1 Depravity

Blood.

Blood leaking from his body.

That's all Geraldus saw.

A fountain of blood that leaked from his body and seeped itself deep onto the pavements.

It hurt.

It hurt a lot.

But that was not the end of it.

Soon the pain stopped, and it was replaced with nothing.

His eyesight became blurry and soon it was consumed by darkness.

Darkness.

No, not even darkness. It was nothingness.

Less than nothingness.

He was fading in nothingness.

"NOOOOO!"

Screaming aloud Geraldus woke up from his desk. Although it was just a dream, it didn't stop him from hyperventilating. His chest quickly inhaled and exhaled as the painful memories of his past once again surged through his mind.

He noticed how his well-groomed bleach-white hair was dirtied by mess on his table. However what surprised him was the colour of his hair... but then he remembered. This was not the same body as before... No this was only his second.

However, this newfound chance only reminded him that death is a lingering, inevitable outcome.

"No... never... never again... never again..."

"Master is everything alright?"

Geraldus glanced behind himself to stare at the voice questioning his well-being. There he found a young girl, probably around seven or eight years old in a maid uniform. However, unlike other girls her age, her face was stiff and expressionless, as if she was a doll.

She was Marrionette, Geraldus' personal assistant who would assist him in his journey to achieve his dream. His dream of immortality.

"I'm... alright. It was just another bad dream."

"Is there something that this one can do to ease your pai-"

"NO! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS I'M DEALING WITH! SO WHAT CAN YOU POSSIBLY DO!? "

After the glaring Geraldus realised that he may have overacted, he regained his composure. After a sigh he tried to apologise.

"Uhh... sorry it seems that I overacted."

However, the response he received was just as shocking. Although her eyes grew wide for a split second, she barely lost her expressionless exposure. She instead bowed reverently as she answered his apology.

"No, my Lord. It is this one who is at fault here. As your humble servant, it was this one's duty to always be able to fully realise your wishes. Please punish this one for her incompetence and foolishness."

Geraldus was shocked by her staunch undying loyalty to him. Although he felt that he should be grateful to be blessed with such a loyal and faithful servant, her obstinate loyalty was somewhat uncanny to him.

However, he soon found himself laughing out loud.

"Ahahahaha, your loyalty pleases me. Please stand up."

As Marrionette did as he ordered, he saw the sparkle in her eyes. Akin to those of a puppy that looked up to their owner.

"Your show of loyalty has left a deep impression on me. No I will not punish you, but I will reward you instead!"

When Marrionette heard his answer, Geraldus saw tears form in her eyes. Unlike her usual doll-like expression, her mouth trembled as it formed a shape that was both a smile and a frown, as if she didn't know which expression to be showing.

"Tru-Truly the master of this one benevolent and generous!"

Out of nowhere, Marrionette fell on her knees. Her head embedded deep onto the floor as she knelt down before him.

"This one is thankful to her master! Truly, truly this one is lucky to have been blessed with such a gracious and merciful master who not only forgives this one for her shortcomings but rewards her instead! TRULY THIS ONE IS LUCKY!"

Geraldus was once again left speechless by her almost insane devotion to him. Although he couldn't see the look on her face, he knew that she already lost her expressionless composure. He didn't know what he did to earn such respect. However, when he remembered Marrionette's origin, he guessed this was only to be expected.

As the son of a noble, Geraldus was in need of a servant. However, due to his fixation to alchemy there was none who wanted to affiliate with him. Because of this he resorted to those who were bound to his will no matter what. He resorted to slaves.

In the slave market he found a young slave girl. Her limbs were frail and her body was covered in filth and blood. However, Geraldus sensed something in her that was unlike all those around her. It was her magic core. While all humans had access to magic with their own magic cores, the mana surging within hers was way above average.

As an alchemist who relies on magic to concept their potions and enchant their equipment, Geraldus' magic ability was higher than average, however even that pales in ability when compared to the raw, untapped power sleeping within this dying girl.

The moment Geraldus saw her, he knew that she must be his. He bought her and took her to his lab in the mansion basement. Within a month, out walked Marrionette, a stunning young beauty incomparable to the half-dead slave she once was.

She was the first living human that Geraldus ever performed on. Before he only worked with rats and corpses that he acquired from... miscellaneous sources. Her existence was the testament to his mastery in Alchemy, a true living, breathing masterpiece.

The result of his painstaking research of experimenting on rats and researching dust old books. The result of the power of alchemy

Speaking of alchemy...

"Marrionette please stand."

As Marrionette obediently followed his orders while wiping tears away from her eyes, Geraldus gave her his next order.

"It seems that I fell asleep on my desk due to overwork. Tell me, how did experiment L-S go?"

"My lord, Experiment L-S..."

As Marrionette answered his question, Geraldus noticed how quickly she regained her expressionless composure.

"Was a complete success."

When he heard her answer, Geraldus couldn't stop the broad smile from forming on his face.

"Show me."

Soon Geraldus found himself staring at subject 1 of experiment L-S. He was a slave who was bound to a board perpendicular to the floor. Geraldus called him 'Subject 87.' After all it would be the pain to name every slave that Geraldus bought, especially since they tend to have a 'shorter lifespan.'

When the man noticed the two approaching him, his eyes grew wide as he started screaming uncontrollably.

"WHAT ARE YOU!? THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE JUST A PAIR OF BRATS! Noooo... THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE EVEN HUMAN! YOU'RE DEMONS! BOTH OF YOU! BOTH OF YOU ARE DEMONS! DEMONS! DEMO-"

"Oh shut up will you?"

"HMMP! HMPMPMP!"

At the whim of Geraldus' command, '87' was suddenly unable to speak. It was all thanks a special surgery that Geraldus completed on him. Typically slaves were equiped with a collar inscribed with runes that compel them to follow the orders of their masters.

The fault with the collars lay in how easily they can be broken from outside sources. Even slaves can destroy their own collar if their masters are careless. However, Geraldus no longer relies on the slave collars...

Instead he opened up his slave's heads and directly inscribed the runes onto their brains without destroying any brain tissue. While it still lay with the fault that the slave can find loopholes to commands by the master and the fact that commands wear off after 12 hours, its use was still far beyond what a normal slave collar can do.

Subject 87 was completely naked excluding the cloth covering his genitals, there was also a syringe embedded deep into the side of his chest. The syringe was connected to a transparent thin tube which was pumping a green liquid into his body.

Before Geraldus could even think of anything else Marionette held out her open palm. A blue light appeared in her hands as it quickly took the shape of a dagger. A dagger which was made of blue light. An 'arcane dagger.'

Without even hesitating, Marrionette immediately shoved her hand forward, ordering the dagger to launch itself forward. It embedded deep into the man's throat, causing blood to splatter everywhere.

"Glrrg... Glrrrgrgrg"

As the man continued to choke on his own blood, Marrionette waved her hands. Soon the blood burst forth from his throat as the arcane dagger dissipated into nothingness. This was a mortal wound which no man can survive.

However, like Marrionette said... the experiment was a success. Soon the bloodflow slowed down before the entire wound disappeared from sight entirely. It was as if he was never harmed. The man looked around wide eyed, scared and confused.

As Geraldus wrote down the results of his newly invented health potion, he issued Marrionette another order.

"Alright... Seeing that the potion works against deep cuts that would count as mortal wounds, we should now experiment with how the potion affects different kinds of injuries"

"Different kinds of injuries my lord? Forgive this one but this one requires you to be more specific please."

Geraldus smiled with glee after realising that he is once step closer to his dream of immortality. Potions that can heal mortal wounds are just the beginning. If things were to progress at the rate they were now, Geraldus can make a truly immortal body. With this in mind, Geraldus cheerfully gave Marrionette his next order.

"You can start by burning him."