This girl in front of me...

I see. She's Shirogane's...precious sister...

I feel...strange...seeing this girl...

She cares so much for her older sister...

I'm...a little jealous...

After the another failed raid in her domain, Hela, currently in control of Shiro had finally tasted extended freedom for the longest time. As soon as Shiro unknowingly completed the binding and contract, Hela's first action is to enjoy her newfound freedom.

"This body isn't the best, but it's not that bad. This will do...until I find a new one that is"

Much like her fellow Realm Gods, Hela sees her current body as temporary due to humanity's mortality. Human bodies break and exhaust in a short amount of time, something which frustrates her from time to time.

"Hey, Shirogane! How dare you take all the loot when you didn't even land a single blow on the boss!"

One of the party members who participated in the raid confronted Shiro after learning how a certain player had "won the prize". The castle, the items, the legendary sword, and everything were given to her. Something the party members were both outraged and envious about.

"What? You're jealous or something? Hahaha...that's too bad, because I won the prize and you didn't"

"You little -! You just stood and watch so you could talk the glory after you're the only one that remained"

The axe wielding barbarian screened in complete fury, as he thought he could claim the reward himself and not some nobody.

"If you want it so badly, then I will give it to you...if you beat me that is. Not that you even have the slightest chance" Hela deliberately provoked him

Hela raised her arm, gesturing a taunt for the barbarian to charge at her blindly.

"You little bitch!"

The player swung his massive double headed axe towards Hela who effortlessly evaded it with agile footwork.

"I'm not even going to use my magic on you. If anything, I want to face that one World Champion Shiro looks up to"

Hela belittled her enemy seeing how the barbarian's stats are far inferior to her even with his buffs.

"I have better things to do...so get lost!"

Hela raised her hand gripping Excalibur, and with mighty downwards swing, she released an energy forming a crescent that cut through the surrounding air and right towards the player, an attack enough to lower him to critical HP.

"With just one attack?! Grr! You cheat! Just like those guys in Ainz Ooal Gown!"

"It's called large difference in power. Learn your place, human"

With a snap of her fingers, Hela used a single spell - Hell flame, one of the common spells anyone with a demon or devil race could cast. She incinerated the player, immediately sending back the challenger to the respawning point.

"Hmm. Even if I'm limited in this body, I still proved to be much stronger than the other lowlifes here..."

Her strength is limited in her current state, but she accepted the setback of having the body as she valued her freedom more.

"I have to go back soon. This is still...Shirogane's body...and I don't intend to destroy her and her very core"

Surprisingly, Hela is considerate towards her current vessel, something not all Gods had shown towards their vessels.

"Having this much freedom never felt so good...but then again, it's not the true freedom I seek"

She lowered her head, dismayed at how she can never truly be free again...after her original body was destroyed during an unknown incident.

"They're going to hate me, but what do I care? I'm the Goddess of Death and I do what the hell I want!"

Hela laughed, proving herself to be the rebellious and stubborn one among the nine. Even so, Odin keeps her in line, being the leader and strongest of the nine. Freyja would usually protest to Odin to discipline Hela in abiding by their rules and principles, bug the All Father himself denied her request, a decision he never truly explained why.


A few days after the battle with Freyja, Shiro visits the tomb of Nazarick. She can already hear Hela's astonishment echoing inside her much to her annoyance as the Goddess of Death reacted like a child.

"Hmm. To think you would have this kind of book in your library" Shiro flipped through the pages

"Touch-san said it was given to him by a warrior he was training in his spare time"

"This looks like my book and that sounds like me, but I don't remember giving him this book"

Shiro gently laid down the book on top of the nearest table she could find.

[That's because I was the one gave it to me. On one of the occasions I'm in control of you]

"So every time I black out...was you, huh. You can't just give other people my stuff without permission"

[Might I remind you that everything in Eljudner is mine to begin with. Except for the NPCs since you made them]

Ainz watched in curiosity as Shiro speaks to herself which how it looks like from other people's view whenever she either discusses or argues with Hela.

"Shiro, you don't seem to be bothered about Hela even though you just found out about her existence"

"I was surprised, but there's nothing that can be done but to deal with it. Hela and I are stuck with each other"

Surprisingly, Shiro pays little to no mind about the Goddess of Death using her as a vessel. From Ainz's view and initial thought, Hela doesn't seem to have any intention in overtaking Shiro much like the other Gods.

Immortal beings without a body...

On one of the last pages, Ainz found a key information about the likes of Hela. It's how when a God possesses a vessel, they can overtake said vessel. Curiously, Hela hadn't taken over Shiro even back in the game as Shiro remained clueless about Hela's existence until the incident with Freyja.

"Even before the book, I already had clue about Hela and the other Gods. The Nine Gods are myths"

"Oh, you connected the dots?" Shiro is impressed

"In a way, yes. Hela is the Goddess of Death who specializes in unholy magic. According to the book, you're even capable of necromancy"

"Which really isn't the best mix-up with a warrior like me. It's hard to swing around a sword and cast a spell at the same time"

Even a mage and warrior hybrid isn't the best choice, but her experience is melee combat and wielding magic back in the game made it less of a liability in New World.

"Though while I have general information about the Nine Gods, I wish to know about their relationship"

"Well, it's a bit complicated"

"Oh? Why is that?" Ainz raised his head in curiosity

"..." Shiro lowered her head

"Shiro?"

"I'm what you can call a black sheep" Her tone changed

Marking appeared on the right half of Shiro's face patterned with black streaks on her hair and her expression changed to a more serious and colder one. This signaled that Hela had temporarily taken over without permission again.

"Hela..." Ainz recognized the voice

"Shiro won't be happy I took over without permission, but it seems you want to know more about to me"

Hela doesn't personally mind about being asked about herself as long as it doesn't have to delve with her relationship with the other Gods.

"I'm not very much liked by the others. The one who I openly talk to is Surtur"

"You're don't have a good relationship with the other Gods"

"I just don't like them. I just really don't..."

Ainz doesn't know why Hela dislikes her fellow Gods, but he wouldn't bother asking a specific reason as Hela isn't the type to be open about her thoughts and feelings.

"The other day, you asked why I'm in Shiro's body. That's because I lost mine and without a body to reside, we're just like air"

"You lost your physical form, but you can gain one by inhabiting a living one"

"Yeah, but that also means dominating the host completely which I don't like completely...because I'm going to kill Shirogane"

"Hela..."

"Freyja is an example of a God taking over a player's body and making it her own. To us, players are simply expendable pawns we use to continue this mockery of a freedom"

"Then why didn't you the same thing to Shiro? You're one of them yet you maintain a balance in control with her"

"The reason I'm not liked by the others is because of how I think. They think I was weak for letting Shiro use my power while I just quietly sit and watch"

Back in the game, Shiro is clueless about Hela using her body as a vessel. She never found out the truth and source of her power until the recent events. This upset the others who view Hela's passiveness as a sign of weakness.

"I have my own ways of doing things. I don't like being scolded just because I do the opposite. It just pisses me off"

"You're like a rebellious teenager" Ainz chuckled

Hela's tendency to do as she pleases and gets annoyed when scolded or lectured is very similar to a teenager in a rebellious phase. Hela quietly scans the book she secretly gave to Touch Me as Shiro.

"Truth to be told, I worry Freyja isn't the only one here"

"You're worried?"

"Yes. You don't put two Realm Gods in the same place and time. Two is already bad, three is even worse"

"Just how powerful is your kind?" Ainz raised an important question

"A max leveled player can't win a one on fight against us. Using World items can even the odds. Even so, that won't be enough to permanently kill us"

No one truly conquered Eljudner and it was only passed on to Shiro when she chose her as her vessel. While a World Item was used against her before, she merely respawned and killed the player for surprising her with a World class item.

"Though we are called immortal, we can still be killed. Only a God is capable another God...permanently. We take damage from normal players, but it's not capable of killing us"

Hela stated how they can indeed take damage from powerful spells and skills, only a Realm God is capable of killing another God permanently, which meant they wouldn't be able to resurrect and inhabit a new vessel.

"It means even if you were to fight one and kill it, they'll simply come back and find another vessel"

"That is troublesome. An enemy that can simply respawn..."

"Like I said, they can be killed...by something like this"

Hela manifests Excalibur on her palm and tightly gripped its handle, swinging the might sword in the air.

"Any weapon enchanted or forged from the world tree is capable of cutting down even an immortal"

"The word tree? You mean Yggdrasil?"

"Yes"

The weapons of the other Realm Gods are also enchanted by the world tree, making the weapons capable of slaying its own wielder.

"Hahaha. Now that I think about it, the moment Shiro held this sword for the first time...it took away something from her"

"It took away something?"

"You see..."

Hela stores back the weapon back in her inventory, letting g it vanish in thin air in particles of light. She sighed, prepared to reveal a secret Hela had kept buried, even to her vessel Shirogane.

FOUR HOURS LATER

Shiro opens her eyes, finding herself lying on a bed, confused to how she ended up awakening in her bed when the last thing she remembered is Nazarick.

"How did I get back here?"

[You're awake, huh. Sorry about that. I kind of...went out a little bit]

"Using my body so suddenly is kind of rude. You may be the Goddess of Death, but this is still my body"

Shiro is unhappy Hela took control of her body without prior notice or even asking her.

[Relax, I didn't do anything weird. You're guardians didn't even notice it wasn't you who walked back here]

"..."

[Shiro, what's wrong?]

"Akane and everyone doesn't even know about you being inside my body"

This reminded Shiro how her guardians have no knowledge of Hela's existence and her connection to Shiro.

"Maybe I should tell them about you and...all of this"

[Now is not the right time, Shiro. With Freyja still out there. I don't want to cause trouble with everyone here]

"Wouldn't telling them be the opposite? I mean they have the right to know their master have the Goddess of Death bound to her"

[...]

"Well even if you don't want to tell me now, I'm not really sure if it's a good idea right now. Freyja, who happens to be your sister almost killed Akane and Tremor"

[Well they won't certainly be happy if they were to meet me now...]

Shiro knows how unforgiving Akane could get and if the vampire swordmaster were to learn about how she was attacked by the sister of a God sealed inside her master, there will trouble and misunderstandings. With Akane's personality, she would see Hela as a threat to Shiro as it's because of Hela, Shiro was wounded on the battle against Freyja.

THE NEXT DAY

It's been a week since Shiro had ventured outside, so rather than send one of her own servants to investigate, she went on her own. By her own, it means...escorted by one of the guardians per their insistence of at least one of them accompanying her.

[Your guardians are persistent. Then again, you're just too considerate to them]

(Shut it...)

Shiro whispered to her mind as if she were to open her mouth and verbally reply, it would rise suspicion since her guardians have been wondering to why their master had been talking to herself lately.

"Shiro-sama, you don't have to venture outside. You had just recently fought the Valkyrie Goddess"

"My wounds healed up very quickly. Even if I took a spear to the heart, I'm in perfect condition"

Just as Shiro laughs at how the injuries she received from her her fight with Freyja doesn't concern her.

[I don't like this place for some reason]

Shiro ignored Hela and focused on the multiple corpses they came across on in unknown ruins deep within a forest. Judging from the remainder of their clothing and bladed weapons, Shiro theorized they might be Workers or simply bandits.

"Shiro-sama, these burns...aren't caused by ordinary flames"

Akane recognized the scorched skins and charred clothing on the fresh corpses. She felt unease when she reached out her hand just inches from the corpses.

"Smite by light based magic. They weren't simply burned to death, they were purified to death"

Shiro noted how despite the severity of the burns, it had little effect on thr concrete, metal, and the ground itself almost instantly. Not to mention, even Shiro sensed holy magic were used to kill whoever these people were.

"Magic was used here too. It's faint, but magical energy still lingers in this area"

Shiro releases an aura before using her skill to specify and analyze the magical energy scattered in the surrounding area.

"Someone with high capability for magic was here. Whoever these humans cane across to didn't give them a chance to fight back"

Shiro picked up a gold coin, one of the several ones from a small treasure chest that had been dropped. She investigated the nearby surroundings and found no signs of even the slightest struggle.

"It's powerful holy magic, but it's not Freyja's"

Shiro is rather dismayed this wasn't caused by Freyja as the method on killing the humans were different from Freyja's. They were killed by pure magical energy, a level Freyja isn't capable of performing. The Valkyrie focuses on light based physical attacks and rarely magical ones.

"If this was Freyja's work, there would have been damage. That woman isn't capable of clean work"

There were no recent damages on the ruins which contrasts to Freyja as the Valkyrie specializes on destructive light.

[Yeah. The magic used here isn't similar to hers] Hela agreed

"I think we just wasted our time here..." Shiro sighed in great disappointment

"Hmm? A pest?"

Shiro lazily turned her head to the direction where a magical arrow was fired upon her. Akane's keen senses lowed her to react in time to slide by in front of Shiro and split the magical arrow in half.

"What a nuisance. Akane"

With a simple gesture, Akane tracked down the fleeing source whose speed is no match against the vampire swordmaster's. Within seconds, the culprit's face met the ground when Akane lunged at her targeted prey.

"Just a human? What a disappointment"

Shiro shakes her head, further disappointed at how only a mere human tried to shoot an arrow aimed towards her. The only reason she didn't even bother to evade the shot is because there's no reason to evade an attack that would be simply brushed off by her armor. Even so, Akane would always instinctively protect her creator.

"This is..."

The bow and arrow the human had used...is far too much for a human to possess, let alone wield it. Shiro grabbed the uniquely crafted bow, her fingers analyzing the material it was made of.

"You, where did you get this weapon?" Shiro showed the man the arrow

The trembling man pinned on the ground, refused to answer not because he is stubborn, but because he is purely terrified. He reacted the same way every prey would upon being immobilized by the fangs of a predator. In this case, Akane stepped on his back, slowly crushing his spine.

"Answer!" Akane momentarily increased the force

"I-it was just given to me by a noble when he hired me to hunt you down"

"A noble hired you to hunt me down?"

"Y-yes. I was just paid a lot and given this weapon. I couldn't say no with the amount paid to me"

The man had no personal knowledge about Shiro's identity as he is a mercenary hired by a certain noble to track and eliminate a specific target. Unfortunately, the target is unhappy with the surprise attack and proved to be far too powerful for a mere human to take down.

"You humans are easily blinded with gold. This just shows how disgusting your kind is"

Akane stepped on the mercenary's head, further shoving is face to the soil and slowly crushing his skull at the sane time.

"Even a noble wouldn't have this kind of weapon. Something doesn't make sense"

"Shiro-sama?" Akane is confused

"The bow and arrow is the same one that can be crafted by gathering materials in Alfheim. For short, the bow didn't originate in this world"

Alfheim, the land of the light elves ruled by the God Frey and its vessel the elven ranger Basil Rosso-X. Basil is a distant player who only appears to his fellow Realm Gods during meetings and was known to occasionally argue with Ymir.

"For a mere human to wield a high grade weapon..."

"I-i-it was just lend to me for this mission. Said I'm going to need a good weapon for this one. I swear I didn't know anything"

The human feared for his life seeing how Shiro is upset at his possession at the bow she recognized.

"P-please...! I didn't know anything, I swear!"

"Begging for mercy after foolishly trying to kill to my master"

Akane nailed the man's hand on the grind with a stab of her sword, slightly twisting her hand to force him to scream.

"All I know is Lord Boullope said he wanted you dead for killing a noble friend of his"

"Boullope? One of the Six Great Nobles...and a noble closely connected to Edward. Why am I not surprised..." Shiro shrugged her shoulders

Shiro recognized the name of the human noble whom Edward was affiliated to.

"I was told my target is a white devil with a magical sword"

"What else he told you?" Shiro bent on one knee and demanded more answers

"Ggh! All they told me is that to target a devil in white with a sword called Excalibur"

"They know I'm not human and about my sword. Whoever this noble this was simply tipped of. The noble is possibly working with someone. A mere human doesn't have this specific knowledge and Yggdrassil weapon by himself"

"Hey, human...spit out more what you know" Akane twisted the katana on the other side

The man squealed in pain and burst to years unable to withstand the inflicted torture. His throat had already grown soar from the scream and cries of his own agony.

"I just heard him say he got the information from someone else. It's all I know...I swear!"

"If that's all you know, then you're no use"

Akane pulls out her katana and this time, she aims it right towards the man's skull. Her blade was already an inch to first contact of the flesh when Shiro halted her move.

"It'd be a waste kill him here. I need to find more leads about Boullope and how he knew what I am"

"I understand" Akane withdrew her katana

As much as she wants to drive her sword straight to man's skull and out through the other one, she would never disobey Shiro or would do anything that would upset her.

"I think Ainz has a brain eater whose good at making people talk"

The brain eater Shiro referring to is Neuronist Painkill, the interrogator and torturer of Nazarick.

"I'll have to ask Ainz to help this gentleman be a little more...talkative"

The way Shiro smiled is if Hela switched for a brief moment. Akane grabbed the captured mercenary by the back of his neck and begins dragging him away just as Shiro uses the Gate spells for easier long distance travel.

IN AN UNKNOWN LOCATION

Freyja demolished and made a large hole through the wall with a single strike from her fist. She lashed out her frustration on the nearest objects she could reach.

"Damn that Shirogane! Damn that Hela! Damn that undead!"

She couldn't accept her defeat at the hands of not only Hela, but also an undead necromancer. She sets her eyes on seeking revenge on the two for overpowering her and forcing her to retreat. This damage not only her emotional state, but her fragile pride as well.

"To lose to Hela and a mere undead. Just who they think they are are?! I'm Freyja, the Valkyrie Goddess who had never known defeat!"

Ever since the beginning, Freyja had never lost a single battle she had participated on, ranging from humans to undead.

"Next time, I'll make sure Hela will regret pissing me off. No one humiliates me and gets out alive. Not Hela...not a mere skeleton...not anyone!"

She thrust her spear and released linear energy that burned through a straight path, incinerating even the tiniest insect it made contact. Freyja, fueled by revenge, swore to prepare the next time she faces Ainz and Hela, hellbent on eliminating the two for the humiliation of retreat, a Valkyrie like her resents to do.


Chapter 12:

After discovering someone knew her identity, Shiro ventures in Re-Estize kingdom under a different guise to conceal her identity. Meanwhile, the opposing butlers Sebas and Nehemoth are unable to cooperate with each other until they find themselves facing opponents whose strength poses a threat.