Chapter 653 - 370: All paid off

[Realm: álfheimr]

[Location: Dominion of Oz]

[Winkie Country]

"That was a waste of time. That Progenitor barely accomplished anything."

Elena let out a weary sigh as she surveyed the destruction spread across the plains. Her gaze travelled over the immense stretches of ruined ground, taking in the deep craters, the flattened earth, and the countless patches of land that had been torn apart during the confrontation. The damage extended far beyond the immediate vicinity of the castle. What had once been an open expanse was now a battered landscape, its surface scarred by the force of a battle that had lasted only a fraction of the time it might have taken to produce such devastation through any ordinary means.

And all of it had been caused in a single confrontation.

Elena’s eyes lingered on one particularly large stretch of destruction before she shifted her weight and exhaled again. She had expected more from Electra. The Progenitor had certainly possessed the strength to cause considerable damage, but that had not been enough to accomplish what they had wanted. Instead, she had fought the Angel, been thoroughly overwhelmed, and apparently disappeared before the situation could become any more useful to them.

Goiim, by comparison, did not appear particularly surprised.

The Mortifer stood nearby, observing the ruined plains with a detached expression. She seemed content to take note of the destruction rather than dwell on its scale, her pale eyes moving across the landscape. The two had moved away from the castle before the confrontation reached its conclusion, keeping themselves at a safe distance from the worst of the destruction. It had been a narrow escape. Had they remained any closer, Mikoto’s attack might have caught them in its reach as well.

Even so, Goiim appeared to regard their decision to withdraw as little more than a sensible precaution.

"What now?" Elena asked, finally turning away from the plains to look at the Mortifer. Her expression carried a mixture of irritation and impatience. "The Angel doesn’t exactly look softened up to me. If anything, we’ve accomplished little more than getting in his way and pissing him off. I certainly wouldn’t call that a successful attempt at weakening him."

"No," Goiim replied calmly. "We achieved considerably more than that."

Her pale eyes lifted towards the sky.

The clouds that had gathered over the plains during the battle had begun to disperse, leaving the heavens increasingly clear. Goiim watched them for a moment, her expression difficult to read. There was no obvious satisfaction in her features, but neither did she seem disappointed by the outcome.

Elena followed her gaze briefly before looking back at her.

"What are you talking about?" she asked dryly. "Because unless I’ve missed something, the Progenitor is gone, the Angel is still standing, and the surrounding area looks like someone tried to flatten it with a big-ass hammer. You’ll have to explain what part of that is supposed to be good news."

"Prior to becoming a Legatus, you served as a Lieutenant, correct?" Goiim began.

Elena tilted her head slightly.

"Yeah. I was a Lieutenant before I was promoted. Why?"

"Then you were presumably privy to some of the more... important operations conducted by the Retorta Guild."

"Sure," Elena answered, giving a small shrug. "We were informed about most of the major projects, at least the ones important enough to warrant our attention. That didn’t mean we actually participated in them, though. Most of the time, we were just made aware of what was happening and left to carry on with our own assignments."

She paused, her expression becoming somewhat sour.

"Which I’m rather glad about. Some of those projects sounded like a complete pain in the ass – all that secrecy, all those procedures, and all the bloody paperwork surrounding them. I had more than enough to deal with without getting dragged into whatever the Doktor was doing behind closed doors."

"Indeed. They were tedious."

Goiim folded her arms, her posture remaining composed as she continued to watch the distant landscape.

"Nevertheless, The Ere? permitted those operations at the behest of the Doktor. Their purpose was primarily experimental. Various methods were explored to harness, reproduce, and ultimately utilize powers originating beyond our world. The intention was to determine whether portions of those powers could be transferred to suitable individuals without immediately destroying them."

Elena’s expression shifted.

Her previous irritation did not disappear, but her attention had clearly been caught. She turned more fully towards Goiim, recognizing that the Mortifer was no longer speaking about some insignificant research project.

"Project Malady," Goiim continued.

"Yeah, I remember that one."

Elena’s eyes narrowed slightly as she recalled what she had been told.

"Using portions of some of the Foreign Gods to empower ordinary people, wasn’t it? At least, that was the general idea. Take individuals who were otherwise unremarkable, expose them to fragments of something that shouldn’t belong in this world, and see whether they could survive long enough to make use of it."

"That is a reasonable summary," Goiim replied. "Although the selection process was considerably more restrictive than that description suggests."

She adjusted her folded arms, her pale eyes remaining fixed on the distant plains.

"The candidates required an unusually high tolerance for mana, as well as a sufficient degree of compatibility with foreign powers. Their bodies and minds needed to withstand influences that were fundamentally incompatible with ordinary existence. Even then, the requirements were rare enough. Most candidates died during the process, unable to endure even a sliver of a Foreign God’s power."

Her voice remained the same.

"Some succumbed before the transfer could be completed. Others survived the initial exposure but deteriorated afterwards. Their bodies could not contain what had been introduced into them, and their minds were often the first things to suffer. The project produced very few results that could be considered useful."

Elena listened without interrupting. Her gaze shifted towards the ruined castle, then returned to Goiim.

"Where exactly are you going with this?"

"This Progenitor appears to have been a former candidate."

Goiim delivered the revelation without any emphasis, as though she were presenting a simple conclusion she had already reached.

Elena stared at her.

"What?"

For the first time since their conversation began, her expression showed genuine confusion.

"Hold on. A candidate? You mean Electra? That Progenitor we just watched fight the Angel? I thought Project Malady only accepted pure humans. That was one of the requirements, wasn’t it? Their bodies had to be compatible with the process before they could even consider introducing foreign power into them."

She frowned.

"I’d think it would be significant if the Guild had somehow managed to capture a Deseruit Beast Progenitor and use it as a candidate. Something like that wouldn’t some minor development. You’d expect there to be records or at least some indication that we’d acquired something of that importance."

"That is precisely what makes the situation strange."

Goiim’s expression became slightly more contemplative.

She looked down towards the plains again, her attention settling on the place where Electra and Mikoto had fought. The destruction itself offered little information, but the circumstances surrounding the Progenitor had given her something considerably more interesting to consider.

"There are no reports indicating that such an operation ever took place. The records concerning Progenitors are limited to a few specific incidents. Most notably, the Mother of Monsters and the business involving Koschei."

Her voice lowered slightly as she considered it.

"Nothing in the available documentation suggests that Electra was ever captured, studied, or brought into contact with Project Malady. If she was involved, then the operation was either conducted without the usual reporting procedures or deliberately omitted from the records. Neither possibility is particularly reassuring."

"That Doktor fucker was in charge of the project, wasn’t he?" Elena remarked.

She brought a hand to her hip, her expression shifting.

"Then maybe he hid something. It wouldn’t exactly be the first time he’d kept information to himself, especially if he thought it would benefit whatever little experiment he was conducting. The bastard had a habit of treating everyone else like they were too stupid to understand what he was doing."

She paused, then narrowed her eyes at Goiim.

"Wait, scratch that. Are we even sure Electra was a candidate in the first place? You’re making it sound like a certainty. What makes you so confident?"

"I am certain."

Goiim answered without hesitation.

"That foreign power is unmistakable. I have encountered enough traces of it to recognize its presence, and what I sensed within Electra was not merely similar to the power associated with the Foreign Gods. It was the same."

She allowed a brief silence to settle before continuing.

"How a Deseruit Beast Progenitor came to be considered suitable for the project, or how she came into contact with it in the first place, remains unknown. There are several possibilities, but none that I can confirm at present."

Her pale eyes narrowed faintly.

"What I can confirm is that the portion of foreign power attached to her has now transferred to the Angel."

Elena’s expression changed again.

"Transferred to him?"

She glanced towards the distant plains, where Mikoto had last been standing.

"What does that mean for us? I remember hearing that most of the candidates were driven mad by the power they received. Some couldn’t withstand it at all, and the ones who did survive weren’t exactly known for remaining stable. But we’re talking about an Angel here. Whatever happened to those people, I doubt we can simply assume the same thing will happen to him."

"Indeed."

Goiim did not dismiss the concern.

"An Angel is not an ordinary candidate, and we should not assume that the effects will be identical. His constitution, abilities, and the nature of his existence may allow him to endure influences that would have destroyed the others. It is also possible that the foreign power will behave differently once attached to someone of his nature."

She briefly lowered her gaze.

"Nevertheless, this development may provide us with an opening. Perhaps a considerably earlier one than we originally anticipated."

Elena looked at her, waiting for the explanation.

"Coupled with the unpredictability of today’s events and Morgan’s weapon, we are approaching a point where nearly all the necessary pieces are in place," Goiim continued. "We have gained information we did not possess before, and the Angel may now be carrying something that could eventually work to our advantage. It is not an outcome I would have planned for, but that does not make it any less useful."

Her voice remained the same even now.

"However, I would advise you not to become complacent simply because we have acquired these advantages. We still do not understand the full extent of his capabilities, and we know even less about the foreign presence now attached to him. Whatever opportunity this creates, it will not necessarily remain available for long."

She turned her pale eyes towards Elena.

"Prey tend to be more violent the closer they are to death. An injured animal may be desperate, but a cornered one can be considerably more dangerous. The same principle applies here. Do not mistake the possibility of an opening for proof that we have gained control of the situation."

Elena raised a brow.

"Are those your fancy hunter instincts kicking in?"

Her tone was lightly teasing, though she had clearly taken the warning seriously. She knew Goiim was not one to offer advice without reason, especially when the subject concerned an opponent they had yet to properly understand.

"You’ve been watching that fight like you’re tracking some wounded animal. Should I be expecting you to start sniffing the ground next, or is this just your way of telling me not to get too comfortable?"

"You could say that."

Goiim’s reply was brief.

She lowered her arms, allowing them to rest at her sides. Her attention shifted away from the plains, and for a moment, she seemed to consider the next course of action.

"Now, I suppose it is time I reconvene with them."