“I love you, Neco. I just wished I could love you a bit longer in this life…”
Necomir stared in horror as Sebi fell limp in his arms. A scream that didn’t sound like it belonged to him ripped out of his painfully ragged throat as he shook him awake.
“Sebi, don’t close your eyes!” Necomir screamed, shaking in fear as sparks flew all over his body. Sebi’s breathing was so shallow it felt non-existent, his lips so dark and his skin too pale. Blood covered his figure, it was too much for Necomir to bear.
At that moment, he didn’t even care that the base had turned him into some kind of monster. He could only haul Sebi up in his arms and prepare to force his way out through the ceiling when suddenly, the building started shaking.
Necomir quickly began dodging all the heavy debris, carefully protecting Sebi in his arms. He saw the ceiling suddenly break away into a hole.
“Mr. Aquila, Mr. Yan, we are rescuers from the Ministry of Intergalactic Affairs. Allow us to escort you back to safety,” came a voice through a megaphone.
A tube quickly came down, so Necomir hurriedly rushed towards it. The suction gently led them up into a starship, where Necomir and Sebi were surrounded by people who hurriedly tended to their injuries.
“Please keep him alive!” Necomir begged, falling to his knees as he broke away from the people surrounding him to rush after Sebi who was being wheeled away. “You have to keep him alive!”
“Mr. Aquila! Please calm down! Your stitches are tearing! We need to check your body!”
Necomir was like a beast who only wanted to stay with the person who tamed him. Every movement of his body sent sparks of electricity into the air, startling the people around him. He tried struggling away from the armored personnel that restrained him so that he could be with Sebi, but someone suddenly forced him down on the patient’s bed.
“Augustine! Calm down!”
Necomir froze as he broke away from his trance and saw his sister, Venere, looking at him sternly. “Control yourself. You are also a patient. Do you realize what kind of thing those people had done to you?!”
Necomir knew of course. His body felt too strange, like it would burst into streaks of electricity and buzz into the night sky. Only thoughts of Sebi made him maintain control of himself, kept him grounded enough to not lose it.
“I know,” he mumbled, looking away. “But Sebi needs me.”
“He’s not going anywhere, he will be fine,” Venere spoke, her voice a bit softer upon realizing that this idiot brother actually cared deeply about that person. “You just need to rest and obediently go through the check ups. You’ll see him very soon. Do you want him to worry when he sees you? He risked his life to rescue you and stood his ground before we could bypass all the base’s defenses.”
Necomir pursed his lips and reluctantly nodded.
Venere moved her hand and doctors checked up on him. Necomir was too tense, it made his body spark with electricity so they injected him with calming agents. He eventually relaxed and fell asleep, allowing them to examine him more thoroughly.
With the help of medical machines, they quickly found out what the researchers had done to him.
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.
“His energy space has completely evolved,” one doctor said, her eyes squinted as she stared at the screen with the scan of Necomir’s brain. Venere looked over and gestured for her to keep explaining. “Here, we can see some strong fluctuations. Those are the mutated energy from the implantation, still in the process of mixing into the existing energy. As you have seen in the video feeds, Mr. Aquila’s powers have drastically changed. His clairvoyance which allows his mind to be so “fast” that it can travel into time and space has improved to make him literally be as fast as lightning… I suspect they took the genes from the Screnkron race who are known for their electrocharged bodies.”
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Ktf vbmabg rlutfv. “Pa klii rfnfgfis mjerf vlrmbwobga ab tlr ybvs bcmf atf jvgfcjilcf tjr reyrlvfv. Ktlr asqf bo lwqijcajalbc lr klmxfv, la lr qgjmalmjiis obgmlcu tlr ybvs ab mtjcuf. Po kf kfgf j ilaaif fjgilfg, kf mbeiv tjnf yffc jyif ab mifjc bea tlr fcfgus rqjmf…”
“Tell me something useful other than what ifs, doctor,” Venere coldly spoke.
The doctor anxiously nodded, unwilling to displease this person. “Y-Yes… For now, we’ll soothe him. Once we get back, I will recommend doctors who can help stabilize his body so that it won’t deteriorate and make him suffer like those other cases.”
Venere looked at her brother then nodded grimly. No one knew what she was thinking.
Days after the incident, news outlets broke the news about the dangers of ability implantations. Terrarians had mixed opinions, but most of them agreed that such an operation was not worth it after several cases. The demise of people who went through the operations previously suppressed by the government had been declassified.
News about two of the victims during the incident had also been released. Many netizens expressed pity for the two youths who had been hospitalized, and they wished whoever was responsible must be punished accordingly.
“Such an unholy thing is actually happening without the common people knowing?!”
“As a non-ability user, I find this procedure so interesting and couldn’t help but be curious if I was able to receive it, but the process is a bit…”
“If this process was actually feasible and safe, I’m sure the ministries would not waste time and research on it. In this interstellar age, who didn’t want to advance? Human civilization would benefit a lot with more ability users. But they didn’t, which means they find it too dangerous with stakes that aren’t worth it.”
“In truth, ability users just don’t want us common people to advance!”
“Ability users have different bodies than us common people. Altering our bodies would certainly have repercussions.”
“Those poor ability users! They are young and full of potential, I hope this event does not affect their life!”
“I hope everyone who has done this crime gets proper punishment!”
“I demand accountability and proper action from the authorities over this issue! This can cause an imbalance in society and lead astray so many humans, especially since this implantation thing does not only tempt non-ability users but also ability users!”
All kinds of opinions came from the billions of inhabitants of the Terrarian Star System.
Minister Marshal Aquila felt a bit helpless as he stared at his relentless daughter. Venere looked at him challengingly, saying, “Are you going to strip me off my position now that I fed this news to the public and forced the issue to be declassified?”
“Of course not,” the minister marshal sighed. “I can deal with it… I am just worried about what they would do to Augustine.”
“Is that even something we need to consider? We must protect him,” Venere said, but sighed as she recalled what the doctors had told her. “It’s just… we have to consider his state of mind and what he wants to happen after this.”
“What are his options?”
“Well… it appears he won’t be able to go to school anymore because of his new body composition. And even if he wanted to, there will be authorities who will make sure he is contained.”
When Necomir woke up, he found himself inside his room in his family’s manor. He was surrounded by tubes that connected to all sorts of machines. He had the mind to rip them out of his body, but he knew that would do more harm than good now that his body has changed. They were obviously working, since his body didn’t feel the way it did after the operation on him. He felt more solid and stable.
The moment he woke up, the doctors and nurses on stand-by in the manor were quickly alerted and rushed into the room. A nurse walked up to him and asked, “Mr. Aquila, how are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” Necomir mumbled as he raked his long hair back over his head. They were even longer than before, so it seems like he has been sleeping for quite a while.
The nurse smiled sympathetically. “That’s normal. You’ve been sleeping for a week and your body is constantly trying to adapt to your new circumstances. Do you want to eat anything?”
“Just water and some rice congee with grilled cheese bread is fine,” Necomir resolutely asked for the things he felt like eating.
The nurse left to get what he wanted, leaving him with the doctors. Necomir looked at them with unsettling deep golden eyes, making them feel a bit scared to say anything until an older doctor wanted to stop this nonsense and cleared his throat.
“You can call me Dr. Romano. Me and my colleagues are here to help you and extract knowledge that can help future survivors like you along the process,” he said. “Even if you feel like we are too meddlesome, the executive branch and the minister marshal has already ordered us to do this.”
Necomir smiled, but there wa sno sense of friendliness. He was guarded against them. “I am not opposed. I’m actually surprised I’m not under house arrest, and I’m rather more preoccupied about what happens to me afterwards.”
“We are in no position to tell you what happens after your treatment, but we assure you that you won’t be mistreated,” another doctor chimed in.
Necomir felt a bit uncomfortable, but he knew these people were only doing their jobs. For whatever nefarious plans that the executive branch had for him, he didn’t even mind it at the moment.
“Then, do you know what happened to my companion?” Necomir asked, finally being overwhelmed by a feeling of worry when he recalled the devastating state that Sebi had been in before he lost consciousness.
Before the doctors could answer, the door suddenly opened. Necomir perked up and saw his elder sister walk in with the nurse that had gone out to get his food, a couple of maids rushing in with a cart of the food that Necomir wanted.
“You like that little guy so much that you still think about him after your body has become like this?” Venere teased as she sat on a seat nearby and looked at her younger brother.
Necomir pursed his lips and looked away. “I just want to know if he’s okay.”
“Of course he is, Dad still needs to know exactly what happened there so he needs both of your help,” Venere assured him. “And of course, the public has been pressuring the government so much. We need to show them significant results from the case.”
Necomir straightened up, looking seriously at his sister. Venere sighed, understanding that he wanted to know more so she looked at Dr. Romano. He nodded in understanding and led the other people in the room to leave, giving the siblings some privacy.
“It’s a mess,” Venere sighed as she sat on the bedside. “Dad did some negotiations because there is no way the executives won’t leave you alone. In truth, they want you and Decebal Yan to report to the Ministry of Ability Science to do some publicity. They also demand the right to research on the effects of the enhancement with a waiver that they are not responsible for what will happen to you… who knows what they will do.”
Necomir furrowed his eyebrows. “But I don’t want that.”
“That’s why dad talked to them. Basically, they allowed to let you off. In exchange, they want Decebal Yan to sign up for the military.”
Necomir didn’t even hesitate. “Sebi can’t, his heart is not in that and I don’t want to bargain his freedom for mine.”
Venere looked upset. “Then what do you want to happen?”
“I won’t go to the ministry. I’ll join the military. Isn’t the enhancement pretty useful? They’ll see me as an asset, they won’t complain.”
“But you…”
“I won’t let Sebi be harmed,” Necomir firmly said as he laid down to close his eyes. It’s obvious he wasn’t open to discussion at all, which made Venere want to laugh and cry.
“Alright,” Venere finally sighed. “Why do you like that Sebi guy so much now? You used to hate him.”
“I was dumb before,” Necomir mumbled. “Now he means all the world to me. He would do anything for me, and I would do the same.”
Venere blinked and had a novel feeling. This brother of hers always seemed so similar to the mechas he played with, it’s a lovely sight to see him being stubborn and lively because of love. She never knew this day would come so early, she always thought Necomir might focus on his career before looking for a partner to settle down with.
“Then, I’ll have to trouble Dad again for Your Majesty,” Venere sarcastically mumbled, rolling her eyes before she chuckled. “Hey, don’t sleep yet. You need to eat and replenish your body, you’re all skin and bones right now.”
Necomir didn’t move. His eyes were closed and his breathing was steady.
It seemed like he really had fallen asleep.
Author’s Note:
Oh my god I’m so sorry for being absent for months. I was busy with school and I wanted to take a break from writing. I accidentally extended that break because I was having some trouble getting myself to write. But now, I’m all fired up and ready to go! I absolutely want this book to end. I also want to change the cover of this book hehehe.
Thank you for reading!
Oooh welcome back!!
It’s good to be back ><
you’re back !!! finally (＞＜)
Yaaaay let’s continue the journey with Sebi and Neco <3
Welcome back ! < 3 i like this book .
I want neither of them to sacrifice themself >< !!!
Thank you! I’m doing my best to make this book even more intriguing <3