In a dark, silent room, the stench of blood hung thick in the air. A table stood in the center, its surface drenched in blood. Upon it lay a young man with short brown hair Lukas. Tubes were connected to his arms, chest, and neck, pumping strange things through his body. His abdomen was wide open, and all of his organs, except his heart, lay scattered across the blood-soaked floor.
Beside the table sat a man on a chair, his eyes gleaming with feverish delight. His name was Dexter. A crazed smile spread across his pale face as he leaned forward and spoke with mocking cheer.
"Hey there, dear Arthur. Are you all right? You look absolutely horrible!" He laughed maniacally. "Hahahahaha! I'm joking. I actually don't care how you feel."
Lukas glared weakly at him, his eyes bloodshot and full of rage.
Dexter tilted his head. "Oh? Do you want to say something?"
"Mmmppphhh…" Lukas tried to speak, his voice muffled by the thing strapped across his mouth.
"Hahahaha! I guess you don't!" Dexter snickered.
"Mppphhh…" Lukas tried again, struggling to form words through the cloth.
Dexter leaned closer, his grin stretching wider. "Hey, would you like to know me better? Because you don't know me. I know you, but you don't know me! Hahahaha! Well, it doesn't matter if you want to hear it or not. I'll tell you anyway."
He leaned back as if remembering something from long ago.
"Since I was born," he began slowly, "everyone praised me for my intelligence. They said I was special—gifted. And the older I got, the smarter I became. I learned things no one ever taught me. I could create things even the Archbishop of the church of machinery couldn't ." He chuckled softly, tapping his temple. "But the funny thing is—I don't even know where that knowledge came from. It just… appears."
Dexter's smile faded for a moment. "Oh, and I had a brother once. Brian. At least, I think that was his name." He laughed suddenly, shaking his head. "He was killed by a demoness right after they had sex. Hahahahah! Oh, what a way to go! That was, what… twenty years ago?"
He paused. "Also," he added with a grin, "I lied."
With a snap of his fingers, a new table appeared beside him—covered in strange organs, vials, and surgical tools. The air filled with the coppery scent of fresh blood.
"I lied," Dexter said gleefully. "I never forgot your replacement organs. I just said that to torture you more. Hahahahah!"
He stood up, humming softly as he approached the new table. Picking up a pair of blue lungs, he said, "You know, your lungs are fine, but I think I'll replace them with the lungs of an aquatic beast I killed during my travels across the Sonia Sea. Don't worry—I made them smaller to fit."
Dexter leaned over Lukas's open torso and began placing the organs inside with care.
After a minute of muttering words, he straightened and turned back to the table. He picked up a kidney.
"Kidney of a Sequence 6… from the Monster pathway," he said. "A fine specimen."
He bent down and inserted the kidney into Lukas's body, humming a tune as he worked. Another minute passed, and he reached for a third organ.
"A liver," Dexter said reverently. "From a Sequence 5 Demoness of Affliction. Such a rare and exquisite piece of flesh."
He placed it carefully within Lukas and continued for several more minutes, replacing each organ one by one, humming and giggling to himself. When he finally finished, every last piece of flesh from the table was gone all organs fused into Lukas's trembling body.
Dexter wiped his hands on a bloody cloth, then leaned over and pulled the thing from Lukas's mouth.
"Well," he said, his tone mockingly pleasant, "how do you feel now, my dear Arthur?"
Lukas took several shallow breaths, his throat dry and hoarse. "Why…" he whispered weakly. "Why are you doing this to me?"
Dexter stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Why not, dear Arthur? Hahahahah! You're such a fun experiment! And now," he said, reaching into his coat, "it's time for the next step."
He pulled out a small vial, inside which floated a mercury-colored eyeball that swiveled. Lukas's blood ran cold at the sight of it.
"Now it's time," Dexter said gleefully, "to shove some Beyonder characteristics up your mouth!"
Lukas's eyes widened in terror. He began trembling violently. "No… no, please! Don't do it!"
Dexter's grin stretched impossibly wide. "Oh, there's no fun in mercy," he whispered.
He held up the vial. The mercury eyeball inside it. "This," Dexter said softly, "is the Beyonder characteristic of a Sequence 7—Lucky One." He chuckled. "Let's see how lucky you really are."
Lukas kept his mouth shut, shaking his head desperately. But then Dexter's voice dropped, cold and commanding."Open your mouth."
Lukas's eyes went wide as an invisible force hit him. Slowly, against his will, his jaw began to open. He tried to resist, but it was useless.
"Good boy," Dexter whispered.
He tilted the vial, letting the mercury eyeball slide into Lukas's mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, Lukas's body convulsed violently. He tried to spit it out, but Dexter's voice rang again—calm, absolute.
"Swallow."
And Lukas swallowed.
At first, there was nothing. Then came the pain.
Lukas arched off the table, screaming. His body thrashed against the restraints. His vision blurred, and he could feel something something slithering inside him, crawling into his mind, whispering things he couldn't understand.
Then, just as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped. Lukas fell still, chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. His skin shimmered faintly before returning to normal.
Dexter stared, fascinated. "Ohhh, fascinating! You didn't die. You didn't even lose consciousness. You might just survive this, my dear Arthur."
Lukas turned his head slowly, his gaze meeting Dexter's. Eyes filled with hatred.
Dexter laughed, throwing his head back. "Hahahahahaha! Oh, it feels so good to look at you! But don't think we're done. Oh no, my masterpiece—we've only just begun!"
He reached for another vial
For the next twenty minutes, Dexter worked tirelessly feeding Lukas Beyonder characteristics of various pathways: Monster, Tyrant, Demoness, and even Sun.
Hey guys, author here! I just want to say a few things first—thank you so much to these amazing people:
Falier111 for 1 power stone — thank you so much!
FBI12343 for 3 power stones — I deeply appreciate it!
Cosmic_void_val for 6 power stones — thank you a lot, my friend!
OverlordBGs for 1 power stone — thank you very much!
And thank you, everybody! See you later!