Though the Beginning is Bizarre, the End Shall Be Grand.
“If you're turning a man into a bio-weapon, making him a TS beauty is just basic common sense, right?”
After some back-and-forth tinkering, I succeeded in piecing together Captain Darven Ancio and his cronies into what you might call the "ultimate beauty."
Bonus points: I gathered up the excreted personalities of those ugly old middle-aged men, mashed them together, and turned them into the personality module for my very first superhuman-grade bio-weapon.
But...
“Well? What do you think, my assistant? This little squirt is the next masterpiece from yours truly!”
“It doesn't even move, and just keeping it alive becomes impossible once it's out of the life-support incubator. Is that it?”
“Hey now, that's just something that'll improve bit by bit over time!”
“Be honest, Doctor.”
“Truth is, I ran out of tech and resources to keep going. Plus, it turned out way more complicated than I thought.”
“Well, in a way, that's to be expected. Even rotten fish has its merits—even a Marine battalion commander is basically superhuman. And with his cronies all mixed in wildly like that...”
Truth be told, as regrettable as it was, I'd only succeeded in creating it.
> Super Chimera Soldier Experiment - Prototype Development Complete!
> Current specimen lacks a power source capable of handling its massive energy consumption.
> Upon awakening from stasis, 99% chance of starvation death within 5 minutes!
“What a shame. If we take her out now, she'll just starve to death.”
“The Demonia Empire homeworld will eventually send related supplies, so no need to worry too much.”
“Oh right, there's that option.”
There were just too many issues to deploy her into combat like Elena or the existing Chimera soldiers.
So, with Elena and the Heisenberg City mayor as my dual pillars, Darvena—who was meant to be a pure combat officer replacing Squirmy—ended up useless for now.
I had to shed a few tears over it.
But that didn't last long. Maybe because I'd decisively crushed the resistors in one go, no matter the method?
I left Darvena's tank in the lab, tossed Squirmy—who'd reverted to marimo form and size—back into the mini tank on my desk.
Knock knock knock.
“Consul Benya Tomiri. Roberto and two others here on business.”
“Huh? Roberto?”
“He's a Marine officer from the battalion under Ancio's gang. Not one of their faction.”
“Ah, probably here since their boss didn't show. Let 'em in anyway.”
While dealing with Ancio's crew, I'd forgotten about this Marine exec coming all the way from the spaceport to request a meeting.
Time to solidify control over the Marines and reinforcements.
But the three Marine officers, including Roberto, trembled visibly as they entered.
The moment the door fully closed, sealing off outside sound...
“Truly impressive, Consul Benya Tomiri.”
“Eh?”
“We didn't expect you'd act so swiftly after the Empire HQ test began and saboteurs mobilized—nipping further damage in the bud.”
“...I see. So you're the oversight team sent to test us?”
“Sharp as ever, Inspector Elena Vermouth.”
“Heh, so them showing up means the 'test' is over?”
They revealed themselves as the real reinforcement brass—and the 'test oversight team' from the gallery.
I reacted with utter fascination, my eyes sparkling like dead fish as I asked if the test was done.
The officer calling himself Roberto, the oversight captain, nodded in confirmation.
“Correct.”
“We could force it if we had to, but...”
“But?”
“Unlike the purged ones, we don't wanna end up like that.”
“Ah.”
He pointed at Darvena floating in the wall tank.
And the shimmering "excreted personalities" in the adjacent tank.
Me and the live gallery comments alike nodded—it was a fair point.
With the test quietly certified complete, talk naturally shifted to Darvena and the personality slime I was storing.
Even if gallery users shrugged it off like "Just trash 'em, they were purge-bound anyway lol,"
hearing it from the parties involved hit different.
So the next topic had to be Darvena and the rabble still floating nearby.
But Oversight Captain Roberto just shrugged.
“Doesn't matter to us. Wipe 'em, mod 'em into bodyguards or troops—whatever.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Captain Darven Ancio—ex-captain—and his gang were notorious scum.”
“Post-mission, survivors were slated for purge anyway: camps, lab fodder, penal legions.”
“They probably thought they'd pension out and start fresh.”
“Oho.”
Full authority handed over—do whatever.
After seeing them off with "Reinforcements are yours to command normally now,"
I realized it was time for some real fun.