Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Let's go… I don't know how helpful I can be but just like you, I hold the same sentiment of wanting to save my friend" Glenn declared before walking towards some of the capsules and breaking them with just a simple punch.

SHATTER..SHATTER… the capsules were blasted apart and two bodies that looked like a mixture of a beast and human, dropped down onto the floor. On a closer look, their faces seemed familiar and it didn't take time for others to realise that they were their friends who had been taken to the facility to be experimented upon.

"They are...?" Sophia asked covering her mouth, her face pale.

"They are the ones who had been experimented on alongside me. I don't know if they are alive or not since have been discarded as failures by those white suit people".

"Alright, before we go and save them, you all must promise me one thing. No matter what you see inside, you must not break down" Glenn said turning around to face the three of them.

Only after seeing them nod, did he proceed forward towards the door leading to the Transplantation Chamber. He never thought that he would willingly visit the place he abhorred so much and even had nightmares of.

"Are we just going to leave them like that?" Alice asked.

Glenn glanced at the two bodies lying on the floor and made a pained expression, he then shook his head stating his intention "Let them rest here, taking them with us in this condition might slow us down plus we don't know if they are still alive or themselves or not"

Although the reply Alice got, didn't explain much, from those words many things could be interpreted.

Chloe observed their group of four and felt relieved, she was now even more determined to save all those friends of hers with which she had spent such splendid times with.

Taking out the badge she stole from those people, she was just about to insert them in the slot on the door, when a scream filled with agony and bloodcurdling pain, resounded from inside.

The hand that was holding the badge, stopped midway and Chloe's face which was already pale from being anxious, whitened even more after that wail.

"W-what was that?!" the two girls muttered nervously.

Chloe turned towards Glenn only to see the latter make a contorted face that was a mix of all the emotions.

"It seems we are a little late, the operation has already started," He remarked looking a little sorrowful at the girl beside him.

"No..no it can't be" Chloe hurriedly opened the door and was just about to run through the passageway when suddenly a hand that was as ugly as a beast grabbed her shoulders and stopped her.

"You promised me not to act without thinking" Glenn commented, his eyes glowed a mysterious blue.

After being reminded like that, she could only dejectedly hold her impulses even though her heart was worried anxious about the boy.

Glenn stepped forward, his towering build, unlike any child, appeared absolutely menacing. The rest of them followed behind him.

Simon sighed heavily and closed his eyes, they who were in a ghost-like form, watched the scene with a complicated expression. They observed the room, witnessed the decision of the children to brave forward even while knowing the risk and rescue their friends.

When the [Historia] ended and the place returned to its current state, a sickening and nauseating scene laid in front of them. Hundreds of broken capsules lined up the room, blood and gore that had already decomposed and left behind some stains, filled the place.

Corpses of the white suit men who were no more than skeletons now, littered the place. A dreary and heavy aura lingered in the room with none of them uttering a word.

"Huff… huff.. where can I find the Transit stones? I don't want to continue this trial" Denzel broke the silence sounding gloomy and tired.

Nobody blamed him for backing out, the trial this time was very peculiar in that, it heavy exhausted them both mentally and emotionally.

Lucine did not reply, she did not know where the transit stone was and where it spawned, she simply knew it existed.

Denzel clenched and unclenched his hands a few times, before walking towards the door that the children used without waiting for anyone. Simon and Lucine did not speak and silently followed behind him, they could tell what the boy was feeling as they were all currently experiencing the same thing.

The feeling and the emotions the children were feeling, thanks to the Chronos magic [Historia], were transmitted to them, weighing heavily on their conscience. 

STEP..STEP… with Glenn taking the lead, the children proceeded forward. While on their way, they heard many death screams and wails of desperation.

The passageway from where they walked from, had many adjacent rooms with transparent crystal windows. The scene and the things inside them were so disturbing that some of them immediately threw up.

Hooked in the ceiling of one of the rooms was a hybrid with human, beast and some of the races that they were not even aware of into the mix. The entity had a wide pair of bat-like wings, a base with six bulky legs giving it a strong centre of gravity, a scaled tail just like that of a dragon.

The monstrosity had the barely recognisable upper half of a human with green scales covering most of its body. It had no skin and its muscle was visible through its scaly exterior.

Since it was restricted with hooks and chains, they couldn't tell if it was dead or alive. Before they even reached the transplantation chamber, the scene that lay in front of them was enough to dishearten these children and break their wills.

Perhaps the owner of this facility planned it like that or wanted to achieve this reaction, that he decided to put things like that.

The transplantation chamber was a huge hall at the end of the passageway guarded by two humanoid metallic golems designed like knights.

[Searching for key… key found. Access Granted] a flat mechanical noise sounded out from the golems as they approached near and a ray of light scanned their bodies and resonated with the badge like thing on Chloe.

Although afraid at first at the sudden activation of the golem, the children steeled their minds and continued on without stopping.

The door to the hall opened without them having to show the key again. A heavy scent of blood along with tired wails and cries of children created a disheartening euphony.

The hall was divided into different rooms that were adjacent to each other with numerous white suit men walking around busily.

GRrrrr… a beastly growl leaked from Glenn and his eyes inadvertently took a murderous glow, a desire to rip these horrible men apart, sprouted in his heart. But fortunately, he managed to somehow reign in his impulses and sneakily stepped inside.

Chloe was the next to enter followed by Alice. When they turned around to look at the last girl Sophie, they saw that she was trembling from head to toe and was too afraid to enter.

Chloe beckoned with her hands but the latter was to terrified. Sofie shook her head and ran back towards the room they came from.

Running away, though it was the most cowardly choice, it was the easiest and the most simplest to make out of all the choices. At this moment, every one of them wanted to run away, their consciousness was telling them to escape from this place.

Nonetheless, they advanced while holding their fears because the friends they had spent precious time with, were inside.

Hiding behind one of the walls of the room where they kept the massive corpses of the beasts, they peeked through the window. A group of five people were dissecting a nine meters huge beast that looked like a tiger with striking azure stripes all over its body.

From its appearance to its body, it looked absolutely intimidating. Currently, these people were dissevering its innards, blood, core stone and everything. A huge red crystal about half a meter in size that was pulsating with a berserk and brutal energy, was kept on a table nearby.

"Its gallbladder is quite huge for the boy, we might have to reposition some of his organs to make space".

"Don't be in a hurry, we have just transplanted the heart and injected the spinal fluid. But in my entire life, I had never seen the level of assimilation the boy had shown"

"I can see why he is his Eminence's favourite".

"Right compared to the other two who failed to even endure the pain, that boy might really turn out to be our greatest success".

The group of white suit men discussed while dismembering the bloody corpse of the beast. The pungent smell that lingered around the surrounding of the room, made the three priers want to barf their guts out.

Since the room was not soundproof, the two girls clearly heard what those people said and their complexion became pale white.

"Let's move," Glenn said indifferently, complex emotions flashing in his eyes.

They sneakily moved from one room to another and finally found one of the boys that was taken along with Bell.

The trio hurriedly entered the room seeing that there was no one inside. The room the boy was kept in, was plain with a simple bed, a few equipment and trays filling up the place.

Glenn came forward and observed the boy with whom he had played once and shared a meal with. The condition his friend was in, could only be described with one word, horrible. He was missing all of his hair, his hands and legs were switched with that of a beast and veins bulged all over his body.