STATUS UPGRADE: [A]SCENDANT APOSTATE TO [S]UPREME SINNER

Some time had passed again since Faustein’s latest adventures, both of which were jobs he had undertaken at the request of the associated clients. The first of these was one wherein he had been hired along with two other members from his guild, Elysium, the first of these being a man named “Odhran Aegisbane” and the other being a girl named “Seika”. The mission directive, as per the instructions of the associated client which was a group called the “Black Blood Brotherhood”, had been for Faustein, Odhran, and Seika to pay a friendly visit to a certain Magic Council representative called “Thompson”. The “Black Blood Brotherhood” had apparently wanted him removed since he had been allegedly posing a threat to the independence of normal non-magical people by advocating the rule of wizards and witches who did hold magic over the aforementioned plebeians. So, Faustein and his group had infiltrated the representative’s residence, took him along with his wife and daughter hostage, and then broadcast the message they had been given by the “Black Blood Brotherhood” for all to hear, especially those in the Magic Council, and had then proceeded to slaughter the representative, his family, and of course the powerful mages who had been sent in to stop Faustein and his group and had thus cleared the job objective successfully.

The second of these two latest of Faustein’s adventures had happened a while after the undertaking of the representative elimination job which had been the first of these adventures. This second job had Faustein doing the opposite of what he had accomplished in its predecessor. In this second job, Faustein had been hired by a client who was a rather opulent Disiertan citizen and perhaps even minor nobility to rescue his young nephew from the clutches of a rather notorious and deadly slave trade organization and also to eliminate this organization from root to branch simultaneously. Naturally, this had been somewhat trickier than the first job which was in Fiore as this second one had been an international job and so, Faustein who had undertaken it as a solo job had needed to be quite careful lest he cause strife between Fiore and Disierto due to lack of forethought. However, thanks to his razor sharp, genius level intellect; Faustein had managed to complete this second job successfully as well by rescuing the client’s nephew, albeit not in perfect health, and destroying everyone involved in the enemy organization while also avoiding any action that would have led to a conflict between Fiore and Disierto. Since then, he had returned to Fiore and had once again immersed himself in the daily routine of his practice as a professional physician-scientist mage and of course in his ongoing, ever-burgeoning mad science research, both of which had been taking him into ever more exotic territories of magical and scientific knowledge as of late.

Thus, time had been marching along steadily for Faustein and this brings the story to the present time. He had been summoned by Elysium’s guild mistress, a dragon woman named “Janet Cinderfeild” whom he had seen and worked with on a previous job wherein he had assisted her with the breakup of a Rune Knight rally. Hence, as he made his way from the mad science lab which was also his personnel quarters and in-guild residence to her chamber, he wondered what she had in store for him. Upon reaching her chambers, he knocked three times and then waited for her to let him inside. Several moments later, he heard sounds of movement inside as if some large creature was shifting about and after that, the door was opened and he was allowed entry. This was the first time that he had been able to catch a glimpse of the interior of her chamber and needless to say it was quite an impressive sight.

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“Greetings, Faustein reporting for duty. What is it you need of me?”

He gave her a brief salute and his usual greeting after which he stood at attention, waiting for her response. She informed him about what she wanted of him, but little did Faustein know that the task she would be assigning to him would actually be the one which would lead to his mage promotion from A class to S class

“Hello Dr. Faust, today I have a special task for you. Your current task shall be to create for me a creature that will shock the world. You are to use your mad science as well as any resources you need, and if we don't have it, you are to acquire it in whatever way you see fit. Just make your creation a spectacular one, that is to say, I want it to be something you will be proud of and something Elysium can be proud of as well.”

Faustein smirked in his usual smug manner as he heard this and then remarked while stroking his strongly set chin and well-defined jawline with a thoughtful look on his face

“A creature that will shock the world and which I as a mad scientist and Elysium itself can be proud of, eh? And I have free reign on the methodology and the acquisition of the resources for this project too? Well now, this is certainly an intriguing assignment indeed and I may have something which would be apropos for this occasion. However, it will take me quite some time to bring this design of mine to successful fruition.”

With that said, he took his leave of her, returned to his lab, and then locked himself inside after which he immersed himself in intensive research in order to prepare himself for his upcoming quest. This period lasted about two weeks and involved the examination of a certain relic and the literature connected to it, both of which he had acquired some time earlier from one black market vendor who was particularly shady, decrepit and old. The relic in question was a seemingly ancient ring with a large and rather peculiar crystal set into it. This crystal was a glowing teal/turquoise-colored, and translucent one. Naturally, as Faustein was fascinated with it, over the course of the two weeks, he had studied it with great care and effort at which point he found that it had many mysterious abilities, all of which were described in the legends spoken of in the associated ancient literature. For instance, it could heal wounds and even illnesses no matter how grave, transform inanimate objects and even living beings into a crystalline form upon contact, materialize a tremendously strong and impenetrable energy shield around a chosen target, create perpetually burning lamps, transmute common crystals into precious stones and diamonds, revive the dead, create malleable glass, emit intense blasts of radiation which could permanently blind a chosen target, and even stabilize and power the bodies of homunculi, golems, and other such artificial or semi-artificial constructs.

According to the legends he came across in the ancient literature, it was actually resident on a certain antediluvian, lost island known as “Alkīmiyā” which was home to the greatest civilization in ancient Earthland, one that had a populace of alchemists and who were ruled by 7 generations of enlightened despots who were rumored to be incarnations of the ancient deities who were alleged to have first imparted the secrets of alchemy to the residents of this island.

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Well now, this has been quite a fruitful study, but alas, it would seem my stroke of fortune has run out as these last remaining pages are too faded and deteriorated to make out the literature therein. Perhaps it is time to consult that old man after all.

With that in mind, he visited his black market vendor associate and upon consulting him, he learned that the ring with the mysterious crystal in it and the literature about the antediluvian, lost island known as “Alkīmiyā” as well as of the populace therein were brought back and given to him by a hapless young archaeologist mage upon his return from a particularly harrowing research expedition. Unfortunately, Faustein’s black market vendor associate had not been able to discuss the research expedition with the hapless young archaeologist mage as this mage had subsequently succumbed to the many injuries and other afflictions which had been plaguing him since his return and the rest of the mage’s team had apparently died at the site of their research expedition. Faustein also learned that this expedition had led the doomed team of archaeologists into the belly of a behemoth magical beast which was known as the “Leviathan” and that it had actually swallowed up the antediluvian, lost island known as “Alkīmiyā” and now contained it inside it.

“You see, that crystal in the ring is actually a small fragment of the main body which is called the “Soul of Alkīmiyā”. It is rumored to have been the source of this island’s superiority over its contemporaries in the areas of military, technology, sciences, and culture and other such realms of influence and power. Unfortunately, the populace who had learned to harness the power of the crystal through alchemical magic imparted to them from their gods, eventually grew too haughty and power hungry which is why the gods are said to have sent the “Leviathan” to engulf the island and destroy its inhabitants in a single day and night.”

Upon hearing that, Faustein inquired for some more information from the old, shady black-market vendor

“So then, does this island have any sort of treasures besides this “Soul of Alkīmiyā” which you have described to me?”

The black-market vendor nodded and continued his narrative regarding the contents of the island

“Apparently, the second of their great treasures is a tome which is known as the “Emerald Tablet” and it is said to contain all the secret and even forbidden alchemical magic research that was purported to have been carried out by the last of the island’s enlightened despotic rulers. This research is said to transcend even something as astounding as complete resurrection as this research was rumored to have led to the development of various spells and abilities related to soul manipulation alchemy.”

Faustein smirked as he heard this and the glint of excitement and interest in his eyes prompted the black-market vendor to warn him about the dangers ahead and to not attempt to undertake the same research expedition to acquire the two treasures of Alkīmiyā

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“You are not thinking of going in search of the “Emerald Tablet” and “Soul of Alkīmiyā” are you? You do realize that an entire team of far more experienced archaeologists could not accomplish this, right?”

Of course, as Faustein required these two treasures, he refused to heed the vendor’s warnings and instead pressed him for any further data regarding the “Leviathan”. After that, he returned to his lab in the Elysium guild hall and collected all the gear that he would need for the expedition and then set off for the coordinates on the open ocean which he was given as the territory of the “Leviathan”. Then, as per the instructions he was given to summon the beast, he held up the ancient ring with the piece of the “Soul of Alkīmiyā” in it and channeled his mana into it, causing it to emit a flaring white aura. This in turn attracted the “Leviathan” to his position at which point he was swallowed by it and passed through its body before crash-landing in its stomach wherein he found himself on a smaller island surrounded by an ocean of seawater and gastric acid. He explored this smaller island for some means to cross the ocean of seawater and gastric acid safely and eventually found the journal of a long dead archaeologist mage who had apparently come there in search of the treasures, but had died trying to acquire them. Then, while proceeding according to the information record in the journal, he came across a nest of “Sea Strider” dinosaurs which he captured via the use of his newly developed subjugation spell and then forced to carry him across to the much larger island of “Alkīmiyā” which lay on the other side of the ocean of seawater and gastric acid.

Once there, he explored “Alkīmiyā” while taking in the marvelous sights therein. His exploration revealed that the island and the civilization therein was actually far more advanced than what had been described in the legends about it. It not only had seemingly modern city planning, sanitation, warfare, and healthcare systems; but also showed that the now extinct residents were actually capable of aerospace travel and even interdimensional transportation as well, and all of these were made possible due to the power of the mysterious crystal body known as the “Soul of Alkīmiyā”. It was actually divided into three concentric rings of land with rings of water between them which were connected by bridges. The structures in the first and outermost ring were adorned in tin and lead, the second ring further in had structures covered in iron with small artificial rivers of mercury flowing through it, and finally the innermost ring of land had structures embellished with silver and gold.

Marvelous, the legends do not do this civilization any justice whatsoever. These findings far surpass any of the descriptions, I had read about “Alkīmiyā” in that ancient literature.

Murmuring thus to himself, Faustein made his way through the island and made sure to record everything he saw and experienced along the way. Eventually, he managed to make his way to the heart of the island where he found a large mausoleum. Upon entering, he had to pass through a series of traps which were undoubtedly set to protect the two great treasures of “Alkīmiyā”, namely the “Soul of Alkīmiyā” and the “Emerald Tablet” which presumably lay securely deep within the bowels of the mausoleum.

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Since he had the dead archaeologist’s journal with him, Faustein was able to navigate these traps successfully. The first of these traps involved an organ that shot out arrows made of pure, white-hot plasma if the song given was not played correctly. Fortunately, a certain retrocognitive vision which had appeared in Faustein’s mind allowed him to pass this first trial successfully. This vision was one wherein he witnessed the final days of life spent by the last of the enlightened despots of “Alkīmiyā”, a man named “Hermethoth Trismegistus” who was said to be the most renowned alchemist mage of the island.

First impediment cleared successfully. Now then, what comes next?

Faustein mused thus silently while perusing the journal as he made his way to the next area and whatever trap lay there. Upon arrival, he found that this next trap in the sequence was one wherein the challenger had to bridge a vast chasm filled with a small lake of ominously bubbling magma which lay between two sheer cliffs by trying to open a drawbridge while avoiding the magma and obsidian forged dinosaur guardians of the magma lake. The mechanism to open the drawbridge was connected to the giant target which was affixed to the two massive pillars from which was suspended the drawbridge. So, Faustein used his syringe sniper rifle to fire a series of darts which were initially stopped by the magma and obsidian dinosaur constructs. Therefore, Faustein paused in order to destroy them with a series of his spells before once again attempting to snipe at the target board. This time, his attempt was successful and thus, the drawbridge was lowered and he was able to make his way across it and then entered the third and final level of the mausoleum. Here, he found a somewhat dilapidated temple overgrown with vines and other such wild, strange flora. This temple was shaped like a giant alligator’s head which seemed to have two enormous gears which held the upper jaw of the gator head raised high up till it was almost pointing straight upwards.

Second obstacle surmounted, and now for the grand finale.

Faustein mused and smirked as he made his way towards the giant, heavy double doors located inside the jaws of the gator head temple. These were covered in electrum, and alloy of gold and silver and the right-side wall next to the them displayed a mechanism shaped like an ouroboros, or snake that eats its own tail and set into the body of the ouroboros carving were a series of ten keyholes. In front of this, there was a marble pedestal upon which lay ten keys with their numerical designation just barely legible. Faustein did not want to waste time with incorrect answers, so he referenced the journal once again and deduced from the information therein that he had to insert the second and fourth keys first, followed by the third and sixth keys, and finally the fifth and the tenth keys in such a way that it would form a rough pentacle like shape. Following this plan, he did just that and then the cybernetic circuitry patterns etched into the mechanism, around the double doors, and even all across the interior and exterior of the gator head temple lit up with a blinding electric blue color. Finally, in response to the activation command, the double doors opened up, revealing a monolithic pedestal made entirely of quartz. This pedestal held the first of the two targets Faustein was after, namely the “Emerald Tablet”. After confirming this, Faustein also spotted the legendary “Soul of Alkīmiyā” which was suspended high above the pedestal and almost touched the roof.

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Upon closer inspection, Faustein found that it was a glowing teal/turquoise-colored, rotating, translucent crystal orb which had a jagged surface and was emitting a flaring white aura. It was seen to be levitating with small stone effigies of the past kings of “Alkīmiyā” orbiting around it. As fascinated as he was with the sight, he was on a schedule and thus, without wasting any more time, he took both the “Emerald Tablet” and the “Soul of Alkīmiyā” after which he made his way back through all the traps, this time in reverse order and then went back to the entrance of the island. Once he reached there, he attacked the walls of the stomach of the “Leviathan” and thus forced it to cough him up, setting himself free once more. It took him several hours to return to the Elysium guild hall at which point, he made his way to his lab in order to prepare for the next half of his current mission. This was, of course, the translation of the “Emerald Tablet” and distillation of the knowledge contained therein into a practicable spell sequence or procedure.

However, before he could do anything further, he ended up collapsing out of exhaustion and fell asleep promptly with his lean frame sprawled out over the large, custom-order LacrimaTek table which was central to all of his mad science research projects. Eventually, the night that came gave way to the dawn and subsequent morning of the next day.

Phase 1 of mission complete, now proceeding to Phase 2.

He murmured to himself as he awoke the next morning and perused the pages of the “Emerald Tablet” tome he had acquired the day before. The knowledge in the tome was penned in quite the remarkable script.

Judging by how these characters and glyphs resemble early versions of each of those used in modern day languages, the language used by the erstwhile denizens of “Alkīmiyā” must be the original, mother language from which all of the modern ones were derived over the millennia.

He mused silently as he went through the text, translating it page by page. It was slow and quite tedious given the defunct and abstruse nature of the script, and at multiple points, he had to stop and reference several of the other tomes he had in his personal library in order to arrive at the correct translation. Consequently, it took him several days after the beginning to actually finish translating the entire tome into modern Fiorean.

Phase 2, part A complete. Now moving to Phase 2, part B

He murmured as he read over the translation several times to ensure that he minimized the margin of error regarding potential mistranslation as far as possible and then set about condensing the information into the actually usable abilities. This took him a couple more days to accomplish fully, but he did manage to do it successfully in the end and when he reached this final phase, he was truly excited to have the chance to learn some new magical powers which were now essentially lost to history due to the disappearance of their locale of origin and thus would be solely his purview as he was the one who found and translated them first

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• Post WC: 542
  
  
• Total WC: 3464 / 3000
  

Phase 2, part B complete. Now then, this has bestowed upon me three different, but related abilities. Well, that is of course, presuming my literature review had a high degree of accuracy and precision.

These abilities in question were related to the manipulation of the souls of any chosen target(s) in various methods. The first of these was one that allowed him to dissociate the target’s soul from said target’s body. It involved precise and targeted surgical ablation of specific mana pathways which were connected to the target’s liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, and then finally the brain in that exact order. The ablation required the use of not a physical scalpel, but rather one made purely of mana/ethernano, or otherwise of cold plasma. This excision would then release the vital force mana resident in the nodes present there and this special mana would then coalesce into the shape of a chicken egg sized which was apparently referred to as a “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi”. This stone was apparently going to be oval-shaped and bluish-green in color with the appearance of somewhat bluish-white tentacles on the inside of it.

Well now, it would seem that the knowledge of this ability has given me a new spell to add to my arsenal. How intriguing indeed.

Therefore, Faustein decided to christen this first ability as “Soul Excision” or “Tamashī Setsujo” due to the fact that it allowed him to literally cut out the target’s actual soul. This, in turn, led to the contemplation of the second of the three abilities he had learned about from his study and translation of the tome. This second ability was one that allowed him to fragment the donor’s excised “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” into five pieces and then implant one each into each of the vital organs of suitable, chosen recipient(s). Therefore, he labeled this second ability as “Soul Transplant” or “Tamashī Ishoku” since, like in the medical procedure of organ transplantation, this conferred on him the supernatural ability to insert the donor’s excised “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” into the vital organs of suitable, chosen recipient(s). Finally, there was the third and last of the three abilities which he gained from the “Emerald Tablet” and this last ability bestowed on him the power to mold his mana in order to inscribe a ritual seal formula on each of the vital organs of the recipient of the donor’s excised “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi”. This seal formula allegedly had the power to stabilize the pieces of the “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” in their new body environment by synchronizing their astral frequency with that of their new body environment and locking them permanently in place while slowly letting their respective magic energies to coalesce into a single, common pool.

That would then lead to the supernatural  transformation of the recipient and the received “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” into one, coherent whole. Consequently, he was inspired to give this ability the name “Eight Trigrams Sealing Style: Soul-Body Fusion Seal” or “Hakke Fūin Shiki: Tamashī-Karada Yūgō Fūjin”. The other reason why he named it that was because, upon application, it created a certain alchemyōdō style glyph pattern on the recipient’s body at the site of the implants. This series of three abilities purportedly altered the recipient’s original psychosomatic characteristics as determined by their native soul data by overlaying the donor’s soul data onto this native soul data and integrating the two seamlessly.

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This allegedly would result in the recipient showing a mix of features, some being their native ones and others being reminiscent of those in the donor.

Phase 2 of mission complete. Commencing Phase 3: Animal Trials

He murmured to himself as he arose from the LacrimaTek smart table he had been working at till then and headed over to the area in his lab where he kept his live specimens. Needless to say, these guinea pigs did not really find the prospect of being kept as lab rats by him, so upon witnessing his approach, they raised a rather deafening cacophony of anguished cries. Of course, this merely brought a cruel smirk of Faustein’s face and so, he remarked to them

“No need to be so excited upon seeing me. This time away from all of you made me miss the lot of you just as much, you know.”

Naturally, this was all merely a lie, a theatrical act on Faustein’s part as he truly did not care much about any of his guinea pigs at all; that is beyond the confines of his mad science research context. Without further wastage of time, he released some of the many live specimens he held in the containment area, the current sample being: a giant rat, two winged fishes, three giant octopuses, four winged cycloptic chimeras, five lizard folk, and six Vulcans. After releasing them, he promptly activated one of his favorite lineage abilities.

This was one he liked to call the “King’s Eye: Subjugating Gaze” that rendered this entire subset of specimens submissive by placing them under the influence of its powerful terror induction effect. Then, he marched them over to the experimental operating room section of his lab where he regularly conducted R & D on ever more improved and efficient supernatural surgery type spells and commenced the long-winded process of actually mastering the three abilities which he had learned the theory of from the “Emerald tablet”. He started with the two simplest among the subset of specimens, namely the winged fishes which were both of different special origin within the same genus. The idea here was to determine whether the process of soul excision and subsequent soul would first be possible within the same genus, but across two distinct species. So, he laid them both on the table and after using his “Diagnoscope” spell, then he executed the “Soul Excision” ability to surgically extract the “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” from the first winged fish.

This first one had green scales with blue highlights and a generally yellow body beneath and the wings were long and slender in morphology. Naturally, the extraction of its “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” killed the first winged fish. However, he was not concerned about that, but rather just focused his efforts on transplanting the first winged fish’s “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” into the body of the second one which was had red scales, a base blue body, and wings that were short and broad unlike its now dead counterpart. The result was a successful overlay fusion of the first winged fish’s characteristics onto those of the second one. Specifically, the body of the second winged fish morphed to have its wings be long and broad while it gained a second set of scales which effectively made its red scales have green highlights.

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Meanwhile, the yellow body color of the first winged fish had fused with the blue body color of the second winged fish to give it a green body beneath its red with green highlight bearing scales.

Trial 1A complete, results within expected and acceptable margin of error. Subsequent Trial 1 series commencing shortly.

He murmured as he brought over each of the remaining groups of specimens and attempted the same kind of interspecies soul transference procedure and as expected, they too were successful which brought him to the next phase of his experimental design: that is to say, soul transference between unrelated, completely distinct specimens with the first type being a single substitution where the soul of one specimen from one species would be transplanted into and fused with that of a completely different specimen from a totally separate species. If that were to be successful, then the plan was to do a double substitution wherein he would basically exchange the souls of the two specimens. The pairings for this were the giant rat and the winged fish,  the giant octopus and the Vulcan, followed by the cycloptic avian and the lizard folk, in that exact order. To his surprise, these trials were successful as well despite the lack of genetic and magical connection and relation between these various species.

Impressive, these abilities are really stupendous to behold, and they hold great promise as well.

He paused and then continued musing silently as he pondered the next step in his project

If the Norns deem me worthy, then perhaps it really will be possible to accomplish my endgame goal in this situation after all. Although, it does remain to be seen as to what the guild members’ and the leader’s reactions will be like when they behold my marvelous creations.

Then, he finished up the animal testing part of his experimental design by releasing about 80% of his remaining 6000 strong live specimen collection and subsequently practicing the use of these abilities on them as well. Then, as he had gotten enough control over these abilities, he decided to move the project into its next stage. Now the objective was to engage in human experimentation, and this time, one of his guinea pigs was a certain female patient whom he had kept in a stasis field made of ethernano and concentric mana rings generated by a special tank for several decades now. The reason, of course, was that at the time when she had first shown up at his doorstep, he had no means of administering a permanent cure for her terminal malady.

So, instead he had decided to freeze her in time to prevent any further deterioration of her condition. Years later, aka present time, he finally had the panacea he needed in order to set her right again. The source of this panacea was of course, the corpse of a certain true blood vampire which he had been preserving with its body kept intact via immersion in a specimen tank filled with a custom designed potion bath.

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Its soul was kept alive by the constant influx of mana that the corpse was receiving from the energy injector tubes which were connected to it and which it was suspended from within the tank. Thus, the second of the guinea pigs which he was going to use for this third stage of his current research project was this very same true blood vampire.

Congratulations, you two. You both get to feature prominently in this latest mad science research project of mine. You should be grateful to me for bestowing upon you this greatest of honors.

He smirked as he addressed them both in this manner, but since one of them was completely dead and the other in deep stasis and thus isolated from the outside world, they did not react in any way to his show of arrogance. Regardless, he input the movement command into the control panel of the two tanks and had them move ahead of him to the research area. Upon arrival, he removed the female patient and the corpse of the true blood vampire from their specimen tanks and then laid them out on the operating table side by side.

Commencing Phase 1 of the operation. Medical Art: Soul Excision.

Thus, he murmured to himself and then spoke the command phrase necessary for the direction of the first of the three abilities he had gained from the perusal of the “Emerald Tablet”. This operation was going to be a single substitution type procedure as one of the two specimens was already dead while the second was alive, albeit in a dormant state. This generated and focused his mana into his hands in order to generate auras around them. These were scalpel-like in shape and function and he used them to reach into the corpse of the true blood vampire and then made incisions in his usual careful, precise, and methodical manner in the mana pathways of the vital organs of its body/corpse. This led to the generation of the “Soul Stone” or “Tamaishi” of the true blood vampire which he then fragmented using the same “Soul Excision” ability. After that, he employed the “Soul Transplant” ability to insert the fragments into the mana pathways/circuitry of the female patient’s vital organs. Finally, he utilized the “Psychosomatic Fusion” ability to seal the fragments in place permanently. However, the female patient did not awaken from her slumber. Faustein then realized that since the true blood vampire was a far more complex specimen than were all of his other ones thus far, it would require a few more operational steps.

Maybe if the vampirism virus in my bloodstream were to be administered to this female patient, it would suffice to catalyze and complete the transformation?

He wondered silently and then proceeded to withdraw a considerable volume of his blood and injected it into the female patient. This modification did commence the transformation process, but unfortunately, the end result was not what he had envisioned as the female patient still looked more human than otherworldly nightwalker.  So, he pondered the issue for several long moments, weighing all the various options, examining the problems from various angles, and mentally laying out his plan to rectify the issue

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So then, does that mean this particular operation requires excision of the female patient’s vital organs and subsequent transplantation of the actual vital organs of the true blood vampire into her body to truly complete the process?

With that thought in mind, he excised the vital organs of the true blood vampire out and flooded them with an excess of mana to keep them alive after which he quickly excised the vital organs of the female patient and then implanted the vital organs of the true blood vampire into her body just as swiftly. He wanted to avoid the breakdown of the transplanted foreign organs, so he quickly connected the transplanted vital organs of the true blood vampire to the mana circuitry/pathway network of the female patient’s body and went one step further by taking small fragments of the “Soul of Alkīmiyā” relic he had retrieved in his expedition earlier and implanting them into the transplanted vital organs within her body in order to stabilize the transplants he had given her.

This time, his procedure was successful and the transformation process occurred completely at last, transforming the nondescript human female patient into something truly remarkable, an artificial dhampir with all of the otherworldly power, grace, and alluring beauty of a true blood vampire lady. She awoke shortly thereafter and upon her awakening, outside the Elysium guild hall, the sky above Sin turned dark and stormy and there were ominous flashes of lightning with the usual accompanying peals of thunder as well along with fiercely howling gale force winds, giving the whole situation a truly disconcerting milieu. Due to this, as he was a mad physician-scientist, he was led to devolve into deranged and stereotypically evil, loud laughter after which he began exclaiming in a loud voice which conveyed his excitement at having achieved his first great success in his project.

“EUREKA!! IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIVVVVEEEEEEE!!!! ALIIIIIIIIIVVVVEEEEEEE!!!! I HAVE SUCCEEDED IN MY QUEST!!”

Along with this proclamation which no doubt echoed through the guild hall and was audible to everyone, he also indulged in the usual behavioral gestures known to be the hallmarks of all mad scientists like the arched back with arms raised and his hands slightly clawed with a truly insane expression and glint in his haunting crimson red eyes. The human female patient turned artificial dhampir blinked in confusion at his mannerisms, but regardless arose from the operating table and genuflected before him while saying with her eyes cast downwards

“Greetings, Master. I shall be your eternal servant henceforth. Please give me a new name to signify the creation of this eternal bond between us.”

Faustein nodded and pondered the issue for several moments before responding to her with his usual smug smirk playing upon his thin, firm lips

“Very well, henceforth your designation shall be Research Specimen Alpha-1000, or R.S: α-1000 in brief. For ease of reference, however, your codename shall be “Carmilla”. Serve me well, my precious specimen.”

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The human female turned artificial dhampir nodded, arose, and then bowed low to him while replying with a sultry smirk on her full, soft lips as she locked eyes with him briefly

“By your command, it shall be so, my Master.”

Of course, her alluring features had no effect on him. Instead, Faustein simply nodded again and gestured toward the specimen tank she formerly occupied while instructing her

“Your body is still in its post-reanimation recovery period, so for now there will be no tasks for you. Therefore, you shall go rest in that specimen tank with the built-in stasis field generator which was your former containment unit until you are needed again.”

“Carmilla” then went off towards the indicated specimen tank and began her slumber once more until such a time Faustein would need her again. Now that this project was complete, Faustein collapsed into the custom order LacrimaTek computer chair which he had been sitting in during his translation of the “Emerald Tablet” and let his body sprawl out over it while wondering silently

These are promising results thus far, but nevertheless, it simply does not suffice, there has to be something more magnificent for my research presentation to the guild leader. What could be adequate to the task?

As he was musing thus silently, he noticed something odd occurring outside, so he stepped out to investigate it since his curiosity wouldn’t let him rest in peace otherwise. Once outside, he saw a truly spectacular sight in the stormy skies above. There was apparently a rather grand, intense, and violent battle going on between a host of angels led by a female archangel and a horde of demons led by what seemed like a succubus queen.

What in Heisenberg’s name is this spectacle? Furthermore, why are they fighting above the land of Sin of place? Oh, of course, to any who are none the wiser, this place would look totally devoid of civilization.

He wondered as he beheld the ongoing battle which seemed to become ever more violent and gory with the passage of time. Eventually, the battle ended in a cataclysmic collision of the two sides which resulted in a deafeningly loud, blindingly effulgent explosion which sent massive shockwaves of energy rippling through the actual fabric of the local spacetime structure. This, in turn, actually ended up leaving circular swathe of destruction in the area all around the Elysium guild hall which radiated out for 400m at even a rough estimate, but did not break the Elysium guild hall’s powerful magical defenses. Thus, the guild hall remained standing, safe and sound, amidst all of this destruction. This explosion seemed to annihilate both sides completely, at least at first glance. However, several moments afterward, this was proven to not be completely true since as Faustein continued to observe the situation in utter spellbound wonderment, what seemed like two meteors came hurtling towards him.

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They came in a wide, downward arc and crashed several feet away in front of him, leaving two craters side by side in the ground with were about 2 m in diameter. Naturally, since he was driven by his curiosity, Faustein tried to analyze the situation and also the contents of the craters from his position at the Elysium guild hall’s doorstep, but unfortunately, the tremendous amount of magic energy that was emanating from the two craters was interfering with the functioning of his smart holographic glasses. So, with no other choice in the matter but to approach the unknowns directly and analyze them at close quarters, Faustein headed towards the craters, slowly, vigilantly, and cautiously as was his usual routine when entering any new situation.

Now then, what do we have here? Hmm, seems like that archangel who was leading the angelic host and the succubus queen who was the helm of the demonic horde are the two remaining survivors of the catastrophic battle earlier, though in, their current state, both are too badly damaged to be of any real threat to me or Elysium. In that case, perhaps it would be acceptable to bring them inside for my mad science experimental research.

Musing thus silently, he slid the sleeve of his left arm up and after flipping open the access window to a hidden instrument panel on the forearm portion, he pressed a sequence of buttons which then led to two specimen tanks mounted on mobile robotic platforms came rolling out towards him. Then, he loaded the unconscious archangel into the first tank after which he hoisted the unconscious succubus queen into the second and then had the tanks follow him back to his lab. Once inside, he programmed the specimen tanks and the nanobot filled preservation medium inside to prepare for their reawakening. Specifically, he ensured to program it to suppress any and all mana vents on or in the bodies of the archangel and the succubus queen and even went so far as to program it to drain away their physical prowess as well just to err on the side of caution.

Now all that remains is to wait for them to regain consciousness again, but these two should prove to be intriguing specimens indeed.

He grew ever more excited at the prospect and his thoughts raced at a feverish pace, essentially creating a maelstrom in his mindscape

They seem like dismantling them and analyzing their components could teach me a great deal about their anatomy, physiology, and other such parameters.

It was several hours past evening and actually became midnight by the time the two regained consciousness at last. Needless to say, they were both befuddled as to their current locale and condition, so they had demanded an answer from him

“You there, mortal!! By the power and authority that our status as superior beings has vested in us, we command you to tell us where we are at present and to explain what has happened to us!! You will obey us lest you wish for swift, merciless, and thorough destruction to come upon you and your associates!!”

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Faustein smirked as he heard this empty attempt at a threat which seemed quite ineffective considering their current condition. Nevertheless, he obliged them as he had taken every precaution possible to restrain them prior to their awakening especially since he was planning to brainwash them and turn them into his experimental test subjects later on

“You two are currently in realm known as “Earthland” and more specifically in a land referred to as “Sin” and to take the precision and accuracy of detail a step further, you are currently being held in a couple of specimen tanks in my research lab which is located with the Elysium guild hall located in the heart of the land referred to as “Sin”.”

He paused to let their current situation sink in and closed his eyes briefly before flaring them open again and transfixing them with his “King’s Eye: Subjugating Gaze” lineage ability that rendered both of them speechless and shuddering in abject terror by placing them under the influence of its powerful terror induction effect before remarking in a chillingly calm and even tone with a smug and cruel smirk on his thin, firm lips

“The two of you would do well to hold your tongues, for you see, you are both at my mercy. You do not need to believe my words, however, as you can try to break free if you desire freedom. However, rest assured that it will be impossible for you both to escape my clutches. Furthermore, your very lives and souls need my aid in order to stay intact, so this is your one and ONLY warning.”

Then, he fell silent and waited to see what the female archangel and the succubus queen would do in response. As expected, they did not believe his words, and tried to exert all of the magical as well as physical prowess which they had left in them. Alas, it was to no avail thanks to all the precautionary safeguards that Faustein had put in place in anticipation of their awakening. After attempting the same thing for several more times, the two finally relented as they realized that it was futile to resist him. Furthermore, they realized now that, just as Faustein had said; their respective minds, bodies, and souls were in a very precarious situation due to their progressively declining integrity. Therefore, they bowed their heads to him and apologized in contrite and fearful voices which informed him that his ability not only worked on humans, but also on supernatural beings as well, regardless of their nature

“W-We are truly sorry, so p-please help us by saving our lives. Y-You have the advantage over us, so we b-beseech you, please show us m-mercy.”

Faustein smirked as he witnessed this change of heart, but then refocused his attention on the matter at hand

“Very well then, but what will there be for me in exchange for providing my superlative talent and recuperative services to the both of you? If you both surrender every fiber of your respective selves to me henceforth and pledge eternal loyalty to me, there is a chance that my knowledge and skill can not only save your lives, but also enhance them to far greater levels than they have ever been before."

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He paused briefly, but then continued with his usual smug smirk playing on his thin, firm lips

“You can, of course, refuse my offer if it puts you in a state of discomfiture.”

He said and then paused with his cruel smirk now widening into a truly deranged smile with his eyes practically blazing with a manic glint, but then it grew somber again as he resumed since he had seen them hesitating, their minds wavering as to whether they should accept his offer or not, and so he wished to push them over the edge into the abyss of temptation

“However, in the event of your refusal, there will be no provision of my recuperative services and talents and you will be left to fend for yourselves in this strange, alien land full of bloodthirsty monsters around every corner which will no doubt hunt you down relentlessly until they have feasted upon your damaged bodies. Your current conditions would render you powerless to defend yourselves against their onslaught, you know.”

They were still seeming to hesitate just a little even at this point when they knew full well their vulnerable conditions, so Faustein decided to try beguiling them with some well-chosen, honeyed words

“On the contrary, should you accept my offer, you WILL forever lose your freedom of operation, but in exchange, you shall become part of my PERSONAL specimen collection. Of note here is the fact that as a mad physician-scientist, all of these elite personal specimens of mine and especially the female ones among them, are ALWAYS given top tier care in all regards whether that be health checkups, security of existence, resources for sustenance, and whatever else in return for serving as my bodyguards and experimental guinea pigs. Lastly, you will have nothing and no one to fear ever again for you shall march under my banner and be subject to my commandments henceforth.”

He finished with his trademark smug smirk back on his thin, firm lips and was sure that they would see the logic in his proposal and realize that surrendering themselves to him was the only recourse left to them in this situation. So, he continued after another brief pause

“So, what say you two specimens to my proposal, eh? Do we have an accord or not?”

This last push had succeeded in convincing them and they gave him carte blanche with regards to restoring them to full health which served to make Faustein’s expression more of his mania. So, Faustein nodded and then proceeded to analyze their bodies and the level of damage that they had sustained in that battle. It turned out that the female archangel’s soul was near the brink of collapse while her body was intact whereas the succubus queen’s soul was mostly intact whereas her body was beginning to show signs of the downward spiral to total breakdown and if nothing was done in the next several hours, it would eventually fade into oblivion. So, Faustein informed them of that and then proceeded to wheel their containment units over to the surgical operation table where he had been conducting research on and practicing the use of the three abilities granted to him by the “Emerald Tablet”

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After arrival, he loaded them on to the table, laying them side by side for ease of operation and then commenced the procedure by first activating his “Soul Excision” ability which he used to delve into the body of the succubus queen and made incisions at the mana pathways connected to all of her vital organs since the deterioration had not reached them yet. As it had before with all of the other specimens which he had tested this ability on, it generated the succubus queen’s “Soul Stone”. Then, just as he had done with the previous specimens, he fragmented her “Soul Stone” using this same ability and then implanted each of the five pieces that resulted into each of the vital organs and the associated mana pathways in the female archangel’s body using the “Soul Transplant” ability. After that, he secured each of these five transplants in place by sealing them permanently into the female archangel’s body by deploying the “Eight Trigrams Sealing Style: Soul-Body Fusion Seal” ability. Finally, as he had done in the case of the female human patient turned artificial dhampir, he took small fragments of the “Soul of Alkīmiyā” relic which he had retrieved in his expedition earlier and implanted them into the female archangel’s body.

However, this time, unlike what he did with the female human patient turned artificial dhampir, he did not have to transplant any of the succubus queen’s vital organs since the female archangel’s body was mostly intact, and her vital organs safe.  So, he merely implanted the pieces of the “Soul of Alkīmiyā” relic into the mana circuitry/pathways connected to her vital organs where he had previously implanted the pieces of the succubus queen’s “Soul Stone”. After that he stood back and watched the transformation happen wherein the female archangel had a series of morphological changes occur in her.

First, her formerly flaxen hair color now turned an alluringly lustrous raven black color and elongating from its former neck level length all the way down to her lower back. Next, the formerly gentle jade green irises with their humanoid pupils of her eyes now came to have an intimidatingly effulgent metallic golden color with permanent vertical slit pupils. Then, her previously featureless right and left temple regions could now be seen with two long, thick, white horns protruding crookedly from them, one on each side. After that, the erstwhile pure white angel wings on her back now shifted to her waist and their white hue became tainted to the same alluringly lustrous raven black color as her current hair while maintaining their avian form. Finally, her feminine traits which were unremarkable prior to this now turned into the succubus queen’s superlative ones.

Naturally, her magic energy signature also changed from its previously completely light/holy based nature to one that became tainted by the late succubus queen’s demonic dark magic and thus became a fusion of the two, namely chaos magic which was essentially a seamless permanent fusion of light and darkness magic energy/mana into chaos elemental mana/magic energy. Interestingly enough, her mind and the general presence and aura she had about her also seemed to change to a marked degree, from its formerly divine, oppressively puritan nature to the succubus queen’s far more sensual, amorous, and mesmerizingly earthy one. Of course, being as asexual and unromantic as he was, Faustein was not affected by this at all whereas lesser men would have been perhaps falling at her feet in abject worship and maybe even proclaiming their ardent, amorous feelings towards her.

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Instead, as he was a mad physician-scientist and was concerned was nothing else other than his quest for knowledge and personal hedonism (excluding romantic/intimate relations, of course), he was led to devolve into deranged and stereotypically evil, loud laughter after which he began exclaiming in a loud voice which conveyed his excitement at having achieved his second great success in his current project just as he had before with the human female patient turned artificial dhampir

“EUREKA!! IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIVVVVEEEEEEE!!!! ALIIIIIIIIIVVVVEEEEEEE!!!! I HAVE SUCCEEDED IN MY QUEST!!”

Again, just like last time in the situation with the human female patient turned artificial dhampir, along with his proclamation which no doubt echoed through the guild hall and was audible to everyone, he also indulged in the usual behavioral gestures known to be the hallmarks of all mad scientists like the arched back with arms raised and his hands slightly clawed with a truly insane expression and glint in his haunting crimson red eyes. The female archangel turned artificial dark angel blinked in confusion at his mannerisms, but regardless arose from the operating table and genuflected before him while saying with her eyes cast downwards

“Greetings, Master. I shall be your eternal servant henceforth. Please give me a new name to signify the creation of this eternal bond between us.”

Faustein nodded and pondered the issue for several moments before responding to her while stroking his well-defined chin and strongly set jawline in a thoughtful manner

“Very well, henceforth your designation shall be Research Specimen Beta-1100, or R.S: β-1100 in brief. For ease of reference, however, your codename shall be “Inanna”. Serve me well, my precious specimen.”

The female archangel turned artificial female dark angel nodded, arose, and then bowed low to him while replying with a sultry smirk on her full, soft lips as she locked eyes with him briefly

“By your command, it shall be so, my Master.”

Of course, her alluring features had no effect on him. Instead, Faustein simply nodded again and gestured toward the specimen tank she formerly occupied while instructing her

“Your body is still in its post-transmogrification surgery recovery period, so for now there will be no tasks for you. Therefore, you shall go rest in that specimen tank which was your former containment unit until you are needed again.”

“Inanna” then went off towards the indicated specimen tank and began her slumber once more until such a time Faustein would need her again. Now that this project was truly complete, Faustein collapsed once more into the custom order LacrimaTek computer chair. Then, he let his body sprawl out over it while allowing his fingers to fly across the surface, typing at a feverishly fast pace as he needed to alert the guild leader to the fact that the task she had assigned to him was done and that she could come and visit him to see his work. After that, he dozed off for a well-earned rest.

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