Chapter 61. The Valkyrie Order

Chapter 61: 61. The Valkyrie Order

The dense mana pressure still pressed down across the entire stadium.

Thousands of low-level rankers remained on their knees or fully collapsed in the dirt, shoulders shaking, heads lowered.

Only a handful of people across the wide field had managed to stay on their feet.

The silence that followed the woman’s words was heavy.

Kael kept his eyes fixed on the figure floating above them as he thought about the structure of this world.

Only rankers above C-rank could remain suspended in the air through pure mana output.

No one below B-minus was capable of true flight.

When a ranker broke through from C-plus into B-minus, the mana reserves inside the body expanded dramatically.

Five major channels opened fully = the heart, the brain, the core of the lower abdomen, the spine, and the center of the chest.

With those pathways unlocked, a ranker could spread a thin, continuous layer of mana across the entire surface of the skin.

The coated mana pressed against the surrounding air with steady force, creating enough lift to keep the body aloft.

Height and duration still depended on the density of the user’s mana and the stability of those five channels.

Higher ranks simply maintained thicker coatings and finer control.

The knowledge settled in his mind with quiet clarity.

Kael frowned slightly.

’How can I remember these details from the original owner’s body when most of his memories are still blocked?’

The question lingered for only a moment before his attention returned to the woman above.

She continued to look down at the sea of kneeling rankers the same way someone might examine insects that had somehow learned to stand.

There was no warmth in her golden eyes, only cold measurement and open disdain.

She did not give the impression of a distant goddess delivering pure judgment.

The longer Kael stared, the clearer a different feeling became.

He wanted her. The thought settled in his chest without any hesitation.

His gaze dropped to the heavy curve of her chest.

Two large, full breasts strained against the golden breastplate of her battle dress, the soft flesh looking ready to spill out with every small shift of air.

The upper part of the dress was gold and deliberately revealing, cut to display the deep line between them while still holding the weight in place.

Below it a short battle skirt left her lower body almost free.

Dark, thick netting covered her thighs down to the knees, the mesh tight enough to cling yet open enough to show pale, milky skin underneath whenever she moved.

Her white hair floated around her like soft clouds, a thin piece of silver jewelry resting against the strands near her temple.

The face beneath that hair looked no older than twenty, clean and sharp, yet the body beneath it begged to differ like it belonged to someone far more developed.

The contrast only made the desire in Kael’s mind burn hotter.

He stood among the few who had not knelt, blue eyes locked on the arrogant golden ones above, already calculating how far he would need to climb before a woman like her could be pulled down to his level.

On either side of him Tina and Brianna also remained standing.

Both were D-rank, strong enough to resist the worst of the pressure, yet their knees still trembled under the weight of the dense mana.

Their fingers tightened around his hands, gripping harder as the force continued to press down across the stadium.

Tina’s thoughts stayed measured even while her legs shook.

’This pressure is higher than anything I’ve felt from a regular C-rank. She has to be at least high B.’

Brianna’s reaction was simpler and more physical.

Her green eyes stayed locked on the floating woman, but her grip on Kael’s hand refused to loosen.

’If this keeps up my knees will give out. I’m not dropping while he’s still standing. Not in front of all these people.’

The woman’s golden eyes moved slowly across the crowd.

They passed over the kneeling masses without interest, then stopped.

Her gaze locked onto Kael.

For a brief second the air around him grew heavier.

A focused thread of her mana pressed directly against his body, sharper and denser than the general pressure that filled the stadium.

It was a deliberate test, a silent demand that he drop to his knees like the others.

Kael did not look away.

He pulled every available strand of mana from his core and forced it outward, reinforcing his legs, spine, and chest.

The pressure tried to buckle him.

His knees shook once, hard, then steadied.

The longer he held the stance, the more the weight began to feel manageable.

His body adjusted in small increments, the new D-rank density in his channels spreading more evenly under the load.

’She’s testing me specifically. Let her remember the face of the one who didn’t kneel.’

Tina felt the sudden spike of focused mana and her fingers dug deeper into his hand.

’She’s targeting him on purpose. If he falls now the whole crowd will see it.’

Brianna shifted her weight, forcing her trembling legs to lock again.

Above them the white-haired woman continued to watch Kael in silence, golden eyes narrowed, as if deciding whether the standing figure was worth the effort of breaking.

Two figures appeared beside her in a sudden blur of speed.

The first moved without warning.

A light brown-haired woman reached up and gave the white-haired girl a firm bop on the top of the head.

The dense mana pressure vanished at once.

Across the stadium thousands of rankers sucked in desperate breaths.

Some collapsed further into the dirt, bodies shaking from residual strain and sudden relief.

Sweat dripped from faces that had been locked in place under the weight.

The woman who had struck the blow spoke in a calm, slightly exasperated voice.

"Lina, stop scaring people. They are here to protect this town, the same as us."

Lina’s expression flipped in an instant, the cold arrogance replaced by a theatrical pout of fake anger.

"I was only testing them to see if they were strong enough to face the demons on their own. Hmph, Stop hitting me on the head all the time. I’ll become slow if you keep doing that."

The one who had corrected her had neck-length light brown hair cut in an asymmetrical bob, bangs falling across the right side of her forehead.

Her eyes were black and gentle, set in a young, sisterly face that carried no hardness.

She wore a long dark-blue button-down jacket and a matching skirt that ended just above the knees, black pantyhose, and simple black shoes.

A pure, quiet aura of calm surrounded her.

Her bust was large-medium, full enough to draw the eye yet still softer in presence than Lina’s heavy curves.

From the other side a third figure spoke, voice rough and unimpressed.

"Okay, Lily, that’s enough. These pathetic town people needed a lesson. Look at their bodies and their mana. They look like they’ll die the moment something actually attacks them."

The speaker had deep red, high-volume curls that fell to her shoulders in bold waves.

A thin scar ran under her right eye, adding a sharp edge to her already fiery expression.

She wore a blood-red gown-style dress that clung to her frame, dark stockings, and red shoes.

Her breasts were the smallest of the three completing a clear order of size from Amber’s modest chest to Lily’s fuller shape and finally to Lina’s heavy, eye-catching curves.

Kael studied the three of them in silence.

’White hair with the heaviest mana and the biggest chest. Light brown with the calm presence. Red with the scar and the sharp tongue. Three different temperaments, one unit. This is the real strength the academy sent.’

Tina’s eyes moved from one woman to the next, her earlier tension easing only slightly now that the crushing pressure was gone.

Brianna exhaled through her nose, still holding Kael’s hand.

Lily sighed once and raised a hand in a mild placating gesture.

"Okay, okay, Amber. No need to stay hot-headed all the time. Let’s introduce ourselves properly."

The three of them remained side by side in the air, white, light brown, and deep red hair catching the light.

One carried open arrogance, one radiated gentle composure, and one burned with rough, delinquent energy.

Together they formed a clear unit that needed no further explanation of rank or authority.

Lily’s voice softened as she addressed the entire stadium, the earlier pressure completely gone.

"We are the Valkyrie Order from the academy. Our mission is to help this town defeat the coming demons and keep it standing. We will need every capable ranker here to work with us if that is going to happen. So let’s cooperate, shall we?"

She finished with a small, genuine smile that reached her black eyes, the expression quiet and open against the tension that still lingered over the packed dirt of the training ground.

Kael watched that smile and felt the same clear desire from earlier settle deeper in his chest.

Three high-ranking women had just arrived in Grayhollow.

One of them had already locked eyes with him targeting him.

The next days of forced training would bring all three within reach.

He tightened his grip on Tina’s and Brianna’s hands and kept his gaze steady on the three figures still floating above the stadium.