Chapter 81

## Chapter Chronology

**Pridefulness vs. Stubbornness** is the 81st chapter of the "*Shuumatsu no Valkyrie: Record of Ragnarok*" manga series.

## Summary

Since ancient times, a notion has been passed down through Greece: “If you want to live to see a peaceful tomorrow, never stand against a Spartan.” At the Battle of Thermopylae, just 300 Spartans stood in the way of a Persian army that was 300,000 strong. Then, at the Battle of Plataea, a force of 10,000 Spartans decimated those 300,000 Persians, with only 91 casualties. With boundless praise and awe, the Greek carry this story down through the ages. So that is to say, never stand against a Spartan, according to the “Legend of Sparta.”

Leonidas and Apollo stand off against each other in a small border around them. Leonidas is angered by this while Apollo smiles. The Goddesses supporting Apollo cheer him on, with one claiming he’s so compassionate to fight on even ground with a “dirty” Human. On the other hand, the Spartan soldiers supporting Leonidas admit they told Apollo to fight their king straight-on, like a man, but they never told him to look down on them. Hagis insists that, in the history of Sparta, there has never been a greater disgrace. A few Gods question what Apollo is thinking and why he would go out of his way to fight at his enemy’s best range, when even they can tell that it’s dangerous to exchange direct blows with Leonidas. Looking down on him from their VIP room, Ares exclaims he knew that idiot would pull something like this and he wonders what possessed Apollo to do this.

Chuckling, Zeus says there’s no helping it as it is Apollo and that is the source of his strength. Besides, Zeus believes that once Apollo gets like this, he won’t lose to anyone. Ares asks if Zeus is saying Apollo is not looking down on Leonidas too much, prompting Hermes to point out how it seems Ares is worried about Apollo, much to Ares’ anger. Zeus recommends that Ares believe in Apollo and simply watch. Recalling how he said he will answer everyone’s expectations, Zeus claims it’s because of his aesthetics that Apollo can shine and that is why he’s so strong. At that moment, Apollo takes in the cheers of his supporters and the jeers of his enemies, resulting in his strongest battle mode: **The Sun Shall Never Set on Me**. As a powerful light emanates from Apollo, Hermes admits he hasn’t seen him shine this bright since the Gigantomachy. While Hermes thinks this will be fun, Ares doesn’t understand how Apollo got a powerup from this. Zeus doesn’t understand either but to him, that's fine, as Apollo is so strong, precisely because he transcends logic and common sense. Meanwhile, Göll panics and exclaims to Brunhilde that this is bad. Brunhilde stoically wonders what she means and Göll reminds her that Geirölul is the proudest of the thirteen Valkyries. So there’s no way she’ll be able to endure Apollo looking down on her like that. However, Brunhilde thinks that’s great. Taking out another cigar and lighting it, Leonidas complains about how Apollo always loved looking down on people. Geirölul is shown to have her arms crossed and has an upset expression. Calling him “Leo,” Geirölul asserts to Leonidas that Apollo is dead meat.

Smiling. Leonidas says that’s obvious and he declares that means he has to do one more thing: force Apollo to his knees and have him beg for forgiveness, a declaration which seems to amuse the Sun God. Smiling along with him, Geirölul thinks that’s great. The shield splits in half around the center portion and the halved sections further split up into six spider-like legs. The “legs” then join up together, creating a large metal ball. The ball extends out from the shrunken shield and Leonidas grabs the handle, taking it off. Now armed with just the center portion of his shield in his left hand and a hammer-like weapon in his right hand, connected to each other by a chain, Leonidas and Geirölul aim to smash Apollo into pieces.

Leonidas and Apollo proceed to walk towards each other and Heimdall announces that both fighters have entered each other’s range. Yelling at Apollo to die, Leonidas lifts his hammer up before bringing it down, unleashing **Phalanx Nemesis**. The resulting attack destroys the entire ground of the arena, much to the Gods’ shock and to the Spartans’ excitement. Zeus can’t believe how absurd that power was. As the smoke starts to clear, it’s revealed Apollo avoided the attack by stepping forward and getting close to Leonidas, catching the King of Sparta off-guard. Putting his face right up to Leonidas’, Apollo tauntingly wonders if he’s too dazzling for him before aiming a right hook at his face. Seeing the attack coming, Leonidas is prepared to counter it but Apollo suddenly changes the direction of his fist mid-swing, landing a punch square in Leonidas’ abdomen, causing Leonidas to open his mouth and drop his cigar.

Leonidas is pushed right against the border that Apollo made and he attempts to push Apollo back by swinging with his shrunken shield. Apollo punches it, causing both the shield and Apollo’s fist to get knocked away from each other. As Leonidas’ left arm and Apollo’s right arm shake from the impact, Apollo remarks on how Leonidas really is a dangerous beast. Leonidas lifts his hammer back to swing it down again, only for Apollo to clench his left fist. Suddenly, Leonidas can’t move his right arm and Apollo reveals he used **Artemis Elenchos**, having wrapped his threads around Leonidas’ right arm to seal its movement. Leonidas figures out that Apollo got in close so he wouldn’t notice his threads before yelling about how he still has his left, swinging his shield forward. To counter, Apollo pulls on the threads around Leonidas’ right arm and gets him off-balance, allowing Apollo the chance to punch Leonidas in the face with his right fist.

As Geirölul yells for Leonidas, Apollo says it’s time that the Human got to know his own arrogance. Bunching up his threads to create bands of thicker threads and wrapping them all across his right arm, Apollo orders Leonidas to bow his head and punches him in the face again, dealing a much more devastating blow, much to the surprise of Humanity’s crowd, Jack the Ripper, Hlökk, Kojiro Sasaki, Hrist, Soji Okita and Isami Kondo. As the threads around his right arm become undone, Apollo looks at how Leonidas is leaning back, still entangled by the threads coming out of Apollo’s left hand. With Leonidas seemingly knocked out, Göll falls to her knees and says it’s over but Brunhilde asserts that word doesn’t exist in the Spartan dictionary. She questions if Sparta’s military power made them the strongest and denies it.

As the Spartan soldiers stand tall, Brunhilde insists that, no matter who the enemy is, they never bow their heads nor do they ever bend their knees. The Spartans won’t even yield to the Gods themselves as that is their pride. With Apollo shocked to see Leonidas still alive, Hagis tells the Gods to take a good look as this is Sparta. Leaning forward, Leonidas headbutts Apollo, causing blood to spray from Apollo’s nose. The threads around Leonidas’ right arm loosen, allowing him to move it again. Both Leonidas and Geirӧlul remind Apollo that they said he was going to be the one to kneel and Leonidas strikes Apollo with **Phalanx Nemesis**, directly in the face. That results in Apollo being bounced off the ground and into the air, falling outside the borders he set up.

With Apollo on his knees and his head bowed, Leonidas questions how it feels to finally be the one being looked down upon.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Leonidas
* Apollo
* Hagis
* Hermes
* Ares
* Zeus
* Göll
* Brunhilde
* Geirölul
* Heimdall (Voice only)
* Jack the Ripper (No lines)
* Hlökk (No lines)
* Hrist (No lines)
* Kojiro Sasaki (No lines)
* Soji Okita (No lines)
* Isami Kondo (No lines)