"Negative."

"The boy doesn't have any powers."

sigh

Several sighs filled the room as the people, with serious expressions plastered on their faces, shook their heads in disappointment.

"He's already ten years old now. If he still hasn't developed any powers, we all know there's no chance for him in the future too. He is a pure disappointment...(sigh) I honestly had great expectations from this subject," One of them said.

"Such a shame! The kid whose father was the Strongest Warlock and mother—the strongest Sorcerer, happened to be useless? He's not even a Variant, let alone being as great as his parents?" A middle-aged man in the group spoke as he looked at the boy lying on the patient table.

There was an expression on the man's face that depicted nothing but disappointment.

"It looks like we wasted our time with him for nothing. How pathetic!"

Three Scientists were talking amongst themselves outside the glass room, while inside, a young 10-year-old boy was lying on a bed.

A syringe was still inserted in his hand that was connected to a big machine nearby. Several tubes with sticky caps were also attached to his chest.

Comments were being passed around about the little one lying on the bed.

The boy was utterly oblivious to their conversation, as the glass-built testing area was soundproof. But he could clearly see the looks of disappointment, disdain, and sinister glares pointed at him.

His little fingers were clasped against each other as he waited there anxiously.

The boy had beautiful silver hair scattered around his head, which was so long that they came down to his shoulders. It made the fact clear that he wasn't given a haircut in a long time.

The boy was donned in a white hospital robe that reached till his mid-thigh.

Unlike other children of his age, he didn't have a soul-stirring, happy appearance. Instead, he looked tense and afraid.

His deep blue eyes looked at everything with mixed feelings. Gloomy pupils of his were scanning everything with anxiousness and a bit of timidness visible in them.

"There's no need to keep him here anymore. We should inform General Maxwell about his situation. Let's dismiss the kid from here so that we can move to work on some actual important stuff," The middle-aged scientist spoke again as he looked at the group in front of him, hoping to get everyone's support.

"Truly, this kid is useless."

"I had such high hopes for him."

The other two people shook their heads in unison, depicting their affirmation towards the matter as they spit out those two sentences.

A nurse was called by the scientists before they left the lab. Two of the scientists walked out of there fast while one stayed behind.

He looked at the boy lying inside the glass room and sighed.

Inside his heart, he felt pity for the boy. How unfortunate of him to be born without any kind of power. He was feeling completely frustrated on behalf of that pitiful little creature.

"Nurse, take him back to his room." The middle-aged scientist left the lab in busy steps after mouthing those words. Nobody noticed his balled fist as he left.

Walking inside the room, the nurse moved towards the boy and removed the syringe from his hand.

"Let's go," she told the boy, in a tone that intimidated him more.

The boy quivered as he stood up and silently followed behind her.

The nurse took the boy to a small room.

Inside the fully gray-colored room, there was only a small bed and nothing else. There were no windows. It was like those small compartments inside a train, without windows and seats.

The floor, ceiling as well as the door was metallic, and it was no ordinary metal. Those were made from the strongest metal found on the planet.

The nurse left the boy inside before she locked the room from the outside and left with an expressionless face as if she was a robot.

***

"General, Doctor Rao is on the line."

A soldier in a military uniform walked up to a person who was also wearing a military uniform and gave him the phone.

"Doctor Rao, How was the test? Did the boy develop any powers? Is he a Variant?" General Maxwell couldn't help but shoot rapid questions as he placed the phone closer to his ears.

Doctor Rao stood near a window, his eyes peeking outside the facility.

His long white coat was so clean that it seemed as if it was purchased that very day. His coat matched his white hair that was messy but still seemed like they were perfect and were supposed to be like this only.

"The results are negative, General. The boy still doesn't have any powers, and I'm afraid both of us know that he never will," Doctor Rao said.

"He has already turned ten, and you know that none can develop powers after they have crossed the age of 10," he continued. Pausing for a moment, he declared the final verdict, saying, "It's a failure."

Doctor Rao was one of the three Scientists who had just performed the tests on the boy.

*sigh*

There was an awkward silence before Dr. Rao heard General Maxwell again.

"We kept him in the facility for five years in the hopes of him having powers just like his parents, but I guess it was nothing but a useless endeavor," General Maxwell said as he looked down.

"Do you want to take that boy? He is already useless," Doctor Rao asked the General.

Thinking for a while, he opened his mouth once again to make a suggestion.

"If you don't mind, then we have a proposition to make," Dr. Rao spoke and waited for the General's reply. He couldn't wait to get over this topic already.

"What is it?" General Maxwell asked back almost instantly.

"We can make him a test subject for our research here, that is, if you don't need him," Doctor Rao suggested as he sipped his coffee.

"Yeah, do as you please. That boy is useless for us anyway," General Maxwell said before he disconnected the call.

Silence ensued in the room, which was broken after a few minutes by General Maxwell himself.

"Mark, You don't have a kid, right?" he asked the soldier who was standing behind him while passing the phone back.

"No, Sir. I haven't even married yet," Mark replied. He was somewhat confused as to why he was asked a question like that.

"Would you like to have a kid if he was useless?" General Maxwell inquired as he looked directly at Mark.

"I don't understand, Sir," Mark answered, growing even more confused.

"Zale Azarel, the strongest Variant in the history of humanity and the greatest Warlock to ever exist," General Maxwell commented.

"He was the wielder of both elemental power of Dark Lightning and Physical Power of Strengthening. Both of his powers were S-Rank," he further added as he explained more.

Mark tried to understand why General Maxwell was talking about Zale Azarel, but he failed. Was there even a need to talk about him? There was probably not a single person in this world who didn't know of Zale Azarel.

Ignoring the confusion on Mark's face, General Maxwell continued, "His wife Clarisse, the strongest Sorcerer of her time and the wielder of dual elemental powers, the A-Rank Power of Wind Control and the S-Rank power of Decay. You know the two of them, right?"

"Yes, Sir. They were the heroes of humanity. Unfortunately, they died five years ago," Mark answered with a nod.

"Yeah. They were special. I thought their son might have some talent as well. That's why I put so much effort into him. Albeit, I was wrong. If he had even a fraction of his parents' abilities, he would have been a great asset. But he's useless," General Maxwell explained.

"Their son turned out to be a waste that has no powers. I believe that if Zale and Clarisse were alive, even they too wouldn't want a son like that," General Maxwell said as he looked out the window. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes, Sir."

Although Mark didn't agree with both those judgments and assumptions, he still nodded in affirmative. He had no other options to do otherwise, as General Maxwell was his superior, and it wouldn't be good if he offended him.

*****

It was 4 am, and the sun had just started to rise in the distant horizon showering its golden ray to remove darkness.

A facility existed in the middle of nowhere; it was heavily guarded by the military of the United Elisium.

Three Scientists were walking together in a particular direction. Two of them were in a relatively good mood today, while the third seemed like he was in a dilemma.

"Doctor Rao, Should we really do the experiments with Lucifer? He has been with us for so long. Besides, he is just a child; I don't feel like we should do this to him," A Scientist who was walking behind the other two said to the Scientist in the lead.

"Doctor Min, You shouldn't put your personal feelings in the middle of work. And that boy doesn't have any powers anyway; you should be happy thinking that he is not totally useless," Doctor Rao replied.

Doctor Layman, who was the third person on the team, agreed with Doctor Rao.

"We are doing this for the betterment of humanity; hence he became useful to humanity. Also, it would take too much time to get another test subject here," he added.

"Exactly. Why should we delay our research experiments when we can start them immediately?" Doctor Rao asserted.

"But this is simply torturing. The experiment is nothing but a way to see how much pain a human body can endure. It can even kill him if we are not careful!" Doctor Min argued.

"Doctor Min, always remember one thing. Only when we know the limitations of the body can we find ways to break those limitations in the future. Who better to test it on than the son of the greatest heroes of humanity, and if he dies, it would at least be a useful death," Doctor Rao commented. "Unlike his parents who died so uselessly."

A smirk was visible on Doctor Rao's face, but no one saw it as he was in the lead.

"Are you doing it because you hate the Variants for not saving your wife during the great disaster of 2028?" Doctor Min inquired as his tone increased a bit. His fists were balled to control his anger.

Doctor Rao couldn't help but clench his fist abruptly as he heard those words. His face twitched uncontrollably.

"Doctor Min! I would very much appreciate it if you don't go clawing my personal life. Unlike you, I'm not letting my personal feelings motivate my actions. What I'm doing is purely for the betterment of humanity's future and nothing else!" Doctor Rao insisted.

Doctor Min didn't respond as he knew that anything he said wouldn't get through to the man.

Doctor Rao was his senior and the in-charge here; there was nothing he could do but to curse him and pray for little Lucifer.

Doctor Min followed him for quite some time before he noticed Doctor Rao stopping before a metallic door.

Doctor Rao opened the door and entered inside with the other scientists.

They saw a young boy who was sitting on a bed silently. He didn't look up even after feeling their presence. There was nothing else in this room for him to do anyway.

"Lucifer Azarel, come with us," Doctor Rao said.

"Am I going to get tested again? I can develop powers like my father, right? I wish to be like my parents and help everyone," The mostly mute boy spit those words out, taking all the scientists by surprise.

He glanced at the scientists with a smile plastered on his lips and eyes filled with hope.

The smile stabbed through the heart of Doctor Min and made him question his work, but he just closed his eyes and breathed heavily.

"No, you will never have powers. It would be best if you didn't even mention to anyone that you're the son of Zale Azarel and Clarisse," Doctor Rao said.

Not feeling the least bit embarrassed for talking to a kid like that, he further added. "Otherwise, they will turn into laughingstocks to people for having such a worthless son."

His words were quite harsh for the little person to whom those words felt like sharp spikes.

No one knew what the future held for the young boy and how their actions were going to create a nightmare for them.

.....To Be Continued.

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