Chapter 18: The Council of Five

Kozuna

"Nnghh... Damn… I needa stop getting knocked out. Where am I..?"

As things came into focus, I noticed large metal cell bars ahead of me and two cellmates- Nikai and Anari. Already awake, my memory returned shortly upon seeing them.

Right… fuck…

Anari sat on a large slab of metal meant to be a bed while Nikai paced around, arms folded.

"What happened…? This… doesn't look like Sand Tower," I yawned, sitting up on my "bed."

Anari muttered under her breath, without speaking aloud.

"Anari can tell you."

"This is your fault, Nikai. You can explain."

I saw a moving shadow outside the bars while Anari and Nikai bickered.

Good… Someone's coming. When these two start arguing, it never stops…

"How are the accommodations?"

I met eyes with Livian, who came into view shortly. Shin, as well as the remaining councilors, stood behind him, except for Helix. When they arrived, Anari and Nikai promptly shut their mouths and focused on the situation at hand…

"Livian… Why are we here..? Why did you people kidnap us?"

"Morning, Kozuna. Good to see you finally awake… We've got some business to attend to, and we needed your presence to begin… If you three cooperate with us, the citizens above ground will all remain in good hands. However, if you try anything we deem suspicious or out of line, that protection will… disappear... I know you all just want to protect the people; work with us, and they'll stay safe... That's a promise..."

"Business to attend to? What are you talking about-"

"I don't give a fuck about this clan or your business!" Nikai smashed his fist into the wall, leaving behind a slight indentation. "I've got the power to blow this whole place up, by myself! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't transform right now!"

The councilors laughed and mocked Nikai, who clenched his fists and visibly flexed his muscles as if that was gonna actually make him transform…

Isakai scoffed, shrugging his shoulders.

"Struggle all you want. My anti-curse fields are constantly active down here."

Nikai growled, stepping back against the wall and sliding into a sitting position. He glared wickedly at the councilors, showing no emotions behind his darkening pupils.

"What a temper..." Livian smugly clapped his hands together. "Now then, if you're done being rude. I'll begin explaining why we brought you all down here... The group you see here has but one goal... Revolution…"

"Revolution..?"

Anari, Nikai, and I spoke in unison, puzzled looks across all our faces…

With everything that's been happening in the clan… What have these councilors been planning?

"Revolution? What kind of revolution could you people possibly accomplish? I'll burn this clan to the ground on my own... I want my life back..."

Though he had calmed physically, Nikai still had building fury in his eyes… Livian responded in kind with a relaxed tone; he waved Nikai off like a child being dismissed.

"If only you were as compliant as your friend Kozuna... Things might be better."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me, lapdog. It's easy to make someone listen when you have something precious to them... For you Kozuna, that's your desire to protect the people... For you Nikai..."

Livian paused and glanced to the side, motioning to someone we couldn't see.

I… don't even know if I want to protect the people right now...

Going silent, my eyes followed the person coming into view, pulling along another person into sight. All three of us were almost left speechless, and Nikai practically sprung up, gripping the bars with his twitchy fingertips…

The person who they dragged into view was a child about the same complexion as Nikai, with the same brown hair, but much shorter... and much skinnier...

Their leverage on Nikai was none other than his little brother…

"...thats your kid brother..."

"Let Tyuyo go!"

Nikai tried reaching through the bars, but that did nothing to help... 

They had his whole body tied up and placed restraints over his mouth to keep him quiet. He could see Nikai and had tears flowing down his cheeks. He was only a ten-year-old kid, obviously frightened by what was happening.

"Cooperate with us, and I guarantee his safety... Attempt to cross the council, and… well… Let's just hope we don't have to go there…"

"Oh, you'd better hope we don't have to go there…"

Nikai let out several deep breaths. But it didn't matter what Nikai tried, he was burning with a furious aura about him, and that wasn't changing... Not that he was to blame… I grabbed his shoulder, giving him a solemn stare.

"Nikai…"

Taking a step back, Nikai almost went completely quiet.

"...what do I have to do..?"

Anari had remained pretty silent, and by then, Nikai was finally ready to comply for the time…

"Listen to what we say, when we say... We'll be starting by testing new curse-related tech. Now."

Unlocking the cell, Livian had his escort of soldiers put us in cuffs, and toss Tyuyo into the cell right as we were taken out.

"Shin, stay here and keep an eye on the kid…"

"Why are you putting him in there!?" shouted Nikai.

"That should be obvious, even to someone as birdbrained as you, Nikai…" Gio crossed his arms and shook his head. "Call it... collateral... He'll be locked away under tight security while the rest of you are in testing."

"Wait, why do I have to come? I don't have a curse!"

Anari tried jerking herself free of the guards, only for them to grip even harder…

"Oh… wouldn't you like to know..?"

They wasted no time to haul us away, slowly taking us through one chrome corridor after another. The place was like a labyrinth with how the many halls crisscrossed, probably intentionally… I was impressed that those guards knew their way around so effectively…

I've got to escape this place... I need to start thinking of a plan while we're moving... The moment I see an opening... But how do I fight back without my curse or weapons? This place, along with the anti-curse fields, I don't even know how to activate it... Plus… these paths are confusing... How could we navigate it? Where even are we?

***

After what felt like miles of passages, we eventually reached a large room filled with test tubes containing some sort of bubbling, transparent liquid. 

The very first thing the councilors did, was have some of my blood drawn, as well as Nikai's. A lot at that.

Following that, the guards placed breathing devices over our faces and slid open the tube tops without hesitation, hoisting Nikai and me into separate tubes from above. Submerged into the sticky fluid, I could barely move, and everything outside was distorted. All of my senses were utterly weakened… Though that could've been thanks to blood loss…

Damn it… can I for once wake up and not be in a cell OR be put through experiments...

I felt myself shuddering and growing colder; my eyes blurred after fluttering… Moving was gradually becoming a more arduous task to accomplish, even speaking wasn't working… I could feel the fluid restricting my facial muscles…

What is this stuff..?

Isakai, bearing the blood vials, licked his lips with a smile.

 "Well, we have samples of their curse-afflicted blood now... All that's left to do is to test out the hypothesis... Should we use the girl first, or should our other prisoner get the honors? What do you guys think?"

"The other guy's been in here awhile… I say we use him before we lose him…" Carmen straightened her body, keeping her hands behind her back. "He's probably almost dead by now; if it works on him, it'll definitely work on Anari."

"Wait, what? What about me?"

"Oh, Anari… We're testing the effects of cursed blood on humans. Don't worry, you'll be fine…"

"No! You people are not putting that stuff inside of me! I didn't sign up for this!"

"It's not really your choice, sweetie."

I watched the whole thing unfold and listened to the best of my abilities, but I was stuck in place… I could do nothing to help Anari, or myself… for that matter… The guards left for a few minutes, and by then, my heart was pounding… I knew for a fact Anari was probably losing it inside, though she was only doing a half-decent job of not showing it…

***

When the guards returned, they came carrying a grown man, kicking and screaming like a child throwing a tantrum. Unlike Nikai and me, he wasn't cuffed or anything but instead held down, simply by the guards.

Their first test subject was held against the cold steel floor, quite literally in hand. It was clear he knew what was coming… Every time Isakai took one step closer, the fear within that man grew, and his body reacted more wildly…

We were forced to watch… While Livian stood there in excitement, rubbing his hands together…

"After meticulous planning… We'll finally be ready for phase two... Nikai and Kozuna, thanks for your generous donations… Now in preparation for phase three, let's see just how this blood works on him…"

What the fuck are these phases Livian's talking about? Aren't they against curses?

Isakai had mixed the blood of both Nikai and me into a single syringe, and when he finally came close to their test subject, he placed the needle right at the man's neck. Isakai held it there momentarily like he WANTED to let the reality of what was about to happen set it.

He had no heart at all… And neither did the other councilors… They stood in a circle as the tear-faced man was crying out for anyone to help, knowing damn well that no one was coming to save him…

In particular… Livian, Gio, and Melrose were grinning from ear to ear…

"I don't want to end up like the others! P-please don't do this... PLEASE!" 

"No can do… Besides, even if this doesn't work… You'll just be another sacrifice to our cause. Be proud, you're a part of our revolution…" Livian took a step behind the guards wielding rifles. "All of you better pay attention! If this doesn't work, take behavioral notes so we can figure it out! Guards, be at the ready!"

A look of despair was all I could see on their test subject. He'd definitely seen things we hadn't... Isakai patted his throat, quickly pushed the needle in, and injected the blood. Instantly, Isakai bounced back and hid behind other guards…

The man's skin started turning black in seconds, and his eyes went bloodshot. Uncontrollable coughing, heavy breaths whenever he could take them… His whole body jerked up and down violently like he was about to regurgitate… Not to mention the blood spilling from his mouth…

"I-I feel... I feel like... Like I'm going to explode... why..."

We were hyper-fixated on him, unable to look away but filled with horror all the same… I felt like I was trembling, even though I was physically incapable…

Is this what my blood... does to a... regular human?

Though I could still see relatively fine, Nikai's view was blocked with a massive splatter of blood… The man's arm exploded, inside and out. The gaping hole left where his arm once was drained blood… But things didn't end there…

He started yelling and screaming in anguish, the more pain he went through. Saliva dripped from his lips as he was beginning to give off savage glares at everyone in the room… Everyone.

Anari's eyes were stuck open; she practically froze in place, sweating profusely…

"No... D-don't d-do this to me..."

The man's other arm soon exploded, effectively blocking my view. I couldn't see what was happening anymore, but the screaming and shouting had built to an all-time high... In a few seconds, I heard a crash and saw a guard go flying backward into the wall.

Livian pointed without batting an eye. 

"He's going wild. He's incompatible! KILL HIM!"

With my peripheral vision, I could see a grotesque black and white creature resembling a hunched over, bipedal animal… pouncing at one of the councilor's guards… It appeared to be like Nikai's curse, growing large shadowy arms in place of the missing human ones, but it moved with speed similar to mine... However, before it could sink its teeth into anyone, the soldiers unloaded on it…

And after seeing that, I was hard-pressed to call the man a human anymore…

Melrose glared at her nails, sucking her teeth. 

"So… Do we inject the girl next, or do we wait?"

Isakai groaned as he stepped away from the console. 

"I feel like we should wait... There's some kind of formula to this, maybe a ratio of how much curse blood we inject? Or maybe there's a way to make people compatible with the blood… But we can't keep wasting bodies and capturing more. The disappearances might start getting logged…" Isakai kicked the corpse. "It's also a waste of time and ammunition to have them keep turning into things like this..."

"I hear you..." Livian nodded. "This is getting old. We need compatibility, otherwise, we'll never be able to perfect the pseudo curse seal injections… Doesn't seem like different kinds of blood will have much of a different effect… We tried the kid in Sand Tower… Now Nikai and Kozuna…"

What the- how many experiments have these monsters been conducting down here!?

"I think I know someone that could withstand the injection..."

 Gio leaned over and whispered into Livian's ear, making the latter's face light up…

"You're right... The br- That's a fantastic idea, but let's wait and try to learn more before we do... For now, put Anari back in the cell with Tyuyo... Shin is still near the cells… He'll remain on guard for them. As for Kozuna and Nikai... they'll stay in these tubes, where they're immobilized."

Several guardsmen stood around as others took hold of Anari and dragged her back to the cell. She was silent, and her expression was nothing but dismay. Stuck in test tubes and horrified at the recent sighting, I had to think of a plan even faster. There was no time to waste.

I need to get out of here and save my friends, maybe even take down the councilors if that's possible... But how do I do that, though? I mean... this is bad for Nikai and me... But we don't have it the worst...

The one of us... who has it the worst here is you... Anari...