Everyone in the room listened to Sierra as she gave a lengthy explanation.
"Facts, you say?" queried Klara.
As a medical person, she was interested in what Sierra had to say. Also, she had tried to analyze the corpse but was too scared of anything happening.
"Wel--"
"Sierra, before you continue, take this!" interrupted Caspian.
He brought out a whitish blue crystal and gave it to his daughter.
Holding the warm crystal in her hand, Sierra commented, "The Azure Halldumene, thank you!"
She picked up a glove and gave a pair to Jaya while she wore one herself.
Showcasing her medical experience, Sierra neatly cut the skin of the corpse and revealed the insides, "Black Blood. I believe we all know what it is!"
Of course, no one replied to her rhetorical question.
Black blood was a general knowledge available to all citizens of Aztec, whether they had encountered a zombie before or not.
"Black blood is present in Netherans and a few demon beast species. However, we can rule out the option of demon beasts due to the corpse's appearance."
She got an idea and held the Azure Halldumene closer to the corpse.
As soon as the flesh of the corpse began to squirm irregularly, she got her answers, "The state of its body or rather its flesh in particular. What does it remind you of?"
Having seen a lot of creatures, Caspian was well cursed in their appearance and occasional habit, "Zombies. Even when killed, part of their body still move for a moment or two, sometimes half an hour, and sometimes a full hour, before they stop."
"Yes, using the facts presented. We know that the blood, which is a part of any creature's physiology, is just like Zombies. The habits or movements it makes, after death, is the same as zombies."
She brushed the surface of her crystals and sprinkles the crystal dust on the corpse.
*Shrill!*
A bizarre scene occurred.
The flesh reacted strongly to the "holy dust" and began to revert transformation for a while before it went back to normal.
"Its body has an exceedingly high reaction to the holy crystal, which is proof of its Netheran's origin," murmured Sierra loud enough for anyone to hear her.
Amidst her deep reflection, she heard her friend frown upon hearing her words, "What is it?"
Jaya replied, "I don't think it's a zombie. We can see it doesn't fully look like it. It has all the normal features, but they aren't as intense or highlighted as an average zombie. Also, at every counting minute, the corpse is becoming more and more like a zombie...….its like its..---"
Sierra completed her words, "---correcting itself."
Caspian nodded, "I am starting to understand. However, it seems that the real question we should be asking is not, "What is the corpse?", but, "What was Ray, the real owner of the corpse?"."
"I can confirm that Ray was human. We fought to death once, so I would have noticed if he was otherwise," swore Jaya and she squeezed her eyebrows at the stinky corpse.
"So, he was human?" Sierra asked out loud.
Klara, Caspian, Conan, and Jaya nodded as they had both seen or met him before.
Sierra asked another question, "And he changed?"
"Seems so."
"How?" tasked Sierra.
Using her facts, Caspian worked his math and spoke to Klara, "Can you trace the origin of the alteration by checking what particular part of the corpse is more advanced in the transformation process?"
Klara moved closer to the corpse and displayed her skills.
She manipulated [Spirit Essence] around the corpse and softly penetrated its skin.
Using her energy as a sensor, she mapped out the body just in time before her energy depleted.
Afterward, she dipped her hand into her cloth and brought out a pen and paper. Two minutes later, she had finished scribbling on it and shown an extremely accurate diagram of the interior of the corpse!
Her ability shocked the people present and they were once again reminded of the skills of medical personnel.
The so-called "Medical Personnel" wasn't a profession. Instead, it was a general term used to tag all those that delve into the world of medicines, both natural medicines like herbs and artificial medicines like pills.
Most of those in this certain specific group took years to master their skills.
It had to be known that what Klara just did was mapping a body with just her energy. This was extremely similar to what [Realm-1] cultivators had to achieve and she just did it in two minutes.
The group looked at the scan of the body and frowned at what they saw.
The corpse's transformation seemed to have originated from its head.
"Is something like this possible?" asked Sierra.
"No. However, once consumed, some items could dissolve to the brain," explained Klara.
"So, Ray had taken something that changed his physiology subtly. Perhaps that would explain his spike in cultivation?" humored Jaya as she carefully played around the corpse.
Caspian sent scrutinizing gazes all over the corpse before he spoke out, "I'm starting to get the full picture. This man, or whoever was Ray, took something, as you said, that slowly changed him. It shifted him towards a zombie. Yet, even his premature death couldn't stop the process, as it is still changing his physique."
Conan sucked in a deep breath as he digested his brother's word.
Previously, both of them had had the notion upon seeing the corpse, but they just needed the experts to confirm it.
"So, when he was alive, after the consumption of said item…...was he still technically a human or a zombie?" inquired Caspian.
The three females in the room uniformly replied, "BOTH!"
Sierra theorized based on the books she had read, "He was on the bridge between both sides, allowing him to utilize some of the abilities of his two origins."
Jaya joined in, "Yes, this would explain his endurance, stamina, and incredible strength he showcased when fighting his opponent. His human abilities would have probably been enhanced making his energy capacity stronger, but there would be one minor problem"
At this point, the full picture was already in the hands of the group.
This allowed Caspian to complete Jaya's words, "His element. If I remember correctly, he was at the hidden stage of [Realm-1], yet, he didn't display his element. My guess is that his [Elemental Spirit Essence] was already tainted by his "Netheran side"."
In contrast to the tense atmosphere, Klara chuckled, "Yet, he was defeated."
"It is amusing, isn't it?" smiled Sierra.
However, Caspian didn't see it that way. He personally watched the match with Conan and was shocked by the gory actions his opponent took.
He had even told his brother not to recruit Ray's opponent.
"Come to think of it, if he was a sort of hybrid, shouldn't his zombie side had saved him," Conan asked a rather sound question.
Sierra pointed her finger at the squirming corpse, "Hmmm....it should have, or rather, it did, but it was too late. I reckon the two sides were in a sort of balance, and any little shift will make one side win and erase the other side. That is what is happening here."
Once she had pieced all the big pieces together, the rest fell into place.
Jaya became unfocused as she stared intently into the corpse.
"What is it?" asked an attentive Sierra.
Jaya pursed her lips and softly said, "How did it die?"
"Who? Him? Oh, I think…..wait, Klara can you check?" Sierra directed her gaze at the medical person.
"Yes"
Klara performed her technique on the corpse. After a while, Klara stopped and checked the mouth of the corpse.
She widened it enough for everyone to see a hole in the upper section that went straight to the brain!
"That explains its dead state. The brain is the most important part for both sides," mused Sierra.
Caspian wrinkled his nose, "That must also explain why the transformation is still ongoing. Most likely, the body recorded the death of the human side more and began its transformation to a zombie, but the zombie side died also. Yet, it couldn't stop its zombification."
He was not liking where this was going.
It seemed to lead to a greater terror!
However, his brother voiced out his thoughts, "Was this an intervention of luck to be able to kill both sides?"
All the while, Jaya kept mum.
She knew the killer of the corpse. Anything that involved him had nothing to do with luck, but she didn't say it out due to the silent agreement that she, the twin, and he had.
"No, this is not luck. This is killing two birds with one stone," confirmed Klara.
As a kinda doctor/healer, she could tell the precision of the attack. The corpse's last opponent knew exactly what he was doing!
"I agree with you. This seems too coincidental," aligned Conan.
Caspian squeezed his face until it reached its limit and released it with a sigh, "Who is its killer?"