Germa Kingdom.
Led by Judge, Sephiroth and Baccarat arrived at a spacious training ground.
A group of burly soldiers in military green training uniforms were sweating profusely as they conducted close-quarters combat training.
Besides their incredibly skilled combat techniques, they also possessed speed and strength far exceeding ordinary people.
Even if these people were placed in Marineford, they would be considered elite soldiers!
But... upon closer inspection, one would find that the similarity and repetition rate of these soldiers' faces were extremely high.
This was because they were all clones!
Since the World Government itself was also conducting research on clones, it had not introduced relevant laws to restrict the manufacturing of clones.
Furthermore, in the eyes of those high-ranking World Government officials, clones, like the citizens of non-World Government affiliated countries, simply did not fall within the category of people and could be exploited and used at will...
"Our Germa Kingdom's soldiers are all clones cultivated using excellent genetic samples..."
"Each soldier only requires five years to be cultivated from an embryo to the physical state of a 20-year-old, and the speed at which they form combat capability is four times that of ordinary people!"
"Moreover... most importantly, every soldier is fearless in the face of death and possesses absolute loyalty!"
As Judge boasted about his clone soldiers to Sephiroth, he pointed towards two soldiers not far away who were practicing with daggers, as if to increase the credibility of his words. "You, and you, come here!"
"Yes!"
The two soldiers, whose appearances were almost identical, immediately jogged over and stood before him.
"Now, I order the two of you to immediately engage in a deathmatch; only stop when the other party is dead!"
"Yes!"
Hearing this, the two soldiers immediately brandished the daggers in their hands and lunged at each other, with every move aimed at a vital point, showing no mercy, completely unlike the reserved sparring just moments before...
Soon, the two soldiers decided the victor.
One soldier, at the cost of injuring his left palm, used his left hand to grip the other's dagger and then plunged the dagger in his right hand into the throat of the other soldier, ending his life.
After killing his opponent, the soldier merely flicked the blood off the dagger, straightened his body, and said in a tone devoid of emotional fluctuation: "Report, Lord Judge! I have completed the mission!"
Judge nodded slightly and said to the soldier: "Very good, commit suicide!"
The next moment...
The soldier, having just killed his opponent, immediately raised the dagger in his right hand. Without a second thought, he forcefully slit his own throat.
Thud!
The soldier's body fell powerlessly to the ground. Streams of blood gushed from his neck.
Soon, his life ended.
From beginning to end, neither he nor the other soldier, nor even the other soldiers on the training ground, showed the slightest doubt or dissatisfaction with Judge's command. It was as if everything was a matter of course.
Niji, Ichiji, and Yonji, who were watching nearby, also had extremely cold gazes. Only Reiju sighed, almost imperceptibly, for some unknown reason.
Only after watching the soldier die did Judge speak, a triumphant expression on his face.
"What do you think, Mr. Sephiroth? How is the quality of our Germa soldiers...?"
"As for tools of war... they're not bad!"
Sephiroth smiled. He feigned an expression of appreciation and gave a compliment, but then changed the subject.
"However..."
Judge frowned slightly, a hint of confusion in his voice. "However, what?"
"The cultivation time for clone soldiers is too long, their individual strength is too weak, and the efficiency is too low..."
"Furthermore, your clone soldiers are cultivated through accelerated catalytic growth. In terms of service life, they won't last more than ten years at most, right?"
Hearing this, Judge couldn't help but chuckle slightly. He confessed, "That is indeed the case!"
"It seems you also have some understanding of clone technology!"
"However, they are merely consumables!"
"In frequent wars, let alone ten years, it's difficult for them to survive even one or two years. Therefore, this is not a problem at all!"
"Hmm! That's true..."
"Initially, someone in our Umbrella Corporation also proposed the idea of creating a clone army."
"However, after weighing the pros and cons, we ultimately abandoned this idea."
Judge's eyes widened in surprise. "Your Umbrella Corporation actually possesses clone technology too!? Clone technology is indeed a very advanced technology, but..."
"Do you think this technology is only possessed by the Germa Kingdom?"
"Baccarat, give those documents to Mr. Judge to take a look..."
Saying this, Sephiroth turned to look at Baccarat, who was standing behind him, and gestured to her with his eyes.
Lineage Factor was something discovered long ago by researchers of the illegal research team MADS, led by Vegapunk, also known as the 'Blueprint of Life'. As long as this technology was mastered, various deep-level modifications could be made to biological organisms; it truly touched upon the realm of gods... It was precisely due to the discovery and application of Lineage Factor that the illegal research team MADS was targeted by the World Government and suffered severe suppression, leading to its disintegration and scattering.
Furthermore, the team's chief scientist, Vegapunk, was arrested by the World Government. Logically, in this world, the only people who should have mastered Lineage Factor Technology were the few scientists from the illegal research team MADS back then.
Could it be that Vegapunk, or perhaps Queen, leaked the Lineage Factor Technology?
"Lineage Factor Technology, how could you possibly have this technology!" Judge muttered to himself.
"Of course, we bought it!"
"After obtaining this technology, our Company has also researched it for many years!"
"If you don't believe it, you can take the documents and look at them, and you will know whether it's true or false..."
Sephiroth said with a smile. He had long anticipated that Vinsmoke Judge would want to continue bargaining with Umbrella Corporation regarding their cooperation. But...
Germa Kingdom had absolutely no capital to be assertive in front of Umbrella Corporation! Back then, he had the Loan Shark King Du Feld voluntarily become the major financier of the illegal research team MADS precisely to gain control of the entire team's technological research results! Ultimately, Du Feld lived up to his trust and handed over all those research documents to him... Therefore, let alone mere clone technology and Lineage Factor, even Queen's human mechanization technology and Caesar's biological weapon technology were mastered by Umbrella Corporation!
The reason Sephiroth didn't let Tesoro demonstrate these two technologies in front of Judge back then was that he was afraid of overdoing it and making Judge disheartened, feeling inferior, and directly giving up the idea of cooperating with Umbrella Corporation... Therefore, in order to wear down some of Judge's arrogance, make him lower his proud head, but without directly extinguishing his hope for cooperation, Sephiroth had held back, allowing Judge to mistakenly believe he still had the qualifications to negotiate with Umbrella Corporation! As for why he is showing his hand now...?
That is, of course, to completely tame Judge and make him willingly submit!
Some time ago, after Judge's arrogance and sharp edges were severely beaten down, he was still willing to cooperate with Umbrella Corporation...
This indicates that Judge is actually mentally prepared to become a subordinate now, and these two technologies that Sephiroth has revealed again will become the last straw that breaks the Camel's back!