Novel Boss
Chapter 1: 3691 Days
Shadows danced amid softly glowing orbs of light, ancient tomes lined the walls, and bound subjects lay upon a rune-inscribed table adorned with magical markings.
Glass vials of shimmering potions cluttered the space, while strange apparatuses hummed with arcane energy.
The air was heavy with incense and the metallic tang of unknown forces, as incantations and rituals filled the laboratory with an eerie atmosphere.
"Subject 11187. Day 30, procedure successful. First heart grafted and the exact dark spell chanted. Subject has begun to show positive reactions."
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"Subject 11187. Day 240, the 6th heart grafted sixth spell chanted. Subject's cells showing signs of rejection. Cells deteriorating and decomposing, Magic Cortex… destroyed."
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"Test subject 11187. Day 3691. Subject almost completely decomposed. Cremation process in place. The incantations only seem to slow down decomposition process."
For what seem to be eternity, those were the words which rang out through a young man's ears.
Unconsciously, he gasped deep for breath, air passing through his lungs like cover puffs.
"Suuuu!"
"Cough!" "Cough!!" "Cough!!!"
Tron coughed heavily, sticky liquid escaping his throat as he desperately tried to cough everything out, including his lungs.
His aquarius eyes managing to flicked open despite the heaviness as he tried to make sense of the situation.
In the next second, a couple of text appeared within his line of sight.
[Name: Tronyc Mahoraga]
[Strength: 0.4]
[Physique: 0.6]
[Reflex: 0.2]
[Mage Cortex:??]
Suddenly, bright crimson rays of light, emitting intense heat sipped through the gaps of Tron's eyelids.
This made him squint and a whimper escaped his lips as a sudden headache struck like lightning from depth of his skull to every corner of his brain.
Within a few seconds, his eyes finally got used to the bright light and he could now see.
"He—help"
Tron whimpered loudly in fear. Terrified, his hands and legs scampered rapidly as he hurriedly crawled backwards.
"Bam!"
His back and head slammed into the metal wall of the container he was in, intense pain surging through his head and back. There was no where to run.
An horrified expression appeared on his face as he looked above him, absolutely terrified!
The rays of light reflected his battered naked body with large beads of sweat dripping off his forehead, all the way down his skin which was riddled with various stitches, burns and numerous cut lines. It was as though he was corpse that had been experimented on and had an autopsy done on him in fact.
However, that wasn't the most horrifying thing. Above Tron, a truly horrific ball of condescend flames the size of a basket ball hung in the air, half a meter above Tron, releasing frightening amounts of heat that distorted the air around it, frying the very atom that made up oxygen in the air.
Above this flame was a gloved hand which lingered an inch from the flames as though they were a magician who had conjured this flame.
The owner of this gloaved hand seemed to be a man. However, as he was putting on a robe covering his entire face and figure, neither their nor their face could be determined.
"You live still?"
The voice was thick and husky like they hadn't spoken in years. While not shocked, he sounded slightly surprised.
The figure closed their fingers and Tron watched as the flames started to condensed together, getting smaller and smaller until it was only the size of a bright reddish bead.
In that instant, Tron could have sworn he saw the flames seemingly transform into something like a schematic diagram, disassembling to then form something of an orange mist which was then sucked and absorbed into the figure's gloved hand.
Withdrawing their arm, the figure flicked their robe and immediately turned to leave.
Before the figure could leave through the door, the whimpering boy spoke up.
"Y-you promised."
The hooded figure paused at the entrance of the door, an immeasurably psionic undulation suddenly emanated from the figure but then, they turned around, slamming the door as they left.