Episode 690
Chapter 176: Fate for Two (4)
One year in Drakka’s stronghold, another year in the Tower of Stories.
During those two years of confinement, the family leaders—including Kelliac—often tried to persuade Hedo directly. Aside from the formal label of imprisonment, Hedo was treated almost like an honored guest.
This was because Kelliac treated him that way.
He wanted to avoid using mind control as much as possible, hoping to make Hedo truly one of the Ziphl family.
No matter how advanced mind manipulation became later, Kelliac believed that once it was applied, Hedo’s value would diminish.
Of course, Hedo never responded to Kelliac’s genuine intentions.
At one point, Kelliac even removed Hedo’s restraints and told him he was free to leave—on the condition that he didn’t join Runcandel or seek revenge. But Hedo didn’t leave.
“You’re being offered freedom, and you refuse even that?” Kelliac wondered what could have driven Hedo to such despair.
He had no idea that the outside world was a hell Hedo could neither understand nor belong to.
In fact, Hedo had fully adapted to the meaningless days spent locked away. Until then, there had been no better state for him in his life.
“…It’s a shame. Since you’ve rejected even this, you’ll be transferred to the experimental wing. But if you ever change your mind there, you can request to speak with the person in charge. You can ask to talk to me.”
And so, Hedo was moved to the 12th Experimental Wing, located near the Tower of White Night in the Sota Desert.
At that time, the wing’s overseer was a man named Ibeon, notorious among the test subjects for torturing them under the guise of experiments.
“Listen up. While you were in Drakka and the Tower of Stories, the god Inse seemed to favor you. But here, I’m the god—unless that deity descends personally. Hmm… I’m not sure how to treat you. Should I break you down as your nature demands, or go easy out of respect for the family head?”
That was the first thing Ibeon said upon seeing Hedo. Hedo didn’t even bother to listen.
“The latter, I think. After all, you’re a test subject the god Inse is watching. It wouldn’t do to mistreat you too much. Let’s start with kindness—no beatings.”
From that day on, Ibeon beat Hedo every day.
Normally, a mere mage’s club strikes shouldn’t harm a superhuman warrior.
But Hedo was no longer the same body he had in the Black Sea days, weakened by prolonged refusal to eat. He looked like a gaunt giant, and with restraints limiting his strength, he was no different from a well-trained ordinary warrior.
Hedo never resisted.
He never screamed. Though he felt pain, he saw no need to show any sign of suffering.
“Number 118! You’re used to pain, huh? Let’s see if your mouth stays shut today, too.”
Ibeon was a classic madman. He mistook Hedo’s silence for defiance, and the more irritated he became, the more he forgot that Hedo was a test subject sent by Kelliac.
In other words, he began crossing the line he had sworn to uphold. The intensified torture and fasting quickly crippled Hedo.
The mighty figure who had torn apart Black Sea monsters without mercy, defeated challengers who came for Siron, and stood shoulder to shoulder with his Black Knights was utterly broken.
His limbs withered like dead branches, and the organs that generated aura were permanently damaged, no longer functioning.
Eventually, the only sign that Hedo was alive was the babbling that escaped his stiff tongue, completely beyond his control.
Ironically, when things reached that point, Ibeon was gripped by fear.
“What the hell… what have I done? Are you saying he can’t be fixed?”
“Apologies, Ibeon. Number 118 cannot be revived without the divine artifact of Numerus. Moreover, at this rate, he won’t survive long. We must report this to headquarters…”
“Report? Report? Who the hell do you think you’re fooling? The one dying isn’t 118—it’s you. From this moment on, you’re test subject number 145.”
“Ibeon? No, wait!”
Ibeon took measures to keep Hedo’s condition hidden from headquarters. Those who knew about the torture were demoted to test subjects, and he did his best to keep Hedo alive.
But since Hedo had no will to live to begin with, his condition didn’t improve.
It was only a matter of time before an inspection from above would expose the situation. Ibeon spent every day anxious and troubled.
“When I first received 118, the only special instruction was to grant his request if he wanted to see the family head. He never asked, so killing him shouldn’t be a problem, right? Reporting his death as an accident during experiments would be fine… Damn it, that can’t be. The family head would punish me personally.”
Preventing Hedo’s death was impossible.
In the end, Ibeon decided to shift responsibility onto someone else in the wing—someone he dared not mistreat: test subject number 109.
‘We’ll have to make it look like Sandra Ziphl killed him.’
Number 109—the number assigned to Sandra.
At the time, no one in the 12th Experimental Wing called her by number. Though a test subject, she was a pure-blood Ziphl, and all the researchers treated her like a lady, as if she were their superior.
Of course, beneath that courtesy lay disgust and mockery. They only refrained from mistreating her because of her pure bloodline. In reality, she was a troublesome pet in the lab.
She wandered the wing freely, causing trouble, but unlike the other test subjects, no one dared to abuse her.
That was Sandra Ziphl, number 109.
“Ibeon! I heard you were looking for me. Got any new snacks?”
“Oh, my lady. You’ve arrived.”
“Did you say snacks?”
“Ha ha, yes. Have you heard of sugar?”
“Sugar?”
“It’s a powder that tastes very sweet. Here… Ah, please don’t just gobble it down like that… it’s rather vulgar.”
“Sweet! What’s vulgar?”
“Well, you probably don’t need to know. Also, we have a new toy for you.”
“A toy, too? Is it my birthday today?”
“Every day is your birthday, my lady. But there’s one thing to keep in mind.”
“What is it?”
“Unlike the last toy, you mustn’t kill it. So no twisting its neck or stabbing it if it misbehaves.”
Sandra had already undergone partial bio-golem transformation, possessing strength no five-year-old should have.
She had accidentally killed a few test subjects before—not out of malice, but due to Ibeon and the researchers’ reckless pranks.
“Try stabbing it, my lady. Yes, if it’s not obedient, that’s what you do,” they had said, and Sandra followed without hesitation.
Though her nature was peculiar, the 12th Experimental Wing was her entire world. From the moment her self-awareness formed, she had only seen, heard, and learned from within those walls.
Ibeon wanted to exploit Sandra’s rebellious streak. The kind of childish mischief where they do the opposite of what they’re told seemed useful.
“Remember, my lady. Never, ever hit or kill it. Just be cute and love it.”
“Love it? What’s that? Speak plainly, don’t talk like an idiot!”
“…Hmm. Like stroking its head, talking to it, or putting up with it when it’s annoying. Something like that. Now, the toy awaits. Let’s go.”
That was the first meeting between Hedo and Sandra.
“Hello, number 118?”
Of course, Hedo didn’t respond, and Sandra ended up beating him from the very first day.
Ibeon felt his choice was excellent, but the problem was that Hedo didn’t die despite her frequent assaults.
In fact, Hedo even regained a bit of strength.
Though he couldn’t move and mostly babbled, occasionally forming complete words or phrases, the experts who said he couldn’t recover without Numerus’s divine artifact were proven wrong.
“Hey, are you dead or alive? If you’re dead, say so. If you’re alive, answer me. I’m always trying to play with you.”
“Get… lost.”
“Ugh, you’re so annoying! I want to rip your mouth open and twist your neck… No, I won’t. I have to love you! But you’re getting two hits. No, three! Wait, are you dead? You’re breathing. See you tomorrow!”
Those bizarre days dragged on. The longer it went, the more anxious Ibeon became.
“Beating him every day but never quite killing him… It feels like 109 is teasing me. And 118 is way tougher than I thought…”
One day, Ibeon locked Sandra and Hedo together in the 118 isolation cell, planning to open it only after Sandra, stressed from confinement, killed Hedo.
“Then 109 will finally finish off 118. That way, headquarters won’t be able to investigate properly.”
“…I’ve never heard a story more disgusting than this, Keeper of the Tower.”
Jin wanted to ask how Hedo could remain loyal to the Ziphl after all that.
But then he remembered that Hedo’s loyalty was not to the Ziphl family as a whole, but to Sandra Ziphl, and held his tongue.
“Everyone has their own nightmare years. The lady still doesn’t realize those days were a nightmare. Perhaps… if time had continued as it was, she might have ended up killing me, just as Ibeon intended.”
Hedo was here now, so Ibeon’s plan had obviously failed.
A few days after Hedo and Sandra were locked together, the 12th Experimental Wing was attacked by Runcandel.
“The one who raided the 12th experimental wing back then was the Black Panther—your mother.”
“Rosa?”
On the day she attacked, the entire 12th experimental wing was utterly destroyed.
All the data was discarded, and the researchers and mages left inside the wing couldn’t even hold out against her until reinforcements arrived.
The whole facility trembled violently, as if it might collapse at any moment.
In that chaos, Sandra clutched the fallen Hedo and shouted,
“She said she’d protect you. Told me not to worry.”
She’d protect you.
It was the first time in his life that Hedo had ever heard those words. Through all the years spent moving between orphanages, the Black Sea, underground prisons, and experimental wings, no one had ever said something so simple, so natural to him. His life had never been normal.
He didn’t know from what, or how she intended to protect him, but in that moment, Hedo suddenly felt a spark of determination to live.
To live the rest of his life for this strange girl.
That day, Hedo stepped out of his beastly existence and took his first step onto the path of humanity.