BXBX NOVEL Chapter 136 The First Queen.
"Well, I don\'t really see a need to deny you that." Mjölnir said, remembering the reason she was there in the first place. "But first I want to know about this."
She reached out with her right hand which seemed to disappear into a thin wall of haze.
Sam\'s stress levels shot up to the sky as he desperately tried to keep his calm. Not only was he in the presence of an enemy that surpassed every Calamitiy they\'ve faced so far, he also had the burden of buying time placed on his shoulders.
The procedure has only reached 70% at this point. Unless he is able to somehow stall their inevitablel destruction till his personal Valkyries are ready, humanity will lose its last chance at survival.
A couple of seconds passed before the Nephilim retracted her hand. In it was a small fist sized object that Sam recognized very well causing his eyes to widen the moment he saw it.
"Were you the one who made this?" Mjölnir asked, placing the small orb on the table.
"Yes." Sam replied. "Though if you\'re asking whether I invented it from scratch then the answer would be no. All I did was modify the one Odin created, that\'s all."
"That\'s an impressive feat on its own." Said Mjölnir. "We have dissected some of what you call Valkyries. They\'re nearly identical to us except for some parts, one of them being the heart."
"I see…"
Though she spoke as if it wasn\'t that big of a deal, the revelation was so shocking that Sam\'s composed mask almost fell. She had already told them that the Nephilim were created by the same Odin who made the Valkyries, but to think the two creations had more in common than just appearance.
"Looking at this one here, I can tell that you were somehow able to upgrade the inferior version into one on the same level as ours." The Nephilim went on. "However I don\'t think you understand anything about Arts."
"Arts?"
"The attack from a few hours ago. That was an accident, wasn\'t it?"
Sam immediately knew what she was referring to. His first attempt at using the modified heart he created ended with him blowing up south America, eliminating one of the Ragnarok Heralds in the process.
"Indeed." He answered, bringing his cup up to take a sip. "I was surprised myself. Though it was my own idea, I didn\'t have high hopes in it actually succeeding."
"Whether it was an accident or not, it gave the queen another reason to proceed with final assault." Mjölnir said, her eyes narrowed. "Doctor Sanderson, do you even realize the severity of problems that might result from the careless use of Arts?"
"I am open to learning."
With every word that came out of his mouth the Nephilim became more convinced that he wasn\'t afraid of her. Logic made her think that having nothing to lose was the reason he\'s able to act that way, which was somewhat cool in her opinion.
Obviously she had no idea that it was all an act. Sam doen\'t know it himself but he is quite the talented actor. Coupled with the nerves of steal he had cultivated over the years he\'s able to control his fear while facing an enemy he couldn\'t hope to defeat.
A moment of silence passed as she observed him carefully. Looking down at the coffee table, the Nephilim picked the cup that was placed in front of her and brought it up to her mouth. The sweet aroma reached her nose and tickled her sense of smell, prompting her to take a sip.
As someone who doesn\'t have a need for water or food she usual went days or even weeks without eating anything, however that didn\'t mean she couldn\'t enjoy something tasty from time to time.
Her eyes drifted toward the tray of pastry, but she closed closed them the next second and fought the urge, shifting her gaze back to the human facing her and holding her hand up.
"This is the circle you used for that beam." As she spoke, a number of symbols flickered into existence over her palm. They were small and remained still, confirming that their movements can affect the resulting beam. "We call it the fifth art of destruction, Baldr\'s Light. Its use is strictly prohibited since it draws energy from another dimension."
"As I though…" Sam said, feeling a hint of excitement as another one of his theories was confirmed.
"As a scientist, you should be aware of the laws governing the universe, or at least some of them, right?"
"I like to think that I do."
"Well, you should know that each universe has a set amount of energy and matter, and that by bringing in more of either you risk causing it to collapse."
Sam\'s smile disappeared, the air around him changing. Mjölnir felt a chill run up her spine and she couldn\'t help but sit straight.
"So it\'s true…" Sam sighted, looking a bit down.
The law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, which meant there is a set amount in the universe. Bringing in even more would be like trying to force more water in an already full plastic bottle. If the pressure is strong enough it\'ll eventually explode.
"This universe has a lot of void so it won\'t be overwhelmed quickly, but if too much energy is spilled into it in one go you risk tearing the fabric of reality, which would result in everything being destroyed."
Finishing her explanation, Mjölnir took another sip from her cup. Sam remained silent for a while, holding his chin in thought. He noticed the Nephilim gazing at him and quickly put his fake smile back on.
"Thank you for informing me. I\'ve come to the same conclusion before, but with so little data on my hands I couldn\'t really prove it."
That said, just because she warned them of the consequences doesn\'t mean they\'ll hold off on using their most powerful weapon. Humanity had nothing to lose and with heir destruction being so close collapsing the universe was the last thing they needed to worry about.
"There is something I don\'t understand." Said Mjölnir. "You already know about the Arts yet your so called Valkyries still operate using the inferior version of a heart. Wouldn\'t giving them the new type raise your chances at survival?"
That was somewhat of a trick question. If the previous attack was just an accident it means the humans don\'t really know how to use Arts. The little time they have meant they can\'t do more experiments, that leaves them with Baldr\'s light as the only art which they know how to use.
Going by her encounter with the Valkyries guarding the base, it was clear that they opted to equip cannons with a second heart to allow the use of Baldr\'s light. However only one of them had that weapon, which made her wonder why they have yet to produce more.
"Sadly we don\'t have the materials." Sam answered, aware of her suspicion. "Creating the entire heart requires some really rare materials which aren\'t available here. Most of our weapons are manufactured in the headquarters and it was destroyed four days ago. Even if it wasn\'t, it would be all over long before we\'re done creating the new weapons." Taking a deep breath, Sam let out a sigh. "It\'s already our lose. The only reason we\'re still fighting is because you aren\'t allowing us to surrender."
"I… see…"
Seeing the defeated smile the male human wore, Mjölnir felt a strange pain in her chest. Weird thoughts started to form in her head and she found herself thinking of whether it\'s possible to put a stop to the massacre.
The humans weren\'t a threat and as long as they\'re careful when handling them they had no reason to eliminate all of them. But the queen had already given her orders, the only thing they could do at the moment is delay the inevitable.
"So, I\'ve answered your questions. Is it alright if I ask mine now?" Sam said, his expression becoming brighter as if a switch had been flipped.
"Go ahead." Mjölnir replied, feeling relieved at the return of his smile.
"Alright, first of all…" pausing for a moment, Sam\'s expression changed once more. "After giving it much thought I came to the conclusion that you, the Nephilim, aren\'t from our world. Is that correct?"
"Indeed." Mjölnir answered curtly, taking a sip of her tea. "We come from a parallel universe that resembles this one quite a bit."
"As I though." Sam\'s lips curled up. He was on his way to a bingo, having his theories confirmed one after the other. "The declaration from a few days ago said that you broke the chains of your creators. Am I right to assume that meant you overcome Odin\'s control over you and took over your own world?"
"Yes. Hela, our queen, saw that it\'s unreasonable for us to serve humans when we are their superiors in every aspect. She proved that by eradicating every last one of them, taking over the world and granting it to her followers."
Sam found himself unable to form any words. While he had guessed that the Nephilim came from a world other than his, the thought of what happened to the humans on that side never crossed his mind. Looking at the state of the world at the moment it made sense for the same to have happened for those that came before them, however that didn\'t make it any less terrifying.
A wave of nausea washed over Sam as he flipped the thought in his head. His face was growing pale by the second which made it difficult to keep his composed act going.
"So, only Valkyries… only Nephilim exist in your world?" He asked.
"Yes. The last human was Odin, but he had escaped at some point. Apparently he didn\'t agree with the queen\'s actions."
"I see…"
suddenly things began to make much more sense. At first Sam believed that Odin was just some thief who stole something Valuable from their enemy. The problem with that line of thought is that he never considered why the man did it.
In the declaration from a few days ago the Nephilim introduced themselves as a supreme race that\'s the rightful rulers of every world. When taking that into account it\'s safe to say that their queen isn\'t satisfied with ruling over her world and is out on a conquest to take over every world she comes across.
Odin was the one who created the Nephilim. Going by his actions, it seems he wasn\'t so happy about the massacre his creations committed.
\'Was he trying to put a stop to them this whole time?\'
Sam thought, remembering Shizuru\'s theory on what the Nephilim were looking for.
Odin stole a key component in the creation of the Nephilim. Without it they wouldn\'t be able to increase their numbers which is why they\'ve been chasing him this whole time.
He was trying to prevent another massacre from happening, however looking at the world\'s current state it\'s obvious that he has failed at doing so.
\'Did he decide to start over in next world?\'
For some reason the Valkyries he created here were inferior to their predecessors. That might\'ve prompted him to escape and try once more, leaving this world to face its doom like his original one.
"Are you still looking for him?" Sam asked.
There is a chance that their enemy is still unaware of Odin\'s disappearance. If that\'s the reason their attacks have yet to stop then he might be able to convince them to put an end to the war.
"Ah, we\'ve already captured him." Mjölnir said, placing her cup down.
Blood drained from Sam\'s face in an instant, his eyes going wide as the shock hit him in full force.
"When…"
"The queen found him the other day when she visited your headquarters." Said the silver haired Nephilim. "I hear he put up quite the fight, but in the end there is nothing he could\'ve done against her."
\'Odin was in the headquarters?\'
It was already a known fact that the scientist has abandoned humanity and escaped with his life and with everything considered, it was the most logical course of action.
If that really was the case, why did he risk staying?
\'What would Shizuru say about this?\'
Sam couldn\'t help thinking of his mystery loving girlfriend and what kind of theories she would come up with if she was there with him. The more he thought about the matter the more suspicious things got. After a couple of silent minutes he turned his sight to the silver haired Nephilim. He still had many things he wanted to ask, but for the time being there is only one question he had to know the answer to.
"Ms. Mjölnir." He said, his heart drumming violently inside his chest. "May I ask what was it that Odin stole from you?"
Raising an eyebrow, Mjölnir looked at him as if what she had just heard was something absurd.
"You don\'t know?" She asked, confusing Sam even more. She paused for a moment waiting for him to say something, however she soon understood that his silence confirmed her speculation. Just then she realized that the strange reaction he had a moment ago indicated that he didn\'t know that Odin was captured.
\'Something isn\'t right…\' she thought, looking into Sam\'s eyes as he stared back at her.
"The thing he stole, or rather, the one he kidnapped, is the original Nephilim from which all of us were created and our first queen." She said, carefully observing the man\'s reaction. "We are looking for Frejya."