His eyes widened, pupils dilating with shock.
"This... this can't be!"
The light died down, displaying the result of the procedure. Inside the capsule, the child was now a monstrous, mutated mess.
Pale skin stretched out, sagging and clinging onto bone. Tree roots sprouted, bark covering half their face with branches and blooming flowers. Additional appendages forced themselves out, covered in a thick hide.
Saint Leon glowered, his eyes burning with dormant anger. Lowering the capsule, he reached his hand into the monster's chest cavity.
The sound of flesh being pierced echoed, and he dug out the crystal orb, tearing blood vessels and crushing bone.
With a slight squeeze, the orb shattered, blood from the trapped heart pooling on the ground while Saint Leon held the flesh piece, its golden glow still strong.
The mutated monster fell to the ground, its body limp. Looking upon its mutated flesh with disdain, Saint Leon snapped his fingers, his power turning the corpse into ash.
"Another failure," he mumbled to himself, "why... why... it was perfect..."
He turned to the remaining two children before pointing a finger at the still kneeling researchers.
"What are you all waiting for?! Go get more test subjects! Scram!"
The Saint's anger had reached a boiling point as the researchers scrambled over themselves to leave the facility. He turned his attention to the remaining two children, trying the procedure once more.
Minutes later, another blinding brilliance shook the facility, and another, mutilated monster came out of the capsule.
"Fuck!"
Saint Leon retrieved the piece of flesh one more, its golden glow glimmering against his wrinkled hands.
Without warning, Bishop walked into the facility, his eyes quickly darting across the room, scanning the Saint's efforts. Seeing the failure, as well as the last living specimen on the stretcher, he let out a tired sigh.
"We've already tried everything, and even the power of Saint-Supreme star cores does not work. I'm afraid..."
Saint Leon looked at the glowing flesh, his eyes filled with a deep reverence, as well as defeat. However, that quickly turned into a fanatical anger, a burning, deranged anger.
"That Harbinger of Negativity must have done something!"
Bishop nodded, "On that note, I believe he is also the one behind the Union President's new act. He may also have something to do with the Sanctuary losing over a hundred thousand devotees in a day"
"What? A hundred thousand? That can't be possible"
Bishop produced a set of files from under his priest's robes, handing it over to Saint Leon. The old man opened them up, eyes scanning through charts and lines of falling numbers, signifying the number of followers worldwide.
"And these are verified?"
Bishop nodded, "The Oracle Stone proved it to be real"
The Oracle Stone, a magic relic of ancient origin and a key artifact of the Holy Sanctuary, is capable of displaying how many living beings are followers of the Holy Sanctuary.
Just as Bishop had said, the number of followers who believe in the Holy Sanctuary and the Harbinger of Positivity has been on a steady decline over the past few days. That power of faith can be used to manifest "divine feats," such as calling upon rain, and now after many years of steady growth, it has fallen.
One hundred thousand, a number that was large, but not large enough to shake the solid foundations of the Holy Sanctuary.
Despite that fact, the number of followers had decreased a sizable amount, something unprecedented for hundreds of years.
Saint Leon clenched his fists, turning the papers to ash that scattered across the floor, "We can't sit around calmly now, this is war"
His gaze turned to the glimmering flesh chunk in his other hand. In a flash, the flesh was divided into three equal pieces, its light flickering for a moment, before returning to normal.
"We will go ahead with our plans," he handed two pieces to Bishop, keeping one for himself, "Now go, its now or never"
Bishop took the pieces gingerly, as if they were the most fragile piece of art in the world, before pocketing them in his breast pocket under his priest's robes. He pressed a palm against his chest as he bowed.
"I won't let you down"
-
"-and today, we as a nation rise up, hereby separating the Holy Sanctuary from all forms of governance under Article 3B-A"
Loud cheers erupted from a large crowd of thousands of people, all bundled up together around an elevated platform where one man stood behind a podium, guards in black suits surrounding his body.
The Union President raised his hand, silencing the masses. When the cheers died off, he continued to speak.
"We as unawakened humans must govern ourselves, without the influence of a higher power dictating our politics!"
There was yet another rousing uproar from the crowd, their cheers echoing throughout the entire city like a low rumbling earthquake. The Union President waited patiently until the cheers died down before he continued.
Right as he opened his mouth to speak however, an explosion shook the square, inciting screams from civilians.
A column of fire exploded forth, and a middle aged man flew into the air, fire trailing from his hands. In his hands were a set of lighters, fire spilling out and expanding.
Behind him, roughly a dozen other Awakeners, all displaying their powers, followed closely behind.
One of the guards donned a set of thick spectacles.
"One Yellow Spirit level Awakener, fire manipulation. Thirteen other Blooming Awakeners"
"Misfits," grumbled the Union President. He glanced towards the guard closest to him and nodded twice.
"Bring them out"
The guard nodded and muttered into his radio, to which a feminine voice spoke through.
"Copy that, sending over the newest models"
The crowd began to shift quickly as the Spirit Purifier approached the platform, anger visible on his face.
"The Holy Sanctuary gave you protection!" his spittle flew as he shouted, "You should be honored!"
The man pulled back one arm, flames gathering around his fist as he prepared to strike amid shocked gazes.
BOOM!
A small metallic object collided into his chest in a flash, knocking him into the pavement.