The silence was thick, suffocating, as if the very underground were holding its breath. In the subterranean chamber, under the glow of oil lamps, Ethan stood still, eyes fixed on the tank.
The body of Subject 2, still dripping with the ritual liquid, was dragged out of the tank and secured with steel straps to the gurney. It remained motionless for a few minutes... until a violent spasm shook his torso, arching it as if something inside were trying to break out of its container.
Suddenly, the man's eyes snapped open, dilated and bloodshot.
"Stand back," Ethan ordered without raising his voice, as he adjusted his leather gloves.
The Vespers didn't hesitate. Two steps back, hands on their rifles.
But the subject gasped suddenly, breathing like a beast about to explode. The chains creaked. His muscles, now dense and defined like living steel, contracted erratically. He wasn't trying to move. It was as if his body was still fighting against a memory of pain etched deep inside.
Ethan halted his approach, one eyebrow raised.
"Subject 2…" he murmured, "How do you feel?"
There was no response.
Only a nervous twitch in the eyelid. Irregular breathing. A vacant gaze, as if he recognized neither place nor time.
Then came the roar.
It was guttural, primal. And it came with a brutal attempt to sit up, muscles swollen to the limit, straining against the restraints. The straps vibrated, screeching against the gurney's metal.
Ethan didn't move.
But the Vespers did.
"Stay back, sir!" shouted the Captain, stepping between Ethan and the gurney. Another had already rushed forward.
The Vesper didn't wait for orders. He ran to the side of the gurney and pressed both hands down on the subject's shoulders, trying to force him back down.
"Hold still, dammit!"
But the body under his hands wasn't that of an ordinary man. It was a mass tensed with out-of-scale strength. The Vesper nearly lost his balance when the subject jerked violently, resisting with inhuman ferocity.
"Come on, help me!" he roared.
Other Vespers arrived, and together, with the weight of three elite soldiers, they managed to hold him down. Barely. The subject thrashed like a cornered beast, eyes bloodshot with paranoia, growling through his teeth, muttering incoherent phrases.
Ethan, from behind, observed attentively. Figures projected by AION appeared in his pupils.
[Pulse: 178 bpm. Neuromuscular response: 134 ms. Brain activity: anomalous.]
"AION, expand mental status."
[Anomalies detected in limbic activity. Elevated levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol. Pattern consistent with paranoid episodes, aggressive behavior, and disorganized thinking.]
Ethan nodded.
Subject 2 kept muttering through clenched teeth, senseless phrases. Suddenly he screamed, twisting in rage.
Ethan rubbed his brow with gloved fingers.
"We need more testing. The body is adapting. But there are still mental side effects we can't allow."
Ethan took a syringe from his table and stepped toward the gurney.
"Careful, sir. He's dangerous," warned the Vesper captain, serious, keeping his rifle steady.
Ethan didn't look at him. He just replied,
"Hold him."
The three Vespers increased the pressure, one of them tightening a chain over the subject's chest.
Ethan stepped closer. He found the swollen vein on the forearm and placed the needle on the toughened skin. He had to apply force—the needle didn't go in easily, as if he were piercing the hide of a beast. Finally, with a sharp push, he managed to break through and administered the sedative.
Less than a minute later, the subject stopped thrashing. His breathing grew deep, heavy. He fell into a state of forced lethargy, muscles still tense like steel cables.
Ethan stood watching him a few seconds longer, until his pulse dropped to 98 bpm.
Over the next thirty minutes, Ethan and AION focused on evaluating the subject. Muscle tension, reflexes, anaerobic load, sensory analysis, structural resistance, and tissue scans.
At the end, AION displayed the summary.
[Analysis complete: Subject Two (Compound D + Blood Baptism). With 58–62% of the system altered.]
[Load capacity: up to 400 kg, with optimized structural reinforcement.]
[Impact resistance: equivalent to low-speed vehicle collision, no critical damage.]
[Max speed: 65 km/h]
[Operational endurance: 30 minutes of intense activity with no functional degradation.]
[Reaction time: ≤120 ms, with stimulus processing at an instinctive level]
[Visual perception: optimized for low-light conditions]
[Auditory capacity: extended to detect details at greater distances]
Ethan reviewed each data point projected by AION, the numbers scrolling clearly before his eyes.
"3.5x? No… it's closer to 4.0 times the average human strength. Fascinating."
He crossed his arms, the golden lenses reflecting the dim glow. His eyes showed no emotion, but his mind was a calculating storm.
"Strength. Endurance. Vision, reflexes… everything increases. Everything… except the mind. Without stability..."
He adjusted his glasses with a slight gesture, and exhaled slowly as if trying to cool down his own thoughts. He turned on his heels, lab coat brushing the floor, and walked toward the exit without looking back.
Before crossing the metallic threshold, his voice echoed.
"Clean the area. Keep both subjects under surveillance. That's all for today."
The Vespers exchanged a brief glance and obeyed.
The next day, Ethan stood before a complex of underground cells. Behind the bars, four subjects remained in chains. They shared a similar appearance: defined muscles, bulging veins. The reinforced shackles creaked with the slightest movement, resonating each time one of them resisted upon sensing Ethan's presence beyond the cell.
During that day, Ethan conducted a new round of experiments. He used different concentrations of Compound D, combining it with the ritual liquid from the Blood Baptism. He even tested the injectable version of the D-Serum and several synergistic solutions designed to stabilize the effects, but the results barely varied. No matter how many adjustments he made, the pattern repeated.
The only constant factor in all successful cases was Compound D. Its influence was absolute: depending on the injected amount, the subjects' physical strength increased between 3.0x and 4.2x. Never more, never less.
But the cost was brutal.
The subjects lost all cognitive capacity. They weren't enhanced humans, but hostile, empty bodies, as if the mind had been devoured from within. In fact, they seemed even more dangerous than a wild beast. The latter, by instinct, still showed signs of emotion, fear, caution—a will to survive that made them retreat if overwhelmed. Even when cornered, they knew when to escape.
In contrast, the subjects were something else. They advanced without logic, without fear, without a sense of preservation. Like rabid animals, as if they had been torn from the world of the living, slaves to the instinct of destruction.
Ethan rubbed his brow, tired. Something was going wrong. No matter how much he refined the mixture, the results were consistent… and discouraging.
"AION, any hypotheses?"
[Insufficient data. Current variables present unstable interactions. No specific cause has been identified for the cognitive collapse.]
[Preliminary hypotheses suggest it could be related to an energy overload or neurological incompatibility, but no consistent patterns have been found.]
Ethan sighed and left the complex, disheartened, rubbing his brow in frustration.
"Haa... How long has it been since I last felt this damned stress? Shit… I need a cigarette," he muttered under his breath, cursing quietly.
Outside, the Hu brothers stepped forward to intercept him.
"Master," Hu Zhan reported in a low voice. "We've returned from the underground warehouse. The manager reported that the materials you requested are no longer available."
Ethan sighed again and kept walking.
"Understood. Contact Zhao Ren. Have him try to secure another batch. How are we on demonic beast blood?"
"No reserves, Master," Hu Zhan replied without hesitation. "Only a few samples remain."
"I see..." Ethan murmured with resignation and headed straight to his office.
Upon entering, he dropped into the chair and began reviewing the reports stacked on his desk. Being the leader of Astralis didn't just mean conducting lab experiments: he also had to address requests from officers at the mine, workshops, and the city.
One of the most recent documents came from the new city he had named Stella. The recently purchased food shipment had arrived without incident, but problems persisted: the number of refugees continued to rise, and neither the housing built nor the resources collected were enough to sustain them.
Cement was also beginning to run low. Limestone extraction at Omega Zero couldn't keep up with demand. He had already ordered the exploration of new deposits nearby to hire external miners, but no news had arrived from the exploration front.
Without further delay, he got to work.
The silence of his office was only interrupted by the rustle of paper and the faint hum of AION in his mind. Each report, each request.
Ethan gripped his pen firmly. There were no clear answers. No rest.
But he wouldn't stop.
Note: Why do you think it's incompatible with the human body? 😈
The answer has already been mentioned before… Ethan said it chapters ago, when talking about Compound D. You just need to put the pieces together.