Blue Fragrance Manor, Duke's Workshop.
"This is the surveillance report on those Ixtal people!"
Camille set the report down on the table. Duke, meanwhile, was busy laying out the materials he needed, one by one, across his workbench.
"What's the feedback like?"
Without even glancing at the report, Duke poured a piece of symbiote fragment into the incubation tank, casually tossing in some biomaterial as well. He watched as the fragment writhed, absorbing every last scrap of it, and only then gave a satisfied nod.
This particular symbiote fragment, its origin unknown, looked almost like a slime.
When Duke had first obtained it, it had been highly active. From time to time, he'd feed it just enough to keep it alive, but never so much that it could grow directly from fragment into a full organism.
Now, however, the production of the Second Deadly Sin had begun, so there was no longer any need to keep the little thing restrained.
"Country bumpkins in the big city," Camille said with a slight shake of her head. The Ixtals had visited the academy, observed a few experiments, and some had been so frightened they couldn't even stand up.
Even the three princesses had looked pale, as if they'd never seen the wider world before.
"This group is critical to our upcoming plans. We must give them the best possible treatment, make them so reluctant to leave they forget where they came from."
"That way, our development of Ixotahl will go all the smoother, and no one will challenge us for the development rights."
Tightening the lid of the incubation tank so the symbiote fragment could feed and grow, Duke kept chatting with Camille while simultaneously spending a pre-prepared ten thousand wealth points on a lottery spin, hoping to obtain more rare materials.
While the draw was in progress, Camille wandered over to his bench and glanced at the symbiote fragment feeding within.
"Looks like you've gotten your hands on new materials again."
Duke took out the Echo of Fate and idly rolled it in his palm. Hearing Camille's words, he just shrugged. "Ixotahl truly is remarkable, I've gotten my hands on all sorts of new materials."
"You managed to get Uroya's potion too?"
"Sure did."
Duke placed the potion on the table. "But I haven't tested it yet. Without precise reports, I'm not about to use it."
"Looks like there's barely a tablespoon in here."
Camille picked it up, inspected it briefly, then set it back down. "I'll dig up some literature on it. For now, you keep it safe."
"Mm."
Duke glanced at his lottery results. One prize in particular made his brow twitch upward.
"That plant spirit you brought back, seems a bit unruly."
"You want to break her in?"
"That's the idea. My flower fields could use a hardworking gardener."
"In that case, I'll leave her to you."
As they talked, Camille caught a flicker of impatience in Duke's eyes, along with the way his gaze kept drifting back to the bench.
"All right, all right, I can tell you're itching to get to work."
"But this time, don't shut yourself up in your lab for too long," she said seriously. "Your health is the foundation of everything. Don't forget it."
"Got it. I'll take it easy."
"Good. Then I'll leave you to it."
With a graceful stride, Camille left the workshop. As the scrape of her blade against the floor faded away, Duke immediately released Pride and Wally.
"Pride, close the door."
Pride darted over and shut it. Duke raised his hand, retrieving from his inventory a sleek red-and-black supercar whose streamlined body gleamed under the workshop lights with a faint, hazy luster.
Its name: Scorpion Sting.
On the system panel: [Inactive Artificial Adamantium Construct , Scorpion Sting].
"Looks like I'll be driving in style from now on," Duke murmured, rubbing his chin. Pride leaned closer, this was the vessel for his new sibling… or perhaps sister.
"Father, you're starting now?"
"That's right. Now."
Duke took off his trench coat, pulled on a white lab coat, and glanced over the materials on his bench:
A fragment of the Hive, a symbiote fragment, a Tri-Core Sphere, vibranium, and Kha'Zix's organic tissue.
"And this, "
From his inventory, Duke produced a special iron barrel containing his newest prize:
[Quantum Blood].
He'd drawn ten full barrels of the stuff, enough not only to forge a new Deadly Sin, but even to give Pride a full upgrade with plenty left over.
As for the other prizes, he decided to deal with them later. Right now, there was only one goal:
To bring the Second Deadly Sin into existence.
Its name, Gluttony.
Half a month later…
"Steady… steady… steady!"
Bloodshot eyes locked onto the basketball-sized, vein-covered biological heart beating slowly before him, Duke carefully gripped it with tongs and lowered it toward the chest cavity of the colossal form before him.
Pride held up Gluttony's massive torso, hands utterly still so Duke could slide the heart into place.
Wally stood ready with two heavy cables, prepared to deliver the final surge of energy.
Unlike Pride, whose design had been based on a dragon-beast, Gluttony's model drew inspiration from Medusa, human upper body, serpent lower body.
A seamless fusion of biology and machinery gave her immense potential:
Scales capable of optical camouflage, a vibranium-plated hide for maximum defense, full biomimetic engineering to traverse any terrain, and even a set of levitation runes for enhanced mobility.
Like Pride, she possessed multiple hearts, but only two instead of three.
One, a Tri-Core Sphere that could convert any matter into steam to fuel her; the other, a biological heart born of symbiote and Hive fragments, responsible for absorbing and digesting organic material for regeneration.
Kha'Zix's organs had been reengineered into her digestive system.
The two hearts worked in perfect synergy.
Thirty-six removable Hextech gems lay hidden within her body.
Quantum Blood flowed through her veins, powering a particle-based transformation module that freed her from conventional shapeshifting limits, and let her consume far, far more.
Thud!
The instant the heart was in place, it sprouted countless tendrils, latching onto every biological component in her body.
Duke tossed the tongs aside, sealed her armored chest plates, and barked: "Pride, let go! Wally, begin energy transfer!"
"On it!"
Pride stepped back, Wally jammed the cables into their ports, and a surge of magic roared through them.
Gluttony's rune arrays lit up, her massive snake-form rising to hover in midair.
Five meters from head to tail, she floated silently, Quantum Blood surging, steam seeping through her seams.
Half an hour later,
"Cut the power!"
Wally shut it down. Duke sat at the terminal, fingers flying over the keys.
Moments later, Gluttony's transformation systems engaged, her particle module dismantling and reassembling her into a red-and-black supercar, its body etched with the pattern of a massive cobra, its hood perfectly aligned with the snake's head.
Duke removed his goggles and stepped toward her.
"Now… awaken."
Exhaling a breath flecked with tiny blue motes, he sent them into the car. When the last wisp left his lips,
VROOM!
The headlights flared, and like a collapsing sandcastle reforming itself, the car dissolved into particles and reshaped into a five-meter cobra.
Rising upright, her head shifted, two symbiote-infused arms sprouting from her sides, and a feminine face, strikingly similar to Duke's, emerged.
When her slitted pupils opened, she blinked and leaned toward him.
"Father!"
"Welcome, Gluttony."
He reached out to touch her, only for her to tear his lab coat to shreds, stuffing it into her mouth.
"I'm starving!"
Duke froze. Pride glanced from his tattered-clad creator to the happily chewing Gluttony.
Looks like his little sister was… a bit of an airhead. And a major glutton.
In the blink of an eye, she'd eaten all of Duke's upper clothing, and was now reaching for the tools.
"Father, I'm still hungry!"
"Hey, don't eat that, that's my best, "
Too late. She'd bitten his favorite wrench in half and swallowed it.
"…Wrench," he muttered weakly.
"But I'm really hungry!"
She ripped apart a nearby table and devoured it piece by piece.
"I feel like I could eat anything!"
Her gaze drifted to Pride and Wally.
"And you two look delicious…"
"Father, can I, "
Pride's face darkened. He shot Duke a questioning look. Duke turned away with a sigh, waving a hand. "Just… don't traumatize her."
"You idiot sister!"
Red light flared in Pride's eyes as he lunged.
"Today your big brother's gonna teach you what respect for your elders means!"
🔹 Hexcore Initiate – 15 chapters ahead
🔸 Arc Reactor Elite – 35 chapters
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