Chapter 304

"I-I'm… a test subject?"

The scythe in Hasul's hand trembled slightly. She realized something strange. The woman who introduced herself as the 47th doll was clearly Caucasian, and it was difficult to find any resemblance to Hasul, who had a typical Asian appearance. But there was a strange similarity in their indifferent gaze, monotonous tone, and atmosphere, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. And Hasul vaguely felt it. The emotion that followed was doubt.

'Since when?'

Since when did she have this kind of personality? No, what kind of person was she originally? Everything was confusing. But unlike Hasul, who was confused, Suho was calm.

"Just what kind of misunderstanding is this?" Suho suddenly reached out towards Hasul.

Whoosh—

"…Ah?"

The Ruler's Authority.

The scythe of harvest in Hasul's hand automatically floated up and flew towards Suho's hand. Hasul hurriedly reached out, but her hand that was holding the scythe was weak, surprised by the word 'test subject.'

Whoosh— Grab

Suho, who snatched the scythe of harvest with one hand, spun it and gauged its energy.

[My liege, it's an unclean item. I'll take it.] Beru, worried about any potential contamination, quickly took the scythe of harvest from Suho's hand.

Beru had been feeling an unknown discomfort since he first saw this weapon in Hasul's hand. The fact that the scythe of harvest was made of a Starpiece wasn't enough to explain this strange feeling. Beru glared at the scythe of harvest and the woman with narrowed eyes.

[I never imagined it would be something like this.]

"I agree."

Suho also frowned and glared at the woman.

"That test subject No. 13, you're talking about this scythe, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"…!"

Hasul's eyes widened as the woman nodded obediently. Beru's entire body blazed with killing intent, and he puffed up one arm as if to grab the woman's head.

[How dare you try to insult us.]

"I apologize. I had no such intention. I was just faithfully answering the question." The woman bowed her head with an elegant posture despite Beru's killing intent. And she pointed at the scythe of harvest that Beru was holding and explained again,

"That scythe, test subject No. 13, is one of the countless masterpieces the Doctor created, a weapon for extracting contamination."

[Extraction? Not contamination?]

"Yes. Test subject No. 13 was created to secretly steal the energy of the 'fruit' that the Apostle of Paradise is collecting. So he handed it over to a suitable person among the humans wandering in his territory."

"Stealing the power of the fruit?" Suho's eyes sparkled.

The woman's words contained surprisingly important information. It meant that the apostles of Itarim weren't just checking each other, but also stealing each other's power.

"Yes. The person herself would have vaguely noticed, wouldn't she?" The woman glanced at Hasul's entire body and asked,

"Didn't you find it strange? You've eaten the fruit of Elvenwood countless times, but unlike other villains, you're still not contaminated."

"…Ah." Hasul's mouth opened slightly.

Come to think of it, why didn't she realize it until now? Recently, when the harsh winter struck the villains' city, When Alfheim went on a rampage, All the villains living there had their bodies mutated, covered in hard bark as the power of the fruit accumulated in their bodies went out of control. In other words, they were 'contaminated.'

At this point, Suho also realized something. The information window that popped up when he first picked up the fruit clearly said it was a 'contaminated' fruit. But looking back, Hasul was the villain who ate the most fruits. A Reaper, no less. In North Korea, where there were no proper cures or Healers, the only way to heal injuries and recover health was to eat the fruit. So Hasul must have consumed the fruit to survive. Even if shel was an S-rank Awakened, dangerous moments would always happen as long as she lived in a land swarming with villains. But Hasul, and only Hasul, was still fine. Even though she ate so many fruits, Her skin didn't turn into bark or harden like the other villains.

"Don't tell me you're only realizing it now? Well, it's natural not to know. The Doctor's purpose was to extract the power of the fruit as secretly as possible, to the point where even the Apostle of Paradise wouldn't notice." He could feel great pride in the 'Doctor' from the woman's words. In short, it meant this:

The owner of the scythe of harvest won't be contaminated no matter how many fruits of Elvenwood they eat. Because the scythe absorbs the power of the fruit that accumulates in the body instead. But they still experience the temporary regeneration effect, so no one notices.

"So this scythe is like a water purifier filter. Only filtering out the impurities?"

"…The example is a bit strange, but the principle is similar. So could you please let go of my head? It's a bit scary." Beru's large, black hand was gripping the woman's head.

With enough force to crush that small skull if he wanted to. But contrary to her words, the woman didn't seem scared at all. For test subject No. 47, who called herself a toy, her own safety didn't matter. The woman continued calmly,

"Besides, if it weren't for that scythe, that girl would have been turned into the Apostle of Paradise's puppet long ago due to the accumulated contamination."

"The Apostle of Paradise is dead. Then what about now? Is she your puppet instead of his?"

"No way. The function of extracting contamination and the function of contaminating conflict with each other. If those two conditions were applied to one test subject simultaneously, the Apostle of Paradise would have noticed. The Doctor didn't want conflict with the Apostle of Paradise; he just wanted to extract his power for research purposes. Of course…" The woman hesitated and continued,

"Since the human race is very easily influenced… it seems like she was slightly affected, but it doesn't seem to be a big problem."

"Easily influenced race?"

"Yes. A race without a distinct personality… That's what the Doctor said."

"Are there any side effects?"

"If I had to pick one… Perhaps her personality and aura became a bit similar to mine. There are no other side effects since test subject No. 13 doesn't have any other function besides extracting the energy of the fruit."

"Does the extracted energy go to the Doctor?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"That's good." Suho grinned, revealing his teeth.

"Then how about this?" A delicious-looking 'fruit' suddenly appeared in Suho's hand. And he asked the woman again,

"If Hasul eats this fruit now, will that energy also flow to the Doctor?"

"…Yes." A faint anxiety sprouted in the woman's eyes, which had been expressionless, at Suho's meaningful smile.

"Beru."

[Yes, my liege.]

"Eat this."

"…?!"

The woman's eyes widened for the first time at Suho's words. Beru grinned at her blatant reaction. And after receiving the fruit from Suho, he opened his wicked mouth wide.

"W-wait…"

Crunch!

Before the woman could stop him, Beru unhesitatingly chewed and swallowed the fruit. Still holding the scythe of harvest in his other hand.

Munch. Munch.

The situation changed completely the moment Beru ate the fruit instead of Hasul. He couldn't have known before, But for Beru, who had directly heard the principle of the scythe of harvest from the woman, it wasn't difficult to track the otherworldly energy from the fruit he ate flowing into the scythe. And also the direction where that extracted energy was headed after leaving the scythe.

[I found it.]

"…!"

Grin—

"W-wait…" She felt a chill as Suho and Beru exchanged smiles. Before the flustered woman could finish her sentence, Suho and Beru simultaneously turned their heads and asked,

"Is it that way?"

[Judging from your expression, it seems like we're right.]

"We have a lot of fruits, so let's follow it while eating."

[Yes.]

Swish—

"…W-wait!"

It was too late to stop them. Before the woman, who came to her senses a beat late, could stop them, they were already running far away. Tracking the flow of energy towards the Doctor.

"Eek!"

Thud—!

Test subject No. 47, showing a clearer emotion than ever, began to chase after them desperately.

* * *

This was bad. The plan had gone completely awry. Test subject No. 47 chased after Suho and his party and desperately tried to persuade them,

"Please stop now!"

"Hey. He's a kind soul who even gave us a gift, we should at least thank him in person."

"The Doctor hates interacting with others!"

"But it's rude to just ignore him. Who said we're going to fight? Let's just have a conversation." Suho wasn't the type to be persuaded.

"Please, I beg you! You can talk to him through me…!"

"Through you?" Suho's gaze, who was running in a straight line with Beru, finally turned to test subject No. 47.

"Are you saying your master is watching us through you?"

"Th-that's… It's not surveillance, but a natural phenomenon between a creator and a creation!"

"So you were sent to me for surveillance purposes."

[He's a shady bastard. Now we definitely have to find him]

"…!"

Things had gone wrong. From the moment the initial plan went awry, there was nothing No. 47 could do to stop Suho. 

– Even if he's the Shadow Monarch's son, he's still just a human. 

– A young human male wouldn't refuse a beautiful female.

– 47, I choose you. You will be Sung Suho's from now on.

The Doctor's orders echoed in No. 47's mind as she chased after Suho, who was running at an incredible speed. And eventually, Somewhere in the freezing snowfields of Russia,

Bang—!

One of the walls of the 'Apostle of Evolution's' lab, secretly hidden deep within the snowfield, was shattered, and unexpected intruders barged in.

"Come out, you bastard." And… 

Crunch!

Beru, holding the scythe of harvest in one hand and chewing on a delicious fruit with the other, roared like the Grim Reaper himself,

[KIEEEEEEEEEEK!]