Chapter 144 Alice.

With the threat of her illness gone, Alice went on to live a relatively normal life for a while.

She was finally healthy enough to go outside, under Heilung's constant watch, of course. He would often take her out for walks, doing his best to allow her to experience the things she missed because of her illness. She was energetic and cheerful, her brilliant smile bringing happiness to anyone who saw her.

The only hurdle was her growth. Unlike a normal human, her new body didn't grow on its own and needed constant adjustments to fit her mental growth. Though he preferred the idea of his little girl remaining the way she is, Heilung knew that's something he couldn't have.

Life was at its best during those times, however everything good eventually comes to an end. An incredible technological advancement such as the ASC wouldn't go unnoticed for long. With what was basically the secret to immortality at stake humanity started showing its worst side. Heilung was forced to acknowledge the effects his invention had on humanity, however after careful consideration he refused to share the technology with the rest of the world.

The reason was fairly simple; the limited resources available on earth meant only a few would have the privilege of using the technology. The wealthy and powerful already saw themselves as gods. If they ever get their hands on it, they would no longer have to abide by the rules of the mortals and no obligation to help the rest of humanity ascend to their level.

Obviously his wishes were irrelevant to those who see themselves above humanity. One thing they didn't take into account was Heilung's resolve to stand his ground and fighting back. The more they tried to pressure him the stronger he got. His image in the eyes of the public was twisted beyond recognition. They turned him into a cartoonish mad scientist with a god complex, convincing the world that he wished to subjugate all life to do his bidding. Alice was different however. Even at a very young age, everyone could see that her beauty was something that went beyond what's humanly possible, and those who wanted her for more than one reason used that to their advantage and spread some rather dark rumors to achieve that end.

At some point the young Alice became known as Freyja, the goddess of love and beauty. Many worshipped her all around the world, however Heilung wasn't granted such reverence. Instead of Njörðr, Freyja's father, he was given the name Odin, the information related to him manipulated to erase the relation between him and his daughter.

The public became convinced that Alice was a poor child captured by a sick man with despicable desires causing their wrath grew stronger, but in the end there wasn't much they could've done.

While he cared about humanity enough to keep them from having his invention, he had no intention on sitting around and waiting for them to come and get it. In order to keep his daughter safe from their greedy hands he embraced the sinister identity they forced on him and didn't hesitate in eradicating anyone who tried their luck.

While he was busying himself with fending against the greedy humans, another problem found its way into his and his daughter's life. Considering her situation, Alice didn't get the chance to interact with anyone beside her father. With no friends to play with she was eventually forced to make one of her own.

Imaginary friends were common among children so Heilung saw no problem with her having one, however things were never that simple. On one of the rare peaceful days where the humans left them alone Alice asked something from her father for the first time.

Her friend, someone she came to call her sister, was wondering if she could have a body of her own. The innocent little girl was sure her beloved father would be able to create something like that and so she came to him with her request.

At first he wanted to dismiss it as fantasies brought forth by the loneliness she must've felt back then, however he decided to do some diagnosis just to be on the safe side.Tit was then that he made a chilling discovery.

A scan of the child's head revealed two distinct sets of brain patterns. It wasn't something on the same level as dissociative identity disorder; a second consciousness had formed in Alice's brain, one completely separate from her own.

Heilung failed to understand how something like that is possible, but one thing he could tell was that it would be too dangerous to allow it to continue living in his daughter's head.

Once he found a way to separate the two, he isolated the new consciousness and observed it for a while. Communication was possible and soon enough he learned a few things about it.

The consciousness had the mental capacity of a child. When he asked it how long has it been since it came to be the answer he recieved was seven years, Alice's age at the same time.

The consciousness believed it had been there all along, having vague memories of the things Alice saw and heard. It made sense since they shared the same mind, however their speech patterns and personality were different informing him that they were two distinct beings.

That said, he still wasn't so keen on giving something he didn't understand a body of its own, however the moment it asked if it was his daughter as well he immediately gave in to her demands.

~◇~

"And that's how the first and second Nephilim were born." Loki concluded, her eyes locked on Hela's.

"You…" the blue skinned girl didn't seem too pleased with the story, her face twisted into a terrifying scowl. "How do you know about that?"

"My~, sister, I'm sure I've mentioned it before." Loki said, her smile not faltering. "The Nephilim and the Valkyries were created from Freyja, from Alice. I on the other hand came from copying Odin's brain pattern. Though most of them were erased, I still retained some of his memories."

"I don't remember hearing about such thing." Hela said. "So you're a clone of father?"

"Eh? Well, when you put it like that..." Something about that reaction seemed off, however no one pointed it out, listening as she explained. "I was specifically made to monitor the cleaning process of the extracted neural patterns, the ones used to create the Valkyries. Only Odin is capable of navigating something of such complexity but he couldn't do it while leading the humans of this world in the war."

"You…" unable to keep his silence anymore, Sam took a step forward. "What did you just say?"

He was listening the entire time and he heard her loud and clear. That said, the story was unbelievable to say the least.

"Hm? What's wrong, Sam?" Loki said, shifting her gaze toward him. "Is there something you don't understand?"

It wasn't that he didn't understand; he simply couldn't believe what he heard. After all, if everything she said is true, that would mean…

"The Valkyries are unknown consciousnesses born from Alice's brain." Holding a hand up, the Asian girl snapped her fingers, resuming her explanation the next second. "This is just a theory, but we believe the reason behind the phenomenon is that she was too young. Unlike Odin who had undergone the change in his adulthood, Alice had yet to develop self-awareness and a grasp on her own existence."

As she spoke, a number of golden runes appeared behind the woman named Loki. As they formed a ring that began to spin at the tip of her finger, small square shapes flickered into existence forming lines that joined into a large rectangle on the floor.

Sam was on high alert not knowing what kind of magic -or Art as they call it- she was using, however Alice seemed aware of it as she tensed up even more.

"As you might've already guessed, my cute older sister over there wasn't the only other entity that was born from Alice's brain." As she spoke, the large rectangle behind Loki slowly raised up, something appearing from underneath it. "New ones appeared one after the other, and no matter how many he extracted, Odin was unable to put an end to it. However he couldn't just leave them alone; there is a limit to how many minds a single brain can hold, and if the new ones aren't extracted in time, Alice's very existence would've been threatened."

Once it reached a certain height, the rectangular shape disappeared into thin air leaving behind what looked like a large black container. Staring at it for a moment Sam couldn't help but think it looked familiar. He soon remembered it being among the stuff Wolf brought with him during his last visit; the container was unable to open at the time.

"Alice." Shizuru -Loki- called the white haired commander, holding her hand out as if asking her to come over.

Sam held his hand up and stood between the two, however the woman he thought was his girlfriend smiled and spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"You as well, Sam. There is a reason Odin left this with you."

At that moment Sam felt many things. Fear, anger, confusion, doubt. However the strongest of them all might've been curiosity. Glancing behind him, his eyes met those of Alice. The things they had just heard weren't easy to process; they brought her whole existence into question and the only one who knows the answer is the woman called Loki.

Unable to wait anymore, Sam took a step toward her. Alice followed after him, fear making her weak in the knees. Once they were in front of her, Loki motioned at the control panel attached to the container.

"You go first, Sam." She said. "Alice can't open it without your handprint being added first."

Glancing at Alice one more time, Sam turned to the container and placed his hand on the screen of the control panel which turned red as it denied him access. Moving aside he made way for Alice.

Feeling an incredible amount of stress, the white haired commander looked her lover in the eyes, shifting her gaze to Shizuru then to the Nephilim queen. She hoped that everything that's happening is just a long bad dream, but sadly no matter how much she tried it didn't seem like she's going to wake up any time soon.

Still clinging to the possibility, she took a step forward and placed her right hand on the small rectangular screen.

The control panel turned green and with a clicking sound the container began to unfold. In the short time of five seconds everything inside was unveiled and with the exception of the one named Loki everyone present had their eyes torn open with shock.

Inside the container were a number of devices, but what stood out the most among them was a large glass pod much like that of Eir. The green liquid filling it and the flickering lights from the terminal at its side told that it was active, however what made that more apparent was what was placed inside.

It was a young girl. A child that has yet to even reach the age of ten. She was so small it made the youngest of Valkyries seem like adults, but her most striking feature was the long white hair flowing around her, blending perfectly with the color of the summer dress she wore.

As he looked at the child floating inside the glass container, Sam felt the world around him slowly vanish, the sound of his heartbeat getting louder and louder.

When he came all the way to the enemy's stronghold he thought he had some control over the situation at the very least. When the negotiations went his way he had to force himself to delay the celebration, knowing very well that their victory was still far away.

Now however he no longer felt anything. Just like when he saw what he thought was his girlfriend walk into the throne room, his mind simply could not comprehend what was going on.

After all what's in front of him right now is the motionless body of his childhood friend. Floating inside the cylindrical glass container was none other than the Alice he knew. The same Alice from twenty years ago.