"Are you here to mock me, Dr. Hamilton?" Aron looked over at his son before he glared at Dr. Hamilton. Everything that his son brought with him was a double-edged sword. All these generational talents gathered under him, and all of them were unruly and uncontrollable! All because of a single beast!

"Mocking you? You told me to show you satisfactory results. How can you quantify my progress without context? You need to see the failures, no?" Dr. Hamilton reasoned.

"You could have just told us about the failures. There was no need to ruin our collective appetites." One of the elders groaned.

"Well, you all don't seem to listen to reason. So I figured you must not be good with verbal learning, so visible learning was the only solution. Besides, I haven't had a decent meal in days, so you can miss one." Dr. Hamilton's eyes widened; there was almost a look of derangement in them. She then cleared her throat and then turned her attention back towards the screen, having no intention of turning it off.

"As you can see, when one is injected with nanites and then undergoes Nevilara Mystara, this is the result. From what I could gather, the Nevilara Mystara is fine-tuned to change a normal human's body. So when interacting with an enhanced human, things go wild. Even worse, the subject doesn't die, because the nanites constantly heal them."

The room went silent as they continued to look at the mass of flesh, glaring at the screen. They couldn't hear what was said, but it was clearly in a large amount of pain.

"How many have ended up like that?" Devin cast a sad look at Dr. Hamilton.

"17…" Dr. Hamilton's disappointed eyes stared at Devin.

"So 17 Persequions have died at your hands? And you have the nerve to be so smug?" An elder stood up from his seat and slammed the table.

"I never said they were dead… they are all alive. Living samples are more useful for research." Dr. Hamilton corrected that, Elder.

"Does that make it better? They would be better off dead." The same elder responded.

"Don't know, don't care. Why are you acting like you care anyway? The only reason they were there, to begin with, is because they failed to become Persequion and felt worthless. At least now they feel like they have a purpose."

Someone slamming their table could be heard from within the dining hall. Dr. Hamilton turned to look at the individual and saw they wanted to speak. She chuckled and then said,

"You all cultivated an environment where they felt failing a test meant they were worthless, that they were better off dead. A mentality so ingrained that it didn't matter what I said… because I tried. So don't put on a show now. I see you for the monsters you are." She turned her back to the individual, back to the screen,

"And I have learned not to pity monsters."

That individual exploded from their seat as they charged towards Dr. Hamilton, with rage in their eyes. Their hand reached out to grab the back of her neck so they could snap it. However, as they tried to close their hand around the back of her neck, they instead saw their arm flying through the air. Before they could process what was going on, they were met with a pair of enraged green eyes.

There was a blade of plasma surrounding her hand, and she slashed her hand to separate the attacker's head from his neck. However, Akiko's blade made contact with an invisible barrier.

"That's enough, Amaterasu; we will take it from here," Devin called out from his seat as he held out his hand. Several Theronites appeared around the attacker and took them away. Amaterasu looked over at Devin and frowned. Devin narrowed his eyes back.

"I think I'll stay here," Akiko said as she folded her arms and acted as Dr. Hamilton's guard. Akiko knew that Devin could protect Dr. Hamilton perfectly fine from where he was, but she didn't trust him to do so.

At the moment Dr. Hamilton was clearly overworked, underfed, and had experienced unimaginable things over the past few weeks. There was no telling what she could and would say, and there was also no telling what reaction Devin would have. Akiko was already impressed by how much she was keeping it together as it was.

"Thank you, Akiko. Now, where was I? Ah yes, working with the little information I was given, I reverse-engineered your Nevilara Mystara. It was far too potent to be used in tandem with the Nanites. To make it work, I decided to dilute Nevilara Mystara's potency."

There was a burst of mutterings once again. She had reverse-engineered something that had taken them centuries to perfect in a couple days while being offered minimal information.

"After 17 failures, I managed to get the balance just right, and then Subject 18, we'll call him Alpha, for now, was created."

Dr. Hamilton pressed a few buttons, and the scene changed once again. This time it was a man behind a glass wall in a sterile room. His hands were firmly gripping his head, and he was clearly muttering to himself. Outside of his unusual actions, everything about him seemed perfectly fine. The screen zoomed in on the man, and the volume was increased.

"Don't have the right… don't have the right. Can… can feel it… the soul… the world… don't have the right. Touching… I can feel it!" The man's gibberish continued until a glow of aquamarine light, arched on his skin, was visible to everyone.

"What… what kind of ability is that?" Devin asked.

"Hell if I know, Nanites said he was a simple Blaze user. But after injecting him with the diluted Nevilara Mystara, he became a Zero… and incoherent." Dr. Hamilton said.

Her statement led to another boisterous round of noise from the crowd. The Persequion were well aware of what it meant to be a Zero. There are only 4 of them currently in the world. However, Devin's parents and the Elder were silent. They all had seen a similar light before.

"The price… the price… too high… THE PRICE!!" Everyone's attention turned back towards the screen as Alpha shouted; the aquamarine light turned into a white flame, engulfing the cell Alpha was staying in.

"Shit…" Dr. Hamilton quickly fiddled with her pad, and Alpha's body flinched before it went limp and fell to the ground unconscious. Dr. Hamilton let out a sigh of relief, while Devin shot her a harsh glare. Alpha was a Zero… but she still managed to control his nanites to the point of subduing him. She did more than fiddle around with Nevilara Mystara over the past weeks.

Dr. Hamilton could feel Devin stare and then gave him a smile that he could only describe as delirious. She was tired of being dragged around by these Chasers and Persequions. Because she had no power, they didn't respect her. She saw the way the Chasers loved, respected, and somewhat feared Dr. Shaila. She was a normal woman standing strong amid these monsters. She would follow in her footsteps but in her own way.

"Anyway, where was I? Ah, right… why they're going all loony." Dr. Hamilton started to giggle to herself. The Persequion were beginning to find her demeanor rather distasteful. Even if those subjects had volunteered knowing full well they very well would die, she was having too much fun in their eyes. Dr. Hamilton ignored their disapproving gazes and continued,

"Even while diluted, there was a significant increase in the Alpha's abilities. More so than if one were to overclock."

"Can overclocking still be done?" Devin asked.

"Surprisingly yes, however…" Dr. Hamilton changed scenes again. This time it wasn't Alpha in real time but a recording.

*********

"Alpha, do you think you can overclock for me?" Dr. Hamilton stood in front of the glass wall.

"The right… don't have the right… price…" Alpha's incoherent mumblings continued.

"Yes, I know, but maybe overclocking will help with the price? Once you have the price, maybe you'll have the right? Let's try…" Dr. Hamilton reasoned with Alpha. He whimpered as he nodded his head.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Initiating… O-Overclock… ARRGGGHHHH!!" Alpha let out a loud roar of pain as the aquamarine light shone even brighter. His veins began to glow with the same energy. The reinforced glass that was designed to withstand the fighting between two Theronites began to crack under the sheer pressure emitted by Alpha's outburst.

"That's enough, Alpha!!! Stop!! It's ok! You can stop! Alpha!!" Dr. Hamilton called out, and Alpha quickly started to calm down as the energy began to subside.

"The right… I had the right… price… too high." Alpha muttered as he curled up in a fetal position, his palms gently resting on the glass.

"You did well. It's ok, rest now."

*********

The scene ended, and the screen turned to data sheets as Dr. Hamilton let out a sigh to gather herself.

"As you can see, overclocking brings out tremendous power under these circumstances. However, as things currently are, it's a power that's too much to handle."

The muttering continued as they looked at the results that were displayed on the screen in front of them. If things worked out, then an average Persequion would have the capabilities of what was a Theronite.

"As an aside, the nanites resolve the issue of sterilization. So you won't have to worry about that anymore, and maybe now you can stop treating your children like breeding studs." Dr. Hamilton made a sharp quip.

There were many upset faces and disgruntled remarks sparked by her words, but before they had the chance to speak, one of the Seren asked,

"He kept babbling about not having the right… and a price. What is he talking about?"

"I'm not 100% sure… He is hardly what I would call lucid 80% of the time, but here, I'll let him explain it himself."

*******

The screen changed again to another recording. This time Dr. Hamilton was sitting down in front of the glass wall, with Alpha sitting on the floor opposite her.

"Hello, Alpha, are you in the mood to talk today?" She asked.

"Hehehe, yeah, yeah… My head is clear today. I don't know how long, though." Even though he looked a ragged mess, his brown eyes and bright smile peered with enthusiasm through the spaces of his tattered brown mane of hair.

Dr. Hamilton then went through the standard questions, asking how his body felt if there was any discomfort, pain, etc. Surprisingly, he felt surprisingly normal, just overstimulated by his enhanced senses. The conversation then turned to what everyone wanted to know,

"During your episodes, you rant about not having the right… or about some great price to pay. What exactly are you talking about?"

"Ah, that… ummm… how do I explain this? I can feel… feel the world." He responded.

"Feel the world?" Dr. Hamilton asked.

"Yeah, I don't fully understand how to explain it, but every time I reach out to grab that feeling, things go haywire in my head; sometimes it just happens on its own. It feels like the world is angry at me. I hear these... voices… I can faintly make out what it's saying, I don't have the right; I didn't pay the price." Alpha explained.

"So you're saying the world is angry at you for connecting to it without consent?" Dr. Hamilton asked.

"That's what it feels like, yeah. I still don't really understand." Alpha was about to continue his explanation, but an aquamarine light began to radiate off him, and he gripped his head. Another episode was about to begin.

********

Once again, Dr. Hamilton stopped the scene.

"What was that nonsense? The world is angry? Clearly, he's losing his mind." One of the elders said. Dr. Hamilton just smirked at the man's conclusion.

"You don't agree, Doctor?" Aron asked as he saw the look on Dr. Hamilton's face.

"No, I don't. From everything I have observed in my data, it is 100% plausible that he has achieved a higher level of consciousness. He may be perceiving something subconsciously and it's overloading his brain."

"So you think what he's saying is real and that he has achieved some higher form of awakening." One of the elders asked.

"No…" Dr. Hamilton said plainly.

"Then what do you think it is?" Aron asked.

"I don't know; that wasn't part of my assignment." Dr. Hamilton said nonchalantly, and she scratched her ear. She clearly had more thoughts on the subject but had no desire to provide any further details. Aron frowned but said nothing in return. The doctor had produced significant results in a very short period.

"What do you need to prevent others from turning out like subject Alpha?"

"I honestly think Alpha is fine; he'll just need time to adjust… and figure things out." Dr. Hamilton shrugged her shoulders. She looked at Aron and the elders, seeing the displeased looks on their faces. She rolled her eyes, it would be best not to push them too far.

"Fine, fine… If I had a better understanding of Nevilara Mystara, I'd be able to fiddle with the composition enough to allow for an easy transition to avoid Alpha's initial symptoms. Oh, and more subjects," Dr. Hamilton answered.

The room went quiet once again. They were all initially excited about these experiments before. However, after learning what one actually had to go through, even a few of them didn't feel great about sending their "failures" to her.

Also from the sounds of things, she only mentioned receiving nanites first and then ingesting Nevilara Mystara, not the other way around. Already established Chasers could receive a significant increase in strength while current Persequions were stuck where they were.

"Are you sure nanites must be used first?" Someone in the crowd asked,

"Yep… The opposite had little to no effect at all. Don't know why… don't care to figure it out. Injecting nanites first is easier to track data with anyway." Dr. Hamilton said.

No one bothered to approach the subject further; given the way she had been acting this entire time, there was no reasoning with her.

"Very well, thank you for your report. I would say the progress you've made so far has been exemplary. I'll grant you a week's leave. I will send an escort with you." Aron said.

"Oh, gee, thanks." Dr. Hamilton grunted as she walked towards the Tiny Tots table, followed by Akiko. However, before they could make it back to their seats, Aron spoke.

"Now on to the last subject of tonight, the subjugation of Roratha."

"What?" Akiko turned her head to look at Aron.

Everyone saw the conversation that Devin had with Kenji's mother only a few hours ago. She wanted nothing to do with Heka, but it was obvious that she had no plans of going against them as long as they steered clear of Kenji while she was with him.

"Why are you so shocked, child? We wanted to bring her in peacefully; now we must bring her in by force." Aron continued on.

"Why do you need to bring her in at all?" Akiko asked, already knowing the answer. She just wanted to hear it from them.

"Things have gotten out of our control and have been ever since Roratha broke her oath. We somewhat let it slide because of her years of impeccable service, and admittedly, things were a bit of a mess at the time." Seren explained.

"Bringing Roratha back into the fold will help stabilize us in the coming days," Aron added.

"Long story short, you just want a way to rein in Kenji?" The Conductor interpreted.

"Rein him in? Why should we waste time trying to collar a monster when putting them down is simpler?" Aron scoffed, while Seren sighed and rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Akiko questioned again.

"Selistar and a select group of Theronites have already been assigned to go apprehend Roratha, preferably alive… preferably…" Aron smirked at Akiko.

Akiko tensed up and was about to jump toward Aron, but Dr. Hamilton grabbed her arm and just shook her head. Akiko looked over at the others, and they all seemed to be holding themselves back.

Akiko took a deep breath and calmed herself. They were putting on this show to make the Tiny Tots lash out, and then they would have all the justification they needed to truly treat them like little criminals. They were all but powerless at the moment. Dr. Hamilton, still holding Akiko's arm, led her back towards the alcove.

Seren clicked her tongue. The children were far more composed than they had hoped for. She quickly let it go; there would be other opportunities. As Aron went over the details of who would be joining Selistar The conductor tapped his finger on the table as his irritation at their situation was growing by the second.

The source of his frustration was focused primarily on his sensei, Devin. He had horribly misjudged this man, and he had never felt so foolish. He spouted such proud words about duty and anything to protect humanity.

"Absolute and total farce." The conductor muttered as everyone looked over at him.

"What's that, mate?" Shango asked and then motioned towards Siren, who immediately readied herself to block off all sound.

"This is practically a cult…" The conductor responded.

There was nothing else he needed to say, as everyone got the gist of his thoughts. Mawu simply closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"We were all sold a pretty pack of lies about helping to protect humanity. Chasing away the dark, so humans chase the light. Maybe that's what it was at some point. Now it's just something to help a couple of megalomaniacs feed their obsession."

"So what's the plan, boss?" Genkei asked.

"Tear it all to the ground, and use the rubble as a foundation to build anew." The Conductor grumbled as he focused in on Selistar.

"Watabe, you know we can hear you?" Duendes?" Shango's mentor asked.

"And? This is your opportunity to decide. Are you going to help or be the foundation?" The Conductor asked as electricity arched from his eyes.

"What would you have us do?" Mawu was the one to respond.

"I don't know yet." The Conductor said plainly.

"Well, just survive until next week, when I return from my leave, and stop by my office. We can take it from there." Dr. Hamilton said as she stuffed her face full of food after finally being given the chance to have a good meal.

"What do you plan on doing, Doc?" One of the mentors asked.

All they received in return was a dismissive smile from Dr. Hamilton. Selistar looked over at the Tiny Tots table, unaware of what was brewing. He had far too many things on his plate as he was. Roratha, even with a group of Theronites, wouldn't be easy to live in, and he had no intentions of being responsible for any more tragedies.

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