Upon their return to the villa, Fen was informed of all that had transpired.
"A conceptual collapse?" Fen said, "I should have felt that."
"The vaults are in an isolated space." Loki said, "it's cut off from the outside world."
"So, how do we proceed?" Thor asked
"Well, I am curious about what sort of treasures are waiting in that vault." Loki said, "Alright, Fen, Thor, and I will head there tomorrow and conquer it."
"Very well," Fen said bowing her head
"Leave it to us," Thor said
"It might not be that easy," Tetra noted, "It would take weeks of considerable effort from even dozens of high ranking adventurers to conquer a vault."
"It shouldn't be that hard for us,," Loki shrugged, "we should spend the rest of today preparing."
"Leave that to me," Fen said,
Some time later, the twins went into the large bath in the villa, where they found Fen and Thor already there.
"I told you, Flag face, I can handle this myself," Thor protested, as Fen pinned her to the floor.
The two teenage werewolves found the two women struggling naked on the floor of the large room, beside the large bathing pool, while Thor's hammer rested next to the entrance.
"I am sick and tired of smelling you," Fen growled, finally managing to restrain her, "with only one arm you can't be clean yourself properly, and you're long passed due."
It was true that proper maintenance had been neglected while Thor had been incarcerated, and gunk and other sediments had built up around her joints, as well as all the nooks and crannies of her bionics. Algae had even started growing on her broken stump.
"Is-is this a bad time?" Petra asked
"Just in time," Fen said, "help me hold her down."
"Dammit," Thor growled, "fine, you win."
"Thank you." Fen said.
Now, Thor stood as Fen ran her black hands over her prosthetics, her shadowy fur acting like a coarse brush to scrub the filth from Thor.
"Hey easy," Thor protested, "that is royal elven flesh your scratchingwith thise bristles of yours."
"Get over yourself, you dumb princess," Fen scoffed
"Wait, you're an actual princess?" Tetra wondered,
"Yeah," Thor said, "but I lost all that a long time ago,"
"What happened?"
"She doesn't like to talk about it," Fen said, defensively
"No, it's alright," Thor said softly, "my kingdom was destroyed in a war, I watched as everything I knew and loved was wiped out as collateral in a conflict we weren't even involved in, and by some miracle, I alone survived."
The twins looked at her, the shock and pity evident in their eyes.
"It was actually the doc that found me, lying in the rubble of my palace. My whole body had been badly broken, and I was barely alive," Thor explained, "she took me to her lab and fixed what she could, my arms and legs were beyond saving, so she replaced them."
"So she saved you?" Petra asked, "she must've been really kind."
Both Thor and Fen laughed at that
"Kind is the last thing I'd call Dr. Jörmungandr," Fen scoffed, "she more likely decided to experiment on her for fun,"
"Yeah," Thor said, as she clenched her fist, "I was awake for the surgeries, and let me tell you; getting most of your body replaced with bionics hurts like a motherf@£ker. The worst part was that even after all of that, I was still too weak to accept the augmentations. The doc would've just ripped out what she could and thrown what was left of me away, if Loki hadn't found out."
"What did he do?"
"He saved me, the only way he could," Thor said, tapping on the device embedded in her chest, "he gave me this, called it a Tempest Core, gave me enough juice to power my bionics, but it worked too well. I now constantly generate more energy than I'd ever need, so Loki made a seperate device to absorb and store the excess."
She looked over to her hammer, Mjolnir. The hammer head seemed to be formed around a device similar to the core in Thor's chest.
"With nowhere else to go and no place to call home, Loki offered me a place on the Valkyrie."
"And ever since, she's been a pain in my ass," Fen added, as she stepped back, "there, now you can actually be seen in public and not embarrass yourself."
"You are such a bitch, Flag-face." Thor stated as the twins proceeded to rinse her down.
The next day, Fen, Thor, and Loki proceeded into the vault with the intention of conquering it. After the thorough cleaning from Fen, Thor discovered that her bionics had been off thanks to the sediments build up interfering with her functionality, but now she felt noticable lighter and freer in her range of motion. She hated to admit it, but Fen had been right.
With the three of them, they quickly tore through the many levels of the vault. Every trap, every enemy, every bit of opposition proved little challenge to the two Valkyrie.
As the vanguard, Thor's speciality was defence. She could tank whatever damage was thrown at her and dish it back twice as hard. And her ability to aggro enemies to her, then lock them down with her energy sheilds made her the perfect frontrunner for the raid. While Thor was a defence specilist, Fen was completely offensive, using her chains to cut apart the enemy, and if they came across any sort of beast, she could just take control of it with her beast tamer abilities.
It took longer than Loki had originally expected to make their way through fhe vault, because aside from the regular physical defenses made to hinder their progress, there were also many puzzles and traps that required more finesse and intelligence to break through.
It took them just under a full week, camping within the vault for days on end, but eventually, they reached the end of the vault. Before the large doors to the treasury was a massive sphinx, with the body of a winged lion below the waist of her humanoid female torso, which was naked, and the head of a lioness. The creature held a massive golden staff.
"So is that the guardian of the treasury?" Fen asked
"YOU TRESPASS UPON A VAULT OF THE ANCIENTS!" the sphinx declared, her voice projected loudly through the room. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR FACE JUDGEMENT!"
"Great guardian, I am Nex Loki," Loki stated,
The sphinx gasped, as if she recognized the name, "THE FALLEN ONE! THE GREAT DECEIVER!"
"You know of me?" Loki asked
The sphinx hesitated, "I... DO NOT REMEMBER. IT HAS BEEN SO LONG... MY MIND IS WEARY... FROM BEFORE..."
"What are you?" Loki asked,
"I WAS APPOINTED AS THE GUARDIAN OF THIS VAULT BY THE ADMINISTRATOR."
"The administrator?" Fen mused, "the manager of the world system set up these vaults?"
The sphinx was motionless for a moment, before turning to look at Loki and his party
"LORD NEX LOKI, THE ADMINISTRATOR HAS BEEN MADE AWARE OF YOUR PRESENCE!" she said, "SHE DEMANDS AN AUDIENCE WITH YOU AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE!"
Loki looked puzzled, "why doesn't the administrator contact me directly, like she'd been doing since I woke up here?"
It was the sphinx's turn to look confused, "THE ADMINISTRATOR HAS ONLY COME TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR RETURN JUST NOW! SHE HAS HAD NO PREVIOUS CONTACT WITH YOU!"
What?
Then who was Admin0, who has been messaging Loki all this time?
"Great sphinx," Loki said after a bit of thought, "I accept the Administrator's summons."
"VERY WELL." The sphinx said, slamming her staff on the ground, and an object appeared before Loki, it was a full length mirror made of shimmering dark crystal, framed in geometric bismuth.
Sensing a fair bit of power from it, Loki decided to appraise it.
[SCRYING MIRROR]
Legendary 1st-Grade item.
A tool of divination and remote viewing. Grants entry into the Astral Plane.
"Interesting," Loki mused, dispatching the item to his inventory, then turned back to the sphinx, "what happens now?"
"DO YOU WISH TO CLAIM THE TREASURES THAT LAY BEYOND THIS CHAMBER?" the sphinx asked
"Yes," Loki answered
The sphinx bowed her head, "THEN IT IS YOURS TO RECLAIM. MY STEWARDSHIP HAS ENDED. I MAY FINALLY REST!"
Suddenly the sphinx started to unravel, her massive body coming undone as she was released from whatever Geas kept her here. She had shrunk down considerably, reduced to the smokey mirage of a little girl. She smiled cheerfully at Loki before vanishing completely.
Thank you, Lord Loki.
Loki allowed himself a small smile. Something about her face was familiar, so he was glad she was at peace.
"C'mon, let's go." Loki said as he walked towards the doors of the treasury.
As he pushed them open, a window appeared before him.
[CONGRATULATIONS [NEX LOKI] YOU HAVE CONQUERED THIS VAULT! YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE TITLE [VAULT CONQUEROR] AND HAVE GAINED VICTOR'S RIGHTS OVER THE TREASURY! THE LEGACY OF THE ANCIENTS ARE IN YOUR HANDS!]
[ALERT! YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED 10x LEVELS AND 100,000 PNTS FOR YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!]
Inside the treasury was a massive chamber, filled with treasures; from chests of gold and jewels, to full sets of armor and weapons, and even shelves of scrolls, tomes, and stone tablets.
Thor whistled when she saw what was beyond the door, the sound echoing through the expansive room.
"This will do nicely." Loki grinned to himself.
It took the better part of a night to dispatch everything into Loki's inventory, which had near infinite storage.
By the time they were done, the chamber was completely empty.
On their way out of the vault, a new notification appeared before Loki. It was another message from Admin0.
[WELL DONE. YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK! MEETING THIS WORLD'S ADMINISTRATOR WILL BE A GREAT BOON FOR YOU. OF COURSE, I WILL ALSO ADD INCENTIVE FOR YOU. ONCE YOU HAVE MET WITH THE ADMINISTRATOR, I WILL PROVIDE YOU INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR HOME.]
Loki's eyes widened. If the Valkyrie were all here, then it stood to reason that his home, Asgard Tower, was also in this world, as it was linked to the Valkyrie, Yggdrasil.
"Very interesting," Loki mused to himself, "Alright, I'll play your game, Admin0. For now, at least."
* * *
The news that Loki, with Fen and Thor, managed to conquer the vault so quickly on their own was a great shock to the adventurers guild and city officials alike. When they found out that Loki had claimed all the treasures of the vault for himself, that provoked protest among the city leaders.
Loki went to meet with them, alone, to address their dissatisfaction abd discuss next steps.
"It was understood that a significant portion of the treasures would be awarded to the host city." One official complained,
"That is how it has been for centuries since the first vaults were conquered." Another added
"But is it not the host city's duty to provide support for the expedition to conquer a vault?" Loki argued, "yet I managed just fine on my own."
"That is besides the point," a minister deflected, "you were registered as an adventurer by this city, it is part of your patriotic responsibilities that you are expected to fulfill... or suffer penalties."
"Oh, I will, will I?" Loki mused, his eyes bright with challenge.
"It does not matter how powerful you are," one minister said, "you are still bound to the rule of law, just like the rest of us."
"I disagree. The way I see it; I currently have all the leverage in these negotiations, I have all the treasure, I have the rights to the vault, and I have my Valkyrie to enforce that right. The fact that you think I will acquiesce to your demands simply because you demand I do so was quite amusing at first –if not a bit insulting—, but it is quickly becoming annoying." Loki said, Rising from his seat, "You have no means to force me to do anything, even me informing you of my success was merely a courtesy on my part. Be warned, mortals, my goodwill, like my patience, is not infinite; next time, I will not be so understanding of your inadequacies."
Margaret, the city-lord, who had been silent until then, finally spoke up.
"Understood, lord Loki." She said, "thank you for the courtesy of telling us the vault has been conquered. Might I impose on you once more?"
Loki looked at her curiously, "what is it?"
"The vault holds more than treasures, it also holds information from the time of the ancients. May we be allowed to study some of those records?"
Loki paused to consider this, before nodding, "I don't see a problem with that, but I reserve the right to withhold anything I deem irrelevant for you to learn."
Margaret tensed, before nodding.
"Your terms are acceptable," she said as they shook hands.
"You see?" Loki said, eyeing the others in the room,"that is how you negotiate."