A woman rushed through the halls of a large silver castle that didn't quite match the architectural style of the buildings around it, her eyes shining with worry.
This woman was naturally Aishia Grey, and the castle she was in was none other than Asgard's main headquarters.
The war had escalated far past the level she expected it to. And the Cloud Plane's forces were moving far differently than they were supposed to.
It'd already been a few weeks since they arrived, and they'd been barraging Niflheim nonstop ever since that day. The Celestial Squadron stayed in the underground and continuously killed 3rd class Nox and below while the Star Squadron launched a direct assault on Evotech.
While Niflheim was preoccupied with these two forces, she assumed Asgard would receive a moment of respite to recover, but even this was untrue!
The second Niflheim's attention was turned away, Asgard began facing an assault from both inside and out, and the ones heading this assault were Bai Xieren's Moon Squadron and a few remnants of Shangguan Ty's Sun Squadron!
Aishia rushed out of Evotech the second she received the news. She didn't even care if her status as a spy was exposed because of her actions. She was already learning of the situation many weeks late, so how could she sit still?
When she finally made her way to Asgard, she found that the atmosphere was extremely desolate. The soldiers didn't seem to have an ounce of morale to defend their land.
But she couldn't understand why.
And so, she directly ran to the main palace and rushed to the throne room, wanting to meet with Odin right away.
Her hazy purple eyes were filled with concern as she made it to the door, but before she could push it open, she heard voices coming from the other side.
"…supposed to do?! We can't handle an assault like this any longer!" A woman yelled. Aishia immediately recognized her. She was the First Division Captain Loretta Stone, a peak 4th class existence and an integral figure in the army.
As Aishia pressed her ear against the door and continued listening, the sounds inside were amplified, allowing her to hear more clearly.
"My Liege, what Captain Stone says is true. With the outsiders and the Just Faction attacking at the same time, we're slowly losing control over everything. It isn't just the military, but many assorted divisions that have already been swayed. If we continue with this inaction any longer, we will lose all relevance!" Another man followed. He was yet another important member of the army like Loretta Grey.
"Loretta, Alec, I understand your concern, however, there is nothing I can do." A weary voice answered them.
Hearing it, Aishia's heart clenched. She hated hearing such pain and helplessness in Odin's voice. However, it didn't take long for her heart to go cold.
It was unknown why Odin didn't notice her presence. Perhaps he was too stressed, or perhaps he knew she was there but no longer had the mind to care. He spoke freely as if nothing in the world could stop him.
"Niflheim has already cut off any source of aid. They're too busy dealing with their own problems to help us. If we wish to fight back against a force composed of dozens or hundreds of 4th-class existences, we simply don't have the capital. We can only let them pick apart Asgard while we go take shelter in Niflheim later. Otherwise, even we will become elimination targets."
Odin knew that the Cloud Plane brought their own Demigod, and that Demigod was far stronger than him.
Actually, once one reached such a profound level of strength, the gap between people in the same class range vastly increased. Even in 4th class, a level 250 couldn't compare at all to a level 300.
So Odin long lost his will to fight back. His only hope of survival was taking refuge with a stronger power, which just happened to be Niflheim.
To Odin and the other two in the room, this was the natural course of action, but to Aishia who was listening from outside, her entire world felt like it was collapsing.
Seek refuge in Niflheim? THE Niflheim?!
Aishia's body shivered uncontrollably as a rush of unwanted memories flashed through her mind.
Scenes of carnage and blood, scenes of her entire family being slaughtered in front of her eyes, scenes of her people doing everything they could to whittle away at the Nox's strength before perishing, saving her from their fate…
Hearing her second family speak about Niflheim as if a savior rather than an oppressor, her entire worldview was flipped.
Weren't these supposed to be the good guys? Hadn't she been fighting for justice on the side of Asgard for so many years? When did the justice-driven Asgard become an organization that sipped wine with the enemy?!
"Khh!"
Her head hurt. No, the pain stemmed from her soul. This level of betrayal wasn't something she could handle. Her eyes turned red with fury.
'Is this the truth of the world?! Is it truly such an unforgiving place?! Was everything else I was told throughout my life a lie too?!'
It had to be understood that the people Aishia was questioning were more than just organization leaders to her. They were her family, her father, aunts, and uncles who raised her since young.
When all these people suddenly betrayed her at the same time, how could she remain calm?
Aishia's feet stumbled. She walked away from the throne room shakily without ever entering. Even she didn't know her current destination.
Her entire world was dyed red. The only thing she could see was blood. Her body naturally left Asgard, left civilization, and entered the Outer Wilds. Here, she was going to kill until her fury was satiated. And afterwards, she'd die.
There was nothing else worth living for, anyway. All her hopes had been crushed in a single instant.
So, she'd pour everything she had into the battlefield.
***
The Outer Wilds hadn't been a safe place for a long while already, but today, it was particularly dangerous.
After all, there was nothing left of Niflheim's main headquarters. The Celestial and Star Squadrons had thoroughly wrecked it.
And while they did so, an unknown third party, Shadow Garden, took advantage of the chaos and assassinated the Board of Executives. Just like that, a ferocious group of 4th-class Nox were slaughtered like chickens.
They weren't even given the opportunity to display the horrific might that earned them their positions.
With Asgard facing internal strife as well, neither organization could afford to prolong this war. They both wished to end it as fast as possible, and none of the intruding third parties had any problems with this either.
The faster Niflheim and Asgard went down, the better it was for them.
With tensions reaching an all-time high, the small skirmishes and large battles all came together, forming a massive battlefield that expanded for thousands of kilometers filled with war.
The troops on both sides fought desperately. Thousands of 4th classes in the air and hundreds of thousands of 3rd classes and below on the ground were giving everything they had…
Because they knew that this would be a pivotal battle in the grand war.
