Chapter 18

The Lord of Vermilion’s Test 1

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3 Days Later

HAA Clock Tower

Nichola Rasputin’s Room

Theo sat on a makeshift table with a microscope and a laptop.

The area was greatly lacking in terms of cleanliness and order one would expect from a laboratory, but he had no choice in the matter.

This was all due to the owner’s refusal to share her prize.

Speaking of the vomit inducing horror show, Nichola was currently lying on top of a pile of books that she lazily called a bed.

With a bag of chips on one hand and a diet soda on another, she went full sloth mode while watching a news report on her fancy widescreen television.

It was a special report about Theo’s escapades in the Dionaea Salon and Spa.

Theo kept forgetting that while she might be a slob, she was actually very rich.

Her items were top notch with a price tag to match.

She might not look like it, but she has actually rubbed elbows with the highest echelons of society. Naturally she wore something to cover up her horrific appearance.

At the moment, she was grumpy as hell.

“You went too far you dumbass. I don’t mind of you blow up a building or 2, but did you have to take out the cable lines?! Because of you, I cant watch any of my foreign shows! And those are pay per view damn it!” Complained Nichola

“Sorry about that. I wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t desperate.” Replied Theo

“Really? Those SWAT small fries were that dangerous?”

“Not exactly. They were dangerous but a group that was even worse was heading my way.”

“And that group was?”

“Crow, Sparrow and Vulture”

Theo explained what happened

Upon being surrounded by the Vermilion City SWAT team, Theo planned to make a pretend hostage situation in order to buy him about 30 minutes.

While the police kept their distance and tried to avoid agitating the ‘hostage taker’, Theo would stealthily make his escape down the tunnel he made into the sewers.

He would carefully use his transmutation to ensure that the tunnel he made was completely uniform to everything in the basement.

He would escape without a single trace.

Unfortunately, this trick wont work on Crow.

She wasn’t called the brains of the heroic alliance for nothing.

She probably had the device called ‘Detective Vision’ that allowed her to see minute details that would otherwise be impossible to spot.

Theo’s heavily modified cybernetic eye also had this function.

And since Theo wasn’t sure if his hostage bluff would be enough to deter Crow and her sidekicks from sneaking into the building, he decided to cause as much damage to the crime scene to cover his tracks.

Hence, using his modified F-22A Mobius One and his experimental Purgatory Bombs.

“Crow and her wanabes huh. I guess anyone would run for the hills if they knew she was coming.” Said Nichola who was convinced by Theo’s explanation. “But you should hear the theories the stupid media cooked up”

“Theories? I’ve been watching the news for the past few days and I haven’t seen anything noteworthy.” Replied Theo

“The funny stuff was just aired a few minutes ago. Check it out“

Nichola increased the TV’s volume.

It was a talk show with a host and experts on the field of criminal psychology, terrorism and the spokesperson of the Vermilion City SWAT team.

The theory they had was that Theo was an armed group of religious extremist that specialized in hostage taking scenarios.

This was based on the random names Theo used when he made demands from the police.

They named quite a few terrorist groups that had the same MO.

It was funny how off base they were.

There were 2 theories for the massive firestorm Theo’s purgatory bomb.

The first was a potential infighting between different terrorist groups.

Only a well-funded terrorist organization would be mental enough to deploy such a powerful bomb in the middle of the city. It was only through sheer luck that the blast didn’t extend beyond the Dionaea Salon and Spa, thus no casualties.

On the other hand, it was possible that an unnamed hero decided to enact his own brand of cruel justice.

Evil people would never hesitate to harm the innocent.

The theory stated that there was a possibility that the bomb was specifically manufactured to only take out only the Dionaea building.

The second theory was the widely accepted one.

And true to FNN fashion, the special report began questioning the Heroes’ unregulated actions

It was funny how biased people can be.

It was more hilarious how some of the ignorant masses buy into this crap.

The truth was much more boring though.

Due to the fact that it was 1 AM, the area near the Dionaea building was largely devoid of people.

The few remaining were evacuated by the highly skilled Vermilion police.

Theo could drop the bomb with a clear conscience.

“Anyways, first Juno now you? Is my room a love hotel? Should I charge for admission?” grumbled Nichola

“If you just allow me to take home some samples from Mr. Dionaea, I’d be out of your hair” replied Theo

“No way! That thing is mine! I already gave you a rock bottom discount for the Eye of the Incubus! No freebies!”

“Then I have no choice but to set up shop here.”

“Tch… do whatever you want”

“By the way, you never said how long it took to make an Eye of the Incubus.” Said Theo

“I didn’t? Well, since it’s technically the process of binding a living thing, the eye, into an inanimate object, a smartphone in your case, I say it would take about a month. Give for take a day or two”

“How the hell does that work?”

“The explanation is full of magic jargon. Just shut up and do whatever it is you’re doing.”

With a shrug, Theo returned to his microscope.

At the moment, Theo was studying the composition of Raymond Dionaea’s blood and sperm.

He hoped that he could replicate an Incubus’ ability to ensnare women.

Just to be clear though, this is purely 100% scientific curiosity.

He has absolutely no intention of using such knowledge to further his own personal goals (note the sarcasm)

The blood was easy to extract.

Just insert pointy object A to anywhere near an artery and viola!

And as expected of the magic race, there was no way in hell Raymond was going to die from such a pitiful wound.

Theo did experience severe discomfort from extracting the semen.

Let’s just say, Theo was tempted to cut off his right arm despite using multiple layers of gloves while performing the extraction.

He shook off the traumatic experience proceeded with his observations.

Theo was certain that he wasn’t going to get any results in the first few days.

For now, he had no choice but to power through

While he was noting what he saw, he received a text message from the frog faced doctor

‘I have an easy high paying job for you. Interested?’

“*sigh* …. Here we go again”

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