Pandora Unchained - B1C88: Fury

Two chapters today, but no chapter tomorrow. Enjoy ^^.

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The Governor's Manor was not too far from the building they'd been hiding in. The only signs of life they saw was the occasional soldier on patrol, who scanned them with a demonic detection device before continuing with their missions.

Likewise, the Governor's Manor was completely empty. Sturdy as it was, it wasn't a bunker; all its inhabitants had been evacuated to the nearest shelter prior to the final wave of the demon tide. Its unattended garden was overrun under the influence of the dryad, substantially slowing their entry into the premises.

"You'd think they'd leave a skeleton crew or something," said Stephan, kicking down the front door. "If just to guard the governor's valuables."

"Honestly, I didn't see that many valuables kicking around last time we were here," said Lawrence. "That must be why. No need to keep pretty things lying around when your house could suddenly become overrun by demonic rats." Lorimer squeaked indignantly when he heard this. "No, I'm not discrimination against rats," said Lawrence. Lorimer squeaked again. "Sorin, I can't understand what he's saying."

"He's asking if you like rats," said Sorin, petting Lorimer's little head. "Because there's about a thousand of them lurking around the manor. He could arrange for an extended petting session."

As if to accentuate Sorin's words, rats scurried out of their hiding places as they walked past them. Some were hiding in cracks between stones, while others had tunneled into the manor's stone walls to create an impressive network. The rats came in various sizes, but without exception, they came out to pay homage to their king, who seemed content with telling them to keep up the good work and return to their stations.

The first basement was as empty as the main floor. All armor and weaponry had been taken by the guards, both on shift and off shift. All troops had been mobilized to cope with the last wave of the demon tide.

The second basement was just as they'd found it the last time they visited. The same alarm trap was been activated, and was easily dismantled by Lawrence. After much ducking and weaving, he made his way to a device on the wall that deactivated the alarm and allowed their group to proceed without alerting Marcus.

Sorin pushed open the door to the laboratory. There were two individuals present: Marcus Kepler, and his patient, a naked woman with needles inserted all over her body. At first, Sorin didn't recognize her. But realization struck him like a bolt of lightning, and rage bubbled up from the pit of his stomach.

"Marcus! Sovinger! Kepler! What the hell is going on?!" Sorin could barely contain himself, for in front of Marcus lay Gabriella Michka, Sorin's former student.

Sorin's first instinct was to rush forward as Gabriella's body twitched from the insertion of another poisoned needle. But then he stopped himself as the rational part of his brain kicked in.

"So what was the experiment this time?" asked Lawrence as they walked in. "Because you look mad as hell, Sorin. You—oh."

Stephan, Gareth, and Daphne stepped into the room after Lawrence, but sensing the mood in the room, they remained silent. As for Sorin, he did his best to control his temper as needle after needle was inserted into Gabriella's naked body.

"I predicted people might come forcibly fetch me, but I'm glad it’s a more reasonable group that came," said Marcus, looking up from his 'project'. "The slightest mistake could break the tenuous balance in miss Michka's body, after all. Not even I, the creator of this tincture, can predict what would happen if the process were interrupted halfway."

Sorin had many things to say, many emotions he wanted to let out, but everything boiled down to a single word. "Why?" Sorin asked. "Why go to such lengths? Why take all these risks? And why her, of all people?"

"Why her?" asked Marcus as though it was the most nonsensical question out of the three. "Because she happened to be a prime specimen for experimentation, of course. One with an amazing life-oriented constitution. And one all too willing to undergo the experimental procedure, dangerous as it is."

"You're trying to tell me she knew what she was getting into and risked her life regardless?" asked Sorin, a hint of scorn in his voice.

"I don't expect you to believe me, but… yes," said Marcus, inserting another needle. "Sorin, you can't even begin to imagine the sort of red tape one must go through for these sorts of experiments. It's not even about people dying so much as how much suspicion it would arouse and how badly it would damage the reputation of all physicians. I'm sure you can see why I would choose an outpost during the demon tide, of all locations, to conduct my experiments in secret.

"And don't think I’m the only one who does it, Sorin. The government and the Adventurers Guild use the demon tides to uncover potential heroes and prodigies. The Alchemists Guild and the Mages Guild use the demon tides them to try out new spells and weapons.

"All these things have a single goal in mind: to increase the power of humanity. And I am no exception. In fact, I aim to do mankind a great service."

"Your logic is twisted and ignores the most basic pillars of justice," Stephan cut in. "Perhaps many dark deeds are done behind the scenes, but at least on the surface, what you do is condemned by every institution on Pandora."

Meanwhile, Sorin was doing his best to both identify the components of the tincture being used and to identify the pattern it was applied in. There was a total of forty needles currently inserted into Gabriella's body, and quite a few of them were inserted in the Conception Vessel's meridians.

"You're trying to unlock a life mana cultivator's Hero Meridian with a tincture, aren't you? said Sorin. "That's insane, Marcus, and you know it."

"It has been quite the conundrum, yes," said Marcus, not slowing his placement of the needles. Like Sorin, he too wished to see Gabriella pull through this alive and left nothing to chance. "The Kepler Clan is known for its meridian opening tinctures and application techniques. It's the only clan that can open high-level extraordinary meridians, and it's not unheard of for the clan head to directly unlock a cultivator's Conception Vessel.

"Yet despite possessing such means, our clan suffers from a major weakness: the difficulty in opening a life cultivator's meridians. The methods developed by other great families are not transferable to our clan. Opening the Conception Vessel is monstrously difficult for life mana cultivators, forget physicians who never see the front lines."

"That's because poison and life mana conflict," said Sorin. "Life mana supports existing bodily functions, while poisons forcefully manipulate the human body, often to damage it and disable its key functions. As a result, the two types of mana react violently when brought into contact. The backlash can easily kill a life mana cultivator." It was also the reason why life mana cultivators had difficult treating poison mana cultivators, and why these cultivators had trouble using wands and rings of the opposite element.

"That is the common thought process, yes," said Marcus. "I though so as well, until I realized that one poison in specific does not react violently. It directly snuffs out life mana before it can react."

"Necrotic poisons," muttered Sorin. "You're madder than I thought, Marcus. You're not just trying to reclaim the family's lost tinctures; you're trying to improve upon them to create a tincture for life mages. Does the family even know what you're doing?"

"So, you know about the incident with the meridian opening tinctures," said Marcus with a smile that was not a smile. "Unsurprising, given your companions. Unsurprising, given that you've fully opened your own meridians. This lends credence to the theory that your parents not only passed on the tincture formulas to you, but also the family's lost poison cultivation technique. As for the treasure they lost, it's unlikely that you obtained it. A pity, because the reward for retrieving it is astronomical."

This was a lot of information to process, but Sorin didn't allow himself to be distracted. The needle placement was almost complete. Thanks to the poisons on the counter, Sorin had a good idea of what sort of tincture Marcus was using. The poisons were reminiscent of those used in trials 307-332, Potential Unlocking of the Conception Vessel Using a Mixture of Manabane Poison and Necrotic Erosion Toxins. It was the experiment with the lowest fatality rate amongst those attempted, but the odds of death were still upward of 30%.

"There," said Marcus, placing the last needle and completing the network. "The necrotic poison is slow acting to avoid tissue death. It does, however, lack a certain amount of… force. Which is why there's one last step to this experiment."

He raised his hand, summoning a life shield that suddenly forced their entire group backwards and out of the door, slamming them into the wall. Marcus Kepler walked out after them, and moments later, a spell circle lit up inside the room, provoking ghostly howls as death mana was rapidly drawn into the circle and into Gabriella's body.

"It's a forbidden ritual!" said Daphne, picking herself up off the ground. "A two-star version of the death convergence ritual. This kind of ritual uses sites of mass death to gather the death mana that accumulates. It was outlawed because of the intentional disasters caused by those who used it."

"You don't really believe that we'll just watch and wait while you use a forbidden ritual to perform an experiment on an innocent lady, do you, Marcus?" asked Stephan, shifting into his bear form. "You've crossed a line, and we can only consider you a demonic infiltrator in human skin."

"Then I'm looking forward to seeing what a group of five heroes plans on doing against a physician who's experienced his third forging," said Marcus. "Because the only way to deactivate the life shield blocking off the laboratory is to kill me."