Return of the Apex Predator

Chapter 16 – Dogma (2)

They exited the lab and returned to the hallway.

The room wasn’t the only one there. In all, fourteen rooms lined the hall, each containing a cross-shaped restraint frame, with corpses hanging from every one of them.

“Ah, as expected, life really is cheap,” Leonhart chuckled. However, his eyes had grown colder and more frightening than ever.

“Revenheim at least had an excuse, an enemy in the Evils of Eclipse, but what about here? Did they really carry out human experimentation just to defeat our primary enemy, the Northern Communists?”

Bastille let out a short sigh.

“Surely… they must’ve had a noble reason.”

“For the gods! For the king! To crush the enemy! By the law! For the people! Yeah, tell them to eat dirt,” Leonhart spat as he stormed down the corridor.

A locked door came into view. Unlike the others, the walls weren’t transparent, making it impossible to see what was inside.

Judging by what they’d seen so far, it was obvious another Aein’s corpse would be hanging in there.

Leonhart kicked the door.

It should have made a loud crash, but instead, no sound came out.

Only Leonhart sat on the floor, clutching his foot in pain.

“Damn it! It’s absurdly solid!”

Bastille frowned. Even though Leonhart’s physical strength had weakened since leaving his body in Revenheim, a kick from him should have dented even the fireproof doors of the building.

Yet, that door barely made a sound.

It was a testament to how thick and dense the material used was, to the point it didn’t even echo.

Bastille placed his hand on the door. Instantly, the area around his palm began to corrode. But the process was painfully slow.

It appeared the door had been crafted from an unimaginably dense material. Only after quite some time passed did they manage to carve out a hole just big enough for a person to crawl through.

Leonhart let out a hollow laugh as he inspected the cross-section.

“A metal door over a foot thick, and who knows what it’s made of.”

“Is this a nuclear bunker or something?”

Leonhart muttered as he followed Bastille into the room.

Then, he clicked his tongue.

“We didn’t even need to bother coming in here.”

Despite the grand door, the room inside wasn’t much different from the other labs.

There were medical-looking monitors, various measuring devices, and a metal box connected to an IV drip.

What irritated Leonhart the most was the sight of the body that was strapped down.

A young girl, her golden hair streaked with red, flowed down to the ground. She looked no older than twelve or thirteen.

Her underdeveloped body was held up by sturdy metal clamps, slumped lifelessly. No matter how accustomed one was to death, it was impossible to remain indifferent in front of a child’s corpse.

Leonhart scratched his head.

“Damn it, even a kid?”

Bastille watched Leonhart’s anger with an expressionless face as he spoke.

“They’re endlessly cruel to their own kind, so what do you expect for Aeins…?”

“No need to say more. Let’s leave. I’ve had enough of this place.”

Leonhart turned to leave, but Bastille didn’t follow.

He approached the girl, gently brushing aside her waterfall of hair to reveal her face.

Though the phrase was overused, she really did look like a doll, as if she had stepped right out of a painting.

Her eyes were half-open, frozen in death, revealing ruby-like red pupils.

Leonhart approached Bastille’s side.

“She’s not… human, right?”

Bastille shook his head and lightly lifted the girl’s upper lip. Her sharp upper fangs barely grazed her lower lip.

“Ah, a vampire?”

“One of the Children of the Night, like me.”

“No matter if she’s a vampire, to use a child like this for biological experiments… what the hell is KSA trying to achieve?”

Leonhart shouted in anger, but Bastille quietly responded.

“The evolution of humanity.”

“What?”

“They want to create a new race, a superhuman species with energy as powerful as the Evils of Eclipse. If the enemy has a powerful weapon, their thinking was to steal it for themselves. Some high-level sorcerers from the Southern Wall attempted it.”

Leonhart’s mouth fell open.

“That’s insane…!”

“At first, the results weren’t bad. They even created warriors stronger than demons. But eventually, those warriors truly turned into demons and destroyed the Southern Wall instead.”

Leonhart clicked his tongue in disgust.

“Tsk, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Humans trying to absorb the Evils of Eclipse?”

“They thought they could control it with magic. And here, they’re trying…”

“With the power of science?”

Leonhart glanced around once more.

The room was packed with strange equipment, the likes of which he couldn’t even name.

Bastille nodded.

“Science can see things the sorcerers of Revenheim cannot see, hear things they cannot hear, and create things they cannot create.”

“Still…”

“They’ve done this even before the Evils of Eclipse came along. Adding a single gene isn’t much of a leap for them. Especially when the test subject isn’t even human.”

“The more I hear, the more unsettling this gets.”

“If it succeeds, it could be revolutionary, but…”

Bastille suddenly lifted his hand and brought it to the dead girl’s lips.

Leonhart tilted his head in confusion as Bastille pressed his thumb against her sharp fang.

His skin tore, and blood began to trickle down, staining the girl’s lips. As the blood trickled down, a droplet formed at her chin, but Bastille didn’t pull his hand away.

“What in the world…”

Leonhart was about to speak in surprise but shut his mouth.

Bastille was the one acting, and what he did was never meaningless. They could wait and see what the outcome would be. Detailed explanations could come after results were revealed.

A short while passed.

Suddenly, the girl’s tongue moved. As if she were alive, her soft tongue squirmed, licking Bastille’s blood.

Bastille allowed her to lick his blood for a moment.

“She’s alive!” Leonhart shouted in astonishment at the sight.

“The Children of the Night don’t die easily. Just because the heart stops and the breathing ceases, it doesn’t mean they’re dead.”

After a while, the girl, who had been absorbing Bastille’s blood, slowly opened her eyes. When her gaze met Bastille’s, she flinched and shut her mouth.

Observing her reaction, Bastille withdrew his hand from her mouth. Then, he corroded the metal restraints holding her to the cross-shaped frame, freeing her.

As soon as the girl was released, she scrambled backward. She backed up into a corner, sitting down and wrapping her arms around her head.

It was a primal defensive instinct, present in all living beings. Trembling, she peeked through the gap between her arms at Bastille and Leonhart.

Leonhart smiled as he approached her. He raised both hands, showing his palms, and stopped a few steps away, greeting her with a grin.

“Hello, little miss? What’s your name?”

The girl tried to retreat further. Her back was already against the wall, so she pushed against the floor with her legs as if swimming.

Leonhart took a step back.

“Don’t be scared. We’re not here to hurt you. I just want to know your name. I’m Leonhart. Leonhart von Ruid, the Duke of Ruid.”

Despite Leonhart’s gentle tone, the girl didn’t lower her guard.

She kept her mouth tightly shut, her terrified eyes darting around as if searching for a way to escape.

Leonhart tried to engage her in conversation again. However, that brief opportunity soon vanished.

Uninvited guests had found their way to the room.

No, it was probably more accurate to say that the enemies they had been expecting had finally arrived.

Judah appeared with three other returnees, who seemed to be his allies. Among them was Luchita, who had taken a hit from Bastille earlier.

Judah stepped forward and addressed Bastille.

“First, I’d like to apologize to you. I’m sorry for ignoring you earlier. I never imagined you’d be able to use magic freely inside the base without this.”

Judah held up his hand, revealing a ring with a sizable red gemstone set into a rosary.

There was no need to explain that the red gemstone was a replica of the Dragon Heart.

Leonhart sneered as he spoke to Judah.

“Are you talking about the mad scientists here? The ones you call KSA?”

“You mean the Sacred Scientists?”

“Sacred science? What kind of nonsense is that, like calling hot iced coffee?”

“Sacred science is an arcane study that’s been passed down in secret. KSA has inherited this venerable discipline from the days of Roman Catholicism. It incorporates everything, from Eastern Orthodox blessings, Salzburg’s alchemy, Buddha’s meditation techniques, to the Taoist practices of Korea. Combining sacred science with modern technology wasn’t too difficult.”

“When you pour hot water into iced coffee, doesn’t it just become lukewarm coffee?”

“It’s called hot iced coffee. A flavor that’s hard to imagine,” Judah replied with a smile, but that smile faltered as he glanced at Bastille.

Shaking his head, he continued.

“I still can’t get over the trauma from facing you. My hands are trembling.”

Bastille didn’t respond to Judah’s remark. Judah spoke again.

“What do you think? How about joining us?”

“I refuse.”

“If there’s something you don’t like, don’t worry. KSA consists of numerous organizations that operate in parallel. You don’t need to share the same beliefs. Within our group, there are members with different religions, cultures, countries, ideologies, and philosophies. We don’t all have to agree to work together.”

Leonhart interrupted.

“If you all clash so much, then what’s the point of sticking together?”

“As long as we share the same goal.”

“To stop supernatural phenomena?”

At that, Judah shook his head firmly.

“No. What we’re trying to stop is the Eclipse. You already know how deadly it is, don’t you? We cannot allow that to descend upon Earth.”

Leonhart paused for a moment, surprised by Judah’s conviction.

However, he soon shook his head.

“Why do you think Revenheim is divided into four districts—North, East, West, and South? It’s because it’s better not to join forces when the thinking is different. I’ll forget any personal grudges, so could you kindly stay out of our way? And just so you know, that’s a massive concession. I’m slightly moved by your earnest plea to stop the Eclipse.”

Judah ignored Leonhart’s remarks and turned back to Bastille.

“Do you feel the same way?”

Bastille pondered for a moment, then turned his gaze away. He wasn’t looking at Leonhart.

The girl was still crouched in the corner, clutching her head.

Her only crime was likely being born to vampire parents. Now, she was trapped and used as an experimental subject for a sin she didn’t choose.

As Bastille looked at her, he remembered the werewolf who had died earlier.

Ideals, causes—he wasn’t really familiar with such lofty things. But still…

“Get out of here. At least for today, I won’t take your lives.”

Judah’s expression stiffened. His fingertips trembled slightly. Just then, one of the men standing behind Judah whistled and said:

“Wow, bro, you’ve got charisma. Should we see if your skills live up to it? Honestly, I don’t care much about Aenshatten or whatever it’s called. In my neighborhood, I’m the most famous.”

He was short and thin, but he held two sharp short swords in his hands.

Twirling the blades skillfully, he dashed forward. A strong wind surrounded his entire body as he approached.