Chapter 22
Merpo Mener. The chimera creator and elder of the Heaven God Cult—his life hadn't been a smooth path from the start.
During the Empire's massive chimera extermination campaign, he barely survived, becoming the sole survivor of his group. Leaving his dying comrades behind, spilling blood as they went, Merpo burned with rage at being the only one left alive. He came to view the Empire as his mortal enemy and vanished into hiding, sharpening his blade of vengeance alongside it.
One could call it the original sin of those who treated human lives as worth less than insects and pursued their disgusting experiments. But isn't it the way of the world that the evildoers are the most shameless?
In that obsessive state, forging a blade of revenge against the Empire in the shadows while continuing his research, Merpo was approached by a suspicious group with an offer to join. A shady organization called the Heaven God Cult. At first, he suspected the unknown group and tried to refuse, but he fell for their honeyed words promising to help realize his revenge, overwhelmed by the bottomless depths of power from their leader, whom they called "That One." He threw himself into the cult.
Years passed since he joined the cult. Now recognized for his power and achievements, he had risen to the position of elder. But lately, he was racking his brains over the stagnation in his research.
Chimeras were known superficially as creatures driven purely by instinct, indulging only in destruction and slaughter—but the truth was different. From the lowest, uncontrollable types that lived solely for killing, to exceptional specimens possessing both intelligence and strength.
Creating something simply strong and violent was easy enough. But how on earth was he supposed to produce ones that retained full human intelligence?
If only his old comrades, who shared his goals, had survived. No, if even one of the higher-ups had lived, he could have learned the manufacturing method they held in their innocent glory. But with all records and data destroyed, he had to unravel the secret using only his own abilities.
Making a chimera was akin to the heaven-defying experiment of breeding humans and dogs to produce offspring. Naturally, it was unlikely to yield a controllable entity that perfectly combined the strengths of humans and monsters.
Then, while experimenting on a virgin kidnapped by the cult, the birth of a specimen showing faint intelligence gave new momentum to his work.
"If I use mages who can handle mana as intermediaries, I can preserve intelligence!"
It was a serendipitous discovery, but it yielded tremendous results. For ordinary people, fusion with a monster caused them to lose consciousness and ego, becoming instinct-driven chimeras craving blood. But for mages, their mana core instinctively protected them, suppressing the monster's instincts from invading the mind.
Of course, perfect control was impossible, so the fusion couldn't be fully blocked. Yet it allowed birth while retaining at least some reason.
Days passed of seeking the cult's cooperation to kidnap or deceive nameless mages and bring them to the underground lab for research. On the cult's orders, he lent experimental subjects for a plan to plunge the Academy into chaos—and unexpectedly met his fateful connection.
The Duchess of Eos, who felled an experimental subject in one strike. Sensing from her potential that his grand cause could be realized, Merpo immediately plotted her abduction.
Everything went smoothly, right on the verge of realizing his long-cherished dream.
"Gaaack!!"
And then, a single variable ruined all his plans.
Drip-!
"Kuhuk!!"
'Th-this can't be!'
Merpo was deeply shocked by what had happened to his body.
What kind of body was this? While creating chimeras, he had replaced parts of his own body with those from researched monsters or chimeras. Each one was from a monster rivaling a Master in strength, so he believed nothing in the world could overpower him physically.
And that was mostly true.
But—
"H-how—! How dare a punk like you wound my body!?"
The boy's arm movements—looking barely past his late teens—were simple and unremarkable, but the power behind them was anything but ignorable.
Whether to prevent the underground chamber from collapsing or not, he swung his sword half-heartedly, yet the aura compressed to extremes shredded Merpo's body, which could easily block a Master's blade.
He had just casually killed the Numbers jackal, then without hesitation unleashed a flying kick. Merpo missed his movements in the incomprehensible scene, leading to his current state.
One kick sent his steel-hard body flying, and he even demonstrated the feat of externally releasing aura to toy with him.
It looked like slashes on arms and legs to subdue him, but if serious, his limbs would have been minced.
'Damn, cracked ribs. The wounds on my abdomen and limbs will take time to heal. Where did this monster come from?!'
Even with his durability and recovery overwhelmingly enhanced by monster transplants, the wounds from the man before him showed no sign of quick healing.
Unlike true chimeras where mind and body fused as one, Merpo's body—merely swapped parts—had lesser effects, yet still far surpassed ordinary humans. It was thanks to this indomitable body that a scientist like him earned elder status in the cult.
Being so easily subdued filled him with immense confusion and humiliation.
"Kuuk! Numbers! All of you, come out! Kill this bastard!!!"
Judging it couldn't go on like this, he unleashed the seals on the Numbers bound by magic.
They were his aces saved to topple the Empire, but what use if he died now?
Watching the chimeras burst from the stone chamber they'd passed and invade the lab, Merpo smirked triumphantly.
Their appearances couldn't even be called decent by the broadest margin. Uniformly grotesque and repulsive, their minds ravaged by experiments and seals amplified their ferocity.
"Aura Master at that age... Delicious. Even losing the Numbers would be worth securing you."
At Merpo's words calling him an Aura Master, Celine—who had been dazedly watching—gasped and looked at Mars.
Mars was 20. Same age as her, yet reaching Aura Master—a realm most never achieved in life, which veteran swordsmen only grasped in their 40s or 50s—at such youth.
But his unchanged expression despite his realm being exposed made Merpo click his tongue.
"Seems like a high realm even among Masters, but that's your limit. See these chimeras?"
Monsters each capable of destroying a city. Not perfectly controlled yet, but they'd eagerly obey an order to kill one person.
"Made from Aura Expert and 5th-circle mage bases. Might sound trivial to you, but as chimeras, their power's on another level."
Not just stronger, but smarter too. Not human-level, but with dolphin- or chimp-like intelligence, they could even coordinate.
No matter how early a Master, he couldn't escape their clutches.
"Subdue him! Don't kill—he's a precious base!"
Kieeeek!!!
Kyaaaak!!!
Brute strength, invisible speed, sharp teeth and claws, poison and fire breaths. Boasting unique abilities, the chimeras lunged at Mars and...?
"……?"
"……?"
'Huh?'
Where'd he go?
It was just a small flash. A glint from the sword gripped by the man surrounded by chimeras swept past their eyes.
And the lunging chimeras were gone.
'...No, not gone.'
Sword strikes too fast for eyes to follow. In that tiny flash, dozens—no, hundreds. No... thousands of swings?
……Plip plip plip.
The delayed sound of rain. In the now-silent underground chamber, how could rain fall? It wasn't clouds shedding drops.
It was the blood rain from the monsters.
'A Lord...?'
He slashed them.
The chimeras.
With countless invisible cuts.
To pieces.
Shattered.
"I was gonna try to keep some alive to make 'em confess what they were up to."
Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted. The killing intent felt since entering the lab now visibly rose like heat haze.
"They were too noisy. Screaming for someone to kill them, please."
No one had screamed. So whose screams did he hear?
The wandering grudges of the dead? Or the final death cries of souls turned chimera?
"Didn't seem worth sparing. So I slashed."
Impossible. Merpo had seen an Aura Master before. One of the elders, a monster at the Master's peak.
But even he couldn't do this madness. No Master could perform such a feat.
Because it was impossible.
That left one hypothesis.
Absurd, but the only one proving it.
"No way...! You're not a Master, you're a Lo—!!!"
Slash.
But those words never finished.
He was slashed.
...Or was he?
His mind was awake, but his body wouldn't move. A cold chill gnawed at his entire form.
Sensation crumbling from his toes. He barely rolled his eyes downward, but his body looked fine.
No wounds, no pain.
Yet it blurred. The consciousness he clung to blurred.
Only then did he realize.
'Ah. What he slashed was...'
The soul.
Severed from reincarnation.
Unable to enter hell.
The soul of this man named Merpo—erased eternally from existence.
Soul Severing.
Thus, the evil spirit who had claimed countless lives vanished from the world without a final testament, eternally and irrevocably.