Chapter 34 - Chapter 33 - Assassin

He had no name.

He had no family.

He had no belongings.

He didn't even have his own body to himself.

He was simply a tool raised by the Empire.

A nameless assassin, to be exact.

But this didn't mean that he had no ambition.

Living, that was his only ambition.

A pathetic ambition, some might say.

But necessary for the world he lived in.

Though he had suppressed his ambition alongside his emotions, he knew not to forsake them.

They were the only things that made him feel.

Sensations that he deemed necessary.

Without them, he wouldn't have survived the cruel and brutal world that he lived.

The no name's consciousness regained, he found himself tied to a metal bed.

There was only a single man in the room with him.

As his conciousness stabilized, he realized what had happened.

The mission had truly been impossible.

And he, who was supposed to be dead, was alive.

"Choose. Immortality or death."

The man in beside him said.

He tried to break free from his shackles, but he realized he could not move at all.

He couldn't move anything below his neck, as if paralyzed.

"There's no point in struggling."

The man said.

The man's accent was weird, as if he had only learned the common tongue recently.

"I will repeat. Immortality or death, choose one."

He felt no need to answer. He was trained not to open his mouth if he got tortured.

The situation could be a devious torturing trick, so he kept quiet.

His neck could move around, so he decided to observe the room he was in.

Strange objects were surrounding him, he assumed they were foreign torture devices.

Then, he saw what seemed to be 5 big glass tubes.

He didn't know what they were supposed to be, or what they functioned as.

But he saw that 3 of them were filled with objects floating inside of clear orange liquid.

They were.... heads.

He recognized them. They were his comrades who had already fallen.

Their heads looked far from a normal human.

One of the pre-requisites to becoming an assassin for the Empire, was burning one's head, leaving behind a melted appearance.

He had done the same as well. That was why he could recognize the 3 heads.

The 3 heads were connected to numerous long rope-like objects.

Some of those long objects were clear, and seemed to be filled with blood?

He was not sure what they were, but he knew that it was a fucked up sight.

Strangely, his suppressed emotions were roaring inside of him.

He felt like a normal person, as if he went back to the days before he trained as an assassin.

But this was a problem since the feeling of fear had now crept up.

Ever so slightly, the feeling of wanting to escape the room was emerging.

"Last chance. Immortality or death. You must choose, or else you will become like them."

The man referred to the heads.

He didn't know if his eyes were just playing tricks to him, but the 3 heads had their eyes open.

And as if they heard the entire conversation, their eyes stared at him, waiting for his answer.

Freaked out by the sight, unsure if he was going insane or not, the no-named assassin spoke his choice.

"I.... I choose.... Immortality."

"A wise choice."

Then, the mysterious man injected something to his neck, causing the no-named assassin to fall unconscious.


****


"Who is this guy?"

Edmund asked Lucius.

"He is Dr. Kirill Sebatovich. He's the head of the bioengineering department of this research facility."

Lucius answerred, looking into the room through a one-way mirror.

Edmund had no clue what bioengineering meant or what place a research facility was.

But he made a mental note about it, knowing that it was obviously important.

Soon, 10 people entered the room.

They were clothed in hospital-wear.

There was even a non-human refugee of Earth-0.

The refugee was from an alien race called Cytuki.

Cytukis were small. They looked like hairless gremlins with human skin color, but instead of having creepy faces, they had big black eyes and small mouths. They also had long slender arms disproportionate to their small bodies, with ten fingers on each hand.

This cytuki in particular, had modified all of its fingers with cybernetics.

The cytuki's cybernetic fingers functioned as normal fingers in day-to-day life and various tools when performing his work.

The cytuki worked as a surgeon, so his fingers were modified for the job of a surgeon.

The humans in the room, including Dr. Kirill, also had their own tools and did not rely on the cytuki alone.

The 10 humans and 1 cytuki went to their respective work areas.

Some worked on the surgery, some were inserting and assembling the cybernetic parts, and some were monitoring the condition of the subject.

Soon, they began their work on the no-named assassin.

Blood and tissue splattered everywhere.

Edmund was appalled. His stomach couldn't tank the sight.

He ran out of the room to find the nearest toilet and vomitted his dinner.

Meanwhile, Lucius calmly watched the process whilst drinking chocolate milkshake.

The entire surgery process lasted for 8 hours.

During the surgery, Edmund went to sleep in the lounge area.


****


After the surgery was done, the no-named assassin was submerged in a clear orange liquid inside of one the big glass tubes his comrades were in.

He would be submerged until his condition stabilizes, which might take weeks.

Lucius went to the lounge room and tried to wake up the sleeping Edmund.

"Mmmhhhh.... 5 more minutes...."

*SLAP*

Lucius slapped Edmund's cheek, causing him to instantly wake up.

"Owww, you could've just shook me and I would wake up."

Lucius gestured his hand, making a slapping posture.

"I deeply apologize."

Replied Edmund, holding his red cheek.

"Let's go back. We never managed to tour the academy, but our business here is done. Today's the day you go back to your men and continue with the legal processes necessary. Unlike yesterday, there will be someone else watching over the process."

"Umm, it might be presumptuous of me to ask, but where will you go?"

Edmund carefully asked.

"You needn't worry about it."

Lucius promptly answerred.

'Nice, he caught the bait.'

The reason why Lucius brought him to this research facility was to further Edmund's interest in becoming a loyal citizen of Heimer.

He was even willing to let Edmund work in the research facility, if it meant that he would become more loyal.

'With his intelligence, Edmund will definitely improve the research facility's speed and efficiency in improving my kingdom's technology.'

"Now, let's hurry up and go back. Shall we?"

"Alright, Lucius."

Following Lucius, Edmund was led a small room.

The small room was familiar to him, as he had entered the same room yesterday.

There were glowing symbols labelled beside the door to the room.

Lucius pressed one of the symbols and the small room's door automatically opened.

'What is this magic? I've seen it yesterday, but I can't help but marvel at it again.'

After both entering the small room, Lucius pressed another symbol.

This time, it was one among a few dozen many.

There was a huge glowing sign above the door to the small room, and it showed "B13".

Edmund assumed that it must've been another English word, but the letters keep changing.

B13, B12, B11, B10, B9, B8, B7, B6, B5, B4, B3, B2, B, and then G.

Each time the supposed word changed, the room vibrated and Edmund felt like he was ascending to heaven.

When it reached G, the door opened again.

It revealed a completely different area.

An area where there were lots of windows.

And the sun was shining through these windows.

Edmund did not know what type of magic room that was, but he definitely had fun being in that room, especially since he had magically teleported from one place to another.

Seeing Edmund's bewilderment mixed with excitement, Lucius was cackling inside.

'Pffftttt, it's just a fucking elevator.'

It was in fact, just an elevator.