Chapter 3857: We Did It (Part 2)

"You are not thinking clearly, or you would have noticed this yourself. Think about it." Solus said.

"What’s more likely? That some of the smartest people you know miss an obvious detail, or that they just hide it from you and put their base on lockdown exactly because they know what they are dealing with?"

***

Somewhere else, at the same time.

Xenagrosh couldn’t move a finger as her captor gutted her open like a fish. She couldn’t even think as he cast one spell after another. Some he used on her, others on himself.

Yet even the slave array that shackled her will had its limits. Xenagrosh could still see from her unblinking eyes and listen to the ramblings of the creature.

The thing in front of her looked humanoid only in the widest sense of the term. The two lower limbs that supported his weight ended in three long fingers, two in front and one behind, which allowed him to adjust his height and angle as needed.

Things that could be called arms only because they came out of his torso sprouted and disappeared under his oily skin, each ending in a different tool with a different purpose. Some, like knives and retractors, she understood.

Others, like what looked like a nut-sized mana crystal on top of a flesh wand or a pincushion, escaped even the grasp of her Dragon Eyes. Yet they all had one thing in common.

They all inflicted upon her searing pain that would have killed a normal Divine Beast a thousand times over.

The creature took great care to pause his experiments from time to time and loosen her chains. Each break lasted just enough for Xenagrosh’s black and white cores to replenish their strength and allow her to survive the next series of tests.

The creature had an uncanny understanding of the limits and abilities of Xenagrosh’s body. The nourishment healed her wounds and restored her stamina, but wasn’t enough to launch a single attack even in the case she somehow overcame the effects of the slave array.

’I’ve never seen spells like these, but I know what they are.’ Sealed in a black corner of her mind, Xenagrosh tried to uncover the nature of her enemy. ’They are all diagnostic spells for Body Sculpting.

’If not for these gods-damn chains, my black core would feed upon the light element and foil any attempt to study my life force. This bastard is crazy, but he is also a genius. Even the Master never got the opportunity to observe an Eldritch’s life before I became a hybrid.’

"I see." The creature whispered. "This is why I always failed."

He had no mouth to speak and used air magic to do it, but his voice wheezed and gasped like an old man on his deathbed.

He took ink and paper out of what Xenagrosh recognized as an omni pocket. He took notes after notes, filling almost half a book with his findings and observations. All the while her skin remained cut open and her organs exposed to the air.

The creature closed the tome with a thud and stored it away before resuming his experiments. He conjured more unknown spells, each one complex and twisted beyond what Xenagrosh had ever seen.

The blood from the pools rose from the ground, joining the pure world energy from the geyser below and the mana of the creature’s spells. Together, they formed a shining golden sphere that floated in the space between the Shadow Dragon and the creature.

The sphere was filled with everything a healthy Eldritch craved, let alone a deeply wounded one. Yet Xenagrosh’s skin crawled at the kiss of the golden light, and every fiber of her being strained itself to pull her away from the sphere, but to no avail.

The chains blocked the Shadow Dragon’s powers as much as the slave array controlled her mind. When the sphere started to move, she tried to close her eyes, but they ignored her pleas.

She tried to grit her teeth, expecting the effects of the spell to be much worse than its light, but her jaw remained slack.

Then, the sphere bolted forward, but against the creature. As Xenagrosh inwardly sighed in relief, the creature screamed with all the agony that she had endured until that moment and more.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, all eight of them, and opened dozens of mouths across his body to express the depths of his suffering. He screamed for so long that Xenagrosh forgot about her own wounds.

During all that time, the golden tendrils connecting the sphere to the creature, the mana geyser, and the blood, multiplied in number. The creature never lost his focus, guiding the sphere deep past his skin and deep inside his flesh.

Or rather, where his flesh was supposed to be.

The sickening golden light that violated her eyes revealed the creature’s secret. There was no oily skin, just a smooth, featureless surface. There were no organs under the ripples caused by the entrance of the sphere, only a jet-black substance.

’These are Forgemastering spells.’ Xenagrosh thought as the truth dawned on her. ’Forbidden Forgemastering spells. And this bastard is an Eldritch!’

The screaming stopped the moment the golden sphere disappeared inside the Chaos of the creature’s body. The many mouths panted as if he needed to catch his breath, but it was just muscle memory triggered by the prolonged suffering.

"I think I did it. We did it." The creature straightened himself, and Xenagrosh cursed herself for not realizing sooner that his pupilless white eyes were no eyes at all. Just two pools of Decay. "I have to admit that I would have never done without you, sister."

Xenagrosh reeled in shock and disgust at the affection contained in those words, but she still had the presence of mind to notice two vertical black lines appearing amid the Decay of the creature’s eyes.

***

Zeneka Region, Argal Gulf, at the same time.

After reaching the site of the ambush, Solus marked the geyser with her energy signature and made the tower appear. She Warped everyone inside the Watchtower, and Lith took position on the command throne.

"Gods, it’s beautiful." Bytra had never seen the four pieces of the Menadion Set assembled before.

The Mouth, Eyes, and Ears fitted together to form a full helm that connected itself to the Hands via black cables to further enhance their abilities.

"Thanks, but I prefer to be called handsome." Lith replied.

"I wasn’t talking about you." Bytra chuckled.

"Then consider me offended."

There were many things she would have liked to say and even more she would have liked to ask about Menadion’s masterpiece, but none of it was worth prolonging Zoreth’s capture of even one second.

"Be serious, please. Did you find something?"

"More than something." Lith replied as a hologram of the readings of the Watchtower appeared in the middle of the room. "And it’s all bad news."

The energy signatures of the hybrids and their unknown assailant were still perfectly clear even days after the attack. Bytra’s trail streaked the air with yellow and black, Zoreth with black and white, and their enemy with broad black lines.

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