https://youtu.be/rfyAQDcV9xk

"Alright, Oz, I detect there's only one more in this area!"

Oz and Yuri's day had been quite eventful, and exhilarating for both of them. Swooping into villages and towns to play the dashing liberator, clearing out every trace of Hel's Angel activity, and leaving to rinse and repeat with another town, it was all very fun. With Freya's guidance, they were all but unstoppable. If all battles against that conspiracy were this entertaining, then Oz knew he'd made the right choice in making an enemy of them. And the best part was, Yuri seemed to be enjoying it, too. As the sun set, the two of them wrapped up their business in one such settlement when Oz received this notification from Freya.

"One more, you say?" Oz asked, standing over a fallen adversary and allowing him to teleport away to safety. "Very well, then. Yuri!"

Yuri, standing a few feet away, wordlessly looked up from her own opponent, removing her sword from his head and turning her attention to Oz, saluting him robotically.

He glanced at the corpse she'd left behind, shuddering slightly, but didn't comment on it, instead removing his mask and putting on his best smile. "My contact tells me we are almost finished for the day. For there is but one settlement left for us to reconquer!"

"...you've been going on about a contact for a while." Yuri murmured, putting her hand down to look directly at Oz. "I don't doubt their judgement...but who, exactly, are they?"

"Her name is Freya." Oz replied casually as Yuri raised an eyebrow. "But you may know her by other names. Freyja, Syr, Hörn and Mardöll, to name a few."

"...you seem to know a lot of Aesir." Yuri commented, eyeing him curiously as her remark earned a shrug from him. "Can I...talk to her?"

"If she's willing." Oz said, holding an imaginary phone to his ear while looking up to the sky, with Yuri looking on curiously. "Dearest Freya!"

"Well, hello. What can I do for you?"

"My good friend Yuri wishes to speak with you." Oz explained. "Could you, perhaps, expand your telepathic powers to her as well?"

"Of course! Anything for my darling Guest!" Freya exclaimed, and at once Oz felt a warm embrace around his mind, which began to expand until Yuri felt the same sensation. She blinked, looking around and wondering what to do with this. Slowly, she raised a hand to her ear, looking up.

"...h-hello?"

She had to admit, the idea of speaking with a goddess was rather exciting, and she wondered what Freya would be like in conversation. Maybe she'd be excitable and cheerful, or maybe she'd be arrogant and haughty - people higher-up than her tended to be so. She looked to the sky, eyes wide and breath hitched in anticipation.

"Good evening, Yuri."

https://youtu.be/RuGJjNyOmb0

As soon as that sweet, honeyed voice entered her mind, Yuri felt a rush of excitement, and quickly began to worry if she was holding the imaginary phone correctly. Standing up straight, she mustered as much confidence as she could, which was hard; she'd always known to show deference to her superiors, after all. "Are you...really the goddess of love?"

"Yes, that is I. How may I help you, Yuri?" Freya asked warmly. "Are you in need of romantic advice, perhaps? Got that special someone in mind?"

"No...I just wanted to meet Oz's Patron." Yuri shook her head slowly. "And I was curious...about what it'd be like speaking to an Aesir directly."

"And does it meet expectations?" Oz asked, beaming brightly. "She's lovely, isn't she?"

"She does seem nice." Yuri nodded in agreement. "It's...nice to meet you, Freya."

"Likewise! May this alliance be a fruitful one!"

"Glad to see we're all getting along." Oz smiled calmly, looking to the town's entrance. "Now, then, Freya, you said there was one more town left, right?"

"Could you...lead us to it, perhaps?" Yuri asked.

"But of course! What do you think I'm here for?"

At once, their gaze was directed in one particular direction, and in the distance, a pink pillar of light shone down. Oz smiled slightly, seeing it was relatively close by, and looked at Yuri with a nod. "Shall we, then?"

"Yes...let's go." Yuri nodded quickly, and at once the two were off, running towards the light like moths to a flame while Freya watched them from above, and the surviving citizens did so from their positions all around them.

"Tell me, Yuri." Oz began, making sure his pace was slow enough that Yuri could keep up with him. "You fight like no other Knight I've ever seen - a true goddess with the blade, no doubt."

"Eh? I-I'm not as good as you think!" Yuri stammered in response, looking ahead to hide her flustered expression. "Really, I'm just applying what I've been taught!"

"Such modesty! And nary an ellipsis in sight!" Oz smiled happily.

"But then, with such skills, why travel all the way to Asgard and become a Knight of Odin?" Freya asked suddenly, and at that, Oz raised an eyebrow.

"Freya, I'd hardly call dying a 'travel'." he said, chuckling awkwardly. "I found I didn't have to move a muscle to get into Asgard!"

"...sweet, innocent Oz." Freya sighed. "What if, just hypothetically, she didn't get into Asgard?"

"...ah, I see what you're implying."

"I'm sorry about him." Freya chuckled, now addressing Yuri. "He's a darling, but he can be a little...slow at times."

"It's...okay." Yuri nodded, looking ahead. "And, you're right...I am not an angel like you or the rest of the Knights."

"Oh, my! Could you be a wayward Aesir?" Oz gasped. "A war goddess, perhaps, native to another world, but crossing over to the heavens to lend your assistance? But then, how would you end up in thrall to him..."

"...I am not a goddess." Yuri said, unsure what to make of this strange train of thought. "After my death, I was sent to Niflheim, Realm of Mist."

"Then that would make you a...nixie, correct?" Oz asked, making sure his knowledge of the nine realms was correct. Yuri nodded slowly, looking at him slightly nervously.

"I-I hope this won't be a problem..."

"A problem? Surely you jest!" Oz grinned. "This is excellent! I've always wanted to meet a nixie!"

"Right, but that brings me back to my question. What's a nixie doing serving Asgard?" Freya questioned again. "Doesn't Niflheim have its own military?"

"It does...but I chose to join the Knights." Yuri explained. "I have studied the sword for many years, even when I was a human. One day, a few years ago...my village in Niflheim was visited by the Knight Commander himself."

"Now, what on earth was Svafrlami doing all the way over there?" Oz asked. "He doesn't strike me as the type to take too many holidays..."

"He was recruiting." Yuri said simply. "I met him as I was practising the blade, and he told me...that I could be of use to him. He took me in...and gave me a purpose."

"Oh, you poor thing!" Freya exclaimed soulfully, causing Yuri to widen her eyes slightly. Oz noticed she was slowing her stride, so he slowed down as well. "I can't imagine how he's treating you!"

"He doesn't mistreat me." Yuri said quickly, and at that even Oz had to pause, staring at her with his eyebrow raised to the heavens. "He's a good teacher...and he wants me to be as strong as I can. He's strict...but I know it's because I need to improve. And he'll know when I'm good enough."

Oz couldn't help frowning at all this, feeling much less reassured than before, even though he was sure this was the opposite of the intended effect. Before Yuri could properly digest the fact that he was concerned for her, however, he switched to a bright smile. "Well, I think you're plenty strong already!" he said happily. "If Svafrlami ever made a good judgement, it was seeing your potential."

"Thank you...but it's not enough." Yuri said. "One day, I'll rise up to his standards. This, I swear."

"One day..." Oz murmured under his breath, spotting the town entrance coming up closer. "Hopefully, one day...you'll be able to see yourself as good enough..."

.........

As they came into the town, the pink pillar of light vanished, having served its purpose. Without that to distract them, they looked ahead, finding that they had walked into a bloodbath. In every direction, blood painted the tile-laden earth and the cottages built from quaint white stones. Elves dressed in yellow leather armour ran around, rapiers in hand as they preyed on the humans who dared to leave their houses, leaving them to bleed out on the ground before moving on to invade them through their opened doors. Much like in Peuma, the horrible cacophony of screams rang through Oz's ears, and the stench of blood wafting through the air made him sick to his stomach. Yuri looked on emotionlessly, summoning to hand a falchion, and prepared to march into battle.

"Oz, are you alright?" Freya asked, noticing Oz's uneasiness right away. In response, the einherjar nodded, smiling his usual smile.

"Of course! It's nothing I haven't seen before." Oz reassured her - and himself, standing up straight and summoning his guns to hand, twirling them stylishly. "Ready for one last dance, Yuri?"

"I am. Let's go." Yuri nodded, her voice and face becoming cold as she stepped inside, ready to do her duty. Her current duty, that was - she'd, distressingly, almost forgotten what Svafrlami had told her to do.

At once, Yuri became silent, rushing in as quickly as her feet could carry her. Oz waved his hands in front of his face, summoning his mask over it and striking another pose. "Onward! To victory!"

https://youtu.be/5Gyv0sAXRxo

And so, the angel and the nixie joined the fray, splitting up to cover more ground. As one elven man nearby raised his rapier to slay a poor unfortunate soul cowering by the entrance of their own house, the fencer froze as a sword plunged into his side. As he let out a scream, Yuri removed her swords from him before unleashing a blind flurry of slashes, cutting him down in no time flat.

The scream alerted the other elves in the area, and they immediately realised they were under attack. They looked up to see Yuri standing before their fallen comrade, and as some of them stayed back to continue killing civilians, the rest charged forward at Yuri. Oz, curiously, was nowhere to be found; as far as the fencers knew, the nixie had come alone.

They wasted no time, charging at her with wind swirling around their pointed blades. Yuri raised her left hand, and an aqueous mass formed in her palm before turning into her eagle-blazoned shield. She fearlessly faced the impending group, her shield held out in front of her. As the fencers tried to stab her, she thrust her shield forward, and with her movement, a vicious blast of water was unleashed, washing the attackers away.

Some more came from either side, and Yuri took a deep breath, focusing on the enemies coming from her right while holding her shield up behind her. She swatted away the swords that flew towards her, her own blade flowing like water as she defended herself. As for the enemies who were now behind her, they unleashed rapid stabs as quick as the wind, but Yuri did not move her shield. Instead, before anyone could successfully hurt her, the shield unleashed a powerful barrier of water from all its edges, spreading out as a wide carapace to stop her from being hurt as their blades bounced off it.

One elf noticed that as they attacked, the eagle symbol on her shield took flight, and smirked as he grew inspired. He spread his wings - a vibrant, majestic pair of butterfly wings, and flew up, going over her shield. The rest of them saw this and realised there was potential in this move, so they, too, began to call out their wings. But they didn't notice a disc-shaped Berstan grenade thrown in the middle of their ranks. As it hit one of them, it detonated, blowing up their dreams of flight in a billowing cloud of green smoke.

Oz stepped out from behind a building to reveal himself, snapping his fingers in a fluid motion as multiple pink orbs of light appeared around the formation of enemies. With a shout of "Freya!", each orb fired a thin beam of light into another, and another, and another, over and over, assaulting the elves in a lattice of magical light. Yuri, appreciating the support, focused on those in front of her, allowing her shield to defend her from the few sword strikes that made it past her own blade. Her swordplay was elegant, without a single wasted movement, and as she began to step forward, she swung her sword to advance through the foes that remained.

With their teamwork, the enemy force was defeated in due time. Oz, who had no weapons out, smiled brightly at Yuri, who kept a tight hold on her sword-and-board. "So the stratagem worked." he said, running a hand through his blond hair. "All thanks to your incredible skills, and my incredible mind!"

"I-I'm glad you appreciate my skills..." Yuri murmured, clearing her throat before looking ahead. "But as I said, I'm nowhere near good enough. Not yet."

"You're good enough for me." Oz said simply, and at that Yuri paused, utterly unsure how to respond. Pressing a hand to his ear, he looked up to the sky with a smile on his face. "Freya?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Is there anyone else in this town we ought to look out for?"

"I'm detecting a rather powerful elf up ahead." Freya said. "I think it's their leader."

Oz nodded slowly, crossing his arms and thinking briefly as he turned to Yuri. "We've been fighting a lot of elves today, wouldn't you say?" he asked, snapping her out of her dazed state. "Wonder why that could be..."

"I, uh...don't know." Yuri frowned a little, straightening her posture.

"Perhaps this is a clue. Maybe they're situated in the Realm of Wind..." Oz speculated, before shaking his head. "No, that doesn't make any sense, I fought an ifrit today. Maybe this means one of their higher-ups is an elf..."

"Well, Anwin was a clown leading a pack of clowns." Freya pointed out. "I don't know about race, but that tells me you should expect another fencer."

"Oh, good thinking." Oz said, turning to Yuri. "That means your sword arm gets to work out a little more. Thrilling, isn't it?"

"Uh- sure." Yuri nodded quickly. "Will you be joining me?"

"If he's in good enough shape by the time I get there, I would be glad." Oz nodded. "For I will go around the rest of the town in search of people to save, while you get to hunt down the big bad boss! Be honoured, Yuri Croce!"

Yuri let out a wordless nod, and Oz flashed her a peace sign before darting off to parts unknown. Thus, Yuri was left alone, moving towards her goal with Freya's directions to help her along the way.