Side Story: A spirit's study

Author's note

You can consider this side story to take place between the end of the 12th arc (with the first wave of the invasion) and the beginning of the thirteenth. Hope you all enjoy!

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Seven great spirits were silent as they stood around the crowd of nearly a hundred, not responding to any cries or screams that came from them, either from their broken bones or as they tried to save their lives, begging for mercy or making threats of revenge in the cases of the few who had enough power in the world that some might try to get it in their name, with the one who’d created the situation that had doomed them all to their fate, Iberu, sitting silent, having been well prepared for this ever since he’d decided to use spirits as a power source in an attempt to save the world. No matter how justified he felt in his actions, he wouldn’t be pleading his case to save his life, he’d been prepared for this since he first put his plan into action.

Or at least he thought he had, for though they’d been gathered, no true punishment had been carried out yet, and those who would be inflicting it had the power to make it last and show a level of creativity in the pain they intended to provide that other mortals would never live to see.

Perhaps sensing that, one in the crowd tried to flee, a desperate hope which never had a chance to succeed that only resulted in his limbs being impaled by spikes of earth, trapping him in place and discouraging the few others foolish or desperate enough from trying such a thing themselves. Compared to mortals, the great spirits might as well have been gods in comparison, now they would have to deal with their wrath.

“When we’re done with them we’ll have to get the gods to send their souls to the infinite hells,” Abrus thought aloud as he looked into the group. “I’ll tell Anailia’s oracle as much when we’re finished here.”

“I’m sure they’re well aware by this point,” The great air spirit, Genon spoke. “Unless you believe there’s some way they aren’t watching this?”

None of them doubted that the gods were keeping an eye on the group from the heavens, they were too powerful to ignore and after an event like that they’d want to know how the spirits would react, something each of them was pointedly not mentioning. The way they thought was alien enough that their minds were safe from prying eyes and they each had their own opinions on what the reaction would be that would only be discussed before the meeting with various world leaders, so as to not give them time to prepare. Given what happened, they couldn’t help but want both mortals in power and gods alike to sweat as they were forced to imagine both a world without them or more revenge to come.

“Let them watch,” Salinoth said, the only of the great spirits who didn’t choose to take the form of a succubus or incubus, instead preferring to take something more akin to an eel. “For now, let's decide what we’ll be doing with them until that point.”

They each had their opinions on the topic of what sorts of tortures were justified, all of them able to think of unending uses for the affinities they were tied to to make the punishment thorough so long as a light or life spirit was around to ensure that their prisoners didn’t expire from what they’d be put through, but one of them speaking up was enough to settle the matter.

“Give them to me,” Vividus told them, looking at the crowd like the specimens they were. “There’s been plenty I’ve wanted to test on mortals, only being stopped by their pesky sense of ethics. With these samples available, I could run through any project I’ve been held back on till this point. Ah, of course I’ll have a regiment for other spirits to go through with them when I’m unable, so I’ll happily take suggestions.”

None of them argued with her. While others could be wrathful, she alone was the most indifferent to life and suffering and not one of them doubted that whatever experiments there were that piqued her curiosity would be worse than anything else they might have planned, settling the matter as her newfound test subjects could only look on in fear.

---

That ended better than I’d thought. Vividus told herself days later as she made her way back home following the meeting that had just taken place, with the outcome working more in her favour to a greater extent than she could have ever hoped.

While the topic of abandoning the world had come up amongst them, she at least hadn’t truly meant it, instead just using it as a bargaining tool, for as much as she hated those who had seen her kind as nothing more than a source of power, she despised the existence of demons as a whole, that filth who had slaughtered her people and stolen her world. The fact that things had worked out in a way that would see the number of spirits explode over the coming years was a boon that she’d happily take.

Now to just see how the subjects are doing.

She could already hear the screams as she returned to her home, making her way to the underground complex beneath her house that she’d had Abrus make her to store them all.

While there were plenty of creative ways she could have made them suffer, she opted to keep it simple, for as the great life spirit, mortals were already perfectly under the domain of her power.

All she did was stimulate their nerves, letting them experience an unheard-of level of suffering while keeping a few dark spirits on hand to stabilize their minds, not letting them fall into madness as a form of escape. An unending pain that existed at the maximum of what their bodies could endure, with a single way to lessen it, though not remove it entirely. Training.

She’d already checked all of their cards to see their job levels and she’d created an environment where they could work to increase them, with the tiny bit of relief that came with that goal making any that could completely throw themselves into the task work to a level that itself could be considered torture to most, all to prepare for the tests that were to come.

With a small act of will to move her mana, a homunculus she’d personally made was led into the room, its shape matching a common hominid form but designed to be capable of a level of chaos and destruction that no god had bestowed their own race, with a wild beast she’d caught trailing behind, one of the fungi beasts that had been developing in her lands, kept under control by a dark spirit, all to see if they could be properly put to use.

With everything she needed gathered, she pulled aside six of her test subjects, the prisoners being granted a small level of relief from their pain before being disassembled, their minds not being allowed to black out as they were broken down into different parts with the mindless beasts she’d brought, only to be reassembled after, their bodies merged into a new whole while Vividus used her mana to ensure everything was properly integrated into each of them, ending with forms that would be able to live and fight despite how warped they became.

She didn’t notice the fear in the eyes of her other prisoners, nor the horror of those who had been warped into new, misshapen bodies. Her eyes were only on their cards, looking for a skill that didn’t appear.

Hmm, perhaps it takes a few days for a partial body skill to show up. I suppose I can only wait and see.

---

Nothing.

As days passed, the skill she was looking for failed to appear, leaving her to question what went wrong as she continued her tests, merging their forms with all manner of beasts she could find before ultimately cutting away the additions and forcing their bodies to regrow their original bones and organs in a pure state as she kept trying to discover why she wasn’t getting results.

There was always the chance it had to do with the first partial body holder. A soul from another reality in a body made by the gods, there was always a chance that those unique circumstances had led to the conditions that allowed the skill to form, but Vividus doubted it. It had to be something else, something she was missing as she re-examined all of her tests, finding a single place she was lacking.

Feeling the need to test it immediately, it was simple to do as she walked over to the subjects of her torture, none of them able to respond as they were forced to work despite a feeling that they were burning alive wearing on them, and with one smooth motion she took two of them, cutting an arm off both and replacing it with the other’s before applying her magic, incorporating the new structure into their bodies in a way that would ensure the new limb would take and feeling success as she looked at their cards, seeing the exact skill she’d been waiting for listed under their passives.

Progress.

The system seemed picky indeed on what it would help incorporate into another beyond the modifications she had made. It wouldn’t take any animal or piece of meat. Another being benefiting from the system's effects though? That would do it.

Which means for best results, I should be merging them with the most powerful races I can find, though which ones would actually be useful is another question. Of course, there is one inherently magical option that I’m sure would yield results, but… No, Abrus and Lux would both genuinely attempt to end my life if I touched their young, and as powerful as they both are, neither of those two half spirits have truly impressive bodies when mana is mostly a matter of the soul. Of course, there’s always a chance that incorporating their parts into others would help raise the recipient’s growth rates and compatibility with mana by a high margin but it’s not worth the trouble.

Still, there were plenty of other powerful species in the world and plenty of ways she could think to expand on her tests. All she would need to do was find the right volunteers to put to use and with mortal greed being as strong as it was she doubted it would be hard to get what she needed. She could already foresee a future where her biological weapons wreaked havoc across demonkind and felt excitement flicker within her amongst the screams of her captives.

From there, she just needed to be sure her test subjects could properly get the kin job and a world of experimentation would truly open up to her.