Chapter 26

## Chapter Chronology

**Truth** is the 26th chapter of the "*Shuumatsu no Valkyrie: Record of Ragnarok*" manga series.

## Summary

As the crowds of Humanity and the Gods, Ares and Göll stare wide-eyed at Heracles' severed arm, Castor shouts out for him (still referring to him as Alcides). As Heracles' weapon turns back to normal, kids from Thebes begin crying for him. The Gods question how that happened and Göll falls to her knees while Brunhilde keeps up a stoic look. Heimdall declares that the face of Big Ben has completely taken off the left arm of Heracles while Jack the Ripper maliciously smiles. Humanity and the Gods froze at the sight of a God receiving an injury from a manmade weapon.

The first to arrive at the truth was Heracles. Pointing to Jack's hands, Heracles states that those are the real ones.

Figuring it out, Loki says that Jack got them good. Standing up, Ares questions what just happened and Loki explains to him that when Jack claimed his **Völundr** were the pouches at his side, that was a lie. His **Völundr** were neither those flashy scissors or those bottomless pouches – it was his gloves all along. Loki guesses whatever those gloves touch, becomes a Divine Weapon. He pulled out all of his weapons from the pouches to make them believe it could create Divine Weapons. To make them think there was a size limit, Jack claimed he could not make anything bigger than the pouch itself.

Time and time again, he launched barrage after barrage of attacks: all in order to make Heracles slip up by the time he threw Big Ben's clock face. In hindsight, Loki points out that Jack's first trick with the knives had a fairly weak result but it was all in order to launch an attack that would take off Heracles' arm. Everything Jack has done so far, was a bluff for this very moment. Cursing, Ares calls Jack a coward while Loki wonders if this was all according to Brunhilde's calculations.

Meanwhile, Brunhilde informs Göll on what Jack's true **Völundr** is. Göll points out that Brunhilde knew this would happen all along and Brunhilde mentions how she had to make an executive decision to set it up. Before the match began, Brunhilde entered Waiting Room No.7 and told one of her sisters that she's going up next. Eleventh of the thirteen Valkyrie sisters – Hlökk. However, Hlökk questions why she has to be paired up with a serial killer and refuses to go.

She points out that, for a Human and Valkyrie to perform **Völundr**, their hearts have to resonate and Hlökk doubts that could happen between her and Jack. She tells Brunhilde to pick someone else but Brunhilde asserts that Hlökk has to go up. Hlökk refuses again, only to feel a dark presence behind her. Turning around, she comes face-to-face with Jack. He asks if she's the one he's paired with and offers her his hand. Slightly frightened, Hlökk brushes him off but Jack suddenly holds her up by her neck, stating that he will force their hearts to become one. Scared, Hlökk reaches out to Brunhilde for help but Brunhilde merely looks on with a blank face. When Jack sees the color of betrayal from Hlökk, he is able to forcibly perform a **Völundr** as he also felt betrayed by his mother. After Hlökk becomes his gloves, Jack calls her a good girl.

In the present, Göll questions how Brunhilde could force Hlökk to participate in this fight against her will but Brunhilde insists that, for Jack to win this round, he needed her power. She then mentions that Hlökk's name, as the eleventh of the thirteen Valkyries, means "The Unsettled One." Jack tells Heracles that these gloves were truly made to order, though his methods in obtaining them are slightly different than most. Picking up a pebble, Jack claims that, with just a touch of these gloves, a mere pebble can bring down walls and a mere clock face can become a weapon to slay a God. Jack flicks the pebble into Big Ben and it ends up having the force of a cannon. Jack asks if Heracles has finally understood the true meaning of his words. As Göll, Hermes, Loki and Ares all figure it out, Heimdall declares that, if Jack's words are really true, then the entire city of London that the arena's been converted into, has become a weapon for him to use against Heracles.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Jack the Ripper
* Heracles
* Göll
* Ares
* Castor
* Brunhilde
* Heimdall
* William Shakespeare (No lines)
* Arthur Conan Doyle (No lines)
* Odin (No lines)
* Huginn & Muninn (No lines)
* Hermes (No lines)
* Loki
* Hlökk (Flashback)