Corrupt Creations

Seth was baffled. 

After some time studying this strange flame, he could not bring himself to believe it was the origin of all fires and flames that existed on the entire universe. Other than observing the infinite number of patterns the runes and drawings were showing him, he could not learn anything different. 

But Seth would never give up, Lilian's life depended on this. 

Suddenly, he started to feel something different. Something that came from inside him. The Seed of Tyranny was acting restless, making his blood churn because of its excitement. 

Seth knelt on the ground since his energy and blood was out of his control. There was a pain inside his chest, like he was stabbed with a hot knife. A pain no less painful than an injury to the soul. 

He was almost losing his consciousness when he heard Lexi's voice: "Don't pass out! Try to control the flow of your energy, or else you'll die by an implosion." 

Seth's countenance paled. He mustered all his will to handle the pain, while he normalized his energy and blood flow. With time, his pain started to subside. 

"What is happening? Why did the seed go out of control?" 

"I don't know." Seth said while gritting his teeth. 

The Seed of Tyranny felt thirsty for the thing that was right in front of it. What was the seed exactly? That was still a mystery for Seth and Lexi, however it was slowly showing its true colors. After what was about to happen, Seth would at least discover something about it. 

A fierce blood-red energy was liberated from his body and a hole opened on his chest area, right where his heart was, but there wasn't a heart inside. What lay there was a crimson seed, the source of that energy. 

Seth didn't feel any pain at all now and he didn't have the time to muse over it, because the Fragmented Law of Fire was attracted towards the Seed of Tyranny. It couldn't resist the pull at all, being totally sucked and absorbed inside the seed. 

The hole on the middle of his chest healed instantly, leaving two awestruck figures that were Seth and Lexi. Whatever happened was incomprehensible. 

Out of nowhere Seth felt his eyes losing focus while some changes were forcibly happening inside his own body. 

Without an omen, Seth's consciousness blanked and he was brough back to the time he was locked on those desolate caves. 

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. 

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Seth and the hundred other survivors were locked inside some huge tubes that were completely filled with a cooling liquid. Each person around the room, was inside one of those. There were at least a hundred of Cerberus Clan researchers working on this "project". 

They had put a cable on each of those tubes, that was directly connected with something on the middle of the room. There was a huge formation around it, a formation that was able to block the senses and attacks from a Mana Sovereign cultivator with ease. There was a huge shield of darkness covering the thing in the middle. The darkness seemed alive and constantly moving, it was blocking the aura of what was inside, preventing it from reaching the researchers. But for some reason, not a single person dared to come closer to that place. 

There were multiple other defensive mechanisms to protect the Cerberus Clan researchers around the area, but all of them, with no exception, were directed towards the thing inside that formation. 

A man patiently walked towards the researchers, holding his hands behind his back. There was the infamous Cerberus ring on his finger, showing his important position inside the Clan. 

A researcher came forward and bowed towards the man that just arrived. 

"Clan head, everything is ready. We are able to start conducting the final phase of our plan, it's just that we aren't a hundred percent certain about the security of our operation." The head researcher reported with respect. 

"Then start it now, the Great One is already impatient. We took too much time trying to filter the useless samples." When he talked about the one called "Great One" his eyes were transmitting the fervor of his reverence. 

"Now?! Give us at least three more months, so we would be able to devise a better method to control that thing." 

"That is not possible, time is up. What are you even fearing? There is the ancient formation from the Demonic Ancestors protecting the people here, do you think that there is something even better than that formation on our entire continent?" The leader of the Cerberus Clan asked in a discontent tone. He was exuding some killing intent, ready to dispose of such and incompetent underling. 

"That's not it, Clan head. Forgive my foolish remark, I'll make sure to start the operation right now." The head researcher's back was drenched in cold sweat, he was certain that he would be replaced if he didn't haste the operation. 

"Attention, we are going to start the main operation right now! Turn on the connection between the samples and the formation. Start exposing them to one percent of the maximum capacity. We are officially starting the operation Shadow Rise!" 

The researchers around the huge room, turned on the connections and the cables started to extract a tiny bit of energy that came from inside the ancient formation. Those cables seemed to be made of a purple crystal and were capable of handling at least that amount or energy. 

"Argh!" 

One of the samples inside the tubes felt his blood boiling as a foreign aura was invading his body. He screamed for some seconds, before turning into red crystals and shattering from inside. 

"What a trash. I don't have the entire day for this, raise the potency of the exposition!" 

"You heard our Clan Head! Raise it to five percent!" 

"AAAAAAAAA!" 

"AARGH!" 

This time a dozen of the samples ended up suffering the same destiny than the first one. They unceremoniously turned into a crystalized blood, shattering right after. 

The researchers kept increasing the capacity until it reached thirty percent. There were only ten people alive after such a cruel experiment. 

"We have ten worthy samples. What do you think Clan Head? Should we stop?" The head researcher asked excited. They were after those who could resist at least thirty percent of that strange aura. 

"Do not stop, I want to push it further. Increase it to fifty percent!" 

"What?! Fifty percent? We will be throwing all our work away if we do that and our lives will be at risk, we can't go to that extent right now." 

The Cerberus Clan Head narrowed his eyes in displeasure. A thick hellish flame danced inside his palms, before he threw it towards the researcher. 

The poor man had no time to prepare himself, as he was caught off guard. Even if he were prepared, he could not go against a Profound Mana realm practitioner. He was burned alive in just some seconds, serving as a warning towards the other researchers. 

"Do not stop your work and do as I have told! I would not mind having to burn more of you if you do not obey me properly." He threatened his own clan members, but none of them complained, since they knew that there was no way they could go against a powerful individual like their Clan Master. It was unfortunately, the law of this world. 

The researchers raised the potency to fifty percent and instantly eight of the ten people inside those tubes were turned into red dust particles, the cooling liquid was already boiling with the wild energy but the two other individuals still alive, were having different reactions. 

Miro, Dyno's brother, was hanging on a thread, but it didn't seem he would be dying like the other people. It seemed that his body was entering a transformation, getting disfigured, blotted with red patches that covered his entire body. He was suffering a mutation. 

On the other side, Seth felt nothing. Since the beginning of the experiment, he didn't show a single trace of aversion. His body seemed resistant to that energy. But in truth, there was a spirit awakening inside his body, and she was unconsciously purifying the energy that was trying to contaminate his body. 

Naturally, it was Lexi. She hasn't fully awakened yet, but her skill was passively working, nonetheless. She wasn't the Seed of Tyranny spirit, because she was inside his body even before he obtained it. 

"AHAHAHAHA! Look at that, they can handle fifty percent. I bet the Great One will love the results, hehehe. Alright, you can stop the test now." 

The researchers felt relieved that they would be able to stop this madness, before it turned into something irreversible. 

They were about to disconnect the cables, when suddenly the ancient formation from the Demonic Ancestors was torn to pieces and a bright red star emerged from inside. The potency instantly increased to a hundred percent making some huge transformations inside Miro's body. The purple cables broke up but there wasn't a need for them any longer. 

"What is happening?" The researchers felt a huge pressure descend on them and could only observe as Miro started to transform inside his tube. 

"AAAAARGH!" "ARGH!" "GRRR!" 

His limbs grew distorted and his height was already surpassing five meters. There were countless red spiky crystals appearing on the surface of his skin and his physical strength grew immeasurably. He broke through the tube and smashed his distorted limbs on the Cerberus Clan people nearby. 

ROAR! 

BOOM! 

Blood and limbs splashed everywhere, as a deep crater formed on the place he had struck. He turned into a distorted monster powered by corruption.