A lab full of blue lights.
The rattling of flasks resounded there. Among them was a man in white robe putting things in flasks and checking their reactions.
He could clearly see the black bubbles rising from the flash.
Chik! Chik!
A mouse struggled as it was unable to move.
The entire body seemed paralyzed.
The man gently sucked the drug from the flask with a dropper and then carefully administered the drug into the mouse.
It was fine at first, but then the mouse began to convulse with loud noise.
However, as it couldn’t move anywhere, the muscles of the mouse shrank and it died immediately.
“Hmm. Even then, there seems to be side effects.”
Invention of the century wasn’t easy.
On the floor next to the man were dozens of dead mice carcasses.
“It is difficult to experiment on a mouse alone. Because they are fragile beings, they cannot withstand the vitality of this drug.”
The man mumbled with a tone of regret.
If it had been administered to humans, better results could be found, but it was a pity that the one died.
He was also greedy and easy to control. Since it was an early EX drug, the side effects were 10 times stronger than now.
He was relieved to some extent by mixing the EXS, but the man didn’t last a week.
It was unavoidable.
Still, thanks to the data obtained by it, future research was possible.
His sacrifice will surely be considered huge in the future, so he hoped the dead man wasn’t mourning in the afterlife.
“Should I rest?”
The man seemed a bit tired.
He had been researching this without a break for the past few days, so this would turn out good.
“Hm?”
Then, something rang in the man’s pocket.
A communicator. When he took it out, he saw who was calling him, upon answering it a familiar voice came.
-Doctor.
“What is this?”
-Ashtar is dead.
“… What?”
At the sudden news, his face went stiff.
“I need a more accurate explanation.”
-I don’t know what the situation was… it looks like someone has hit our backs.
“That was expected from the beginning.”
It was quiet for now, but if the side effects of Apophis begin to appear, eventually people will rebel.
Of course, those who see the research as a forest would applaud, but the humans will only look at the tree called Apophis in the forest.
And here in the world can there be success without suffering?
Clearly, if they succeed in developing a new drug, all the disparities and inequalities in the world will disappear.
A world where there were no victims or those who were weak.
Equality and happiness.
If that can be achieved, all the current sacrifices will turn to dust. When the time comes, he was sure that everyone who worked in the development of the drug would be applauded.
But Ashtar’s death was unexpected.
He was a person of the Kala tribe, which was known to be strong.
“Know what happened?”
-Alright.
The voice cut off. And the face of the doctor contorted.
How dare someone do this?
Interfering with his business?
Horrible mana rose from the doctor. And the mana had a turbid energy.
Jamie looked at Sophia.
Her brain was filled with black mana. She was a doll who responded to Jamie’s words.
“What is your name?”
“My name is Mary. Mary Valentine.”
“Then Sophia is a pseudonym?”
“Yes.”
Those who taught children were hiding their true selves and pretending to be bright till now.
Doesn’t that mean that the way she treated the students and taught them or talked with the teachers was all fake?
Even on the first day, when she came to Jamie asking for a sign.
All of it was a lie.
He couldn’t be more disappointed in a person.
He didn’t feel that because she lied about being his fan.
“Why did you infiltrate the academy?”
“It’s because I think children are most likely to express their emotions in the purest way.”
“Purest way?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you have to do that?”
“To embrace the children with a pure sense of jealousy and inferiority.”
Jamie frowned.
Even after hearing Mary’s answer, he couldn’t understand.
So, was it because of children who were pure with their emotions of jealousy and inferiority that they infiltrated the academy?
He knew what it meant, but he couldn’t figure out why it was needed.
“Why?”
“We tried to fill the gaps with the talented by helping those who lacked it.”
“Speak clearly.”
“This is done to overcome the unreasonable situation in which the talented persecute, harass and ignore the less talented.”
“In what way?”
“Through a drug called Apophis.”
Jamie frowned at the word ‘Apophis’.
It was a name he knew even if he didn’t want to. Wasn’t it a nutritional supplement?
A drug that increases the concentration and facilitates the mana absorption.
He had seen the commercials on the airships a few times.
What is a drug which closes the gap with talented ones?
When he thought of it, he remembered what Ann said.
‘She told me that her friend’s mana had increased dramatically.’
A friend who had been in elementary till the age of 14.
It was Finn. And Finn and Ann were here.
“Tell me who drank this in the academy.”
Mary mentioned all those who drank, including Finn.
Sighing, Jamie asked.
“The side effects?”
“Heart and gynecomastia rupture due to the rapid core amplification. Muscle contraction, decreased blood vol…”
There were a lot more side effects.
In a way, it meant that those who were addicted to it, would be destroyed.
And they have such a thing for students.
Silver’s face flashed in Jamie’s mind. He stopped attending one day, and then no teacher spoke of him again.
“Was Mr. Silver with you on this?”
“We asked him to bring the students in exchange for the drug.”
“And did he have drug symptoms?”
“Kipora is included.”
Kipora is a kind of steroid and if a magician ate it, the core would be amplified.
Instead, they suffered from poison-like symptoms and if one didn’t take it, they suffered from hallucinations.
“Speak of everyone involved.”
“…”
“Say it.”
“Ackkkk!”
At the command, Mary grabbed her neck as if she was in anguish.
It looked like she couldn’t.
This was expected. There was no way those who are committing such crimes wouldn’t have put a Ban spell on their mouths.
But that wouldn’t bother Jamie.
“What do those bastards think of me?”
Jamie removed the ‘Perfect Cell’ and hung it on Mary’s arm.
Then he placed his hand on her head and continued to erode the brain with black mana as he triggered Perfect Cell.
“Erase the Ban.”
The Perfect Cell is an item which has the ability to neutralize all kinds of abnormalities, including curses.
As the vast amount of mana was sucked out, the Perfect Cell began to remove all the Bans from Mary’s body.
Jamie tried to brainwash so while maintaining the black mana, he released the Perfect Cell at the same time.
“Phew!”
Even though it was for a brief moment, sweat poured out.
Thanks to that, Mary’s skin seemed cracked like the moisture was sucked out of it.
Jamie asked while placing the Perfect Cell onto his wrist.
“Tell me all that you know.”
“…”
“?”
“??”
“???”
“????”
But Mary said nothing.
She just tilted her head. No matter how strong the Ban was, Perfect Cell was the best out there and created by Diablo Volfir which neutralizes the curses.
And Mary’s Ban was hand-made.
However, now nothing of that sort could be felt.
Still, she didn’t speak…
“It wasn’t that you aren’t willing to speak, but it is that you can’t speak as you don’t know?”
“Yes.”
“… how did you communicate?”
“With this.”
Mary pulled out a communicator from her subspace.
Jamie took that and looked at its structure.
All kinds of anti tracking and non-recording were on it.
He tried to cancel all of it, but the crystal ball seemed like it could be broken if he tried to force it more.
“Who did you contact with this?”
“Teacher.”
“… Teacher?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know the identity of this teacher?”
“I haven’t seen him even once.”
“… do you know the head of this place?”
“Doctor.”
Doctor and Teacher, what was this?
Jamie held back from swearing.
“And you?”
“An executive.”
“If you are an executive, then why don’t you know anything?”
“Trinity is made up of several teams. I am the team leader in charge of the Magic world.”
“You mean, there are more people like you out there?”
Jamie sighed when Mary answered yes.
Such a stuck up organization with a point system.
They were out and away so one organization didn’t know of the other.
Normally, if one steps from the bottom, they would have risen up, but this point system didn’t work like that.
However, loopholes existed in the point organization as if to share a lot of information to the others. However getting close to the loopholes will be difficult, but thankfully, Jamie caught Mary.
‘Try out a little more and I’ll be able to figure out something,’
It wasn’t clear what kind of organization it was, but if they were doing something like this in here, then they must have a solid foundation.
It was certain that at least one high ranking person of Magic World was included in this. And it cannot be overlooked as some could be elders.
And that made things complicated.
‘Siegfried…’
He knew that Silver was having Apophis.
But he didn’t seem like the one to be involved in this. And the reason was simple. Siegfried wasn’t the kind to care for others.
The reason for him not having disciples was the same.
‘Above all, he probably gave me a hint to investigate this.’
The same goes to Linmel.
The reason he didn’t want Ann was because she lacked talent in magic.
There was no way he would be interested in the drug which helps narrow the gap of talented ones. Especially if it was a drug.
‘He has no reason to do this.’
Since he is one of the greatest magicians in humans, why would he take such a risk?
‘I need to talk to Siegfried.’
Before that, he had to ask Mary one more thing.
It was the thing he was most curious about since he heard of Apophis.
“How do you plan to reduce the risk of Apophis? Ultimately, that had to be your goal.”
In magic, equivalent exchange was basic.
If you absorb a large amount of mana through core amplification, an equal price has to be paid.
And that is why Silver died.
“No matter how much I think, it is impossible to reduce the risk of Apophis with the current knowledge in humans. Right. Unless miracles can happen…”
Jamie’s eyes shone purple.
Mary’s expression was the same, but her body trembled.
The anger of her Master was being transmitted through black mana.
And Mary answered in a trembling tone.
“Demons. With Demons.”
