Perhaps accepting whatever spot the fatui could offer you was a bad idea.

But what could you do? After all those studies, you couldn't settle!

But... Maybe knowledge didn't drown out naivete. Because now, shakily walking down the underground corridor, lower and lower, you couldn't think of anything positive to say of this job.

The cold white light flickered, dimming as it slowly turned in the classic blues house of this side of the laboratory. To have a whole wing dedicated to him- at first it shocked you, but when you saw him it quickly made sense.

Behind your horrified gaze, hidden just enough not to bother anyone, watching the disgusting experiments one after the other had cemented in your mind the sheer value of a lab rat like him. Immortal, immune to most forms of corruption or damaged, even resistant to the Abyss! Made from forgotten arts with unearthly materials, he truly was perfection itself.

Perfect truly in every way. Never screamed, whined, nor anything. He willingly submitted to the Doctor's test, willingly cooperating. The goal was just as ambitious as one would expect to blossom from the perfect seed that the Balladeer was. To create an artificial God.

No easy task, for sure, and even after countless years of trials, of which you had witnessed barely three, results were far.

No different were today's tests. Another concoction the Doctor had mixed up, ideally able to mitigate the effect the Gnosis would have on his body, and yet another failure.

Without even looking back, your boss walked out the room, leaving behind both you and the test subject. Kunikuzushi laid panting on the table, barely even alive -if you could call him that.

"Did he even tell you how to fix this? Or do I have to stay like this until next time?"

his voice was uncharacteristically weak, the words barely uttered as you rushed to hos side