“……Experiment 214 failed.”
Asaga climbed out of the cranial apparatus, drenched in cold sweat.
He forced himself to endure the pain from the incision on the back of his head, his hands and feet trembling, and went to the shower to clean up.
During his time in the experimental facility, his black curly hair had grown longer without anyone to trim it.
When his long hair draped over his brown, solid muscles, it looked like the thick mane of a top racehorse, each strand gleaming with a luxurious, silky luster.
As he turned off the shower, he heard voices from the other stalls.
“…The experiment progress has stalled for too long. His Majesty has probably given up. I feel like he hasn’t visited the lab in a long time…”
“I wouldn’t say given up. After all, there are Wolf Knights among the gladiators His Majesty brought back. One way or another, he is determined to find a way with ‘this thing’.”
They referred to Asaga as ‘this thing.’
“When will this nightmare end? Every day I work beside him, adjusting the instruments, my heart is in my throat… Hey, have you heard he’s a famous gladiator among the Star Pirates? No one knows how many Imperial soldiers he’s killed. The Star Pirates have raised him as their hound. And yet, His Majesty, who cherishes the Wolf Knights so much, dares to bring such a notorious killer back to the Capital…”
“Shut up! His Majesty only wants a good test subject! If it weren’t for his regenerative abilities, given His Majesty’s temperament, he would have been torn limb by limb the first time he was captured, just to serve as a warning to the Star Pirates!”
Asaga’s hand froze as he reached for a towel.
“His Majesty has been incredibly busy lately!” a new voice joined in. “Haven’t you heard? Hermann Heidrich has returned to the Capital, and all the nobles know that His Majesty is preparing a triumphal celebration and victory banquet for him.”
The others were surprised. “Is it Major General Heidrich? I’ve heard about him. Since his first command, he’s never lost a battle. Even in his student days, he was undefeated in simulated training. It’s hard to believe such a legendary figure exists!”
“Well, after his promotion ceremony, he’ll be a full general. In the nine hundred years of the Galactic Empire, Heidrich will be the first general under thirty. He’s a once-in-a-century military genius.”
“No wonder His Majesty dotes on him. The nobles, with nothing better to do, spread those disrespectful rumors. His rapid promotion is enviable, and even the triumph banquet is personally prepared by His Majesty. It seems His Majesty doesn’t trust anyone else with it…”
The group walked away, laughing and chatting.
The shower room was left with only the cold, lingering steam.
The brown-skinned man stood alone on the tiled floor, holding his towel, head bowed.
“001, please provide your most memorable experience.”
The experiments continued to fail.
This time, as he lay semi-conscious on the operating table, he saw the lab ceiling lights turn a seeping crimson once more.
“…Look at her, still clinging to Asaga!”
The jeering laughter of the Star Pirates stung his ears.
A pair of small hands hugged his neck, and the desperate tears of a girl streamed down his bare back.
“She looks no more than seven or eight, already knowing the appeal of a real man? Boss, has Asaga ever had a woman before? He’s the greatest contributor to wiping out the militia in this star sector. Maybe we should give him this one first…?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Vulgar laughter.
Ccv atf lcmgfjrlcuis ibev atewqlcu bo tlr tfjga.
“Tbe kjca tfg vfjv? Lfg wbatfg vlvc’a ijra ibcu, jcv atlr ilaaif bcf kbc’a flatfg. P vbc’a ojcms mbgqrfr. Crjuj, qlmx tfg eq.”
Lfjgayfja.
Ktf qbecvlcu bo tlr tfjga, ilxf kjg vgewr.
“Lbiv tfg qgbqfgis! Po rtf xlmxr wf, P’ii mjragjaf sbe ybat!”
“Damn, this collar is getting harder to control. We’ll need a tech to reset it when we reach the exchange point…”
The drum-like heartbeats merged into a rumbling thunder.
The child’s scream pierced his neck.
Obscene jokes.
The clink of a belt being unbuckled.
Zzz.
A faint noise in his brain, like something burning through.
The brown-skinned slave placed the girl on the ground.
The golden-eyed beast rose slowly from the shadows.
“…”
“…What?! Shit… Shit!!!”
“Boss!! Damn… Shoot him!! Shoot!!!”
“…Asaga… He bit the boss to death…!”
“Shoot!! Shoot until the whole clip is empty!!”
Blood filled his vision. Before the last bit of his sight was obscured, he saw the girl throwing herself over her mother’s naked body, trying to protect her.
But the scorching beam of light engulfed them in an instant.
Then he fell back into the stinking darkness.
…
“…”
“…Asaga, how are you adapting to life in the lab?”
Asaga slowly raised his gaze.
The bald, chubby man in front of him was probably the head of the Imperial Science Bureau and the Empire’s Minister of National Defense and Technology. He had accompanied Nero last time.
The Minister of National Defense and Technology rarely appeared in the lab, but every time he came to collect experimental data, he would check on Asaga.
Asaga’s lips moved, but he swallowed his words.
He lowered his hand, dripping with dark blood, and simply nodded.
The Minister of National Defense and Technology sighed. “You still don’t like to talk.”
Asaga’s frequency of bathing increased daily.
He continued to dream of Nero’s appearance, but with it came increasing fear.
The dark past was consuming him. This wasn’t the first time, but intense fighting previously destroyed one’s sanity, leaving no time to ponder the crimes committed.
The sins of his past made even thinking of his Emperor painful. He wasn’t sure if, upon seeing himself in those translucent red eyes, he would suffocate from guilt.
Then one early morning, cheers erupted in the lab.
“The method worked!! Long live His Majesty! Long live the Star Network!!”
“Who would’ve thought, a genius on the Star Network found the solution!!”
“I’ll report to His Majesty!! Celebrate, my colleagues!!”
Asaga groggily climbed off the operating table.
He didn’t feel any different from previous experiments, still in excruciating pain.
But as he watched the collar on his neck break and fall off with a ‘clink’ as he moved—
He was stunned.
“…Nero Augustus Kaises…”
His only test was to silently recite his conqueror’s name.
The murderous intent that once filled him was now absent.
Instead, an almost searing, unfamiliar ache rose from his soul, bringing tears to his golden eyes.
He was free.
He could finally face the dazzling boy from his memories with his true soul.
The Minister of National Defense and Technology, after cheering, ran over. “Asaga! His Majesty asked me to—oh? Write a report? Right!”
The bald minister was quickly dragged away by a researcher, a whirlwind of activity.
For the next few days, the lab was quieter than ever.
Researchers took leave, leaving only a few soldiers on duty.
Asaga’s room was furnished with a softer, cleaner bed, and the meals turned into nutritious, tasty dishes. But no one told him what to do next.
The collar was gone.
Yet everyone involved in the experiment had forgotten one thing: the Asimov Collar had a self-preservation restraint, ensuring the wearer’s survival at any cost.
With the collar removed, all restraints were lifted.
The dark past, now unrestrained, rushed at him with unprecedented ferocity.
The silent lab filled with the desperate cries and screams of victims. A girl with a blood-stained skirt held her brutalized mother, innocently looking up at him.
“Asaga, are you one of them?”
A frail old man stretched out his hands.
“Do you know what it looks like when every bone in a human body is broken, and even the organs are mashed into a pulp? A water-filled sack.”
Voices echoed in the empty shower room.
“His Majesty cherishes Wolf Knights, yet dared to bring such a notorious killer back to the Capital…”
“His Majesty only wants a good test subject! If it weren’t for his regenerative abilities, given His Majesty’s temperament, he would have been torn limb by limb the first time he was captured, just to serve as a warning to the Star Pirates!”
“…I’m sorry.”
Asaga jolted awake from his nightmare, slowly burying his face in his large hands. His voice was low and perpetually hoarse, a result of being forbidden to speak for a long time.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”
He muttered neurotically, sitting hunched from midnight until dawn.
“What is he mumbling about?” A guard, woken up by the noise, turned irritably towards the infirmary.
“No idea,” another guard shrugged.
When the high-energy particle stream destroyed the floor and entered the lab through the central system, Asaga indeed had a chance to escape.
The electromagnetic shield’s power supply was consumed by the flowing light.
The lab was filled with electrical sparks, the light from the high-energy particles intensely hot and blinding, as if capable of purifying everything.
It was a long time before the brown-skinned man in the infirmary slowly stood up.
He pushed open the door and walked into that light, accompanied by his silent crimes.
…
But a cold, rose-like fragrance suddenly rushed towards him.
With an almost forceful demeanor, it invaded his soul.
“——Remember who conquered you tonight.”
“Remember from now on, your master is no longer him. It is I——
“The Supreme Ruler of the Galactic Empire, Nero Augustus Kaises.”
…
This is too cruel. Where’s our squad of therapists? Where’s cuddly blanket forts? Where’s the hot chocolate?! Clinging to someone can’t be the solution : (
thank you for the chapter!!
literal tears streaming down my face rn