บท 79: The Experiment
With the area cleared, Rita's eyes scanned the surroundings, her battlesuit's sensors still active. "The building plans showed no basement facilities, but my radar detected an underground source of Honkai," she said, swinging her scythe to clean off the blood. "Alvitr, I'm ordering the Immortal Blades to stand by. We may need backup."
"Roger that, Miss Rossweisse!" Alvitr's voice crackled over the comms, quick and sharp.
Rita knelt down beside her mech hound, Stalker Carbon, her expression softening slightly as she gave it a command. The loyal hound darted forward, its sensors sweeping the area, searching for any concealed paths.
"I feel we're close to uncovering the secrets we've been hunting for," Rita remarked, her gaze turning to me.
I nodded, stepping closer. "I'll assist your mech hound as we clear the path."
Rita shook her head with a small smile. "Thank you, Master Shin, but that won't be necessary."
"Really?" I asked, a bit surprised. "Are you sure? You know I trust that dog, especially after the last mission."
Rita chuckled softly. "I'm glad my loyal hound has earned your trust, but it knows its way around better than any of us. Just follow its lead."
With a swift motion, she signaled Stalker Carbon to proceed to bite down the zombies in the paths.
Clearing a path through the horde, we dispatched the remaining zombies swiftly, each blow deliberate and precise. Stalker Carbon came to a stop in front of a set of metal doors, sitting down and waiting like a sentinel guarding a gate.
"Good job," Rita praised, moving up to the mech hound's side. "We've found the entrance to the underground facilities." She knelt down and gave it a gentle pat. "Alright, puppy. Open the way."
The elevator doors slid open with a groan, revealing a dark, foreboding shaft descending into the unknown. The shadows inside seemed to beckon with a sinister promise.
"Looks like we're invited," I muttered, focusing my Honkai energy into my katana. Flames erupted from its blade, casting an eerie glow into the darkness.
Rita's eyes narrowed, observing the weapon. "That katana... it doesn't look like anything from Schicksal."
"Yeah, It was a gift from my mentor before... before she left."
Rita raised an eyebrow. "I can sense a malicious aura coming from that sword." She stepped into the elevator cautiously, her eyes still on the blade.
Good instincts, Rita... This is the "Demon Sword - Crimson Flame." It's only natural for someone like her to sense the malevolence emanating from it.
But she doesn't need to worry. I'm the one wielding it, and as long as I hold it, that malice won't spread.
The elevator began its descent, the metal groaning under the weight as it moved further into the depths.
A sudden clattering from above alerted us—zombies dropped down from the ceiling, snarling as they landed around us.
"Let's finish this immediately," I said, tightening my grip on my flaming katana.
Without hesitation, we moved as one.
The zombies lunged, but our synchronized strikes cut through them with swift precision. A particularly large one with elongated claws and feline agility attempted to pounce on Rita, but I intercepted, slashing across its chest.
Rita followed up with a spinning slice of her scythe, cleaving through its torso and sending it crashing to the ground, lifeless.
The last of the zombies fell, and the giant elevator platform finally reached the underground facility. The doors creaked open, revealing a massive, dimly lit chamber.
We stepped into the vast space, our eyes immediately drawn to the towering vats lining the walls. Inside each was a humanoid specimen, suspended in a thick, murky fluid.
They were grotesque, alien yet disturbingly familiar.
Rita's eyes widened as she scanned the room. "This... this could only be..."
The figures inside were zombies, their pallid skin etched with intricate, glowing patterns.
"Stigmata..." I murmured.
Artificial or not, those marks were unmistakable. Before Schicksal's development of synthetic stigmata, only a rare few bore them naturally.
Rita's face tightened as she examined each vat carefully, her breath hitching slightly. When she found no familiar faces, there was a momentary flicker of relief, but it quickly morphed into anger. Her hand gripped her scythe tighter, her knuckles turning white.
I stared at the various specimens. "This is horrible. You can see these people were lab rats—turned into something monstrous."
The chamber was filled with rows upon rows of specimens, each different in size and age. Some had grotesque Honkai tissue implants or sections of white silica carapace grafted onto their bodies, further deforming them.
Others had cybernetic body parts instead.
The entire chamber was a horror show designed to display the extent to which human body could be mutilated.
Rita and I exchanged a glance, both of us realizing we were closer to uncovering the dark secrets that had been buried here for too long.
Alvitr's voice crackled through the earpiece, breaking the heavy silence. "Miss Rossweisse, are you alright? I'm detecting sudden increases in your blood pressure and heart rate."
Rita didn't respond, her eyes fixated on the massive test tube at the center of the room. Something about it drew her closer as if it held the answers we both sought. But before she could reach it, the alarm blared, red lights flashing as mecha guards descended from above, ready to engage.
We didn't hesitate. In a fluid motion, we moved through the mechanical assailants, our weapons cutting through metal and circuitry with deadly precision.
The mechs fell apart around us, sparks flying as their bodies hit the ground.
As the last of them collapsed, Rita's loyal mech hound gingerly leaped onto the main computer terminal and plugged itself in.
The screen flickered to life, displaying a flood of documents and data streams. Rita's visor quickly scanned through the information, honing in on what we needed.
"Did you find it?" I asked, still catching my breath from the fight.
"Yes," she replied, her voice tinged with a mix of relief and dread. She played the audio file she had uncovered.
The recording crackled with static before a voice, cold and clinical, began to speak. "STIGMA. A most valuable technological legacy built into our very own biology. It is not a product of natural evolution, but a Previous Era biotech construct that remains a mystery to us. Before the Previous Era ended, complex sets of Honkai-resistance genes were inserted into a number of embryos.
"The STIGMA results in distinct phenotypes of skin markings known as the stigmata. Humans with STIGMA have better Honkai resistance and can develop superhuman strengths. However, with each passing generation, the integrity of the STIGMA gene sets erodes."
The voice from the recording continued to outline the horrors hidden behind the facility's walls.
"When the carefully constructed set is taken apart, the STIGMA itself becomes ineffective. Though all humans carry STIGMA genes, only a few can naturally express them at a functional capacity. Schicksal's attempts to synthesize STIGMA gene inserts resulted in defective and dangerous copies. However, revelations from the almighty serpent have allowed our research to achieve true progress."
"Serpent?" Rita muttered under her breath, her brows furrowing. "The World Serpent?"
I nodded, piecing it together. "No doubt... They're tied to this somehow."
The data continued to unfold like a grim blueprint.
"We can now artificially interfere, activate, and transpose dormant STIGMA fragments for functional expression. The transformation process was difficult. Many subjects were lost; some became little more than animated corpses. But those who survive the metamorphosis gain the ability to withstand a world filled with Honkai."
I felt a chill run down my spine as the recording laid out its twisted logic.
"The cost is steep, but the results justify the price. Activation progress remains slow, and the numbers fail to meet expectations. Therefore, we plan to conduct a large-scale test on a populated city."
Rita's grip tightened around her scythe, her knuckles whitening. Her eyes burned with fury. "Madness... They want to unleash this horror on an entire city?"
Suddenly, a massive screen on the far side of the lab flickered to life, casting a cold glow across the chamber. A face appeared—one I recognized immediately.
"Well, well... I happen to agree with you. But only sometimes," the voice came through with a calm confidence.
I narrowed my eyes, my grip on my sword tightening instinctively. "Raven..." I muttered, my gaze locked onto her image on the screen.
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