Chapter 21

“Is the subject conscious?”

“No. She’s still under. She'll be finished soon. She should be ready for the final part.”

Two men, dressed in hazmat suits with gas mask-like helmets on were manipulating holographic devices standing across from each other in a large room. In the center were two large pods that had multiple large tubes connected to them. The tubes hummed and shimmered with blue light that traveled through them and into the pods. The pods themselves were made of a sleek metallic material that didn’t look natural. The top part was smooth, and the base was rigid with a multitude of dials, dashboards, and other technical ports.

“We can start administering the formula on her.” one of the men said. The other nodded and tapped the floating holograms, and the blue light in the tubes for one of the pods turned purple, and it started to warble with a rhythmic hum. The man watched as graphs appeared in the holograms and they all hit just below maximum.

“Holding stable. Should be on track for full augmentation by the hour.” He left his station and walked over to the other pod and started to manipulate the ports and display on the side of it. “When do you think he’ll be ready?”

“He may not be able to take the full augmentation. Take a look at this.” The mage brought up a schematic showing a scan of the person inside the pod. “See here? He took some serious blunt force to the head. Even with his mana shield, he took some life-threatening damage. Can’t imagine what he’d be like if he didn’t have that.”

“He probably wouldn’t have a head.” The one man said bluntly. “We can give him a half dose for now. The Elder wants these two ready as soon as possible.”

The man walked back over to the pod and continued his earlier tinkering as the other one stayed at the terminal. He watched the vitals of the person in the pod, the bars and graphs of heart rate, blood level, mental stability and other details all moving and changing. In normal medical scenarios, this would be an indication that something seriously wrong is happening. But here, the pods were actively changing and augmenting the person inside. The man watched and knew what was normal and what wasn’t, and for this process, everything was within normal limits. Except for one.

“I do have to say, his mental stability is pushing what is acceptable.”

“Is it surpassing established limits?”

“Not quite, but I don’t think I’ve really seen anything like this before.”

“What’s abnormal about it?” The other man asked in an uninterested tone.

“It’s spiking in an odd pattern. Almost like he’s going through a memory, and it spikes at the end of it before repeating it. It’s happening at the same interval.”

“I imagine he keeps going through the last moments he had when he was conscious. Which was getting stomped on by that biker freak.”

The man at the terminal said nothing other than letting out a hum of acknowledgement. Then, the other pod let out a chime. Both the men looked over at it and saw that the purple tubes had stopped their glow, and the pod started to let out a hissing sound. Along the edges where the lid was sealed, a slow spray of steam was leaking out.

“Oh, she’s done. That was rather quick, all things considered.”

“She only had some chest trauma and a broken ankle, right? Other than that, it makes sense for the final part of the augmentation to be quick on higher talented mages.”

“A few bullet holes, too, I believe. But you are right. Guess she just keeps surprising me.”

The lid of the pod lifted open, and a flood of mist poured out, enveloping the floor. Inside rested the female mage the two men were talking about. She had wires attached to every part of her body; some were piercing her skin while others were just suctioning nodes. She had a mask around the lower half of her face that had several tubes attached to it, and her neck had a brace around it that unclasped, revealing it had several needles inside it. Slowly, all the cables and tubes retracted from her body, coiling back into the pod and vanishing. Her eyes fluttered open, and she slowly regained consciousness as the men manipulated the terminals. Once every cable and tube had removed itself from her body, she slowly stepped out of the pod. One of the men handed her a robe, not unlike one you’d wear after getting out of a bath, nodding at her.

“The augmentation was a complete success. Once you recover your stamina, you should be able to take the Bishop exam.” the man turned back to the terminal. “But if I’m being honest, I doubt you need to worry about anything. You’re plenty strong enough, Miss Kurosawa.”

Kurosawa threw the robe around herself, not bothering to tie up the front. She pulled a hair tie out of the pocket of it, one that she requested to be given to her once she awoke and tied up her long purple hair into a ponytail. She walked over to the other pod and placed a hand on it and closed her eyes. She felt the magical energy inside of it through the palm of her hand, and she let out a sigh of relief.

“So, you’re still alive, too, Akito.” Kurosawa said, a smile breaking her lips.

“Yes, Mister Kyosuke is doing well. He’ll be a little while still, however. There’s this anomaly that-”

“Enough with the anomaly. It’s nothing.” The other man said, his voice filled with built up annoyance.

“It’s not nothing; he’s the only one since I started doing augmentations that is pushing the threshold of what is allowed.”

“What threshold is he pushing the boundary on?” Kurosawa said, putting her hands in her robe pockets as she stood next to the protesting man. He turned to look at her, and his mask fogged up seeing that she still had not bothered to tie up her robe.

“It’s uhh... It’s his mental stability. Here, look.” He brought up the graph again. “See here? At the same interval of about a minute and a half, it spikes dangerously high. I’m afraid that if we administer a full dosage of the augmented mana he’ll-”

“He’ll be fine.” Kurosawa stated.

“W-what?” The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, Miss Kurosawa, but... But I can’t in good conscience do anything that would harm hi-”

“He won’t be harmed. And he wants this to be done. I can feel it.” Kurosawa said, placing her hand back on the pod. “He hears us. Now, do it. Before I remove you by force and do it myself.”

The man hesitated, staring at Yukino. With a loud gulp, he relented. He manipulated the terminal and allowed for the full flow of augmentation mana to pour into the pod. The tubes started to glow purple, and the pod hummed like Kurosawa’s did. The man watched the vitals anxiously as the final augmentation took place. He swallowed hard watching each of the different graphs and bars start to increase and reach the allowed limits. He kept a particularly close watch on the mental stability one. At the same intervals it was hitting the limits over and over. He stared, unblinking as the bar went up and down. But then, it stopped. It stopped entirely. All the graphs stopped moving. His vitals went blank. An alarm started to blare out and he panicked. He instantly reached for the emergency switch on the side of the pod, but he was held in place by an invisible force. Yukino Kurosawa was holding him back, pinning his feet to the ground with an invisible grip.

“M-miss Kurosawa!? What are you doing, we need to get him out of there, he’s flatlining!”

Kurosawa said nothing and just rested her hand on the pod, smiling. Then, a loud bang rang out. Then another. And once more. Then, with a final loud bang, the top of the pod flew off, soaring to the other side of the room. Out of the mist, Kyosuke leapt out, cables still embedded into his skin, the brace on his neck still clasped, and the mask still on his face. He stood there naked and breathed heavily as his eyes darted across the room. His muscles were bulging out as he let out guttural, beast-like groans.

“Ryuki!! Where is he!? I want to tear off his head!”

Kurosawa gently wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back. “Yes, Akito, we’ll take that heathen and his precious little girlfriend down. We’ll make them pay.” She then leaned into his ear and whispered. “I also heard from a little birdie that they kidnapped Ichiro.”

Kyosuke’s eyes bulged wide and he threw his hand to the side. A burst of air shot out of it like a cannon and slammed into the other technician, sending him flying backward, causing him to crash into the terminal. A loud crack echoed as his back snapped in two, his body folding backward far beyond normal human limits. The other man helplessly tried to pull his feet free from the invisible grip on him, but when looked up at Kurosawa to plead, he just saw her blow a kiss to him before a bright red, ethereal sword sliced down through his vision.

“Let’s go, fellow Bishop Akito Kyosuke. Time to hunt down the dragon.”