Chapter 9: Twelve Celestials(1)

Herbert was a well-mannered person. That was how he had landed his job in the first place. However, he could tell that his behaviour was slowly changing.

He acted like an overly aggressive person, demanding others to cooperate with him. An unexplainable thirst for power was also budding inside of him.

"Tell me. Is there any drawback to this Explosive Power Art that I'm practicing?" Herbert had a grim look on his face. He should have known that there was something fishy about growing in power this quickly.

"Actually, no. The Explosive Power Art is fine." The division leader's grin grew only wider.

"Is it that Human Polishing Liquid then?" It was either one of these two. He had not really experienced any change before he had encountered the division leader and trained under her.

The division leader's eyes brightened up, as she said, "Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" She then smacked her lips and continued, "I always wanted to use that human phrase. It sounded really cool."

"What's inside that liquid?" Was it steroids? Was it human growth hormones? Was it some random alien liquid? The peach liquid had no smell at all, so Herbert could not even give a try at guessing.

"Essence of martial artists. Their desires and willpower was all extracted out by our leader himself!" The division leader's eyes filled with a twisted nostalgia as she rubbed the bottle.

"Mental energy..." Herbert was extremely confused. He dropped onto the floor, as he ran his hand through his hair, not knowing what to do with this new information.

"Cheer up. They were the ones who attacked us first, it was just self defence. If we left them there, they would waste away as monsters. It was better to utilise it for a greater purpose."

"Why didn't you use it on the humans you were working with then?" If this product was so good, why didn't they give it to their collaborators? How did they even know the composition of it?

"Just read about it. You're really boring me out with these questions of yours. A pet shouldn't ask its master questions, right?" Annoyed, Endless Red's green eyes suddenly rolled back, before being replaced with red eyes that stared angrily at Herbert.

Endless Red released a thick, wrathful aura that wrapped itself around Herbert like a scarf, strangling his entire body. Herbert trembled uncontrollably, as his whole body reacted out of control.

"That's better. Now, you better read your booooks! After all, you don't want to fail your master right, pet dog? Hahahaha!" Just hearing the sounds of Endless Red laughing made chills run down Herbert's spine.

He was starting to regret being so impulsive before. If he haven't acted badly, he could have taken the chance to escape or something. Since he could not be detected by the monsters, he would have better chances of surviving than with this maniac.

She could change personalities faster than the speed of light, which made him feel insecure. Who knew if she had an impulse to kill him one day, and simply cut his head off?

"Go on. You can leave now!" Endless Red released the pressure she put on Herbert's puny body. Herbert looked at her with fear, and scurried away from the main hall. After he left, her face suddenly switched back to normal.

Her whole body started to convulse, as her hands reached out for a blue bottle on her iron desk. As she unscrewed the cover of the bottle, her eyes switched in colours rapidly, as saliva drooled from her mouth.

Endless Red opened her mouth wide, and strained her arms against the mental force that was possessing her. She tossed the pills inside the bottle into her mouth, which melted on contact with her saliva. Her whole body went limp on the chair she was sitting on, before she regained her motor functions again.

Her whole body surface was covered in a sticky substance. Endless Red solidified her Grand energy and used it to wipe the substance off onto the floor. The substance sizzled when it hit the floor, slowly dissolving over time.

"My Grand energy is becoming unstable. Looks like I have to refine it to the Karma Fruits level soon." Endless Red was shaken by the loss of control that she had experienced.

It was the first time that the backlash of the Grand energy had been so violent. She had already spoken too much under the influence of the Grand energy.

'I must contact the rest. Looks like we have to shift up the plan for now.' Endless Red closed her eyes, and broadcasted a message to the fellow leadership of the Illuminati.

Meanwhile, Herbert was looking at the vast amount of information in the library. It was not a typical library that had endless rows of bookshelves, but cubicles for individuals.

There were PCs and gaming chairs provided for the cubicles.

He could recognise that these were the latest products offered by the Atlas Group, which had costed an arm and a leg, but had the highest quality. There was a machine with a card slot nearby that was connected to the PC. Herbert inserted the card inside the slot, which activated the PC's boot up sequence.

"Level 1,2, and 3 access granted. Please input your name tag." A robotic assistant's voice informed Herbert. He typed his name, before a large amount of files appeared on the computer screen.

They were neatly categorised in three layers. The first layer had the most files. As Herbert went upwards, the amount of files decreased accordingly, until there were only two files left on the third layer.

"The Origin of Desires and the Truth behind Supreme Beings?" The two files had names that looked like they were stolen from mythology books.

Herbert was sure that these books could give him insight into his current situation, since Endless Red has given him access specifically up to level 3. There was always a motive behind every action.

'The Origin of Desires... I will look here first.' Herbert clicked onto the file. The file was an article that was only three pages long. There were even some pictures jammed inside, but as Herbert read through it, he was filled with shock.

The article claimed that the origin of desires was... the beginning of the apocalypse! Apparently, the events that happened on Earth had happened before, in the Illuminati's leader's world. It was called, "Meshing". Strangely enough, everyone on that world looked human too.

However, the leader had been born after the events had happened, and subsequently gained supernatural powers like other inhabitants in his world. In the world, they respected the great gods, who represented the emotions that a human could feel in the world.

Then, a prophecy had emerged that all of the great gods that the world respected had announced that there was going to be "Meshing" again.

Herbert had then saw a drawing that was attached at the bottom of the article. It had the words, "The Great Prophet of the Gods, Smiling Emperor." The rest of the article paled in front of the drawing itself. It was a drawing of a mask, which had several expressions painted on various sides.

Herbert could remember where he had seen it. During his dream yesterday, this being had shown up during the weird meeting!