__________ POV Narration__________
The suffering of Ashton's test subjects continued for two days.
They were subjected to plenty of human rights violations during that time. But they didn't have any way to escape Ashton.
So, they were just forced to go along with Ashton's ideas and whims. But their hope of being allowed to leave after everything was over was dying out with each experiment.
Their days were long, and the things they were subjected to seemed to be traumatizing for most of them.
They weren't even civilians, they were soldiers, trained both mentally and physically. Yet, the sense of dread still managed to damage their psyche.
The experiments themselves were quite tamed, at least compared to their expectations.
But they saw how Ashton killed all of the Nen Users after they were done with the experiment. Except for one person. Who was killed later alongside 2 other people seemingly at random.
The test subjects became so afraid that they didn't even speak with each other.
Something strange also happened, in the span of two days. It was as if the prisoners had formed their own power structure. With the Shakti Users at the top of it.
The Shakti users did feel somewhat superior to the Nen Users, that was because Ashton chose not to kill either of them.
He only had two Shakti Users to use as test subjects, after all, they were treated a bit differently from the highly expendable Nen Users.
Ashton had quite a bit of fun noting the changes in the behaviour of his test subjects. But he wasn't exactly looking for such a result. So that was written down on some of his other logs.
Appropriately named, 'Human reaction to despair'.
The results of which echoed some other research done by others in this field. In times of desperation, humans would have a habit of clinging to any form of power they could.
Although signs of that theory also appeared in day to day life. It became more apparent in strenuous situations.
As for the results of his Shakti experiments... Well, that was quite worrying.
Ashton did numerous tests, both while the subjects were asleep or while they were awake.
He concluded that he had somewhat theorised before. Now it was backed by evidence.
Shakti was alive. It also seemed to have a desire. It seemed to want to spread itself to all humans. The subjects would be oblivious of it up until it clogged their Aura Nodes.
Even then, only proficient Nen Users were able to feel the foreign energy covering their Aura Nodes. The regular users just thought that they became unable to use Nen.
It also seemed that Shakti was capable of slowly spreading to everyone nearby. All it needed was to have a carrier nearby.
Now, it also had another effect on the Nen Users. They all seemed to be unable to remember anything about Nen. That only happened after Shakti managed to crawl its way into their minds.
They still retained some of their memories though. But they wouldn't be able to name Nen in any way. And they wouldn't remember anything about using it.
It seemed to be blocking those memories. Regular people were also affected by this. But it was more serious.
Regular people seemed to actually be the intended carriers of this 'Shakti'. It was as if all of their memories of Nen had been completely wiped.
There was something else that Ashton concluded.
It was almost impossible to spot on a regular person. It was much like his Parasitic Explosion in that aspect. It was seeped into their bodies and hard to notice.
This wasn't something that occurred with Nen Users, at least not at first. After effectively turning the Nen user into a regular person, it acted in the same way.
This was not good news. It meant that a pandemic of this Shakti would prove damaging for all Nen users worldwide.
And, after Ashton finally realised the true nature of that energy, its creator and reasons for existing also became quite clear to him.
'Who would benefit the most if humanity lost its ability to use Nen?' The answer was simple, and it was right in front of him the whole time.
It would've been a joke to say that he didn't think about it. It was just that he didn't have enough concrete information on 'Shakti' to come to any conclusion.
Now, he had enough. It was more than clear that the 'Great Gods' were afraid of Nen. It was something he could prove with his own experience in the 'Abyss'.
They were attacking him with confidence when feeling that he had little to no Aura inside his body. But the second his aura spiked, they started running away.
It was as clear a sign as possible. They feared Nen.
But most Nen users wouldn't have enough power to even travel into the Abyss, let alone scare the 'Greater Gods'. So, Ashton now had some difficulty understanding their real intentions.
Whether or not they infected humanity, it shouldn't have mattered much. Especially when most humans wouldn't be able to scare off the Gods anyway.
So, it was pretty clear to Ashton that he was still missing quite a few pieces of the puzzle.
Although he had no actual idea what these things could be.
Still, the mere thought that he still had so much to discover. It made Ashton smile.
His progress was already a lot. But there was still time for more. He could still improve his knowledge, he was no longer in the same stagnant pool of water that he had been into previously.
Now, he was done with his tests. And the test subjects were obviously not needed anymore. They were all killed in the same way as the others.
Screaming and shouting in panic. But they couldn't do anything. They all died. Ashton took back all of the stuff he had taken out in his makeshift laboratory.
Then he flew back to the surface, refilled the ground using 'Nature Resonance'.
The notebook he had written was quite stuffed. Ashton didn't really feel like re-writing it. It sounded like a waste of time.
So, he took the lazy man's way out. He summoned the 'Blood-Soaked Carnival' and used Chrollo's ability, or one of his copied abilities, 'Gallery Fake' to create two copies of the research log.
He was going to give one to Cheadle and one to the prince alliance.
And, just like that. Ashton had finished his research on Shakti. It was also quite extensive for the time he had allocated himself.
He left the place quite satisfied, looking forward to his meeting with Cheadle.
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Hope you liked the chapter!
Sorry about yesterday... Again. I really needed some sleep. The fact that I'm having some troubles at work definitely didn't help my tiredness at all.
Don't worry though, at least I managed to post earlier today :))
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