Cruelity

"Arlott, you tell us," Iris said. "I will leave this decision to you."

"Yes. You tell us whether we should have this second experience or not," Luna firmly nodded.

Arlott was surprised and then smiled. "Alright. Come with me."

…

Cloudford Guild's base.

It had been a bit over two hours since Arlott left, but none of the people who were knocked out by Arlott had woken up yet.

A few people arrived at the guild, but Arlott had put a small formation with Laverna's help at the entrance of the guild's base that would give any living being who neared the gate a soul shock to knock them out.

When Arlott, Luna, and Iris arrived at the guild's entrance gate, they saw four people lying on the ground who were knocked out by the formation.

Arlott went ahead and picked up the light silver coin from the ground as a starry white formation manifested for a brief moment before it vanished.

"Come," Arlott said as he entered inside.

"All these people dead?" Iris asked.

"Nope. But the guild's upper management is dead. These are the middle and lower members, and sixteen scums among them are also dead, but the rest are alive."

The three of them soon entered the castle as Arlott led them to the very back of the castle and arrived in the private sealed backyard. Only upper management of the guild was allowed there.

In that backyard, there was a fountain in the middle. 

[Pull that east-facing swan's neck.]

The fountain had statues four statues in four directions around it. Laverna had read memories, so she knew about the passage.

Arlott pulled down the swan's head as the fountain's water stopped and emptied before its bottom concrete revealed stairs going down after it slid away.

Iris and Luna looked at each other and gulped. What kind of things were they going to see?

"Let's go."

Arlott went inside first, and the girls quickly followed him.

However, soon after they entered, both girls gasped, and their eyes turned wide.

It was a huge underground hall, and the first scene they saw was a row of ten glass tubes on the left and right sides. In each of those glass tubes was a young kid around thirteen to fifteen years old with several glowing blue pipes attached to them via tiny syringes.

  The tubes were filled with green liquid with something akin to dark green motes.

"W-what is going on here?!" Iris asked as she put her hand on her swiftly beating heart.

"What Is this place?" Luna grabbed Arlott's hand, feeling terrible.

There was a white curtain before them that led them deeper into this huge underground facility.

'Anyone alive?'

[Most of them are barely kept alive, while some are dead further in this hall. There are a total of 500 kids and young adults, of which 133 are dead. They died by experiments.]

"There's more inside. Let's go," Arlott held their hands and went further in through the curtain before seeing a huge hall with ten sections, each section containing their various experiment subjects and methods.

There were even dead Minions as they used their blood and vitality in young adults to feed their Genome Tree to boost them and check the reactions and results.

Iris and Luna couldn't hold back any further and puked.

"Most of them are alive," Arlott said as he caressed their backs. "But this is the reality of Cloudford guild, which was backed by one of the top ten ancient clans, the Darkrose clan."

Arlott produced water for the girls to clean their mouths and drink.

"So, this facility belonged to the Darkrose clan?" Iris asked in shock.

"Yes."

"Why are they doing this?" Luna bit her lips, her face discouraged and downcast. "There are many other guilds and researches on the Genome path that follow proper rules, and that's how people have been progressing in it. So, why are they doing such a cruel thing?"

"It's nothing new, Luna," Arlott sighed. "The top ten ancient clans and Sage lineage are called forefront of humanity, but they are the worst of humans. Aside from themselves, their benefits, and their progress, everything is unimportant."

"I've experienced their methods personally," Arlott uttered with a dark expression.

"You? But how? Even our Mom's side of the family is one of the hundred families, and we've never met anyone from the top ten ancient clans," Iris asked, confused.

"I'll tell you later."

After all, Kiera was the daughter of the Silverbeak family's previous head, one of the hundred families like the Mespel Family.

[I finished the scanning, but there are no souls here who are capable of helping us without us spending effort to fix their traumas and other things. Let's leave this to the Federation as it's their job.]

'Alright.'

Arlott took out his mobile phone but saw that there was no signal there. 'I shouldn't make a call anyway.'

"Let's go. We'll report this place to Federation in some way, and they'll take action," Arlott said.

"Mhmm," Luna nodded.

"Those top ten families are really scum," Iris angrily spat.

"Don't worry. I am going to be their ultimate judge," Arlott narrowed his eyes as a devious grin spread on his face. 

'I am going to completely contain their bloodline and end the generations so that no more of these trash take birth.'

"You asked me how I experienced their methods, right?" Arlott spoke as he left the underground hall and arrived on the surface.

"Yes," Iris nodded, curious.

Luna's ears also perked.

"Because this is my second life," Arlott lightly chuckled. "In my first life, I've been screwed over by the top ten ancient clans and the hundred ancient families."

Arlott turned to Iris with a wry smile, "Silverbeak family was one of them."

"What?!" Iris was taken aback at the revelation.

"You're joking, right?" Luna spoke, her eyes wide.

"A-Arlott is that why you…Mom," Iris muttered, shock whirling in her eyes.

"Relax," Arlott patted her head and gently said, "You are my cute sister, and I love you. Nothing will change that."

"I love you too, brother," Iris's eyes turned watery, her fists clenched.

"Then calm down and relax. Come, I'll show both of you a story after we return," Arlott smiled.

"Wait. Let me destroy this first, so it's easily discoverable," Arlott turned to the fountain and released a Geocrystal with condensed flame energy as it hit the fountain and exploded, revealing the stairs.

"Now, we can't call federation because we don't want this incident connected to us in any way," Arlott said as he turned around and continued walking.

"They'll know eventually when those people outside wake up after half an hour," Arlott said.

Luna and Iris nodded as they understood what Arlott meant.

After leaving the castle, Arlott grabbed the girls' hands and conjured wind around them before flying at the back of the guild and crossing the river from an unpopulated spot.

They returned to the town in a few minutes and entered their hotel room.

"Now, I'll make it easier for me and you both by directly showing you about my past, just enough so you can understand," Arlott said.

"Get on the bed and lay down."

"Okie," Luna went up quickly and laid on the bed. "But after that, we'll have a good experience, right?"

"Yep," Arlott chuckled with a smile.

Iris also went to the bed and laid on it. 

Arlott sat down between them and put his hands on their foreheads.

Iris and Luna lost consciousness a second later and fell asleep.

It was easier to show them his circumstances as a dream to reduce the burden, so Arlott made them sleep.

Afterward, Arlott sent bits of his memories to them, just enough so they would understand what happened to him until he entered the dark dimension in his past life.

On the other hand, someone arrived at the Cloudford guild five minutes later. Seeing the scene of everyone knocked out and even some dead, that person quickly called Federation, nailing the final nail in the coffin for Cloudford guild.

The only unfortunate thing was that there was no clear evidence that the research facility was connected to the Darkrose clan. Although even if there was one, there was currently no power capable of knocking down top ten ancient clans.