2nd Human Experiment

The bound woman stared terrified at the man in front of her. Tears sliding down her cheeks as she trembled.

'What to do with her? Hmm... I'm hiding my face with the exo suit helmet, but I plan on exposing my relationship to the old man for the ceremony. I'm actually surprised no one has found her yet... Should I kill her? That idea leaves a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. She's just a bystander after all... I'll just take her with me for now.' He returned the concrete chains to the floor to free her. However, he left her mouth gagged. He knelt down and whispered in her ears, "Follow me quietly if you want to live. Try to run, you die. Try to scream, you die. Piss me off, you die. Understand?"

She nodded while sobbing. She shakily stood up from the ground. Ed used his powers to melt the collar of her shirt into a thin hood that covered her face. Then he grabbed her by the hand and dragged her away. The crate he took from Sinless rolled behind him via rope as he walked.

They traveled several streets before reaching Ed's hotel. They went up a couple floors and opened the room.

Yuki was sitting on the bed. She looked over and her eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend?"

Ed frowned while closing the door. He let go of the woman's hand and took off the exo suit helmet. "She's not my girlfriend. She'll be staying here until the ceremony is over to ensure she doesn't interfere with my plans."

"Is that so?" She questioned suspiciously.

The woman was blond and appeared to be in her late twenties. Ed spoke, "Make yourself at home. As long as you stay here until the ceremony is over then I won't kill you. However, if you tell anyone about what happened at your place of employment, then I might change my mind."

The woman nodded and leaned against the wall in the corner of the room. She slid down and held her head in her knees. Low sobbing sounds rang out as she sat there.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" Yuki questioned.

"I thought she might have a bondage fetish, so I tied her up a while." He shrugged. "Looks like I was mistaken, and she's been shaken ever since."

"Who would have thought you have a sense of humor." She frowned. "It's not a very good one. You're better off keeping your mouth closed."

"So mean." He sighed. "Anyways, are you ready to have your face fixed?"

"Yes please!" She smiled and jumped from the bed in front of him.

"Hold still so I don't mess anything up. Also, this is going to hurt. A lot." He warned.

"Can't you make it not hurt?" She pouted.

"I can." He nodded. "But that involves me messing with your brain's pain receptors."

"Is... is it safe?" She questioned.

"I've done it hundreds of times without issue!" He replied confidently.

She hesitated a moment before nodding. "Okay, go ahead."

"Alright." He nodded. 'Sorry Yuki.' He sighed to himself. 'That was a lie. I could just cut off the nerves to the face to prevent the pain. However, I needed an excuse to access your brain. You're going to hate me for this.'

He melted a small hole in the side of her head and turned off her pain receptors. Then he slipped a very tiny object through the opening. Out of Yuki's sight, he slipped a few small pieces of metal and wire in as well. The tiny object, metal, and wires all merged together into a very small device that attached to the inside of her skull.

Once he finished with his secret plans, he began to remold her face. All of the tissue was still there, so it was very simple for him. He had never needed any additional materials to fix it. In just a few moments, he finished returning her face to normal. Then he turned the pain receptors back on and healed the small hole in her skull.

"All done." He smiled while holding up a hand mirror.

She looked at her face while grinning widely. She pulled him into a big hug. "Thanks." She whispered. She quickly let go while blushing and turning her head away from him.

The blond woman in the corner had watched the entire process. Her mouth hung wide open in astonishment. She forced herself to stand up and stumble towards them. She tripped and grabbed Ed's arm. She looked him in the eye and begged, "Can you do that for me to?!"

"Hmm?" He looked at the woman. She seemed perfectly fine as far as he could tell. "What do you want changed?" He questioned. "And what can you give me in exchange?"

"I want to be younger! Make me sixteen again!"

"How vain." He scoffed. "I can do it, but what do I get out of it?"

She hesitated for a moment before she began to unbutton her shirt.

Both he and Yuki frowned. He spoke, "I'm not interested in that."

She looked up with disappointment in her eyes while stopping her actions. "You... you can change my face while making me younger? Make me completely unrecognizable from before. Then it won't matter when you set me free? Even if I want to tell people about what happened, no one would believe I'm me."

Ed pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "Not good enough. I'm already sparing your life out of kindness and because you were just a bystander. For me to put in extra effort beyond what I've already done is no longer a fair trade in my eyes."

Yuki glared at him again, "Just what did you do out there? Was it illegal?"

"Illegal?" He was startled for a moment. He hadn't even bothered questioning the legality of his actions lately. The human brain was a scary thing. The past him would have never even entertained the thought of breaking the law. He grinned. "I'll have you know I did a good and selfless deed. I saved a poor enslaved esper from the evil hands of a group of esper haters. Alas, the enslaved esper died shortly after I freed him."

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment before speaking. "Liar."

He looked at her wide eyed, as if he felt wronged by the false accusation. "I'll have you know that everything I just said was technically 100 percent true!"

"While leaving out the important parts!" She replied.

"Fine. Fine. I give. Yes, there were other events. Yes, they were illegal. No, I didn't get caught. Yes, I will do similar things in the future." He smiled brightly. 'Was Yuki always this smart? Perhaps Flair and Dexter overshadowed her so much at the academy that I never noticed. Then again, I wasn't there long. Hardly enough time to accurately judge all my classmates. I'm also not trying very hard to hide what I've done from her.'

"Anyways!" He continued while looking at the blond woman. "I can fulfill your request. In exchange you will agree to participate in an experiment of mine afterwards."

"What kind of experiment?" She questioned.

"It'll be a simple one. Mostly safe. You shouldn't die. Probably."

"Probably?" She reiterated with wide eyes.

"Right." He nodded. "Probably. There is no gain without risk. I've never done this type of experiment before, so I can't be sure how safe it is. However, I do feel it's a fairly safe experiment overall when compared to experiments I've done in the past."

She thought for a moment before nodding. "Let's do it!"

"Great!" He replied. 'I wonder if I should have told her the mortality rate for my experiments is nearly 100 percent? Nah. Besides, Dupe is technically still alive. If you count that and the old man then the mortality rate is only 50 percent!'

They immediately got to work. He remolded her flesh to remove wrinkles. Several small scars were removed as well. Then he began to remake her face. The skin was pulled tight. Her crooked nose was made straight. He removed the dark spots underneath her eyes. He then removed extra fat from all over her body while making her breasts slightly bigger.

He finished and stepped back to admire his work. "Not bad." He nodded. She now looked like a young model. She could easily pass for sixteen. 'I've never done this kind of thing before. It was an interesting experience. Unfortunately, the changes are only appearance. I wonder if I could reverse aging as well? This may warrant further research once I'm older. Earnest thought espers could only live 500 years. That is just far too young for me. I suppose mortality is yet another thing I wish to control.'

The woman looked at her face while smiling. "Wow! I'm so beautiful!" She yelled in surprise. There was no way anyone who knew her would recognize her now. She looked at Ed. "You could totally become an artist!"

"An artist? Haha!" He laughed. "I already consider myself one. Though I prefer a different type of art. Shall we get started?"

She hesitated for a moment before nodding. She spoke in a shaky voice, "Let's do it."

"Good. Hold still." He examined her body with his mana. 'As I thought. There is no base type of mana in ordinary humans. Hypothetically, the type I use for experimenting shouldn't matter. But I could be wrong. My understanding of mana is still very crude at best.'

He covered her body with a very small amount of his mana on and off for nearly an hour. He had to keep the mana weak and couldn't hold it too long. Otherwise, her flesh would naturally begin to melt due to his powers. After the hour was complete he scratched some notes in a notebook. 'Repeated exposure to an esper's mana appears to have no effect on the human body. Long-term exposure may be a good follow-up experiment, but I doubt it would be any different than short-term.'

Next, he pulled out some vials of mana-powder. He took just a single grain the size of sand from each type of the seven powders. He placed all seven grains on her hand. He once again wrote in his notebook, 'Ordinary skin serves as a natural barrier to mana-powder.'

Next, he made a small cut on her finger. He took the yellow grain of earth mana-powder and placed it within the cut. He kept a close watch on the powder by tracking it with his own mana. The grain quickly dissolved in her blood.

"I can't move it!" She suddenly yelled in horror. Her finger began to turn gray as it turned to stone. It was spreading down her finger at a fast pace.

Ed frowned and immediately used his powers to sever the finger from her body. Then he quickly closed the wound. The finger on the ground finished turning to stone. He picked it up and examined it. "It's a completely ordinary rock now. Fascinating."

The blond woman clutched her hand in pain while grimacing. "I thought you said it would be safe!" She complained.

"It is, isn't it?" He replied. "You're perfectly fine."

"I'M MISSING A FINGER!" She screamed. "HOW IS THAT FINE?!"

"Relax." He waved her off. "I can just make you a new one when we're done."

She looked at her body and remembered him changing it. She slowly calmed down.

"Good. Let's continue then." He smiled.

"We're not done yet?" She questioned. Her eyes pleading for him to stop.

"No way!" He shook his head. "We have six more powders to test!"

The woman tried to hold back her tears while nodding,

"Don't you think that's enough already?" Yuki interrupted. "You can just do the experiments on me instead!"

"Such a kind soul." Ed sighed. "You'll get hurt someday by doing that. You should value yourself more. More importantly, you shouldn't easily trust others. I could easily end up killing you by experimenting on you."

"I trust you!" She replied confidently. "You're not a good person, but you're not a completely bad one either! I trust my own judgement!"

"Well, you shouldn't." He replied. "First of all, you're an amnesiac. You have no good data to base your judgements on. Second, you already proved to have bad judgement before becoming an amnesiac. You worship your child abusing father as a hero despite his flaws."

"HEY!" She interrupted. "Don't talk about him like that!"

"Ahem." He continued. "Third, you'll regret trusting me someday. Regardless, this experiment needs to be done on ordinary humans. You don't qualify. So, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to continue."

He turned around while ignoring her protests. He made a cut on her next finger and placed the grain of dark mana-powder in the cut. The finger quickly began to corrode, and he had to sever it as well. The severed finger turned into a small black puddle of acid that melted some of the floor.

Next was the light mana-powder. Her middle finger began to glow brightly. 'What an interesting way to flick somebody off.' He chuckled to himself. At first, he thought it was harmless. But then, motes of light began to fly off her finger and disappear into nothingness. Since he hesitated, he ended up having to sever her whole hand this time. The hand turned into more motes of light that floated upwards before disappearing. No trace of her hand remained.

"Woo. That was a close one!" He wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Fortunately, you still have another hand!"

The woman was kneeling down while sobbing in pain at this point. She regretted making this deal with the devil.

"Can't you turn off her pain receptors?" Yuki commented.

"Eh?" Both the woman and Ed looked surprised. He laughed while rubbing the back of his head, "I forgot."

The woman glared angrily at him as he made a small hole in her head and turned off the pain receptors. Then he continued with her remaining left hand. He tested fire mana-powder. A finger caught flames and he quickly severed it. The burnt finger turned to ash. Then he tested wind. Several green wind-blades spun around her finger while cutting it to mincemeat. He once again severed it.

'That just leaves lightning and water. Better save lightning for last. It's the most likely one to kill her.' He cut another finger and inserted the water mana-powder. However, this time her finger didn't do anything weird. The mana powder dissolved in her bloodstream and began to flow until it reached her heart. Then it flowed to the rest of her body. He observed with extreme interest as the mana traveled her whole body. He could no longer stop the process even if he wanted to. Everything appeared fine until the water mana reached her brain.

"AGHHH!!!" She screamed while kneeling and shaking her head. Ed watched as her brain cells began dying off en masse. It was similar to what had happened with the old man. The only difference was that Roger's brain cells all started dying in the center of the brain near the mana-core. In this woman's case, the dying cells were more evenly spread throughout the brain.

Soon, the brain cells stopped dying. Many had died, but it had not been enough to kill her. He continued examining her body while writing notes. 'Body appears to have built up a slight resistance to water-mana. It can be assumed that her body had a natural orientation towards water-mana to begin with despite never being exposed to it previously. Conclusion: It's likely every person has one or more innate affinities regardless of having a mana-core. Note: Her body couldn't handle a single grain of mana-powder. She appears to have suffered partial to severe brain damage. More observation is needed. A way to dilute mana-powder needs to be discovered for further research.'

He looked up from his notes and saw Yuki comforting the woman. She seemed disoriented and slow. It took her a few extra seconds to answer even the most basic of questions. It was like she had a time-lag when answering things. He scanned her body with his mana once more and quickly jotted down an additional note. 'Other body cells appear to be slowly mutating. Could lead to reduced lifetime and have other possible unknown effects. Long-term observation needed.'

Yuki glared at him. "How are you going to fix this?!"

"I'm afraid I can't." He answered nonchalantly." He waved his hand while heading for the door. "I promised to fix her hands. I've got to go get some flesh for that. I'll be back in a bit." He quickly exited the room while Yuki's angry screams rang out behind him.

He smiled cheerfully while walking down the hallway. 'What a productive day! My luck seems pretty good lately. I might as well pick up some new clothes and the other goods I need for the ceremony while I'm out. That day will mark the beginning of my plans to change the world!' He cheerfully whistled a small tune while exiting the building.