Mutagen

Day 143 - 10:15 PM - Core Laboratory, The Ice Cube, Arctic Depths

The fuzzy image flashed unstably, revealing a creature that was, albeit the same as Chimetrice but was also too different.

Like Chimetrice, it was a humanoid Chimera with body parts that came from different creatures. Unlike those of Chimetrice, however, just from the image alone, they could tell that each body part had a sinister aura of its own.

It had skin covered in red scales, a mouth with several layers of pointed teeth, red eyes covered in flames, muscular arms covered in wolven fur, and two legs that seemed to have come from a bull. On its head, instead of hair, it had red flames as if it was an Elemental Diety. And also different from Chimetrice that had six wings, it only had a pair of blood-red wings that emanated an aura of a dragon.

And, of course, a characteristic that was present on Arcdevils, the spiraled horn of a ram.

Compared to Chimetrice, it seemed that there were fewer body parts used in the creation of this one. However, the entirety of its body appeared to be far more powerful than Chimetrice in terms of raw strength.

That, however, was what made it even stranger.

How come that something like this had was composed of fewer body parts could give out such a menacing power compared to Chimetrice?

"Can you see this?" The hologram spoke. "This is your younger brother, Trimera."

Chimetrice did not say anything and continued to observe the fuzzy screen, making the old man continue.

"Don't be fooled by its appearance just because it had fewer components. I can tell that you feel it even just by this image. The explosive power that this lad had."

The old man then turned to Chimetrice.

"Your body had unfathomable resilience, endurance, and hardness. Even if you get hurt, you will heal perfectly fine after a while. Trimera is different. His body is not as resilient as yours, but it might be possible that he can destroy your body if you got careless."

"I am sure that you already saw the hole in one chamber on your way here. Trimera was the one that made that to escape. An explosive strength that even this impregnable place could not withstand."

"How did that happen?" Illia interjected. "Even Gods could not easily enter this place, where would The Creator get body parts that can display such strength?"

The old man smiled and asked.

"Do you remember what you saw along the way after entering this place?"

Illia grew silent as she realized.

The strange hybrid monsters that no one had seen before. Back then, before they left this place, although The Creator had experiments regarding such a subject, it was still in infancy. And using the methods to preserve the body parts and patching them out together to form a creature, Chimetrice was born.

Because of the creation of Chimetrice, it became easier for The Creator to create more hybrids. Body parts fused in a Chimera would either reject each other during failure or complement each other at success. It was like the success of Chimetrice, whose body parts functioned together, creating a stronger and more resilient body.

"At that time, the true body only used mythical and divine creatures for experimentation." The old man said. "But after you, Chimetrice, was sealed, he found a few things wrong with his research."

"About me having awareness?"

Chimetrice asked.

"While that was one, it was not all," The old man shook his head. "What the true body wanted is a weapon that could kill ruthlessly, whether it be a god or not. Unfortunately, that was one thing that you lacked. Even that succubus, beside you, had more bloodlust than you. The true body thought that it was a failure to use mythical creatures alone. And that is why he started to dabble in the experimentation of Demonic Creatures for his next anti-god weapon."

Of course, it was not easy. Using body parts of Demonic Creatures caused more failure than success. It was especially because these body parts had a volatile nature compared to non-demonic creatures.

But then, as he continued on the experimentation, The Creator accidentally found something.

The Creator saw a circumstance that only happened during failure and only when using body parts from certain Demonic Creatures. Using a stronger body part on a weaker body could result in that body part draining the vitality, causing imbalance and rejection on the subject and would likely result in death.

However, that dead body itself could be used for experimentation of other things. And that was when The Creator noticed that the body part that caused death became stronger than before as he put it on other creatures.

And thus, The Creator started to create hybrids for such purpose, cultivating the Demonic Body Parts and making them grow stronger. The stronger it grew, the stronger the experimental subject was needed, and he created more. It was to the point that he created hybrids far stronger than most creatures in the world. It was only to cultivate certain body parts that he would need to create the next anti-god weapon.

After a few years of painstaking experiments and the creation of hundreds to thousands of hybrid monsters, he reached the point where the body parts he wanted to use, became on par with each other in terms of vitality and strength.

Putting all those things together, Trimera was born.

The creature of pure strength and speed. An Arcdevil Chimera.

And to prevent the past failure from Chimetrice gaining awareness, The Creature made sure to wipe out any sign of consciousness on his new creation.

Without it, Trimera should be nothing but a mere puppet, right?

But that was where it went wrong.

At this point, the screen showed the last scene of Trimera's creation. It was the time for the Creator to wake up the new Humanoid Chimera. The two golems that were supposed to safeguard the entrance was there to secure the safety of the Creator. After all, there were times that new hybrids would react violently. Of course, he was confident that it would not happen as he did not give Trimera any capability of thought.

The Creator pushed the buttons on his apparatus, draining the liquid in the glass chamber Trimera was in. Soon, it woke up, not peacefully, but filled with rage.

It broke out of its capsule and charged unto the first moving object it saw, the golems.

With a blurred flash, the two golems were suddenly smashed into pieces. Even the Creator was not able to see how that happened.

The Creator immediately activated the security measures, activating the barrier to protect him while deploying weapons to subdue Trimera.

But it was all useless. Trimera picked up a metal part from the smashed golem, twisting it into a spike, and threw it towards the Creator. The barrier shattered like glass, and the metal spike pierced the Creator on his chest. Although he was wearing protective clothing that stopped the metal spike from turning him into meat paste from the impact, it caused the force to throw him unto the wall, nailing him mid-air.

Of course, he died there. There was no way that he would be surviving after his heart was destroyed.

After that, Trimera went on a rampage, attacking and killing every creature it came across in [The Ice Cube]. The frozen bodies all over the halls and rooms were the remains of that onslaught. After a while, Trimera seemed to want to go out of this place but did not know where the exit was. Thus, he punched a random wall, continuously, for several days. He was like a beast digging a way out of a cage. That was how the large hole in that chamber was created and where Trimera escaped out.

"It was a total failure."

The hologram said with another shake of his head.

"Just what happened?" Illia asked. "Didn't he erased any ability of thought from that guy?"

"That was the cause of failure, my dear." The old man smiled. "I analyzed the data of the true body's last research and found the reason. Removing any ability of thought on Trimera was the reason. It might have been fine if Trimera was made of the same creatures that Chimetrice had. However, his body was made of cultivated Demonic body parts, and these Demonic Creatures were malicious and violent in nature. A body without thoughts made out of body parts from vicious creatures. It was nothing but a violent beast."

"We can't deny that he succeeded, though..." Chimetrice spoke. "... in creating a creature capable of destruction and killing gods. Even the wall that most gods could not even dent was broken by him."

"Hahaha!" The old man laughed. "You don't have to be sarcastic. It was a failure through and through."

RUMBLE!

Suddenly, Chimetrice and Illia felt some shaking.

"What is going on?"

Illia could not help but panic.

"So, we are out of time."

The old man said with a sad expression.

"What do you mean?"

Chimetrice asked with a frown.

"What do you think?" The old man shrugged. "You saw the destruction that Trimera did after waking up. A lot of things in this laboratory were destroyed. For several thousand years, everything that remained here was in a dormant state to preserve its condition."

"However, you two came, and I had to wake up. This drained the remaining energy that kept this place afloat."

"You!"

Chimetrice could not help but blame the hologram. After all, they barely got in here, and there were things they needed to do. And all of that just to know that it would soon sink into the bottom of the icy ocean.

"You can't blame me, Chimetrice. Sooner or later, this would happen. It was already a miracle that after thousands of years, it still managed to keep afloat. In the least, it is good that I managed to relay the last moments of the true body's life."

"And to say, warn you two of a possible threat."

Chimetrice grew silent. There was no way to refute the old man.

"Wait, is that thing still alive?"

Illia asked.

"Unfortunately, yes."

The old man shrugged as a hidden cabinet opened nearby. Inside was a glass capsule containing an odd flame inside.

"This is a part of the flames on Trimera's head. If this flame was extinguished, it meant that he died. However, as you can see..."

"He's still alive somewhere, isn't it?"

Chimetrice said, closing his eyes.

"Yes." The old man nodded. "Unfortunately, there was no way to tell where he is right now. Also one thing. If he is still alive, there is a high chance that he gained intelligence after several thousand years. You two should be careful since he might target you two, especially you, Chimetrice."

"Why is that?"

Illia asked.

"You two might not know it, but a Chimera without a soul is nothing but a dead body. Both Chimetrice and Trimera were two pieces of one soul. I'm sure that you understand what that meant."

Chimetrice took a deep breath and wanted to ask another question.

However...

RUMBLE!

The whole place shook once more. And now, it was stronger.

"You two should leave already." The old man's visage started to stutter. "Take the capsule. It will warn you two if Trimera is nearby."

"Alright. Thank you."

Chimetrice said as he took the capsule from the cabinet.

"Go to the top floor of the laboratory-"

The old man instructed in the last second. And like an unplugged television, the old man flickered and vanished.

RUMBLE!

The shaking started to intensify. However, it seemed that it was still being controlled. Without a doubt, the old man was still doing his best to keep the place afloat until the two left.

And as the old man instructed, Chimetrice and Illia rushed to the top floor. It was called the Landing Chamber. A part of [The Ice Cube] that could detach like a ship and be used at times when the Creator had to gather more specimen on land.

"Illia, do you remember how to operate this?"

Chimetrice asked Illia, who already rushed to the control panel.

"Master, there are some changes but it seemed that we can still use it. The energy reserve is quite low, though. It can only operate for a day or two."

"Good, let's leave."

And there, cracking the ice that covered [The Ice Cube], the Landing Chamber detached from the main structure for the first time in several thousand years.

At the same time, the main structure of [The Ice Cube] started to lose altitude. It was the final moments of the laboratory where two anti-god weapons were born before it sunk into the deepest depths of the icy ocean.