Chương 3: Reward
When Beta heard his father's voice confirmed that he had won the battle, he couldn't help but exclaim in joy. He dragged his heavy body out of the entrance he had come through earlier and collapsed as soon as he passed the threshold. When he woke up he noticed that his wounds were already healed.
"So you're finally awake. You're lucky that she had better eyes than even your first ones. I bet you wouldn't have wanted a girl's arm." said his father with a smirk on his face.
Beta was shocked at first but when he saw his father's figure appear before him he calmed down.
"A girl's arm really would be a downgrade rather than an upgrade.".
Beta's self deprecating smile made his father laugh villainously. Beta just looked at his father helplessly, that was the first time he heard his father laugh.
"You should learn how to get your desired limbs fast, otherwise I might just give you a few female limbs!"
When Beta heard that, he swore to himself to intensify his studies in that area. But he, of course, didn't do so mindlessly. He still clearly remembered that he couldn't lose in the arena. He can't lose his rewards or he'll keep on becoming weaker and weaker. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Beta continued talking to his father more about body structure and ways to connect sinews, blood vessels etc. to their own bodies. Eager to learn even more, Beta then went back to his routine. On the first day, he learned martial arts from his brother. On the second day, he swapped body parts and on the third day, his mother taught him about herbs, followed by three days of self-study and finally on the last day he went to the arena. This routine of Beta continued as days passed by real fast. It wasn't until his 10th birthday that something changed where his parents suddenly called him.
Beta grew immensely within that time. He now had short dark blonde hair, green eyes and a rather handsome face overall. By simply looking at him you wouldn't notice that Beta currently has the body parts of 5 different persons. Even if you looked closely, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. The kids he fought against all have similar looks to him, so the skin color is almost the exact same shade. Even if that wasn't the case Beta would be able to adjust it to his needs though because he completely learned everything his father had to teach. But that's not all he got. He also learned everything his mother knew about herbs. What he is most proud of though, is his martial arts talent.
After years passed by and experiencing hundreds of deaths in the arena, the martial arts field and the operation room, he was finally able to land a punch on his brother, Zeta. Although that may sound like a very small achievement, if you consider his brother's strength it is a miracle that he was able to do so. Martial arts alone wouldn't have been able to deal with it. He had to resort to his knowledge about poisons and the human body in order to achieve his goal. His brother felt ashamed and beat him to death again after he succeeded, but in Beta's point of view, it was definitely worth dying for. With a silly grin on his face while remembering his brother's reaction, he realized he finally arrived in front of his father's door. He quickly put all his thoughts away and knocked lightly while putting on a sincere, aloof face.
"Come in, Beta."
Beta slowly entered the room and saw his parents and his brother, who looked at him strangely. Then his father started speaking.
"Did you know that today is your 10th birthday?"
"No, I didn't know that."
"Today's a very special, and lucky day for you, and you alone. You've learned everything we know, so now it's time for you to get a reward. It's not a simple reward like you're used to get after winning a fight in the arena. It is the accumulated knowledge we've gathered over all these years. I hope you know how to appreciate it. If today wasn't a bit exceptional I wouldn't even consider doing this, but it seems like you're a terribly lucky guy. Or maybe you're terribly unlucky? Time will show the answer to this question."
Beta looked at his father in confusion. "Will I get a reward now or not? That he wouldn't even have considered giving it to me if not for this 'exceptional' day makes me appreciate it much less...", Beta mumbled to himself. But then he saw what his father did. He couldn't help but gawk. His father suddenly emitted an aura that felt like a huge scalpel dissecting him into pieces. It was a hair-raising moment for Beta, thinking that it was worse than being operated on the table without anesthesia. And then he noticed that there really appeared a small scalpel in his father's hands. It was illusory, yet real, giving off an ethereal vibe. However, when his father suddenly appeared directly in front of him with that scalpel, Beta was scared shitless, but he couldn't do anything as he was unable to move a single muscle.
The next moment he looked at the ceiling because he was suddenly lying on the table for operation. He wanted to say something, but he also realized that he couldn't... he wanted to move his body to defend himself, but it was all for naught. Now, more than ever, did he truly experience what it means to be weak. A few seconds later, he saw his father ripping out what looked like Beta's soul.
"You have to be strong now. We don't have much time so this might hurt a little."
After his father said these words, Beta, who was already suffering immensely, cursed his father in his mind over and over again. His father started using his scalpel to cut open Beta's soul's head. Beta couldn't even cry in a situation like that for his body was completely numb. All the pain he felt directly entered his soul, almost tearing it apart. If it wasn't for Beta's mother who at some point started using herbs he has never seen before to heal his soul continuously, he would've long died completely, body and soul. Once the soul's head was finally cut open, his father inserted a brightly shining wisp of light into it. As soon as that wisp of light entered the soul's head, his father closed it tightly again, healing and fortifying it.
"BOOM!"
Just at that moment a giant explosion was heard which made the ground start trembling.
"I'll go out and delay them for a bit. You should hurry up, I won't be able to hold on for long."
Beta's father nodded silently at Zeta who hurriedly left the room. Beta's father carefully put Beta's soul back into his body, making sure that everything is perfect. Beta fainted in the process, finally unable to fight off the urge to pass out. Beta's father hastily placed him into a strange, small capsule, before finally taking Beta's last breath. He looked one last time at Beta before closing the lid and putting the whole capsule into a hidden underground area.
"Won't they notice him there?" asked Beta's mother, while looking at her husband sadly.
"Even if they did notice him, they won't care about a corpse. We just have to hope that everything goes as planned. Too bad that we couldn't completely finish our research... we wouldn't be in the pinch we are in right now."
"He's a very clever child, maybe he will be able to finish our work."
"Clever? That kid learned everything about the areas we're most proficient in at his age. Even if it's just the basics, it's still impressive. He's much more talented than we are."
"Now everything that we can do is fight our last battle and try to take down as many as possible."
Filled with determination, their conversation stopped and they left the room. Not long after, explosions, screams, and maniacal laughter sounded out everywhere, shaking up the room even more. After a few hours of fighting, a deathly silence followed. Some time later, a squad of men in white robes entered the room to search around.
"Any finds?" said a guy who seems to be the leader.
"There are several corpses of young kids in the morgue freezers and one in a hidden area underground, Sir! Should we retrieve them?" reported one of the soldiers.
"There's no need. These poor souls are lost anyway."
After the squad in white left, the deathly silence came back to the room.
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