Yakou's Harem Card: Eve Rockefeller
Name: Eve Rockefeller
Title: Heiress of the Rockefeller Family, Prime Official Relic Appraiser
Age: 26
Race: Human
Hair: Short Blonde
Eyes:Yellow Golden
Body: Medium-sized Breasts, Toned, Slim-Fit, Young Adult, Young Appearance
Family: Kronos Rockefeller (Father), Austin Rockefeller (Young Brother), Celestine Rockefeller (neé Rothschild - Mother)
Role: Young Heiress, Businesswoman, Official Relic Appraiser, Mage, Sexually Dominant, Knight of the Round Table
Affiliation: Tsuchimikado Clan, Rockefeller Family, Illuminati Society, Knights of the Round Table
Occupation: Heiress Apparent of the Rockefeller Family, Chairman of the Rockefeller Bank, 3rd Seat of the Knights of the Round Table of the Illuminati Society
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Description: Eve Rockefeller was born as the sole daughter of the Patriarch of the Rockefeller Family. From early childhood, she was a genius in everything that she did, especially when it came to the study of Magic and Finances. Through her own efforts, she increased the value of the Rockefeller Family severalfold and enhanced their overall standing.
She is also one of the few Official Relic Appraisers in the world, which is a tremendous achievement on its own, considering the challenges that come with the Official Relic Appraisal Examination. A few years later, she was named as one of the Knights of the Round Table, assuming the 3rd Seat of the Round Table and overseeing the Department of Treasury of the Illuminati Society.
Eve Rockefeller, as the eldest daughter of the Rockefeller Family, was always groomed into the position of the Heir Apparent of the Family with the intention to become the Family Head in the future. She only has one sibling, a younger brother named Austin Rockefeller, who was as incompetent as he was vain, because of which he was sidelined, and more resources were used on cultivating Eve as the Heiress of the Rockefeller Family.
Contrary to the other family dynasties, the Rockefeller Family has much smaller numbers; thus, most of the responsibilities of managing the Family and its fortune were equally divided between Kronos Rockefeller and Eve Rockefeller. From an early age, she was managing the Family's companies and portfolios.
Within the Illuminati Society, she rose from the Low-Ranking Position to that of the Executive-Level Member of the Society before she was named as the 3rd Seat of the Round Table and overseeing the Department of Treasury of the Illuminati Society and thus inheriting the Family Seat at the Round Table that belonged to the Rockefeller Family.
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Personality: She is a perfectionist in every single sense to be the perfect Heiress Apparent of the Rockefeller Family. Because she was raised under the tremendous pressure to be a perfect Heir of the Rockefeller Family, and due to the fact that her younger brother was rather disappointing in the eyes of the Family Elders, she was never allowed to be anything less than excellent in everything.
Because of her personality and perfectionism, she became the youngest Official Relic Appraiser to ever be named by the Official Relic Appraiser Association when she passed the Relic Appraisal Examination. She also serves as the Chief Relic Appraiser for the Illuminati Society, and her skills among the Official Relic Appraisers are regarded as among the best.
Eve Rockefeller is a mostly stoic person who was taught how to mask her emotions and expressions perfectly, mainly to navigate the treacherous politics of the United States of America and the Illuminati Society. Though this was the only carefully curated mask that she was maintaining in front of the public, while around the people that she was comfortable with, she was far more casual and one could even say mischievous.
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Hobbies: Eve's most notable hobby is Appraising Relics, which is something that she greatly enjoys doing in her free time. Aside from Appraising Relics, she is also a great fan of watching operas and writing critiques on the operas that she watches. The last one of her favorite hobbies would be making money, which is something common for the members of the Rockefeller Family.
Surprisingly or not, she also greatly enjoys learning new branches of Magic and Spells, or reading books about the history and related topics.
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Favorite Sexual Activities: Group Sex of One Male and Several Females, Heavy Sexual Sadism (Engages In), Sexual Torture (Engages In), Anal Sex, Vaginal Sex, Hardcore Sex, Bukkake, Sperm Play, Eating Cum, Cunnilingus, Creampie, Orgy, Golden Shower (Engages In/Subject Of), Edging (Engages In/Subject Of), Ahegao, Sex in Front of Audience, Voyeurism
- Eve is heavily sexually dominant and enjoys leading during intercourse. She greatly enjoys using other people during sexual intercourse solely for her pleasure, while denying them their own. For this reason, she is using most of the playthings that Marie brings to their collective bed.
- One of her biggest fetishes is observing how her husband is breaking the other woman or how her sister-wives are sexually torturing the other females. She is a heavy sexual sadist, although she keeps that more hidden than anything else, so as not to tarnish her perfectly crafted image.
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Classification: Mage, Relic User, Heirloom User
Path of Power: Eve Rockefeller started her path of power as a Mage, because the entire Rockefeller Family is a Magic Lineage.Unfortunately for them, they were never particularly powerful Mages, as their Line in this regard was still very young.
At least when it was being compared to the much older and more established Magic Bloodline Lineages across Europe or Asia. Despite this, she never wavered in her Magic studies and continued studying the Hermetic Magic because she was born with the strongest talent that has ever appeared within the history of the Rockefeller Family.
Eve Rockefeller was never a proficient fighter, as she preferred to focus more on spellcasting and fighting from a distance while being protected by someone who was fighting at close range.
Over the years, she has grown into a rather significant Magic Powerhouse of renown, which was certainly a path full of challenges. Despite that, Eve Rockefeller rarely fights personally, as she prefers to dispose of her opponents without the direct use of brute power.
Magic Specialization: Hermetic Magic, Spellcasting
Aside from being a rather skilled Mage, she is also very proficient in the use of sabers and daggers, as these bladed weapons were taught to her since she was young. Even to this day, she always wears one or two combat daggers with her in case they are needed.
***
United States of Federal America, Virginia, Charlottesville, Numengard Estate, Several Days Later
Several days have passed since the birth of Tsuchimikado Satoru, the firstborn child of the 7th Campione Ten'nō no Onmyōji, Tsuchimikado Yakou. As a result, the mood in the estate was especially festive, as everyone had been in a very good mood lately.
Yakou himself was very pleased that both son and mother were alright, and Kirari had already recovered from the fatigue of the birth. A few healing spells and some advanced medicine did wonders for her body.
Though she admitted that for the time being, she didn't want to have any more children, as this one was already more than enough. What would be surprising to most, though, was the fact that Kirari actually took the entire thing around motherhood much better than most would have anticipated.
Kirari was constantly tending to the infant Satoru, who was already observing everything with his curious eyes. Even though the All-Seeing Eyes of God were sealed from birth, he was still far more intelligent, observant, and everything in between than a normal newborn.
Though for the newborn, Satoru was a rather quiet child... he didn't really cry a lot, but was quiet for most of the time. He cried only when he was hungry, but that was it... Aside from that, he was a very good child in all regards.
Not much has changed within the estate, though, even after the birth of the child, aside from the fact that Kirari was no more preoccupied than ever. Mostly because she refused to let anyone else care for her son, and surprisingly or not, the newborn Satoru was rather fussy when someone else tried to hold him.
Obviously, like any other newborn, he slept a lot; he would spend most of the day sleeping.
Yakou was already rather eager for his son to start growing up, as he could then start teaching him Magic and combat.
He was sure that Satoru would be powerful enough to be protected, and if it was possible, he would hope that his son could become a Campione like him. The fact that his son was born with a very powerful Innate Onmyōdō Technique, like the Shrine and Inherent Onmyōdō Technique of Gram Demolition, gave him a certain degree of hope.
If he were coupled with the other trait, the All-Seeing Eyes of God, and a natural predisposition to reach at least the Magic Saint Rank, because he was already born with an overwhelming amount of Mana for a newborn, Yakou was rather expectant.
He already suspected that if he survived whatever 'They' would come up with, which was behind the disappearance or death of the Campiones in the past, then he was confident that perhaps it would become much easier to become a Campione in the future.
If he was cultivated properly, Yakou was confident that he could kill some weaker Heretic God... especially if 'They' wouldn't be intervening in that.
He wasn't really the first person to think about cultivating another Campione, but all attempts by Campiones to make someone else a Campione through machinations and schemes never ended well.
They failed and died... usually around the same time.
Right now, he was spending time with Kirari and their newborn son, who was watching both of his parents with obvious curiosity. For a newborn, Satoru was very active and curious...
Yakou already suspected that his son would have much faster growth, at least in the intellectual sphere.
Which wasn't anything weird, because he was a direct descendant of the Campione and also inherited Yakou's All-Seeing Eyes of God. Even though the All-Seeing Eyes of God were sealed right now, some effects of their being there were still active and could be seen.
It wouldn't take long before formal education could begin.
With this pace, he would give it a few years, and once he turned five or six, they could start formal education in the basics of Magic and Onmyōdō, and some years later, even the basics in the arts of combat and Spellcasting.
Creating a stable foundation was of the utmost importance for the future path.
"What do you have on the plan today?"
Yakou asked as they were having breakfast together. Currently in the Estate, it was just him and Kirari, as the rest were doing their own things. Kirari, because of her pregnancy and because she was caring for their newborn, wasn't really leaving the Estate and was acting as "Matriarch" of the Household.
In other words, she was bossing people around and telling them what to do.
Which was a pretty straightforward job and she enjoyed it very much. Well, it was still better than doing nothing, and Kirari needed to do something during the time when she was pregnant or taking care of their newborn son.
"Well, we need to find a new Head Chef since the previous one left, and now the position is empty... which is pretty shameful, but Head Chef Saiba wanted to return home to his family, and once again, we cannot find a suitable person to take over."
It was pretty ironic, but most of the people who lived in the manor greatly enjoyed good cuisine and good food, with Yakou being in the first place on that ladder.
"Well, that's a certain annoyance... that Saiba guy was perfect... shame that he left after the contract expired."
In the end, the contract lasted only a few months and nothing more. Now that the time had passed, the man wanted to go home because his wife had finished treatment, which was part of his payment, and Yakou wasn't really keen on making a mess out of the situation.
"If you want, I can contact the Nakiri Clan to send us someone from their Academy."
Yakou proposed because the old Onmyōji Clan had reemerged from its seclusion, and its power across the Empire of Japan was right now unmatched and second only to the Kengan Association and Kure Clan.
"That's not really a bad idea. I will handle it later today... Right now, I need to go to inspect the entire Estate with the Head Butler to make sure that there are no dangerous places for the toddler. I guess that he would soon enough start crawling and attempting to escape the cradle."
Kirari said, with an almost unnatural expression, as she looked at her newborn son... nobody would have guessed that she was capable of such a gentle, loving expression.
Yakou guessed that most would consider it fake news.
It really sounded very unbelievable.
"I guess so... We will need to increase the number of people that would be looking after him... ideally someone of considerable power, or he would learn how to get rid of them sooner than you can blink."
Satoru's Magical Prowess was something to behold, and he was just born... it would be far higher once he started growing a bit. Yakou knew that whoever would be looking after Satoru would need to be a Mage or Martial Artist of considerable power, and it certainly couldn't be an ordinary human.
And Yakou didn't really want to order his Shikigami to keep looking after his children... be it this one or the ones that would be born in the future. Tsuchigumo was acting as Head Butler of the Numengard Estate, and his skills were needed elsewhere.
At the same time, Yakou was already starting to think about how to begin elevating his Shikigami of the Twelve Divine Shikigami Contract Gates Technique to the higher ranks. Within the next year or so, Yakou wanted to elevate at least half of his Shikigami to the A-Rank Parameters.
That would require a lot of effort and resources...
He thought he could pick up some people from the Enforcers or someone like that, because only there had he had some belief that they would be able to handle the task.
Suddenly, as they were speaking, Satoru started crying, which was a signal that he was hungry. He only cried when he was hungry or wanted some attention from his parents; aside from those occasions, he was pretty silent for a newborn.
He only observed the things that were happening around him with curiosity.
"I am going to take care of him."
Kirari said as she went to feed him, which was something that she was doing personally. In fact, this was also something that surprised Yakou a bit, but he was glad that Kirari was actually taking the entire thing around motherhood very seriously.
He could say that she was a very good mother based on the few days that he had observed.
"Alright... I am going to check on Eve and ask her if she wants to go with me to the HIVE."
Kirari just nodded, not really interested in herself, as there wasn't anything new that she had ever seen before. In the Empire of Japan, the Momobami Clan was one of the main suppliers of experimental subjects to the Mamiya Conglomerate for their projects.
"Try to return home for dinner... I am really horny today, so..."
Yakou nodded with a grin, because with Kirari now, after giving birth, they could finally have a far wider night... not to mention that, now that her breasts were bigger from milk, it was opening a new door for more fun.
"Then I am going."
After Yakou left Kirari and Satoru, he headed toward the different wing of the Numengard Estate after passing through many rooms for various purposes, until he found Eve. She was currently in the midst of a meeting because there were some minor problems at the Rockefeller Bank.
He sat on the leather sofa in the drawing room, where Eve was handling her matters, as he just sat there and listened. It was partially annoying and partially sad because she was being called because of the disputes between the high-ranking executives of the Rockefeller Bank.
Yakou knew that this was something she despised dealing with as much as dealing with Austin's stunts. Her younger brother was annoying and incompetent beyond belief, but fortunately enough, he was far more interested in pursuing his artistic career than anything else.
He didn't even know what he was doing, and what was ironic was that Eve told him that it would be a waste of time to care about anything Austin was doing. Eve hated playing peacemaker or anything like that... and she tended to lose her nerves when she was listening to too much of the nonsense of the other people.
And in the end, it ended exactly how he anticipated, as Eve decided that their problem was so inconsequential that she gave both of the people to whom she was speaking ten hours to solve the problem by themselves.
If they couldn't... both of them would be fired on the spot.
As simple as it could get.
"Are you entertained enough?"
Eve asked as she turned to her lover, seeing him sitting on the leather sofa and grinning at her predicament. He was doing this pretty often, when she was having a bad day, and sometimes it could get annoying.
"A little bit..."
Yakou answered, as he truly found this entertaining, and Eve just huffed at him, but didn't say anything else.
"Well, now that you've had your fun, why have you come? You don't usually come to my study that often or on a whim."
Eve Rockefeller stated that she knew that Yakou wasn't really going to her study just for fun, as this was her personal space within the Estate. Every single one of his lovers had their own rooms that were their personal space within the Estate.
Kirari had one, but hers was mostly filled with the things that made it look like a miniature casino... Keira's room, on the other hand, housed her collection of guns, weapons, and also a workshop where she could repair and upgrade her weapons and guns.
It was her personal hobby.
And even both Mamiya Marika and Mamiya Marie would have their personal rooms in the Estate, though theirs were still under construction. The Numengard Estate was enormous to the point where it could house several hundred people very comfortably.
"Alright then, straight to the matter. Wanna go check on the Genesis Project?"
Yakou was preparing to leave the Numengard Estate as he was going on the inspection today... The target of his inspection was the newest facility that was researching the Ritual of the First Manas and the Genetic Research of the Mamiya Conglomerate.
Basically, they were joining their two branches of research together in order to find a method to increase the amount of Magic Blood in their Mages, which would subsequently eliminate the biggest weaknesses of the Illuminati Society and the United States of Federal Americas.
The amount of money that the Society and USFA invested in the Project Genesis was staggering and terrifying at the same time. However, it was also understandable, because if Project Genesis was successful, it would be possible to change what was thought to be unchangeable.
Basically, this would solve the deficiency in The 3rd Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Blood of Manas among many Mages of the Illuminati Society who didn't really have the highest concentration of the Magic Blood in their veins.
This then limited their future accomplishments in the area of Magic.
"Alright... give me a few minutes to change."
It wasn't really surprising to see that Eve already lived here half of the time, as she was either living in the Numengard Estate or in New York due to her work. Interestingly, the management of the Department of the Treasury within the Society wasn't that taxing a job, and neither was managing the Rockefeller Bank in the end.
She delegated most of the unimportant tasks to her direct subordinates and handled only the important matters that required her personal attention. Obviously, she wouldn't be wasting her precious time on every single matter that was happening within the Bank, so currently, she only handled the most important things.
Another reason was that, since she started spending more time with Yakou, she had more free time than before. At the same time, she spent more time studying Magic and practicing her Spellcraft, because after witnessing the power of the Campione, she realized that only true power mattered.
Things like influence, political power, and money paled in comparison to the capability of Magic Saints to unleash spells powerful enough to wipe out a bigger city from the face of the world.
Under Yakou's tutelage, her own skills in Spellcraft and Magic were growing exponentially.
While Yakou wasn't really the biggest fan of being a teacher or teaching other people, because he found it mostly annoying, Eve was actually a good student and didn't ask stupid questions or test the limits of his patience.
***
Undisclosed Location, Several Hours Later
Fortunately enough, this time it didn't take that long for Eve to change into something else, because he swore that she could spend a really long time in front of the mirror. Sometimes, he appreciated that, and sometimes it was very annoying.
Right now, they were already at the location of the research complex, which was hosting the research for the Project Genesis. Jointly led by the Illuminati Society and Mamiya Conglomerate, which relocated a lot of their manpower to conduct research on the Project Genesis in this place.
The research facility was located in a secret military installation located underground and protected by the Mage-Knight Blazer Corps Regiment and Enforcers from the Illuminati Society, while the entire area where the facility was located was under strict military control.
The facility was named The HIVE, mainly because its structure was built like a beehive. Even without the intervention of the Mamiya Conglomerate, the old United States of America was conducting research into the Genetic Engineering and the cultivation of Super Soldiers.
There were several projects in that area, though, none of them were particularly successful, mainly because their results were rather limited and the strongest enhancements that they could produce were up to the E-Ranks...
Occasionally some E+ or E++...
But that was it.
"I really don't like the concept of the underground basis..."
As they were in the small underground train that would take them to the upper levels of HIVE, Eve was once again having mild claustrophobia from the underground spaces, and god knows what else.
"You know that it won't really collapse, right?"
He knew that Eve wasn't really a big fan of the underground structures, but she could bear with it after a while. The HIVE was an enormous structure that was located several kilometers beneath the ground, more than ten kilometers beneath the surface, and there was only one path in and out.
This one was through the train.
One of the safety measures to prevent the worst outcome if things went badly.
"Well, on the bright side, we would be disembarking pretty soon."
Yakou, as the number of security checkpoints that they passed through was already pretty much annoying, and there were still some more. Because of the nature of the research that was being carried out here, the security got even tighter.
Even previously, it was very strict, but right now, it is reaching an entirely new level.
"Fortunately... why the hell do they even need so many security checkpoints and complete isolation from the outside world?"
Even though Eve knew that what they were researching in here, she didn't know everything because within the Illuminati Society, this fell into the Department of the Forbidden Arts, which was Yakou's Department.
And he never really spoke about it unless he was directly asked by someone, and even then, he tended to give rather vague answers to not scare anyone.
"Well... you will see, and hopefully you have the stomach for it."
Yakou said after some time, because he knew that the nature of research down there wasn't really...
Friendly.
What had previously been researched at the NEST Facility beneath Tokyo was primarily moved to the HIVE.
Mostly because the research was personally overseen by Yakou, who was also in charge of providing defenses and protections to the facility.
"You are not creating here some world-ending thing like a zombie virus or something equally disgusting?"
At his lover's sudden question, Yakou didn't know what to answer, because one of the major side effects of the Stairway of the Sun, which the Mamiya Conglomerate discovered in West Africa, was the reanimation of dead cells...
Or rather, creating Zombies.
And B.O.W., the Bio-organic Weapons.
"Maybe... a little bit... but it's not really that bad, and we have contained everything, and in the worst case, there is an Anti-Matter Mana Bomb that would obliterate everything within a distance of fifty kilometers into pure nothingness if something managed to escape."
In the end, after she had been staring at him for some time, Yakou related and told her that her wild assumptions were actually...
Right?
Much to her horror.
"Are you...?!"
He could see that she was pretty shocked and enraged at the same time... which was certainly understandable. Though one part of him was of the opinion that her reaction was a bit over...
She didn't know at which to be horrified first... at the fact that her lover and future sister-wives were basically playing with the real zombie apocalypse or the fact that they had their Anti-Matter Mana Bomb.
Anti-Matter Mana Bomb was something that was finished in the laboratories of DARPA and the Department of Magitek of the Illuminati Society, and it was one of the most dangerous weapons of war that humanity ever created.
Yakou even himself admitted that, if he were hit by the Anti-Matter Mana Bomb, then, theoretically speaking, it should be able to at least partially bypass the Mana Resistance of Campione.
While it wouldn't kill the Campione, nor would it cause them severe injuries, depending on the other factors, it could leave some serious injuries.
Mainly because it was using the Anti-Matter in conjunction with the Mana, so the final explosion is extremely destructive and terrifying, while at the same time, the Magic Resistance of Campione won't be able to fully filter it.
In other words, if such a weapon were dropped onto New York City, then it would destroy the entire city, together with the surrounding area as well. The Anti-Matter Mana Bomb was one of the pinnacle technologies that the United States of Federal Americas possessed and constructed.
"And what the hell are B.O.W.s?"
As he kept explaining the situation to her, he mentioned the B.O.W.s and other things that the Mamiya Conglomerate had been researching for some time already and also producing for some time.
For the Mamiya Conglomerate, the B.O.W.s were their most prized possession and greatest achievement, and they also made tons of money by selling the B.O.W.s to the highest bidders when they had functioning ones.
"Bio Organic Weapons, or B.O.W. for short, are genetically-altered organisms created with the intent of either being used as military and paramilitary weapons. All of them were created from the Progenitor Virus by the Mamiya Conglomerate as a byproduct of the research into the Evolution Projects... they are like buffed-up zombie hulks... though some of them are really cool..."
Though the end of his explanation became significantly quieter, because Eve wasn't really buying into it. She wasn't Keira, who was essentially thrilled at the concept of creating Bio Organic Weapons and Zombie Undeads that they could command.
Everything for more fun on the battlefield, as she liked to say.
Eve, on the other hand, considered it all...
Partly disgusting and partly too dangerous.
"Are you aware that if by some accident those samples of yours, that you have cross-bred with Magic Cruses, escape... then it would be fubar?"
He just nodded as she was right, because they had moved the concept of the B.O.W.s to an entirely different level. When the original concept of the Bio Organic Weapons was merged with the Magic and Curses, the final product was several times more terrifying and dangerous than before.
Yakou knew it firsthand as he was receiving reports on the progress of the HIVE, and he had to admit that it could be really destructive if released into the world. The Progenitor Virus was highly adaptive and could be used together with the Necromancy almost perfectly to the point where it was frightening.
"Well, something like that won't really happen... our security is extremely tight, and as you will see, there is no real possibility that something will leak from the laboratory and manage to survive."
And even if the worst happened, then the Anti-Matter Mana Bomb would do the job.
The HIVE Facility was located in the Arklay Mountains, a Midwestern American mountain range situated mostly or entirely within Arklay County. The population of Arklay County was small, aside from Raccoon City, which was, by this point, inhabited mostly by soldiers and their families.
Originally a small town, it was now being transformed into the central hub for the military facilities and other supportive measures for the HIVE. Families of the HIVE's personnel were also living in Raccoon City.
The Arklay Mountains were classified as a temperate hardwood forest, with the region being dominated by Pine trees, Maple trees, Oak trees, and other native plant life such as Raccoon City's signature colored herbs. The herbs were first discovered in the Arklay region and were often used for medicinal purposes both locally and abroad.
Due to the peculiarities of the Arklay Mountains and the needs of the HIVE, the entire Arklay Region was one of the special administrative regions of the United States of Federal Americas, and most of the time, it was even forbidden for civilians to enter Arklay County at all.
"Hopefully you are right on this one."
Eve said as she returned to contemplate something, though it was pretty hard to tell exactly what.
After another twenty minutes or so, the train finally stopped as they arrived at the true entrance to the HIVE. Eve was the first one to leave the train, as they were welcomed by a familial visage at Yakou.
"Marika? You are already here?"
Mamiya Marika stood there in a white laboratory coat, with her dark green waist-length hair, styled in the curtained hime cut parted in the middle with blunt bangs. He wasn't surprised that she was one of the chief scientists of the HIVE, because even at the NEST, she was one of the leading scientists in the research into the Progenitor Virus.
The Magic Genome Mapping Project that the Mamiya Conglomerate established and researched became the foundation for the Project Genesis. In the end, the Magic Genome Mapping Project was incorporated into the Project Genesis, as the Magic Genome Mapping Project was just one part of the Project Genesis.
"I arrived only yesterday in Raccoon City and started laying out the branch of the Mamiya Conglomerate. Our own people and researchers would be arriving after the new year in batches."
In the end, a lot of researchers would be arriving from Japan... But that would require a lot of time. There was a lot of logistics behind that, and that would require time, but fortunately, that wasn't what was pressing them right now.
A lot of these scientists and researchers who are working for the Mamiya Conglomerate would be relocating with their whole families to Raccoon City, due to the nature of work in the HIVE.
Which was essentially that, once a person's shift started, it usually lasted between one month and three months. It was highly individualistic, but the shortest number of months that a researcher would spend in HIVE was around one month.
Some of the researchers who were working on the most crucial projects would be spending much more time in the underground than that. One could expect that in the upcoming years, the population of Raccoon City would be growing substantially.
"Marika, this is Eve... Eve, this is Marika..."
Both of them knew each other, but they didn't meet personally. After getting acquainted, all three of them continued to the 1st Checkpoint, where they would undergo a rather extensive check-up and security screening.
"As you can see, the adjustments to the HIVE are even stricter than the NEST. We have incorporated the best elements of Magitech and Magic into the HIVE's structure to prevent accidents and security breaches. When we pass through the entry passage, we will go through the three rounds of decontamination and cleaning, which were designed to dispose of even the most resilient viruses and bacteria."
Marika led them to the Entrance Checkpoint of the HIVE, while the only people they passed through were security personnel of the facility and some soldiers from the Mage-Knight Blazer Corps Regiment and the US Army.
The security was extremely tight, and they were taking all possible precautions to prevent any leaks.
Everyone agreed that if the things leaked... then while it wouldn't spell doomsday for the world like in the zombie apocalypse movies, it would still create an extreme catastrophe with pretty severe consequences.
Something that all of them wanted and needed to avoid at all costs.
"At least your approach is sound... if we don't consider the monstrosities that you are researching down there."
Eve remarked to Marika when they finally passed through the security check-ups and headed to the decontamination rooms. There were more of them, just to be sure that everything would be killed once they passed through several rounds of cleansing.
Only once they have passed through the decontamination rooms, they were free to go into the rest of the HIVE.
"Right now, we are in the Upper Levels of HIVE... most of the administration offices, support, logistics, and living quarters are located in the Upper Levels. The entire facility is divided into Upper Level, Middle Level, Lower Level, and Core Level. Each Level is hermetically separated from each other... several times to be sure, and the security measures are getting stricter with each Level and each separation."
The HIVE was built with an enormous amount of resources that the USFA invested into it, and the security and prevention of any accidents was of the most importance. Aside from the Government of the USFA, the Mamiya Conglomerate, and the Illuminati Society, a few other subjects invested in the HIVE.
Namely, the Militech that belonged to the Tsuchimikado Clan or the Holton Consortium, which was investing in almost everything these days... Now that Yakou remembered the Holtons, he realized that he needed to visit them, as he had a scheduled meeting with the Patriarch of the Household about some matters.
"Well, at least it's secure... who is leading the research down there?"
Eve asked as the entire HIVE Facility was managed by the Blackwatch.
Blackwatch Special Forces, officially designated under the 1st Biological Warfare Command, is the black ops military force of the United States of America responsible for the containment of biohazard/viral outbreaks.
It was created a few decades ago, when the USA started experimenting with deadly viruses and pathogens to create methods for biological enhancements and cultivate super soldiers, or to do what they are doing right now.
Increase the potency of the Magic Blood.
The members of the Blackwatch were rather easy to distinguish, as they were the ones who wore far more specialized gear than the ordinary troops that were stationed above the ground and protecting the entrance and entire area around the HIVE and Raccoon City.
Standard troopers wore mostly black combat gear such as boots, a protective vest, and fingerless gloves, with a military olive-drab colored full-body "skin" that resembles a durable wetsuit, worn under their other equipment as the first layer of protection. Their outfits incorporated biohazard gear with military equipment and advanced Magitech.
On their head, Blackwatch troops wore vision-enhancing goggles with dark blue lenses, a helmet, and a modified gas mask to protect themselves from the contagion that they have been mandated to fight.
The Blackwatch was one of the organizations within the structure of the USFA that had acess to the best equipment, vast stockpiles of military arsenal and experimental technologies, in addition to controlling the most refined information control technologies, vital to preserving the ignorance of the American public.
In fact, many of the troops of the Blackwatch would come to join the Mage-Knight Blazer Corps Regiment, while some soldiers from the Blazer Corps Regiment would retire to join the Blackwatch.
Now that they were experimenting with advanced Magic, Necromancy, and Relics... there was a serious need for the Magical oversight, and within the wide US Military, only the Mage-Knight Blazer Corps Regiment had that expertise.
But overall, it was doing well, because even before this was started, due to their standards and combat prowess, the soldiers from the Blackwatch were always one of the primary recruitment areas for the Mage-Knight Blazer Corps Regiment.
"I am Director of the entire Facility and HIVE Institute... On the Department of Genetic and Bio-Engineering we have Dr. Anton Keonig and on the Department of the Necromancy we have Magister Dairenji Shidou, who is a leading expert on this topic and he also helps with the Relics related to the Undead, Virus and Plagues."
What the HIVE was doing here wasn't just simple genetic research.
Aside from Project Genesis, they also took over the research of the B.O.W.s and were combining the concept of the Bio-Organic Weapons with Necromancy and even using Relics to create state-of-the-art B.O.W.s.
Yakou knew firsthand how Necromancy could be powerful when he saw Marquise Voban fighting and using his Undead Legions. Obviously, whatever they would create in their laboratories wouldn't match the quantity of Undead Legions cultivated by the 1st Campione.
And that wasn't even the aim.
He knew that it would be nigh impossible to replicate the Divine Might of the Campione, and thus, they were leading their research in this regard in an entirely different manner. The aim of the research team was to create Bio-Organic Weapons infused with Necromancy and Relics to the point where they could reach B-Rank Parameters.
This was the realm of the Martial Saints and Magic Saints.
If everything went well and they could reach some degree of standardization and limited mass production, it would increase the combat capabilities of the USFA by a tremendous degree.
***
Yakou had to admit that the entire trip to the Core Level felt like one big excursion from the school, as Marika was often explaining what was what and other things. Though for them, the only important Levels were the Lower Levels and Core Levels.
The Lower Levels of the HIVE Facility housed the research of the Bio-Organic Weapons, and the Core Level was the crown jewel of the entire research facility.
The Project Genesis.
"Right now we are going to meet with General Peter Randall... he is Commander of the Blackwatch and Chief of Security at the HIVE. We will meet with him in the research area for the B.O.W.s and then go to the Core Level where the experiments on the Project Genesis are being carried out."
Marika stated that they were already on the Lower Levels of the HIVE, which were much smaller than the Upper Levels or the Middle Levels. The Upper Levels by themselves were not particularly interesting, and on the Middle Levels, only some ordinary genetic research was being carried out.
Yakou knew General Randall personally through his lover, Keira... Within the Armed Forces of the United States of Federal Americas, both Keira and Randall belonged to the ultra-war-hawk faction.
Randall was someone who was an American hardliner and lobbied extremely for the militarization of the country... something that was right now coming true, because Yakou, as the Campione of the USFA, was pushing for the same thing.
Right now, there were even talks within the USFA's Congress to install an obligatory military service for all citizens for a duration of three years. Even though it wasn't the most popular among the civilians, Yakou supported the idea wholeheartedly, so it was basically already set in stone.
Right now, they were in the segment of the Lower Levels, where the primary research on the B.O.W.s was being carried out, and in front of one of the laboratories that was experimenting with the enhanced Progenitor Virus combined with the Undeath Plague Spell.
"It's really disgusting as I had thought..."
Eve remarked as all three of them watched how one particular procedure was being carried out on the B.O.W., and this was also the first time that she saw how the B.O.W.s were being created.
He admitted that seeing this wasn't for the ones with weak stomachs.
In his personal opinion, it wasn't anything that bad, but it wasn't the most pleasant sight.
"This is our latest B.O.W. called Nemesis. Right now, we have achieved the power of the Nemesis around Master Martial Artists in the physical parameters, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Of course, these are just prototypes... the finished product would be visually far more pleasing than this monstrosity."
Mamiya Marika explaioned as Eve was somehow impressed, beucase Martial Master level was the same as the Great Knights in the Mana Path.
Overall, in the current age, having physical Parameters around D-Rank meant that the thing that they were right now cultivating in those pods in front of them was strong enough to tear through an entire larger building like nothing.
It was rather impressive.
"But they are far from finished..."
Suddenly, they saw an elderly man coming up to them. He wore a white laboratory coat with a sweater under it and a tie.
"And this is our lead Virologist and Bio-Geneticirr, Dr. Anton Koenig, Phd., who is pioneering the research on the Progenitor Virus, and its strains, together with a research team from the Mamiya Conglomerate."
Marika introduced the elderly scientists to them, as the elderly man was especially calm even when facing Campione, as Yakou's identity wasn't a secret here. The old scientist cared far more about the ongoing experiment with the Nemesis that was happening in its suspension pod.
"They are using the Magitech DNA Recombinator to change the DNA of the Nemesis and incorporate some final pieces into the overall puzzle... once it's done, we can inscribe the last Runes into its skin, and it would be ready for the field testing."
Everyone listened to the lead scientists at the HIVE, particularly Yakou, who was rather interested to see the performance in the field.
"When would it be ready for the field test, time-wise?"
Yakou asked as Dr. Koenig pondered over the answer.
"A few weeks... depending on how it would adapt to the DNA Recombination and how the compatibility with the Runes would be. We will start with a few simple simulations and tests against the D-Class Personnel."
Everyone nodded, and Yakou even made a note to attend the tests... he was very curious about this, as he was one of the people who saw tremendous potential in the development of the B.O.W.s, as it could be another way of obtaining high combat prowess for the USFA and Illuminati Society.
"If you are lacking the D-Class, we have a lot of prisoners of war... especially from the Murtia; they would be highly suitable for the role."
D-Class Personnel stood for the Disposable Class... Class-Ds are typically recruited from convicts guilty of murder, rape, or other violent crimes.
Lately, a lot of prisoners of war from the war with the Murtia and other elements, or the criminals that were apprehended when President Grey initiated his great sweep that destroyed countless gangs across the USFA.
"That would certainly be welcomed, Your Majesty... latest experiments have been taxing, and we need a lot of Mages for the Project Genesis as test subjects."
Currently, there are several hundred Dark Mages and rogue Magic Users in the specialized containment facilities across the entire USFA.
It was one of the problems that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security were facing, because it was clear that they could not hold them here forever.
If all of those people could, over time, be transferred to the HIVE and serve as D-Class, it would solve tons of problems... on top of that, those criminals and Dark Mages would at least serve a greater purpose, and it would save the Federal Government tons of money.
"Indeed, it would... at least these scums would serve for a greater good once in their whole miserable lives."
General Peter Randall announced himself in his typical way, as the man was always very direct with his words to the point where it made people uncomfortable. Randall was probably one of the most stereotypical ideas of a soldier that one could ever find somewhere and anywhere.
He was a man with a powerful build and powerful physique, which was a testament to practicing the Martial Arts for more than several decades and reaching the level of Martial Master, and from what Yakou could see, he needed just one tutor to become the Martial Grandmaster.
His Chi was immense and powerful, yet it also contained tremendous killing intent that was concealed deep within his Chi.
"Welcome to the HIVE. I will be escorting you to the Core Levels... due to the several-factor opening, the Gateway leading to the Core Level where the Project Genesis is researched needs to be opened by the Director and the Chief of Security simultaneously. Alternatively, one of them could be substituted by the Clearance held by Dr. Koenig or Sir Dairenji."
General Randall explained the problematic opening of the Core Level rather precariously. For security reasons, opening the gate to the Core Level required two people with the Opening Key Clearance.
In the entire HIVE, there were five people who held such Clearance, but usually, within the entire facility, only two or three of them were present simultaneously. This was done to lower the possibility of infiltration, which was already at the point of beyond zero.
But here, paranoia was just another word for precaution.
"General Randall."
Yakou greeted the General of the Blackwatch as they then collectively headed toward the Core Levels of the HIVE Facility, where the most important research was being carried out.
Both Eve and Yakou saw how much hassle it was actually opening the gate that led to the Core Layer, which was located one kilometer deeper compared to the end of the Lower Levels.
Well, considering the fact that the Core of the HIVE housed the Project Genesis, such security measures were only given. When they finally arrived at the Core Level, both of them were surprised by the scarcity of people, because there were not many researchers working on the Project Genesis.
Which was somehow understandable.
"So, what's the progress right now?"
Yakou asked as Marika then led him to one of the observatory rooms, which had a direct view of one of the laboratories where another experiment was being carried out.
"Alright... after obtaining the information on the Ritual of the First Manas, we have made tremendous progress on the Magic Genome Mapping Project, as you can see in these images..."
She then pointed to the holographic projection, which was showing the results of the Magic Genome Mapping Project, which was basically the foundation of The 3rd Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Blood of Manas.
"As you can see down in the laboratory, we have now proceeded into the last phase of the experiments and are finishing mapping the Magic Genome. Once it's finished, we can proceed to incorporate the elements from the Ritual of the First Manas onto the No-Majs and see how their bodies would be adapting to the Magic Genome. Of course, before that, further adjustments to the process are needed, and we need to conduct the Ritual of the First Manas in a more old-fashioned way."
Mamiya Marika explained, as everyone nodded, but there was great zeal in everyone's eyes when they heard that. The Ritual of the First Manas was something lost to the ages, but it was also something that allowed the creation of Mages and Magic users.
The 1st Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Eidos Intervention
The 2nd Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Magic Calculation
The 3rd Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Blood of Manas
These were the three Grand Cardinal Codes of Magic, which served as the foundational rules for all Magic and Mana.
Yet humans were innately, without the last one...
The Blood of Manas.
Contrary to the Chi, which everyone had and could acess, there was a lingering thought on how to obtain Magic?
Over time, the ancient scholars came up with the idea of incorporating the Magical Blood of the Magical Beasts and Divine Beasts into the bodies of humans, which would then give them the ability ot use Magic.
Yakou knew that this idea wasn't random, but instead, it was taken from the cross-breeding aspect between Humans and said Magical Beasts or Divine Beasts that could take human form, or Humans and Divine Ancestors, or even Heretic Gods.
In this form, the Ritual of the First Manas was created.
A Magical Ritual, which would incorporate the Magic Genome into the body of a No-Maj and allow ordinary humans to use Magic and have Magical Blood.
Effectively solving The 3rd Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Blood of Manas.
The downside of this was also the eventual extinction of the Magical Beasts on the planet Terra, as like 95% of them were hunted to extinction by the people who wanted to undergo the Ritual of the First Manas and obtain The 3rd Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Blood of Manas.
Initially, something like this would be useless, but in the turbulent era... with rising levels of Mana in the enviroment, frequent appearances of Heretic Gods, Divine Beasts, and Tombs... things that were once thought to be extinct in the world were appearing once more.
Which was like a miracle.
"Can't you use a substitute? Like Blood from Mages or perhaps Campione?"
Eve Rockefeller asked, looking at Yakou, when she mentioned using the Blood of Campione, because only someone close to him would be bold enough to propose using Campione's Blood in an experiment.
"That seems to be nigh impossible, Miss Rockeferller."
The one who answered her was Dr. Anton Koenig, who also participated in the Project Genesis as the lead Geneticist and Bio-Engineer.
"It wouldn't be really surprising that we have tried both... Blood of ordinary Mages is facing strong rejection from the DNA of the No-Majs, mostly because it's already containing a very strong Genetic Imprint, and to accommodate it, you will need overwhelming compatibility, which renders this approach rather useless... and if the subject is a Mage, the process is even more arduous. And about the second part of your question..."
Dr. Anton Koenig stopped in his explanation for a brief moment before he continued once more.
"Using Blood of Campione for the procedure has approximately 99,99% probability of the target dying due to overhelming power of the Campione's Blood... we can't really know how strong one would need to be to be able to withstand the process using the Blood of the Campione."
In the end, such information wasn't that shocking, truth to be told, and everyone expected that the Blood of the Campione or an equally powerful being couldn't be used in the short term... perhaps in the future, when the process would be complete and mature, they would be able to draw something out of it.
"Well, that's rather understandable... but let us return to the topic at hand, alright?"
Yakou understood that wanting to use something as power would be doomed to fail right now, so they would be better off focusing on the smaller graces.
"Of course... now where did I stop..."
Dr. Koenig then typed something on the console not far from them, as he showed them another result of the research. It was clear that the researchers at the HIVE were not wasting any time and were working like ferrets.
"Right now, we need more powerful Mages as the experimental subjects, and by powerful... I mean the ones that are coming from the established Magic Lineages. Most of the test subjects that we have right now are mostly of the grassroots origin and are not particularly useful for the next part of the experiment... not to mention, the Dark Mages have too eroded a genome."
Dr. Koenig explained that he had to admit that this work was one of the most exciting, if not outright the most exciting, things in his life.
Till several years ago, he wasn't even aware of the existence of Magic, but his expertise was needed for the Super Soldier Project that the government of the United States was carrying out.
He was the one who basically single-handedly located the Magic Gene of the Mages, and even now, his research paper on the Genetic Erosion of Dark Magic was making waves among the scholars; even the Magic Scholars had to admit that this was groundbreaking research.
One that only further doomed the usage of Dark Magic to even greater obscurity and even increased the stigma even more. The Dark Mages were the Mages who used Dark Magic, which was usually highly detrimental to the body and soul of the user.
At least that was the common assumption in many regards.
Till now.
The latest research by Dr. Koenig confirmed that overusing Dark Magic will degrade the Magic Genes in a person's genome, which, in the most extreme cases, could lead to Gene Collapse or Genetic Degradation.
The first one resulted in death, and the second resulted in the inability to cast Magic anymore.
"That would be problematic... the reason why there are Dark Mages in the first place is to compensate for the lack of talent or Magic Blood, which the Dark Magic could solve for, at a rather exorbitant price."
One of the main reasons, if it wasn't already the main reason, why many fell to the allure of the Dark Magic was that it could cover for the weaknesses.
Various really nasty pieces of Dark Magic allowed Mages to raise their latent talent or even increase the Magic Blood. Some allowed them to bypass The 1st Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Eidos Intervention or The 2nd Grand Cardinal Code: Principle of Magic Calculation.
Yet...
The price was often too high for those who were more rational than they were greedy.
"Can't we buy prisoners from the other Magic Associations? Or some Families? I bet that many would have someone imprisoned who would meet the requirements, and if there is one thing that we are not lacking, it's money."
Suddenly, when Eve stated her idea, everyone stood there as if they were struck by lightning. Yes, this idea could indeed work, because, as the Rockefeller Heiress proposed, if they were lacking such people, they could easily buy them.
While not everyone would sell, as these prisoners often served as good experimental subjects of the Magic Associations or other organizations, there would still be some who would choose to sell.
And those would be their target.
"That's actually a splendid idea... Eve, can you handle it within a few days? Don't need to spend overpriced amounts on it... just negotiate and deal with the ones that actually want to get rid of their prisoners."
Yakou actually liked the idea of buying the prisoners very much and told Eve that he would support her in the efforts.
He knew that some people would certainly try to scam them or obtain much more than the merchandise was actually worth, but for those, Eve would just threaten them that he would come and beat them to death.
Most would fold faster than a family-oriented politician when seen with a thirty-year-old lover at the abortion clinic.
"Once those subjects are secured, how fast can you start with the experiments?"
Yakou asked as both Mamiya Marika and Anton Koenig looked at each other and silently calculated their answers. For Project Genesis to yield success, they needed results from both sides of the coin.
Mages that were of the grassroots origin, or the ones with weaker Magic Lineages, and also from the Mages that were from the long-established Magic Lineages. Only in the subjects that were from the long-established Magic Lineages would they be able to observe how the developed Magic Genome was behaving in the procedure, and its properties.
"Ten days at best... after we have the necessary data, the only thing that we would need is further comprehension of the Ritual of the First Mana and oversight from someone at the Magic Saint Level at minimum to start the first trials. In the end, the idea behind the entire process isn't that complicated."
Marika answered because they were already prepared to run clinical trials on some of the subjects, and because the mechanics of the entire concept were not that complicated. It was basically a Magical version of DNA Recombination and Bio-Genetic Alchemy.
For the people who were actually doing the research, the principles behind the Ritual of the First Manas were not that complicated, as long as they had all the necessary equipment and things needed for that.
"That's certainly good news... I will decode the remaining parts of the Ritual of the First Manas and have it delivered in two or three days."
The Ritual of the First Mana, which he obtained from Athena, needed to be first learned by him, and only after that could he pass it forward. Fortunately enough, with the help of the Divine Authority of the Mímir's Well, it was a rather easy task to comprehend everything that Athena gave him.
"That would be appreciated... I predict that if everything goes well, we can have some real results in several months at minimum."
Marika had some idea about when they would have some results, and it was better than the initial predictions. Though on the other hand, it was important to add that Project Genesis was getting all the attention and resources possible from the USFA, Illuminati Society, and Campione.
It would be a wonder if they were not progressing with mile steps.
She also knew that with the Divine Authority of the Mímir's Well, Yakou could basically steamroll through the obstacles on the Magic side of things as he would solve practically everything for the researchers and give them information that they needed.
Which tremendously hastened the entire process.
"That's good... now what else do you have to show us?"
Yakou asked because he was curious about what else they were researching here aside from Project Genesis. Even though he was one of the main contributors, it wasn't like he was micromanaging everything and paying attention to every single detail around.
"We are also working on the artificial means of increasing the Chi of Martial Artists."
This was also one of the projects that the Mamiya Conglomerate was researching, though what was tricky was that they wanted a way that wouldn't have any negative side effects and would increase the Chi of Martial Artists without harming their foundation or depriving their talent in the future.
Which was certainly a very daunting task, truth be told, but also held tremendous potential.
Though Yakou was absolutely sure that the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains already had methods like that, though they were not what the Mamiya Conglomerate was researching previously and what they were doing right here in the HIVE.