The Dangerous Aperture
Angel of Eden. 89
Suddenly awake, I found myself staring at a mirror and sink reflecting my face. Still groggy, I realized my body was moving on its own, washing my face. Ah, Tia must be cleaning me while I sleep.
‘Hey, Tia?’
‘Kyu?’
‘Washing on your own is fine, but at least wake me up first.’
‘Kyuu.’
Tia answered that she understood and resumed the precise motions of washing my face. Come to think of it, she was even controlling my expression. Focused solely on cleansing, the face she moved wore a cold, emotionless look. Feeling the chill of water striking my cheeks, I tried to move my body, but just like yesterday, nothing responded. Ugh, I’m supposed to be an Abaddon Queen, yet I’m losing control of my own body. How depressing.
Then I felt something strange beneath the hands washing my hair.
‘Tia, stop for a moment.’
‘Kyu?’
When Tia released control, my body obeyed me again. I reached up and touched the external connection port at the back of my neck where my hair met my head. My fingers found an almost imperceptible gap. It ran down along my neck and connected to my spine. Using a hand mirror, I saw a thin white line stretching from my spine up to the base of my skull.
“When did this reach all the way here?”
‘Kyukyu.’
“A while ago? Why didn’t I notice?”
As I traced the tiny seam with my fingertip, it parted slightly and the tip slipped inside. The moment my finger brushed the inner membrane, a jolt of sensation made me yank it back.
“Ah, what was that?”
Even for that brief instant, the slick, warm texture inside the gap felt disturbingly similar to the inside of a vagina.
“What on earth is this?”
‘Kyuuu.’
“You don’t know either?”
Tia explained she had simply followed her instincts while eroding my body. Even though she had modified me, I felt no revulsion. Hmm, this sensation was oddly similar to when Master had altered my body and removed my resistance. As expected, T-12 shared many traits with Abaddon.
Cautiously, I slid my finger deeper into the gap at my nape. It went in quite far. Unlike a vagina, the opening was vertically elongated, yet the way the neck muscles tightened around my finger produced a grip remarkably like vaginal contractions. The deeper I explored, the more intense pleasure flooded straight into my brain. Lost in the sensation from just two knuckles deep, my movements suddenly stopped.
‘Kyu!’
“Hah.”
Tia forcibly pulled my finger out, and the pleasure evaporated, snapping me back to clarity. The fact that I had been so completely intoxicated meant the pleasure this hole produced was dangerously potent.
“This sensation is more dangerous than I thought. I need to investigate it properly.”
‘Kywing.’
“You try to suppress your instincts as much as possible too.”
‘Kyuu.’
Having a hole at the back of my neck, even if hidden by hair, felt far too inhuman. I needed to finish getting ready and head to the lab immediately.
When I arrived, the lab was empty.
“Ella! Are you here?”
I checked every room, but no one was there. Only then did I remember we hadn’t set a specific time and that it was still early. Deciding to wait, I looked around. The space was far more organized than before. Isabel had always found tidying bothersome, yet now not a single scrap of paper lay out of place. It was so pristine it no longer felt like a place anyone actually lived in.
“Oh, that’s the latest model coffee machine I saw when the café opened.”
A large, expensive coffee machine sat in one corner. It ground beans automatically and brewed coffee far pricier than other brands. Queen had told me its performance and design were exceptional, though I didn’t really understand the details. Surrounding it were all kinds of snacks, turning the area into a miniature café.
While waiting for Ella, I pressed the button for a basic coffee. The machine whirred, grinding beans, and a cup slid into place. As the coffee brewed, I examined the snacks.
“Good grief, every single one is chocolate.”
All the containers held chocolate. I tried one and found it extremely sweet. After my tongue went numb from the sugar, I gave up and sat down with just my coffee. I had barely taken a sip when the lab door opened and Ella walked in.
She sighed the moment she saw me at the table.
“Haa, Mother. I told you to call ahead before coming. You forgot again, didn’t you?”
“Did I? Sorry.”
She looked different from before. The beautiful but research-worn appearance had vanished. Her hair was cut into a neat short style, and she wore earrings and a necklace. Her clothes were stylish too. Ella hung her coat and small bag on the rack, glanced at me drinking coffee, and scolded me.
“As expected, you didn’t dress up at all. Entering the temple is easy because you’re an Angel, but you do remember you need to catch God’s favor, right?”
“I suppose.”
“Since it would be strange for an Angel to approach God on her own, we decided to handle it through Stella’s merchant guild as a formal tribute. You can’t send an Angel dressed so sloppily as an offering to God.”
“You met Stella?”
“Of course. You may not know, Mother, but we’ve been working hard. We’re even recruiting researchers from the surface. Unlike the underground city, the surface labs are legitimate research facilities.”
Following her gesture, I moved deeper inside while listening to her complaints.
“Anyway, since we’re going to the temple as a kind of bribe to God, you need to dress up.”
“Aren’t Angels basically God’s property? Can they even be a bribe?”
“More precisely, they’re Eden’s property. The loyalty implanted through brainwashing is directed at God, but the body itself belongs to the city of Eden. Even though you’re loyal to Maria, your body is still registered as Eden’s possession.”
“Ah, I see.”
I hadn’t felt it, but becoming an Angel had indeed erased my human rights and turned me into Eden’s property. Even now, while living with Master, the actual owner was still Eden.
“So we purchased your body in the merchant guild’s name. Then we’re offering that ownership to God. It’s a bribe asking for favorable treatment.”
“I had no idea.”
“The loyalty transfer clause in the sale contract has an unexpected loophole. Stella told me that as long as we submit documents showing the Angel consented to the sale and the change of loyalty, it works. The biggest problem was the purchase price. It was nauseatingly expensive.”
“How expensive?”
Ella held up three fingers. Three… thirty million?
“Thirty million?”
“No. An Angel wouldn’t be worth only that much. Three hundred million.”
“Three hundred million? My body is worth three hundred million?”
“Precisely three hundred and twenty-four million.”
I had known Angels were expensive, but this exceeded imagination. Three hundred million could buy a detached house in Eden with money left over. The church building I bought last time, even though it was a quick sale, hadn’t even reached seven hundred million.
“Where did you get that kind of money?”
“You’re underestimating the merchant guild, aren’t you? The combined assets of a hundred wealthy individuals can casually cover three hundred million. Stella’s family alone probably exceeds ten billion if you tally their holdings.”
“That’s incredible.”
After dropping that shocking sum on me, Ella led me to a room that had once been part of the lab but was now entirely converted into a dressing room. She hung up her coat and bag, then pointed at the mirror.
“First, take off everything you’re wearing.”
“Why do I keep hearing ‘take off your clothes’ so often?”
“Hurry up.”
She urged me while pulling clothes from the closet, so I stripped and tossed everything onto the table. Standing awkwardly in my underwear, Ella’s sharp command came.
“You need to change your underwear too, so take everything off!”
“Ah, got it.”
Once I was completely naked in front of the mirror, she handed me the replacement lingerie. It was high-quality white lace that was semi-transparent, with beautiful gold patterns. As I started to put on the panties, I suddenly remembered the hole at my nape. I had meant to ask about it first, but the shocking body price had made me forget.
“Ella, there’s something I want to ask.”
“I go by Isabel now. Call me Isabel. What is it?”
“Right. Touch here.”
I lifted the hair covering my nape and pointed to the spot. Though puzzled, Isabel reached out and touched the skin. Her fingertip slipped slightly into the gap.
“Hnn.”
“Kyaa! What is this? Why is there a hole here?”
“Well, about that…”
I explained Tia to Isabel. Listening with a serious expression, she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the examination room.
“We need to examine it first. Why did you only notice on the day of the assassination attempt?”
“I didn’t feel anything.”
“How can you be an Abaddon Queen and not even know what’s happening to your own body?”
I had no reply to Isabel’s pointed remark. In the examination room, she prepared disinfectant and various instruments, then put on gloves. At her instruction to lie face-down on the table, I climbed on, though my chest made it uncomfortable. She secured my head and body with leather straps attached to the table.
“The urgent matter is assassinating God, so I’ll only do a basic examination. It won’t take long.”
Her hands explored my nape, then parted the gap and inserted some unknown instrument. Soothing the startled Tia, I waited as a cold liquid flowed in and the tool slid deeper. It carried both ticklishness and sexual pleasure, only stopping after penetrating quite far. The sensation of the instrument alone sent dizzying pleasure through me, making my body tremble.
“Stay still.”
“Haa, it feels too good there.”
“Hnn, the hole angles upward inside the head, so it’s quite deep. About twelve centimeters? It could probably go deeper if forced.”
The deeply inserted instrument spread open, widening the gap. Cold air rushed in between the parted walls, cooling the pleasure that had become almost painful in intensity.
“The neck muscles have transformed into a structure similar to a vagina. The internal texture is similar too. Oh, there’s a strange tentacle at the deepest point.”
“Uwaa!”
When Isabel muttered and touched something at the very back, my body went rigid from the intense shock. A peculiar sensation of connection made thinking difficult.
“The tentacle is trying to attach to the contacted object. I’ll have to touch it directly with my hand.”
The connection broke and my head cleared. Though I didn’t fully understand, I sensed it was extremely dangerous. Just as I was about to call Isabel, the connection returned and seized my mind again.
“The tentacles are wrapping around my finger. Oh, this is…”
Unable to form any thoughts, I flailed in pleasure as past memories surfaced in my mind one after another and then vanished.
“Fascinating. It feels like operating a computer with just thoughts. When I think of complex calculations, it performs multiple operations simultaneously, like parallel processing. It’s a bit difficult, but addictive.”
Formulas I didn’t recognize appeared in my head, were calculated instantly, and disappeared. As time passed, all sensation except pleasure faded. My vision went dark, and only Isabel’s voice reached me.
“Yes, this is similar to when using a host’s brain as a computing device. To think simply touching the tentacles lets you use a human brain like a computer. Remarkable.”
When I could no longer feel my own body, the connection suddenly severed and sensation returned. The finger at my nape withdrew, the instrument was removed, and the gap closed. As strength returned to my previously rigid body and I could move again, Isabel’s voice came.
“Truly fascinating. Turning a human into a biological computer… I’ve never seen anything like it. This might be the first discovery of its kind in the world.”
“Ugh, my head feels foggy.”
“That’s because I ran it at full capacity for testing. It pulled resources from your body and senses, so even sensation disappeared. Right?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t feel anything except pleasure.”
“You have to experience it directly to understand. All the information in your brain spreads out before your eyes as if you could touch it. The sense of omnipotence is thrilling. Complex calculations that would normally take time are processed instantly.”
Isabel spoke excitedly. From what she said, even briefly, it had performed beyond high-end implant devices. Listening to her animated voice, I rubbed my sore neck, stood up, and asked,
“More importantly, is this dangerous for me?”
“Honestly, it’s not just dangerous. It’s a fatal weak point. Once connected through those tentacles that seem linked to the brain, all control over your mind gets taken away. I haven’t tried it, but if it can access personality and memory files, it could probably rewrite your very existence as ‘Mother.’”
The hole at my nape was far more dangerous than I had imagined. I had sensed danger, but not to this degree. Moreover, any stimulation to the gap flooded my head with overwhelming pleasure that made resistance nearly impossible. A chill ran down my spine as I sat on the examination table and traced the now-closed gap at my nape.