Listening to Yosuke's words, the two stopped in front of the city hall, a building that seemed more destroyed than the others. Its roof no longer existed, and the walls were holding up by sheer plot force.
Mirage: "Are you sure we're in the right place? Not to say anything, but this doesn't look much like a city hall."
Yosuke: "Yes, I'm sure."
Damian: "If this is really it... where's the so-called lab? I doubt there's anything left inside that building."
Yosuke: "No need to worry about that. The lab is actually beneath the city hall, and the only ones who have the password to access it are me and my father."
Delivering this information, the three went into the city hall, and inside, Yosuke ran to one of the structure's pillars. Upon reaching it, Yosuke bit his finger and then made a dollar sign symbol.
Damian: "A dollar sign? Not the password I'd choose."
Yosuke: "It wouldn't be my first choice either, but my father was obsessed with money. He used to say that with enough money, you become untouchable."
Mirage: "He's not entirely wrong, but what's the point of having a mountain of money if you can't keep it safe?"
Yosuke: "True."
Having made the symbol, the city hall's floor began to shake and then open, revealing a staircase to the underground, which our protagonists didn't take long to descend.
As soon as they reached the last step, the three were faced with a classic-style lab, full of metals, plants, and beakers. But there were some different things in this lab, like on its walls, which had an arsenal of various weapons, the floor, which had a large alchemical circle, and the most interesting... an Akuma no Mi that was next to a large book.
Damian: "Tcharara~ Interesting little place."
The first place the three went to see was where the book and the Akuma no Mi were, and, as was obvious, Damian and Mirage went for the fruit to discuss who would keep it.
While the two were talking, Yosuke went to see what the book was about, and as soon as he picked it up, a small note fell from its pages.
Yosuke: "What's this?"
Picking up the note, Yosuke opened it, revealing his father's writing.
Nobunaga: "Son, if you're reading this, it must be because those two found out what I was doing and decided I was no longer useful to them and killed me. If that's what happened, then it means you're in danger... I sent a warning to the Marines about what's happening on this island, but I don't know how long they'll take. So, use everything here in this lab to save yourself. The book that had this note is an advanced alchemy manual, and the Akuma no Mi near the book hasn't been registered yet, so I don't know what it does, but it should be better than nothing. The alchemical circle in the middle of the lab is for one-time use and is to make a living weapon. Unfortunately, I don't have time to explain what a living weapon is. This was all I could do for you. I'm sorry for everything and good luck, my son."
Reading his father's last words, Yosuke let tears fall from his eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by Mirage and Damian.
Damian: "You okay?"
Mirage: "Did something happen?"
Hearing their concerns, Yosuke wiped his tears and folded the note, putting it away afterward.
Yosuke: "It was nothing... So, have you decided who gets what?"
Damian: "Yes, I'll take the weapons, and Mira will take the Akuma no Mi."
Yosuke: "Can I make a suggestion, Damian?"
Damian: "Sure, go ahead."
Yosuke: "How about, instead of taking these weapons, we make one custom-made for you?"
Damian: "You have my attention. How do we do that?"
Then, Yosuke read about the alchemical circle in his new alchemy book and went after the necessary materials to use it, which were:
Metals: (provided by the weapons that were there)
Blood: (to do this, Damian danced until his clothes were soaked in blood)
Life force: (the book didn't exactly explain what this was, but there was a drawing of an alchemical circle placed on a person, so they placed this circle on Damian because he would be the weapon's user)
Souls: (in this part, there was a note from Yosuke's father saying that he wouldn't need to kill anyone, since, because of the recent deaths, the place already had enough souls to perform the ritual)
And finally, a model weapon: (it was the weapon that would serve as the main model for the new living weapon; in other words, if they put a sword here, the living weapon would be similar to a sword. In Damian's case, he put his staff)
Having gathered all the items for the alchemical circle, Damian sat down and touched the alchemical circle on the floor with all his hands. The reason for this was that, since they only had Yosuke as an alchemist, he would use Damian as a conductor to activate both circles (the weapon creation one and the life force one) at the same time.
Yosuke: "Are you ready, Damian?"
Damian: "Why wouldn't I be?"
With permission granted, Yosuke touched his hands together, making sparks fly from them, then placed them on Damian's back. The moment they touched him, the alchemical circles glowed with a light faint enough to see the weapon creation process.
First, a silver ray came out from inside Damian and went to the metals of the weapons placed in the circle, which began to melt and fuse, creating a new metallic alloy that resembled the color of bronze. But the metal didn't seem that special until...
A bunch of strange glows began to descend from the ceiling, each with varied and different colors from one another. Then, they joined the bronze-colored metallic alloy, giving it a horrifying aura. However, it wasn't over yet...
The blood that Damian had placed in the circle finally began to react, acting like a snake. The blood slithered to the Lovecraftian metal and tried to mix with it. But instead of becoming a homogeneous mixture, the blood entangled in the metal like a plant, creating blood veins in the alchemical metal.
Then, after making the devilish metal, it returned to liquid form and began to merge with Damian's staff, turning it bronze. Additionally, all over the staff appeared engravings of a creature tearing, devouring, or shredding something. However, that wasn't all. Because of the amount of alchemical metal produced, it continued to climb the staff, but since there was no more room to climb, the metal began to create a new weapon.
The metal climbed another meter of the staff and then split into two one-meter blades, making a 5-meter bident.
As soon as the ritual ended, Damian stood up and went to grab his new weapon. But as soon as he held it in his hands...
**GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**
A roar burst out, making the entire lab shake.
???: "Hun... ger..."
After the roar, a weak female voice echoed through the room.
???: "Hunger... so... HUNGRY!!!!"
The moment the voice screamed, a dark aura exploded from the bident. This aura turned into a mouth and devoured Damian.
Yosuke: "Damian!!!"
Yosuke, snapping out of the shock of recent events, tried to pull Damian out of the mouth without success.
After the mouth devoured him, Damian was inside a completely dark and empty space. He was completely alone, just him and the bident. Until...
???: "I... am... so... hungry."
The female voice had returned, but this time it wasn't just a voice. It had a body... if that could be called a body. It was more like a kind of mass that resembled a little girl, 1.50m tall. Her body was entirely blood-red, except for a part of her hair that looked like a silver crown around her hair.
Damian: "Wow... you sound like a broken record."
???: "Huh?"
Damian: "Yeah! You just keep talking about being hungry! Don't you know anything else?"
???: "But... I am hungry."
Damian: "Again with that... has no one ever taught you basic manners?"
???: "Manners...? What's that? Is it food?"
Damian: "*facepalm* For the love of... do you even know your name?"
???: "Name...? No! I don't remember anything like that."
Damian: "So you're telling me the only thing you know is hunger?"
???: "Uh-huh!"
Damian: "Damn... she's like a freaking newborn... wait, is that possible?"
Damian: "What are you?"
Hearing Damian's doubt, the girl looked at him with childlike curiosity but answered with unwavering honesty.
???: "How do you not know? You've been holding me this whole time."
Damian: "So I was right..."
???: "Right about what?"
Damian: "Nothing too interesting... unlike what I'm about to propose to you now."
???: "Ooh~ What is it?! What is it?!"
Damian: "Tcharara~ The proposal is this: I'll give you a name and food, but in ex—"
???: "I accept."
Damian: "But I didn't even finish speaking."
???: "And you don't need to. You already said you'll feed me, and that's enough. So, I'm in, you son of a bitch."
Damian: "Tchararararara~ Where did you get that from?"
???: "I don't know, but it seemed like the right thing to say. But anyway, what's my name?"
Damian: "Your name is Mèi TāoTiè."
Mèi TāoTiè: "Mèi... TāoTiè... what a beautiful name!"
As soon as Mèi said her own name, the mass that formed her body began to change. First, she formed white skin similar to Asian skin; then, hair darker than Damian's, still keeping the silver "crown"; next came the eyes, redder than the purest ruby; after that, her teeth, sharper than many swords; and finally, her clothes, which took on the appearance of Chinese royalty from the Han Dynasty.
Damian: "Look at that, how interesting."
Mèi: "What's interesting?"
Damian: "Look at yourself; kids really do grow up fast."
Looking at herself, Mèi's eyes shone, but that didn't last long because her stomach growled again.
Mèi: "This makeover is cool and all, but I'm still hungry. Fix that."
Damian: "Tcharara~ Alright, what do you want to eat?"
Mèi: "Your blood."
Damian: "Just that?"
Mèi: "Just that."
Without blinking, Damian turned the bident's blades toward his own belly and, using the strength of his four arms, impaled himself, completely piercing the weapon's blades. And all the spilled blood couldn't reach the ground because Mèi was "eating" it, or in other words, absorbing it.
Mèi: "SO DELICIOUS!!!!!"
Damian: "Is my blood that good?"
Mèi: "UH-HUH! THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER EATEN!!"
Damian: "Wouldn't it be the first?"
Mèi: "THAT TOO, BUT I DOUBT ANYTHING WILL SURPASS YOUR BLOOD!"
Damian: "Glad you liked it, but that's enough. I don't want to die because of a glutton."
Mèi: "Aww... but I want more."
Damian: "Later."
Deciding it was time to end snack time, Damian tried to remove Mèi's blades from his stomach, but...
Damian: "Mèi?"
Mèi: "What?"
Damian: "Did your blades grow again?"
Damian asked this because when he tried to remove the blades, they seemed different... Instead of the previous bronze, they were now completely blood-red, and besides that, they were longer. Considering that Damian had impaled himself with a single movement, but this time, even making the same movement, the blades seemed like half of them were still inside.
Mèi: "This? No idea."
Seeing that Mèi had even less idea of what was happening than he did, Damian then decided to just focus on removing Mèi from his stomach, holding the blades and pulling them out completely, revealing that the blades' size had grown by another meter, making Mèi's weapon form 6 meters, twice Damian's height.
Damian: "I think I understand what happened. When I drew blood for the circle, I put too little, thus not allowing Mèi to develop properly."
Mèi: "Hey, Damian? What are you going to do about the bleeding?"
Damian: "I think I'll ask a friend of mine to cauterize it."
Mèi: "Cauterize? I don't know what that is, but I don't think it'll be necessary!"
Upon saying this, Mèi TāoTiè (spirit) went to the wound on Damian's stomach and placed her hand there. Upon doing so, all the blood that was falling after Damian removed Mèi TāoTiè (weapon) from his belly began to reverse course, returning to the wound. The instant all that blood returned, the wound began to close at an impossible speed and left no mark. This healing is comparable to Kalev's healing.
Damian: "You surprise me more and more, Mèi!!"
Mèi: "Uh? Thanks."
Damian: "I'm the one who should thank you, but can I ask for one more favor?"
Mèi: "Go ahead."
Damian: "Could you let us out of this place, right?"
Mèi: "Sure."
Mèi waved her hand, and then all that dark aura disappeared in an instant, revealing a worried Yosuke talking to...
To Be Continued