Chapter 147 - White Silhouette

(Present time during Adam Rosa's infiltration in Niflheim before he had stolen the Book of Alacrity) 

"The night had not changed how the Grand City looked at all. After all these years, this place is still rotten." Adam said to himself as he remembered the time of his youth. He glanced at the Grand Castle in disgust. "I shall bring this country its feet soon enough. And then we will see each other once again, mother." 

Adam thought about the night of the incident. There was no mystery as to if he did or did not do it himself, it was far too obvious already, he killed Luken's sister and the other members of the Six Blades.

For one last time, he decided to recall what had happened which lead to that massacre. 

(A few days before the massacre of half of the Six Blades.)

Adam Rosa fondly remembered his mother. He was now a man holding the title of the number one ranked Slayer in the Slayer Corps. The way that he fought was absolutely methodical and done with such sheer ease that all the Angels he fought were dead in under five minutes all in all.

Everyone in Niflheim had looked up to the Reaper, as he was affectionally called as such. The Grim Reaper for mankind, he was the personification of mankind's unwillingness to relent and go extinct without fighting. With him at the helm and leading various missions, mankind was slowly rising up. During this time, the top two ranked Slayer was the Basilisk Slayer, his best friend, Artorias Khalil.

Without ever saying it, Adam knew that his friend saved him from being sunken down into the deepest depths of despair. Artorias grabbed his hand before he could fall even deeper. After healing Artorias up, they both went back to the Grand Castle on the eight day, the Basilisk Slayer back then stood by his friend and said that he would not condone it if the High Council went on with their decision to murder Adam.

As they were threatened by the young boy's words, they knew that they needed the political support and funds that all the other subsidiaries that the Khalil family owned if they were to continue with this war, if they were to even stand a chance, they needed the Khalil family's influence itself, and they could not do anything to him, that was how much Artorias placed everything on the line for his dear friend.

Seeing the genuine emotions his best friend showed while trying to appeal his case to the High Council, citing that his mother's death was something that could warrant one day of being late in coming back and that it should be excused and understood. 

Adam Rosa was still living for his mother now, but not for her well-being anymore, as she was no longer here, instead, for her dreams in her son. Her aspirations as to what he was meant to become, to be the beacon for humanity, that was his new-found goal. 

He smiled after remembering how stupid he was as a kid, trying to throw everything away like that. Luckily, he had Artorias with him, he really did not think how bleak the future would have been if he went through with his initial plan of running away from the government and the High Council as well as murdering any pursuers.

A dream visited Adam in his sleep that night, it started out with a vague memory of him and his mother. She was cooking the potato stew which he bought the ingredients for after his twelfth birthday.

"Wait, wait a minute! This never happened at all, mother! W-When I arrived at our house…you…you were dead already!" Adam Rosa exclaimed in his dreams.

When suddenly, all sense of time seemed to stop in his dreams. Nothing moved, it was like everything was halted in place. The happy expression of his mother paused, as did everything. A shining silhouette of a person appeared behind her, the person's features were far too bright to make something out of, but it was obvious that it was a woman.

"Adam Rosa, I can bring your mother back from the dead. Your dear beloved mother. If you do as I say, then your loyalty to me shall ultimately be rewarded with her re-entering the realm of the living." The silhouette said.

"What do you mean? How am I supposed to trust someone whose face I cannot even see at all?" Adam responded back. 

The silhouette walked towards him and whispered something. "Jen Vanta. She was a ten year old child who died the same day as your mother did, to show you that my feats are not all talk and empty words, I shall revive her. After you wake up from your slumber, go to the brown oak house beside the well in the Grand City, ask the family there what happened to Rose Vanta. When you finish asking them, come back the next day and I will show you that there is truth in what I say." She said before snapping her fingers and resuming the stopped time altogether. Leaving Adam Rosa to enjoy the what-if scenario of him coming back to his mother when he was twelve.

The very next day, Adam wrestled the though of actually going to the Vanta family's residence and asking of Jen. He did not even know what the silhouette meant when she said those words. Against his better judgment, he still did so. He introduced himself to the family but they already knew who he was. "Ah! It if isn't the Reaper, what brings you to our humble abode, sir?" The patriarch of the family greeted him excitedly. The Reaper peeked into the door as they welcomed him in. At first glance, he noticed that the house was in disarray, it was clean on the outside but the inside of it was a mess.

Adam saw that there were only three people here, the father who greeted him, the mother who sat on a chair looking ghastly depressed, and another kid with empty eyes.

"I-I am here under the requests of the Emperor himself, I was sent to review the houses on the Grand City one by one and see the well-being of the residents…" Adam Rosa lied, sweat began to drip from his temple.

"Well, as you can see, our house is still a mess, we are trying to find a cure for the illness that took our dear Jen away…" The father said. His words were like a clang that rang on his ears, this meant that the woman in his dreams was right about the kid named Jen Vanta who died on the same day as his mother did. Adam Rosa froze. "S-She was right. But still, that does not mean anything at all, I may have heard the name at one point in time and it just manifested in my dreams subconsciously, I shall come back tomorrow to see what the woman meant, if she even made any sense at all or was it just a figment of my dreamlike imagination?" Adam thought to himself.

He bid farewell to the family after he got the information he needed, he talked about Jen Vanta and her untimely death. All the information that the woman pointed out was accurate, but it was going to be what was going to happen tomorrow which would skew the Reaper's mind. For the night, he had trouble sleeping, constantly twisting and turning. Finally, tomorrow came without delay, he had set out early morning to the Vanta family's household.

Adam Rosa knocked on the door twice, but he was greeted with no response at all. He knocked two times more and still, there was no feedback from the Vantas.

When he looked at the window though, everything changed. Not only for him, but for mankind and the entire course of history as a whole. There were now four people in the household, the father, mother, the child, and another child as well. "Who is that?" Adam asked.

The father noticed him peering into the window has hurriedly invited him inside. "I-It is you, sir Rosa! C-Could you believe it!? It is my child! Jen! She had come back to life!" He was in tears as he said that, the mother was hugging Jen as well. "Thank goodness you are back!"

Adam was taken aback to what he was witnessing. He could not help but fall flat on his back. "I-Impossible…" This meant that there was now a clear wrench thrown in the cog of Adam's goals. He took a long hard look at Jen, he even asked her a couple of questions. 

"H-How did you come back to life?" he asked the child.

"I do not know, mister, I felt like I was floating around a void of endlessness, then suddenly, a speck of light shone so bright that I had to walk towards in.. That was the last thing I would remember."