“Ugwaa…..Hurk….”

I gasped and groaned, from the new torture ‘The Professor’ had devised. Their lava was now in my body, the indescribable pain still tearing apart my entire physique like bomb inside my system. But the thing that hurt wasn’t that.

I was half standing in the white room, free from the board. They had injected the lava and let me walk.

I staggered. But kept walking. Left leg first. Right leg next.  Step by step, I kept walking, to god knows where.

I had already given into the pain, my mind was no longer functioning. All that mattered was to bear the pain, and listen to the orders. Like a good kid. Nothing will happen if that was what I did.

My personality was mostly erased, and my purpose was as clear as day for me. To become an example. To become a guinea pig. A stepping stone for Ascalon’s real ruler.

The feeling has been burned into my  mind, and I’m not gonna forget it anytime soon. I don’t care if they want to make me such a thing. I had already gotten what I desired. Her death by my hands. And what a fine kill it was. This is the price to pay, and I’ll gladly pay it.

Which brings us to the present.

I stood there, almost down, but held up by his hand. The Professor’s hand. My body felt weak, I couldn’t stand. The burning feeling was in the backdrop of my mind. It was mind breaking, but I didn’t care.

Then, he began. He waved his other hand, and three needles came. Needles? No stakes. A 3 cm thick and 10 cm long white stake. He closed his fist, and it drove into my head.

Pain. Unbearable pain. But the professor kept my mouth shut, preventing me from screaming. With a claw like grip, he was one step away from crushing the lower half of my face.

The stakes dug into my head, feeling the resistance from my skull. Slowly, bit by bit, it inched closer and closer to my cerebral matter.

I felt like clawing my head out, and tried to move. No good. He shut my mouth, and the lava limited my body to trembling, and nothing more. I stood there, immobile, burning on the inside and a stake digging into my head.

It pierced through, and touched my brain.

Like the spreading of cracks, a dozen bright cracks of light flooded my mind. The needles. They kept spreading, causing unbearable pain. And the fact that I couldn’t move my body just increased the pain.

Bit by bit, it erased my emotions, my personality, my thoughts. The cracks kept spreading, like cobwebs.

Then like glass shattering, the dark wall fell, and light flooded into my system.

I realized it. I was no more. The person called Nexus Zoltive was erased. I was nothing but an empty shell.

Dimly, I recognized the needles working in my brain. I see.

Something, with four long things and a huge central something stood, one of its long things was gripping something above my head.

A new wave of memories headed into my mind. I see, this man is my master eh.

My name…. is?

** **, the light answered. ** ** huh. A strange name. Why is it strange? I don’t know why.

The light burned brighter, creating newer memories.

Hm… I’m the pawn of my master. The great professor will use me to create a better me. I see. I’m thankful to my great master. Ascalon shall be revived.

I shall put up with all the pain. I shall listen to every order and command of my master. This, I swear upon my name ** **.

I repeated the lines the white light said. This white light is my master’s proxy. This white light is the best light.

What am I to do now, master?

I looked expectantly at my great master, who was pondering while looking at me. Yes, my great master is looking at me. I feel so happy.

I, No 17 feel so happy.

******************

“This is… horrible”

A youth muttered, looking at the plague like lands before him.

The entire area was burned to the ground, with Infernal flames burning.

The youth was about 16 years old, with short black hair and black eyes. A rare combination in Legisis. He wore thin but strong armor, a gold one with silver stripes on it. It glowed with a faint light, befitting of a holy armament. At his back a sword was strapped, its scabbard suggested that it was a bastard sword. On the scabbard, several inscriptions were inscribed.

The hero of the Kwagruyock Empire, Itsuki Tachibana, stood atop the eastern walls of the Gureis kingdom, surveying the disaster strike zone in the slums.

Slums? There wasn’t anything except ruins here.

“A mighty demon struck here. Or a magic scroll”

A man, robed in black, said to the hero. He wasn’t a man, but a beastkin. One of the strongest, the proud race of the Draconians.

Another sniffed the air, and commented.

“Without a doubt, a sacrifice was given here. Such a vile aura. Will a clergy be able to purify this sort of a curse?”

His rough voice fell in the ears of the hero, and he made up his mind.

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“We need to hunt her down as soon as possible. Ssral, any leads?”

He questioned the third draconian, who immediately crouched down, his hand pressed down on the earth. He listened to the murmurs of the earth, and then spoke.

“The earth is scared. The trails are long gone. It has been a long time since the disaster after all”

“I see. No luck huh”

“It is not so. The earth says that there is another spot, a mile east of here, inside the forest. The ground there has been corrupted by… something. It seems a great battle had occurred.”

“I see it.”

The second draconian spoke, seeing into the horizon. His vermillion eyes glowed, as he used the skill ‘Eagle eyes’.

“You see it? How is it, Ssriel?”

“The ground is destroyed, and a lot of trees uprooted. A great battle took place there. I can see quite a few trees have turned black from the corruption. The black far surpasses this measly corruption”

“What?! A stronger curse?! We need to destroy those trees! Let’s head over now!”

***************

“My king! I have urgent news to report!”

The minister spoke, panting heavily. The king was having his ‘pleasure’ time with some slaves. Irritated, he answered.

“What is it?”

“We have a possible lead!”

“A lead?!”

The entire demeanor of the king changes, and he throws the woman who was pleasuring him into the wall,  with superhuman strength.

“Yes, your majesty! Do you remember the bastard result of the project?”

“Hm? That Nerius or something?”

“Nexus, your majesty. He hasn’t died!”

“What?! The slums were wiped out,right? How did he not die?”

“Maybe he was the demon’s objective, your majesty. But the observation team tried tracking the item they had inserted in him, and they got a signal! A weak one, a few miles east of here, deep in the forest!”

“In the forest? In our kingdom?! Those foul demons! “

The king closes his eyes and concentrates. He extends his arm, and a silver flame burns. A bird surfaces from it and heads outside the royal chamber, towards the hero.

********************

“The reconfiguration was a grand success. We successfully sealed up his memories, and re wrote his personality.”

The man spoke, his jade like hair gleaming. He flipped through the file in his hands, reading it quickly.

“Humph. Unnecessary. Why don’t we just kill that filth?”

From the shadows, a voice came, one of a woman’s.

“We need him to get our prototype. This is so that he doesn’t think of rebelling”

The man replied, still looking at the file.

“Orthius, how goes the development of the prototype?”

“We have succeeded in Phase one. The pseudo body is completely formed. We need to quickly proceed to Phase two, and begin the modifications. The results from No 17 are spectacular”

A voice that sounded like an animal growling came from the shadows, a voice full of joy.

“I see. We shall quickly finish the experiments on No 17. The data is almost collected after all. The activation formula worked wonders on it. We gave him a controlled dose, and his body condition has improved greatly. It seems even a mana pool is forming in him. Only traces, but forming nevertheless”

“That is great news! When shall we begin on No 18?”

“Hm, we shall increase the dosage once, to note if there are any problems. Then, we’ll begin on No 18”

“I see. Then how are we going to dispose of that failure”

The woman’s voice came again, irritated from the presence of the boy.

“Hm… Soon. We shall hold a death match between them, and call General Altrock. Then, we shall show the human king the strength of the demons!”

The people in the room chuckled, happy that their plan was nearing completion.

“What of the humans?”

The voice of another woman came, this more serious.

“Hm, Traza has been surveying them, and it seems some reinforcements have arrived”

“Reinforcements?”

“A hero and three unknowns. He also said there’s someone else, who’s hiding their presence”

“A hero eh? Perhaps we should kill the king to warn them?”

“Unnecessary. We need to focus our resources here, in case the humans find this place. There’s a feeling that’s nagging me, so this is best”

“If the Professor says so, then it must be true”

The reply was curt, almost as if the words were quite forced.

“No no, I did not mean to offend you. Fine. We’ll dispatch some forces towards the foolish king, and we shall show him our might!”

“Umu. That is good”

But little did the Professor know,  that his hunch was right. That dispatching the forces was a grave mistake.

The events progressed, until the day of the death match.

On the 17th of Redmoon, the death match began.