Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 555: Horrifying Beyond Measures

Asher stood motionless for a moment, his thoughts shifting between everything that had just happened, everything he had just witnessed. He couldn’t help but imagine for how long these people had been carrying out this particular operation. Months? That seemed too little, years? Maybe.

How many victims? The chamber above alone had over four hundred people; obviously, the total number of victims would be in the thousands, if not in the millions, and with the population of the Zarethorn Empire alone, that number was like a drop in an ocean.

Scenes like these made Asher appreciate life, well, it made most people appreciate life.

’I guess I should pick up the tempo,’ Asher thought to himself, knowing that if he didn’t act fast, another three victims would be brought before him and their organs would be harvested. With that thought, Asher walked out of the lab with a calm, soundless step, as he phased into the hallway, his eyes shifting to the fourth door, his mind unable to help but wonder what would be behind that door.

Would it be worse than what he had just seen? What could possibly be worse to begin with.

’At least now I know that every chamber has various invisible talismans with noise-canceling effects,’ Asher thought to himself as he would use that to his advantage when he devised a plan of action.

Keeping his emotions in check and his mind ready for anything, Asher walked to the fourth door, and upon getting there, he phased through it as usual, this time, Asher witnessed almost the same sight as what he had just witnessed a few seconds ago; the harvesting of organs.

But this time it wasn’t human organs but Emovirae organs and limbs. But unlike the deranged six in the former room he had just left, those present within this room didn’t seem to take pleasure in their... ’work’

Which was kind of understandable, after all, these were Emovirae, not humans that begged and cried for mercy and for their lives. Instead, the Emovirae thrashed around and roared with madness as their bodies were cut open and their organs were harvested.

And just like in the former room, these Emovirae were kept alive, no matter how many organs were taken, until their brains were taken out, hence ending their lives, before their corpses turned into dust.

’Is the table an artifact or is this someone’s ability?’ Asher couldn’t help but think, ’if this is someone’s ability, and considering this in particular, what if each member of this organisation is marked by this same ability, meaning each of them won’t die until their brains are taken out,’ Asher thought to himself.

’What a pain,’ he thought to himself as he shook his head, but he couldn’t be sure, he would have to kill one of them to find out. After all, it would be a pain to aim for the head each time, and the members of the organisation would always shield their heads, knowing it was their only weak spot.

’But...’ Asher left that thought unfinished.

Unlike before, when he felt anger and various emotions when he saw human organs being harvested, here, he felt nothing, after all, what could he possibly feel about these Emovirae in the first place.

His Star Sense skill was still active, he had already scanned the room and confirmed the presence of the usual ’guards’ hiding in the shadows, ’six of them,’ Asher thought, and after staring for a while, he turned and walked away as there was nothing to see here anymore.

There was no corpse to dispose of here, since Emovirae corpses dispersed upon death, but their organs, which were harvested when they were alive, still remained perfectly preserved and unaffected.

Stepping into the hallway again, Asher moved to the next room as he didn’t bother wasting too much time within this particular room, entering, Asher’s eyes were met with another blinding light.

But what Asher saw this time left him in utter disbelief and shock, nothing in reality could have prepared him for the sight in front of him.

Before him were Emovirae and humans, six each, making a total of twelve, and all alive, but this time, unlike when they were kept conscious and their organs were harvested, this time, they were made unconscious as though what they wanted to do was too delicate and required immense precision and absolute focus that they couldn’t allow screams and noise to distract them.

Within the room stood twenty four ’scientists,’ all wearing their white lab coats as they were in the middle of an operation. Around the room were jars and containers, containing various organs and limbs of both Emovirae and humans, just as Asher had seen in different rooms.

In the two previous rooms he had visited, organs were being harvested, but here, organs were being put back into the bodies... no, the right word was that... organs were being replaced. The organs from the humans were being transferred into the bodies of the Emovirae, and the organs of the Emovirae were being transferred into the bodies of the humans.

It was... sickening to say the least.

At a particular side, the heart of an Emovira was being replaced with a human heart, the moment the heart was placed and the veins were connected with frightening precision, and the skin was closed back with Astra threads, the Emovira started to convulse as though the Emovira’s body was rejecting the organ entirely.

The next moment, the Emovira’s body exploded outward in a violent burst of green blood, gore, and shattered bones, its flesh spattering against the floor and against the ’surgeon,’ but the blood and DNA from this particular side of the room couldn’t cross-contaminate other operations as barriers were already in place to prevent blood and other tissues from contaminating other experiments.

The barriers themselves shimmered faintly, translucent yet present, acting as invisible walls that separated each operation from the other, ensuring that no foreign particle, no stray drop of blood, and no fragment of tissue could interfere with the delicate and grotesque procedures unfolding simultaneously within the chamber.

Despite the violent explosion that had just occurred, the surrounding ’scientists’ did not react with shock or alarm, instead, their expressions remained calm, indifferent, and disturbingly focused, as though such failures were expected, as though such grotesque deaths were nothing more than routine occurrences within the confines of this accursed place.

Another Emovira was immediately prepared, its unconscious body secured firmly onto the artifact table, Astra threads already hovering in place like obedient serpents awaiting command, ready to stitch, bind, and force life where it did not belong.

It was clear that failure was not an anomaly here, but a certainty, a necessary step in whatever twisted objective they sought to achieve.

Asher’s gaze remained steady, his expression unchanged, but deep within his mind, countless thoughts moved with terrifying speed as he analyzed everything he had just seen, every detail, every movement, every possibility, committing it all to memory.

This was no ordinary operation, this was experimentation. Deliberate. Systematic. And horrifying beyond measure.

Whatever this organisation was trying to create, whatever they were trying to achieve, it was something that transcended simple organ harvesting, something far more dangerous, far more unnatural, and far more catastrophic if allowed to reach completion.