Chapter : 66
Forbidden Research
—This is perhaps a scene more cruel than the slaughter of an entire family, a sight where humanity itself collapses.
Startled by the sudden onslaught of the smell of blood and the carnage before her, Misty staggered back, lost her footing, and fell onto her rear. Her pale blue eyes widened in shock, a chill piercing through her entire body.
The scene burned into her vision just seconds ago pressed on her lungs, stealing her breath to the point she could not speak. Yet her gaze remained fixed on the hands writhing beyond the glass.
“W-who’s there…?”
From the other side came a faint, hoarse voice.
Thin, weak—like someone gasping for air, desperately clinging to life at the edge of death.
The owner of the bloodied hands eventually crawled up to the window. Only when Misty stepped forward did she realize the truth: the person before her was nothing more than a girl about her own age.
“I-I’m here!”
Hearing the panic in her voice, the girl’s expression flickered with slight confusion.
The one-way glass—only five centimeters of separation—was enough to make Misty see the girl clearly, while the girl could not see her in return. It was as if the living world and the underworld were separated by a thin barrier.
“Why… won’t it break!”
Her fists struck the glass repeatedly, like sharp sword blows, but it remained unscathed.
In front of glass custom-made from bulletproof materials, such attacks had no effect—an undeniable fact laid bare.
“I… I don’t want to die yet…”
The girl sank to her knees, clutching her chest with both hands.
Her breathing was erratic, and the rhythm of her heart was so distorted she couldn’t tell whether it was real or hallucination.
“Hey, hang in there! I’ll get you out soon! Just a little—”
Before her words finished, Misty froze, sword raised. Shock and the unwilling acknowledgment of an unbearable truth crashed into her at once.
The girl’s fingertips trembled. From the splits in her skin, deep crimson magical energy seeped out, scattering in the air like tiny fragments before disappearing.
This magic carried a trait only two beings in the world—no, only Misty herself knew—could possess.
“Same as Mion and Senior Phoenix.”
There was no doubt in her mind. What she saw was undoubtedly Scarlet’s magic. Yet, in a situation defying all logic, this immense power was now consuming its owner from within.
“It hurts…”
“What on earth happened?! What’s wrong with you?!”
“I… I’m not fit… to be a vessel…”
“A vessel… what do you mean?”
“S-Scarlet’s…”
The girl’s voice was so weak it seemed to be swallowed by the air. The wall reflected a chill as if it were freezing, showing back her own broken form.
Pain spread from her limbs to her spine, screams echoing through every nerve. She had no strength to reach out, and her knees buckled, collapsing to the floor.
“You outside… I don’t know who you are, but tell the world… the SMP organization… must be destroyed…”
“Wait, please! Don’t give up on life so easily!”
No help would come.
Misty could only watch helplessly.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”
A scream tore through the space, echoing to every corner. From the girl’s body, an eerie light surged, and scarlet magical particles erupted without pause. The runaway energy radiated outward from her, shards of light peeling from her body and swirling on the currents of air.
In that instant, the girl’s surroundings were swallowed by light, and in a heartbeat—an explosion rang out. Her body shattered like charred ashes, fragments scattering in the collapsing silence.
Not a trace of her existence remained.
“S-she’s… dead…”
Misty’s pupils contracted sharply. Her breath caught in her throat. She felt an invisible hand clutch her chest, fear swallowing even her scream.
In the next moment, trembling low sounds came from the other side, mixed with the shocked cries of men, women, young and old.
It didn’t stop in one place. Again, flashes of crimson erupted in different spots.
From the depths of blackness, every blink of blood-red light brought the sound of bones cracking, the flesh evaporating in explosions. Each time the light vanished, a life was lost.
Shards of light shot in all directions, repeating over and over.
Misty witnessed countless figures crumble within the glow. Bodies engulfed in crimson, fragmenting—nightmarish images etched onto her retina.
Finally, even the light seemed exhausted, fading away. Only the silence of death remained.
“What kind of madness is this…”
Ethical violations in human experimentation are strictly punished in the Magical Territories. Misty had assumed the same would apply in the real world. But that notion collapsed as she witnessed the full atrocity.
Her stomach churned, and saliva overflowed naturally from her mouth.
She was certain that what happened to the girl was a case of “magical turbulence.”
If blood containing another’s magic is introduced into a compatible body, no problem arises. But incompatibility disrupts the magician’s own magic.
Minor cases result in discomfort; severe cases can cause paralysis for a week. Death is not normally expected.
Yet this girl left the world in the most brutal way.
She—the “vessel”—could not coexist with the influx of magic. The energy ran rampant inside her, ultimately leading to annihilation.
This reaction occurs only when human and magic are completely incompatible. In other words, the girl treated as a test subject and the other victims shattered in the prison were all ordinary humans, “lost ones.”
Combined with her final words, one horrifying hypothesis formed in Misty’s mind.
If the researchers attacked Mion not out of a failed assassination attempt but to obtain her blood, everything made sense.
The SMP organization was searching for a body compatible with Scarlet’s magic.
In other words, they were likely trying to create a new Scarlet through unnatural means.
“This is bad… regardless of whether they succeed, this is mass murder that doesn’t care about human life! I can’t stay here!”
There was no time to mourn the fallen.
Misty rose quickly, without hesitation, and ran outside.
If the enemy mastered the power of the Scarlet family—the strongest magical lineage in history—the balance between the Kingdom of Nocran and the SMP would collapse.
The reason each squad maintained its position in Windsea Castle was that Phoenix Scarlet’s power had restrained the organization’s large-scale actions. Likewise, if Scarlet’s power were used by the enemy, the kingdom’s rescue efforts would surely fail.
“I have to take this information back! SMP’s plan and this facility must be destroyed!”
The weight of the grave secret she had stumbled upon could not be offset by an apology to Mion alone.
Rationally analyzing, she realized she alone could not destroy this place. Therefore, her sole objective was clear—escape from the factory alive.
But—
“W-what?!”
Suddenly, a buzzing alarm sounded at her ear, filling the darkness with blinding red light. Immediately, heavy footsteps approached hurriedly from the upper floors.
Misty’s presence had been discovered.
