Rebirth

The scientist stood there in an awkward silence, gazing at Luke's corpse. He felt the pain of failure like a knife was stabbed into his chest, not because the experiment failed but because this is the closest he had gotten to success. 

Moving to the door, he opened it and gazed at the soldier standing there patiently with disappointment in his eyes. 

"It failed, take the corpse away." He said with a ting of irritation audible in his tone.

The soldiers nodded, not bothering to ask questions as they matched in to see Luke's corpse. The blood stains around his eyes, nostrils and ears made them frown. The bulging veins, hair discolorations and change in eye color made him almost unrecognizable. 

Releasing the restraints, they realized his wrist was broken, bruised and bleeding, making them wonder how much pain he was in that would make him struggle so hard he would break his hands.

However, this wasn't their first time seeing such things, and they were soldiers trained to act and not ask. Picking up his corpse and carrying him out of the room, the scientist gave Luke's corpse one last look before letting out a defeated sigh.

He had to confess, Luke was the only test subject that made the most progress. The other test subjects before him all died without going through any substantial change . It's a pity he couldn't go through with the procedure.

Luke's corpse was put in a black body bag and carried away. The two soldiers took the elevator but this time they went to the lowest level of the facility. 

Moving through a corridor they reached a door and yanked it open only to be greeted by stark white walls surrounding rows of stainless-steel tables.

The air bore a distinct antiseptic scent, mingled with a faint hint of sterile formaldehyde. Overhead lights cast a stark, unyielding brightness upon the room, yet fail to dispel the haunting sense of solemnity that lingered in the atmosphere.

Cooling units hum softly in the background, preserving the body's resting upon the tables, draped in sterile linens.

The soldiers dropped the body bag on one of the stainless-steel tables, leaving the room without hesitation.

…..

During the next five hours more corpses of Humans and beasts alike were ushered into the room, slowly filling up the empty tables in the room. 

On the sixth hour, workers of the facility came in and began moving the corpses. They were all loaded into a truck which would take them to outside the Empire where they would be disposed of.

While the Nexeria empire always boasted of its technological breakthroughs and advancements to the public in order to gain their support, trust and commitment, they never cared to mention the amount of lives lost and failures endured just to achieve them. 

The sheer number was staggering, if such a secret was discovered it would most likely send the empire into a state of panic and chaos. To avoid such possibilities, the Nexeria empire had been careful to discreetly dispose of the corpses outside the empire to prevent people or journalists finding out and leaking information to the general public.

After getting loaded the truck began moving towards the outskirts of the empire. Outside the territory of the empire was a no man's land where beasts and demons of various types roamed. 

It was basically the modern day wild life but multiple times more dangerous & unpredictable. Not many people dared step outside of the empire unprotected. 

After driving for hours the truck finally stopped and the corpses were dumped out. They drove off without bothering to bury the bodies or burning it. 

The reason for this was simply because constantly digging graves and burning corpses within the empire can be tracked or noticed. It was best to dispose of them in the wastelands outside the empire knowing no one would dare venture out and the beasts there will eventually turn the corpses to food.

The soldiers dared not waste anymore time after they dumped the bodies but no one could blame them. Even their lives were not guaranteed even with their high-tech weapons. 

Because of this they failed to notice a strange reaction taking place in one of the body bags. 

Luke's heart, brain and organs which had stopped functioning hours ago started undergoing a strange transformation. It first began with his DNA getting restructured immediately after his death. While in the morgue, the DNA of the demon and angel reacted to his soul, binding it to the body in a bid to prevent it from slipping away. 

The demon's genes used in this procedure possessed a unique ability to heal even the worst of injuries and regenerate missing body parts and organs at an astonishing rate. This regenerative prowess is fueled by the dark energy that courses through its veins and now that power coursed through Luke's veins. 

Meanwhile, the angelic being from whom he gained her abilities was a support-type angel whose ability amplified the power of other abilities. With her power amplifying the regenerative power of Maligroth' genes, its effectiveness rose to a level like never before.

The reaction began transforming his organs, mutating them to be able to function properly with the newly modified genes Luke possessed. Once the mutation was complete, the combined power of the demon and angel flowed into Luke's heart and the first heartbeat erupted like thunder.

Ba-dum!

Luke's lifeless body jerked off the up as if being pulled up by an invisible force. A second passed before the second heartbeat and soon the heartbeats became rapid, faster than that of a human.

Mutated blood began flowing out of the heart, coursing through his veins and spreading to all parts of Luke's body, granting it a rewind.

Meanwhile, as soon as the truck left, a rodent-type monster cautiously approached the pile of corpses. With its focus fixated on so many corpses piled up amongst one another it failed to notice what was going on in a certain body bag under the pile.