38 1st Human Experimen (2/2)
The man sat silently for a moment before nodding. ”Let's do it. My name is Roger Swoll by the way.”
Ed thought for a moment 'I should probably pick a new name to use for my own organization. Ed is ordinary. However short it lasted, Weld was my hunter name. Weld also isn't a very accurate description for my powers anymore. I think I know what new name to use.' He looked at the man and smiled, ”You can call me Forge.”
”Dumb name.” The man scoffed.
They rested for a while before standing up. Ed gathered the exo suits off the two men he just killed and added them to his crate. 'That makes 4 suits total now. Plus, two vibro-knives. Seems to be a pretty good trip.' He created some wheels underneath the crate and pulled it by a rope. Then Roger led him towards the storage room.
They opened the door and entered a small dark room. The sound of footsteps and chains clanging against the ground rang out. ”Who's there?!” A voice yelled.
Ed immediately began to use his powers to try melting the stranger hidden in the darkness. 'It's not working!'
Suddenly, some lights flickered on. A large muscular man with long brown hair glared at them. He was nearly nude, wearing only a pair of shorts. A collar was placed around his neck.
”An esper slave?” He questioned. 'No wonder my powers didn't work. It's so much harder using my powers on anything that has mana.'
”I didn't think our branch had any slaves.” Roger commented. ”We're a fairly minor branch after all.”
The slave eyed them cautiously. Small bits of rock began to appear out of nowhere and float around him. However, they failed to cover his entire body. ”Intruders!” He yelled. Then he charged forward and shot the rocks.
Ed lazily melted the rocks when they got close enough. Then he melted the floor and the slave fell into it. The floor quickly solidified and trapped everything beneath the espers head. ”What a weak esper.” He sighed in disappointment.
”Weak?” The fat man questioned. ”He seemed comparable to most other espers I've seen?”
”Really?” He questioned. ”I've been around a lot of strong espers. Perhaps my views have become skewed as a result.” He walked past the trapped esper and found a small box. It didn't even reach his ankles in height. He bent down and opened it. Many vials of mana-powder filled the box. He frowned when he looked at them.
”What's wrong?” Roger questioned.
”There are no mana-cores. I'll need one for your surgery.” He replied. He stood up and glanced at the trapped man. ”Fortunately, we seem to be in luck. There just so happens to be one nearby.”
The slave's eyes widened in fear. ”No! Please! I... I can serve you! I've already got the collar. The controller should be with the leader!”
”I'm not interested in weak espers.” He shook his head in denial.
”I've got to be more useful than that trashy ordinary human?!” The slave roared in anger.
Ed glanced behind him and looked at Roger. Then he smiled, ”You have no idea just how surprisingly valuable that man has become to me.” He pulled out a vibro-knife and quickly swung it. The slave was beheaded in an instant.
He carefully got to work on the mana-collar. He removed the tiny lightning mana-battery. Then he threw the collar and mana-powders into the same crate as the exo suits. He removed the mana-core from the slave's head. It was a dull yellow color. 'Seems his core is almost entirely the earth element. It's fairly small though. Is that why he was so weak?'
He pulled the crate behind him and started heading for the exit. The old man quickly followed behind. They traveled through the winding tunnels back to Roger's hotel. ”Are you ready to get started?” Ed questioned.
”Yes.” The man nodded confidently.
”Good. We need a secure room where we won't be bothered.” He replied.
”Let's use the cellar then.” The old man said. ”No one has access to it but me.”
”Okay.” He nodded in agreement. ”I'll need you to write a suicide note in advance that explains what the mayor did.”
”Sure.” Roger quickly wrote a note describing the events of what happened to his daughter. He then claimed to take his own life due to the sorrow.
The two stayed in the cellar. Ed created a simple table from the floor for Roger to lay on. He cuffed the man to the table to prevent any movement. ”Any last words before I begin?” He questioned.
”No.” The man shook his head. ”I've lived only for vengeance for these past few years. Even if I die, I'll rest in peace if you truly take revenge for me.”
”Don't worry.” He nodded. ”I'll keep my word, if only because it serves my political agenda.”
Ed began to melt a small hole in the side of Roger's skull. He quickly modified the pain receptors so that the old man wouldn't feel any pain for the rest of the process. He had done similar things countless times when he used to experiment on Dupe's clones. The mana-core flew through the flesh of the brain. The parts of the brain in the way were quickly melted and re-solidified as it went. Soon, the core was in the middle of the brain, just like it was for all espers.
The neurons of the brain began to attach to the core. Electric pulses traveled between the neurons and the mana-core. The exchanged pulses started slowly, but quickly increased in pace. As the pace continued to increase, the surrounding brain cells began to quickly die off. Mana-waves spread throughout the brain. More and more cells continued dying. It was only a brief moment before Roger lay dead on the table.
”A pity.” Ed sighed as he shook his head. 'My failures weren't this quick when experimenting on Dupe. As I thought previously, ordinary humans simply aren't equipped to handle large influxes of mana. In Dupe's case the problem mostly stemmed from the mana-core injecting foreign mana that wasn't compatible with his body. I hoped it'd be easier in ordinary men since they have no base-mana to begin with. I'll probably need to find a way to increase mana-resistance in ordinary people before implanting mana-cores in the future. It warrants further research...'
He began to clean up the scene. He lowered the table he had created back into the floor. Then he looked at Rogers body, which seemed to still be perfectly fine from the outside. There was a slight smile and peaceful look on the old man's face. Ed set up a chair and some rope. Then he hung Roger's body from the rope on the ceiling. He kicked the chair from underneath the body and the sound of the old man's neck breaking rang out. The fat body hung from the ceiling and slowly swung back and forth.
Ed took the goods he had collected from Sinless. He left the old man behind along with the suicide note. He exited the cellar and saw the woman he had bound previously behind the counter. 'Ah, I forgot about her. Now then, what should I do with her?'