently.

Sometimes Alekne would suddenly awaken, realizing this was someone else's dream, even knowing she could tear free anytime—but then she would willingly sink deeper.

"My troubles… weren't ever really problems to begin with."

Compared to Kuku, Alekne's self-pitying misery was nothing short of paradise.

Her pressure, her anxiety, her fear—though cruel—were mostly self-inflicted.

"I realize now—I was just resentful. Resentful of being protected by my sister. How foolish I was. If it were Master Kuku, he'd probably be delighted by this affection from blood kin."

That childishness, anxiety, and fear faded away with each repeated harvest of failure.

She had grown to love the days in the field, to love the quiet waiting for the possibility of harvest.

No need for too much thought—just quietly do what's in your hands, then wait for whatever harvest may come.

"Huh… is it over?" But finally, this farming life ended suddenly.

She woke up.

Alekne Tarabal awoke in a mansion that, compared to the past, felt eerily empty.

She lived in the governor's mansion because her sister feared that if they lived apart, her sister might lose her in a single night.

Her sister had endured a grueling battle yesterday; today, before dawn, she left without delay.

What awaited the goddess was an even harder day.

Originally, the awakened Alekne would have spent another day lost in planning and anxiety.

But this time, she rose quietly, washed up, and planned her day.

Today, she would drink tea and read in the garden; in the afternoon, prepare some of her sister's favorite snacks.

When anxiety and unease faded, when she truly looked at what surrounded her, her life didn't seem so bad.

"I have a comfortable life, loved family, even considerable status. Maybe I was too hasty. If I truly want to change my life, I'll take it slowly—start with gaining my own strength, then talk to my sister."

At noon, she picked up her nearly forgotten polearm and began training in the martial art she once deemed useless.

In the afternoon, as planned, she prepared snacks and tea for her sister, just as she had when she was a child.

She gazed at the outside "sunset," as if seeing that boundless field—no rush, no rush, I can take my time.

Even if I fail, it doesn't matter—I'm gone, but others remain.

Even if others fail, my genius sister will sort everything out.

"Heh, even if she fails too, it's fine—she's already a sister I'm proud of."

"And if I die, why bother thinking so far ahead?" This mindset, tainted by memory, might fade—but at this moment, her outlook had truly changed; she seemed to have let go of many things.

"Crash!" But suddenly, she collapsed to the floor, drawing startled cries from the maids.

"W-what happened to me?" She felt utterly weak, then slipped into sleep.

Waking again on the bed, Alekne still felt unwell all over.

Her voice was hoarse, her body temperature elevated, drenched in sweat.

She felt as if her blood were boiling.

"My power… my bloodline…"

Alekne sensed something within her was awakening.

"Could it be… divine blood?!"

The Tarabal family were descendants of gods; her sister was called the Daughter of the Gods, worthy of addressing a deity as Mother.

This didn't mean she was a direct biological child—many eras had divine sons and daughters; the gods didn't manage them closely. Sometimes it was the awakening of ancestral bloodline; sometimes, divine interference.

The Tarabal sisters were the latter: during their gestation, Lady Silver Vial intervened and bestowed a divine oracle.

Divine children were crucial pawns for deities meddling in the mortal realm; when necessary, they were deliberately created. The Dark Elf Pantheon and Shadow Pantheon were among the most active, fond of this tactic.

Perhaps from the start, the Tarabal sisters were born as "strategic weapons" for this city.

But sadly, the bestowed divine blood and power were entirely absorbed by her stronger sister.

This was normal—divine energy had a strong instinct to seek the strongest host, even if only slightly stronger.

"Mother…"

Yet at this moment, the abandoned child sensed the scent of "divine bloodline."

In truth, though ninety-nine percent of the divine power and blood had been absorbed by her sister, a portion still reached Alekne, her twin.

The prophecy of a divine child came before their birth. The elder daughter, granted the name "Spider Goddess," became a joke in dark elf society. Had her twin sister not been born afterward, this joke would have become a shame requiring blood to wash away.

Retaining the divine name bestowed by the gods was already her sister's doing. Even so, everyone who knew her laughed at her—she became the "unspoken pity joke," "that poor little thing."

But now, this "joke" finally sensed what had once been hers.

It was impossible to awaken the divine bloodline and become a goddess—such required high-concentration divine blood and vast divine power, demanding the deity actively split their own strength. That's why most divine pantheons never did this.

Only weak pantheons frequently interfered in the mortal realm to secure survival space for their people.

But this divine energy, this "hardware," was already sufficient as "soil" for the seed of a towering tree to grow.

"She" awoke.

A faint red glow seeped from her bloodline, faintly forming a shadowy silhouette in the air.

The power of shadow was perhaps most suited to the concept of twins.

Shadow was inherently the interaction of light and matter—or a kind of replication.

The origin of the Shadow Realm was lost to time; some said it was formed from the remains of one of the Creator Goddesses' sisters. Others claimed it was the world's "backup"—when the material plane perished, it would transform into the new primary plane.

Where there is light, there is shadow. The existence of the material universe naturally casts shadows, which is why the Shadow Plane in this multiverse is extraordinarily powerful.

It was not something a single deity or even a single pantheon could possess. Precisely speaking, shadow deities were assimilated by and used the shadow—not the other way around.

At this moment, the divine bloodline from the Shadow Realm fused with the "fragmented soul" trait inherited from ancient heroes.

The abilities of replication (shadow) and fragmented soul (multiple thought lines) merged, birthing a strange fruit.

【Heroic Soul Candidate, Alekne Tarabal: Soul Ability Awakened!】

Simultaneously, a notification flashed across the Heroic Soul Codex.

Vast amounts of blood flowed from her body, combining with the rejected shadow power, forming a shadowy figure—a perfect human replica of herself!

"I'm not… Veyrna."

The woman's face was beautiful yet martial; identical features, yet entirely different aura.

Alekne was stunned—this was her power, how had it become her sister?!

【Alekne's Shadow Valkyrie (Diamond): Construct a perfect self—a version of yourself who inherited divine blood.】

【If only I were the younger sister… Help me, sister—Alekne Tarabal】

"Ugh." At the moment the Valkyrie awoke, time itself paused for an instant—then, a massive fissure opened, and a pillar of fire shot into the sky.

The entire city saw that fire pillar, charged with divine power!

As a low-ranking priestess of Lady Silver Vial, and one of the deity's coordinates on the material plane, such a level of divine fluctuation (though the newborn was still weak, she was a divine being) naturally drew her master's attention.

At this moment, the deity also cast a gaze.

Then, it seemed to smile.

Sacred hymns descended from above; a meteor pierced the tear in space and crashed down.

"Boom!"

The governor's mansion was utterly shattered—but in the center of the crater, a spear wreathed in flame burned fiercely.

"Snap!"

The newborn Valkyrie floated upward, flames forming wings around her.

She grasped the divine spear born for her, swung it lightly, and fire transformed into a feathered cloak and light armor covering her body.

The newborn Valkyrie was born.

Alekne Tarabal, still dazed, was suddenly lifted into the air.

"Boom!" She was carried southward, toward the battlefield where her true sister was still fighting.

"Sister, I will protect you," the Valkyrie said softly, lowering her head.

—

"Li En, if I accept this power, can another version of me be created to bear all of this? Can all the troubles be handed over to her?"

On the same day, faced with Sariman's expectant face, Li En was utterly stunned.

The strong of heart seek to become stronger, but some who are not so strong wish for someone to solve everything for them.

(End of Chapter)