Inside a gloomy morgue located under a hospital of Zero, strangely hidden from sight and locked with several codes he had to peruse, Hans dragged open one of the compartments housing a dead body.

His eyes narrowed as they inspected the creature grafted with various discordant body parts. “…I cannot get a clear read,” he muttered with some hint of surprise in his voice. “But it could not be… unless some power inside these things has a firm rejection of time and fate?”

“Did you find something?” A voice echoed behind him and the author almost broke character due to the suddenness of it. He sullenly looked over his shoulder to see Nyx emerge from the shadows of the murky room and glance at the Grafted’s body.

“…even Xiorra must have issues sensing you,” Hans uttered and the only thing she did in response was smile faintly. He huffed and pointed at the cold corpse.

“This here; a Grafted, labeled that way by Kratos. This one specifically has its structure composed of exactly 16 different creatures. Like the others of its kind, the core component is a Host. A human one in this case, as well.”

“Estimated physical attributes; 50,” he added whilst prodding the body with a scalpel lying nearby. “These chimeras have three evolution stages named ‘Blank’, ‘Gray’, and ‘Black’. The latter signifies they have reformed their soul and mind after conversion. Interestingly enough, they retain their capability as Hosts. This specific one died as a Level 1, however.”

“In the Arena, right?” Nyx remarked and he nodded. “I was watching the broadcast earlier; these Grafted are being tested through the fights in the competition, aren’t they?”

“That would be the most rational theory. This is all I can ‘read’ from this point.”

Nyx quietly nodded and walked to the other side of the morgue tray. She hovered her hand above the Grafted with her eyes closed, Hans scowling at her. He could feel her gather her divinity, then pour it out through her palm. It was an innovative scanning method, he admitted.

After a short moment, her breath shortened and she pulled her hand back with widened eyes. “It’s not possible… no, technically, it could be done…” She muttered disbelievingly.

Hans raised an eyebrow. “Something I should know?”

“…ever heard of the Spawn of Pandora?” The goddess said gravely.

The author’s expression twitched and looked back at the Grafted. “Are you telling me that…?”

She nodded and sighed. “Rakna’s not going to like this…”

* * *

“| …what? |” Rakna uttered emotionlessly, even managing to send a shiver down Hans’ spine who was listening through the communicator after Nyx encouraged him to be the one to explain.

‘That girl scammed me…’ The author grumbled internally and sighed. “You heard it right, Xiorra. The thing that is powering those Grafted is Pandora’s Curse. A term made to refer to the alien-like energy harnessed by the Téra.”

“| … |”

Hans decided to continue after hearing nothing but silence, “I do not know if you are aware, but a Téras is born from an accumulation of aura leaked by living beings. Mana and mind come together to create these creatures of no set shape or race.”

“They are born with twisted bodies, based on all sorts of animals of which the image was extracted from the mental residues used in their creation. Only those of extreme power have a clear shape. I have heard of a Téras no different than a rabbit capable of killing Gods.”

“The one factor that enables such a creation to occur is called Pandora’s Curse,” Hans repeated. “It is quite literally a curse cast on the world itself by Pandora so that these things can see the light of the day. In conclusion, someone somehow sublimated the Curse and injected it into bodies with various types of residual aura and mind; effectively engendering artificial Téra.”

“Interestingly enough, or perhaps terrifyingly, the Grafted can be considered Half-Human, Half-Téras once they reach a point of their evolution where their soul and spirit are revived. Souls are not something Téra possess, after all. Their power does not even rely on mana. Who knows what would happen if they were to be connected to Magic Circuits? In turn, I realize now that they must have needed Zero to properly engineer these things without the ‘World’ interfering.”

“| … |”

“…Xiorra?” Hans scowled and gave a side glance at Nyx who shook her head. “Are you still here?”

“| I am, |” the reply came in snappily. It was still unceremoniously cold, but instead of a blank tone, what the author could hear was suppressed anger. “| Thank you for informing me… I had a hunch and it unfortunately was right. Do you have a method to get rid of them? |”

“As in a weakness? Well, their soul makes for one already,” Hans nodded to himself. “Normal Téra do not possess one, so that is evidently an angle to consider, as you probably already know. Other than that? There are chances they cannot survive for long in an environment with Magic Circuits, so it would suggest that not only do they have a limited lifespan, but the process will also speed up if they use their Curse to fight.”

“| I see. Good job. Now that we know the stakes, I can’t waste any more time. The only people who could possibly do what you just told me should be other Téra. If that’s true, there are high chances something like an Abyss Téras is involved. |”

Hans raised an eyebrow as he heard the spike of vitriol in that last mention. He would have to ask the woman who trapped him in this call for an explanation afterward.

“| Those things should be avoided. One might have seen you already. |”

“Indeed,” Hand could only agree. “That feeling might have possibly been a Téras. It would justify why I have not been able to detect it. My Cursive Insight cannot pierce through their fate for they do not have one.”

“| And therefore, all the more reason to end this as fast as possible. I’ll be moving tomorrow to kill Bora then directly head to the Terminal. I checked its location in Antanasia, and as I feared, the reflection didn’t appear, so make do with what you have. Nyx, I want you to stay with Hans for now in case you are compromised, but when I call you, please be ready to join me. I already have plans to set up a distraction, so your support might be needed. |”

The goddess nodded as she heard the instruction through her own device.

“| And Hans, only clear the defenses around the Terminal at my signal. I’ll be sending you another Eion Bot carrying the item Eva gave me to hijack the Plateau. Use it when you can. |”

“…that is a tall order,” the author uttered and repositioned his glasses. “But, understood. I will try my best.”

“| Good, if you struggle, Nyx and I will come to help you. Before that, try buying some credits, and use them to trade exit crystals. If we’re backed up into a corner, we’ll use those to flee. Otherwise, assuming they will cease to work once the Plateau is recovered, we’ll System-transfer out of here or use my wings if the situation gets out of control. |”

““Understood,”” Nyx and Hans replied at the same time and before they knew it, their leader had cut the call short. They looked at each other and breathed out.

“That was nerve-wracking,” the author groused. “Mind telling me why our common friend seems to have a bone to pick against the Téra?”

The former goddess shook her head. “I only heard about it. But if you want the short version, you do remember the crystal mausoleum back at home, right?”

Hans’ eyes widened in realization. He had restrained to ‘read’ those graves. Even him has a bottom line and prying, out of curiosity, into the secrets of a cemetery personally erected by Rakna wasn’t something that sat right with him.

“The cause of all their deaths… was an Abyss Téras.”

* * *

Some distance away in the streets of Zero, a deathly quiet Rakna walked through the crowd which rapidly made way for him. None of them wanted to mess with someone who was projecting the shape of an intimidating aura despite the restriction of the Plateau.

“{Don’t go summoning Phobos’ aura on a moody swing,}” Fray chastised, even if he did sympathize with the cause of his anger. “{It won’t do you any good.}”

‘I know,’ Rakna responded evenly. ‘But this just so happens to have turned into a personal thing.’

“{…this Téras is not the one you encountered. Verias is dead; remember it well. Vile their race may be, are you telling me that you will react this way every time you see one of them?}”

‘Yes,’ the therian said without hesitation and the fabulist didn’t know what to say. ‘I will do it until I’m satisfied. I’m not going to bother with objectivity on an enemy that doesn’t deserve it. They die and that’s it.’

Fray sighed. “{As you wish. It is not my place to tell you how to deal with hated foes. And I know you are intelligent enough not to let it blind you. At least I hope so. These Téra are probably far less affected by a lack of World than Hosts. Do you think you can beat a creature in the same class as Verias while at their full power?}”

‘…I will avoid that occurrence if anything. The plan is to get things done fast and bail out.’

“{But something has spotted Hans, right? What if they intervene as soon as you act?}”

Rakna fell silent for a moment and paused his steps. ‘If that happens…’ He started to answer when the image of Kaelith making him promise to be careful flashed in his mind. He gritted his teeth and continued, ‘We’ll just have to see how things go.’