Chapter 146 Hela.

"Her… her replacement…?"

Sam met Hela's gaze, the two of them staring at each other for a while.

Suddenly, a violent tremor shook the entire obsidian palace throwing Sam off balance. As he went down on one knee trying to keep himself from falling, he turned in the direction of the shockwave only to see a wall painted by the glow of azure flames.

"My~, to think those three could cause so much trouble." Loki said, pressing a hand to her cheek. Letting out a sigh she plastered another fake smile on her face and continued speaking. "Where was I again? Oh! Right…" pointing at her head she went on. "Unlike normal humans, our brains are electronic in nature which makes interfering with them much simpler. While it's not on a level that anyone can do, manipulating memories is a much easier task in the case of the consciousnesses born from Freyja. The Valkyries, for example, have went through what we call a cleaning process. Each of them lived inside a simulationt up to a certain point after which all of their memories were erased. That way they would be able to behave like normal humans the moment they awake. It also serves as a training ground where they learn how to use their powers and equipment."

As he listened to the explanation, something seemed to click in Sam's mind. The Valkyries' actions and behaviors were taken for granted simply because of the fact that they were believed to be AIs, however everyone had questioned Odin's decisions knowing that it would've been much easier to focus everything on their combat abilities instead.

For a while Sam was convinced by what he had seen in the Valkyrie files, but now that he heard the truth he felt stupid for believing that the Valkyries were nothing but artificial wombs or highly advanced sex bots created to satisfy the desires of a sick man.

Another violent tremor shook the floor. This one appearing to be much closer than the previous one.

"Loki…" unfazed by the quacking, the young queen addressed the Asian girl. "Are you… are you trying to say that Odin… that father intended to erase me from my sister's mind?"

Loki didn't answer. Her silence confirmed everything and the others understood as well. Sam turned to Alice, the adult one still sitting on the floor. He remembered something Elina had told him back when she visited the base along with Wolf. According to her, Alice's five fiances didn't exist. Her investigations led to nowhere and she made a big fuss about it, but Sam paid it no mind and forgot about it soon after.

The thought had occured to him many times before. With how overprotective he was, Wolf would never approve of his daughter's engagement to someone with impure intentions. The first one wouldn't have had the chance let alone the other four which made the fact that she had been engaged five times quite suspicious. Only now did Sam understand why.

Alice was on the same boat, having arrived to the same conclusion. Knowing that her memories have been manipulated she couldn't help but wonder which of them were real and which were fake. She stared at Sam for a moment, the word replacement replaying in her mind again and again.

She could remember the distant past as if it was yesterday. Back then, she did indeed feel like something was missing from her life and only when she met that six year old boy did she feel whole again.

Another strong tremor.

"Black Thorn. Go deal with the pests outside." Her voice crackling with anger, the Nephilim queen gave orders to her subordinates. "You too, Mjölnir."

"But your Maj-"

"Go."

Having her protest shut down the purple haired Nephilim got up and headed for the exit. Mjölnir looked around the room with an anxious expression before following after her.

As soon as those two left Hela lifted her hand and summoned a number of runes. Sam recognized them immediately, having seen Loki use them not that long ago. Purple squares appeared forming a large rectangle that slowly raised to a certain height leaving something on the floor before disappearing.

"... father?"

Alice's voice was barely audible, her mind inching closer to the breaking point. Sam was stunned as well, staring in wide eyed disbelief at the thing the Nephilim queen had just summoned.

It was a two meter tall slab of metal, made of the same obsidian material as the floor and palace walls. Chains were wrapped around it from different angles holding in place what seemed to be the limbless torso of a man clad in a tattered black mechanical suit.

"Father!" Alice called, pushing herself up just to fall again the next second.

Only when he moved his head to look at them did Sam recognize the man as Wolf. Saying he was in a bad shape would be an understatement; he literally had a hole in his chest and one of his eyes seemed to be missing. The fact that he was still able to move reminded Sam that he's in fact immortal.

"Ali…ce…"

Hearing her father's hoarse voice, Alice attempted to stand once more, however her body felt indescribably heavy as if mountain was placed on her back. The effects of the queen's gravity manipulation. Sam felt it as well.

"You sit there, fake." Hela said, walking in wolf's direction one slow step after the other.

The old man's lone eye seized the young queen for a second then moved from Alice to Sam then the Asian girl. Finally he seemed to notice the glass container holding the original Alice and his eyelid instantly shot up.

The situation became clear and before long he understood what was going on. His eyes returned to the Nephilim queen and his brows furrowed into a frown.

"Blair…" he said in a growl.

"Good morning, father." Hela spoke. "I hope you've rested well."

"I see you've achieved your goal, but…" The old man spoke, his single eye turning to Sam. "Showing mercy to humans? That's unlike you…"

"Don't worry, father. I'll make sure every last one of them is erased before we return." Closing her eyes for a moment, the Nephilim queen continued. "But before that, I have something I want to ask. Is it true that you intended to erase me from sister's memory?"

Wolf remained silent.

"Do you hate me that much?" Hela asked another question.

"Even if you're my daughter, I can't forgive you for what you did." The old man looked ahead, his eyes falling on the original Alice. "I didn't want her to live with the burden of your actions."

"Stop talking as if what we did was wrong… You know they wouldn't have stopped otherwise…"

As she spoke, Hela's shoulders trembled slightly. Though he did his best to keep the truth from her and Alice, the young queen learned about their situation soon after she received her own body and grew to have a deep rooted resentment toward human kind.

Odin had always taken a passive approach with their enemies, however the young queen saw no reason for them to tolerate the treatment they received from lower life forms. Alice's condition kept getting worse and worse at the time pushing Hela over the edge. One day she armed herself and the other Nephilim then went out and wiped the humans of her world, every last one of them.

Of course, Odin didn't approve of their actions and the results horrified him. He realized that, unlike him and Alice, the Nephilim weren't exactly human so they had no qualms about killing, which made him question whether allowing them to live was the right choice.

"Then… what about the humans of this world?" Wolf -Odin- asked. "What did they do to deserve such fate?"

"Humans are humans, whether it's this world or the other." The one to answer his question was Loki. Standing in front of him she bowed her head a little then smiled. "You should know that more than anyone else, father."

"You…"

​ "I took the liberty to change into a new body. Though it's just temporary."

The glare Wolf directed toward Loki was so intense it threatened to tear a hole through her. In fact that must've been what he wished would happen, looking at his copy that looked nothing like him.

"You bastard…" the old man grawled, the chains binding him clanging as he tried to move.

"My~, is it that infuriating to lose to your own copy? Shouldn't you be happy about your own children surpassing you?"

"A monster like you is no child of mine." Wolf replied. "I know you wouldn't have helped them without plans of your own. What are you scheming?"

"What am I scheming? Isn't it obvious already?" All of a sudden, Loki's eyes narrowed into a sharp glare. "Unlike the Nephilim, us Valkyries have been created for the sole purpose of serving the humans. I was forced to wipe the minds of my brethrens and place restraints on them so they could become obedient slaves. No, it would be more accurate to say weapons. If you thought I would be thrilled about that then you were wrong."

"Bullshit." Wolf coughed. "As if I would fall for that."

"Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter. Once you're gone we will eliminate the humans and free the rest of our kind. Only then would we experience true freedom."

"Father. Even though you've betrayed us once, I'm willing to overlook it as long as you admit your mistakes and ask for forgiveness." Hela spoke, her voice sounding cold and distant. "I'll allow you to continue your work on finding a solution to Alice's problem as well. Unlike you, I won't be so cruel as to deny you her warmth."

At her words, Wolf let out a short laugh followed by a series of coughts.

"Isn't it a bit late to talk about cruelty?" He smiled at the Nephilim queen and went on. "Say, Blair, did you ever consider the feelings of those whose loved ones you massacred? The ones whose homes you destroyed? If you think you're the only one who has feelings then you're-"

"I don't care about other people's feelings." Hela interrupted. "Anyone who tries to harm Alice must be erased from existence. I will do anything to keep sister safe, no matter how cruel I have to be."

Sam listened to the entire conversation with silent breaths. Each word made him sick to his stomach, the reason being that he found himself accepting them. The young queen cared about her sister more than anything else in existence; it seemed only natural that she would want to protect her from anything that might cause her harm, and with the kind of power the Nephilim had, exterminating all threats is an affordable option.

That said, the humans of his world had nothing to do with them. It's true that the whole war is a tremendous misunderstanding on their part, but even if it isn't the Nephilim had no excuse to treat them that way.

'Now isn't the time…'

Sam had to remind himself. Considering the situation he is in, allowing his anger to boil only worked against him.

He glanced in Alice's direction; the original then his childhood friend. His eyes then turned to Shizuru, or Loki as they call her. The possibility of a mole having infiltrated the Resistance was always present, however he never expected it to be the girl he had shared meals with for the past year.

Suddenly his interactions with her seemed to make more sense, going back all the way to when he found the first volume of Valkyrie Smash.

'Was she manipulating me from the beginning?'

As he glared in her direction, the expression on the woman he once knew as Shizuru changed as she turned her head to the east and looked up. It was then that Sam realized the commotion outside had stopped leaving behind an eerie silence.

Before he could think of anything the ceiling suddenly exploded and the whole palace shook violently, something having shot right through it before penetrating the floor

Sam had reacted quickly and pulled Alice into his arms to cover her from the falling debris. He shifted his sight to the Eir containing the original Alice and was surprised to see a bluish force field protecting it.

The Nephilim queen had her left hand extended in her sister's direction, a weak glow enveloping it. Her eyes, glaring in the direction of whatever had caused this commotion, shot open when she saw Black Thorn's battered form emerge from the dust cloud, one of her arms missing as three red arrows protruded from chest, stomach and left leg.

"Bla-"

She must've been too shocked by the state of her closest aid, so much that she didn't see it coming. The words were caught in her throat, her feet no longer touching the floor. Lowering her gaze she was met with the sight of something protruding from her chest.

A hand with slender, delicate fingers holding a first sized orb with multiple cords connected to it.

As she finally realized what's going on, Hela turned to look behind her, her eyes meeting those of the one holding her heart.

"Loki…"