บท 2: Prologue (II)
Within a dark concrete-walled and tinted glass, multi dome-roofed building located in the middle of a barren land filled with nothing but dust and sand on all four sides, Alpha carelessly tossed the man onto the stone-cold table before walking towards a small dark corridor located at one side of the room.
The small candlelights which lined the corridor automatically flickered on with every step he took, casting multiple dim orange-tinged shadows behind him.
His silent footsteps greatly contrasting the hurried and heavy thumping of an old and lumpy bearded elder, waddling as fast as he could towards Alpha; which would be said to be the same pace of a normal person walking.
"S-Squad C-Commander! What can I do for you?" The elder gasped between breaths, bending forward and placing his hands on his knees as he heaved.
Alpha nodded his head and pointed behind him, walking back from where he came from while the elder obediently followed.
Arriving back at the small circular room. The single chandelier which hung from the center illuminated the room with a warm yellow hue. The walls filled with shelves; each lined with books of old and new, while in the middle of the room laid a single stone table with countless operating equipment scattered around.
"S-sir?" The elder shuddered trodding towards the unknown man, "A-A human? W-what do you want me to do with him?" He asked, wiping his sweat as he carefully inspected the man's face,
"Demonic Energy Implantation." A deep voice rang out behind him,
The elder instantly spun around in shock, before becoming incredibly flustered and quickly bowing down onto one knee, "P-Professor Rean greets His Majesty!"
Heliro appeared behind him, glancing at the man with a small tinkle flashing in his blood-red eyes.
"Rise."
"B-But, Your Majesty," the elder began, getting up from one knee, "That experiment has resulted in a continuous failure! T-The success rate is below 1%! Demonic Energy is too strong for a normal human to handle, they'll explode within 5 seconds!" Professor Rean exclaimed, his eyes widened to the brim while his hand flailed around.
Heliro glared at the elder, signaling him to shut up, "No questions. You've got one week," his arms folded.
"W-who's energy are we using?" The elder asked meekly, wishing he could shrink away into oblivion.
"Mine."
The elder once again looked up as he felt his head about to explode from the number of land mines the emperor was dropping, "Y-Your Majesty-", before he could finish he could feel the dark murderous intent fill the room at an alarming rate, threatening to silence him forever if he dared continue.
"Yes, Your Majesty." He cried, his fat butt slamming onto the ground with a loud thump.
"Good." Heliro smiled, placing a large jar filled with a dark purple gas-like substance in front of him before disappearing on the spot alongside Alpha.
The room was once again filled with deathly silence as the elder wiped the sweat off his forehead and grabbed the jar. He hurriedly waddled his way into the nearby supply closet, fetching a rusty wheelbarrow and carefully pushing the man off the table onto it.
He clapped his hands twice, summoning his two assistants into the small circular room.
"Move him to the Experimental Room. Leave what you're currently doing and make this your top priority. We have a week to complete this task. Go. Go. Go." He ordered waving his chubby arms around, as the two assistants grabbed each side of the wheelbarrow and dashed towards the Experimental Room.
Taking a deep breath, Professor Rean reached in his pocket for a handkerchief, wiped his forehead once more, and waddled his way towards the Experimental Room.
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The giant cylindrical tubes housed hundreds of specimens, from hybrids to deformed creatures. Each tube was filled to the brim with a green liquid and fitted with a breathing pipe. In the center of the giant room, laid the biggest tube; the size of 4 normal tubes combined. Within the tube was the unconscious man; naked and floating in the middle with patches of electrodes scattered all over his body, monitoring his condition.
"Professor Rean! Although he seems to be breathing, we're unable to find a single pulse on him! How is that even possible?" A youthful voice exclaimed through the crowded murmuring of the assistants.
Professor Rean scratched his plump neck with a sigh, "What the hell is this monster…" he muttered, before quickly focusing on his task, "It doesn't matter, all we need to do is implant this Demonic Energy into him." His voice echoed throughout the room, gathering the attention of all the assistants.
He took out the jar and placed it on the desk. The nervous gulps and chatter once again filled the room.
"Everyone! Focus! Failure is not an option!" His voice hollered through the crowd.
All the assistants gave a small yelp in fear, quickly dashing to their allocated positions and getting to work.
Rean gave a small sigh of relief before he sat down and looked over the monitor.
"How is this even possible," He muttered, holding his head as he double-checked his monitor. "How does he have not have a single strand of mana? That's not possible, even human babies are born with at least one strand. How... Is this possible…? Is it perhaps a seal?"
He glanced over at the mysterious black hole embedded into the man's chest. Initially believed to simply be a tattoo, as most seals seen in this era were a faint blue color - mainly placed either at the back of the neck or on a person's wrist, but a closer look suggests that it could indeed be a powerful seal.
"I've never seen such a big one like that before…" he stroked his chin, thinking deeply.
Getting up from his chair, Rean walked over to a nearby bookshelf and after browsing for a bit, grabbed a thick titleless book from the top shelf and dusted it off, quickly flipped through the hundreds of pages before discovering a symbol similar to the one he was searching for. The only difference was the one imprinted on the man was almost twice the size of the one recorded, with almost ten times the amount of symbols etched in.
[Mark of Absolute Control].
On the page it was written;
An ancient and lost method,
[The Mark of Absolute Control] is the advanced and perfected version of the commonly used [Mark of Slavery], capable of sealing any living organisms from demons to gods. The methodology of casting has never been released to the world with only one victim of the Mark ever being recorded. The origin of the Seal is unknown and all knowledge of the seal has been destroyed during the 10 Generational Holy War.
Effect: The caster obtains absolute control of the victim.
Side-effects: Unknown
Note: Although this seal may seem incredibly powerful, the seal can only be applied if the caster is able to take out the heart of the victim and cast the spell while the victim remains completely motionless.
Additionally, the victim must sustain injuries that are considered fatal or require more than twenty-four hours to regenerate. With even a single movement, the seal will have an increasingly high possibility of generating a backlash, which may result in the loss of the caster's own mind and/or soul. A small chance seal may become undone during life-threatening situations, depending on the capability of the victim.
Rean gently placed down the book and glanced up at the man, the words 'demons and gods,' repeatedly echoed in his mind.
"Your Majesty... What the hell kind of monster did you bring into our kingdom...." He muttered, the sound of horror clearly visible in his voice.
"Sir! The Demonic Energy has been implanted!" A clear voice sounded out in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"A-Ah, g-good. Continue to monitor his condition." He exclaimed, plopping back down onto his seat, tapping rapidly on the small monitor embedded on his desk.
The screen had once again changed to show a small grey gauge indicating the synchronizing percentage of the Demonic Energy. Currently, it was still at 1%, slowly rising another percent every 30 minutes.
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