N.026

Among the many factions born from the now-deceased Unified Humanity, corporations have always reigned as the most morally questionable when it came to technological advancements and experiments. However, comparing those to the massacres orchestrated by the Geisburg empire or the political purges made by the Republic might be a little too much.

Regardless of which one was worst, the fact that the corporate systems were a nightmare for anyone unlucky or foolish enough to become a test subject is irrefutable, not that it matters to me though, I'm not the one suffering horrible experiments but the one running them.

As I walked through the pristine grey corridors of the research institute, the logo of the corporation I work for soon came into view, painted in the reinforced alloy door that led to the test laboratory. A white and gold reverse U shape, with twelve different symbols placed evenly across it, on the center surrounded by the reverse U, is the drawing of a golden planet similar to Earth.

Olympus Corporation is a corporate system that as many others profits from selling their products or advancements to bigger factions and occasionally mercenaries groups or fleets. The divine-looking logo and name are deceptive when compared to what happens inside our installations.

I entered the five-character password into the panel and the alloy door opened with a loud hissing sound, letting out cold air and the smell of disinfectant. It's an uncomfortable environment for researchers and doctors but necessary for the survival of the test subjects.

Inside the lab, multiple doctors wearing thick black coats were running around hastily with medical equipment in their hands. The sound of ragged breathing, muffled cries of pain, and rattling steel beds soon reached my ears as soon as I stepped into the room.

Dozens of beds were arranged in three rows all along the room. Their occupants, children between 7 and 15 years old, were either struggling to stay alive or already dead. Bright blue veins, dilated pupils, and extremely tensed muscles were among the most common symptoms, it wouldn't be surprising if many of them ended up with broken bones and muscles because of the pressure they're own body is applying on them.

It doesn't matter though, physical damage is unimportant for the tests that were running, but brain damage, even if just minimal, will mean immediate disposal of the test subject. As I walked through the room my gaze ended up falling on the most promising test subject among them all, a 15-year-old boy whose eyes were now bleeding profusely. Despite the absence of notable damage to his body, bleeding eyes were a clear indication of brain damage, which means this one is a failure.

A doctor approached to check on him but I grabbed his shoulder and told him to dispose of it quickly and occupy himself with other subjects, he looked at me hesitantly for a second but quickly nodded at me. As soon as I walked away the sound of a laser gun shot resonated through the place and reached my ears. Almost every bed I passed by replicated a similar occurrence, no matter how promising or skillful they were, test subjects were dying left and right.

"Our purpose with these experiments is upgrading their brain and awakening psionic abilities, so any brain damage is unacceptable"

Vanguard Frame pilots are a scarce resource, even more than the extremely expensive intelligent materials they're made of or the miniature fusion reactor that functions as a heart. As long as one has the money procuring these items is an easy task, however is not the same with pilots. A normal human can't possibly withstand the pressure that a moving VF applies to the body, hence you need an augmented human with a reinforced body but you can't just pick a random person or you will end up with a mediocre pilot that will render the frame useless or ultimately destroyed, so you need to find a Skillful pilot, normally found in Ace units of Infantry Frames in the case of the military.

"It wouldn't be that hard if it was just that..."

Ace pilots are already pretty rare, but to make it worse the survival probability of the standard augmentation operation is just 35% and the success probability is barely 12%. Even though nations are willing to risk their pilots, that doesn't make it any less uncommon. As a result, there is an average of 2 VF pilots per star system, but of course, the number rises in border and heavily militarized systems. Currently, the Olympus Corporation system possesses 3 Vanguard Frames for self-defense.

"The data is rather inaccurate though, since it doesn't include the scarce mercenary pilots"

Either way, the point is that VF pilots are a rare resource. Our experiments are partially meant to create VF pilots, but of course, that's only part of it, the real purpose is creating monsters....or rather, gods.

All of the children here aren't normal humans, they're artificial organisms created based on the genetic technology from the Holy Adamant Dukedom, made with genetic samples from espers.

Espers were born after humanity left Earth. What caused the apparition of supernatural powers in humans is a mystery, but they're a valuable resource that nations can't really count on because even if they're not as uncommon as successful VF pilots, most of the time their powers are close to useless. Walking on water or identifying poison is not worth much in a super-advanced society that can replicate those phenomena, but of course, there are exceptions.

My eyes ended up staring at another subject, who seemed to have successfully survived the experimental augmentation surgery. His upgraded body is of little importance to us, what matters is his superior brain and most importantly, his awakened psionic ability.

"Hallucination organ...is a useful trait"

The test subject eyes were glowing purple, and the doctors who were attending to him were in a deep trance. Their eyes were dilated like that of a drug addict and short spasms appeared occasionally on their body. Hallucination organ is a registered psionic ability in the general database, among the useful ones is probably among the middle level, maybe inclined to the lower end.

While we are working on developing this new strand of pilots, Frames capable of harnessing their abilities are also being developed, they're just experimental but if we can make them use psionic abilities like the hallucination organ even through the metallic body of a vanguard frame they will turn into fine weapons.

"Though...only one of these will inherit the helm of darkness"

The Olympus Corporation system has 11 planets and a large research station orbiting closely around the star. Each of these is a department named after the 12 Olympians of mythology, though with some differences, like the absence of Dionysus...or the presence of Hades. I stared at the logo in my black coat, a dark helmet pierced in the side by a two-pinged spear, the symbol we use to refer to Hades and the one thing that gives its name to the Frame we are developing for the best test subject that raises from here, the helm of darkness.

The other departments are running similar experiments. In the end, 12 Olympians will be born, and Hades will be one of them.

"Is nothing but a wet dream"

This is not necessarily for profit but for reputation and military might. Tensions between the Corporate Star systems are growing stronger every day and recently the empire has adopted an "if you're not with me you're against me" policy, and we don't trade with them. Dealing with the sadistic and ruthless Geisburg empire is a risky gamble, in comparison trading with the lesser kingdoms is safer and we usually have the upper hand in negotiations, the Republic is another nation with which we don't interact much, but that's because of proximity, we are too far away from any Republic affiliated system to possibly trade with them, the same goes for the Holy Adamant Dukedom.

"Dealing with those superpowers is impossible, and that's not even talking about the xeno systems outside of Humanity's borders"

Just as I was starting to get lost in my own useless thoughts a commotion suddenly started. A doctor was sent flying away by something before hitting a wall, the sound of cracking bones scared those who were close. Naturally, I approached the place where he had been thrown from, and an interesting sight awaited me there.

Test subject 026, despite being technically among the first test subjects was also the youngest one, barely seven years old because his embryo had been frozen for a long time due to genetic problems. I honestly expected him to die or suffer severe brain damage, but no, surprisingly he was still alive and in perfect condition, even more, he seemed different.

While most other test subjects' veins were glowing blue, his were glowing crimson red. 026 has always been somewhat weird, his body is fragile and both hair and eyes are naturally pinkish, because of his delicate facial features everyone would mistake him for a young girl with dyed hair at first, his rough voice and sharp eyes were the sole exception to his otherwise harmless appearance. Despite having a gaze that could bend steel, he was always the most obedient of them all, but now things seem different.

The steel bed where he had been lying before was not crumpled like a tin can. At first, I thought that maybe he had awakened a super strength psionic ability but those should have an effect on the body, but he looked just as fragile as before. All the surgery materials were on the floor but... somethings off.

"Why are there three syringes?"

The procedure only required one, but there three of them? It doesn't make sense unless there was an error on our part, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Replicate perhaps?"

Replicate is a low-tier psionic ability that can duplicate an object for a small amount of time, but is practically useless. However, this seems different, Replicate only works once on the same object and can't be used on a replicated object, that wouldn't explain the sudden surge of strength.

"This will be interesting, 026"