Bi-location

Goldsun Loki wasn't a man who made paradoxes. It was accurate to call him the embodiment of them.

Holding a spear in hand, all of space and time became wary of his existence. It didn't accept him.

Thus, no one could ever remember him.

And there was nowhere to call his home.

Despite having lived a long life, Loki didn't have much recorded history regarding his background.

All others knew was that he relaxed with Gaia.

One of the only two other people who could survive a 'RESET' of the entirety of spacetime.

For the sake of not letting her feel guilty about everyone dying, he'd throw a wrench in the works.

This dreadful Demon Lord had become a bane to the Gods. A heathen that needed punishment.

But since dealing with him was too difficult, it was better to do something about his victims instead.

Thus, Clara Arcadia was who he focused on.

Loki found himself walking into an isolated facility close to the lands of Pandorica, but outside its natural barriers. He found himself inside a white room with a mechanical aesthetic to the walls.

Almost like this place was the peak of MagiTech.

The living paradox wondered what kind place this was, but was surprised to see it was pretty simple.

Just another artificial hell…

"S-stop…!" He heard a voice coming from a steel container at the side. The person's breaths weak.

He wondered what was inside this coffin-like casket. Probably a human being of some sort.

An large automatic door opened, and two people in lab coats came in while writing some documents.

They seemed to be recording something about her.

"How is the subject?" (Male Researcher)

"Her body can't take anymore. Better to finish it here. We got our results." (Female Researcher)

The duo who had arrived pressed some buttons on the casket while ignoring him as if he wasn't there.

Almost like Loki was invisible…

The helmeted spearman watched as the coffin-like contraption opened to reveal a red bald woman.

The smell of burnt skin assaulted his nostrils…

He watched as the Male Researcher grabbed the wrist of the woman and activated his healing Spell.

The near-death figure of their experimental subject was instantly brought back to life and regenerated.

All her wounds vanished.

But she didn't seem capable of moving. Almost like the pain she'd went through was still lingering on.

"It… hurts…!" She looked a bit different, but this woman was indeed the Clara Arcadia he saw then.

But why was she being treated like this…?

Loki watched on while seeing more of what her past had in store. The person in question cried.

"Please… don't hurt… me…" She was going insane from the torment. Her nerves were in tatters.

Making it hard for her to even resist them.

Regardless, the two scientists looked at her with dead and unsympathetic eyes. As if looking at an object making noises. The Female Researcher grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along.

Clara felt even more despair.

She knew what she was and why she was here.

Her current name was SS06. Which stood for the name 'Sage Successor Number 6'. She was a test tube grown homunculus that had been based off several alchemised bloodlines at this point.

The blood of the first Sage to have ever existed. A progenitor of the Royal Family outside Pandorica.

That was her base component.

But the scientists had also supplemented her with more of them. Like the Arcadia Family's progenitor.

All to boost the possibility of creating a Sage.

But their hopes were dashed when she turned out to be a failure. One only useful for other tests.

Since then, SS06 lost her serial designation.

She became an object sent to the continent's ends.

She was tortured everyday with tests that were under the name of improving the 'Silverwolf Project'. The results they'd gain helping them improve success rate of her own replacement.

SS06, who later gained the name Clara, was dragged to the next test. They checked her vitals.

They checked her mouth first and pulse.

"The muscles are deteriorating. Application of Fire Mana to improve durability of the tendons has failed. The magical energy is lingering." The male scientist checked her with a scope and x-ray.

"Lungs have been damaged. Using Wind Spirits to influence the physical body has failed." The female scientist pressed on her rib cage, and held down the test subject that writhed upon being touched.

"Hydration of the test subject has become strange after using Water Mana. More tests are required."

"The skin is also becoming dry and cracked. The next test will likely be the last." When Clara had heard the female scientist speak this, she quickly grabbed the woman's hand and made eye-contact.

"Spare me…" She knew this next test would likely kill her, and it would be her worst experience yet.

She'd always experienced water torture, being ballooned up with air to the point her lungs were about to pop, having Ether injected into her body directly using syringes, and being microwaved.

Loki having accidentally witnessed the last one…

And now, she was being dragged off an x-ray so they could strap her body in to the electric chair.

It was at that point the incredible coldness in the eyes of the scientists waned. It was a hard action.

But they weren't regretful.

"Please don't look at us like that. We might think you're real." The male scientist had spoken first.

"I'm… real…" She barely spoke in whispers, and they pretended they couldn't hear her words.

Going along with their last experiment.

Test subjects didn't have human rights to them, but some scientists felt pity at a subject's last moment.

Regardless, they had a job to be done.

"If you really are, then please forgive us." The female scientist gritted her teeth and pulled a lever.

A bright light of electricity shook SS06.

She started to convulse with a purple radiance covering her head. Frying her nerves and brain.

When the deed was done, they took her out of the chair and checked her condition for vital signs.

"Not deceased, but will be soon enough. Her body is on the verge of breaking down." They felt it was a pity, but we're ready to dispose of her body just like with any other experimental subject they had.

SS06 felt like everything was becoming numb…

Blood was spilling from her mouth, and she had become paralysed… unable to speak any longer.

Not even able to let out a whimper.

All hope was lost at that moment.

Until a beam of light descended from the ceiling and turned the two scientists into meat paste.

They didn't even have the time to scream…

Loki watched as a kind-eyed priest reached out his hand, and became the centre of the girl's world.

"I will fix you up. So serve me for the rest of your life." These words came out of the priest's mouth.

The invisible onlooker finally understood her character. Clara was just a simpleton at heart.

She admired the Demon Lord after he'd saved her from a worse fate, but didn't think to question him.

Which is why she eventually took too far,

Because she believed herself to be important to him, she didn't realise how imbalanced their relationship was. Thus, when she kept a secret from him, she ended up digging her own grave.

Time stopped and reversed at that moment.

Going back to just before the scientists were killed.

He thought deeply while looking at the woman. He knew survival would be hard to predict as of now.

So he fiddled with what he was seeing to move forward. At least until a part where she was 'stable'.

Loki managed to follow the Demon Lord to one of his Cult's caverns and figured out what he'd done.

The Demon Lord laid her down on a stone operating table, then used a demonic ritual.

He himself experimented on the pitiful woman.

Arabian demons seemed to be the main focus of his experiments, and the creation of a chimera that amalgamated many demon types into one. The kind-eyed priest knitted those evil spirits into her.

The main four components was a female Asura (known as a Asuri), an Ifrit, a Sila, and a Qarinah.

The Demon Lord threaded them into her body.

Reforming her into a demon.

But since Loki himself didn't want her to be an evil entity, he rewound time a little to a certain point.

Then stopped at a very particular time.

When the kind-eyed priest had injected some expensive medicines to make her body stabilise.

That was all he needed for now.

Loki approached her at this particular moment.

The back of his hand touched her face while thinking of 'alterations' he'd make to the timeline.

There was many things he could do.

Loki could've erased her existence by killing her outright, but that would cause too many variables.

He needed to get things in order…

If killing her didn't work, he could also move her somewhere else… but that'd also not help him.

What he needed was to only SLIGHTLY alter the timeline. That way, all variables could be predicted.

He slightly let time flow forward again, until only the initial demon, the Qarinah, was added into her.

Then grasped her face with his hand.

He used his powers to create a 'paradox'.

Normally, this power was only capable of sending his targets back in time. The same way with Lucia.

And even she was a special case.

Thanks to the permission given to him by Gaia herself, he allowed Lucia to possess her past self.

And now that the restrictions of space and time had been taken off of his skill, he did it differently.

Goldsun Loki decided to send a duplicate of Clara into the future. Allowing her to have a new start.

Since her memories of the Demon Lord were vague at most, he could definitely reroute that admiration.

Just needed her to survive long enough to do that.

Unknowing of what was happening to her, SS06 felt her body being transported away somewhere.

She didn't that her original self hadn't left the spot in front of the Demon Lord, and that she was merely a duplicate created by Loki. The trickster sent her to someone who could possibly save her.

At a certain landlord's mansion, she descended…

Her body slowly fell onto a bed, which had frightened someone who was trying to sleep.

"Hey! Get out of here…!" Adam was still scared of being attacked by assassin's again in his state.

He couldn't see what dropped on his bed.

Calming himself, the light cyan wolf boy used his now enhanced senses to grasp his surroundings.

He realised the person in front of him was in a bad state. The girl's breathing was uneven and hurried.

'…Maybe I should take her to Hyuk.' Rather than doing what he'd usually do, Adam decided that he'd be a little nicer to people in general. He took initiative to assist the helpless woman on his bed.

That was… until he heard a soft mumble from her.

"I'm… real…" SS06 whispered. Her voice so soft that anyone else would've missed these words.

The gamer stopped in his tracks at that moment.

He knew Hyuk would be able to do something, but also felt like he couldn't just let the girl be seen.

Adam would be able to fix her up better anyway.

His figure moved closer to her before touching the corner of her lip with his index, then ate her saliva.

A creepy action that seemed perverted at first.

But this was just another way to use his ability.

Since he couldn't use 'Deep Eyes Digest All Things' with his eyes, it was better to use the stomach.

Adam immediately analysed the condition of her body and what needed doing to fix her bad state.

Grasping the finest details about her in a second.

Although he couldn't understand what her background was, he tasted an unstable mix of Light Attribute and Time Attribute in her unawakened Spirit Essence. He needed to adjust it.

There was also the weird taste of an Arabian Succubus possessing her, but what could he do?

First things needed to be dealt with first.

Pure Mana radiated from his body, and the clear manifestation of 'Eden' appeared in his own zone.

He called upon the might of all his powers…

["I'm… real…"]

Who was this girl… and why did she say that?

He needed some clear answers…

Adam brought forth the powers of his Imaginary Spirit and Divinities, ready to save her life.

Even if that meant altering her body completely.