Absolute Depravity: Reincarnated with a lustful System-Chapter 317 - Death To Trust And Compliance
Waking up with a headache sharp enough to pierce the skull, Haruki propped himself up into the bed and sat there struggling to get his eyes open. Feeling a throbbing sensation in his cranium, he felt as though a wagon had run over his skull. Thankfully, however, the hurt didn't last long as Asmodia's passive abilities began healing his body by absorbing the hurt.
Finally getting his eyes open, he found himself in an unfamiliar dainty room. Glancing at the windows he noticed heaps of dust floating through the light creeping inside the unkempt room.
"Where the hell is this place?" He muttered before getting himself back on his feet.
The moment he stood up, something coarse caught up in his throat. Like a ball of steel scraps, it scraped his organs from within. Getting lightheaded from the sudden assault of pain, Haruki grabbed onto the bedside table and broke into a fit of coughs that went on for an uncomfortably long time.
'Blood…' Asmodia thought, looking right at the bloody hand Haruki had used to muffle his coughs. 'The poison, it's killing you.'
"Shut up…" Drawing deep breaths, Haruki propped himself straight and turned to look at the exit door. "Not a word about this to the others."
Warning the mistress, he began straggling towards the exit to possibly meet up with the others. Once outside, the very first thing he noticed was that he was still inside the experiment facility on a residential floor. Getting closer to the railing looking down at the endless spiral of floors, Haruki sprouted a pair of wings and gradually made his way downwards.
'Asuka, where is she?' Although, having no clue about what had happened while he was unconscious, the very fact that she wasn't by his side like every other time was more than enough to tip off his concern.
'I, don't remember much of what happened either.' Asmodia's reply wasn't of any help either. Bound in the same body, neither of them had a clue as to what was going on and why they were both left resting in a visibly neglected room.
Getting his feet on the ground once more, Haruki made haste towards the labs to find some answer. The very moment he entered, he noticed a file of workers roaming around carrying boxes upon boxes with the goblin queen Medusa directing the flow of work. However, upon noticing their master entering the room, the whole operation came to an abrupt close.
Everyone stopped where they were and just stood there in silence, glaring at Haruki as if they'd seen a ghost. Ignoring their gazes, he quickly got closer to the queen and asked.
"What the hell is going on?" Pursing their lips, the queens broke their gazes with Haruki and even lowered their heads. "Goblin queen, Medusa, what the hell is happening and how long have I been unconscious?"
"T-two weeks," the goblin queen finally answered.
Lifting her head a little, Medusa tried to look at Haruki, but the moment her eyes met his, her gaze frightened away.
"We t-tried to wake you up sooner but nothing worked!" She spat out in a yelp.
Hearing a sudden clunking sound from the conjoined room to the lab, Haruki looked over the queen's shoulders to figure out what it was. From what he remembered, the door to the room he saw led to Fay's lab where new vessels for Asmodia were supposed to be born. Reminded of their objective all of a sudden, he glanced around the room, trying to figure out what stage the experiment in that very room was at.
"The army, the vessels, how's their status?" He asked, looking at the queen of goblins.
Heaving out a sigh, the queen finally looked at her master and answered.
"We've managed to create the first specimen in both, the demonic god-kins we will be using as soldiers, and the extra vessels for soul transfer from one body to the other," hearing the news, Haruki gave out a frown.
From what she'd just said, everything seems to be on track, and even progressing faster than he'd expected. Then, why did she have such a troubled look on her face? And the same went for everyone currently inside the establishment.
"Good, show m-" Assaulted with a sharp stabbing pain in the heart, Haruki's jaws froze up before he could utter a single more word. Clenching his fist, he drew a deep breath that turned into a desperate wheeze. And as he drew his hand over his heart, his eyes, his lungs, and every organ in his body felt ready to pop right out of his mouth.
'I'll heal you, wait a second.' Asmodia assured, and the pain slowly began soothing up, but not before everyone noticed the sheer bloody hurt in Haruki's demeanor. Just a look at his bleeding eyes, there was nobody who didn't figure out that something was wrong with him despite the multiple weeks of rest.
"Master, are you okay?" Getting closer to him, the queen of goblins grabbed Haruki from both sides. "You shouldn't move if you're not feeling we-"
A sudden jolt of bright light deterred the queen from completing her sentence. As she looked in the direction of the light, however, she knew things were about to get even messier.
"Master has awoken, when were you planning to tell me that?!" Growled Serena while walking out of the teleportation light, her truthseeker staff clutched tight in hand. "Thank the Creator, Hawthorn had some sense to let me know at least!"
Hearing her mention of a god, the demons were left aghast, Haruki on the other hand, knew that she still held some devotion to the ultimate creator of this world. Yet, even if he did mind, the time for quarreling over it was not right now.
Moving close to Haruki, Serena directed her staff right above his head and began casting a high-tier healing spell. It took her a while to see it through, however, once the spell was fueled with enough mana, it instantly, and temporarily cured all of Haruki's internal wounds.
"Also," taking hold of Haruki's arm, Serena helped him get him back on his feet. "I'm gonna assume neither of you told him about what happened at the camps in Feral Lands, did you?"
"What?" Haruki muttered, still feeling lightheaded from the aftereffects of the poison.
When the queens simply stood there in awkward silence, refusing to give a response, Serena began dragging Haruki to the other room so Fay could look at him and see if anything was wrong with his soul. All the while, she could calmly try and explain to him about the kidnapping of Asuka and the others of which, only a handful were aware of right now.
"Why don't you two go and find that bitch Maricella and Deus in the meantime?" Giving out orders to the queens, Serena led Haruki into Fay's lab.
'Fuck, she knows about them too?' Thought the goblin queen. At this point, the betrayal from Maricella was no longer a secret as Deus had figured out exactly what his sister had done with Klaus's help. Thankfully, before disappearing, he'd gotten Reya's help to get rid of the mind control from the queen's body.
"We're both fucked, aren't we?" Reminded of their tortuous punishment from long ago, Medusa wasn't looking forward to coming out of the situation once Serena filled Haruki in on everything that had happened so far. "It doesn't help that you were mind controlled either, if it weren't for Reya figuring things out the moment she saw you, we would've been in a lot more trouble."
"It won't matter that I was mind-controlled once he realized Asuka had been kidnapped," the queen replied, knowing full well that a giant storm would brew the moment Haruki realized the truth. Turning to look at Medusa, she patted her on the shoulder while looking right in her eyes. "Be ready to escape if needed, he might end up killing his own in case he loses his mind to the news." 𝒷ℯ𝓭𝓷ℴ𝓋𝓮𝓵.𝒸ℴ𝓶
Glancing around the lab, the queen gestured her children to start preparing for a potential retreat. Although lacking essential information, some of them were reluctant to do so, especially when the whole outside world would be out to get them once they slipped out of the protection of Haruki's shadow.
"Not belonging to a tribe, a master, even if it is a tyrant that we serve, heading out into the open now, would be nothing short of a death sentence," retorting to the queen's plans, Medusa had no intentions of leaving just yet. "Even if by some miracle, Haruki forgives us and grants us our freedom, those generals of Atlas will hunt us down and kill us all!"
A cheering roar of agreement backed up the queen of Lamias. Even some of the goblin queen's own children began lining up behind the serpent to show their support for Medusa. Glaring through her own blood-children, the goblin queen scowled, seemingly disappointed in their judgment. However, with so many agreeing with Medusa and not her, leaving the place was bound to be even more reckless.
"Fine…But a moment of potential threat and you're all leaving with me," speaking the last part only to her blood, the queen of goblins gestured them to continue on working.
