Blooming

Katrin took a seat next to the pillar that Hazel had collapsed at. Her transformation would take a couple hours at most and she had to watch over her in case there were any nasty side effects. "Being one of the first subjects is rough." Constantly checking her breathing and making sure she had a pulse Katrin felt time pass by. "Aeon should be returning soon as well." She had put her plan into action sooner than she had told him, so hopefully he wasn't too upset. "I'm sure it'll be fine." Rubbing Hazel's hair through her fingers she felt her breathing stop. "Oh?" Katrin was curious if she was actually dead, if so she would have to find someone else.

"Looks like it was just a false alarm."

Within a moment her breathing started again as visible changes to her skin and hair started happening. Her light skin tone turned more dark tan colour, her previous hair colour changed into ashen white. The muscles in her body started to expand, gaining more height and bulk. Hazel was on the smaller side before and now she looked like a mature woman in terms of physique. "Even her boobs and butt grew...lucky you." Katrin had a few complaints about that development but there was nothing she could do. "Bigger than me now even." Pursing her lips, Katrin accepted it as it was. Weirdly enough the scar that Xilo left on her face never healed itself, like the other injuries on her body.

"I guess this can't fix everything."

Once all the changes had finished Katrin heard steady breathing signalling Hazel was waking up.

"Rise and shine beautiful, no more sleeping."

"Aehhhhhhgg."

Groans of displeasure escaped into the air as Hazel opened her eyes. The world around her felt different, like it wasn't the same one she was looking at before. Katrin noticed her pupil had changed to a vibrant red that shined in the dark. "It worked." Happy that her experiment turned out the way she wanted Katrin stood up. Leaning down Katrin grabbed Hazel's hands and took out a key. Putting it in the lock she took the handcuffs off. There was no longer a need for these, she had something better now. Feeling her body gain freedom Hazel felt a jolt of excitement before asking why.

"Huh? Why are you taking these off, aren't you afraid I'll run away now?"

"You don't need them anymore. That thing around your neck does the job much better. If you escape a certain distance away from me your entire body will be paralyzed. If you try to break it, it'll inject a poison into your blood and kill you or if I press a button that's linked to it. It'll also tell me your location at all times. It can do a few other things but surprises are always more fun when they're unknown. So if you think you can escape from me then go ahead and try. It'll be a fun test to see how well it works."

The smile never left Katrin's face as Hazel grabbed at the collar around her neck.

"I really am just a dog with a leash at this point."

"You agreed to give up everything you were for power, not having regrets now are we?"

Biting her lip Hazel knew what Katrin was getting at.

"Of course not."

"Haaa...even with your drastic change in appearance you seemed to have kept that personality. I wonder if that's a good thing or not. Oh well, I guess we'll find out with time.

Hazel's vocal tone had changed to a more rough and powerful voice as well, Katrin assumed it was because she had just woken up but that didn't seem to be the case. Hearing Hazel talk about her change of looks she asked Katrin whatshe meant. Katrin just simply handed her a mirror that she could hold in her hand. Taking it she brought up her face as her mouth fell open. "What the hell did she do to me?" Hazel felt like she was looking at a complete stranger, there wasn't a single part of her she recognized except the scar that ran down her face. Even the energy in her body seemed very different from before.

"...."

Seeing how stunned Hazel was, Katrin moved on to the next topic.

"Like I said, Hazel is now dead. So what do you want your new name to be? The records of the person called Hazel are currently disappearing from this Country and you need a new name now. Don't take too much time just give me whatever comes to your head first. If you can't think of anything I'll just give you a name myself."

With all the information being pushed on her so suddenly Hazel panicked as she thought about what she wanted to be called.

"....Just call me Mika from now on."

Accepting her new name as Mika she nodded as her resolve solidified, Hazel was dead.

"Alright Mika, it's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, yeah. Do you mind telling me now what you actually did to me or are you just going to dance around that topic?"

"Oh that? It's quite simple, I just injected demon blood into your veins."

There were a lot of things she had expected to hear from Katrin when she asked that. Katrin's answer still managed to through Mika off. The mirror she was holding dropped to the ground and shattered into pieces. Mika tried to process what she was just told. "Demon blood?" A fear and sense of disgust surfaced in her mind before puking where she stood. Demon's were something people hated everywhere they went. Now she was one of those very things people dispissed. She would never be able to walk anywhere again without that lingering thought of hatred in the back of her mind.

"Demon....blood?"

Through the pain Mika spoke as Katrin stayed just as calm before.

"Yep, you're now part demon, congratulations Mika."