Bizarre Hell

'I'll kill them... I swear I will.'

It had been a few days since Cassiel had regained his identity, and now he looked with hatred at the people in white coats. These days had been nothing but torture after torture and humiliation for him. 

At first, his intention was to analyze the situation and, if possible, escape from this place before facing his new reality. 

He was not entirely happy with this second chance. In truth, he was tired from his previous life and just wanted to put an end to it all. 

Now, being reborn as an animal was not exactly comforting for him. 

He seriously thought about ending it all again... but, at the same time, he understood that this was also an opportunity to start over. 

It wasn't exactly what he was looking for, but nothing in this world is perfect. So he decided to postpone that idea and concentrate on his current situation, which didn't look promising at all. 

As he had anticipated, he was locked up. From the other side of the bars, they began to sting him with electric batons or sedate him, only to wake up who knows how long later, with pain all over his body and in his head. It was horrible. 

Over time, things only got worse. On one occasion, when he was sedated again, he discovered that, whenever he growled or showed threatening intent, an excruciating pain would seize his head until he was incapacitated. 

He did not know what they had done to him, but he was beginning to understand what they wanted to accomplish with him. 

Day after day of physical and mental torture awakened in him something he had not felt in a long time... anger. 

He might have been called "the mad wizard," but it was hard to enrage him. Not even when he was stabbed in his past life did he allow himself to burst out in anger. 

 The closest he came was the annoyance he felt at how, after the Demon Queen's death, his brother would take control of everything. 

But, even then, he felt only distaste, to think of an incompetent sitting on a throne that did not belong to him. 

Intense emotions, he believed, had died in him long ago. Everything he observed with irony and detachment, as if the world were ephemeral and useless. Everything seemed so fleeting to him that he found it amusing. He took nothing seriously enough... not even his own death. 

But now...now he had reawakened an anger and spite that he would be sure to satiate. 

Regardless of what happened next, he swore to himself that he would kill everyone in this place. It was an absolute promise to himself. 

Just as that thought took hold in his mind, the stabbing pain ran through his head again. 

Those guys had definitely done something to him. Whether it was magic or whatever other method they had used, he had to get rid of it first before he could act on it. 

But try as he might, he couldn't use magic. He was completely helpless in the face of the situation. But he was patient. 

He decided not to resist. He would let them guide him, take him through these painful experiments... until the time was right. When he found his chance, he would make them pay. 

If he could get his magic back, he would make them burn. 

If not... he would tear their bodies apart with his own claws, when the opportunity presented itself. 

Those men in white robes who watched him with amusement as he suffered... they would all die. 

.. 

. 

"Sit down, roll over, give me the paw, take a lap around me ... . Good!" 

Cassiel didn't know how many days had passed exactly. Since he had been reborn, he hadn't seen any source of natural light. 

She was still in what the investigators called "Area 4." Apparently, all those tortures and experiments had one purpose: to train him. 

Knowing that, Cassiel swallowed his pride and obeyed the orders without resistance. Not that he had much choice. If he refused, the crippling pain would run through his body again. 

"Well, he seems to understand and follow basic commands. His intelligence level is acceptable, and now his obedience is as well... Hm... this is the tenth one that has shown such good results. How is the fund raising going?" 

"Yes, sir. Seeing these developments, many nobles and companies have been motivated to invest. 'Area 5' is almost complete, and the next ones will be ready soon." 

"That's good... Though it's a pity to lose the pace we're at. Hm... there was another wolf among those who passed 'area4', wasn't there?" 

"Yes, sir. She's a snow wolf... Let's see... She was originally just another experimental subject, but a mistake in 'Area 2' led to her being numbered. She passed the tests while pregnant, so we decided to observe her. She was one of the fastest to complete 'Area 4'." 

Cassiel listened intently from her cage. The white-coated subjects spoke nonchalantly in front of a beast that was supposedly barely developing intelligence, but every word was a valuable piece of information. 

"I remember her. She dutifully followed the instructions after only one activation of the device. She already gave birth? Who was the father?" 

"Yes, sir. Unfortunately, only one pup survived. As for the father, hm... let's see.... Apparently those records were deemed irrelevant and were discarded. But that black wolf is possibly a candidate." 

'What, possibly the father?'

Cassiel didn't know what to think. Since he'd been reincarnated, everything had been a mess, and the last thing he'd expected was to suddenly be the father of an animal. No matter how he thought about it, it was weird, strange, and honestly, disturbing. 

Everything around him was so wrong that he really was going to go crazy. 

"Hm... It's true that it doesn't matter. Let's see... That wolf should be in a separate area, right? Put this wolf next to her and the puppy. Whether he's her son or not, he's smart enough now not to do something foolish, and wolves have great parental instincts." 

"Yes, in fact, in that area they are asking for a male wolf to see if having two smart parents influences the pup's growth. We'll watch them until 'Area 5' is completely finished." 

"Well, that's all for today. Move him along." 

.. 

. 

'Haah~! is this some kind of bizarre hell or something?' 

Cassiel wondered if this was karma or a punishment for her previous life. Whoever set this up wanted to spit in her face. 

His previous life had already been bad to begin with. He thought it couldn't get any worse, and contradicting his thinking, he ended up here. 

He still wouldn't give up on trying to move mana, but his body was completely dried up. He didn't have a shred he could use. 

The only good thing was that he understood that mana did exist. The staffs and other things the researchers used had a faint trace of mana. 

If this world functioned as in his previous life, all living things had to have at least a little. So he didn't give up and kept trying to find it until, finally.... 

A strand. 

He could finally feel a little bit of mana in his body, but it was so small that it was basically nothing. It couldn't be used for anything, he couldn't even circulate it to make it bigger. 

But it existed. 

And if it existed, it meant that his body could contain mana. He just had to find a way to get its flow going. All he needed was a push, and with that he could begin to accumulate and gain more mana, especially with his unique technique that he had created. 

Still, mana was needed in order to initiate it, which was leading him to nothing. He could do nothing but continue to wait and understand his surroundings better. 

"Raou." 

"Fuff~." 

He was now in a larger cage, but he was not alone. Just as he had heard before, he was moved to a place where a mother wolf and her son were. 

When they first saw him enter, the she-wolf looked intimidated, and the little wolf fearful but curious. 

Cassiel just looked at them for a guy and decided to ignore them and huddled in a corner. There was no use getting close to some animals. 

He was lost in his thoughts, thinking about too many things: what to do, how to get mana, possible strategies... At some point, he felt a growl and noticed the little wolf next to him, trying to attack him. 

It even climbed on top of him, interrupting his concentration. Cassiel snorted in annoyance and, moving, made the little wolf fall to the ground. 

Cassiel looked at it without understanding what to do, she also remembered in the possibility that this creature is her child or rather the child of this body. 

'haaa~ how did I end up in this situation, no use thinking about it'. 

It was better to ignore such nonsense nonsense, and then she turned her gaze to the she-wolf, who had a white fur and blue eyes, just like the little one. 

She was still wary, wanting to push the little wolf away from him, but not daring to get too close. 

She found it curious how easy it was to understand the body language of simple animals. Just out of curiosity, he tried something. 

"Wrooff." (Hey.) 

What came out of his mouth was a bark of sorts, directed at the she-wolf. 

All it accomplished was to make the little wolf run off towards its mother, who covered it with her body, as if relieved. 

"Wraaouff." (Can you understand me?) 

'Yes, I think I'm really going crazy... How ironic.' 

Cassiel tried to communicate with the she-wolf. She didn't even know what to expect or if it had any meaning. 

She just knew that, if he kept going the way he was, he really would go crazy. Although... the fact that he was seriously trying to talk to an animal was a clear sign that it was possibly already too late.