Another

Two days passed quickly like it was flying by. Although to Mark, those two days were like eternal damnation.

Over the past 48 hours, John had performed multiple types of tortures on him, most of which to serve one purpose...pushing his mind further and further into the brinks of ruin.

He had almost succeeded, but Mark's tenacity and will were nothing to scoff at. Thanks to that tenacious will, he had managed to hold on, albeit barely.

He guessed that one more of John's "experiment" and he would completely fall into the abyss with no return.

Creak!

As if mocking at him, the heavy metal door sprang open, revealing the lab coat John walked in with a casual smile plastered on his face and his hands in his pockets.

"...Ah 124, it is good to see you again." John's eyes flashed with a visible hint of malice and wickedness.

Mark didn't show any reactions to his words but instead just silently stared at him.

John didn't seem to mind this as he continued:

"Over the last 2 days, you have shown me splendid results for my experiment. If my calculation is correct, your mind is just one step away from breaking."

He paused again a little bit, then spoke with a hint of dark anticipation and excitement in his voice:

"Now there is only one thing left to do. I will begin the process of implanting a part of Divine and Corrupted into your very soul before severing it completely."

Mark's pupils dilated slightly when heard John's words. The part he had been afraid of was finally here!

Pain and torture was the only thing that he experienced for the last two days. John had not done any actual modifications to Mark's soul other than pushing it to the brink.

'...What...am...I...going...to become?'

The fear of turning into some abominable creature that he had been suppressed for so long finally overwhelmed his entire being.

Mark wanted to resist, to at least try one more time to get out of this hell, but he couldn't.

Almost three days of endless pain and sleep deprivation had drained off most of his physical and mental strength.

...If it wasn't for the infusion bottle that was keeping him on the edge of life and death, he would have become a lifeless corpse long ago.

John saw the desperate struggle in Mark's eyes and couldn't help but let a disgusting smile appear on his face.

The smile was like that of a monster in human skin.

He clasped his hand lightly and spoke in a cheerful tone:

"Alright then, let's get you moving 124."

He trotted behind Mark's chair and flipped a switch, next to the previous one. Instantly the electric chair that was still working to keep Mark wide awake spawned 4 wheels, 2 on each side of the chair.

Two handles appeared on the top of the chair and he reached out his hands to grab them. The electric chair now looked like a wheelchair.

John started slowly pushing Mark out of the room in the wheelchair. It was as if a doctor was pushing a mental patient in a tightly bound wheelchair.

...Except in this case, the doctor was the maniac and the mental patient was the sane one.

As Mark was being pushed by John, he darted his eyes around slowly, and carefully scrutinized the white hallway he was passing through.

After a while, Mark saw at the end of the hallway, a steel door that looked slightly smaller than the one he was staying in previously.

John walked forward to the door, pushed it wide open with both of his hands before slowly returning behind Mark and pushing him into the room.

It was equivalent to a large bedroom size room. On the right side of the room were 3 chemical tanks with transparent glasses, two out of the three tanks were filled with a reddish color chemical and some sort of humanoid creatures were being submerged in the chemical.

The left side of the room was similar except for the fact that there was only one 1 chemical tank with a beast-like creature that resembled a werewolf.

John slowly pushed Mark to the largest chemical tank that was in the middle of the room. He walked towards the tank and pressed some buttons forming a combination.

Instantly an enormous metal tentacle-like limb and 3 other metal strings appeared from inside the tanks and flew directly to Mark's position.

The biggest one inserted itself behind his head, while two out of three smaller ones went into his nose to give him oxygen. The last one plucked itself into his neck, and injected him with the substance that caused him to be susceptible to pain during the last 3 days.

John moved to his side and pressed a small button that made the lock that had been restrained him to open up.

Mark wanted to fight back and escape, but his mind had turned numb and dull which rendered him useless.

John slowly lifted him up to put him inside the tank. Despite looking like he was 70 years old, he was a low-level Divine which made lifting an Abandoned like Mark a simple task.

After he got Mark inside the tank, John closed the transparent glass, locking him inside. He pressed a red button that made the tank started to release a dark red fluid.

It quickly rose up and soon Mark was completely submerged in the liquid.

"There's still 25 minutes before the numbing effect goes off. I must make some preparations in case things go south." John spoke in a calm tone as he walked out of the room.

Mark silently sighed in his mind as he watched the old man leave the room before closing his eyes in resignation.

[...Giving up already?]

He heard a voice that was eerily similar to his own inside his head and his eyes shot open.

'...Did I imagine that?'

Just as Mark thought he was hallucinating from all the suffering he had felt. The mysterious voice spoke again:

[We are one, yet your mind is weak. Honestly, I am disappointed.] The mysterious voice spoke with scorn in its voice.

'What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?'

Mark was now sure that he wasn't imagining things, he was feeling apprehensive because of the mysterious voice.

...Now that he had noticed it, the voice was not only exactly identical to his own, but also seemed to carry a hint of terrifying madness and absolute domination.

The voice who said it was Mark himself was silent for 2 seconds before saying:

[...I've already told you who I am, whether you believe it or not is up to you.]

[What I'm about to say right now is more important, if you listen to me then we may have a chance to avoid an absolute death with no return.]

Mark was still having doubts about the voice's words, but he was at his end of the line now. After moments of silence, he reluctantly thought:

'...What do you have in mind?'

[Hahahaha...So we do have some resemblances after all.] The voice laughed out loud before saying with a hint of approval and amusement.

[It's quite simple actually. All we need to do is to...]

20 minutes later, Mark was dumbfounded by what the voice told him as he thought:

'Are you crazy!? We're betting our lives here!'

[...It's the only way, we only have 5 minutes left before the numbing effect goes off. Prepare yourself!] The voice spoke without a single shred of hesitation or fear.

'Hey..hey! We should find another way! HEY!!'

Mark called out to the voice but was met with silence as he gritted his teeth and thought to himself:

'This better works...'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5 minutes later, the door to the room opened as the old man John walked in while looking at Mark with a small smile:

"It's about time 124, I hope you are ready."

Mark glared fiercely at the bastard in front of him as he thought to himself:

'You son of a bitch, I swear I'll f**king make you pay for all of this.'