---

Right now, the artificial human possessed by a demon is lying on the operating table.

If you cut off the limbs and hang them on a clasp, the body gets secured, making the surgery prep pretty quick.

Just like a doctor examining a patient on the operating table, Jeber uses jargon to assess the condition.

The only sounds I can understand are the slowing heartbeat and the dropping body temperature.

In short, it’s dying.

Maybe due to urgency, no harvesting machines are paying attention to me, lying alone in a corner of the lab.

The harvesting machine that was taking care of me is now enthusiastically helping Jeber.

Various tubes are inserted into the artificial human’s body, with liquids entering and blood flowing out.

After some considerable time, Jeber frowned and opened his mouth.

“I’m giving up on the host. We’ll rapidly grow it and just take the baby. Prepare for the C-section.”

C-section. It means to cut open the belly.

Since there’s a baby inside, instead of using drugs, they went for a method of circulating blood or artificially heating the body temperature, but that didn’t seem enough to save the suddenly deteriorating artificial human.

“Jeber, we currently have no artificial wombs left.”

At that, the artificial human wearing a silver necklace managing the lab raised an objection, saying that it was difficult right now.

But Jeber raised his hand and pointed at me.

“We’ll use that.”

He then ordered for growth stimulants to be brought, and it was a much larger quantity than what they usually used.

But no one said anything against it.

After all, these artificial humans are supposed to obey Jeber, right?

Soon enough, a green transparent liquid was injected into the valve connected to the blood-circulating tubes. As the valve opened, the liquid blended with blood, changing color to something resembling food waste, and flowed into the artificial human’s body.

Then the demon possessing the artificial human… Well, it’s a demon anyway, so let’s just call it that.

The demon starts writhing uncontrollably.

And blood splattered as limbs with clasps attached began to jerk.

The clamps lodged in the forearm and thigh sprang off, exposing bones and muscles from the severed stubs.

Of course, it’s not proper regeneration.

In normal regeneration, the shoulder blade appears first, followed by the forearm and elbow before an arm forms. But instead of the elbow that should be forming, just bones and flesh grow in a straight line.

It’s not true regeneration; it’s literally just a growth drug.

Just a reminder, this was something Jeber had attempted to create as a regeneration drug but failed.

And the drug works not only on the demon but also on the baby inside.

It absorbs nutrients from the host like a parasite, making the belly swell rapidly. The flesh stretches to its limits but doesn’t burst due to the growth hormone.

And the exact opposite phenomenon of what happened to me is occurring.

The area called the placenta grows into the insides like a tree root, absorbing nutrients.

Of course, the baby created in this way isn’t normal.

But it’s alive.

Both Jeber and the artificial human are watching this with calm expressions.

Why, you ask?

Because it’s a sight they have often seen during the war.

Back then, it was just an artificial womb, with clusters of flesh hanging like grapes, and now it’s different because there’s a human shape involved.

But even with a human shape, no one here feels pity for the spectacle unfolding in the lab.

Soon, the expanded area couldn’t withstand the pressure and released bodily fluids from where the baby should be coming out.

From a distance, Jeber saw this and ordered the artificial humans again.

“Restrain it.”

Then a few artificial humans approached the demon and pressed down on what had become a long stick with no joints.

Jeber approached it and cut open the belly. Inside, he pulled out a lump of flesh with protruding muscles that didn’t have properly grown skin.

It looked like a grotesque monster that was definitely made in a lab.

Jeber handed it to an artificial human nearby and took off the blood-stained gloves. He untied the hood he was wearing with one hand while pointing at me with the other.

“Take that one forward.”

An artificial human, unable to make proper sounds, came over with a crying baby, gasping for air.

Having fast-tracked it from a two-month-old to a ten-month-old, it’s not like there’s much left of it.

But there’s definitely light, and if there’s light, it can hold me.

“You, go get the control device.”

“Master, where is the control device?”

Jeber moved his eyes toward the artificial human’s question and noticed the bronze necklace. This artificial human was a cheaply made lab assistant.

Though it was crafted with more care than the one with the brass necklace, it was still a cheap artificial human.

Jeber let out a short sigh and called over the artificial human wearing the silver necklace, giving a new command. The artificial human bowed and moved on.

Once Jeber confirmed the artificial human had left, he tossed the blood-soaked white surgical gown at the questioning artificial human.

“Go rinse this off.”

“Yes, Master.”

The artificial human gathered the remaining surgical gown and left the room.

Jeber sat back and watched the demon, convulsing and dying, with a frown.

At least it’s not doing anything weird to that artificial human; maybe it’s changed a bit.

If it was before, he would have beaten it up and smashed it right away.

A little while later, an artificial human returned holding a switch that looked very much like a factory machine.

Jeber took it and confirmed that the artificial human holding the baby was standing properly in front of me.

Then, he pressed the switch.

I opened my eyes and said, “I will offer myself to you. But later, once you have finished everything, I will claim everything you possess. How about that?”

Since the body hasn’t been formed properly, the dying baby screamed and quickly accepted it to live.

Immediately, the baby’s body swelled up.

The startled artificial humans dropped it, but before it hit the ground, it had already hardened.

So when it did fall, it shattered like pottery.

And from within, a small girl stumbled up.

But no one cast a glance at the girl.

Why, you ask?

Do you know?

I can recite a contract to create not just one but several at once. And I can turn everyone who hears my words into harvesting machines.

Now, there’s someone else who could potentially become a harvesting machine apart from the unnamed child. It’s the artificial human on the verge of death, the one slated for disposal.

Or perhaps the demon sealed within. Abrazin.

The room is still and silent, but the artificial human tidying up the area was sent flying outdoors as if caught by the wind.

Its body also swelled up, hardened, and then shattered like an egg as what was inside burst out.

It was a muscular woman whose forearms were as thick as a human torso. Compared to her previous appearance as a petite girl, it was a complete transformation.

When she stepped down from the bed and stood up, she towered above even the tallest of men by two heads.

It was a mix of Abrazin’s self-recognition and actual body. Normally, Abrazin appears as a muscular man in reality.

Standing there, Abrazin opened her mouth.

[Aaaaaaaaah!]

She screams.

A piercing scream filled with despair.

Could the wounds from the torture resurface?

I thought she’d immediately seek revenge on Jeber now that she’s resurrected, but instead, she just screams like a child.

Has she gone mad from the painful memories? I thought harvesting machines wouldn’t become that deranged…

While I pondered, Jeber clicked his tongue.

Then he hurriedly crawled around the lab, pressed the emergency button in a corner, and a strong protection barrier enveloped his body.

Only then did Jeber stand up.

He shook off the urgency he had a moment earlier and approached Abrazin.

“Abrazin. You have a duty to hear my wish. Right?”

A demon.

Neither gods nor demons are particularly outstanding beings. They’re ghostly-like entities.

To survive, they require the mental activities of intelligent beings, and to grow, they need souls from intelligent beings.

Daegon remembers this.

When they gain high intelligence and form societies, they become a kind of demon in this world, while if they develop in a savage state, they might turn into strange creatures with bizarre abilities like I encountered in the second world before.

Those with intelligence pretend to be gods or demons to increase the mental activities suitable for them and feast on souls.

To put it metaphorically, they’re like cockroaches. The strange ones are simple cockroaches, the gods are termites, and the demons are mantises.

These three insects belong to the same mirid group. In simpler terms, they’re branches that sprouted from cockroaches.

Are they social termites or powerful mantises developed as weapons?

Demons are predators who capture individuals and gorge on souls like mantises. Strong demons create cults to eat others, but fundamentally, they are a species that catches and devours one at a time.

If it were an older world, they might be able to tear through the walls of this world and access another, but unlike Daegon who has ascended to that level, these beings are very primitive.

And their primitiveness is manifested in an obsessive adherence to specific rules. Just like how strange ones create special phenomena, they endlessly follow the primordial concepts.

Since they are beings born from emotions of humanity, if they deny the core concept, they essentially deny their own existence and simply disappear.

However, they say that if they gather many souls and grow, they can break free from that.

But Abrazin isn’t there yet.

[Yes, that was it.]

Like a broken record, Abrazin suddenly tossed aside the boiling hatred and spilling fear, rushing toward Jeber with a crying smile.

[What do you desire?]

Jeber wore a relieved expression. It’s the look he gives when he thinks he’s in control of everything.

He opened his mouth.

“Hand over everything to your child. Your life, power, magic, knowledge, soul, all of it.”

Upon hearing this, Abrazin turned her gaze to the girl in front of her. The girl looked scared and glanced at Abrazin.

Abrazin, showing no signs of affection, lifted her gaze to look at me behind the girl.

And then she smiled with a gaping grin.

With a swift turn of her head, Abrazin locked eyes with Jeber and said,

[Alright, Jeber Ibn Haideka. What you seek shall be fulfilled.]

Abrazin approached the trembling girl. Suddenly, she raised one hand above her head.

[The price of a wrong wish will be terrifyingly sweet.]

Muttering something akin to a curse, Abrazin swung her arm. But she didn’t hit anyone.

With a thrust, Abrazin pierced her chest and pulled out her heart. The heart, resting in her hand, was beating without a drop of blood.

Abrazin pushed it into the girl’s chest.

Without a single wound, the heart was absorbed into her. As a result, Abrazin’s hair turned white, and her body began to darken and crumble to dust like ash.

Thud.

Falling Abrazin wore a face twisted with hate, whispering with a thin voice.

[May you live long and prosper.]

Even in the final moments of her disappearance, Abrazin was staring at me.

Then she dissolved into black dust.

For a while, silence filled the chamber, but it soon broke.

Jeber commanded the artificial humans to take the girl up and ordered me to be placed back in the tank.

Thus, the lab returned to its original state. Just a demon died and a child inherited that power was all that occurred. Just like the experiments Jeber had conducted before I arrived.

Not particularly nutrient-rich experiments.

Demons in this world are pretty boring.