"There's more to see."

I teleported to the mana factory seen remotely through my phantom petals.

"How should I put it... Intriguing!"

"Yes, it seems the humans have been doing some experiments with promising results." I remarked sarcastically at Oortez's unusual excitement.

Here, people were being augmented with various technologies exactly like some soldiers I fought back in Vera. Unlike what I had seen before who only replaced perhaps two limbs at a time, here they were replacing as much as they could with magitech limbs and more. Hundreds and thousands of people were undergoing such procedures within this facility. If just counting rooms, there were hundreds of them, including residential areas and rehabilitation areas.

Another section that was doing purely experimental procedures did not stop at just replacing limbs or adding magitech parts to the body. Parts of faces and even organs were replaced or altered. There was one soldier who had three eyes and four magitech arms capable of blasting energy beams. It was absolutely disgusting, in my opinion.

From my observation, the highest level these augmented humans were capable of achieving was at the maximum level 50. It seemed that they couldn't grow further unless their technology advanced further. However, even level 50 was difficult to achieve under normal circumstances.

This is the birth of the cyborgs... Sigh, I don't understand why anyone would be fascinated with something so disgusting. I don't see why this isn't listed as a taboo in the Edict.

As it stood, there were more human flesh being removed than could be used for further experiments. Those parts that were deemed no longer useful for experiments were shipped to another facility to be fed to strange chimeric beasts. It wasn't a place I wanted to visit. My stomach wasn't ready for a horror show.

"Have you learned anything?" I asked.

"This is just too fascinating! I wish I could stay for longer."

"This isn't my cup of tea. We're leaving."

There was a west wing to this colossal facility that was producing one of the highest mana in this region. Given how there were supposedly no mana fountains in this region, that place was awfully suspicious.

Lo and behold, when we arrived at the scene, I scrambled to scan the entire structure in detail.

This place was no different from a prison, perhaps even worse. People were locked in metal cells with their mana drained to constantly. In addition, they had to work physical labor night and day with little rest which I could see on one of the schedules. All this was much expected, but these weren't all criminals. In fact, only a small number of them appeared to have any wrongdoings in their past.

Many of the prisoners were due to the fact they tried to deviate from what society allowed. In other words, they could be considered political prisoners, those who were dissatisfied with the current government or Hero King. It seemed that not even children and women were spared if they couldn't be corrected. Because they were prisoners, experiments were carried out on them as if it was perfectly normal.

Huh, concentration camps, why am I not surprised? This world... I have an urge to burn everything down. What am I looking for? A huge meteorite?

If it only ended here, I would have most likely left things as they were because mortals had to sort out their own problems. However, I had to dive deeper into this mess. This world shouldn't go on like this.

Just like other facilities, this one had the above ground portion and the below ground portion. The underground portion was always many times larger just like an iceberg floating in the ocean.

All these guards and scientists, are they just all yes-man? Do they not have any conscience or are they all like Oortez?

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Hm? Isn't this fine?"

You don't get it. I guess that's what makes you a demon.

For me, my heart aches for those who were suffering. It was not a pleasant feeling, perhaps even worse than that anxious feeling before a grand battle.

At this point, it was more accurate to call this military base, a city, because it spanned at least five or more kilometers in each direction covering minimum of 100 kilometer square in area. And, to think a city this size could exist several kilometers outside of the capital without anyone batting an eye was just absurd. Perhaps, only that small group of resistances knew of this place.

I must point out though that this area was guarded by light tanks and heavy surveillance all around which meant sneaking in was next to impossible without excessive preparation.

The north wing of the facility, it was my final destination for the time being.

There was a limit on the speed I could remotely check every room of this enormous place. If I could have done so faster, I would have.

At the moment I found Smoothie, she was already near death's door. Her wings had been cleanly cut off, one of her eyes injured, and her body translucent as if she was barely maintaining her presence. She was hanging by her arms, and her ankles shackled. Beside her was that familiar crystal slowly absorbing her mana.

Not a moment to lose, I shattered the magical barrier that sealed her presence and prevented any forms of teleportation. I knew my action here would likely cause trouble, but I wished not to delay saving Smoothie any longer.

"Smoothie!" I cried out. "I'm so sorry it took me so long...! I'm here now..."

"Mo-Mother... Is that really you?" She whimpered.

I severed the chains with my void magic and hugged her tightly in my arms.

"Hang in there. Please stay with me. I'm taking you home."

"Not so fast," a chilling voice came from behind, "Make a move and they'll all perish."

So he showed himself.

I knew what the voice meant. Haelley and her kin were also within this facility, not surprisingly, each in their own special cell. Everyone who was captured had a special magical seal inserted within him or her that would detonate when specific conditions were met. That much, I could tell, but I did not know the conditions nor the individual who inserted the seals. I did this to lure out the culprit.

"What do you need from me?" I asked.

"Since he failed to trap you, you're as good as mine. Give me your soul, simple as that."

He must be referring to that rabbit demon or Juus? Let's play along a bit more.

"If I give you my soul, will you release my child and her friends?"

"No, don't!" Smoothie croaked with tears in her eyes.

I checked her fey core carefully just to be sure. And, what did I find? It was damaged and leaking soul energy. That angered me, very much. Yet, I had to hold back. How could anyone do this do such a cute little fairy? Sure she was a bit mean sometimes, but she really didn't deserve this.  

"Smoothie, be a good girl. I'm here now, leave it all to me. Just hang on a bit longer."

With my current level of existence, her [soothsayer] no longer worked on me just like it didn't work on De Planck. Beings above a certain evolution were outside of that ability's calculations and knowledge. She couldn't predict any of my future or any futures involving me.

Regardless of her state, I knew what I was doing.

I came prepared for the worst. Living by myself in a dream world was not my wish. I wanted to have people I cherished near me. If this world was trash, then I didn't mind going down with it if I had to.

I had my pride. If I couldn't even save a single person, what was the whole point of all of this?

While I secretly prepared miniature void barriers to negate all the magical seals in an instant, I continued my negotiation with that person, no, that evil demon. It was a high level demon capable of blending in with the humans by altering his displayed status. However, that fake status couldn't fool me. This was probably the first time the |creator| trait was directly put into use.

I could see his true status.

[Level 76 Demon;
Species: Ancestor;
Physical: 790/790;
<Health: 790>
<Force: 830 (enhanced)>
<Speed: 320 (enhanced)>
Spiritual: 794/794;
<Mana: 794>
<Mass: 780 (enhanced)(augmented)>
<Luck: 230 (enhanced)>
Traits: Devious, Faker, Executioner, Chaos, Enhanced Physical, Enhanced Spiritual, Enhanced Resistances, Enhanced Senses, Limit Breaker, Immortality;
Abilities: Black Plague, Forger, Dead End, Evil Eyes;
Blessings: Shadow's Oblige;
Description: A legendary demon.]

As expected, demons are powerful in stats but lacks combat traits and abilities in comparison to guardians. Still, to think he's above De Planck in terms of level, that's troublesome. But then again, it's also possible that De Planck had a fake status.

"You're a demon. Aren't you breaking the Edict?"

I turned around to face him, a demon who appeared no different from a human from this region. Strangely enough, his species name translated properly. If I had to guess, this one had evolved from a human or similar, perhaps a vampire or an elf.

His face was only average in looks, and his clothes were no different than what the researchers here wore. Basically, he looked very plain, too plain.

"Ahaha... You can see through my guise. So what?" He smirked and he seemed completely relaxed.

"So what? What do you mean by that?"

blanksphere

Author dished out a readable species name this time. Naming patterns: Elves/humans vs Other races. Honestly, it doesn't matter that much. Oh hey, another cliffhanger?