Dark May Project

"If what you eggheads have been spouting nonsense about is true...then damn, you should have basked in my glorious presence more. There's no possible way to replicate how awesome I am!"

- Kirika Hotsuin, to a Magic Council scientist, Daybreak S2, Prototype

The Dark May Project ( 人造究極生命体進化計画(ダーク・メイ・プロジェクト), Dāku Mei Purojekuto lit. Manmade Ultimate Life-Form Evolution Plan) was an experiment conducted by Dosaman Ghasulchanonlor during his time working with the Magic Council in order to produce fucking posers "Super Soldiers" (超戦士, Chōsenshi) for military purposes that would eventually replace the regular Rune Knights and even the Ten Wizard Saints. These "Super Soldiers" possessed physical prowess beyond mortal keen, wielding a special wiring suit and a High-Frequency Blade.

Something of note is that Kirika Hotsuin is speculated to be related to the Dark May Project- she meets all the criteria, and in Dosaman's research notes, it is said that a single test subject was not affected mentally by the procedure due to her strong "fighting spirit". However, Kirika and anyone else who knows about her past –all three other people- claim that Kirika was never scouted by the Magic Council in a peaceful-seeming manner. Though, upon learning more about the Dark May Project, and with Deen Lhant finding a few papers on the project, Kirika spends a few moments contemplating that she may be a successful test subject or even the template, but decides that it doesn't matter, as it wouldn't change anything, burning the papers without reading them.

Procedure and Details
The Dark May Project was an experiment that used subjects who were most likely faulty magicians, in an effort to replicate the absolutely insane feats of an unknown well-known criminal, by using a similar pattern of ability operation. This was done by referencing the cognitive patterns of the original herself in order to optimize the Magic Origins and bodies of those taking part in the experiment. Dosaman, going against the previous head of the Magic Council's orders, had planned for the elimination of the original defense forces of the council and replacing them with "super soldiers"- as the original was deemed the "apex of humanity's potential" in regards to her overwhelming physical and mental powers, she was chosen as the template. Somebody perhaps related to the project, Kirika Hotsuin, was a human with physical and mental strength beyond all compare- even though she had no proper connection to anything deemed "supernatural", she could keep up with Deus Machina Number Three, a cyborg built for interstellar warfare, with skills alone, and her blows could inflict serious damage, unarmed or not. The reason for which was because when training herself, Kirika broke her body's natural limiters by training past the point where she should have died, destroying her own body's limitations and giving her limitless potential to tap into. The aim of the project was recreate that incredible power and mass-produce it for the Magic Council's footsoldiers, creating an unstoppable fighting force that could effortlessly deal with threats.

The process was initiated by successfully producing fertilized eggs of the original using the somatic cells extracted from her hair; from that point, Dosaman extracted the "physical and magical attributes" from the eggs using a special device, before implanting them into faulty magicians or deformed test subjects using the Dark May Lacrima in order to optimize the untapped powers of certain humans taking part in the experiment; which were created when Dosaman implanted the Dark May Lacrima ( 人造究極生命体進化魔水晶(ダーク・メイ・ラクリマ), Dāku Mei Rakurima lit. Manmade Ultimate Life-Form Evolution Magic Crystal), which had the original's cells stored within them, and thanks to being contained within the Lacrima, a copy of the original's power were implanted within the subjects during the experiments touch the M-region in the subject's brain—causing the Lacrima to react by scanning the subject's brainwaves, no matter how weak they are, before the M-region translates the thoughts into a link between the M-region and the Lacrima, awakening it and conferring the original's abilities, appearance, and other characteristics on the subject. The subject's capacity to manifest their new abilities varies depending on their mental and physical integrity. The vast majority of subjects lacked the same integrity as the original, and thus only receive a fraction of the ability that their original has, the exact level of transference varying between individuals.

One of the after effects of the project, was that part of the original's personality has a large possibility of being ingrained into the subject; which explains that while many of these "super soldiers" did have powerful abilities, they frequently suffered from extreme mental instability, being naught but frothing mad berserkers; something that the original, amusingly, takes offense to- to be fair, the original, despite her general unpleasant demeanour and ferociousness in combat, is capable of being civilized and uses her brain a lot. The heightened abilities of a super soldier were maintained by a delicate balance of various genetic factors. A change in this balance could only be caused by a 'leak' of genetic information, but this is not possible under normal circumstances, unless a life-shaking event occurred. The subject's mental and physical integrity affects their physical form as it degrades, as subjects who are physically weak will experience a higher rate of degradation than those who are strong. With countless failures, it was never guaranteed for people who were subjected to the experiment to end up well, as many of them ended up in dissection tables while scientists tried to figure out in which part of the brain the M-region was located.

History
Around an unidentified amount of time ago, a "great disaster" occurred; while an exact recollection of the event is impossible to find, due to mostly everyone's memories being wiped regarding it, it is said that an infamous criminal descended into madness and destroyed the city of Bevelle after learning her true origins- as Bevelle was the only keystone that kept the door between the five dimensions locked, this allowed Devius to send his Hellions into the other dimensions and begin the "Interdimensional Domination". All that is known about the incident is that Ashton Lhant, the father of Deen Lhant and Alicia Lhant, and a Rune Knight, had a key role in making sure that the destruction of Bevelle ended at Bevelle.

However, after the events of the "great disaster", Dosaman Ghasulchanonlor rounded up those affected by the criminal's rampage and aftershocks of the incident. More specifically, there was an extremely narrow amount of criteria that needed to be fulfilled. Those with miserable pasts and a dark side, specifically female, as the original test subject was also female. Dosaman injected them with the cells of the original and exposed them to demonic energy, similar, if not identical, to the creation of a Hellion, albeit with some modifications.

Those people, who were not the finest in physical and mental health, and thus could not retain their personalities, became highly dangerous super soldiers. The results of these projects were ultimately flawed, however. While many of these "super soldiers" did have powerful abilities, they frequently suffered from extreme mental instability due to a portion of the original's personality being implanted into their own. The super soldiers created by the Dark May Project could not live if their master died, as the brainwashing had corrupted them to the point where they would have collapsed and died. Those who turned into ferocious attack dogs were engraved with a number somewhere on their body, though is noted that one of the subjects had retained her free will, and thus, she was thrown out and left to die.

The details of the Dark May Project were swept under the rug, as the previous head of the Magic Council mysteriously vanished, the current head has been kept in the dark about the project, and the one who engineered it all had wiped his own memories of the incident out of fear of retribution. However, several "successes" from the Dark May Project had become famous magicians in their own right, with one being a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, with another two being powerful criminals. Unbeknownst to many, several subjects of the Dark May Project had become high-ranking officers of the Magic Council; aiming to take it down from within in a subtle manner. While the subjects of the Dark May Project had some recollection of what happened to them, everything else was fuzzy, and when faced with a contradiction in their memory, they would experience throbbing headaches, as many of them, with the exception of the one who retained her free will, believed herself to be the "original".

General Powers, Abilities, and Equipment
Physics-Defying Physical Prowess: The "template" of the Dark May Project broke her body's natural limiters by training past the point where she should have died, destroying her own body's limitations and giving her limitless potential to tap into. The aim of the project was recreate that incredible power and mass-produce it for the Magic Council's footsoldiers, creating an unstoppable fighting force that could effortlessly deal with threats. As such, the test subjects are known to be overwhelmingly powerful in the physical department, capable of such feats as smashing through almost any metal with their bare hands with ease, running as fast as thrice the speed of sound, and shrugging off high-level magical attacks as if it was simply a breeze. Obviously, because of these feats, the "super soldiers" are leaps and bounds above regular humans and most supernatural races- indeed, the "template" is said to be as strong as a highly powerful dragon.

Dark May Lacrima ( 人造究極生命体進化魔水晶</rb>(</rp>ダーク・メイ・ラクリマ</rt>)</rp>, Dāku Mei Rakurima lit. Manmade Ultimate Life-Form Evolution Magic Crystal): The Dark May Lacrima are a specialized set of Lacrima forged in order to start up the Dark May Project. Created from dull husks of broken Lacrima, the Dark May Lacrima were implanted with the cells of the "template". Thanks to being contained within the Lacrima, the energies were sealed away until the experiments performed upon the project's subjects touched the M-region in the subject's brain—causing the Lacrima to react by scanning the subject's brainwaves, no matter how weak they are, before the M-region translates the thoughts into a link between the M-region and the Lacrima, awakening it and conferring the original's abilities, appearance, and other characteristics on the subject. However, the Dark May Lacrima functions as a secondary heart—it is linked to the super soldier's organs and every bone in their body via a magical tether that is unbreakable; it utilizes the primeval power of the user's will to provide the super soldier with a life by pumping enough blood, adrenaline, and magical energy into the user's bloodstream and overall body in order to allow them to live. The large amount of magical energy produced by the Dark May Lacrima has sped up the super soldier's natural processes, far beyond anything drugs could mimic. As a result the super soldier's body is super oxygenated, vitalizing their muscles, improving their metabolism, and even improving their brain functions; and it can self-regenerate from damage and will slowly heal the user.

High-Frequency Blade (高周波刃, Kōshūhajin): The High-Frequency Blade is a powerful bladed weapon developed by the Magic Council. The high-frequency blade is a sword reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonates at extremely high frequencies thanks to being superheated from friction induced by the user channeling their magical aura into the Lacrima within the hilt, creating an extremely sharp blade that sears anything that it comes into contact with. The oscillation of the High-Frequency Blade weakens the molecular bonds of anything it cuts, thereby increasing its cutting ability. Striking, cutting, and thrusting attacks are performed with the blade, with the sharpened edge and point used for lethal attacks, and the blunt edge used as a clubbing weapon. They can also be superheated from friction to be hot enough to sear anything that it comes into contact with. Masters of swordsmanship are able to wield the high-frequency blade with accuracy and speed that they are able to deflect bullets. While nowhere near as effective as the magic-charged weapons, the High-Frequency Blade is still capable of piercing through magical armour and defenses, and unlike a magical weapon, it doesn't deplete the user's magic pool. The high-frequency blade folds up like a switchblade for storage; also, a high-frequency blade is usually treated with anti-magic coating as they are often used to block magic-based attacks. A favoured weapon of the subjects due to the template's proficiency with bladed weaponry, each of their High-Frequency Blades is specifically customized to their own liking.

Magitek Armour ( 魔導器戦闘防護服</rb>(</rp>マジテク・アーマー</rt>)</rp>, Majiteku Āmā lit. Magic Conduction Vessel Combat Protective Clothing) is an extremely versatile and ubiquitous magical "armour" that provides enhanced physical strength as well as various weaponry to the user. It is a subset of Magitek, a powerful mixture of magic and machinery, which was developed by Giselle Mercury but soon outlawed by the Magic Council due to its very existence as a contradiction. Each member of the Dark May Project wields a Magitek Armour, and every model is completely different.

List of Super Soldiers
Below is a list of every Super Soldier revealed within the Sun Trilogy. There were six successful subjects from the Dark May Project; but around thirteen in total. Two of the seven chose to work for the Magic Council, two became criminals, another one retreated from the world, and the last one's whereabouts are unknown, being deemed a failure.

Trivia

 * Originally, the mastermind behind the Dark May Project wished to mass-produce combat cyborgs due to discovering where the body of Deus Machina Number Three was, but when he was busy travelling towards the robotic body, somebody else had already gotten to it weeks before. Additionally, the man decided that the financial costs would be too much; and the mechanics of the Deus Machina body would be far too difficult to understand.