Deus Didymus: Rend

Pt2Ch56: Chimera's Flames V

Liz bent backward, ducking underneath the invisible slash. Her golden locks swayed in the winds caused by the attack with small strands of her nicked hair sweeping with the currents.

What was that?!

Y/n summoned his seven remaining orbs, stacking them atop one another to create a shield. One by one, his orbs shattered until the slash came to the last--the kirin orb--dispersing with a slight chip in the remaining barrier. Behind him, a path of destruction cleaved the trees from their stumps--all but the trees directly behind Y/n.

What is that allele?

Minju's eyes widened as her shoulders severed from the rest of her torso.

It was that fast-?

Without wasting a second Minju reconnected her torso, sprouting new arms as well. She turned toward Ella's direction, sighing as all seven women disappeared from her sight. Though she sensed their wellsprings, chasing after the group meant risking Yuri's safety.

Minju fell backward, panting. She took deep breaths, slowly but surely refilling her wellspring with the environment's energy.

Even with my denser wellspring healing something like that takes a lot out of me...

Y/n approached the Hyejin orb's dome, clutching his chest in relief. Inside the cleanly cut structure, Yuri curled on the ground unharmed. "Yuri ya. They're gone."

Yuri hugged herself, shaking her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks, seeping into the untouched dirt below. "I wanna go home..."

"Okay." Y/n pursed his lips. "We'll see if we can gather anything from this base and then we'll go home."

Y/n hoisted the hamster on his back, caressing her leg. Inside the orca base, the group wandered through the corridors. Compared to the one underneath IZLand's capital, this and many others spread throughout the continent, reflected the primitive nature of Orca's old bases.

Each hallway resembled passages through a cave whereas the interior of the capital's base had been tended to and decorated. A new material the researchers called 'concrete' supported the walls and ceiling, giving the capital base a much more secure look.

As they meandered around, Y/n stumbled upon a set of five rooms similar to Yuri's. The room laid completely bare save for a single bed with a small window facing the hallway and a door for passage. Y/n peeked inside the first room, finding a short girl with black hair. Streaks of blue highlights ran through the dark hues matching the azure color of her sunken eyes.

Y/n glanced toward the approaching researcher, pointing into the room. "What's going on here?"

The researcher looked into the room. "We've developed a way to forcibly awaken alleles as we did with the young one on your back. So far it's worked flawlessly with these five, so we're planning to expand our practices."

"Where did you get these children?" Y/n asked.

"Off the streets of HYBE. Similarly to IZLand, there are an abundance of strong alleles waiting to be harvested, so we took the liberty of taking ones we deemed exceptionally strong," the researcher explained. "The one you're looking at is Kim Minji."

"Kim Minji..." Y/n mumbled. "Is this awakening information only here? Or have you shared it with the other bases?"

The researcher pinched their chin. "I submitted a report of the completed process last week to the main base, so it should be in effect sometime soon. Maybe in the next few weeks?"

Y/n nodded, "I see. Good work."

While the researcher walked off, Y/n stared at Minji with a frown. Name aside, she looked a year younger than his own, yet the smile that came with someone her age had already long disappeared.