Child of Destiny

……

Inside the laboratory room where the Professor was, he was at the final stages of the experiment and was about to be done with the final test.

It was at that moment when the door of the room suddenly opened. Then someone entered with calm steps.

The Professor did not need to turn around to know who it was and said without turning his head. “What are you doing here, Butcher? Aren’t you supposedly keeping an eye on the Dragon King? What are you going to do if he suddenly breaks free from the power of the sealed inheritance and attacks us?”

Butcher, who suddenly entered, leaned on the wall and crossed his arms. “Relaxed, Dragon King Nathan will not be able to move for the time being and it will be enough for us to escape.”

He paused and looked at what the Professor was doing and asked. “How is your progress?”

“Almost there. I just need to finish this up and I can turn him into the vessel of the sealed inheritance. And what is left after that is gathering more information about the failed subjects to see if we can achieve what we are really looking for,” answered the Professor, still not turning his head.

“Is that so? Then it is good,” Butcher raised his brows before asking. “How is the information gathering so far?”

This time, the Professor briefly glanced at the monitor near him and said. “It is almost complete. We only lacked the rest of the data from Shaun.”

“As for this one, I’ve already synchronized everything with the system. As long as he fights, the data will be directly sent to us,” he added before continuing his work.

“I see. That is good. Hurry up, so we can leave as soon as possible,” said Butcher as he slightly turned his head left and right, producing a series of cracking sounds.

“Have you cleaned up everything?” asked the Professor all of a sudden as he remembered something.

There was a dangerous glint in Butcher’s eyes as he answered. “There is no need to worry. Those pests that we can’t use earlier are actually lending us a hand at destroying everything.”

“As for the rest, I have already cleaned them up and deleted all the data that they can use. If they are capable enough to retrieve a few things, what they will get are only unusable scraps that we left behind.”

He then paused for a moment and stared the Professor’s back before continuing. “There are still a few pieces of trash that need to be disposed of. But they can wait until everything is over.”

The Professor just finished everything at this point. He was about to put down the surgical tools that he was holding when he noticed that there was something wrong. He paused for a moment and thought about it before realizing that it was the words that Butcher had said.

A sudden thought flashed through his mind and quickly threw everything to the side and picked up the scalpel that was near him. He then turned around and quickly threw it toward Butcher.

Unfortunately for him, Butcher moved much faster than him. “You are quite fast to pick up. But unfortunately, not fast enough.”

Butcher’s figure suddenly flickered before appearing right in front of the Professor and letting the scalpel hit his shoulder.

In the meantime, his left hand grabbed the back of the Professor’s neck while his other hand stabbed a syringe into the neck of the latter. And after injecting its contents, he let go of the Professor before stepping back. 𝗯𝐞𝐝𝗻𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥.𝐜𝗼𝐦

“Y-You-…!” the Professor staggered back while pointing at Butcher, knocking the table behind him where the surgical and experimental tools were placed.

“W-What is the meaning of this?” he asked as he stumbled on the ground while pulling the syringe that was still on the side of his neck.

Butcher stared at the Professor before sneering. “Is there needed to ask? You should know better than anyone how the organization works. We dispose of anything that we find useless.”

“What is more, we need something that can buy us enough time to escape. As you know, I still can’t face the Dragon King head-on, so it is better to find someone that will help us hold the fort while we run,” he added, seemingly unashamed to admit that he was running away from a fight.

“B-But-… But I’ve been doing pretty well recently! And I am loyal to the organization! How can you do this to me?” said the Professor, unable to believe what is happening.

There was a ‘pitying’ gaze from Butcher as he looked at the current appearance of the Professor. He then gave the latter a look full of ‘gratitude’ before saying. “Of course, we are thankful for your contributions. Even the ‘Heads’ are full of gratification for it.”

“Unfortunately, you are lacking results recently. And our ‘Boss’ become very impatient, so there is nothing we can do,” he added while shaking his head.

Hearing that, the eyes of the Professor suddenly contracted as he said. “But I’ve contributed a lot to the organization! I’ve been doing anything that they ask me to! And I am about to produce the vessel for the sealed inheritance! How can they just throw me away like this!?”

“Ah!” there seemed to be a sudden realization in Butcher’s eyes when he heard that before pointing at the body of Old Man Roger lying on the experimental table beside him. “Are you talking about this thing? It is just a container to them, nothing else.”

“It is just a sample that can help them realize the ideals of our ‘Boss’. It is not that important, actually.”

“As for the sealed inheritance that you are talking about. It is just a bonus for the main project. If we get our hands on it, then it will be for the best. But if not, then so be it.”

“As simple as that,” he emphasized, making the face of the Professor turn pale.

“How-… can this be? How can they do this to me?” there was a full of disbelief in the eyes of the Professor as he started to become hysterical. The blow of the truth that dealt to him was too overwhelming.

Butcher took out a hard drive from the inner pocket of his coat before transferring all the data from the computer. He also did the system synchronization that the Professor was talking about earlier. And when he was down, he put the drive in his pocket once again before picking up the unconscious subject from the experimental table.

He slowly walked toward the door, ignoring the Professor that was about to get crazy. His foot was about to set out of the door when he suddenly remembered something. “Ah!”

He slowly turned and looked at the Professor before saying. “There is another reason that made the Boss dispose of you.”

He paused for a moment and made sure that he had gotten the attention of the Professor before continuing. “It seems like you have done something secretly for the Boss before. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t dare to pry since I don’t want to end up just like you. But it seems to be quite important.”

He then paused and made and serious look before continuing. “This is the last words that the Boss wants to say to you – ‘You have planted the seed very well, so I will be rewarding you with it. Die for the sake of it.'”

After that, Butcher turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the Professor.

In the meantime, the Professor finally came to a realization when he heard those words. He smiled bitterly before muttering to himself. “I see. So, he wants to keep that a secret from everyone.”

“Snake Head, oh Snake Head. It seems like your ambition is endless. You want to become the real ‘Head’, huh?”

His words slowly faded in the darkness of the room as his body started to mutate. The veins on the part of his neck where the syringe stabbed him bulged out before turning green. It then spread out and crawled on his body.

His body structure started to change. The muscles on his arms, legs, and torso ballooned greatly while the size of his body grew exponentially. His small head seemed to be buried by his growing muscles, which seemed to be unwilling to stop from increasing.

Now long after, a deafening roar reverberated in the whole room before spreading even further. It even shook the entire lab before reaching the ground and made the mountain range tremble.

Everyone sensed it, making them pause what they were doing.

Even Nathan and the apparition of the Thunder Lord that was fighting him could not help but stop fighting when that roar was released.

Nathan frowned deeply as he scanned the entire mountain range with ‘Divine Sense’. Unfortunately, he still could not pinpoint the exact location where that roar was coming from, making his frown grow deeper.

He was having a bad feeling about this, which also gave him an intense sense of urgency, especially when he could sense the deep hatred and rage coming from that roar.

“I want to hide my real strength from those prying eyes, but I guess I don’t have a choice now.”

…