Episode 15

## Birth of a Monster

* Screenshot
* Title

## Episode Chronology

**Birth of a Monster** is the 15th episode overall of the "*Shuumatsu no Valkyrie: Record of Ragnarok*" anime and the 3rd episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

In late 19th century London, the young son of a prostitute has a special ability that helps him survive the poverty he was born into.

## Plot

In the city of London, during the 19th century, a 12 years old Jack is in a back alley and searching for some leftovers in a trash bin. He finds a piece of bread and is happy about it, but the owner comes out and starts beating him up, demanding payment for the piece. Jack sees the man's aura as red, indicating malice, rage, scorn, and contempt.

He begs the man to spare him this time and he won't see him again. The man's aura then turns blue, which Jack recognizes as a color of superiority. The man agrees to let go Jack and tells him to never come back. Having gotten some food, Jack heads home, believing his mother will be happy. He enters the brothel where he lives with his mother and sees a man coming out of her room. His mother, Mary, confront the man over his insufficient pay, but he only states the money is far more than she deserves and leaves.

Jack enters the room and seeing her mother on the floor, worried if the man had hit her. She hugs him and states it nothing. She sees that he is injured; Jack tries to say it's nothing, but Mary is worried it may get infected and treats his wound. With the money she just made, she intends to buy him medicine for the wound. She tells him that he is her only hope and Jack sees that her color is golden, noting that she is the most beautiful person he had seen.

Another prostitute of the brothel, Anne, sees Jack is reading a book, but notes there is not much point educating a son of a whore.

Jack states that drinking too much isn't good for her. She wonders if Mary is with a client and Jack confirms. Anne then wonders what men see in her, and notes that she haven't had a customer all day. She wonders why Mary decided to give birth to Jack, since she had been pregnant five times and had aborted them all, but for some reason she kept the sixth child and raised it herself. Anne thinks it's a pity Jack is in such situation, but Jack feels as if he is the happiest person in the world, because his mother wanted and loved him, which was his only source of pride and comfort.

Returning home with a big piece of cheese, Jack believes his mother will be happy.

He returns home to find her crying. He wonders what happened and Anne explains she rushed in as soon she heard Mary in distress, before showing Jack a poster for a play written by a man named Jack Smith. Mary cries over a newspaper that shows his marriage to a new woman, upset that he had forgotten his promise to her to come back should he grow successful. Anne states they hear such promises often and that she is a fool for believing in a promise made 13 years ago. Jack tries to comfort his mother, telling that she still has him, but she yells at him to not touch her.

She yells of her regret in bearing him and if she can't have the man she wanted, there is no reason to have Jack around. Just like the rest, she should have aborted him. He was just a tool to connect her to her love. Jack sees her mother's color turning red. As he had seen it many times, he states she shouldn't be that disgusting color. He then grabs her by the neck and starts chocking her, stating he will get her rid of that color. Mary's color turns purple and Jack wonders what it means, if it's fear, as it's a color he had seen for the first time, he notes it's quite beautiful.

Mary pushes him away, but Jack stabs her in the neck, stating she has a beautiful color. As he holds her dead body, he states he loves her too. Still covered in blood from Mary, Jack goes and finds Jack Smith, his father. Seeing him all bloody, Jack Smith begs him to not kill him, offering him all the money he has. Jack cites Shakespeare and calls Jack Smith "father", but the man has no idea what he is talking about. The boy then slashes his throat, killing him. As he leaves, he sees an ornate hat and takes it.

Jack tells Heracles that when they are alive, each person's heart is a jumble of different emotions, but at the moment of death, when it's dominated by fear, filled with just that emotion, it is truly a beautiful sight. Heracles states that when he die, there won't be a hint of fear in him as he only fears the moment justice ceases to exist. The two continue their fight till Jack has his back against Big Ben. He scales the tower, leading Hercules to knock it down. While Jack clings to to the clock's arrows to save himself, Heracles prepares to use the Seventh Labor Cretan Bull.

The clock's dial detaches and Jack throws it towards Heracles. The hero states it is pointless as mortal weapons can't hurt him; he extends his arm to block the blow and the dial slices off his forearm, shocking the gods. Jack notes he heard Heracles noting a mortal weapon won't hurt him several times. Heracles then realizes which is Jack's Völundr. Loki figures it too and explains that Jack states the satchel was his Völundr, but that was a lie too.

His real Völundr are his gloves. Loki is certain that whatever the gloves touch it becomes a Divine Treasure. To make them believe it's the satchel and that it can't be bigger than a certain size, Jack kept attacking with the knives. It was all to get in that single strike. Everything that Jack did was a bluff and Heracles fell for it. Ares sits down and starts pounding his legs in anger, causing tremors. Loki wonders if this was all planned by Brunhilde. Brunhilde knows that the gloves were Jack's Völundr.

Göll realizes that she knew Jack was laying a trap for Heracles and that this would happen. Brunhilde confirms and notes she arranged it to be this way. Earlier, Brunhilde tells the Valkyrie Hlökk that she is next. Hlökk is annoyed that she must be Völundr for Jack, a bloodthirsty killer. Their spirits have to become one, but she has no intention to becoming one with a homicidal maniac. Brunhilde states she chose her and won't be changing her mind, but Hlökk continues to refuse.

She then feels something and sees Jack behind her. He wonders if she will be his partner. Hlökk wonders when he managed to get behind her and if he is really human. Jack grabs Hlökk by the neck, stating all they have to do is make their spirits one. Hlökk asks Brunhilde for help, but Brunhilde ignores her. Hlökk is overwhelmed in fear and her color excites Jack, noting that their spirit and colors meld together and turns Hlökk into his Völundr.

Göll is shocked to hear that Brunhilde forced Hlökk to turn into Völundr and go into battle against her will. Brunhilde states her power was necessary to win this battle. As the 11th Valkyrie, her power is Saber-Rattler. Jack explains that anything his gloves touch they turn into Divine Treasure. He demonstrates it by taking a pebble and flinging it into the building, causing it to bore through it. Jack is sure that Heracles have understood it already. Ares then realizes he means that every inch of London is a weapon.

## Characters

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