Lewd Wisdom (5)
It was an utterly ordinary day, no different from any other.
"Muria-25-03! Time for your experiment!"
Just another completely routine day, where one girl was dragged off by the researchers for testing and returned in the evening.
But the Muria-25-03 who came back after the experiment was nothing like her usual self.
"Damn failed experiment bitch."
Thud.
"Sam-sam!"
The researcher yanked open the second-floor iron-bar door and roughly hurled Muria-25-03 inside. The girl barely managed to catch her.
Muria-25-03 returned in tatters.
Her entire body was dyed red with blood that had poured from her own wounds, and bloody mucus dripped endlessly from her nose.
But worst of all—
"You okay? Can you even recognize this?"
"......Ugh."
She had lost not only the intelligence gained from the experiment but even her original wits entirely.
Her brain, unable to endure the ordeal, had shattered, leaving her an idiot.
Muria-13-07 and Muria-17-06 desperately tried to restore Muria-25-03's mind using every bit of knowledge they possessed, but it was impossible.
No matter how brilliant their intellect or vast their knowledge, they couldn't achieve what even the researchers with their cutting-edge magitech equipment couldn't.
"......Those bastards did this to our Sam-sam!"
"Damn it!"
Bam!
Even kicking the sturdy iron bars in rage didn't budge them an inch.
"Daaaamn!"
"Aboo... ugh......"
Her frustrated roar echoed futilely, but Muria-25-03's broken reason did not return.
"Yuk-yuk."
A steely resolve etched itself into the girl's tear-reddened eyes.
"Chil-chil... you don't mean."
"Today. We're doing it."
"......We haven't mapped out every detail yet."
Muria-17-06 knew the girl had been analyzing the lab and plotting an escape.
But they hadn't uncovered everything yet—
Over the year, piecing together observations during experiments, they'd mapped about 90% of the facility, excluding one underground section.
"......We don't need that anymore. We can escape with what we've got. That last 10% was just for extra caution."
The girl bit her lip.
It's all my fault.
I got scared of escaping and slacked off on planning, chasing fleeting happiness instead.
"Damn it! If I'd been a little more diligent! Or at least acted without hesitating, Sam-sam wouldn't be like this!"
Bam! Bam!
The girl vented her fury by slamming the bars.
"It's all because of me! I... I......!"
"Aboo...."
"Sam-sam......"
Muria-25-03 clung to the girl.
"Ugh......"
She patted the girl's head gently.
Just as the girl had once soothed her pain and held her warmly.
"Sam-sam...... you......"
It was as if she were saying it was okay, not to be angry, that it wasn't her fault—comforting her.
"I'm sorry, Sam-sam... I'm really sorry......"
"Sam-sam...... you...... really."
The girls clung to each other, sobbing uncontrollably.
Their deep-seated grudges fused into a single hardened mass.
Woooong.
Magitech components hidden throughout the cell responded to the girl's mana, gathering around her.
"We're escaping today."
And those who reduced Sam-sam to this state would pay dearly.
Unconcealable flames of vengeance blazed in the girl's eyes.
* * *
Late at night, after all the researchers had gone to sleep—
The magitech parts reacting to her mana fused together atop the girl's palm. Parts she'd secretly siphoned and hoarded over time.
"Chil-chil. Once we start this... there's no turning back."
"......I know. If we fail, there won't be a second chance. But Yuk-yuk."
The girl gripped the magitech key tightly.
"Could things get any worse than now?"
"That's......"
"For Sam-sam if nothing else. I'm staking my life on this."
"Can't be helped then. Let's do it."
As Muria-17-06 hoisted Muria-25-03 onto her back, the girl activated the magitech key.
Viiiing.
Light flickered, and the hated door that had imprisoned them slid open effortlessly.
The girls stepped out cautiously.
The outside world they'd never trod except when dragged by researchers.
The air felt alien, thick with acrid chemical stench.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
They dashed through the dark corridor, lights off save for emergency bulbs.
A massive bulkhead separating Sector 1 from the others.
An obstacle no frail human girl's body could budge, but—
Woooong.
Nothing powered by magitech could stop them.
"This way."
"Got it."
They breached five sectors.
Even areas they'd never seen firsthand posed no issue.
Everything matched their pre-scanned mental maps perfectly.
Woooong.
"Yes! Just one more!"
The final sector housing the escape exit.
One last gateway out of this nauseating hellhole.
As the girl reached for the control panel overseeing that gate—
Click.
Tap-tap-tap.
All the lights in the sector blazed on.
"......No way."
It was an hour when researchers should be asleep—no lights possible.
Realizing something had gone wrong, the girl frantically manipulated the panel.
No time.
Temporary lockdown of all personnel access enforced by highest authority.
But the panel shut down. The girl could no longer control it.
Viiing.
"Finally."
Step, step.
"The time has come."
The elevator doors behind them parted, revealing a masked man striding out.
"......Director."
The girl knew him.
Sector 1's overseer, the lab's supreme administrator.
The one who'd launched the Muria Project, twisting her into this wretched form.
"First, allow me to express my gratitude to you girls."
The director approached slowly, hands clasped behind his back.
Five or six researchers trailed him.
"Had you not attempted escape, I might've had to restart the project from scratch."
He shrugged and chuckled, as if thrilled beyond measure by the turn of events.
"Humanity's vast accumulated knowledge. The brilliant intellect to wield it."
The director tapped his temple with an index finger.
"And the execution to apply it precisely where needed. Everything's in place."
...It was all a trap?
The girl gritted her teeth, scanning her surroundings swiftly.
She then stepped in front of Muria-17-06, piggybacking Muria-25-03, blocking their path.
"The pinnacle of human civilization! The hour of creating an artificial god—the Constellation of Knowledge—has arrived!"
The director flung his arms wide in ecstasy.
Rumble rumble rumble.
The entire lab shook.
"...E-earthquake?"
"No. Nothing so trivial."
Woooong.
A colossal magic circle etched with intricate runes materialized.
Vast enough to fill the sector.
With her immense magical knowledge, the girl deciphered the cruel, arrogant human ambition inscribed upon it.
Activating a circle like this without preparation? Impossible! ......No, wait!
Horrified by the unfolding spectacle, the girl realized one possibility.
"The underground facility! You used it as a staging ground and mana source for the ritual?"
"Precisely. An ultimate spell prepared solely for this moment! None of the researchers noticed, yet you saw through it instantly! Truly my finest masterpiece, the pinnacle of my research!"
"D-Director? What the hell is—?!"
"I-Is this your magic, Director?"
Unlike the composed director, the researchers panicked in confusion.
"Ahh. You're no longer needed. Useless worms without a speck of talent."
Boom!
The director clenched his fist, and every nearby researcher's head exploded.
"We're at the final stage now."
He'd secretly prepared the spell alone and slain the others.
Whatever the reason, it meant he no longer needed to maintain his director facade.
The girl bared her teeth and thrust both hands forward.
Her pitiful mana reserves couldn't match a grand magus like the director.
But this power might.
Rumble rumble rumble.
A force from the girl's mind shook the lab.
The power of intellect originating from the brain—telekinesis.
"So you had it after all! And you hid it through every experiment, pretending it didn't exist!"
The director cackled wildly, overjoyed at her superpower.
"Talent unworthy of your lowly station! Had I more time, I might've made you my partner."
Thud!
"However."
He raised one hand, and the shaking subsided.
"I lack time now."
Then he extended his other hand forward.
"I need only one thing from you anyway. No need to keep troublesome pests alive."
Before the girl could react, vicious mana shot from the director's palm.
Annihilation mana fired to erase her.
Focused on deploying telekinesis to attack the director, the girl couldn't dodge.
...I'm... going to die.
Staring blankly at the attack was all she could do.
Her life flashed before her eyes in a montage.
Dying without seeing the outside world.
She wanted to avenge her friends and Sam-sam.
She wanted to visit Liberhild.
......She wanted to become one with the prince.
Then—
Crack!
Someone blocked her path, taking the director's attack.
"......No... no, Yuk-yuk!"
"Sorry...... Chil-chil......"
Thud.
The worst memory that would torment the girl through eons of suffering.