Raaaaaah always complaining... True ! It's a pleasure of mine to cut people open ! Actually, you're a lot more sexy in that out, really, I swear it.
Next time, if you want a better physician I'll make sure to mail you to a good one. It shouldn't cost me too much since you were already in little piece.
Really...
Then Nhieling smiled : Actually, I'm quite proud of myself, it wasn't so much harder than fixing a doll in the end, you just have to reatach the part that are mean to be together... And you should be happy, since I only charged you friend fee. Since I've take a liking upon you, I've just fixed the part how they were before, I haven't add anything, nor I've done any experiment. The Mad Scientist League would kick me out if they were to know about this...



Nhieling take a pause, catching his breath, it let him the time to analyse Mortimer other question :

Hmm there is a lot of different kind of immortality through. For some, it's just not olding age. For other, there just immortal properly speaking.
In my case, it's a little special, since it's an immortality I've get through magical way, but without completing the transcending spell yet. So basically I'm just not decaying from time. But my way to get it cause after-effect close to the one that cause my puppet to regenerate. My soul, and the one of my master, are both sealed into my body. So even if I were to be damaged greatly I would wake up after a few hours, but if I were to take too much damage I would probably stay dead. Poison and other kind of internal contamination would take a lot more of time to heal through.

But don't worry, I've already take some... Disposition, if I was to be cut in little piece, fed to wolf and burn after this....

Anyways, if I were to complete the transcending spell I'm aiming to complete, then I would be bound to this world so tighly that I would envolved into a superior being, and yes, I would become really immortal, but I problably could still loose my body temporarily. Anyways, it depend of a lot of thing, like how you become immortal, to what extent you became one, and the kind of damage you receive. Even immortal can be killed, even if the way to do it vary greatly to an immortal to another.

Nhieling started smiling, putting his "seller cap" on :

But... why are you asking it? I don't think Jecht is anything close to be an immortal...



Then, suddenly Nhieling realised : Oh, and don't worry about the other one, that was sleeping next to you, at first I intended to use a little of necromacy and to seal back all the soul of the thug into it to be able to get some information from them.
Nhieling seemed pensive for a few second : The problem is that this one ws alive, and that after your surgery I was a little to tired and I save him too, without thinking, I hope he'll know some valuable information, and that he will be ready to share them with us, because it would pained me greatly having to break this little body I just fixed to make him speak.

Mortimer rolled his head around in a tense circle before narrowing his gaze of utter disdain down at Nhieling. "No, we're not discussing Jecht right now. Nor are we discussing whatever experiments you did to my apprentice over there, and yes he is my apprentice. We are discussing the activities which you performed during your surgery to my body because it does seem that you added something in! Namely... YOUR energy to my solar plexis chakra! Do you know what that is!" He said gripping Nhieling by the collar and staring intently into his blind milky eyes. His breath hot as a look of utter rage passed over his face. "THAT is the Manipura chakra! It's responsible for the conversion of physical matter into energy and all forms of GROWTH! What's more it's also responsible for gut feelings and intuition! And right now YOUR energy is holding it together! So do you have ANY idea what that means?! Do you KNOW what it means to have YOU acting as my digestive source, my possible development OR my gut feelings? WELL? DO YOU!" Mortimers breathing was so hard and labored that it appeared steam was coming out of him with each breath he took. Nhieling had to talk Mortimer down or else he might be facing a VERY angry shadow mage in more than JUST verbal sparring.

Sigh... And me that had through you were just interrested into getting immortality...

You can put me down, I'm sure that killing me would venture your anger, but right now it would only make us lose time. And your disciple would be in a deep shit if I can't made some adjustement when he'll wake up.
It seem Mortimer wasn't ready to let him down yet.

Sigh, so what do you want to know? I haven't done any funny experiment on your body, and your disciple will just have to live with some of my thread to replace his spinal cord. It was this or paralysis. There is some draw back to this such as the fact that I'll need to make some adjustement over the way thread will comunicate with his brain, because if by some hazard I were to be out of function when he will wake up, he might really block his own respiration by trying to lift his hand. Since I wasn't sure about each connection some are vacant too, and I'll have to went through an empirical method to fix it.

Concerning your ki center eh... I haven't through so far ahead... To begin with I through you would be happy to be alive, and since your ki center was damaged to the extent you could have die in convulsion, or at least become a broken little thing.
Now, is living with a little of myself that bad? I'm not completly human anymore, you won't be infected too much. The only bad part is that my energy will draw out the bad part about your personality, your anger here is probably due to my influence, so if I was you I would start by calming down. Your bad side will just come out.

Nhieling was just holding Mortimer gaze.

I already know about the darkness in your earth, you can't hide it from me. If you were as clean as you want to appear, you wouldn't be so much affected by my energy. I'm nor evil nor good, I just make your own darkness come out...

Nhieling smiled : Oh ! I forgot, the nice Mortimer that most people like and respect, it would really be a shame to loose such an image. Come on, let your anger flow out, kill me, let the beast that's in you come out. After all, to kill your god of grandfather you had to ressent him so much... Do you know what is the first requirement to kill death? It's to loose the fear, loose what made you yourself, what made you a living being, to burn the fear of death in a terrible hate.
So come on, just be yourself for once !

"The rage I can handle! I lived with it inside me for fifteen years before letting it out! I'm grateful you saved my life... but right now what I REALLY hate is that by implanting yourself into me you may have made me into a GODDAMN IMMORTAL!" Mortimer attempted to throw Nhieling across the room before turning away and breathing deeply. "I'm not afraid of death... in fact I look forward to when my time finally DOES come and I can sleep for eternity next to the ones I care about... but what scares me... what REALLY scares me... is never being able to die... to live forever, not because those around me will be gone, not to see generations die and repeat the mistakes of their fathers... not to wander the world eternally... but that I will be made so bitter by these experiences that I'll become just like you and my Grandfather.

Honestly I'm terrified at how far my rage can take me. I've seen what it's done to other people and I know what it does to me... When I am truly angry I turn into a monster. Even after I killed him and set myself and Delilah free she was too afraid to come with me... too afraid to join me after what I had done. I don't want to increase the chance that I'l become like that again by living for eternity! If I live too long my existence will cause a negative impact... whether it's terrifying another little girl or even killing someone who did not deserve it, if I live too long the odds of these things will only continue to rise. No one should live as long as you have Nhieling... Nor should anyone live as long as that puppet or as long as I am going to."

Sitting down on a nearby chair with his head in one hand he decided to change the subject. "Nhieling, if you ever did complete the transcendence and become a God, what would you choose as your domain? What is the one aspect of humanity or nature you would use to fuel your existence? Because from what you have told me before you would either be a God of hedonism and celebration... or a God of greed and Wealth... so what would you choose Nhieling?"

Aha, your underestimating my greed, a LOT to much. Said Nhieling, massaging his neck.

You already knew that my only pleasure is in human. I'm not waiting anything anymore from them, but god there so funny. It's always the same, but each time... Seeing them burnt their own wing... Really, I think it's the only thing I will never get tired of.
How to explain you, when you have nothing but your own amusement left, seeing human kind fight against his own self is an unlimited source of distraction.

There isn't any being over earth that escape this law, except a few immortal being.
But god are different. There all mighty, but at the same time bounded to their fear to greatly. When you started fearing any change, you'll lost yourself for eternity.
Nhieling aura turned darker. I'll overthrow the god. First I'll complete the soul transcending spell, then, I'll absorb and become one of the most fundamental entity, that have been over earth since the dawn of time : The reaper.
Once I'll have the transcending spell complete, absorbing this unmatierial entity won't pose any problem. This spell is nearly complete now, it took me 500 years of work, but I think I finally end it. This may explain you why my energy is so different from the one of human being.

As the soul brooker I will get the first step into my plan. Next will be to gather the power of the death. Since you gave me the precious information that your grandfather was dead, his power have gather into a natural god. Once I'll have access to the power of soul to their full extent, getting the death god power will be a matter of day, since the power of the reaper and the fear of death have always worked hand by hand.

Once I'll get to this point, I'll take my time to evolve fully. I won't be human at this point, but I'll need some time to master my new power.

When it'll be done, I'll have in my possession the power that even gods fear, and one after one I'll will overthrow each dark god one after another.

Concerning the fact you could became immortal... Maybe. Said Nhieling with a grin. It will mostly depend of our compatibility I guess. It might just draw out your dark side like this, or accelerate the process to became an immortal. Actually, the problem is that since you've been raised by one of the most powerfull god and that you've killed him yourself, there is a high chance for you to evolve in an immortal being. But... I have a solution to this problem... If someone were to get the death god power... Then you wouldn't have to worry about it too much. I don't said it would make impossible for you to loose your own death, but it may reduce the risk. End Nhieling with a grin.

Just then Darren woke up from Alberio's Spell.

Huh what is this? he said as he looked around

He was inside a dark space.

Ugh I wasn't dreaming after all he thought remembering his nightmares.

HEY! LEMME OUT!!! I need to get free... he yelled out in fear to the shadowy void.

[Let adult discuss ! :p]

"Pff, Nhieling you know that if you were to ever complete your transcendence I would be right behind you ready to end your life. I can only imagine the horrors you would wreak with the power of death on your side, so my first option would be to kill you first. I'm going to leave the how open but this is my statement of intent; if you get closer to fulfilling your plan in becoming death I will do everything in my power to kill you before you reach that stage.

Afteral, if you were in charge of the dead then the dead would never sleep.

And even after you have taken over the reaper-phantasm, and taken control of the new death God then what? You go on a rampage hunting every transcendent being in existence, stealing their power until there's nothing left? Then what? You play with your mortal toys until they're all as dark and twisted as you? Or until all their spirits break and they end up as hollow-shells? If you truly plan to become God then won't that be the most boring thing of all? You will have nothing left!"

Finishing his tirade Mortimer clicked his fingers causing the shadow around his apprentice to break like an egg-shell. With Darren out Nhieling couldn't continue without revealing his plans for universal domination to yet ANOTHER person. Mortimer would have felt a little self-satisfied in that he had seemingly managed to get the last word but somehow he didn't feel any... and knowing Nhieling he would find a way to slip his message in regardless of Mortimers actions.

Changing the subject with Darren present Mortimer said "Our first priority should be the elimination of Jecht. He is a danger set on a warpath bordering on genocide, and as far as we know, we are the only living people who know he is out there.... what's more, we are probably the only living people who might be able to stop him. He's one of the strongest beings I have encountered to date... but he is still technically human. With that in mind we must figure out where Jecht is, when he will move, where he will move to next and how we can stop him."

"Nhieling, I need options on how to kill someone with an insane amount of magical power, a body which we probably can't hurt and who is strong enough to swing a giant sword around with ease."

"Darren, can you tell us anything about Jecht? Strengths, weaknesses, personal information which we could use against him? Anything you know could be useful."

Nhieling looked at Mortimer without animosity, just amused, and finally said without any irony in his voice : I've never been so dead serious, never. I'm not playing around this time, greed lead nowhere, it's not a little desire of mine, it's to achieve something different this time.

Turning to Darren, still smiling : Oh, so this is Mortimer disciple now... Saving you wasn't a loss of time in the end, I'm glad.

If you don't bother, we'll have to make some test and somes adjustment over your spinal cord. I couldn't heal it since the human body can't regenerate it, so I fix it with a magical way, but I'll have to go with an empiric method to complete it.

If you have any problem with a vital function like breathing or swallowing your saliva say it right now, we'll make the physical test after.

Ara? Darren said as he heard Mortimer's question.

You still intend to go after him huh?

Alright Alright. Well...you obviously know his strengths being ridiculously strong and tough. His "magic" moves seem more powerful because of the extra speed and strength he has. But the magical portion of it, like that tidal wave of flame is easily overpowered by mages like you, after all it's only a rank 5 spell no matter how scary it looks.

He shuffled his shoulders a bit as he was doing this he obviously has been thinking of this for a long time.

Also, a thing I noticed about Jecht in particular is that he's rather weak to the cold so if we get him when he's crossing over to somewhere colder like say...a mountain top, he'll most likely succumb to the elements if he fights for too long. Oh and he can't hold his liquor but he gets might scary 1/2 drunk he usually hurts himself more though.



Okay here comes the bad news he thought as he looked at the pair

You might not have noticed this he also uses darker dragoon magic.

Like for example when he snuck up on us he was actually wrapping himself in shadows so he's harder to see and wasn't detected so easily.

Here watch Darren said as he asked them to stand back for a second.

...Sigh*

Untold Malice take form! Veiled Murder...

as he said the shadows formed around him as it started to cover him little by little. The shadows seemingly being snapped into place. First a part of his upper chest, then some of his arm then some of his thigh, then his face-

Argh! Darren yelled as he canceled the spell. It was always something he had little control of and was very afraid of still. And now... it seemed stronger all of a sudden after that incident with Jecht. Grrr...what's happening to me he thought for a bit as he recovered from the shock of the spell.

He sighed

Well the good news is the dark dragoon magic is always chipping his stamina by quiet a lot every time he uses it. It isn't something many people get used to but he somehow is fine with it half the time.

Oh and most importantly his guardian dragon summon has abandoned him...he said looking to see if Mortimer understood what he meant by this.

Nhieling didn't like being ignored. He had the right to do it, but not others. Connecting one of his thread to the one he implanted in Darren, he turned him by force to make him look in his direction.

As I said... What's currently playing the role of spinal cord in your back is some of my thread... There is currently a lot of thing that piss me off, but until now I kept my cool. But now you have two option : First one, we get a look and try to fix the last error I could have made. So you start mooving each of your articulation one after another, and you tell me each time one moove when you wanted to move another.

Second one : You still want to do your fucking hero with some foolish plan like : "Transporting a dragoon to the top of a mountain to freeze him to death" and you'll have to learn back to walk, moove, and everything else before trying anything stupid again like turning your back to your enemy when he's faster than you.
Now, if you don't mind, I've a lot of work to do, I don't mind helping you getting rid of this Jecht, but I have something else to do, so if you aren't cooperative I just send you back to Syrtis and your life will be in the hand of god.

Darren eye twitched at the full view of Nhieling.

Vein*

...Yea I was just about to get to that.

I just wanted the information to be known before we start worrying about little ole me he said nonchalantly.

"Darren... don't try and play it cool with Nhieling. He may be half as strong as me but he is better at magic then me and he is infinitely more devious and cruel. He's lived for some five hundred years now and unlike me he doesn't have a problem with killing people he doesn't like.

And unfortunately you are wrong about one very particular fact about Jecht. He doesn't use low level spells. He may be using them in conjunction with his strength but the way he is using it, the precision of the spell, he is using something well beyond a rank five.

Oh and Nhieling I hereby give you permission to do whatever you want to my apprentice for the next hour so long as he's alive at the end... So have a blast!"

It was time Darren saw just how bad Mortimer really was. Honestly Mortimer couldn't think of many tortures worse than being a guinee pig for Nhieling. Maybe it would show him just how easy he had had it under his tutelage so far. That, and he needed training against mind attacks and curses. And Nhieling was the perfect person to build up resistance to psychological trauma to.

Really?!
Nhieling draw out his scalpel.
Alive to what extent? I was thinking about some amelioration I could do over his body... Maybe another couple of arm wouldn't been a bad idea, since he have already a lot of work with his current one... Claw? Must think about it...

Nhieling sighed : First we'll need to take care of this spinal cord. Using Darren as his own puppet, he took the control over his body and started walking side by side with him.

We'll go to the white room, this way if I have to do some physical modification, I'll have my tool under the hand. Since I don't have more than an hour it will be anesthesia-less...

Darren was looking rather peeved when he heard Mortimer being cruel to him again.

=__=

sigh*


Nhieling was bad enough while he was able to move, now he's letting him poke him with shiny scalpels while he stood still.

W/E as long as this annoying control over me has run it's course he thought as he walked towards Nhieling.

Hmm? That felt a bit more willing then usual he thought as he stared at Nhieling with drooped eyes.

Whatever as long as I move almost as well as I di- ARA? he interrupted himself hearing the lack of anesthesia that was gonna be used.

-_-

You cheap bastard he muttered under his breathe as he sat in the "operating" room

First, start by mooving your left wrist, your elbow....

For around half an hour, Nhieling made him moove articulation after articulation, correcting the slight mistake he had done at first.

Okay, said Nhieling win a grin. First, we'll need to take care of this breathing of yours... It's messy... Have you never learn any basis about ki mastery? You don't even have a proper breathing technique... Really, even a mage such as myself have mastered a few. Moreover, with your new rib cage, you'll loose your breath a lot faster if you aren't able to control it.

Since learning a breathing method would take a lot of time, we'll do it the faster way. Darren was still sating, Nhieling strip him from his top clothe without any second through, and start touching some point over Darren abdomen.

Okay, I'll explain you the most basis technique of all. The only purpose of this technique is do get a strong and throughfull respiration, even in the most intense situation. This way you won't loose your rythm, your concentration of your stamina easily.

Nhieling descripted him the part of this breathing method, letting him trying it out a few time, and then said.

Since letting you training would be too long... He draw out needle and start putting them in Darren abdomen.
Darren start suffocating : If you don't breath the way I've just told you, you'll die in about one minute.

Start ~

Mortimer winced as he saw Darren stabbed with the needle. Nhieling was definatly a sick man but he was the best person to come to if you wanted to learn how to be more powerful. Of course Mortimer was none too sure about the survival rate out of any of the people Nhieling had tried to teach... Such is life.

Shrugging at this last thought Mortimer entered a lotus position and began circulating his magic. He needed to check to see if all the worlds were still intact after spending a fotnight in a coma.

Asgard...Vanaheim...Alfheim...Midgarh...Jotunheim...Nidavellier...Svartalfheim...Niflheim...Hel...Yggdrasil.

His magic circuit was intact at least. His ki (however little of it he had) was unusable though. Nhielings aura permeated the chakra in his abdomen. He didn't like it but he would need to get used to feeling Nhielings emotions in the pit of his stomach. At least he was glad to be a mage and not a ki-user, otherwise his entire combat form would have had to change. But so long as Nhielings feelings were confined to his abdomen, he could live with the small personal changes to his life. He would just have to remind himself to not be so paranoid or automatically assume something to be negative right away. Then again this method could also cause him to be a bit too relaxed when it came to possible conflicts....

After the first half of the inspection Darren started to get really sleepy.

It didn't help when Nhieling asked to do some "breathing" excercises.

After the first few times Darren was relaxed again as he slept before Nhieling inserted the needle.

Darren breathing was unsettled as he then proceeded to snore despite having a needle in him.

Mmhhmmmm Derka...
Smacks lips* Dragon dragon dragon Dragoon!
Snores* .......pudding


Darren didn't have problem breathing but now he was unconscious with Nhieling for 1/2 an hour.

Nhieling was now rubbing his hand against each other, looking at Darren convulsion.
I'll stop the experiment when it'll reach the point where it could cause heavy damage to his brain. At this moment, he's cut from all his sense, and all he can sense is his own body, meaning pain. If he can't understand the way to cut him from the pain and to get back to the realm of living, I'll redo it a few time. But I won't go further than three try. After this it would just break his body.

I don't understand, what are you seeing into him? He's a good guinea pig I guess, but it would be me kind of disciple then, not yours. What part of him mad you choose him?


Suddenly, Nhieling heard that Darren had started sleeping.

Nhieling face suddenly started decomposing. First his grin turn to a straigt face, and then it became demoniac...

OH?... Oh....

Without any second through, Nhieling, with the help of his puppet, put him back on the surgery table, and tied him up with strap.

Adressing to the main computer, he ask : Prepare me around 6 square meter of scale, hoof, three part knee, claw, a new eye. We'll also go with some new sensor... prepare three eyes in the end, cat eardrum, and a wolf nassal fossa.

Program : Hoof, scale, tail, a third eye

"He's something unique and interesting. He also seems to hold the insane idea that he can survive in this world with spells based according to that archaic ranking system. Spells which by that same system are weak beyond compare. But really, I think he can become something else. I don't enjoy embarking on the paradox of power but I do enjoy helping others climb the ladder. He was just one of those that could reach high up on the ladder. And I'm curious to see how far he will go."

Nhieling then noticed that Daren had fallen asleep and was now grinning evilly at the prospect of what he could do with the unconscious "guinea pig". It wasn't long before the materials were all lined up in neat little trays and Nhieling was in full surgeon gear with his puppet in a nurses garb. Looking down at his watch he called out to Nhieling "Sorry buddy but you've only got fifteen minutes left and I need him back in walking condition by the end of that. So just make a small modification and maybe I'll bring him back later. K?"

Nhieling started thinking, each of the modification he intended to do would take him at least a full hour of work. Then he made his decision, and for this time he just started by waking him by force using a perfume made to this effect.
Then, without letting him the time to recover he tossed aways the needle.

Okay, since you didn't seem to have understoog Mortimer advice, then I'll explain you the rule. Saying it, he opened Juken chest in half, blocking any over reaction from his patient using his thread.

Nhieling took a little item, and without any second through he implanted it in Juken chest, directly over the heart.

This thing is a catalyst injector. I have never test the liquid it contain... No, it's wrong, I've already test it over some human guinea pig, but the effect are variable. Still, I modified it recently and you're the perfect test for this.
What this thing do? It a chimical stimulant that I've come up with to modify the human body and brain. It will release the latent ability of the human body.
Since you're a dragoon, the effect could be nice, but could also lead to a lot of unknow after-effect, okay?
I can activate this little thing whenever I want, the first injection will free your latent power for a for a few minute, it will act as a drug. The second injection will lead to body mutation, permanent one, but still "controlled" to some extent.

At the third injection, all the precedent subject test have start a chaotic evolution, in the process they became drived by their instinct, meaning they were nothing more than mutant with a beast brain. After a few time, their cells start de die one after another, leading to the death of the subject a few hours after the third injection.

Do you understand the rule now?

Darren was still wide open, without waiting for an answer, Nhieling close him and call the monk for some healing magic.

Turning to Mortimer, Nhieling add :

Please, just take him out of my sight. The transcending spell is nearly complete and it start to alter my personality. I hate to say this, but the effect you're feeling right now Mortimer are nothing more than the one I feel myself. The dark energy is pushing me on the verge, next time, try to choose one with a brain through.

Smiling painfully, Nhieling add : You know the way out of here... The portal is already open.

And so Mortimer left, taking the stunned Darren along with him. It hadn't ended as either of them expected but that was in itself expected.

They left, leaving Nhieling behind once again in his forgotten city made of everything and nothing.

...

Darren woke up to having Al carrying him around.

Ughh...did I really faint that fast he said checking his body for any new injuries.

Sure Nheiling saved his life but he put almost the same amount of injuries on him he thought as he poked his new stitches.

Hmph did he do something...out of the ordinary? Darren asked, well out of the ordinary for him? looking at Al.

He started walking back with him despite him hurting from the lack of anesthesia Nhieling used.

Sigh*

We'll get Jecht eventually either way, he said looking serious for once. I have something to live for now

He looked at Mortimer again with a look of respect this time.

Forgive me Master Mortimer...but you'll have to bear with me a bit more and teach me all you can about magic...

Looking at the sky and forming his hands into a fist.

I'll see to it myself that I make the name of the dragoon will be respected and feared again he growled, starting with destroying the things that shame us

...or die trying

Gazing at Mortimer enviously. He's much younger then me but he's so avid in the combat/magic arts he thought solemnly, He would have been a master dragoon if he was born in the same clans.

Hmph...but for now looks like we got some training to do, he said keeping silent for the rest of the trip home.

Kk.

we can draw up plans later.


THREAD IS OVA