The flesh chunk seemed wrinkled and ancient, dried up after hundreds of years, yet a faint golden glow emanated from it like a golden halo.
The scrawny man seemed to tremble, almost prostrating, "The Holy Seed has finally shown some activity after five hundred years"
Saint Leon gazed at the floating piece of flesh, his eyes unblinking as he stepped closer to the capsule, pressing his palms against the glass surface. A smile grew on his face, slowly widening to show his canines.
"We need to find a suitable vessel for the seed," he instructed, eyes never leaving the golden glow of the flesh chunk, "Go, round up as many children as you can. I don't care if they are infants or a teen, bring them to me"
The scrawny man's face twisted in fear, "B-but that would attract too much attention, we can't-"
"I don't care!" Leon grasped the man by the neck, dangling him in the air, "Go. Gather. The. Children"
His words dripped with a deep, dark malice as he tossed the scrawny man aside, "I could care less about public opinion now, as long as we succeed, use all of the Sanctuary's influence. There is more than enough faith for us to maintain our power"
"Y-yes, I understand!"
He hurriedly scurried out of the lab, his head hung low to avoid the furious Saint Leon's gaze. Paying the fleeing man no more attention, Saint Leon turned his gaze back to the glass capsule, his hazel brown pupils fixated on the piece of flesh as if it were some treasure.
"Soon," he whispered, "We are close, I can feel it. When we succeed, we will restore this world to its natural order..."
...
Three days passed by in a flash, and Saint Leon inspected the work of his people deep under the Saint Garden Cathedral.
BOOM!!
A loud explosion resounded, and cracks formed in the reinforced steel walls of the underground facility. At the center of impact was an unconscious researcher, whose body laid bruised and broken in the walls.
Not too far away, Saint Leon stood, the veins on his head displaying a visible fury. His right fist smoked slightly as he clenched it, veins popping with great anger.
He turned to the scrawny man, "Why are there only three!?"
The Saint pointed at three unconscious children laid out on stretchers, their unconscious forms clad in white hospital garbs.
"I didn't care where you got them, whether you bought them off the black market, the orphanage, or snatched them from the slums, so why the FUCK, is there only three of them?!"
The scrawny man kneeled, his head touching the floor as he trembled in fear.
"T-the Union President announced a new act just three days prior. It's a child protection act that documents all children and keeps them under government protection... and it includes the slums. As for the black markets, they were all cleaned out the next day"
Saint Leon clenched his fists and jaw, his nails digging into his palm as his molars cracked under the pressure.
"Someone... someone is against us"
His anger peaked for half a second, before he forced himself to calm down, like a balloon deflating after being stretched to the limit.
"That's not important, we can still try with these three specimens. I will perform the procedure myself, and do not interrupt me"
The old man moved with surprising swiftness as his subordinates watched, frozen in fear. He took out several capsules containing Saint-Supreme level star cores, bringing them to a large device planted in the center of the open facility room.
He curled his finger, raising one child with his mind and placing them in the central capsule of the machine. The glass tube sealed the unconscious child within as Leon began setting the star cores into slots into the contraption.
The churn of gears echoed across the empty facility, and various dials flashed wildly. Saint Leon walked over to the massive capsule and released the piece of flesh. It glowed softly, like a flickering candle, resting in Leon's worn out hands.
Walking back to the machine, he flicked a switch on. Inside the machine, the star cores were shattered with metal spikes, its energy liquified by a searing heat. Inside the main capsule with the child, several mechanical arms with syringes lowered and pierced their skin.
Pressing a button, a thick white gas was released into the chamber. The liquid energy flowed into the child's veins, causing it to glow in multicolored lights. The violent torrent threatened to burst the child into pieces, but the gas seemed to have a calming effect.
Putting on a pair of goggles, Saint Leon saw that a circular object began to form itself around the child's heart like a shell. He smiled with fervor, placing the flesh into a different slot.
An electromagnetic field was generated inside the capsule, lifting the child until they floated in the air. Another mechanical arm was lowered, this time carrying the flesh chunk, along with sharp metal blades shaped like incisors.
With pinpoint precision, the blades cut away at the child's chest, opening up a small section to reveal their ribcage. Extracting a few bones, the heart was revealed, encased in a multi-colored crystal orb.
Entranced, Saint Leon turned up a dial, releasing a purple gas into the chamber, which was quickly absorbed into the child's body. A medical gel quickly filled everything to stabilize the child's body as the mechanical arm neared his heart.
A blinding brilliance began to warp the facility, much to the researchers' fear, but the Saint did not care in the slightest.
"The vitals are still strong... this, this could be a success!"
The glimmering flesh touched the crystal orb, and a flash of golden brilliance exploded forth, shaking the facility and the cathedral above.
Blinded and disoriented, Saint Leon forced his eyes open against the golden light. Peering through the blindness, his eyes widened, pupils dilating as he parted his lips.