"What do you mean I have Miasma inside of me?" Lucilla asked.
"Exactly like I said, there is Miasma inside your body." Anastasia then gestured to Lucilla's left. "It seems to be mostly concentrated on that scar of yours and a small point on your left shoulder."
Lucilla touched her face, where her scar was located. Years ago, during the first year she spent in the lab, before Judieth was brought on, there was an accident. Lucilla's healing abilities were slow but powerful, no matter the injury and no matter what they did to leave a mark on her skin, it would always restore itself back to normal.
Then how did someone such as her manage to get a scar along her left jaw and a tattoo of the number twenty-four on her body. Such a thing should be impossible, yet it exists. Lucilla has gone through many experiments, testing the limit of her power. Many died during that first year as Dr. Vancer tried to figure out how natural regeneration worked. Once Sable joined the picture things got better as the Necromancer slowly convinced the Doctor to make the test less sever.
Dr. Vancer had managed to give every test subject a tattoo with numbers ranging from one to thirty. Everyone except Lucilla. Regeneration was tricky, but there were different levels to it, and even a way to get around it at times. A lot of regeneration abilities even left scars depending on how severe the wound afflicted to the person was, allowing Dr. Vancer to mark them with varying degrees of difficulty.
Lucilla however just couldn't be blemish. Even today if you would look at her skin there wouldn't be a single blemish to be found on her albino white body. So how did Dr. Vancer harm Lucilla permanently, to the point that her body now considers it the default state and would heal with the scar and tattoo intact?
_____________________
--Lucilla POV--
The incident happened nine years ago. I had found myself standing in a mostly empty testing chamber. There was one other person in there with me wearing protective gear, their entire body hidden from view. Located in the center of the room, almost like it was there on display, was a single container. The usual Mana dampeners the was found throughout the facility was noticeably missing, I guess to keep them from effecting the test.
The container in the room was translucent in some parts, showing a gray almost black, purplish fog. It swirled around inside the container, giving off a strange feeling. The longer I stared at it the more unsettled I felt making me want to leave the room as soon as possible. I was only ten after all. I wanted to run to my mom for protection, but that just brought tears to my eyes as all that did was remind me of my current situation and how it was currently impossible to see my mother.
"Stop standing around, procced." The man next to me said as he gave me a shove from behind.
I regained my balance after stumbling a little. I turned around to give the man a glare... he didn't react. Then I noticed something odd about his protective outfit, it was hard to see and could easily be missed, but my small stature helped me noticed a small tear in his outfit on his leg. Suppressing a smile, I turned around and approached the container.
Once I reached the container, I reached for the nozzle that was located on the top of the object. Twisting it a hiss could be heard as the sticky fog like substance flowed out and into the room. Instead of simply flowing out right away it defied gravity and made a beeline towards me, swirling around my body before dispersing throughout the room.
"Gaugh... hah, hah." It was hard to breath. I felt sick, and wanted to throw up, causing me to get down on my hands and knees as tears blurred my vision.
I looked towards the man in the room with me. The fog making everything hazy. For a while now the fog had been acting normal, filling the empty space, but once it got closer to the man the same phenomenon happened as before. Like a snake going in to strike at its pray, the fog shot towards the closest living entity, engulfing it.
The man stepped back a bit startled, but soon returned to normal. Unlike me he wasn't being affected by the fog at first. But I knew he would soon experience it. "Hehehe." I giggled, unable to stop myself for some reason.
"Why are you laughing?" The man asked as he saw my small frame laughing on the floor.
"Hehehe." Was the only response he got from me. I couldn't see his face, other than his eyes, but I got the feeling he was frowning.
"It's probably the effect of the Miasma. She shouldn't be losing her mind this quickly though...." Said a voice coming from the speaker in the room. There were scientists on the other side of the glass wall, the other side dark, making it difficult to actually see who was on the other side. The only thing visible was a few silhouettes shaped like people.
Funny enough, despite the uncontrollable laughter my mind felt as clear as it did before. My body on the other hand still felt wrong, the fog sticking to my skin like some sort of slime. At the same time, the longer I stayed in the fog the more I seem to acclimate to it, I no longer felt like throwing up, but I didn't get to my feet yet. Instead, I watched the man in the corner of my eye carefully. To be more specific, the item on his belt meant to open the door from the test chamber.
Seconds passed, then minutes, then hours. I stayed in the same spot, though I did eventually decide to lay down on the floor, keeping myself aloft like that for hours was too much for my ten-year-old body. At this point the fog barely affected me. It still felt gross and creepy, which made my skin crawl, along with the involuntary giggling, but other than that, I felt fine, if not a little hazy in the head.
The room was completely filled with Miasma, making it hard to see anything. I could hardly see the man in the dark haze, only a silhouette of the man could be seen. It was still hard to breath properly causing me to breathe heavily, my breath could be seen as I breathed out thanks to the temperature dropping.
"Okay I think that's enough." The voice from the speaker said. "Clark, go ahead and close the nozzle of the container. Make sure you grab the girl before leaving the room."
The man, Clark apparently, didn't answer. His body jerked in the direction the voice came from. Deciding this was my moment, I charged towards Clark, aiming for the key. I felt energy flow through me, heading towards my legs, I didn't even think about what was happening, all I knew was that my speed had suddenly increased.
"Aaauuuhg." With a yell, Clark struck me in the face just as my hand closed itself around the key. His hand hit my jaw, I felt blood flowing and my face aching in pain as the bone felt broken. The man then started swaying back and forth before running towards the window. He then proceeded to pound on the glass, every hit loud, yet muffled, as the sound reverberated around the room.
"Start the emergency purifying, Clark has been exposed! I repeat, Start the Emergency Purifying!" Crystals that aligned the wall started to glow brightly, the light dissolving the fog.
As for me I was writhing on the floor, holding my face. I've been subjected to pain before, so something like this shouldn't have stopped me at this point. The people here had already cut off multiple body parts at this point after all. Yet for some reason when the fog touched the wound on my face, I felt paralyzed with pain, Fear, doubt, hatred. All my negative emotion stirring inside me like some dark, sticky, thick soup.
The last thing I saw before blacking out was the man collapsing as the light touched him.
-- -- --
The next time I woke up was a few hours later, they had already tattooed the number Twenty-four on me, and the wound I received from the man healed slowly. Actually, it took as long as a normal injury would normally take to heal, much to Dr. Vancer's worry. He was afraid my Healing abilities were suddenly loss before realizing that it was only the injury exposed to the fog that was acting weird.
Turns out my jaw wasn't broken, but fractured, so my face healed faster than I thought it would. Once healed completely that area around my face regained its regenerative functionality like the rest of my body. The only problem was it now healed with a scar, the first and last scar I have ever received.
_______________________
---Genral POV---
"That's basically what happened. What I remember anyway." Lucilla said with a shrug after she finished her story. "Are you implying the Miasma somehow lingered inside my body this entire time?"
"I'm not implying, I can sense it. There isn't a lot of it, which is probably why no one else noticed." Anastasia said. "I'm impressed you're still sane after having something as mind altering as Miasma near you brain for so long, even if it's only a minuscule amount."
"From her story Miasma doesn't seem to affect her unless it can enter through a wound or something." Judieth said peering at Lucilla now with renewed curiosity. "Normally the symptoms you describe start happening over time just by being exposed to the Miasma. Yet for you it didn't work that way. You were mostly fine until it found a wound to enter into your body, then you suddenly experience the symptoms all at once, paralyzing you as your mind was overwhelmed."
Despite Judieths helpfulness, and her general respect for Lucilla's boundaries, she was still a Necromancer, the pinnacle of Magic Biologist. She couldn't help but want to know more. Before she could get carried away though, Morella placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her away from Lucilla. She gave the Red-haired scientist a pointed look before addressing the Arachne Queen.
"You believe because Lucy has lived with Miasma in her system for so long, she'll be alright using Demonic Steel?" Morella inquired.
"That's my theory." The Queen responded. "From what she told us I seem to be right."
"... I can fight the Hero with this?" Lucilla asked, apprehension, excitement, worry, and fear welling up inside her.
"Fight is a strong word, at the very least whatever weapon you use won't break on you when using it against him." She said with a stiff smile. "I'm willing to give you weapons as a down payment, the other favor will have to wait until you do the job I gave you."
"Sure." Lucilla readily agreed, she wasn't about to argue, especially since it meant getting a new pair of gauntlets. The others also voiced their agreement.
"Perfect, now that negotiations are out of the way, would you care to join me for a late breakfast?"
"Uh...." Lucilla hesitated. If she were being honest, she did want to eat breakfast with the beautiful woman in front of her. At the same time, she also knew time was of the essence. After hesitating for a few seconds Lucilla finally came to a decision. "Sure."
-- -- --
"Ahh, this tea sure is pleasant, is it not?"
"It has a very generous amount of honey and sugar; it matches my taste perfectly."
"Glad you agree. Nothing wrong with having your tea be sweet is there?"
"Of course not, Judieth and Yuki are always saying I ruin the tea by adding to much sugar. I don't really understand why they insist I keep it bitter."
Lucilla and Anastasia were deep in conversation with each other while the rest of the table ate in tense silence. Sitting at the long table was Lucilla's group, Morella, Sara, Judieth, and Cristina. There was one more person present as they sat on the other side of the table, Eleanore. She didn't say anything, or eat anything, just watched Lucilla the entire time.
The intense stare the brown Arachne leveled at Lucilla caused the three of the four from really enjoying the food given to them, instead opting to just pick at it. Cristina on the other hand pointedly looked in any direction that didn't have the two Arachne as she scarfed down her meal. If it wasn't for the fact she didn't like spiders, she would probably be more relaxed.
Normally Lucilla would be flanked on both sides by the Morella and Yuki, or Sara in this case since Yuki was currently unavailable. Today however Morella was on her left, and while Anastasia sat at the head of the table, Lucilla was seated on the side, her seat as close to the tables end as she could get. As a result, it was Anastasia to Lucilla's immediate right, since she moved as close as she could get to the Arachne. Sara sat on the other side of Morella.
"So, what type of weapon do you use Lucy?" Anastasia asked, using Lucilla's nickname. Lucilla didn't try to correct her. Someone could be heard coughing, like they choked on their food for a few seconds, but that was none of her business.
"I use a pair of daggers sometimes, but I prefer using my gauntlets." Lucilla answered. She then turned to ask Maisy, who had come out to stand behind her, to take out her old pair of gauntlets.
Appearing in Lucilla's hands were a pair of silver-colored gauntlets. While one looked well-worn but taken care of, the other was cleanly cut in half from the last battle; scorched marks mare the surface of both. She frowned slightly at the sight, these gauntlets served her well, and it was a shame that one of the two were now ruined beyond repair.
"I see, they're designed to have claw-like features on the ends of the fingers." Anastasia remarked as she picked up the mostly undamaged one.
"I'm what you might would call a pugilist, though if I'm going for the kill, I would use those claws to stab into my opponent." Lucilla answered.
"Mmhm, I see. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make gauntlets like these within the time frame you have given me." The Queen said with an apologetic look on her face. "But you said you use knives too, correct? I should be able to get you a pair made from the steel by time you return to me."
"If that's the case, I don't mind waiting." Lucilla said. "We can pick up our weapons when we return from doing your job, and then leave for the forest soon after that."
"We can give the Sara girl there a pair of Mithral daggers right now."
"She hasn't learned how to form her Mana into Arcana, or how to imbue her Chi with an element yet, so that would just be wasted on her." Lucilla said waving her hand dismissively. "I don't even think she knows what type of magic she has an infinity with."
"It's not my fault, no one bothered teaching me that stuff." Sara muttered, feeling miffed.
"We'll work on it then." Lucilla said matter of fact. "I was only you're combat instructor; I figured all that magic stuff would be handled by someone else. it appears I guessed wrong."
"You say, 'magic stuff', with a dismissive attitude, but you still use it yourself Lucilla." Judieth remarked.
"... So anyway, I think knives made from something like Adamantite would suit the current Sara better than Mithral." Lucilla said turning back to Anastasia. Judieth just smiled in amusement as she leaned back in her chair again.
"I think I have a pair of Adamantite Daggers, she can have those."
"You have a surprisingly large collection of different weapons." Lucilla couldn't help but point out.
"I've been alive for a good while now hon. I've collected a lot of items over the years."
"How old are you then?"
"Why would I tell you that?" Anastasia said acting as if she was offended. "Let's just say I'm somewhat long lived."
"Mean'in she's immortal." Cristina translated. "Though, I am older. Much older."
Eleanore opened her mouth to say something, but a look from Anastasia stopped her from speaking. Instead, she just glowered at Cristina in particular with annoyance. She didn't understand why her aunt took a liking to this group of people in particular, unlike those in the lost country they didn't seem to hold any respect towards the Queen.
Eleanore held a lot of both respect and admiration for her Aunt. As a result, she went from not caring about their existence to actively disliking them, especially the Silver haired woman that was conversing with her. The blond Vampire with the weird way of talking was a close second after that comment she made.
Lucilla for her part did notice the glare being directed her way, but since she had no reason to care about this person, she elected to ignore her. She was willing to try and be friendly with her if Anastasia desired it, but that'll only happen if the Arachne in front of her requests it herself directly. Instead, Lucilla decided to just enjoy the conversation she was happening, it helped to distract her from all of her recent worries.
Unfortunately, breakfast couldn't last forever, Lucilla and the others made their way back to the 'MS Ann.' Wanting to see them off Anastasia walked with them to the Citadels gate. The brief feeling of melancholy shot through Lucilla, but she shook the feeling off as she turned around to face the Queen.
"I'm hoping for fortunate news upon your return." Anastasia spoke.
"We'll succeed." Lucilla stated. "I'm looking forward to these Dagger's you have planned for me."
Anastasia stuck her hand out, Lucilla stared at it for a few seconds before taking it and giving a firm shake. "I wish you luck." The Queen said with a smile.
"Thank you." The Silver haired woman said with a small smirk.
With that Lucilla and her party departed for the Air Ship.