Xavier gripped the dagger and walked over to the unconscious Bignath. He smirked at her coldly before plunging the blade into her thigh, eliciting a scream from the Demaranian, who woke up in shock. He twisted the blade sadistically, watching the loathsome creature squirm in pain from his torture.
He pulled it out of her thigh, making the creature groan in pain. He wiped the ichor from the blade and straightened up, glaring at her. He watched as her face morphed from confusion to recognition in a heartbeat as the gaze of the dead man locked onto his.
"You animal!" She muttered, growling in pain. "How dare you, you parasite, do that to me. Do you think because you won that this is over?"
Xavier stared at her, his face unreadable before he bent down and gripped her slimy hair roughly and yanked her head up. He placed the blade to her neck just like she had done to him, and he saw her as she began to tremble.
"The tables have turned, you know." He spoke quietly. "I will not hesitate to slit your neck if you open that bitch mouth of yours again."
Bignath trembled at his words without saying anything. She could sense he was really going to do as he said so he wisely shut her mouth. She still could believe he had actually defeated her but he had, and that was because of the blade dangerously close to her throat. She gulped sharply as a small trickle of her blood ran down her throat.
"But here's the thing," he continued. "I will free you, and you can be on your way, but only if you take me to the exit of this dungeon, and also, Theron mentioned something about a special project. I want to see it."
"So if I show you what he was working on and get you out of Carragis, I'll be free?" She asked.
"Exactly," Xavier smiled briefly. "Now you're getting it like the good disgusting bitch you are. I'll free you if you fulfill those two things."
Bignath's eyes narrowed at his insult but she said nothing, not when her life is at stake. She nodded that she accepted and understood his request.
"Good," Xavier said as he dragged the hulking figure to her wobbly feet. He noticed the damage he had done to her. Huge cuts barred her entire body and not excluding her face. He knew one of her arms was numb with poison. He had deliberately done that so she wouldn't be able to escape or even attack him off guard.
He made sure she was in front of him, and then he placed one of the Shadowfang Daggers on her back. He told her to start moving and she began to hobble to the back of the wall. He watched as she pressed a button on the back of the wall and the walls shifted in two, revealing a passage.
He followed Bignath as she made her way down the dim passage and watched her movements, making sure she didn't do something fishy or even try to attack him.
"What is this 'special project ' Theron was talking about?" He asked as they moved through the passage.
"I don't know. He never allowed any person inside. The only thing I know is that it was inside his lab." Bignath replied, wincing at her wounds.
"Yet you were speaking coldly to him and threatening to choke him, but you can't even find out what he was doing?" Xavier scoffed at her. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"
"I didn't think it mattered what he was doing as long as he was doing what he was ordered."
"What happens if he were creating something that he could counter and maybe defeat you. What will you say then? You didn't know?"
Bignath didn't answer his question, and Xavier deliberately pressed the blade deeper into her back, making her grunt. "Answer." He commanded.
"I didn't answer because I don't know what to say."
"What about the green liquid that I was inside? What's that?"
"It's called Nixatrine," Bignath replied. "It's from our home planet. We discovered that it could mutate lower creatures into brainless minions that will do our bidding, but our intellect was not our talent, so we decided to conquer one of the weakest yet intelligent races in the universe."
"Earth," Xavier muttered. "Well, this 'weak creature' just kicked your ass right here so I don't feel you should be talking."
The corridor was narrow, dimly lit, and lined with pipes that pulsed faintly with green light. The air was colder here, heavier, as if the walls themselves carried secrets. Xavier followed close behind, daggers ready, his eyes never leaving her.
Finally, they reached a chamber.
It was larger than the vault above, but quieter—eerily so. At its center stood a massive pod, far larger than any Xavier had seen before. Unlike the grotesque containment pods filled with mutants, this one was pristine, its glass polished, its frame reinforced with layers of steel and glowing runes. Tubes snaked into it from every direction, pumping a strange, luminous fluid that pulsed like veins.
Inside the pod floated a young woman.
Her body was suspended in the glowing liquid, her hair drifting like strands of silk, her face serene, untouched by the corruption that plagued the mutants. She looked human—perfectly human—but her aura radiated something more. Something powerful. Something dangerous.
Xavier's breath caught.
"This… is the special project," he muttered, his voice low, almost reverent.
Bignath shook her head, her voice trembling.
"I don't know what she is. I only know this is Theron's lab. His secret. His obsession. Whatever she is… she's not meant for you."
Xavier stepped closer, his eyes locked on the pod. The young woman's chest rose and fell slowly, as if she were asleep—or waiting. The runes etched into the glass glowed brighter as he approached, reacting to his presence. The air thickened, humming with energy, as though the pod itself recognized him.
Theron's words echoed in his mind: "She's the special project. The path to evolution."
Xavier's jaw clenched, his daggers pulsing with shadow fire.
"Then I'll decide what path she takes."