The mad coot rambles some more. The gist of it is he plans to… imbue them with mana!?
The so-called artificial mage experiments? Wasn’t the practice wiped out decades ago?!
This is a scene from twenty years ago, moron!
Oh, right…
The children are moved to another room. There are beds and food, but no way out. The hunchback would select four children at a time and take them to conduct experiments… most of them don’t come back.
Today it’s the boy and Amelia’s turn.
No! No this can’t be! Not my Amelia! Not my baby!
They and two other children are taken to a laboratory with strange contraptions. There’s a roof window letting in the moonlight.
The boy screams at their captors to let them go while Amelia narrows her eyes to the mad doctor.
“Shut up, smelly breath. You’re giving me a headache. You there, Igor, you say your experiments will give me magical powers?”
“My name is not Igor, girl! I am the brilliant Doctor Zora, and yes, my research is the secret to unlocking the true human potential!”
“Says a man who can’t fix his ugly mug.”
“What did you say, girl?!”
“I said your mother must have beaten you as a baby, half-man. And be honest, your experiment has never worked, has it? You’re ugly and dumb. No wonder you hide in a rotting basement like a rat!”
“Shut up! Shut up! You go first!”
“No! Not Amy! Take me! Please, take me!”
The two goons strap Amelia onto a metal bed, and the doctor injects strange chemicals into her. Her body burns up and blood bleeds out of her nose, yet she never cries or screams but keeps insulting the hunchback.
The mad doctor screams at her to shut up, but she only laughs at him until she passes out.
Amelia! No, you can’t die! You have to be okay! You have to! Devil! Tell me she lives! Tell me you got her out!
Duke Ambrose…
Your honor, please unbind his tongue. I’ll go crazy if I don’t know what happened to my daughter now!
Sigh… Very well. Does anyone object to the duke’s request to unseal the defendant’s lips?
I have no objections.
I have a bad feeling about this…
Very well. Since no one objects. I hereby allow the defendant to speak!
Ahh… Finally! My lips have been itching for the longest time.
Devil! What happened to Amelia?! Tell me where has she been all these years?! Talk!
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What? You haven’t figured it out, old man? Look at the screen. Can’t you see? She’s dead! Dead on that very table! Hahaha! Hahaha haha!”
Lies!
Ugh! The pressure!
Not… again…
Duke Ambrose, calm yourself!
I’ll kill you, devil! I’ll kill you, then I’ll find and kill that damn hunchback!
Duke Ambrose! I warned you!
BANG!
The mana pressure is gone?
The judge strikes his hammer and forces the duke to sit still.
H-how powerful is the judge?
In this court? He is the law. Not even the elders can defy him.
Whoa.
Now quiet and watch what happens next.
“Amy! Amy, open your eyes, please!”
“Hmph! She’s still alive. Remove her and bring in the next one.”
The hunchback continues to experiment with the remaining children. Two of them die instantly. The boy appears to take the medicine better than the rest.
“It’s working! Good! Good! It’s working!”
The hunchback prances around happily as the boy curses at him. Although the boy’s words can’t get under his skin like Amelia’s.
The young devil and the passed-out Amelia are put into a separate cell from the rest of the children. He rushes to her side and quickly wipes her body with a wet cloth.
“Amy… Amy, you’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay…”
“S… h… up… b…”
“Amy!? Amy, can you hear me?!”
“Shut up… smelly…”
“Amy! Thank god, you’re okay!”
The boy is crying his heart out as he does his best to nurse her. So the devil was human once…
He was just a kid…
… Yeah.
He really cares about her…
… Yeah.
If what he said is true… if Miss Amelia really did… Well, now we know how he became so twisted.
Days pass and more children are put into the cell—children who survived the drug trial.
There are about twenty of them. But then the cell opens and the children are taken for the second trial.
Several children die. Amelia berates the hunchback with every breath she has. The madman slaps her… but she only laughs and insults him more.
Amelia… please survive… Don’t upset him… please…
Master…
After the second trial, only ten children survive. Amelia is bleeding from every orifice. The devil who takes to the drug better than the others nurses all the children and he especially cares for Amelia.
Then the third trial begins…
And the fourth…
And the fifth…
More children die. More children are brought in. Amelia never stops insulting the hunchback even as her face melts.
“What is that the best you can do, half-man? After all these months, none of us have developed mana yet. You really are a dumbass. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. And I thought an ugly bastard like you would have at least one good point. How disappointing.”
Amelia… stop… that’s enough… please…
The hunchback experiments on her more than the other children. He wants to hear her scream…
The young devil does everything in his power to protect her. But he’s too weak… too weak…
Days turn to weeks, then months… then years. Two years pass and five children show signs of mana. One of them is a baby.
My lord! It actually works!
Miss Amelia still lives… but she barely looks human… The boy feeds her, washes her, and tells her stories of knights and princesses and adventures beyond the horizon. He sings her lullabies and promises he’d get her out one day.