The Experiment Continues (4)

Cyrus returned to the lab with the prisoner in tow, raising an eyebrow from the two Legionnaires but they did not comment on his odd actions.

"Free him of all his constraints" ordered Cyrus.

Soon enough the prisoner was free, rubbing his wrists that had been tightly bound just a moment before.

"Don't worry about that, soon you will not have any muscles to be sore hehe" snickered Cyrus while pulling out something to write on.

"All right whoever you are, before we begin tell me your level of martial training and any gifts from Mundus you received. This is so I can see if the skill level of the base materials affects the outcome of the undead, so be as truthful as possible."

The prisoner sat down on the ground, not even sparing a glance to the pile of bones in the corner that was his predecessor and spoke plainly.

"Like all citizens in the Empire I received militia training all the way up until age 14, where I continued for another four years since it was somewhat entertaining. I accepted the gift of life force folding, and I almost was bestowed with the title of Miles just before I got bored and deserted to pursue something more thrilling" explained the prisoner.

"Tiro, Miles and Immunis are the titles awarded based on the level of strength a member of the military has reached. Seeing as he was almost Miles means he is not half bad, perhaps he could match me in pure swordsmanship even if he was not so destitute" thought Cyrus in approval.

"Now…you two can leave for now" said Cyrus to the two Legionaries, with a tone that left no room for debate.

As the door closed behind the two, Cyrus looked at the prisoner and said.

"What I am about to do is best not seen by anyone who does not have to, but because of that there will be no room for errors. If you do not submit to me I will eliminate you, even if just the smallest of pushback occurs. Seeing as I will be putting my full force into creating the undead you, well, your strength should be able to easily push you into the Miles tier without fail. Thus, I will not take chances with something that powerful in close proximity to me even if I can beat you down regardless."

The prisoner had no doubts that his captor would do just as he said, nodding twice in understanding he gave a smile and said,

"Do your best for both our sakes, ey? I don't wanna be some small fry undead, that's too dull. So long as I can have some fun with some true power for once I have no problems in doing whatever you say."

"Good, and goodbye. Try to savor the taste of true death, for it wont last long" said Cyrus, unsheathing his sword and with a flick of his wrist he severed the head of the prisoner.

Quickly dowsing the man in a viscous death essence, starting the process of his turn to undeath, he took off his mask while receding his consciousness into the world within.

"You know what to do, dispose of it if it starts to take independent action" said the dark half as he switched places with his counterpart.

"Relax, I know what to do."

Now standing in the world within, the dark half quickly activated the night dwellers soul manipulation technique and dove himself into another's soul world once more.

Opening his eyes in foreign land, he immediately noticed the difference between the current soul world and the previous.

"Like a complete painting, it is mostly intact but is still decaying fast. I must hurry" thought Cyrus as he put forth all his strength and knowhow to locate the controller as fast as he could.

Mere seconds later this go around, he came upon the prisoner once more but this time in the form of the controller of the soul.

"Ey there sir mage, I didn't expect us to meet so soon. Or has a lot of time passed? I did die after all" said the prisoner, who was laying on a comfy bed he had conjured for himself.

"No time for idle chat, the more time that passes the faster the decay is. Do not resist, accept my domination. For the rest of your undeath, I will be your master. Submit."

While saying such domineering words, Cyrus pierced through the prisoners inactive defenses and created a direct link between him and the main controller of the soul.

The prisoner did not even blink as this was done to him, not trying to resist in the slightest.

Pleased with the outcome so far, Cyrus quickly began to exert his will over the entire soul he was connected to.

"Now comes the final part and the only one I have absolutely no experience in…how to create a permanent link. I only have one chance, so here is to hoping that the method of the night dwellers I modified will work."

Ceasing his pointless thoughts, he wrapped his shadowy appendages over the absolute core of the controller: the same small dot that everything collapses into upon the true death of the soul.

He slowly corrupted it, turning its pure white glow into an abyssal darkness that was of his own shade.

Next he drew a small bit of power from his own soul, as small as he could make it just in case it would never repair such damage, and transferred it through all his connected appendages all the way into the small dot.

A small bit of resistance occurred at this stage, almost causing Cyrus to curse out loud and abandon everything there but said resistance dissipated not even a full second later than it had started.

"Sorry boss, t'was more of an instinctive reaction than an action on my part. This whole soul stuff is pretty wild huh? Not even sure how I am controlling all of this…its just does whatever I want it to. How fun" said the prisoner in glee, like a child playing with a new toy.

Quickly finishing the corruption and subsequent domination of the absolute core of this pri-, no, this undead's soul Cyrus removed his stranglehold of the core and stepped back.

"It is done, but did it work?" wondered Cyrus aloud as he looked around, to see if the corruption stopped.

"It slowed but not stopped…a tool that degrades on its own is quite annoying. Is there a way to stave this off? Ah, of course. I should not forget the nature of the undead."

He began to pull back completely but left a few words to the former prisoner, now forever loyal servant of Cyrus,

"You are now my first servant. Serve well and your strength will never cease to grow. Crush any thoughts of free will or rebellion, just enjoy the sensations that you have never felt before and annihilate all who dare to stand in my path. Do not disappoint me… Ares" said Cyrus, even naming his first creation by pulling a name from myths and legends he had learned of as a boy.

"Aye Boss, don't let me rot though kekeke" replied Ares, waving goodbye as he started to play with the soul leashes that were all around him.

Coming to his senses in the world within, the dark Cyrus relayed his instructions to the bright half who was currently in control as he examined the new connection between his soul and the undead's.

"I need some time to properly translate this feeling into words, perhaps a few dictionary and thesaurus as well, but the immediate feeling is extremely pleasant. With just a single thought I can decide the life and death of another being, such power. Oh, how I cannot wait until I have more under my control!" exclaimed the dark half into the empty space of the world within, laughing in a rare moment of joy as he threw his hands up into the air all the while.

This continued until he felt his consciousness be dragged up and back into the physical world.