Guinea Pigs for Madness[]
"Background check." Amon couldn't see anything. There was only darkness, but he heard a voice talking, and it was close "He has no memory of his life before meeting Rhea. He met Lamia later on, but then assumed both to be dead, and since on became a loner. He was picked up by the infamous Grigori as his disciple, and later became his untimely killer." Amon openned his eyes, and before him, stood Eva, and next to her stood Serene, the female Automaton, wearing a uniform very akin to a school uniform. Other Automaton stood in the background, among them was Centaurus, the centaur Automaton, as well as another one, resembling a knight in white.
"W-...Where...?" Amon tried recollecting his memories, but felt a headache. Looking around, he noticed he was cuffed to a large, round table that looked much like he was on a large bullseye, ready to be hit by throwing knives. But, he then remembered. "Kaiser! Wait, Nyx! Wait, no! Where's my family, you pieces a shi-...?!".
"Back there." Eva casually pointed at a cage behind her. The cage's floor and roof were typical steel made, but the bars themselves were forged from highly condensed magic energy, making them vaporize whatever touches them.
From within the cage, Lamia noticed Amon awoke, getting closer, but not touching the bars in surprise "Amon! You're awake! Good! Now teleport us outta here!" Lamia told Amon, a true sense of urgency coming from her.
"Right!" Suddenly, Amon felt a stinging pain in his right leg, as a woman with distinctive red hair stabbed his leg using a red shard "Urgh...! What the...?!".
"No, not yet." The woman spoke, silencing Amon, even placing her finger on his mouth to make sure he doesn't talk "Mommy wants you for work. And you'll stay here to be her lil' guinea pigs." The woman smiled maliciously, a gleam of joy in her eyes.
"Laurel, keep it in your pants. This is the 13th guinea pig you had the hots for. And last one wasn't even a guy. Or human." Eva said, calling to the woman, Laurel, to stop her behaviour and back away. "I apologize, she's still young. You know how maidens are when they see a man, or woman, or...zoological phenomenon that they find to be attractive, right?".
"...Who are you?" Amon asked the woman, sounding irritated. He also noticed he cannot teleport anymore, and knew why. The red shard in his leg was Red Lacrima. A magic negating stone, that also absorbs his magic energy.
Eva smiled, casually pulling out the red shard from Amon's leg, causing him to grunt in frustration, as she tossed it aside, and adjusted her glasses, with her now bloody hand. "I am Eva Kiesler, and this, dear friend, is my airship." Eva said, as a hologram of a large, zeppelin-like airship, containing the large balloon beneath a large headquarters, allowing it to float.
"...Oh my god, she has zeppelin." Lamia commented, seeing the hologram.
"It's not a zeppelin. It's an airship. People never get that part right." Eva said, coughing to clear her throat "But, enough about me." Eva snapped her fingers, as Laurel walked over to Amon, constructing multiple arms forged from red energy emitting from her body. "Be a dear, and get him inside the pod.".
"Hmph!" Amon began his attempt at escaping the cuffs on his forearms and legs, pushing with all the force he could "C'mon! Break!" Amon continued pressing on, trying to break free from his confines.
"Laurel, shoot the dog down." As if on cue, Laurel followed Eva's command, and shot a linear beam of red energy, piercing Amon's stomach, causing him to cough blood "Oh, did I say shoot? I meant, make him stop.".
"Oh...Whoopsy~" Laurel said, like a little child who did a minor mistake.
Despite being shot through the stomach, Amon continued pressing on, feeling the sheer pain surging his body "I will nto stop from something like thi-...!".
"Stop." And Amon did, because he recognized that voice. He looked at another cage to his left, seeing his mother, Rhea, still injured and handcuffed, along with Juno, whose entire body was tied up "Don't get yourself killed already. If you break out now, you'll only have every goddamn thing in this place tailing your ass, until your down, or dead." Rhea said, but her voice was shaking, as if holding back an emotion "Please...don't get yourself killed after I got to see you again, son...".
Amon did as his mother said, stopping, as he was uncuffed, but quickly caught by the arms of red energy, catching his entire body. From within the cage with Lamia, Lily and Circe also witnessed this occur. "What are you going to do to Papa?" Lily asked, still appearing as an adult, and sounding worried.
"I'm just going to patch up his stomach and...have fun.".
It only took a few minutes, before the entire base had the sounds of Amon screaming in agony. He placed inside a pod, with an unknown liquid substance, as he was strapped to machinery, and even had a mask on his mouth, most likely for oxygen, attached to a wire. Amon's entire body felt like it was on fire, whatever was happening to him, it was painful. And Eva simply looked in glee, while writing down notes on her notebook.
Lamia glared from within the cage, clutching the floor. Her fingers dug into the steel floor, revealing a faint red glow from it. Aph, however, was hugging Circe and Lily, comforting the two girls, who were horrified hearing their father scream bloody murder, almost non-stop.
"Good, good. Seems like everything is going nicely. Hopefully, this'll improve my research better." Eva said, adjusting her glasses, as she looked at her notes. She looked at a monitor next to her, which shows a graph of a human body. Black spots were glowing brighter and brighter, as they appeared to be entering the human body. "Let's see how stable his body will stay after this...".
"Stop it...!" Lamia angrily said, gritting her teeth in frustration. She can't access her magic, and if she as much as tried to break free, the bars would incinerate her hands to dust. She glanced to her right, seeing Juno and Rhea in their cage, Rhea trying to cover her ears, while Juno was biting her lip in frustration, unable to move that much to begin with. She then looked to her left, seeing a small cage, with only Kiryu inside of it. He tried breaking out prior using his magic, but found out his magic didn't work, resulting in him almost losing his hands.
A while has passed, and Amon was strapped onto a table. Many wires were attached to his head, bandaged onto him. "Okay, this might hurt, and be shocking, but after we finished the first 3 experiments, we're ready for the...semi-finals." Eva said. Next to her, Serene brought what was akin to a coffin. She openned the coffin, as cold air exited immediately after openning. Inside the coffin, was a direct copy of Amon. A clone.
"Took me over 10,123,111 tries, but, here...a complete clone! Almost." Eva said, as Serene placed the clone of Amon on the table, strapping the same amount of wires to him.
"What are you going to do?!" Amon shouted, becoming distressed upon seeing an exact copy of himself, one without scars no less.
"Well, y'see. This one is only 99% perfect." Eva said, rubbing the back of her head "Turns out, he can't use magic, and he has no actual...well, conscience. So, it's an empty husk, waiting to rot. It's why we kept it in a freezer." Eva explained "Now, after inputing the code, I am going to try and transfer your conscience into that body, doing so, I will be able of cloning powerful bodies, and transfer and copy the conscience of a powerful warrior, to give to all of them, and make my army. Also, helps that I'm trying to ressurect an evil Dragon God of Light.".
"A Dragon what of what now?!".
"Too late." Eva pressed a button, as electric signals began travelling between the machinery strapped onto the two Amons.
"Ohohoho, this might actually be good." Gram said to himself, having heard everything "If you leave, I will have this body for myself! Your will won't get in my way, and I will be free to rule! I will be free...to finish my job! Assimilate! And become the strongest Maken!".
One final flash erupted, as both Amons had their eyes closed. Eva carefully examined both bodies, pressing her ear against their chests, hearing a heartbreat in both "Hmm...Odd, there's a heartbeat in both. There should only be in one.".
"I will murder your face!" Amon awoke, still in his original body, and trying to break free.
"Amon, calm down!" A voice similar to Amon's called out, and much to everyone's amazement, it was from the other Amon "Now's not the goddamn time to flip your shit!".
"...Beast?" Amon said, calming down "Is that...?".
"Yeah...I...We're no longer sharing the same body..." Beast said, sounding as calm as always.
"Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT! I was so close to getting my own body!".
"Okay, things did not go as I wanted, and now this shit." Eva said, sounding displeased "Actually, this isn't so baaad~ It proves my research is successfull. So, as a final thank you for being my guinea pig, I will do two things for you." Eva grinned maliciously, snickering. Eva snapped her fingers, as Serene brought her a syringe with an unknown, red substance within it. She pierced the needle into Amon's arm, and inserted the substance, tossing the syringe on the ground, breaking it, when she finished.
Eva clapped her hands, as Serene and the white knight-like Automaton each went to Amon and Beast, now seperated into their own bodies. Serene placed Amon on a metallic chair, cuffing his forearms to it, while Beast was placed in his own seperate cage, wearing nothing but a pair of black pants. "Hey! What are you going to do to him?! Didn't you do enough?!" Beast shouted at Eva.
Suddenly, several holographic monitors appeared in the middle of the lab, taking the combined shape of a cube, catching everyone's attention. From the monitor, appeared a menacing demon, his skin pitch black as night, his eyes empty with no sign of humanity, and he wore a white cloak, with a hood on his head. The demon glared at everyone, but eventually focused on Amon, a grin becoming apparant on his skeletal smile.
"It has been a long time, Archard." The demon spoke, referring to Amon "How long? 10 years? 15? I frankly lose count for each member. Diana, would you mind?" Diana became apparant in the monitor, and a hologram of hers appeared next to Eva.
"Gladly." With a few presses on her Archive monitors, Diana summoned a database to display before the demon "You haven't checked on him for the last 8 years.".
"Oh, right. I averted my focus on more urgent matters..." The demon casually spoke, as if speaking of buisness. "Anywho, moving alo-...".
"Who are you?" Amon immediately asked the question everyone had on their mind.
"...Rude. But, I shall consider. Call me...Azazel. You can say, I am the mastermind behind everything you know...and hate." The demon, Azazel, explained, his tone showing hints of glee "I'm sure you met my accomplice, and subordinates, Diana Iktomi, and...Marx Dagonet. Is that what they call you these days?" Azazel averted his gaze to the side, as the monitor zoomed out, revealing Marx Dagonet himself appearing into the picture.
"Oh! The boy is here? Hello!" Marx waved hello to Amon "It has been a while. How are you?".
"...That's right." Amon looked at the hologram of Diana that was in the same room as him, his face flaring up with anger "You said that, you and him worked...to make my life Hell, didn't you?".
"Oh, correct." Azazel answered Amon's question "And I am their boss. You can blame me for everything, if you wish." He sounded so confident of himself, so certain no harm can possibly reach him, and he spoke freely, with a laid back tone. "I will answer one question for you, Archard, or perhaps, I should call you by your present name? Amon? Or do you prefer Ira?".
"Don't casually say my name." Amon said in a threatening tone, causing Azazel to merely chuckle.
"You amuse me, just like your father." Azazel said, resting his cheek on his hand, curled into a fist.
"Wait...That's right! That bitch Diana mentioned my father! Tell me about him!" Amon was basically demanding answers from Azazel.
"Your father? Interesting question. Well, believe it or not, your father was an aquaintance of mine. Unfortunately, he was also my strongest. But, being the fool he is, he managed to deny my rule. Poor bastard for what was coming to him." Azazel shook his head in disappointment "But, being the saintly figure that I am, I gave him a choice. Repent for his betrayal, allow me to take you for my plans...or kill his family with his own hands." Azazel's tone suddenly had a hint of joy to it, almost as if he was holding back laughter "He chose the former. And trust me, I can easily make him become my slave and murdered you and your mother, without objection.".
Amon remained silent, taking all of that information in, while looking at Marx, and Diana who were infront of him. He gritted his teeth in anger, and clutches his fingers onto the metal chair's handles, breaking them "You...then you really are the reason...Wait...Are they alive then?! My real mom and dad?!".
"Of course they are. I did nothing to them since. Well, your mother atleast. I had your father work labor for me, to save his dear wife." Azazel said, casually picking his ear with his claw pinky and flicking the dirt away "I used your mother for experiments, in order to make you, a Human Maken, possible. Sadly, it almost killed her, but I gave medicine...in exchange for your father becoming my subordinate. Isn't that true, Marx?".
"Y-...Yes, Azazel." Marx said, looking away as if trying to avoid eye contact with Amon, being noticeably more silent than usual.
"Oh, and before you begin going Mad Dog, I have one more fact for you..." Azazel clapped his hands together, as if preparing to unveil a secret "Those eyes you have, they aren't even your real eyes. How about we remove Diana's influence, and see whether or not, you are you, and not just a mash of data.".
Suddenly, Laurel grabbed Amon's head, bashing it against the chair, as a shockwave of red energy emanting from her hand, briefly cancelling out the monitors, and even killing off the energy bars for a split second. A chance to escape was lost for everyone. Laurel stepped away from Amon, and as he openned his eyes, his right eye's color changed, becoming red with a black pupil.
"Diana here used a spell, Install, Download. After she gathered the needed combat data, she forcibly added it all onto your child mind. Sadly, your mind was too weak to handle it all, resulting in amnesia from the shock, and your eyes...became a golden color." Azazel explained, sounding proud of his work.
"W-...What did you just do to me...?" Amon said, his breathing becoming heavier. He was sweating, and felt his body burning.
"I killed your magic." Amon's eyes widened in horror upon hearing those words come from Laurel's mouth "I am an entity made from Red Lacrima. Unlike the week long process, all I need is one touch, and boom, your magic is dead. Forever." Laurel grinned maliciously, as Amon looked like he was in pain.
"Enough!" Suddenly, Lily grabbed the cage's bars of raw energy, her face enraged as she began to pressing against the bars "Stop it! Stop hurting him! Stop bullying my Papa! Or I'll kill you!" Despite the bars being forged from raw energy, Lily's hands did not incinerate instantly, rather, it looked like the bars were weakening.
Everyone looked in awe, but also in horror at Lily snapping. "Lily, stop it! You'll hurt yourself and everyone else!" Lamia shouted at her daughter, for the very first time ever, showing the urgency of the situation.
"Lily, enough!" Noma himself was barking for Lily to stop, fearing for his master.
"No! No! NO! Papa always worked hard for me!" The bars began cracking, as Eva took a step back, while Laurel took a step forward "Always getting hurt...everyone does...just for me! I won't stand for it! I'm not a stupid little kid, who doesn't know the concept of death!" With one final push, Lily broke the bars of energy, which in turn, caused a shockwave of energy from Lily's body, that caused the other cages and machinery to malfunction, disrupting their magical circuits and shutting them off, freeing everyone, even Amon.
"Ooooh, shit." Eva said, snapping her fingers, repeatedly and in a hurry. As the Automatons, Centaurus, the white knight, and Serene stood before her, ready to defend their creator.
"L-...Lily...!" Amon called out to his daughter, his voice choking up, and in pain "You showed me...you learned...so...do it now!" Amon said, as Lily closed her eyes, concentrating her magic energy in her entire body.
All the Automatons and Laurel charged at her, but within that moment, Lily's aura surrounded the entire airship, appearing like a large sphere. Everyone in Lily's family, even Rhea, where apparantly "caught" by the energy, as it surrounded them. One by one, each was being teleported away.
However, Lily suddenly felt a stinging pain in her chest. Upon openning her eyes, she saw a red shard piercing into her chest. It was fired from Laurel's arm, who was simply grinning. While she was falling, Noma leaped towards Lily, running to his master. But, before Lily would lose consciousness and her magic, she used all of her remaining strength to teleport everyone away from Eva's ship.
Within that one final attempt at saving everyone, Lily teleporting everyone away to safety, but sadly, the location wasn't her decision. She couldn't properly concentrate, so she simply teleported them on a whim. For all she knows, they could be on the moon, or in another country. It wasn't certain.
The Opposite Role[]
It was apparantly nighttime, and Amon was somewhere, falling down high in the sky. He had only one image in his mind, despite falling very fast down. The image of his daughter getting stabbed "Goddammit!" Despite the harsh wind pressure increasing on his body, and even beginning to tear his clothes, he could only feel his body still burning from whatever it is Eva injected into his body.
"Lily...! She was injured...! I have to find her!".
"Worry about yourself first!" Gram shouted at Amon, trying to get him to focus "Listen, at this rate, your whole body will tear apart, and you will die! Let me save you! Let me save us! If you do, you can see your family again, and I don't have to die with some dumbass!".
Amon gritted his teeth, realizing Gram was right "Alright! FINE!" In that instant, Black Blood sprouted from Amon's skin, tearing his clothes and covering his entire body in an orb. Falling at high speed into a city, and luckily, no one noticed the large black orb, falling from the black night sky.
Amon crashed through a building roof, and luckily, it was apparantly abandoned. The orb liquified, the blood re-entering Amon's body, as he crawled out of it, gasping for air, while his body was covered in blood, from head to toe, before removing itself.
"Oh...god..." Amon coughed, but...something was off about his voice "I feel...fuckin' dizzy..." His body felt lighter, and his head as well. He stumbled into a bathroom. Luckily, the water was still working. He washed his face, rubbing his eyes, and trying to regain his composure "Alright...let's see how bad I broke...God, even my voice sounds like it broke..." Amon looked up at the mirror, but all he saw was a woman, of fairly good looks, staring back at him.
The woman had long, flowy white hair, much like his, but had two red eyes, with black pupils. "What the...? Hey, lady, move as-..." Amon stopped when the woman did as he did. And realized something... "...Oh my god, you gotta be shitting me." Amon looked down, but all he, or rather...she saw, was her naked body, now a female, with her scars still intact.
"Wow, she just pulled an Asmodeus on your ass." Gram said, snickering, clearly enjoying the moment.
Amon remained silent, letting it all sink in. "..." Amon groped her average sized breast, making sure it was real. And it was. "...Okay, so...Uhh..." Before confirming anything any further, Amon walked to a wall, and bashed her head once, utterly smashing the wall down, before walking back to the mirror, seeing her forehead bleeding, still red and not black "Okay. I am a woman...Somehow, this isn't bothering me as much as I initially thought. Maybe because my main concern now is the fact that I'm...".
"Stark naked in an abandoned building's bathroom like some exhibtionist?" Gram cut off Amon, continuing for her.
"...Not dignifying that." Amon simply left it at that, taking the whole gender shift rather well.
A while has passed, and Amon essentially searched the entire building, looking for any possible shred of clothing, but all she could find was some blankets to wear. Atleast they'll keep her warm. She sat at the corner of the room, cuddling herself in the warm blanket "Okay, status report, as they say, I am now a woman...I am naked...my magic is gone for good...aaaand I am in an abandoned building, with an ass of a demon inside my head...".
"Hey..." Gram took offense to that.
"And I am seperated from my family, and am in god knows where..." Amon took a moment to let that all sink in "Whatever that bitch put in me sure didn't stop me from wanting to kill her..." Amon said, grtting her teeth in frustration.
"Go rob a store, or something. It's late at night, so you can pull it off easy." Gram suggested to Amon. He himself can feel the same cold Amon felt, he could tell she was shivering.
"Without my magic, I can't just teleport in and out without being caught or without alerting anyone." Amon said, ditching Gram's idea.
"So? If you get caught, I'll just help you out! Black Blood is not a force to be underustimated. I can destroy this entire building with just one fell swoop! Haha!".
"Yeah, that's fuckin' brilliant. But, I am kinda freezing my ass off here, so I do not wanna catch a goddamn cold, or worse..." Amon said, sighing. Such a pathetic situation she is in. Her gender didn't even matter, the fact she was seperated from everyone, and even lost her magic was what mattered. Though, being naked was also quite a bother.
"Fine. I'll give a temporary fix." As Gram finished, Black Blood wrapped around Amon's body, exiting via scratches on her skin. The Black Blood formed around her chest, and flowed down to her ankles, forming as a black dress-like structure, even feeling like actual cloth. It very much resembled a strapless black dress. "There. The matter of the blood should suffice. It won't warm you up alot, but it should do a decent job at covering you up.".
"...Wait, you can make clothes now...?" Amon said in disbelief, sounding somewhat iffy about this.
"W-...Well, not clothes per se...Rather, a construct that is..."flowy", I guess." Gram juggled words trying to explain himself. "Besides, making a dress is stupidly easy. Better than making something like a jacket or a high class jewelry necklace.".
"I guess this works for now..." With that said, Amon walked down the stairs of the building, exiting to the streets. They were empty, and everyone else was asleep. There was not a single sign of people in the area. Amon casually walked at the streets, looking around. She could feel the cold breeze, despite technically having clothes on. Yet, she was still wearing nothing underneath, and she was barefoot "Fuckin' cold...And here I thought I'd say hi to winter this year.".
She spotted a clothes store, and looking through the glass, tried to look for something decent to wear "Since I'm a woman, I guess I should wear something a woman would normally put on, and not raise any suspicion..." Amon said, as she took a step back "Like Lamia says...Fuck off." Taking a leap forward, Amon jump kicked the shop window, breaking into the store, as glass shards cut her feet, though it didn't hurt as much as she expected.
"Okay! Grab something! Probably some panties and a bra, and get out!" Gram said, his tone being a sign for Amon to hurry up.
"...Wait, what's my size as a woman...?" Amon stood there, dumbfounded by this one mistake.
"...If I had a face, I'd be hitting myself right now.".