Layla stood before the Duke, looking like a deer caught in the headlight. She wanted to reply to him, but the words she had prepared would not escape her mouth.

It was almost as if she was afraid to say more than she already had.

Seeing her in this condition, the Duke decided that Layla was not much of a threat. He must have been confused when he looked at her. His face looked stressed, but the Duke hid it well behind his mask of blankness.

"If you don't know, then never mind. I will not ask you this stupid question again. Head inside. I do not have any more questions for you. Do not come to this area again, or I will have to punish you for it."

The Duke spoke harshly this time, and Layla took no chances to do anything before walking past the Duke to protect her identity.

Her heart almost lept in her throat as she headed toward the other corridor before deciding that she had played around enough.

"Luna, give me the invisibility shield. It is time I hide myself. I don't think I can take getting caught once more."

Layla sighed as she clutched her heart before the dragon on her shoulder covered her in magic. The pair finally headed inside, and Layla reached the rumored inner chamber that excluded evil energy.

Her senses told her that this was the chamber she had set out to find. She just needed to push past the barrier, and she would be able to enter.

Layla was not reckless, but the happiness of reaching the end of her mission made her feel reckless, and she ended up forcing the door open. Her quick actions saved the alarm from ringing out as she cast a layer of disable spell before stepping inside the room.

The inside of the room was despicable, and it was impossible to tell what had happened there. The more Layla walked inside, her senses told her that a human like her should not be there.

But she kept walking until she reached the end, where she saw it - the body behind the glass case that looked almost complete and asleep. The Duke's party was a way for people to gather the mana and for him to complete this Chimera.

Once the Duke was done, he would make this creature imprint on him as their parent and use it to kill the other orphan kids.

Layla had no intention of dying (she did not care what happened to the others as long as she was alive), so she quickly banged at the glass before she decided to break it.

She felt sorry for the kid, but his existence was not one that Layla wanted to keep around, especially with the few thoughts that he had portrayed in the original story.

As a chimera, this kid was highly unstable, and it showed in the way he expressed his emotions.

Layla took a deep breath to calm herself down before she forced the glass to break under her magic. With a heavy heart, she reached out to end the Chimera's life. But that turned out to be a mistake.

As soon as Layla's hand touched the Chimera, she felt her magic being sucked out of her body, and she was left panting. She looked at the body in front of her with an almost horrified and curious expression on her face.

"What the hell….are you alive? Even now? Seriously? Just how strong is your life force?"

Layla's quarry did not get an answer, but she did get a slight twitch from that hand in front of her. Layla decided to change her course of action with no time to waste.

Instead of destroying the Chimera, Layla awakens him and brings him with her. That way, she would have a trusted ally when fighting the end of the world.

'Well, if I cannot destroy it right now, I might use it.'

Layla could feel that the Chimera was half finished. It lacked some magic and physical development before it could wake up.

"Luna, let's show this kid some mercy. Can you lend me some of your magic?"

Layla asked in a slow voice, and the dragon hovering above her shoulder almost pouted before she agreed to what Layla asked her to do.

Magic surged around the pair before it began to repair the Chimera's body visibly. Finally, there was no wound on the Chimera's body, and his magic resources were filled up. The only thing left was to take the Chimera out and ensure it wouldn't harm anyone before it was ready.

"Should I pick it up? It will cost me an arm and a leg to do this, huh?"

Layla complained jokingly, but just as her hand touched the Chimera, he woke up and looked curious.

He was fragile, and his muscles had never been used before. This made him flop around like a newborn calm that could not stand its own weight, and it fell down before it could even stand up straight.

Despite this fragility, the kid in front of Layla did not want to show it's weakness. It tried growling at Layla, asking her to stand back and not come near her. It was letting Layla know that it did not appreciate her nearness.

It made Layla pause before she felt her left eye twitch in shocked annoyance.

"Tsk, I saved our lives and awoke you just to get this treatment? I refuse to be caught in this mess. You are coming with me, kid, and that is final. If you want to give me this attitude, do it somewhere I cannot see you."

Layla grabbed the almost naked male and threw clothes on him to wear. Once the kid was dressed, he let out a hiss and tried to get out of his clothes. But Layla's angry stare was accompanied by her flashing magic, which made the kid calm down and look startled.