Prycia Cave

"And you want to dump him with us?" Meres asked.

"Well, it would be better. You don't have any political stance, you don't care what they think about and have the strength to protect him. And most people think all the stolen artifacts are destroyed, that's what they wrote in the legal papers anyway. And they also think Zeeth is dead."

"What?" Zeeth yelled, "why would they-? Do they think I blew up in that explosion?"

"Yes. After the room started blowing up, they thought you fell right after throwing Arnold and the artifacts to us. They came to ask me where everything was, I said that we gave up all the artifacts in order to save Arnold and you were dead. In your last few days of isolation, you became a small hero to both sides. The man who risked his life to save their artifacts for the Black Market and the hero who died to save Arnold."

"Why would you tell them I died? Wouldn't it hurt you if they found out you lied?"

"Okay, your first question, if asked I will always suggest someone died. This way, they have options, they can either choose to stay 'dead', or they can choose to come out, with this it's now their decision to make. Second, I simply suggest that I thought you were dead, which they took very easily. Inside the smithereens and rubble, they think your leftover and burnt flesh is in there."

"Why?"

"You know that demon I found? Some of its flesh was torn off and leftover, they think it's yours. I told them I didn't know if you were dead but it was likely so now you get to decide what to do with your life as the hero who died to save them."

"I think-" a memory shot to him. He was in a dark cave, his naked body covered with a warm blanket and blood all around him. A girl in front of him tried to tend to his wounds but he didn't trust her.

"Back away! Who sent you? SAINT? Why are you poisoning me?"

"I'm not poisoning you!" she yelled, "you're bleeding out, you will die!"

The wounds on his arm closed back up with metal stitches but the metal inside was still broken up, making it hard to move. "You healed… who are you?" she asked.

"No one. Go away. Forget I was here, you never saw me."

"I can't do that."

"Then I guess you're not leaving alive." he swung his arm out, a large blade extending from his arm. A broken piece inside clinked around and the sword flew out, lodging itself in the walls.

"You are a secret project aren't you? Human life taken to do experiments. Such a tragedy."

"What do you know?" he growled. The present him thought, 'what the hell happened? How did I end up here? Who is that?'

"You and I aren't that different." she sighed, sitting down on a rock. "I was taken against my will to work on their science team. My name is Cave. Prycia Cave. What's yours?"

He finally sat down, still wrapped in the blanket. "I'm Z-33-TH."

"That's… wait, you are? No, but they said you were dead… how are you here?"

"Who said I was dead?" he growled, jumping up and ready to use his hydraulic legs to get out of there. "How do you know me?"

"Please, don't be alarmed… but I know you. I was in charge of watching you 15 years ago, as part of SAINT."

"You were one of them?" He jumped up, alert once again, "one of my torturers? I swore to kill all of you."

"You can kill me later, please just let me tell my side of the story. What do you have to lose? Besides, I've been deserted by them as well. Fifteen years ago, a member of SAINT spotted me in my class and found my talent for computers and human cybernetics. Drawn by their promises of safety and never-ending supply of money to spend my life however I wanted, I spent most of my time working for them.

But over time, their work took over my life and SAINT edged themselves over so I had nothing else to rely on, and at that point, they took me in and forced me to stay with them 24/7. That was when I was put in charge of watching you. After making sure I would never contact the outside world and had no one to come look for me, I was put on your task, the highest priority, most secretive task they had, it was the second Manhattan Project. Creating superhumans through years of selective breeding among the best superhumans and testing their limits for cybernetics."

"And I'm one of those? I'm a test subject?"

"Not just any test subject, you were THE test subject of the time. The furthest they've ever come to a superhuman, you were the products of generations of test subjects. Your parents were the best of the best in everything. Athletics, smarts, leading, looks, and anything else that could be tested."

"You knew my parents?"

"I don't know about that, they kept past information hidden. All I know is their numbers were off the charts and they caused mayhem in that specific area years ago, escaping in the process. Along with you, their only child. They tracked, well more like hunted you down according to what I've read, and brought you back here after going through a series of tests to see if you were still mentally capable. Apparently, you were."

Zeeth stared at her, not knowing what to say. She continued, "You were the super child of a science experiment to make the perfect child. The miracle child of the fifth generation, the offspring of two ideal people of the fourth generation, and the only survivor of the experiment."

"The only survivor?"

"Yes. This was a massive project, hundreds of people across the five generations were involved as subjects, possibly even thousands, we all knew they were hiding information from us. Things too heinous to even let us know. They started with the first generation years back, selectively choosing the smartest or the strongest to make babies. Then amongst those babies, keep breeding the strong with strong, or strong with smart and the dozens of different traits. Then they kept going down this line until you, the fifth generation, and apparently, you were the perfect combination of power and intelligence to handle their perfect combat techniques. Everyone else died five years ago. When you escaped."

They all died? That information shocked him. Many of his best friends, in fact, many of his only friends were from that government facility. "How?"

"A series of unfortunate accidents. After you left, many took after you and tried to get away as well. Many weren't able to escape, those who got far enough were shot and killed. Someone named Ulo got all the way to the engine room and got trapped in between the room and fifty bullets, so giving up his life, he jammed up the energy core and exploded the entire underground facility, killing nearly everyone in it. Only a few of us got away, and I survived with this." she showed him her right shoulder, a single line separating her arm from her body. She took hold of her arm and gave it a hard twist, removing the arm from the shoulder. Her entire right arm was a fake, a modern replica made of metals and incredibly realistic fake skin. It was basically what he was made of on a smaller and lower scale.

He came back to reality, determined on what he wanted to do. "I want to stay 'dead' for now. I still need to take care of the demon woman. And the monster of the east for killing Cuddles, they will get what they deserve for that. But to do that, I need my slimes back and make sure I'm stronger than they are."

"Good choice." Meres told him. "That's all I needed to know. If you're determined to get stronger, then I will help. But the first thing you should do isn't get your slimes back, this next part will be better without distractions."

"What? What could be better than my slimes, they are a part of me."

"What about learning Animo?"

"Yeah, What is that? You kept talking about learning it here, but I didn't learn any sort of supernatural abilities."

"You will understand as long as you have done that journal properly," Meres said in his old sage-like voice. "How much of it have you done?"

"I've filled it all out. Although there were some parts where I drew circles and pictures."

"Even better!" He exclaimed, "As long as it is detailed enough and not too big, it is all fine. Then are you ready to go? I don't mind taking those two fellows."

And just like that, Nadaho, Eddie, Zeeth, and Meres left Dives and headed back to Magnator. The teleported sent them right to the center, the rough mana almost killing Nadaho. The mana stabilized around them as quickly as it had been whirling, like a tornado simply snapped away. In front of them was Page, standing on the top of a large purple sword with fangs on the hilt while balancing three swords, two on his hands and one on his head, without moving any of them.

He slowly opened his eyes, swirls of blue replaced his usual dark pupils.

"Page, your eyes dude. What happened to them?" Zeeth asked.

*Haha, my extensive knowledge doesn't just end at demons. There are techniques this world has neer seen, developed over generations and this one is perfect for me.* Page said, but his mouth didn't move at all. His voice was flowing into his head, creating a soft echoing voice.

"what is this?" Zeeth asked.

*my transformation after a week of non-stop training. I needed a free week and a place full of tumultuous mana, and i wasn't able to handle such strong mana until now but once I was able to get to it, I can now improve much faster, and telepathy is a side effect of this specific technique. You can think something and I can read it as well so long as you keep your mind open.*

'This is so awesome.'

Meres asked, "Hey, were you involved in the destroyed dungeon?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I was in the dungeon when it broke but I didn't cause it."

"Amusing, although it didn't break."

"What? But it caved in."

"Simply caving in a mana-filled dungeon won't suddenly remove all the mana, they simply begin to affect the creatures above ground and monsters spawn above the rubble. Now they are roaming around the rocks and hunters have to constantly hunt them down."

"Hey, where's Elton?"

"I'm right here." he clacked. He walked out from behind a broken stone statue, a green aura surrounding his joints.

"Elton, even you grew so much."

"Yes. A terrifying week in a haunted graveyard did this."

"Wow, you had a much harder time than I did."

"I wouldn't say that." Meres said, "the city I sent you to wasn't easy by any means. Any sign of weakness and you would've been swallowed whole. The entire reason for sending you somewhere so dangerous was so you could learn to experience something you typically wouldn't. Would you say you did that?"

"Yeah, it was very different. But there were parts that were the same as well."

"Good. That's the whole point. To experience what you normally do, on the next level. Zeeth, while you are strong and very physically capable, I didn't know what you were like mentally, or if you had what it took to survive in a city, where you can't hunt animals for food and sleep anywhere you wanted like in the wild."

"How did you know I did that?"

"Haha, when you've lived as long as I have and seen as much, you notice the small things." Meres stamped his sword down. "And that is exactly what Animo is. Notice things in the world that people usually don't notice, look at even the smallest things and try to link them to something. You see, when I first saw you, your hair was long and your clothes were dirty, you overall looked like a beggar. But you stood tall and confident, you didn't have hesitation or slowness in your steps when I had that spar with you with those sticks, you started off like a seasoned fighter, but not one that was shaped to attack people, one simply to attack or stay safe and quick on your feet. You were most likely some forest wanderer. Knowing this, I can create a mental image of what you are, and this is the basis of Animo."

"Is that why you had me writing so many pages? To notice all the smallest things?"

"Did it work?"

"I don't know, I think I did but it was gradual. Do you want to read it?"

"No need. That book is your personal belonging, I don't want to invade that. I will be able to tell once you spar with me again."

Meres took an orange sword and plunged it into the ground. He touched an orange orb on the back of the hilt, which swirled with blue until the entire sword was blue. Suddenly, like a vacuum, all the mana around them has pulled away and into the sword, turning the entire thing blue. "All mana around us has been drawn away. We will fight with our bare hands."

Meres tossed him another magic sword. While it flew through the sky, he saw small circles drawn onto the blade and knew he needed to inspect them as fast as he could.

'Hmm, characters to decrease the cutting damage but streamline the strikes and deal blunt damage.' he thought, reading the circles that came.

Meres had the same sword and the moment Zeeth grabbed the sword, Meres dived in to strike his stomach. Zeeth swung the sword around to block Meres. He noticed Meres' leg twitch in the same way his leg would twitch when he kicked up so he ducked to the side and used his sword to block his leg from going up. Meres tripped a bit into the sword and had to use his sword to balance himself. Meres tried to hit Zeeth's shoulder but he was able to notice the slight movement in his chest and predicted that attack as well, using his sword to slide Meres away. The rest battle went in a similar fashion, with Meres attacking while Zeeth tried to read his body and avoid being hit.

Meres swung horizontally, Zeeth swinging backward to avoid the large strike but while Zeeth was looking away, Meres used his momentum to pull up and give one final swing down, a large motion while Zeeth was bent backward to hit him in the stomach.