Consuming the souls of those humans at that level did absolutely nothing to appease my hunger. It was as if I was eating jellybeans after having nothing to dine on the entire day. I wasn't crazed from the hunger like I was before, but I could feel it slowly creeping up on me. A gameplan on how to appease my hunger after I was done here would definitely be required as I knew that I would probably use a lot of my own mana reserves with this experimentation, which would leave me famished.
From the timeline I set for the Anti-Light to gather the volunteers, gave me enough time to try to figure out how I wanted to experiment on them. Obviously, I wanted to see if I could turn them into whatever I was but was that what I wanted.
I sat there thinking about it, until it was the time that we agreed on, and Gerald made his appearance. With him, were around hundreds of people. I could tell who volunteers and those were who were captured, as those who were willing were kneeling, while the others stood looking around fearfully.
I was about to just get started, but I stopped myself. While I didn't give a damn about the captured people, there was a slight sense of ownership I had amongst the members. Which I knew could quickly dissipate once they consistently failed me then I inevitably abandon them. Therefore, I didn't want to risk any of the Anti-Lights members lives on my first attempts. Something was telling me that this was no easy task that I was about to perform.
"Bring me someone who was captured." I demand.
They randomly grab a person, a man who starts screaming a begging for his life. I ignore it as I prepare to proceed to do what I had planned. My tongue darts out, stabbing the man in his side. His face contorts with pain, but I continue to ignore it as my mana flows through it into him.
I steadily watch the results as I continue what I'm doing. But I don't need to watch for long as I understand that something isn't going right. His body began to get bloated with the same substance that covers me when I first evolved. However, it failed to maintain a shape and after a few seconds, he blew up, leaving only his soul which, remained where his body once was. Consuming his still shocked soul, I command for another test subject.
After going through 50 different captured subjects, I come to multiple conclusions, well, more like theories. I was beginning to suspect that I needed willing test subjects, one who would appreciate this power. Second, I couldn't continuously pour my mana into a person as it would result in them exploding. Lastly, I was beginning to think that it was entirely possible for someone to gain my powers.
After the fifth try, I learned not to input so much mana into a subject and would hold off. They would slowly be engulfed in that white substance, and emerge a masked monster. It would be frenzied, with no intelligence, looking only to consume to fill the hunger that always plagues me. I would immediately kill it, for I have no need of something I can't control.
Therefore, to avoid any further mutations as such, I looked at the remaining captured victims. I knew they could hear me, but not see me. The past hours experimentation must have looked quite gruesome to them. However, my patience was wearing thin. I required better results, not failures.
"Listen up. This does not have to be your end here. The power that I'm about to bestow on you, accept it, don't resist it. Don't let its power consume you, stay in control. Should you come out on top, you'll have a power unlike anything anybody has ever seen. Wouldn't you want that?" I address them.
The sound of quiet murmur feels the air, as the remaining ten victims start to talk amongst themselves. While they were talking, a girl boldly past everyone in line to the front. Seeing her, some try to grab her, to keep her from approaching, but she dodges past their attempts and walks right to the platform I was experimenting on. Because she couldn't see me, she looks defiantly at my foot and says boldly, "I'm tired of being scared."
I look at her for a moment. She had dark hair that stopped at her shoulders and was wearing basically rags. Her eyes were red from crying, and she was holding a teddy bear. It was going to be her turn eventually, as I was curious on the effect my power would have on kids, so this was a good moment.
Ignoring the cries of mercy from the victims, I approach her. I do the same process I do with the others, not holding back because she's a child. As my mana enters her body, she instantly reacts by writhing in pain. Her body threatens to bubble up as she screams out in pain. However, she presses on through it as she begins to reach out to her dropped teddy bear.
I watch with a new interest, could she be the first to become a new threat no one has ever seen? She falls to her knees, clutching the teddy bear close to her as her entire being struggles to retain its shape. Then, slowly, but surely, it begins to calm down. Her body settles down as she collapses to the ground in exhaustion. I can feel her mana, that was once nearly nonexistent, is now like a raging river that has been calmed down.
Seeing everything calm down, the Anti-Light come and carefully collect her off the platform, while her unconscious body still clutches the teddy bear. I look to the other captured victims, who have all but grown silent as they watched in wonder at her.
"See, if a young child can do it, can't you too?" I respond to them.
They look at each other for a brief moment before looking back towards me with a new hope. Even members who volunteered on the Anti- Light's end are amped up, anxious for their turn.