Chapter 9

The Mass Murder at Dionaea Salon and Spa 4

-:-

The interior of the Mage Tower was sight to behold.

The entrance looked like a gothic cathedral.

The architecture was exquisite with every nook and cranny filled with unnecessarily complex design.

As a fan of pretty much anything gothic, Theo couldnt help but observe his surroundings as he walked around the waiting room.

Theo was currently killing time while Juno went to her friend in order to convince her to meet with him.

Originally, his plan was to ask Vivi for help.

Sadly, Vivi was in the middle of a ritual that may end up destroying the entire city.

Typical mages.

Cant go a single day without secretly putting a few thousand lives at risk.

Since Theo knew no one in the Mage Tower aside from Vivi, he was forced to rely on Juno.

Did Theo believe that receiving Juno’s help was a bad idea?

Absolutely!

No matter how beautiful Juno was, she was suspicious as hell!

Theo was 99.99% sure that Juno will eventually stab him in the back.

However, like Miss Samantha, Juno’s blackmail material was perfect for twisting his arm.

If he was to fight back, he needed a bit more time to prepare.

For now, he had no choice but to go with the flow.

A few minutes later, Juno returned.

“Let’s go Theo. She said she’ll meet with you. Give me a kiss as a reward” said Juno as she blatantly wrapped herself around Theo’s right arm.

“Keep you daydreams to yourself”

As much as he wanted to violently shake Juno off, he knew that any violence against her would lead to an annoying ‘scandal’

Sadly, allowing her to do what she wanted was a source of controversy all on its own.

One does not simply walk hand in hand with one of the princesses and not attract unwanted attention.

As such, everyone within visual range was either shock, suspicious or throwing death glares at Theo.

Since this course of action had lesser negative impact on him than bitch slapping Juno, Theo decided to endure it for now.

The 2 took an elevator to the 43rd floor of the clock tower.

The 43rd floor was akin to a prison.

The walls were monotone in color and very solid.

There were about a hundred classroom sized rooms.

When Theo used his Technomancer abilities to scan the walls via touch, he discovered that the entire base of each room was rigged with enough explosives to turn everything inside charcoal black.

“The security here is a bit excessive…” said Theo

“Of course it is. This floor is reserved for the mages who have extremely dangerous themes of research. If they ever go too far or if they end up accidentally creating something extremely harmful, the higher ups can purge them before it gets out of hand” replied Juno in a sweet manner that ill befits the grimness of her statement.

“And the mages, do they know about this?”

“Of course. Being constantly watched over is a small price to pay for a safe working environment free from the persecution of the Church and the Mosque.”

The Church and the Mosque were the largest religious institutions in this world.

They also believed that mages were no different from demons and should be exterminated, thus the never ending war between mages and the religious factions.

The Hero Alliance often clashed with the Religious Factions because of this.

While Theo understood the Religious Factions’ rationale that Magic was inherently dangerous, this also applied to everything else that had power.

However, the moment they entered the room of Juno’s acquantiance, Theo couldn’t help but feel that magic was much more dangerous than any other power.

The room was akin to a library.

Instead of books, the shelves were filled to the brim with items that belonged to one of 3 categories:

First: A dismembered body part (eyes, arm, foot, head, etc) inside a jar filled with a liquid with questionable properties.

Second: Living Weapons (Example: a sword with a living heart attached to it)

Third: Living things that were obviously experimented on (Example: a man with 8 arms and 2 heads) that were sealed on a relatively large sound proof container.

A lot of said living things were desperately screaming at Theo.

Poor slobs.

Technically speaking, the third category was too big to fit on a shelf, but no one cares about the minor details.

In the middle of the madness was a lab coat girl that had the appearance that would scare even ghosts.

She was about 2 heads shorter than Theo with long silky black hair that reached all the way to the floor.

Sadly, that was where the beauty ended.

Just imagine a girl that had her skin ripped off.

Quite simply, she was the stuff nightmares were made of.

Thanks to the gore fest nightmares Theo underwent every time he slept, he didn’t react like a normal person would to such a horrific sight.

Given her appearance, Theo believed that she was relatively unhappy when meeting people.

“Hey Nicky! I brought the guy I want you to help” said Juno in a happy go lucky manner

The girl stood in front of Theo as she observed him from head to toe.

“… Theodore Lorne …” said the girl in a cautious manner.

“Huh? How do you know my name?”

“Your name was all over the news for 2 weeks. I cant watch my dramas without you popping up somewhere. It’s annoying. Make it stop.” Said the girl in a displeased manner.

While the girl was rude, this gave Theo a small yet valuable insight on her personality

Time to put some of his training to use.

Miss Samantha’s Lesson on manipulating people: When a person had a disgusting appearance, the best way to approach them was to treat them like everyone else.

“*sigh* you’re not the only one pissed off. I cant watch my morning cartoons without those annoying news updates.”

Theo extended his right hand forward.

“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage here. Since you already know who I am, may I ask your name?” asked Theo

The girl was taken aback by Theo’s handshake offer.

An understandable reaction given her physical appearance.

The people who would touch her without any misgivings were far and few between.

While Theo’s poker face wasn’t at pro level, he was fairly confident he could fool a young anti social girl.

True enough, the girl hesitated for a couple of seconds before accepting Theo’s handshake.

With a deadpan voice, she said..

“Nichola Rasputin”

-:-