Chapter 6: Iris Midgar

"What do you mean you won't send any more Possessed here!?" Shouted a Cult researcher with black hair wearing glasses and a lab coat in an underground facility in the Capital of Midgar.

"I meant what I said. The Everick branch is under new management and he's doing his own research." Answered a knight from Everick branch.

"What research could he possibly do with the precious Compatibles!?"

"You remember the corpse of the monster we sent you the other day? That was his handiwork. In just a short amount of time he was able to create such a thing while you haven't made any progress with your research."

"Who the hell is he!?"

"His name is Necromancer and he has been promoted to First Child recently under direct orders from Lord Fenrir himself."

"Tch! Though if he's the one responsible for creating that monster, then perhaps I could learn much from hi-"

"I hope you're not planning on leaving your duties here, scientist. Remember who financed all your research." Said a blond haired handsome man who entered the room unannounced.

"M-Marquis Zenon! I-"

"I don't want to hear it. What I do want to hear is this Necromancer guy. Tell me more, knight."

It's been a few days since I officially joined the Cult. I secretly bought several more lands within and outside Everick and had my new undead workers dig holes in order to build underground lairs for me.

For now, the main hideout I used, which is known by the Cult, is the very basement where I used to experiment with No. 001 and 002.

The damage on the house above caused by No. 002 escaping is currently being fixed by carpenters, who are ignorant of the horrors that dwell below.

I had my undead workers dig deeper in order to provide me more space. The undead workers were victims of my murder spree while the mutilated knights I killed during my visit to Gilfried's garrison serve as guards after I reattached their limbs and fixed their damages using magic.

For now I am researching the similarities between the Possessed's blood and the Red Pills the Cult provided me. I noticed organic elements contained within the Red Pills which I conclude to be extracted from Possession victims.

Where do they come from? Gilfried seem to mention that they were descendants of Heroes, particularly the Three Heroes who defeated Diablos.

So the descendants of Heroes inherited mutated genes from the Heroes but were unable to properly control them? Is that why they had Magical Overload, a condition that the people of this world called Demonic Possession?

But how did the Three Heroes obtain their mutated genes? From Diablos himself? What an interesting plot twist that would be. It's also curious that they only show up in female descendants.

My family is a descendant of the heroes and thus I tried analyzing my own blood and found nothing alien or mutated.

Perhaps that's why the Cult has been desperate to harness this power, sacrificing many girls and women in the process. No matter. I shall harness it too. In fact, I must go further than they ever could.

The Cult has had several centuries head start but their progress must've been slow if the Red Pills and its temporary power boost and chaotic side effects are all they have to show for it. But most likely the higher ups, the Knights of Rounds, have something better and I am interested in obtaining it. I still need more power after all.

For now, these pills and the Possessed elves and beastkins I have in my cages are all I have. I must make use of them properly. Let's see… Which one should be Experiment No. 003?

...

The incident with the Necromancer's public appearance reached the Royal Family and they sent their princesses both to hear firsthand accounts from us and to allow me to socialize with the princesses.

I am now sitting on a table with my sister and the two princesses, Iris and Alexia Midgar, having a tea party. My sister is clearly not happy with this arrangement with how much she pouts, though it still made her look cute.

Iris Midgar, the first princess of Midgar Kingdom. She has red eyes and red hair inherited from her father which is tied to a twintail. She gracefully sips her tea, ignoring my sister's glare.

Her sister, Alexia Midgar though, is visibly distracted by my sister's glares and failed her attempts at ignoring her considering the way she glances at her from time to time.

Alexia, in contrast to her sister, has platinum white hair which she tied into a twintail similar to her sister. Her red eyes constantly glance at me and my sister.

"So… " In an attempt to break the awkward silence, Iris spoke up.

"Mr. Normann…"

"Claude is fine, your highness." I replied politely.

"Mr. Claude. Then you may call me Iris too."

"Sister!?" Objected Alexia.

"It's fine, Alexia. He seemed like a good person." Heh. If only you knew.

"So, Mr. Claude. I want to know of your opinion on this serial killer called Necromancer."

Hearing the name, my sister tensed up. Iris, realizing her mistake, immediately apologized.

"M-My apologies! I was too inconsiderate! I shouldn't have mentioned it in front of her! Let us speak of it another time!"

"Thank you for your consideration, Princess Iris." We both bowed our heads to each other while Alexia looked like she was about to sigh. We end up chatting about random stuff.

"By the way, Mr. Claude. I've heard of your prodigious martial prowess. Are you interested in having a spar with me?"

"Certainly, Princess Iris."

Before we end the day though, Iris ends up challenging me to a spar, which I accept. We moved to a courtyard where the castle staff, the princesses' guards and servants and my parents came to watch as if they have waited for this since the princesses' arrival.

"Go, big brother! Kick her ass!"

"Are you sure a noble lady like you should be using such crude words, Miss Charlotte?" Alexia said to my sister, to which they end up having a shouting match about who is stronger between me and Iris.

"A ha ha ha. My sister is such a handful."

"Mine too, Mr. Claude. Now then. Let's get started shall we?"

"Yes." We both unsheathed our swords and adopted our stances. Despite us being so young, we are using real steel arming swords, a testament to this world's warrior culture and because we are both prodigies who have beaten adult swordsmen before.

Now then.

I wonder if it's more beneficial for me if I win or if I intentionally lose? Oh, who am I kidding? Winning it is.

"Begin!" Shouted a knight who acted as the referee of this fight.

Iris charged in first at high speed and swung her sword at me. I parried her strike. She continued her relentless strikes and I kept parrying, both of us read each other's moves and gauge each other's abilities.

From our brief exchange, I conclude that she's the musclehead type with how she keeps adding more power to each strike, expecting me to be overwhelmed. After parrying her a few times, I went for the offensive myself and she parried my strikes as well.

She went for another diagonal slash and I jumped backwards to dodge it. Not giving me the opportunity to run, she immediately chased after me and slashed again. This time I deflected it with my sword and hit her head with my sword's pommel.

Quickly recovering from the strike, she swung her blade again, adding more magic power to her slash. Instead of parrying, I dodged the strike and feinted an overhead slash before changing direction when she tried to parry it, which she was barely able to parry, though her hasty parry was too weak and it caused her to be knocked away to the ground.

Not giving her a chance to recover, I grabbed the blade of my sword with my left hand and went for a half-sworded stab. She barely escaped by rolling away but I chased after her with an uppercut slash which slightly sliced her stomach while she was rolling. She immediately stood up and adopted another stance, ready for another offensive.

"You have such curious style, Mr. Claude."

Despite the world revolving around sword, this world's swordsmanship style is less developed than back on earth, probably because everyone is stingy with their sword styles and because magic turned people into superhuman who can overwhelm opponents with strength and speed, which makes them rely less on more subtle techniques.

Which is why they thought my basic medieval swordsmanship as revolutionary.

"Thank you, Princess Iris. I do try."

"It seems that all that talk about you being a prodigy aren't just empty words. It's been a long time since I got this excited."

I adopted the Schlussel stance as she charged forward and goes for an overhead slash which she feinted into an uppercut when she realized that my stance could allow me to respond to an overhead slash quickly.

But I went for a thrust instead, my blade slicing her left cheek, causing her to lose balance and abandon her assault. Not giving her a chance to recover, I immediately pressured her with a diagonal slash, which she barely dodged, another wound appearing on her left shoulder as a result.

"HYAAAAHH!" Losing her cool after receiving another wound while still unable to land a blow on me, Iris poured more magic to her blade and moved faster, going for another diagonal slash which she feinted into an overhead slash.

I dodged the slash, which caused quite the damage to the ground it struck, causing some soil, dust and stones to fly.

While her vision is obscured by the dust, I jumped forward and knocked her out with my shoulder and then pressed my blade on her neck when she fell on the ground.

"W-Winner, Claude Normann!" Announced the referee.

_______________

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