Verdelith Castle, Fourth Floor, Laboratory—
The laboratory in the main tower was currently a cluttered maze of shifting projects and unorthodox machines, constantly changing, their use split between Petra, Jillian, and the Ant Queen, which all depended on the day…
In the room, a strange hum echoed endlessly through the space, while glowing runes rippled across the walls and floor. Artifact-based machines shifted and clicked in the darkness, and at the same time, glass tubes and magic lines carried glowing substances through the ceiling like artificial blood vessels. Beneath layers of transparent glass and reinforced shields, distant formations slowly rotated. The room was both mechanical and organic, with many aspects of each field intertwined.
It was a sterile environment that doubled as a mad scientist's workshop, and in many places, the floor looked less like a laboratory and more like a living organism.
It could be said that those crazy enough to enter were either Petras people, or outsiders just as mad…
-
Walking through the middle of this madness—
"Wow! This is more advanced than the stuff in the academy!"
"Whoa! It can mix like this!?"
"Ah! How can this creature still exist! Oh my god! Look, look!"
Dorthy calmly adjusted her glasses while casually giving a tour, a bright smile plastered on her face…
Beside her walked a slightly nervous young girl with light-brown hair that had been tied into a loose braid, and deep blue eyes filled with growing disbelief. Her face was filled with nervousness, but at the same time, a completely unconcealed fascination with everything around her couldn't be hidden!
This was Albery, Dorthy's old friend from the Royal Academy of Magic!
Currently, she was regretting absolutely nothing!
"…D-dorthy," Albery muttered awkwardly while staring at a floating insect limb suspended inside a rotating formation. "…Are you absolutely sure this place is safe? Why does it look like the workshop of a demonic cultivator? I-isn't this, uh, some of this stuff, a bit too over the top?"
Tap-tap-tap! She tapped on the glass.
Although the young girl was overwhelmed with an uncontrollable interest in everything around her, she still couldn't help but feel as if she were looking at something taboo. Her stomach swam with butterflies, a feeling that could only be offset by her close proximity to her old friend.
Dorothy tilted her head.
"Hm? Probably a bit, but what can we do…" The words came out so casually that even Dorthy hadn't realized just how accustomed she had gotten to Petra's madness.
"…Probably?!" Albery looked at her, exasperated.
After swallowing hard, she turned back to look at the 'third wheel', then returned her gaze to Dorthy a moment later, unwilling to meet this weirdo's eyes. Jillian had been silently lurking behind the two girls like some kind of lanky ghost ever since they entered, clearly very paranoid.
More specifically—
She was 'watching' Dorthy, and Albery, and the walls, and the tanks, and the floor, and literally everything else in the room, all at the same time! If something broke, Petra would absolutely blame her! She had learned this the hard way when the ants first started working in the laboratory, and even now, many months later, she still hadn't gotten over Petra's perverse forms of punishment. Just imagining it already made Jillian feel a terrifying sense of pressure crawl down her spine!
"…Please don't touch anything," Jillian muttered from behind.
Albery nearly jumped out of her skin after hearing the horse voice of the overworked elf.
"…You've been following us this entire time for this?" Dorthy asked from the front, slightly displeased.
Jillian narrowed her eyes.
"You both look like the type of people who could trip over your own feet and bring a bunch of things down with you. How can I risk losing so much research for such a stupid reason?"
"Isn't that just you!? Damn it! What kind of person do you think I am?!" Dorothy snorted while adjusting her glasses again.
"To be fair, you did accidentally melt our academy greenhouse once..." Albery, this guest, awkwardly muttered from the side, her comment completely unnecessary.
"That was one time! One time! Also, whose side are you on!"
"….no, it was three times..." Albery said, her shoulders shrinking back.
"Pfft!"
"Traitor!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Damn it!"
The group of three continued walking deeper into the laboratory, and around them, countless strange experiments filled their surroundings.
One loosely made room contained floating black crystals suspended above a liquid cloud-like substance, and another held many rows of twitching beast organs that all connected together through a series of thin glowing nerve-like threads. Nearby, several bipedal ant maids silently pushed metal carts filled with preserved monster corpses through the vaguely shaped hallway like overworked hospital staff, and from time to time, the screams of unknown beasts rang through the room.
Eventually, the trio arrived before twelve large glass tanks…
Seeing the contents of these tanks, Albery's feet froze.
Inside each tank floated the figure of an identical human girl, naked, and beautiful beyond belief. These humanoid figures were slightly strange, appearing as if they were forced into human shape, not quite floating in the way a normal person should. Looking closer, it was clear that their forms were unstable, existing in a certain state of relaxed mimicry, clearly indicating that these twelve naked girls were, in fact, not human at all.
Each figure had pale skin, long green hair, and closed eyes that appeared to be sleeping, but when standing a bit closer, one could feel a faint spiritual energy leaking from each figure.
"…What are those?" Albery asked.
"Hm? These are a project the little master, erm—Petra calls her Ant Avatars," Dorthy answered casually.
"Ant Avatars?"
Dorthy nodded.
"Hm, they're like artificial bodies designed to allow consciousness to remotely connect, a little like puppets, but more alive." She pointed toward one of the tanks. "There were originally six, and of those six, the materials were a bit insane. But after a long period of research, we rebuilt them from the ground up and massively improved their overall structure, integrating a lot of additional abilities and bloodlines. The best part is that they no longer need such 'high-level materials', but there's still the problem of their high-end durability, which just can't seem to keep up with our output on a mental level…"
"…Why are you saying that so casually?! Also, these don't feel like puppets!" Albery cried out in shock.
Jillian folded her arms, then nodded before dropping another bombshell from the back.
"You're right, that's because they're not puppets at all, and it's a bit offensive to even compare them! After all, these twelve do in fact possess an independent consciousness and their own brain, so it's more like sharing a body than controlling one…"
Albery: '??'
Dorthy: (¬_¬)
Albery immediately decided she no longer wanted to hear the details! If the previous few projects were bordering on a taboo, then this was definitely a headfirst dive into its deepest depths!
Fuck!
* * *
Two black coffins, resting opposite one another, sat atop a strange formation, connected through dozens of glowing rune channels that pulsed like flowing water. These coffins were extremely strange, appearing more like two sealed display cases rather than a true coffin, and the contents of both coffins were completely exposed.
Inside the transparent lids—
Two completely nude girls quietly slept…
Their bodies faintly glowed beneath the shifting light, and unlike the avatars from before, these two twins possessed an almost artificial level of beauty, but unlike before, these two young girls were undoubtedly human. They both had long, bleached-blonde hair, empty silver-white eyes, and an unnatural level of symmetry. Their bodies, even within the coffins, emitted a faint phosphorescent light, giving them an innate glow that couldn't be traced.
"…Who are they?" Albery asked softly, her eyes inadvertently avoiding their curves.
Dorthy's expression became slightly more serious.
"These two are a set of twins, Lithra and Lethra from the Tibon Family…"
Mell racked her brains, then turned back to face Jillian as if asking what was up. After a shrug of the shoulders from Jillian, she turned back, realizing that neither of them knew what was going on with these two girls and why they were still here.
It seemed as if this was one of Petra's personal projects.
There was a sudden silence, leaving only the sound of the surrounding formation slowly rotating beneath the coffins, creating a low hum.
After an awkward pause, Jillian's brows jumped, suddenly remembering that the thingy was on her!
"Ah-ah-ah! Hold up, let me check, let me check..." She pulled out a small notebook and began flipping through it... After a few seconds, she suddenly exclaimed and began to repeat what was in the notes. "One soul originally split between two bodies, then forcefully expanded. The initial state upon recovery was certain death—within a year. After further study and several trials, a potential solution was recommended: split the soul into Yin and Yang aspects, then reintegrate it into the two bodies," Jillian explained with interest. "Their existence became unstable after the division, but the transformation regarding the innate state of their souls went unnaturally quick, and the formation of the Yin-Yang Body began its long period of incubation. The current goal is to stabilize both sides permanently without the need for special equipment, but there is a note regarding a lack of materials related to 'Yin' and 'Yang'."
Albery listened while staring at the formation.
She understood those words, but not the meaning behind them…
"…How did you guys do this?" Even if she didn't understand, she still understood that these two girls were destined to die in excruciating pain. Just the terms 'soul was forcefully expanded' and 'reintegrate the mutated soul into the two bodies' were enough to make her feel cold.
Dorthy raised one finger, then explained, "It seems that Petra used several methods and combined them. If I'm not wrong, Petra provided the foundational theory and reconstruction methods regarding the body, Jillian should have handled the soul and the stabilization process, and another servant, Elli reconstructed their bloodline and created a physique compatible with the new soul."
Jillian: 'Did I…?'
Albery: 'Blinks…'
After everything she had heard, she understood that there wasn't a single normal person in this place! Everyone here was a monster!! Everyone here was a freak!
What kind of fantastical nonsense did she just hear!?
She, the leading graduate from the top academy on the continent, felt like a child before these people!
No wonder Dorthy refused to leave!
What kidnapping!
What Hero!
Bah! This was a freaking dream job!
Just then—
The sound of nearby footsteps echoed…
The trio turned to see Lilly and Luna quietly pass through the laboratory carrying trays stacked with snacks, drinks, several sweets, and an unreasonable amount of fried food!
Lilly, noticing their gaze, looked over, nodded, then spoke, "…Night supplies…"
Luna bowed silently.
Albery stared blankly at the mountain of food, then quickly looked over, trying to ask who they were with her eyes, but Dorthy only shrugged her shoulders.
"Little master said movie night can't begin without her snacks…"
"…How many people are eating? Is this big sister a guest?"
"Does she have any requests?"
"You three should hurry, I heard that it's already started!"
"Hay, hay, hay, are you ignoring me?"
Sentence after sentence came out of little Lilly's mouth.
After everything that had happened at the Azurefell Family, Lilly seemed to have recovered quite well.
After seeing that these three didn't seem interested, Lilly frowned, which caused Luna to frown. Then, with a pull of the sleeve, the two twins began to leave.
Dorthy turned to watch them go.
"…Let's follow them." She said after a moment of thought.
Jillian nodded a few times, not because she agreed, but because she wanted them to leave quickly. "…Good!" At the same time, she slowly began retreating backward into the darkness of the laboratory.
"…Please don't break anything on your way out! Remember, pay attention to your steps…"
Albery watched this overly eccentric elf leave just like that.
"I think I now understand that all of you guys are monsters, but are you also all weirdos like that? There has to be at least one normal one, right…?"
Dorthy glared at her playfully.
"Am I not normal? What do you mean by that!"
Albery rolled her eyes.
"You know that's not what I mean! How can you consider yourself normal, right, Miss Hero?"
"Tsk!"
After some playful banter, Dorthy and Albery followed in the footsteps of the twins.
The duo eventually left the deeper parts of the research laboratory, but while passing through a massive open space near the outer ring of the fourth floor—
Albery suddenly froze again!
Her eyes widened.
It was only a passing glance, but after she took one look, she couldn't look away.
Right beside her, too close for comfort, a gigantic black pool stretched downward and filled two entire layers of the laboratory like an artificial abyss that had been locked in a column. Dark green liquid slowly flowed beneath countless glowing runes, while a series of enormous chains disappeared below the surface and entangled some massive creature.
While she was still looking, something actually moved!
Far beneath the lighter layers of the liquid, an enormous silhouette shifted, and two massive glowing eyes slowly opened beneath the depths, causing Albery's face to instantly pale!
A heart-palpitating pressure flashed past, instantly overwhelming her and making it hard to breathe!
Her little heart shook, and a deep fear began to bubble up!
She forced herself to take a deep breath, took a step back, and, while trembling violently, she asked, "…What the hell is THAT?!"
Dorthy calmly looked down, then chuckled.
"This big guy is the first 'Warlord Ant' created! Pretty cool, huh?"
The creature beneath the surface slowly shifted its gaze.
Albery could feel that she was being watched.
Even while restrained, its pressure was terrifying!
"Petra wasn't satisfied with its performance," Dorthy casually explained. "So, she decided to remake it, but this time she would use a few of her own methods..."
"…Remake it?! W-what the hell does that mean!"
Albery stared at her in horror.
"You can just casually remake something like THIS?!"
"Mm..." Dorthy nodded her head as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Petra can…"
Albery didn't know what to say.
She looked back at the massive shadow and swallowed hard.
What could she say…?
Damn it…
* * *
Time passed, and eventually, they reached the sixth-floor lounge where all the girls were gathered…