Shinra's secret underground experimental facility was enormous.
In one section of it, inside a laboratory room labeled the Deep Restricted Zone, a man was imprisoned.
Suddenly, that experimental room began to tremble. It looked as if an earthquake had struck, and the room seemed to be battered by an invisible force, throwing everything into complete chaos.
Only the chair in the center remained fixed in place, locked down so firmly it did not budge. The person seated on it was restrained just as tightly.
"Good. You'd better pray I don't break free."
The man imprisoned in the chair—Weiss—spoke in a voice that sounded as if it had crawled up from hell.
His younger brother had only just greeted him and left a short while ago, yet Weiss had sensed something abnormal almost immediately after.
He felt as if something had happened to his brother.
And the reason he had been imprisoned here was because the people of Shinra feared him.
He had been waiting for the right moment to break free and take revenge on Shinra.
Weiss closed his eyes again, suppressing the impulse for the moment.
Then, suddenly, another disturbance made him sense movement. He opened his eyes once more.
The white wall abruptly turned transparent, revealing the observation room beyond it. Several researchers had already collapsed in pools of blood.
But Weiss's attention was not on them. It was on the only one still alive.
On that man's chest was a fleshy tumor-like mass covered in writhing tendrils.
It did not look as though it had grown from the body itself. It seemed more like something foreign had suddenly attacked him and latched on as a parasite.
The tendrils pierced into the man's body, controlling the corpse-like shell.
As for the other dead researchers, they had likely been shot by the body under its control.
"You seem very angry, Weiss."
Those words made Weiss narrow his eyes.
He knew who was speaking to him.
Hojo.
He had not recognized him by his voice, but by that uniquely irritating tone.
"How about we make a deal?"
"What deal?"
"Simple. Eat that thing, and I'll let you out immediately."
Weiss did not need him to explain what "that thing" meant. He did not even need Hojo to point it out. He knew exactly what Hojo was referring to—the tumor-like mass currently controlling that researcher.
"You turned into that disgusting thing? Planning to take my body?"
"That's right. So? Do you dare eat it?"
"What's there to be afraid of?"
Weiss answered with a cold laugh.
If Hojo had intended to control him through some physical method, Weiss might have been a little wary.
But something abnormal had clearly happened to Hojo, reducing him to that ugly chunk of flesh. His consciousness was inside that lump.
If Hojo wanted to take over Weiss's body, that meant he had to defeat him on the level of consciousness.
In simple terms, it would be a contest of wills.
And Weiss did not believe he would lose to that man.
In truth, even if he refused, Hojo had ways to force that lump into his body.
Because Hojo was already operating machinery that could cut open his body and stuff the thing inside.
In a sense, Weiss had no choice.
Then the person being controlled by Hojo opened a device. Once the tumor-like mass detached, Weiss noticed that it had crab-leg-like appendages, which it used to crawl before leaping into a box.
The box sank down, then moved along an underground conveyor system toward his room.
Two seconds later, a metal pedestal rose from the floor in front of him. In the past, it had usually held food. Now, it held a grotesque thing.
Seen up close, it looked oddly like an enlarged, mutated tadpole with sickle-like legs.
Hojo wanted him to bite into this?
Disgusting.
The thing twisted strangely. Without a human body, it apparently could not speak.
Suppressing his nausea, Weiss abruptly bent forward, opened his mouth wide, and bit down hard. Then he began chewing viciously.
Hojo had told him to eat it.
He had not said Weiss had to swallow it whole.
So Weiss chewed.
After two or three bites, he swallowed it like food.
Come on, then.
Let him see exactly how Hojo planned to control him.
He felt it.
He felt another will trying to take over his brain and his body.
Did that mean he would calmly surrender his body and let himself be seized?
Of course not.
Two souls began slaughtering each other inside that body, devouring each other.
"Haaa..."
At some point, Weiss had closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his entire body was soaked in cold sweat.
Heh.
In the end, Hojo was only a researcher.
He had never endured all kinds of experiments the way Weiss had, experiments that had forged his overwhelming willpower.
In the end, Hojo's trash scheme had collapsed.
Hojo was currently in crisis. He had been ambushed by a powerful enemy.
In order to seek a chance at survival, Hojo had split off part of his body when the enemy broke into his facility. Those fragments were swallowed by some of the surviving monsters.
Then, while Hojo was tangled up with his opponent, some of those monsters took the chance to escape.
One of them successfully fled near this area and was killed by Shinra personnel. But the Shinra personnel failed to notice the true monster hidden inside it—the tadpole-like thing. They were parasitized, controlled, and brought here.
Hojo's reason for making Weiss eat it was simple.
Weiss was like a computer, while that thing was a wireless receiver.
Once Weiss swallowed it, Hojo's consciousness could be transmitted directly to this side and seize his body.
Unfortunately for Hojo, his will was far too weak. Not only had he failed to steal Weiss's will, Weiss had devoured a portion of him instead, obtaining some of Hojo's memories.
Within those memories, Weiss discovered that Hojo had been eyeing his body for a long time.
Hojo's own body had aged. If it could no longer serve him, he intended to take Weiss's body instead. The tests he had been conducting all this time had actually been preparations for occupying Weiss's flesh.
There was also one interesting point.
Now, through this wireless receiver, Weiss could invade back in the opposite direction and control Hojo on the other side.
"Wail for me."
Weiss spoke with pleasure, then began connecting to the other side.
He was going to devour Hojo's soul in return and seize all of his knowledge.
Weiss, now isn't the time for infighting. How about we make a deal?
Oh?
That tone was so humble. So fearful.
Weiss laughed and ignored him.
He was not interfering with Hojo's battle yet. Instead, he was letting his will seep into Hojo's body bit by bit. The moment he had fully sensed and familiarized himself with it, he would seize control and devour Hojo.
If he interfered now and caused Hojo to fail to react in time, allowing the enemy to kill him, many valuable things inside Hojo's memories would be lost along with him.
Weiss wanted to take control first, then fight personally while devouring Hojo at the same time.
So as he slowly sensed Hojo's body, feeling every cell fall under his control, Hojo's pleas brought him genuine delight.
Weiss, if you don't devour me, I can tell you a secret.
How amusing.
What was he, a child?
Had he become this childish?
Once Weiss devoured him, he would know the secret anyway.
Pathetic.
The instant Weiss responded, he tore Hojo's soul apart and nourished himself with it.
At the same time, he took control of that utterly hideous body and began fighting a certain person himself.
The person who had killed his brother.
(End of Chapter)
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