Chapter 19: Seeds of Madness

In the dark and gloomy room surrounded by translucent screens, the demon lord was going over various data.

Then the door swiftly opened as Lulu came walking in, her kaleidoscopic hair constantly changing from one color to the next.

Her hair stopped at blonde and her eyes shifted to blue. She pulled out a set of glasses from her white lab coat, put them on, and arrived behind the demon lord, wrapping her arms gently around his neck as she spoke.

"I'm here, my demon lord. You're looking a lot better today. These treatments are helping, so we will continue them in the future. I have operations running all over to generate a steady supply of the necessary ingredients."

"Alright, Lulu, now let me get to why I called you. I have looked at your latest reports. Have you truly found a way to mimic that hero's power?"

Lulu spoke, "Yes, it’s not long now. Soon we will have a device that can mimic it, and then the hero can be tossed out. I don’t think he has much longer to live anyway—all the experiments I did on him have taken their toll. But I don’t want to throw him out just yet; I would rather find a way to transplant his power into you, my lord."

"Well, do what you feel like doing. You know I trust you more than anyone, Lulu."

Lulu’s hair and eyes shifted to yellow as she became happy at his words. She then spoke, "Thank you, my demon lord. I also have good news—we still need you to test it, but I think we have managed to create a room that blocks out the god's limiter. As long as you are in that room, your full powers should return."

The demon lord smiled as madness started to show in his eyes.

Then he asked, "How are the heroes doing? Have they been dealt with yet?"

Lulu’s eyes and hair turned blue as she replied, "No, not yet."

Then her colors shifted to green.

"But I thought it would be best to test them and discover their abilities. If they prove useful, I can capture them as well and make you even more powerful—if we can find a way to transplant their powers to you."

The demon lord leaned forward. "Tell me about the heroes."

Lulu’s colors shifted again to blonde and blue.

"The hero Jax is unstable and should be dealt with—he could destroy the fragile balance we’ve created. He is dangerous to this world, but his power is magnetism, a somewhat useful ability."

"The next is Liz. She is highly intelligent, could almost be as smart as us. She could be an asset if she were to join forces with us, as her otherworldly technology knowledge could help greatly. If she refuses, we can always pull her knowledge directly from her mind. As for her hero ability, it seems rather useless—it only grants her homing capabilities."

"And the last hero, based on the final data from the Mecha Arachne before it was destroyed, has a power that seems to be a mix of the supernatural and technology. She fuses it with our tech. On its own, it’s not impressive, but if transplanted into you it could increase your cybernetic power even more. We will keep an eye on this one. Besides that, she is just a brute relying on raw force."

"That’s enough," the demon lord said as he rested his hand on her wrist.

Her hair and eyes turned pink.

He continued, "Take me to the new room free of the god’s limiter. If it is promising, I will permanently move to that room."

Lulu released his neck as they stood up, and she guided him to their destination. The door shut behind them and the room went dark.

Rachel, Liz, and Eldon made it to the city. They stopped to talk before entering, as Eldon gave instructions.

"Ok, before we start searching for food we need a safehouse, so let’s look around before we begin our search."

Liz nodded in approval. "Sounds good to me."

Rachel waited for them to lead the way, struggling to keep the ever‑growing whisper in the back of her mind at bay.

The whisper urged her relentlessly: Kill them. Do it. One strike and your urges will settle down. Just grab the sword.

But she forced it back, stopping the urges with pain.

They traveled through the city as Eldon signaled them to stop.

A mecha manticore landed on a building not far from them. "Hold here for a second," he said, as Liz noticed the mech manticore and commented to Eldon.

"I didn’t come across this mecha when I came through here last."

Eldon spoke in a hushed tone, "This side of the city is different. Unlike the other side that’s infested with mech harpies, this side has a variety of mechs all around the city."

"We’ll wait until it leaves before we move again. They’re really tough to deal with—not only can they fly, but their tails can fire destructive beams of energy."

That sparked Liz’s interest. She thought to herself, If I can get ahold of that mecha manticore, then its tail could become the basis for my new weaponry. A wide grin spread across her face as ideas began to form in her mind.

Once the mecha manticore left, they continued on until they found an old mechanic’s workshop that looked to be in good condition. They locked the place down and prepared for their excursion to scavenge the nearby buildings.

"Alright," Eldon said as he looked around the workshop. "We’ll stick together—don’t wander too far off. We’ll search building by building for canned food, water, and bullets, so keep an eye out."

Then he bent to the ground and picked up a crowbar. As he stood back up, he looked Liz’s way.

"Catch." The crowbar flew through the air, and Liz caught it. She looked it over, gave it a few swings, then nodded in approval. "Primitive, but it should cause some decent damage if required."

Eldon then stepped forward with a weapon of his own—he had found a hammer among the workshop’s tools.

"Alright, remember what I said."

Then he glanced at Rachel, who wasn’t paying attention. "Rachel?" No reply. He tried again. "Rachel."

The whisper continued to torment her mind: Kill them, do it. Then the urges will stop. You’d better do it now before the urges take over and you act without thinking, putting yourself in danger. Kill them now.

Then Liz spoke up loudly, "Rachel!"

Rachel snapped out of it and looked up at them, blood leaking from a wound on her lip and from the holes in her neck where she had dug her fingers in. She was still fighting off the urges of the whispers, knowing she had to do something soon before they became too strong.

"What is it?" she asked.

Liz and Eldon looked at her worriedly. Liz spoke, "Are you ok?"

"Yes, I’m just fighting one of my curses. I should be fine now."

"Good," Eldon said. "Now we need to hurry before it gets too late. We need to get supplies, so let’s go."