Chapter 140 What's Wrong?

Alice's red eyes surveilled the horizon, sadness overwhelming her as she cursed humanity's fate.

The war wasn't going their way, but at the very least there was still some hope. But in the end their enemy was far more powerful that they had expected.

Even if they somehow manage to defeat the Ragnarok Heralds, what awaited them were monstrosities that far surpassed everything they've faced before, and one of them just so happened to show up at their door.

If it wasn't for Sam's quick thinking they would've ran out of time long ago. But the cost of that was him going into enemy territory where the likelihood of him surviving wasn't high.

As the commander of the base she believed that she should've been the one to go, however Sam forbade her from showing her face to the silver haired Nephilim.

"Say, Shizuru." She spoke to the Asian girl standing a small distance behind her. "What did Sam mean by his last message?"

~◇~

The obsidian palace was large but empty. Blue torches decorated the giant pillars that held the high ceiling above their heads, casting a weak glow on the surroundings giving it a peculiar vibe one would never expect from the home of a technological miracle.

Sam followed after the two Nephilim feeling the tension in the air with each step.

The surroundings gradually brightened the further in they went and eventually they reached what he immediately recognized as the throne room.

A deep trench ran through the edge of the circular space filled with azure flames the light of which reflected on the obsidian walls. Only one thin bridge led to the center where a short set of stairs led to an elevated platform.

Looking down at the entrance was a large chair with a tall back carved out of the same obsidian material of the palace walls. Sitting on it was a littls girl whose blue skin was something Sam recognized all too well.

Having crossed the bridge, Mjölnir and Black Thorn went down on on one knee and lowered their heads.

Though he was tempted to do the same at first, Sam stood in his place and kept his head high, his eyes locked on the girl with the red halo over her head.

"I see you have returned, Mjölnir." The girl spoke, her voice calm but overbearing.

"Yes, your highness." The silver haired Nephilim spoke.

"Am I right to assume you've completed the task I entrusted you with?"

"Indeed." Inserting her hand into a wall of haze, Mjölnir took out the heart she had ripped out of Miku's cannon. "As expected, the humans had no idea what it was they're playing with. The use of Baldr's Light had been coincidental. An experiment that yielded uncalculated results."

"Is that so…" shifting her gaze to the purple haired one, the queen added. "It seems you've been right all along, Black Thorn."

"I simply did not believe that humans had the cognitive ability to understand Arts." Said the second Nephilim. "At most, it was just an attempt at mimicking what they've seen us perform."

"That's reasonable."

As if acknowledging his existence for the first time, the girl turned her red irises to Sam, her expression remaining unchanged for a while.

"And? Is this the human responsible for the creation of that heart?" She asked.

"Yes." Black Thorn answered. "According to him, he used the inferior version found in the so called Valkyries as a stepping stone, adding his own modifications to achieve the final result."

"Hmm… that's quite impressive." Said the queen. "Only father should be capable of such feat. I guess each world has at least one brain on the same level."

As she looked into his eyes, Sam was overwhelmed with a great deal of discomfort. Though her words could be interpreted as praise, the man could feel the condescension in her gaze. She didn't need to say a single word for him to understand. That girl saw him as nothing more than an insect; an insignificant creature she could trample by the slightest move of her slender limbs.

"Human, name yourself." She spoke after a long silence.

"Sam Sanderson." He replied.

"I see." Closing her eyes, Hela leaned on the armrest of her throne, resting a hand against her cheek. She remained silent for a few seconds before looking at him once again. "And? What's your goal from asking to stand before me? Don't tell me you plan on asking for mercy after all of this?"

"Mercy?" Sam said, his eyes narrowing. "I believe it's too late for something like that."

"Indeed. Your kind deserves no such thing. Thus I'm here to ensure that you will be eliminated from the face world and any other you have infested."

There were no emotions in her voice. As she spoke of a never ending massacre, the little girl with the blue skin showed no sign of care for the lives she took or the ones she was about to take.

Sam was unfazed by her statement. The terror he felt up to that point made it so that nothing could add to his fears making it possible for his to stand his ground at the heart of the enemy's territory.

"You seem to have a very deep rooted disdain for humans." He commented, studying the queen's expression to the best of his abilities.

"You are a smart person, Sam Sanderson. You should already know that humans deserve every bit of hate that comes their way." Hela scoffed, her lips curving up a little. "You can't even stand your own kind, how do you expect your superiors to see you in that case?"

"Hate, huh…" gazing at the Nephilim queen for a few seconds, Sam heaved a long sigh, a smile forming on his face the next moment. "Somehow, I feel rather relieved."

Though she maintained her somber expression, the girl's left brow twitched once, the irritation she tried to hide surfacing despite her efforts.

"And why is that, may I ask?"

Her subtle reaction didn't escape Sam's attention even with the distance that separated them. As he prepared to give her his answer, the smile he had allowed to form on his face only broadened. After all he was about to completely shatter the Nephilim's perceptions and beliefs. The likelihood of him living after that would most likely cease to exist, however it was already that way the moment he left the forty sixth base to come all the way here.

Even when he was sure of his approaching death, Sam simply couldn't resist. "Despite all the expectations I had on the way here, now that I got to talk to you I can say for sure." looking the Nephilim queen dead in the eye and spoke with a joyful tone. "You are human. Just like the Valkyries, just like your creator."

A chilling sensation spread throughout the throne room.

Mjölnir lifted her head despite herself, turning around to look at the human with wide eyes. Black Thorn did the same and the next second they all felt the weight of the queen's glare.

It wasn't just an illusion. As he found himself forced to his knees Sam struggled to breath, however the smile he had never disappeared.

'Gravity manipulation? Seriously?'

The pressure kept increasing and soon enough he was on all fours. Hela's anger kept swelling as she slowly crushed him with her spell, however the next moment she came to a stop realizing she was playing right into his hand.

"Me? Human?" She spoke, her lips curling into a mocking smirk. "That's the best joke I've heard since the day I opened my eyes for the first time."

"It is… it is funny indeed…" Sam said between the pants. "Don't be mistaken… I'm not saying… we are on the same level… or that you aren't our superior…" taking a deep breath, he lifted his head and gazed at the queen once more. "That said, everything you did, every action you took, it's all ironically human. You're drunk on power and see everyone else as an inferior. You hate anyone who opposes you and resorts to silencing them the moment they step out of line. I'm not sure how things went in your original world, however over here history is full of people like you; tyrants who seek to impose their self centered ideals on everyone else, thinking they're superior simply because of the fact that they own some form of power or wealth."

The more he spoke the more cracks spread in the queen's composed act. Sam had a lot more to say, but his time seemed to be running out.

The Nephilim queen struggled to keep her rage under control. She could've killed him many times over by now, however something told her that doing so would be akin to admitting that she had lost.

As she went between her choices trying to determine how she should react to the insolence of the worthless human male, a large rectangular screen spawned in front of her showing a vague map of the world.

Her eyes went wide as one of the three large red dots spread around flickered twice before disappearing. The east was clear and the north followed soon. The west was the only one left, but that too disappeared soon enough.

As the remaining Ragnarok Heralds vanished one after the other, Hela could only stare in disbelief.

"What's wrong, O almighty Nephilim queen." Sam said, slowly pushing himself up to his feet. "Could it be that things aren't going the way you expected them to be?"