The Survival of an Inferior

The platform connects to a door opposite and does not have a way leading down to the mysterious lab. As Liam and I walk across, I purposely let Liam walk ahead and pull out my sword, placing the blade at his neck.

"W-What?" Liam immediately shoots up his hand. 

"What do you want? You could have used the chance to escape but you came back to me?" I ask.

"...I...I was already labelled as your accomplice so..."

"You are using me as protection?" 

"I-I won't deny that...but I'm useful! I have many connections and thus a ton of information and stuff. You don't seem to know your way around Libra, are you a foreigner?" Liam says.

In a nutshell, Liam is proposing a contract. If I prove to be strong and wise, he won't betray me and if he proves to be useful, I won't abandon him, basically a double-edged sword.

...

"Fine but remove that illusion magic. I know this isn't your real appearance." I say.

Liam complies without hesitation. His ordinary-looking face blurs out and disappears to reveal a handsome young man with untidy shoulder-length black hair and sharp purplish-amber eyes. 

He is not as simple and dumb as he first seems. Albeit cowardly and weak, he has quick and precise judgment as well as good decision-making. He considers every pro and con before making his move.

"Next question, the traps in the corridor...how did you avoid them?" I ask.

"..."

?

Liam looks away. "Truth be told, I know the owner of this place personally. I am the one that helped to set up this underground monstrosity...that's why I know the layout like the back of my hand."

As we walk across the long platform, Liam briefly describes his experience with the owner of this orphanage and gives a slight insight into his background. 

Millions of millennia ago, Bestolo created Bestokia and everything on it. He created life. He created time. He created matter. 

However, Bestolo does not want to govern his creation like a dictator or spoil it. He feels that his views may be biased and that not everything can go as planned. Thus, he created the five gods that oversee Bestokia.

Many years later, one of the gods abused his power and oppressed life on Bestokia. The issue alerted Bestolo and he erected a barrier to prevent gods from directly interfering and imprisoned the oppressive god in the Prison of Time.

The remaining gods then have to pass on their visions and powers to respective entities and they are called the Guardian Apostles. The Guardian Apostles carry out god's duty in exchange for wisdom and strength. That's how Apostle Mana came about. Apostle Mana is capable of creating miracles ordinary mana cannot achieve such as...reviving the dead but the problem is "How?"

Even after playing this game countless times, there are still many things I don't know. Maybe...now with greater freedom, I can learn about the truth of this world. 

The four Guardian Apostles started to spread the gods' name, creating various religions and beliefs. The only one that still stands tall now is The Church of Axis, the Goddess of Light, Yvonne. Yvonne was also the one that bestowed power to The Hero 50 years ago. 

According to Liam, the owner of the orphanage, Kest, was a High Priest of The Church of Axis. 

The Guardian Apostles can pass down Apostle Mana to vessels and Kest was one of them. Born in the church with a high affinity to Light Mana, Kest was a bright and upstanding man that quickly rose in the ranks of the church.

Liam met him when he was working for a merchant. 

However, Kest's faith and prayers failed him when his only family was mercilessly slaughtered. Liam does not know the exact details but it was done by humans. 

"Since then, he has been trying to revive his brother and researching Apostle Mana. In short, he has gone crazy," says Liam.

We reach the end of the platform and push the door. It leads to a staircase down to the lab. 

*grrrr* 

Something rumbles within the cages. They are not aware of us. I walk past a container, the gem embedded in a piece of meat has some purplish "veins" that wrap up the meat. 

Suddenly, a circular device on the ceiling lights up and illuminates the entire lab.

!

The cage inhabitants are revealed to be chunks of disfigured humans fused, each with their twist and special from one another. One cage has a monster with an abnormally long neck and with extremely thin body and limbs. At the end of the large lab is a lower section that leads to two passageways.

One balcony is attached high up, a man with a messy beard and massive dark circles below his eyes shows up. He scratches his black hair and glares at us, specifically at Liam.

"Bastard. I knew it. I should not have trusted you." says the man.

Liam frowns and returns the glare. 

"Kest, how ironic when you have been trying to kill me," says Liam.

...

I realise Liam's real plan now. He used me ever since the start as protection but I will let it go since we both benefit from this. 

Liam secretly grabs my arm and writes an "82" on my palm.

??

Kest smirks. "Well, it doesn't matter since you will die here." he presses a button on his device and thousands of ticks echo from the thousands of cages.

?!!

A sudden rush of pressure befalls me, each one of these monsters has Apostle Mana within. 

"Run!" Liam yells and sprints away. I follow behind. 

"RARGHHHH!!" the gates swing up and release a sea of meat horror crushing after us. 

Liam brings out a bag of green dust and pours it on himself. That green dust is probably a fairy substance, delectable for things with Apostle Mana. The monsters twitch at the disgusting smell. 

"I will be bait, find the room!" Liam says and runs into the left passageway. I go to the right. 

Room? 82? 

Room 82...huh.

Despite Liam's attempt, a few still catch my scent and chase me. I send a slash to slow them. Despite shredding through the meat easily, they quickly pulsate and the meat rapidly regenerates. 

...

"Yeah I'm not dealing with this," I mumble and focus all my strength on my feet, leaping away.