CHAPTER 124: OUROUBOROS

Meanwhile, far away from the ravaged battlefields where the ground still smoldered with the aftermath of intense combat, there existed a place—a hidden realm, veiled from the eyes of the world. It was a place no ordinary person could stumble upon, sealed within the folds of space itself, accessible only through forbidden coordinates and ancient sigils.

Beneath the surface of this secret realm, an underground base stretched endlessly, like the veins of a metal beast coiled deep within the earth. The air was unnaturally cold and sterile, the silence broken only by the rhythmic hum of machines and the faint hissing of pressurized steam escaping vents that pulsed through the walls. Dim, artificial lights lined the high ceilings, casting an eerie glow that turned shadows into crawling shapes.

This was the heart of the Ourouboros organization—a place of unholy science, where humanity’s limits were stripped and rewritten.

Rows upon rows of titanic glass tubes filled the main experimentation chamber, each towering more than three meters high and wide enough to hold a man. These cylindrical prisons pulsed with sickly green liquid, filled with floating bodies suspended in unnatural slumber. Naked forms—men, women, even adolescents—drifted in the solution, their skin pale and translucent. Their mouths hung slightly open, bubbles rising slowly from between parted lips as they hung in suspended animation.

But what drew the eye was not their vulnerable state—it was the grotesque monstrous parts slowly fusing into their bodies.

Tentacled appendages, chitinous armor, scaled limbs, glowing orbs embedded in flesh like twisted jewels—their forms were being reshaped. You could hear the faint crackle of bone restructuring, see the spasms of muscle resisting, then surrendering. Some had long tails coiled like serpents within the tubes, while others had spines now crowned with horns or webbed wings that fluttered with every current of fluid.

Alongside the tubes, scientists moved with silent purpose—men and women in pristine white lab coats marked with the serpent crest of Ourouboros—a black ouroboros swallowing its own tail. They moved like ghosts through the chamber, scanning data from floating screens, injecting serums into the glass tubes, adjusting energy parameters, or monitoring the biological merging processes. Their faces were hidden behind reflective masks, their voices hushed, mechanical.

"Subject 143-B... Transplantation at 63%—compatibility stable."

"Injecting stage two mutagenic enzyme."

"Prepare the next batch. Tier-two candidates have cleared neural load simulation."

Further within the complex, the atmosphere grew darker, denser. A wide, circular room stood behind a reinforced gate, where candidates who had survived the initial experimentation now stood or kneeled within sealed containment chambers. These individuals bore the signs of transformation—some partially, others fully—but all of them radiated instability and raw, terrifying potential. Their bodies twitched unnaturally; their eyes gleamed with either madness or hunger.

This was the Baptism Hall—a sanctum where those deemed "worthy" received their final initiation.

The walls here shimmered with dark, metallic inscriptions—arcane formulas fused with scientific data, etched in luminous crimson ink. At the center stood a towering, altar-like machine covered in black crystal conduits, surrounded by spinning rings filled with floating monster cores—beating faintly, as though alive.

Above them, a holographic board displayed individual scores, each name linked to various monstrous species cataloged by threat rank. This was the currency of power—the higher your score, the more dangerous the monster essence you could select for fusion.

"Subject 221 has reached 89% compatibility with Abyssal Hydra fragment. Begin Baptism sequence."

Bright red lights pulsed as the chamber opened. A young man stepped forward—his expression blank, his body already half-reptilian. As he approached the altar, mechanical arms extended, locking into the ports along his spine. A massive core pulsing with abyssal energy was lowered toward his chest. His eyes widened just as the ritual began—the machine injecting pure essence into his bloodstream. His screams echoed as his body thrashed and shifted violently, skin tearing and reshaping as he was reborn.

Outside the chamber, others watched silently, some with envy, others with fear.

"The Baptism... If you survive, you transcend humanity. If not—well..."

In this underground world, there were no morals, no boundaries—only the ruthless pursuit of evolution through chaos. Within the twisted halls of the Ourouboros laboratories, the line between man and monster had long since blurred into oblivion. Humanity, in its pure form, was seen as weak—an outdated model awaiting correction.

Those who served here did so with fanatic reverence. They were not mere scientists or researchers. They were devotees, disciples of monstrosity, unwavering in their belief that monsters represented the next stage of existence. In their eyes, monsters were not abominations—they were divine creations, born from the will of primordial beings that had emerged at the dawn of the universe itself.

Though those transcendent entities had vanished into legend or had been sealed away beyond comprehension, the followers of Ourouboros believed their return was inevitable. One day, they would shatter their prisons, descend upon the world, and erase the fragile order of mankind, cleansing it in fire, void, and chaos.

To survive that impending apocalypse—to be deemed worthy by their future gods—they must transcend their humanity.

That was the core of Ourouboros’s creed: to become like the monsters, shaped in their image, fused with their essence. To reshape flesh and spirit into something no longer bound by mortal weakness. Every experiment, every grafted limb, every ritual of Baptism was a step toward that monstrous ideal. Each subject was a vessel—flawed clay to be reforged into something closer to the divine chaos.

This was the ultimate purpose of the organization.

Not conquest.

Not salvation.

But evolution through ruin.

Perfection through monstrosity.

°°°

In the bowels of the hidden realm, beneath layers of rock and reinforced steel, lay the underground training ground—a brutal arena soaked in sweat, blood, and madness. The air was thick with the scent of iron, burnt prana, and the lingering trace of fear. Echoes of clashing metal rang through the vast, dimly lit cavern, the ceaseless clash of chaos against chaos.

Here, Knights clashed with Knights, their weapons flashing like lightning, every blow fueled by deadly intent. Sword against halberd, spear against axe, each combatant was drenched in sweat and coated with grime, their expressions twisted into snarls of desperation. This was not sparring. It was a battlefield masked as training. Every movement was calculated to maim, cripple, or kill. Those who hesitated were already corpses in the making.

Each fighter wielded a Law—fragments of natural principles bound to their very souls. One Knight, shrouded in obsidian armor, danced through the shadows, his Law of Darkness allowing him to vanish and reappear mid-swing, slashing through an opponent’s armor like paper. Another roared like a beast, his body ablaze in molten energy as he channeled the Law of Fire, melting the ground with each stomp, incinerating a weaker foe who failed to dodge in time. The scream that followed was short—cut off as the lava consumed the man’s legs, then his torso.

Elsewhere, mages battled mages in volatile duels that tore the very air apart. One unleashed spears of crystallized wind, slicing through the stone pillars of the training chamber. Another surrounded herself in a vortex of petals—each petal charged with toxic mana from the Law of Darkness, wilting flesh and bone wherever they landed. Their hands moved in practiced patterns, weaving spells in rapid succession, eyes glowing with madness and bloodlust.

All around them, the weak were trampled, left groaning on the ground, or worse—forgotten entirely. No healers came to help. No one dragged them away. If you were too weak to stand, too slow to evade, too feeble to strike back, then you became part of the floor, your blood joining the many stains already soaked into the ground.

This was a place where strength was the only currency, and death was the price of failure.

Every fight was a test. Every clash was a desperate bid to survive and rise—to prove themselves worthy of ascending to the next level, to receive the so-called Baptism. A ritual that would fuse monster parts into their very beings. But only those strong enough to endure, to evolve, to dominate, were allowed that honor. The rest were discarded like broken tools, their bodies left to rot, or worse—used as test subjects in other twisted experiments deeper in the facility.

A horn blared—harsh and mechanical—signaling the next trial.

Gates opened across the field, and monstrous abominations were released into the arena—beasts captured or bred in secret by the Ourouboros scientists.

Towering ogres with metallic arms, wolves whose fur shimmered with liquid mercury, serpentine creatures stitched from different monsters, their mouths filled with rows of mismatched teeth.

Screams echoed as one of the wolves lunged, taking down a Knight who had barely recovered from a previous fight. Its jaws clamped around his throat, shaking violently before tearing it out in a spray of crimson. Another mage attempted to fend off a hulking ogre, but her magic fizzled mid-cast. She had run out of prana. The beast’s iron fist crushed her skull like fruit. It was gruesomely beautiful sight.