Chapter 4: Best To Forget
In all honesty the facility was certainly huge.
We had reached a place where a large window had revealed a large portion of open land surging with various forms of plant life and weird organisms.
Although the plants looked unnatural and strange, they were undeniably beautiful nonetheless.
The size of the space that this wonder took was enough to fit basically every court size used for every outdoor or indoor sport on the planet.
The amount of sunlight that got to this land mass was precisely regulated and the irrigation system used for maintenance made the plants look even more lush and luxuriant.
It's hard to admit it but Dr Edward Stein possessed quite the green finger and this only served to further prove that he was indeed blessed with an intelligence that surpassed many.
"Azur, do not stare too much. Glory could most likely blind you." Stein said with a smug expression.
"I was bored once and I took up gardening. I discovered- No its best to say I genetically engineered over 200 new species of plant life and they all have some form of self-propagation. Hoho, I am ahead of my time."
Stein spoke with such confidence and pride as he boasted about another one of his creations.
The way he spoke he seemed to have not done things because they were needed but because he was looking for a way to amuse himself.
This in particular enraged me for some odd reason.
Playing with life, tinkering and altering its pre-dictated course, not even for personal gain nor praise from others or anything like that, but just because he was bored.
If he did this just for amusement, it makes one wonder what else he could do if he saw it necessary.
"I can't say it isn't wonderful. But, could we be getting to the next Trials. From your perspective don't you think every mere millisecond wasted could cause a complication. I am not something that should be possible and The Universe or The God you hate so much could try to make those unwanted changes."
It's not like I didn't enjoy the sight.
I just wanted to make sure Stein wouldn't have a reason for dispatching or disposing of me.
So I simply had to follow in his reasoning.
"…"
The silence from Stein actually made me shiver.
I thought I enraged him or something.
Stein slowly turned around and I was startled beyond measure, I started getting myself accustomed to the idea of dying at this very spot until I noticed something interesting.
I could have sworn that his face was laced with embarrassment or something like that.
He was clearly not used to people who could take their minds off his work as easily as I did.
After finally getting the embarrassed look off his face, he spoke up again.
"Hmph. I see you are not a fan of plant life. Well since you are going to be in my facility for the time being. You will get amazed at one point or the other."
While he said this I could no longer sense the feeling of pride and confidence in his speech.
It was an unexpected victory and in contrast to what he said, what it sounded like was "I accept your challenge."
I knew I had a rough ride ahead.
–
Walking with Stein and his goons for what seemed like an eternity within a small and dark hallway with only the deafening silence and the burning gazes of hatred from the other beasts to comfort me.
I hoped to put my quickly learnt conversation skills to the test and try to break the silence.
"So, Sir Stein, those guys, what made you pick them as part of your inner circle even though they were 'failures' as you say?"
I just said failures to address them the way Stein did, but I was pretty sure that they were already mumbling plans on how to debase me in front of Stein.
Before Stein could reply the surroundings got darker, Stein and the rest stopped dead in their tracks without warning and this compelled me to stop as well.
I thought maybe I had said something to embarrass him again.
But then again, before I could draw a conclusion I heard Stein snap his fingers and the room lit up with a bright light.
The sudden and unexpected lighting made me feel like my eyes were on fire and I squinted my burning eyelids.
Stein was now facing us with a wide grin and his cigarette in his left hand while he opened both his arms and gestured to what was all around him with confidence
I looked around and what I came across was definitely not a treat for the eyes.
Honestly, I would have vomited and proceeded to retch my brains out if there was food in my stomach.
The sight was truly horrendous.
I had no way to put it into words but it was horrible.
There were caged cells across the walls in a much wider corridor for as far as the eye could see.
Within the ones I could glimpse at there were beings very close to looking humanoid, being put through what could only be called torture.
The place had a feeling that could only be likened to the feeling of hell.
Some cells had constantly burning residents, the soot from their burning bodies covered the entirety of their allocated space.
Some had their residents being constantly electrocuted by the cell itself which was clear due to the crackles of static electricity I saw around them and their already dark crusty skin.
A few were attached to a rack table where their limbs were attached to ropes that would pull, stretch and dislocate their limbs periodically.
I even witnessed one of those periodic pulls and their individual screams made the feeling of suffering even worse.
In some particular cells their residents had to grovel in their own bodily waste and vomit, maggots formed and even those weird rodents gathered in their cells to eat their flesh while they were alive and too weak to do anything.
I saw ones who had their insides disemboweled and scattered around their cells. I was sure these ones were dead but one began to scream tremendously as a particular rodent gnawed on her intestine.
I had no idea what I should have been feeling. Whether pain or anger or sympathy.
Then the information flooded in making matters worse.
-{INHUMANE TREATMENT. TORTURE METHODS IN USE}
-{IMMOLATION, RACKING, IMMUREMENT & SCAPHISM TORTURE METHODS IN USE}
-{BLOOD EAGLE, JUDAS' CRADLE & SCHWEDENTRUNK TORTURE METHODS IN USE}
-{CHOKE PEAR, HORTICULTURE TORTURE & IMPALEMENT TORTURE METHODS IN USE}
-{STEIN; DANGEROUS.INHUMANE. INSENSITIVE.}
-{SYMPATHY, PAIN & ANGER RECOMMENDED}
...
I couldn't even see some of the torture methods that were named to be in use.
But from the way they were further explained in my head they seemed to be the worst of the worst.
After I fully understood and had taken in the scene around me, I looked at Stein waiting for an explanation.
He failed to answer my question and only showed me this terror with a smile on his face.
I waited so anxiously for him to speak as if I was waiting for him to redeem himself.
The look on my face changed with the emotion I felt.
It wasn't any of the emotions that the Words in my thoughts recommended to me, but it was disgust and irritation.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Purple_Ink_Patron
Purple_Ink_Patron I wish for you to send a Power Stone!! My unprecedented scariness is diminishing, empower me...
Chapter 5: Triumph
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
My urge to fling my fist right on Sir Edward Stein's face skyrocketed past the point I could even bare.
I just clenched my fist tightly while staring at him, for a moment I thought he sensed the feelings I was harboring then he turned around and kept walking forward.
I tried my best to keep my eyes down so as to not see the things around me.
I ignored the screams and wails and just kept following him.
I was trying to understand why he would do this.
Was this also as a result of his boredom?
If that was true then he is much more formidable than I thought.
I even contemplated on whether I could take him.
If I could survive in a fight with him.
I had barely just grasped the idea of accumulation and release of Energy and how to use it to strengthen my attacks and boost my speed.
But for someone like Stein that concept isn't even equal to child's play.
Whether or not he could utilize Energy efficiently mattered very little because I was very sure the crooked shadow beast; Kage that he controlled directly could do all that and much more.
… And he had the two other goons; Hoax and Yagi would indeed be able to do some damage, so I had no other choice.
"My Inner Circle as you have so rudely put it was chosen on the basis of the most Successful failures, Hoax was pretty good in actuality. He had strength, could manipulate Energy correctly, can manifest an element and use a good Sorcery Variant. He is also a well-versed Swordsman of sorts. He failed because his ability diminishes tremendously when exposed to cold environments. He has the head of a reptile so I believe it was due to their cold bloodedness. Yagi took the form of the fiendish minotaur, but he fails hard in the physical strength aspect. I doubt he could lift you up even with your empty stomach, but he excels in efficient energy manipulation and can even minimize input to the barest minimum and maximize output."
[A/N: Stein talks too much.]
"Basically my 'Inner Circle' is the most irritating to me. you know why? If you are a failure, why don't you be a perfect one. Why don't you fail completely? These ones complete the failure trope and even fail at being failures."
He continued using the cigar and tainting the air.
Decisively leaving out the fact he just took me through a torture cave.
He seemed to love my confusion; it gave him a feeling of triumph.
"T-The torture corridor from before …, Why?" I hesitantly asked the question.
I had no idea how to even put it in a way that wouldn't further reveal my emotions.
"Hehe. Oh that. You may have already thought of it. Those are some of my Nigh immortal failed subjects. Naturally I would have maybe let them out to go reproduce and create more beast species or probably just leave them to live here as long as they don't get in my way. Some even work for me, but those ones in particular posed a particular threat- "
"Revealing the location of your facility and putting you and your research in danger?"
I immediately cut in after his chuckle and explanation.
"You seem even dumber than I thought, Tsk, I may actually have to do 'That' now. It's not because of that. You fool. No one can find my facility even if you are given the most precise directions. In fact, even if one did, which is highly improbable, the sheer number of beasts that are around here of my own creation should be enough to devour or exhaust any intruders, and there are still other beasts out there that aren't from me. Other than that, if by the slim chance you do survive and get far enough to see my glorious gate and enter the facility's land you would just completely lose your sense of direction and orientation due to the sheer size of my facility and most likely get lost and either die of starvation or get eaten by the resident humanoid beasts here. I can go on and on. The reason they are kept here and tortured is rather too complicated for you to understand. So, it's best to forget about it actually. Aha! I did say I'd amaze you, didn't I? I Succeeded."
He was quite loquacious; filled to the brim with irrelevant conversations.
-{STEIN; DERANGED PSYCHOPATH}
For the very first time my own individual thoughts matched those from the Words perfectly.
"When do the other trials start? let's get them over with."
I said this attempting to clear my mind of things that didn't concern me.
I had other things I needed to understand and the one with the highest priority is why I have thoughts on knowledge that aren't mine and how I can exploit it.
"If that is indeed your desire, then may we waste no more time, your next trial wasn't something I expected you to be so excited about actually. I honestly haven't even thought about what it should be. If you didn't know, I haven't gotten this far before." Stein said.
"Hmmm. I just tested physical attributes and resistances with my 'Natural Selection'. So maybe mental strength now, I guess. Let's see how much you can learn, and what you can understand and deduce with the information you possess."
Stein pulled out a folded piece of paper from an inner pocket in his white lab coat while he still smoked.
I actually even wondered how the hell he had been smoking the same cigarette for some hours now and hadn't even replaced it.
Stein unfolded the map and then examined it while squinting his eyes and sometimes even moving it closer to his eyes so he could see it better.
It seemed he had some eye defect.
It was hard to believe that someone as brilliant as Stein makes himself out to be, he couldn't accept the fact he had an eye defect and engineer himself some glasses.
Stein then reached behind him and his palm dug into Kage who was always where Stein's shadow pointed.
He pulled something out that looked like a pen of sorts and he marked our very location with a large letter 'A' to denote where I was.
"I did say I'd get you new clothes. Well, if you make your way to the entrance of my facility I'll give them to you and possibly a nice present you'd like. I expected you to be empty minded and impressionable but you seem to know basic things. You may have a lot of questions and thoughts, I'll fulfill any request if you succeed, I have nothing to lose so I'll do it just this once."
Kage would then make a little hop and hit Steins back head first.
Kage's body then seemingly began to bubble and fuse into his back then four dark tentacles that would lift Stein off his feet and before I could even react he and his goons vanished and the map was left with me.
"Didn't plan this far? What a joke! He intended to do this from the beginning." I complained.
"Ahh. What should I do? this map doesn't even have routes, it is just a bunch of jumbled lines, where exactly is the entrance?"
In my confusion I just held the map out in front of me and marched forward.
What was to be ahead was oblivious to me.
I just walked along and kept cursing Stein and my wretched existence under my breath.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Purple_Ink_Patron
Purple_Ink_Patron
Shower the Ps, readers. I'm not the scary one but I will haunt you if you dont.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
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