“Yes, yes. This is turning out quite well indeed. Yes, I think it’s better to edit this separately.” Haydn seemed truly entertained as he looked up at the top monitors.
“Now then, let’s move this along. I have to return to Gothic City and submit a legislative bill to the next senate meeting. One proposing the unconditional internment of Beast Bloods. Not even Saionji will be able to oppose it once I show them this video. You destroyed several of my cameras, but I have plenty of footage and it’s all in the cloud. Footage showing Beast Bloods breaking into a patriotic senator’s home and slaughtering the guards who bravely tried to fend them off.”
In other words, his heroic act a few minutes ago was a role play for the cameras. He planned on editing the footage from the night into a campaign video.
“We didn’t kill your people because we wanted to. You forced this situation on us. We purposely missed their vitals when we could. And you’re more of a savage than we’ll ever be. You fed your own men to the Bijour.”
“None of that matters in the pursuit of perfection in film.” All expression suddenly vanished from Haydn’s round face. “Beast Bloods shouldn’t exist. I’m doing what is needed to erase them.”
“What are you even talking about?”
“This planet exists for humanity. Do you comprehend how much we have gone through to preserve our species? Ever since mankind moved to this world from the old world, the genes we carefully selected have reverted back to their former mixed state over the centuries. All that work they went through selecting the best of the best in order to create a wonderful world of only superior humans has gone to waste. Now those ideal genetics are gone and the people have even forgotten it existed!” Haydn languished, throwing his arms out.
“It didn’t take long for the humans who settled on this planet to breed with the indigenous people, defiling the ideal gene pool. And with each successive generation, humans fell into depravity, art was lost, and crime spread. Chromosome aberrations are only increasing with time. We are reverting to a state worse than what we left behind.”
Insanity colored the man’s eyes and crimson stained his ashen cheeks. Haydn glared at Zelaide as if he were possessed.
“It is unforgivable for filth to mix in with the genes that have been carefully selected. It will eventually cause humanity’s decline. Someone has to clean it up before it is too late. So I came up with a plan to stop it. By spreading drugs, I can narrow down who the weak humans are and eliminate them for good. The same goes for the money mongers who are blinded by wealth. Granting citizenship to Beast Bloods? Ludicrous. Beast Bloods just have to fight to the death with the Vermi and Inferni I created—what?” Startled, Haydn looked down at his feet.
Euphemia tightened her hand around his ankle.
“Yumi!” Zelaide instinctively stepped forward.
Her pain-glazed eyes focused on him and a faltering smile spread on her cracked lips. She then returned her gaze back to Haydn.
“You woke up? You have a remarkable force of will to push through all the drugs I injected you with. As expected of the woman who fascinates me.”
“Y-You are…wrong. There is no such thing as perfect…genes.”
Ugh. My brain and tongue feels numb…
Euphemia knew she’d been injected with drugs. But it didn’t cause her pleasure—only intense sleepiness. Even after waking up, the whole world spun and she felt sick to her stomach. It was worse than a hangover. With sheer force of will, she pushed herself up on trembling elbows. She couldn’t stand letting him capture more footage of her sprawled out on the floor like a drug addict.
“…We are all human beings, stupidity and cleverness included. No one has the right to choose what makes someone better than another. There’s no right end point for humanity to obtain,” Euphemia argued vehemently. The fog slowly lifted from her mind as she spoke.
“Mankind is full of possibilities. No matter the time or the planet, we live to our fullest, make mistakes, right our mistakes, and make mistakes again without learning our lesson. But we are an unbelievably tenacious and tough species. Otherwise humanity would have gone extinct ages ago… Those superior genes you speak of have long since died off. What you have left are the tougher humans who survived in the colonies without their cradle world to support them.”
“Heh. Now that is a novel theory. Try not to hurt that empty head of yours by speaking, Euphemia. Are you suggesting that superior genes are destined to go extinct?”
“…No. The best will remain in future generations. Just as was proven by the Mongolian gerbils. Give them a little time in the wild and they will interbreed with other gerbils, leaving behind a stronger generation. My research has taught me how strong living creatures—AGH!” Searing pain caused Euphemia to curl in on herself.
Haydn’s rapier tip pierced her soft calf. “You ignorant sow! Don’t you dare compare ideal human genetics with rodents!”
“YUMI!” Zelaide’s roar cracked the air. He crouched to lunge at Haydn.
“Don’t!” Euphemia yelled back, her cry not losing out to his.
Zelaide froze in place.
“I won’t forgive you if you come!” she shouted. “Look twice before you charge in! I was only pretending to be unconscious. I saw what just happened. Do you want to become a roast Beast Blood by charging in head first? No one wants to eat charred Beast Blood!”
“Yumi…”
Even Haydn did a double take before her clearheaded scolding. Euphemia looked at the rapier lodged in her calf and snorted.
“A bug bite hurts more than this flimsy thing! I’m actually grateful he stabbed me because it gave me a clear mind. He’s only cutting into my excess fat anyway. No biggie. Besides, I’m thick-skinned and drugs don’t work well on me! Nightz are no worse than a sedative! But hey, at least this finally made this lowlife’s gentlemanly mask fall off, revealing the scum beneath!”
“Hahaha! Excellent…truly excellent. You truly are a wonderful video subject. Your constantly changing expressions can’t be taught. Too bad your stupidity ruins the overall package…” Haydn dug the rapier in and turned it as he spoke.
Face twisting with pain, Euphemia swallowed her screams and squeezed her hands together as her whole body convulsed.
“GRAAAAAAAH!”
Witnessing his mate suffering, the Beast Blood fell to his knees, his head tilted back with a sorrowful roar, and scraped his claws over the floor, ripping up chunks of the balcony. Red lines ran through the gleaming eyes locked on his mate.
“Yumi! YUMI! You piece of shit! I’ll kill you!”
“Z-Zel! I-I’m…o-okay… I’m doing okay!” Shoulders rising and falling with her heavy panting, Euphemia smiled reassuringly at Zelaide. Sweat drenched her ashen face.
“Yumi… I’m comin’ to you even if it means turning to charcoal—”
“Zelaide Silvergray! I forbid you from coming!”
Ordered by his mate, the Beast Blood stopped mid-lunge. Her emerald eyes burned into him. It was only those eyes that restrained the Beast Blood.
“Yu—”
“I will be fine…” Euphemia pushed back the pain and smiled without shaking.
Dammit! Find a way! Frantically suppressing his anger before it made him run wild, Zelaide ran his eyes around the control room, looking for a hole in the defenses he could exploit. Haydn watched him, enthralled by his suffering and desperation.
“Go ahead and search to your heart’s content. We will leisurely await the police’s arrival from here. You will look like an intruder to anyone who comes.”
“I’ll testify against you!” Euphemia rasped.
“Your sweat and urine will test positive for Nightz. That will make your testimony void. Leave everything to me. I will take down your sister, but I won’t do anything bad to you.”
“…Go to hell.”
“Speaking of people bound for hell…” Haydn watched the Beast Blood searching for an entry point with amusement. “I suppose Shank and the others failed, seeing as this Beast Blood made it this far. I was hoping to get some entertaining footage of two Beast Bloods killing each other. Useless.”
“You called?”