location: Eridu, somewhere in a unknown facility near hallow zero..

- - - - - - - - - - -

a women is seen, she is sitting in front of a desk in a large office like room, a large computer in front of her, she is alone. She says nothing, but she has a look on her face that if anyone saw, they would know just what she was feeling, she was distraught, disgusted, and horrified by what she'd seen and done.

but luckily for her, her higher ups said she could finally retire after she had given her final report, and she was more then willing to do so.

with a heavy breath, she began to type.

"this is Audrey Kennedy, researcher stationed at facility 2020, a facility owned by the New Eridu Administration. And this report is sent to the New Eridu City Administration as a retrospective on what has been accomplished during the experiments at facility 18"

she sighed, before typing.

project name: "untouched"

purpose: "create humans immune to the effects of the hollow entirely, and utilize them as a group code named "U.L.T.R.A" 'utilized, lethal, termination, response, agents,' who would be used to combat Ethereals that reside within hollows to a larger degree then thought possible. They would be able to clear an entire population of ethereals in a hollow within mere minutes, effectively destroying the hollow".

"In a lame man's terms, artificial void hunters".

she paused, looking at something to her side, she stared for only a moment before turning back to the computer and typing.

Process used: "it was believed that if a subject with a greater than average hollow immunity was forcibly injected with Ether and kept within a hollow for 24 hours and did not show any signs of becoming corrupted. the process would be considered a success and they would be completely immune to the affects of corruption. we would then continue this process for three more days and would then make any modifications to them as seen fit to take full advantage of their new found immunity. To do this, we first tried to find willing volunteers, but came short, it was then decided to used orphaned children as substitute, about 500 children were taken in"

"In practice, it was a much more primitive way of trying to build up an immunity then we would have hoped."

"and the success rate of this was.."

...

she paused once more, looking to her side once again before turning back to the computer and typing.

" minimal at best.."

"80% of subjects turned into etherals within 10 minutes of being injected and sent into the chosen hollow, hollow zero. 10% lasted approximately an hour before also turning into Ethereal's.

"The remaining 10% of children seemed to actually adjust to the Ether injected and seemed to last longer than the average 10 minutes, to be sure, the children were then left in hollow zero for about 24 hours with provided food, and still showed no corruption what so ever, this process was repeated another 3 times, with the same result.

"Success"

the remaining subjects were then trained in every combat style imaginable along with being trained to be effective with both close range weapons and firearms to make them as combat effective as possible. A subjects attributes would be taken into consideration to prioritize the amount of training they went through for a certain skill"

- - - - - - - - - - -

Audrey sighed, now that the main explanation was over, she could finally move on to the part she was dreading most of all.

Those two..

"I will now go into detail about 2 of the 90 subjects that have shown the greatest promise"

Subject one: [REDACTED]

Code name: V1

Age: 19

Species: thiren, black panther

Sex: male

Attribute: physical

Physical characteristics: height 4,9, white skin, black average sized hair, panther like ears, panther like tail, and red eyes. (NOTE: over time, subjects eyes have appeared to change complexity, changing from red to a more yellowish color, it is believed this is caused by the amount of time subject has spent in hollow zero, it is unknown if these changes would occur in other hollows)

Process: "[REDACTED], known hence-forth as V1, was taken from an orphanage at the age of 9 and was, like the rest, injected with Ether and sent into hollow zero in hopes of him adjusting to it and becoming immune to the corruption entirely. luckily enough, the boy proved to be one of the 90 children who proved to adapt to the ether injected into them hollow zero, he, like the other remaining children were left in hollow zero for another 24 hours with provided food, and was then left in there 3 more times to confirm its success"

"and, when let out of hollow zero,

"appeared to have adapted to the hollow completely, no longer seeming to have the risk of turning into an ethereal over time, seemingly allowing him to remain in any hollow indefinitely. The boy was then trained with the rest but was trained to be especially effective with firearms, due to his attribute seemingly being one of physical. during experiments and training, the boy showed much more prowess and skill then rest, but, unfortunately, he appeared to have one fatal issue.

a caring heart.

Seemingly going out of his way to help the other subjects, giving them his food, and volunteering himself for testing."

"this, was dealt with."

"V1 was then lobotomized to be rid of his caring personality, to great success, to prove the effectiveness of this, the boy was then sent to eliminate an especially large and aggressive Ethereal near the facility, and he would return successful, however, gravely wounded, having lost an arm and most of his ears in the process,"

"this, would also be dealt with."

"V1 was given an experimental arm given to us by the New Eridu Administration, named simply "the feedbacker" the arm was capable of sending an enemies attacks back at them, this included firearms and physical attacks, but attacks like fire and poisonous gas or any type of chemical weaponry could not be reflected".

V1's ears were deemed beyond recovery, so it was decided to give him a pair of artificial ears that were designed to be a striking color of blue, giving him even better hearing then the average panther thiren, and through the power of Ether, these artificial ears came with the benefit of them being able to condense an item to a microscopic size and hold the item inside them. (NOTE: V1 has been seen mostly using this feature to hold his firearms, which we will get into later).

"But, due to the severity of the injuries across the rest of his body, it was also decided to remove V1s orginal heart and replace it with an artificial one."

"The new heart would circulate blood much faster than the original, along with producing many more progenitor cells, allowing for rapid regeneration."

"However, this rapid regeneration did come at a price, due to the amount of strain on the new mechanical heart and the nature of how it worked, to keep the new heart running, V1 would need to resupply the Ether in the heart to keep it from deactivating. To help with this, we replaced most of his skin with a material capable of absorbing Ether particles in the air of hollows, and if that was not available, he would be able to absorb the particles of dying ethereal. This also seems to allow him to destroy ether crystals by simply absorbing the ether within them into himself by coming into physical contact with it.

"And if these conditions are not met, his new heart will deactivate, killing him."

"But due to the energy efficient properties of Ether, he does not need to constantly resupply the Ether inside the heart. Able to go at least a week without needing to absorb more Ether.

"Despite these disadvantages, he is extremely effective. It was later decided to test the capabilities of this new found regeneration, through a multitude of experiments, it was discovered that V1 is able to heal from any bodily injury possible, it would appear the only weak point in his body would be his artificial heart, due to it being responsible for the rapid regeneration even being possible, and due to the lobotomy, along with removing the piece of his brain that interprets pain, he does not react to pain in any way shape of form, making him that much more deadly. Using this, and his newly acquired arm in tandem with the weapons given to him for combat to great effect in the field. That is an adequate lead into".

Arsenal:

"Subject V1 was given two weapons and created one, these three weapons are".

1. Alternate Piercer Revolver: "powered by an Ether energized core, The alternate piercer revolver was created as an upgrade to a previous weapon that was originally going to be given to V1 but was later given to [REDACTED] instead, also known as V2".

"The Alternate Piercer Revolver is a marvel of technology, capable of firing microscopic pieces of metal at an extremely fast speed and being able to use those same microscopic pieces for a long period of time before needing to reload, the estimated max amount of available ammo with a teaspoon worth of junk is an estimated 600 rounds worth of shots. The weapon is also capable of charging up a more powerful shot if one were to hold the handle for long enough".

2. Marksman revolver: "an alternate of the original piercer revolver, it was decided to let V1 keep this one due to the focus and precision required to use it effectively".

"The marksman revolver shares an exact appearance to the original piercer revolver, being a railgun revolver hybrid. But unlike the piercer revolver and its alternate version, it is capable of generating coins through a process of using ether to convert metal inside the revolver and turning it into a coin shaped object".

"The 'coin', when shot would act similar to a heat seeking missile. Redirecting any shot fired at the 'coin' towards the weakest spot of the target the coin had selected".

"It does this by aiming for the spot where the Ether in the subject is most concentrated, The head. This will also occur with organisms who are not Ethereals".

3. Nailgun: "A weapon built by V1 himself, this machine gun like contraption was created from junk V1 found in hollow zero".

"The weapon hold's a significant amount of nails within it. And these nails act like magnets for the bullets that the weapon shoots to home onto".

"It is believed that V1 was able to create this weapon by watching a commercial for a guns store in New Eridu on the small tv given to him in his cell with the other test subjects, with the owner seemingly showing off the weapons available and how they worked in the commercial".

"With this information it was discovered that V1 was an extremely intelligent individual. Capable of learning things extremely quickly, and would be able to figure out how something works down to the smallest detail by a simple explanation".

"With this in mind it would be suffice to say that if V1 were not taken in, he would have made an exceptional member of society".

"Combined with this, and V1s maximum obedience, he is the most likely the most powerful weapon created at facility 18".

Audrey tried her best not to think about that.

Temperament Before lobotomization: as stated before V1 was shown to be a very caring individual, going out of his way to help the other test subjects in any way he could. Due to this, he was often used to calm V2 down when she would become angered. He was also known to be quite talkative and was known to ask the researchers a multitude of questions before experiments would begin. this seemed to be due to his much higher than average intelligence, as stated before, he was a fast learner, hence why he seemed to ask so many questions. The researchers who interacted with him stated he was known to be quite an enjoyable person to talk to. and seemingly held no hatred towards the researchers. However when he was sent out into the field, he was known to hesitate when killing ethereal. And, when having killed an entire wave of ethereal by himself, he was seen attempting to create a monument to them with junk around hollow zero. When asked why, V1 replied "all of the them were people, with their own stories and families, if they can't be given their own graves. they deserve this much"

With a personality such as that, it was believed that V1 would never be able to reach his full potential, and might eventually become a liability in the future, so it was decided this would be dealt with accordingly.

Temperament after Lobotomization: subject after lobotomization along with the removal of some of his brain, became cold and calculated, researches saying he had a demeanor that was more fitting of a machine, seemingly not doing anything unless told to do it. he did not seem to show any interest in interacting with the other test subject nearly as much. though, the subject became much more violent and proficient with his assault on Ethereals, showing no mercy to them and the other test subjects in training. Due to this, the lobotomy was considered a success.

Audrey stared at the screen after she typed that, She stared for what felt like an eternity.

she didn't like thinking about [REDACTED] after what was done to him. When [REDACTED] used to look at her, it was full of so much life, so much wonder, despite all that had been done to him. Despite the horrible situation he was in, his eyes would always have that glow to them.

But after his lobotomization..

his eyes..

oh GOD his eyes..

they... they were so.. l̶i̶f̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶. It was as if he was nothing more than an empty shell. A weapon to be used to kill and nothing more. A weapon of destruction..

an unstoppable force.

it didn't help that when he was taken to be 'cured' of his 'weakness'. His usual gentle and cheery voice was replaced with one of pure fear.. he begged them not to do it.. and when they did.. he screamed..

she could still hear his screams.

She looked to her side again. She stared in consideration, what would be the harm in doing it now? its not like they could punish her if she did .

...

no.

she needed to finish this.

she HAD to finish this.

as much as she hated it, someone had to document all of this, all of her and her colleagues hard work, because if she didn't, no one else would, since.. her colleagues.. they had already...

retired...

with a heavy heart, she turned back to the computer screen.

She just had to document.. her.. and she'd be done. She had gotten the more painful one done first. She could finish the second one and she could finally retire

Subject two: [REDACTED]

code name: V2

Age: 19

Species: Thiren, black panther

Sex: female

Attribute: physical

Physical characteristics : height 6,1, white skin, long black hair, panther like ears, panther like tail, with eyes with a bluish complexion. (NOTE: like V1s eyes, [REDACTED] eyes seemed change to a more yellowish color similar to her brothers eyes have changed to look like)

Process: [REDACTED] known hence-forth as V2, is the sibling of V1, both were taken in from the same orphanage and were of the 90 children who proved to adapt to the injected ether and hollow zero and were released after the next three days trial. When released, like V1 the subject showed to be extremely effective in combat after training.

However unlike V1 who was shown to be much more gentle in nature, V2 was much more aggressive towards staff, often attacking researchers when given the chance. However V1s gentle nature seemed to have a calming affect on V2, leading to them usually being kept together.

Later on, it was decided to give V2 a mechanical arm and ears to match V1 due to them being able to work in unison when testing, so it was assumed that V2 would be able to use this new arm to great affect similar to V1.

More on the mechanical arm given to V2, the reason for this was was although V2s attribute was physical similar to her brother, she was much more of a brawler then V1, often using pure strength and power to fight, so it decided to give her a mechanical arm focusing on this also provided by New Eridu city foundation to only amplify that attribute.

This arm, originally named "the punch back", was then given the name "the knuckleblaster" by V2 herself. When asked why she was stated saying "that old name was shit, the one I came up with is obviously better, you fucking idiot"

She was known to have a potty mouth.

It was also decided to also inject her with a special type of ether, which were modified ether crystals. Which when injected into a person would have the affect of hardening the persons skin and making it as strong as the ether crystal itself, this was of course given to us by an ether enterprise company. Of course the person would need an almost impossibly large ether tolerance to be able to handle the injection, but due to V2s complete immunity to corruption, this was nothing but a benefit to her.

Due to all this, V2 was as capable, if not more capable then V1, and they were shown to work extremely well together, this was likely due to them not only being siblings, but also due to them being trained at the same time.

However, Due to V2 still being able to interpret pain and having emotions, along with the lobotomization of V1. V2 usefulness has weighed slightly, making her less combatively capable than V1, this only seems to be due to mental weakness rather than physical weakness.

Arsenal: While it is true that V2 is much more of a brawler and prefers close quarters combat opposed to V1s much more ranged style. It was still decided she was to still given a firearm if only one weapon. which she has rarely been seen using, much less frequent then V1s constant use of his weapons.

1. Piercer Revolver: "The piercer revolver, as stated previously, this weapon was going to be given to V1, but it was later decided for it to be given to V2 due to her less then exceptional prowess with firearms.

The Piercer revolver functions almost the exact same as the Alternate Piercer revolver. Both being powered by an Ether crystal core but both have different firing rates.

The alternate piercer revolver exchanged a fast firing rate in return for more powerful shots, rewarding good aim and accuracy, which is what V1 was known for, hence why it was given to him.

While V2 was known to be quite poor when it came to aiming at a target, often missing when given firearms.

So it decided to give V2 the Piercer revolver which had quite the opposite trade off. It was capable of firing shots quickly but at the cost of those shots not being as powerful as its upgraded counterpart.

similar to its upgraded counterpart, if one were to hold the trigger of the weapon, it would be capable of firing a much more powerful shot. Seemingly equalizing to a normal shot of the alternate piercer revolver.

Temperament: V2 was known to be much different personally wise personality compared to V1. Researchers stated V2 was known to have a "potty mouth" and "bad temper" when talked to as stated before. She was even shown to be hostile towards other the subjects, taking enjoyment in, her words, "messing" with them. But when with V1. she seemed to mellow out. Being much more calm and was even known to swear less, at V1s request, it was obvious to anyone who witnessed the two that V1 and V2 were extremely close. Even by sibling standards. this was proven when, V1, deciding to be take the place as the test subject for an experiment that another subject would've been used for, about to be taken by researchers. V2 become noticeably more aggressive towards the researchers until being calmed down by V1.

Temperament after V1s lobotomization: After V1s lobotomization, V2 was noted to have become noticeably more violent, and was reported having almost killed 5 researchers in a fit of rage after learning of V1s condition. until stopped by V1 after being forcibly woken up from the coma he was put in.

However, it was decided that instead of trying to calm this anger, it would simply be redirected in the right direction, V2 was told that V1 had suffered a permanent brain injury, causing his current state. It was reported that V2s performance increased significantly after this.

Current status: Both subjects, along with the other 88 are now being sent to [REDACTED] where the most prominent will used to form 'ULTRA' and the rest will be used for many different purposes.

Audrey sighed, she finally sent the document to her higher ups.

She's finally done. And she was happy to be done.

Because that meant she could finally retire. She was given the option to become the monitor of 'ULTRA'. But she said no.

No fucking way.

She wanted no part of whatever was to come from this.

She wanted no part in dealing with the monsters she and her coworkers created out of those children.

She looked to her side for one last time, and grabbed the gun that sat on her desk to her side.

She aimed at her head, squeezed her eyes shut, and pulled the trigger. Blood splashing onto the screen of her computer. Her body falling limp like the rest of her coworkers, whose dead bodies lay at their desks.

But in the end, all their blood combined would be minuscule in comparison to the bloodbath they helped create.

"Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again".

- Jesus



{hey there! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Cruel fate (Terrible idea for me personally in retrospective) expect another chapter within the month!. (Or sooner if you guys can give me any ideas on where to take the story) and I hope to see you then!}

(PS: please feel free to notify me if there are any spelling errors or something that just doesn't sound right in the story, I will not hesitate to change it!)

(PSS: please give ideas. please, please PLEASE)