Chapter 170 Not Human.



Once she put on her uniform, Nino returned to the lab and took the seat Sam offered her before. 

She seemed way more nervous than before and more conscious of every move the Doctor made. Being pinned against the wall made her feel quite awkward and she felt her face heating up whenever she remembered the way he whispered in her ear.

"Did you notice anything strange about the intruders?"

Sam on the other hand was completely calm. It was somewhat irritating how normal he was acting as if none of what he did mattered, but thanks to his attitude Nino managed to overcome her embarrassment soon enough. 

"Are you asking if I noticed that they recognized me?" She replied to his question with another one, confident that was the part he wanted to know.

"Their leader, Perseus, seemed quite shocked when you first attacked." Tapping on the keyboard beside him, Sam summoned a couple of floating windows showing the encounter. "The others too. Their confusion at your sudden appearance didn't end there. They kept following you with their eyes as if studying every move you made, and by the end of it they didn't show any sign of whatever they had in mind being wrong."

"That dark-skinned woman… Antia was her name, right?"

Sam nodded urging her to continue.

"She said I wasn't her after all. Maybe they mistook me for someone they knew…"

"Someone who's been missing... or dead…"

Silence filled the lab and went on for a while. When he brought up the topic Nino first thought was that he had suspicions about her, however if he thought she was working for the enemies wouldn't he have had his guards around?

"It might just be a coincidence, but from my experience, I very much doubt it is."

"You think?" 

"Yes."

At this point Sam no longer believed in anything being a coincidence. That said, if he wants to discover the truth his only choice would be to engage with the invaders once more.

"Those people… they aren't like us, are they?" Nino asked, attempting to keep the conversation going.

"They're biological creatures, at the very least."

Seeing the blood splatter after Five cut that woman's arm shocked Sam. Before that he was a 100% sure they were the same synthetic beings as him and the Valkyries, but turns out they were biological beings, though not human.

The dark-skinned woman, named Antia, passed out from blood loss soon after Nije's rampage which made capturing her an easy task. Wolf and Elina ran a few tests on her and the grim reaper looking man and learned a few things about their kind.

They're made of flesh and bone, but their genetic makeup is different from that of humans, which should've been obvious just by looking at their internal organs.

The fact that they're from another dimension doesn't play any part in it according to Wolf. The humans of his world and Sam's were identical which allowed his medical expertise to transfer between worlds without a problem. 

The same can't be said about the invaders. It'll take some time to study them, and more than one autopsy will be needed. That said, one thing that still boggles Sam is their ability to create and manipulate runes. 

'Now that I think about it, I never asked the old man about them…'

The thought occurred to him before but he somehow keeps forgetting about it. The runes are symbols that, if arranged in a specific order and conditions, would create phenomena from teleportation to drawing energy and materials from other dimensions. The problem is where do they originate from?

'Greetings, lower realm residents.'

The words the youth said upon his arrival bothered Sam quite a bit as well. Was he trying to mock them or did his words have more meaning behind them? If by realm he means dimension, does that mean there is some kind of hierarchy, with humans being among the lower life forms?

"Um… your phone. It's ringing…" 

Sam was so deep in thought that Nino had to inform him of the call. Seeing Elina's naked on the screen he instantly guessed what she had to say and quickly picked up.

"Is she awake?" 

[Yes. She seems calm right now, suspiciously so.] Elina replied.

"Alright. I'll be there in a minute." 

The moment Sam got up Nino did the same. He looked her way wondering whether he should dismiss her or not, taking only a few seconds to make his decision. 

"You'll be on guard duty starting today." He said, taking his phone and making another call. "Ichigo, come to the lab."

Nino didn't understand what he meant by guard duty right away, and when she did her cheeks began to redden again. 

"D-did you need me for something, Doctor?" Ichigo arrived after a few seconds, but instead of coming in she remained at the entrance. The barrier around the lab isolated it from the outside world to prevent direct teleportation into its interior. It is for that reason he's able to stay there without having anyone to guard him in the meantime. 

Ichigo looked quite nervous as she stole glances at Sam, her cheeks flushed. He already knew how she felt toward him and looked forward to tasting her, however her excessive shyness bothered him a little so he decided to keep her close so she would get over it.

"You'll take over for Nine until her punishment is over." Sam said.

"Y-yes! I'll do my best!" The pink-haired Valkyrie replied, her expression brightening quite a bit.

Nino was sure of it now. Guard duty was reserved for the Doctor's personal Valkyries. Ichigo already said that she wants to be one, and now he was making her do guard duty. That meant the two of them were already on the road to becoming his personal Valkyries. 

Being the Doctor's personal Valkyries meant one thing: sex. They'll spend the entire day with him and once the night arrives they'll go to his room and do all those things until their shift ends the next day.

'Isn't… isn't this a bit too early!!?' Nino thought to herself. 'We still barely know each other!'

Of course everything was just a misunderstanding on Nino's part. While he did plan on sleeping with all of the Valkyries at some point, Sam was in no rush at the moment. His reason for bringing her along was obvious so he felt no need to mention it, but the young Valkyrie whose head was filled with all sorts of fantasies was quick to jump to conclusions.

"Alright then," Sam said as he walked out of the lab. "Let's go."

"Yes!" 

Replying in unison, the two Valkyries quickly took their place and followed behind the man, each struggling with her expectations for what might happen later that day.