“Master,” Aether knelt before Victor, lowering his head respectfully after striking down Arkanis, who had been mere moments away from attacking him.
Victor stared blankly at the unconscious Arkanis, his face had a cold indifference, before finally turning his gaze to his clone.
The moment Arkanis opened the door, Victor had connected with his clone, who’d silently warned him to hold his breath.
From the moment he entered the room, Victor had been doing just that…. And when Arkanis tried to strike, his clone had silently moved in and knocked him out before the attack landed.
“Can you shut off the poison gas?” Victor asked, his voice calm but laced with urgency as he noticed the toxic fumes still seeping steadily into the room.
Aether shook his head, “Only he has access to the controls for this place,” he replied, nodding toward the unconscious Arkanis. Moving swiftly, Aether removed the gas mask from Arkanis and offered it to Victor.
Since Aether was just a clone, the poison gas didn’t affect him. He didn’t suffer any physical damage or discomfort from it.
Victor accepted the mask and secured it over his face, “Are you alright, Snowflake?” he asked, his voice softening with concern as he turned to her. To his surprise, she seemed completely unaffected by the gas—if anything, she was inhaling it eagerly, almost as if it delighted her.
A thought struck him, and he shook his head, almost amused, ‘Oh… I forgot she practically sprayed acid…. I guess, Poison’s probably nothing to her’ he mused as he watched Aether firmly binding Arkanis with ropes.
Once that was done, Victor turned back to Aether, “Where are we exactly? And how did you get here ahead of me?” he asked, his curiosity piqued as Aether began to recount the events that had led him to this hidden place.
“I see…” After listening, Victor gave a weak, almost tired smile, ‘Who would have thought she’d come all this way to try and save me, only to get tangled up in a mess like this…’ he thought, his expression softening for a moment before he straightened, his gaze sharpening. “Where is she now?”
“She’s deeper inside, Master,” Aether replied, gesturing to another door just beyond.
Victor nodded, sparing one last glance at the restrained Arkanis. “Put the mask back on him. I don’t want him dying here, not yet… I need answers.”
After ensuring Arkanis was masked, Victor moved toward the door, pushing it open and stepping inside… only to be met with yet another shock!!
“What the actual fuck were they doing here?” Victor muttered, his eyes widening as he took in the circular array of large glass tubes.
Inside each tube, women floated in eerie silence, their bodies entangled in wires, faces peaceful yet unnaturally still.
Aether stepped forward, answering in a low, controlled voice, “From what I gathered, they’re experimental subjects, Master. This entire facility seems dedicated to… creating something unnatural.”
Victor shook his head slowly, absorbing the scene. He walked toward one of the tubes, brushing his hand over the glass as he peered inside. A woman floated there, naked, with delicate horns and small wings on her back.
Her chest rose and fell faintly, confirming she was still alive.
“How… twisted,” he murmured, eyes narrowing as anger simmered beneath his composed expression.
Beside him, Aether continued with calm indifference, “From my investigation, they’re all still alive but being used as breeding grounds to create… these creatures.” He handed Victor a stack of documents he’d found, filled with notes on artificial insemination, DNA manipulation, and experiments that pushed the boundaries of ethics and sanity.
‘Don’t tell, then those children… are they…’ Victor’s mind raced, connecting the pieces just as he was interrupted by a chorus of voices.
“Papa!!”
“Papa! You’ve come to save us!!”
“Papa!! Please help!”
Victor froze, the voices cutting through his thoughts. He turned and saw a group of children staring at him with wide, hopeful eyes, shouting in unison toward the restrained Arkanis.
Aether moved between the children and Arkanis, and instantly, the children cowered back, fear etched on their strange, hybrid faces.
“Please… please don’t hurt us!” cried one child with large horns protruding from his back, his small body trembling as he struggled to hold himself up.
“We’re so sorry!” whimpered another, a child with a dragon-like face but a frail, human frame.
“We promise we’ll be good! Just don’t hurt us!” pleaded a third child, whose arms were feathered wings and whose legs bore the scales and claws of a dragon.
Victor stared at them, he couldn’t find the words.
It wasn’t just the children’s bizarre, mutated appearances that were similar to the dead children he had seen before but rather… their faces.
They looked just like…
“Leon?” he whispered, barely able to voice the name.
These children didn’t just resemble Leon—they had his face. A chill crept up his spine, and his brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing.
‘What in the actual hell is going on here?’ He scanned the room, taking in the scene around him with mounting dread, ‘Was Arkanis trying to create something here?’
“Master?” Aether’s voice broke the silence. Victor turned to see his clone pointing toward one of the glass tubes. Following Aether’s gesture, Victor noticed a faint golden liquid dripping from the machinery connected to a particular woman’s tube.
He needed to investigate, ‘That liquid that keeping Arkanis young….’ but not now.
There were too many mysteries here, and his priority was clear.
“Where’s Lia?” he asked, urgency tightening his voice.
Aether’s gaze flickered to a nearby table, “Over there, Master,” he replied, nodding toward Lia, who lay motionless atop it. For a brief, terrifying moment, Victor’s heart seized.
“Lia?” he called, rushing to her side and placing his fingers on her neck.
His tension eased slightly as he felt a steady pulse. “Lia, wake up.” He shook her gently, but there was no response.
Aether, kneeling beside him, spoke up, “Please forgive me, Master. I had to knock her out. I was worried she might do something… impulsive,” he admitted, casting a look toward the women suspended in the glass tubes.
Victor sighed, understanding all too well. Lia’s curiosity often led her into dangerous situations. Considering the twisted nature of this place, she would’ve undoubtedly explored recklessly. Since the facility couldn’t be accessed or exited without Arkanis’s clearance, they could do anything recklessly.
Carefully, Victor lifted Lia into his arms. As he turned to leave, his gaze fell on the mutated children still huddled in fear. He sighed and crouched, taking a small candy from his pocket and extending it to one of the kids.
“Hey, kid… here,” he offered gently.
The child hesitated, fear evident in his eyes, but a sharp glance from Aether finally persuaded him. Tentatively, the boy took the candy and quickly retreated, eyeing Victor warily as he unwrapped it.
Victor managed a weak smile, ‘He really made them fear him… It will be tough’ he thought. “Stay here, alright? We’ll be back.”
As one of the children licked the candy, she looked toward the unconscious Arkanis, “P-Papa?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
Victor’s gaze softened. “Your father… he’ll be fine,” he replied, managing a slight grin before turning away.
He signalled to Aether, who slung Arkanis over his shoulder like a sack of grain.
Aether forcefully opened Arkanis’s eyelids so the scanner could verify his identity, while Snowflake keyed in the access code. With a low hum, the door slid shut behind them.
Once outside, Victor cast Aether a calculating look, “Give him back what he gave to you,” he ordered his tone dark.
Aether’s grin widened into something truly sinister. “Yes, Master.”
Victor carried Lia to her room, laying her down gently. He brushed a few strands of hair from her face, taking a deep breath to steady himself and removed his disguise.
Meanwhile, Clone Aether dragged Arkanis into the torture chamber, positioning him in the same chair—a device forged from the same indestructible material as the castle walls, rendering any attempt to escape futile.
Arkanis’s eyes fluttered open, disoriented. “W-Where am I? Victor? Yes… I was about to kill him and then…”
Tang, Tang…
The realization hit him, and his face went pale as he looked down, noticing his wrists and ankles shackled tightly to the chair. He struggled, panic flashing in his eyes as he took in the cold room around him, “W-What’s going o—”
“Hello, Shitty Lizard~” Aether’s voice cut through the room like a blade. He stepped into Arkanis’s line of vision, a wicked grin stretching across his face as he held up a power drill, its bit glinting ominously in the dim light.
Arkanis’s eyes widened, his body trembling. “N-No,… no, NOOO!” He fought against the bindings, but they held firm.
Aether’s grin twisted into something even darker. “Relax… this won’t hurt a bit,” he said, feigning sympathy, “Well… not if I do it just right.”
Grrrrrrrnnnnn!!!
“AARRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHH!!!!!”
