No Second Chances: The Beginning Of The End - Chapter 37

In a region unknown by the current rulers, there is a flying city, a military place where humanity managed to contain and study certain anomalies, called the Ark. This place was under the supervision of an organization that kept on dwelling on the dark in order to avoid being dismantled by those who deemed it dangerous. This city often landed on the ground for supplies and kept contracts with some rulers in order to receive information and create connections beneficial for both the Rulers and the organization. Eloise was a benefactor of this organization and had received information beforehand about the deaths of the earth dragon and Archival. Given the situation, she did not expect to stumble upon Chronos, an anomaly the organization mentioned to her that was recently addressed by massive frequency interferences similar to the one that DD produced upon death.

After the proposal, Eloise coordinated a team to make sure Casamira and the border are still in order, however, in this patrolling mission Charles wouldn’t take place, since he had to be in charge of training Chronos as a new military addition. All preparations took at least a month after the last conversation Eloise had with Chronos, and by that time Gree managed to find a book that explained the situation of Pandora, a very ancient-looking book that dated from the time the dragons began to roam the world.

According to the texts, the prophets were not the only ones who were blessed by the power of killing immense creatures, but also those who could inherit these abilities through the will of the predecessor; these abilities were called “Absolute commands” and were given a name to each one of the originals. This distorted the views of reality in history, opening a path the lead to the understanding of magic as the discovery of the most recent humanoid species. Phil found other books written by the same author and began to read them as well. Sinns and Elvira wandered into the library looking for books of the sort and Nat was lost for a while between the bookshelves but didn’t care too much about it as she kept finding interesting books about the dwarves and blacksmithing.

Gree fell asleep under a pile of books that fell on top of her but was too tired to get out of there, so Phil had to come around and get her out of the pile. Francois periodically walked into the library to make sure there was some progress made into the investigation Gree was doing; to his surprise, Gree also wrote a book summarizing most of the important details about the books she has read so far, highlighting the importance of some specific points in the world where the books described as holy or anomalous by different authors.

Francois placed the book down and walked up to Phil in order to mention to him the decision Chronos took after the proposal. “We require your assistance to train Chronos along with Charles as you are already familiar with the standard tactics taken for military training in Delcyt. This would make him familiar with it in case there is another conflict with the ruler Yan.” –Francois explained as Elvira managed to eavesdrop on the conversation as she returned with some books she found.

“I can also help with that, Chronos already fought me, so I am well aware of what he can currently do.” –Elvira popped in after dropping the books on the table next to Gree who was still asleep.

Francois addressed Elvira with slight indignity as she intruded on an important conversation; however, he resumed and accepted the suggestion before leaving the library to prepare the transport. As soon as he left, Elvira turned to look at Gree and Sinns coming from another section of the library, dropping several books on the ground next to the table. “Did Francois just leave? I think we need to ask him to form another plain notebook for Gree.” –Sinns casually mentioned as she stretched, making several of her bones produce a cracking noise. Elvira then explains to Sinns that Chronos is going to become a soldier and both Phil and she will supervise his training. With a suspicious look, Sinns shrugs it off and gives her a pat on the shoulder before turning back to pick up the books Gree already read. “Alright then, I will help Gree investigate and look for Nat wherever she is; so there is no problem with you two leaving. I’ll let Gree know about it when she wakes up, just tell Francois we need the notebooks.” –Sinns said in a dismissive tone while pilling the books to then place them in their respective places.

Phil sighed and walked out of the library followed by Elvira as Francois was waiting for them at the entrance, ready to leave and get back to the underground facility, where Chronos is going to be trained for the rest of the year. Nat ended up circling back to where Gree was and noticed she was sleeping, as she didn’t have much to do, she began to read the book Gree wrote and the ones Sinns brought for her.

Back on Delcyt, Cristobal was in a training camp that was built in the same facility where the corpse of DD was kept. In the last month the Ruler approved the insertion of DD’s genetic material into Cristobal as a new genetic program to enhance the already trained soldiers, any erratic behavior shown would end up on the decapitation by the tracking collars.

The program subjected many veteran soldiers; some of them were survivors of the Raid of Pandora’s forest, but the majority was chosen given their remarkable history and slightly above average qualities where they would be considered heroes if they applied to become guild workers. The general idea terrified Cristobal since he saw a dragon beforehand and didn’t want anything related to it in his body. Sadly, this was a mandatory experiment and he had to serve as an example for the rest of the subjects involved. Weighing this responsibility, Cristobal steeled himself and let the surgery begin in order to see if there was compatibility with DD’s biological print and his body. This decision was taken based on the results given by Sinns, who was also subjected to this procedure before being sent to the raid. After the month where Eloise was making preparations to begin Chronos training, around 50 of the 200 soldiers selected to take place into the program, died due to extreme mutations which triggered the collars, severing their heads to prevent any more losses.

Cristobal was one of the survivors that managed to assimilate the biological print of DD. The researchers and doctors who operate him recommended at least 1 to 2 weeks of resting in order to be fully prepared for any of the upcoming tests approved by the ruler. There were some highly compatible soldiers within the ones selected and managed to develop some sort of hardened skin, giving them special resistance against heat and heavy hits. Ruler Yan was very pleased with the results and sent a small team of these soldiers to investigate the scorched land that once was Pandora’s forest with the intention of searching for the remnants of the earth dragon in order to research its composition.

Cristobal requested some documents about the next missions that will be assigned to him in order to get familiarized with it, using his free time to learn more about his goal. However, the ruler himself came to his rehab safe room and sat next to his bed. “Every time I look at you I see you more resilient, are you sure you are human?” –The ruler mischievously joked, making Cristobal sweat cold.

“Ever since I joined the army to protect this nation and my family, I was ready to throw away my humanity, so… I guess I am not human anymore.” –Cristobal solemnly stated while looking at his hands, feeling there was something off with his body. “What is my next task? I requested the document but they never came.” –He pointed out, going straight to the point.

“I denied the delivery, so I’ll tell you myself. You are going to master whatever your body can do now, and the scientists will investigate your limits, and after you are ready, you will be the perfect face of the military and head to war.” –The ruler answered while standing up and leaving a small bouquet of flowers on the table next to Cristobal’s bed. “I will start a war for domination and to preserve a natural peace that was lost the moment humanity wanted to play god and created horrors that feasted on us.” –He concluded before leaving the room.

The only inhuman one I have met so far is you; drawing a war will only bring losses, there is not even a pretext to base it on and yet… -Cristobal thought while sighing, feeling a sudden shock on his hand, forcing him to take some medicine he had next to the bouquet left by the ruler.

After leaving the medical ward of the facility, the ruler ordered several scientists to speed up the recovery of Cristobal and send the ones who are already recovered to the training grounds for protocol testing, as well as a sooner report from the team that was sent to recover the corpse of the earth dragon. Once the ruler gave his orders he left the facility to attend to other matters concerning the general state of the nation and the affairs of the citizens.

Cristobal was later told by some of the scientists that his capabilities would be similar to what Sinns could have been capable of. His custom weapon was also slightly enhanced in order to adjust itself within the most optimal range of conduction in order to withstand Cristobal’s power in case his magic got enhanced with the surgery.

Some days later, Cristobal was able to fully recover and was directed to the testing grounds in order to gauge his capabilities, to which he greatly exceeded given he could effortlessly deactivate a new model of the AMHAR series by himself in less than 30 minutes and without the aid of his custom weapon.

The scientists caused an uproar when they realized Cristobal was beyond their expectations since he performed several times better than Sinns on her best results. According to the report made by the research team, Cristobal was capable of running for 20 meters per second and jump without muscle tension for up to 7 meters in height. His muscles developed a thin layer of some sort of fat that protected him from a normally fatal wound such as a stab. Small elements like needles could still pass through it as the medical team confirmed upon taking blood samples, however, the needles seemed to be clamped down by the muscles unconsciously, suggesting a self-preserving instinct the body has developed through the surgery, in other words, the healing factor presented in Sinns could be also seen in Cristobal but in a lesser state. On the Custom weapon test, there wasn’t much of a change beside his output, enabling Cristobal to break through 2-meter thick steel walls easily. The scientists called him a sort of super-soldier, comparable to the prophets.

After reading the report the ruler was about to head to the research facility in order to make sure of Cristobal’s progress. Before leaving, an alarm went off and several uniformed soldiers were dispatched to carry him to a safer place. “What is the meaning of this? Why the alarm? Is this a security protocol without my consent?” –The ruler asked while being pretty annoyed before one of the soldiers reported a dragon along with its guardian taking down several police teams and destroying the southern side of the capital.

A reporter was live in a rather safe area narrating the situation as the dragon quickly swallowed whole a couple of officers while a dense mist was covering it. Normal bullets didn’t affect it and every officer that showed up was either the next to be eaten or sliced to pieces due to the unknown guardian. A couple of minutes later, from the mist, a tall figure wielding a scythe stood on top of a police car to have a better view of where the government building was located. The dragon slowly coiled behind him and waited in silence for the next command.

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