The base hadn't changed.
Stone walls. Hidden entrance. Silence that felt rehearsed.
Reeve and Lunareth stayed concealed in the shadows near the false wall, their presence masked by controlled mana flow. Minutes passed—slow, heavy ones.
Then—
Footsteps.
A single figure approached from the outer corridor.
The man stopped in front of the wall and froze.
He didn't rush.
First, he listened.
Then he extended his senses, sweeping the corridor with practiced precision. His eyes narrowed, fingers twitching near a concealed weapon.
"…Careful one," Reeve whispered inside his mind. "Not a rookie."
Only after a full scan did the man press his palm against the wall.
The stone shifted.
The entrance opened.
In the instant he stepped inside—
Lunareth moved.
She appeared behind him like a silver blur, her hand locking around his throat, twisting his arm back with ruthless precision. The man didn't even have time to gasp.
Before he could release mana—
Reeve was already there.
A subtle manipulation of air pressure crushed the sound in the man's lungs.
No scream.
No struggle.
Just silence.
They dragged him aside and slipped into the base.
The hidden door sealed behind them.
The interior corridor was wider than expected—lit by dim violet crystals embedded in the walls. Strange symbols pulsed faintly, reacting to mana presence.
They advanced carefully.
Then—
They reached the first room.
Reeve stopped.
So did Lunareth.
The room was filled with glass containers.
Dozens of them.
Tall, cylindrical chambers, each filled with glowing liquid—blue, green, violet—colors that shouldn't exist together. Inside them floated figures.
Fairies.
Some small, some humanoid.
Others… not fully fairy.
Creatures with mismatched traits—wings fused with scaled arms, antlers growing from delicate fairy skulls, glowing eyes that opened slowly as Reeve entered.
Some were asleep.
Some were awake.
All were restrained.
Reeve's fingers curled.
"…What kind of creatures are they?" he whispered, voice tight.
Lunareth's expression hardened.
Before she could answer—
A sharp crack tore through the room.
An attack.
A compressed mana blade sliced through the air toward them.
Reeve reacted instantly, bending air and fire together, deflecting the strike just enough—
But not completely.
The attack clipped a container.
Glass fractured.
A spiderweb of cracks spread across it.
The man who attacked froze.
His eyes widened in horror.
"N–No—!"
The creature inside the container twitched violently, mana surging out of control. Alarms didn't ring—but the room itself seemed to tremble.
The attacker stepped back, panic overtaking discipline.
"I didn't mean—! If that breaks—!"
That was when Lunareth moved.
She raised her hand.
Mana condensed—sharp, cold, terrifyingly precise.
Her attack stopped inches from the cracked container.
Hovering.
Threatening.
Her eyes locked onto the man.
"Answer me," she said calmly.
Too calmly.
"What do you know about magical animal fusion?"
The man swallowed hard, sweat dripping down his face.
"You—You don't understand," he stammered. "This isn't just experiments—this is politics. Power balance. Control—"
Reeve stepped forward.
His presence alone made the air heavier.
"You took fairies," Reeve said quietly. "Living beings. And turned them into tools."
His eyes scanned the containers—not with fear, but with cold understanding.
"Human nature doesn't change," he continued. "You always justify cruelty with necessity."
The man trembled.
Lunareth's mana pulsed stronger.
"One more wrong word," she warned, "and the container shatters."
The creature inside twitched again.
The room held its breath.
And Reeve realized—
This base wasn't just a hideout.
It was a factory.
And what they were making…
Was never meant to exist.