Arken didn't have much to do, so he decided to stay and watch as Harrison performed his experiments on the corpses of the amalgamations. He couldn't figure out what the man was thinking, at all. Sometimes, he would stay in deep thought before dissecting the corpses, meticulously, and sometimes...
He would rip them apart.
Blood was getting everywhere in his office, Arken thought he would be a person who prioritized sanitation, or a healthy office space, but he was wrong. Harrison's office space was neat and tidy because it just fit his mood better that day.
He heard the man speak, but since he was so preoccupied with his own thoughts, he failed to catch it. Harrison repeated his words for his sake.
"It's crude, I thought it perhaps Morgana that made these with that accursed unique skill of hers, but I was wrong."
Arken raised his brows, asking.
"Wasn't it already confirmed that it wasn't her work?"
"Yes, but I wanted to confirm. She doesn't make things as crude as these."
Harrison took a deep breath, wiping some blood off his face before continuing.
"The only impressive part of this imitation was the preparation process."
Arken remained silent, clearly asking for an explanation with the look on his face, Harrison obliged.
"The careful selection of orphaned awakened children to make these. My guess is they were trying to make something that had multiple affinities using the attributes of the children, but they failed. Their long scheme was... futile."
"How can you say that? And what the hell did you mean by 'imitation'?"
Harrison ordered his assistants to take away the corpses, and turned around.
"The main ingredient were humans, I'm surprised they even thought it would work. Even the most talented of humans can only have three elemental affinities. What they tried to do was merge as many elements as they could without taking in any... precautions. The result was this... amalgamation.
Had they tried limiting the number of elements, and used those that had good synergy with one another, then it would have made sense, and it would have had a moderate rate of success... Which begs the question... Why?"
"They aren't fools, so why are they behaving like complete idiots and doing stuff ? My guess would be they are trying to replicate one of Morgana's chimera's. The design is similar, but they won't ever be able to do it."
Arken stayed silent, listening intently. He had no intention of interrupting the man now, no matter how much his tone got on his nerves. Failed project or not, he was still discussing a grave matter in which many lives, innocent, young lives... had been reaped. The tone Harrison was using was one of contempt.
Though it may be hypocritical of him of all people to be thinking that... It couldn't be helped, humans are hypocritical by nature.
"The reason being, the factor known as the absurdly broken unique skill, [Biokinesis] isn't involved. They... won't ever be able to replicate something that bitch made. If any of these amalgamations are successful, though, then it's highly likely she was bored and decided to upgrade them. And by successful, I mean the ability to use mana and, in turn, magic." "Won't that be an issue?"
Arken asked, curious. If these... things could use mana to augment themselves and even use magic, then it would be pretty bad for lower ranked awakened. It would be like throwing them at a grinder. Awakened of his level and somewhat below his level wouldn't be bothered... but they were a special case.
Surprisingly, Harrison was nonchalant. Arken hadn't expected that at all.
"Not really, I have suitable measures in place."
Arken wasn't bothered enough to ask what these measures were. Sighing, he got up and planned to leave.
'What is it... what did I forget?'
He thought, as Harrison bade him farewell.
"Farewell sir, please get ample rest."
And as Arken was leaving, he heard Harrison's voice, talking to his 'assistants'.
"Alright, clean up the trash here. I have work to do."
Arken came to an abrupt stop, his face turning somewhat pale as he realized what he had forgotten.
He disappeared in a flash, like a bolt of lightning.
"I hope he is still alive!"
Highly, highly unlikely.
In an underground studio somewhere in Askolt, Lilith was relaxing on a tattered couch eating
a bag of chips, her spirit, the bone claw, was nowhere to be seen. It was just her in that studio
Which was incredibly dirty. It was filled with dust and wrappers that piled up to be a small mountain, but Lilith was undisturbed. She was more focused on reading whatever it was on her device. But...
She had an annoyed look on her face, throwing the device down she let out a small shriek.
"Argh, when is that damn delivery coming here?!"
She had fought so hard to be given some sort of vacation, and while this wasn't impressive to an ordinary person, it was incredible to her. But then again, she had fought so hard for this all for the time to be wasted on a stupid delivery man that couldn't deliver things on time!
He was supposed to be here two hours! Two, whole hours! She didn't have that much patience and was considering killing the man when he got here. The Obelisk could prepare another
Finally, she heard a knock on the door of the studio and got up, cursing. Her delivery was finally here, but then again. He had taken so long!
"I'm gonna fucking kill you..."
She opened the door, and was greeted by a man in suspicious clothes, an aged individual holding what seemed to be the corpse of a man that had all his limbs severed and died in pain. The man's muscles were still moving due to electricity in his body... Whatever was left of it.
The suspicious individual smiled.