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Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Memories

As Leonard body was passed out, his mind however was full on running, integrating the missing memories that his body was not able to provide earlier, as Leonard was watching from the view of his body, he could also feel the emotions of the original body when it happened, the very first scene that he saw is when he was born, and held up by his mother.

"You're name would be Benimaru D. Shinmon, even if I'm not on your side anymore, I would always be in your heart. Never gave up your will to live, no matter what kind of challenges you face here, and never stop smiling, it was the only thing that they can't take away from us," His mother said to Leonard while crying, she was smiling with her tears dropping from her eyes, Leonard then noticed a shadow that was covering her new mother's face.

'I'll adopt that name to signify a new beginning,' Leonard said, in himself, thinking of addressing himself as Benimaru, for his new world, and also to honor his mother.

"Give me the boy," The shadow just said, with a hint of disgust in his voice.

"What are you going to do with my son?" Benimaru's mother asked, with a serious expression despite being tired.

"That is none of your concern, hand over the boy immediately," The shadow said, with his voice increasingly getting irritated to his mother, just when his mother was about to answer, her head suddenly exploded, this made Benimaru see the first brutality in his memories, a never ending malice of Celestial Dragons.

"I don't need you anymore, now, you're just a reminder of a shame that I made for the sake of science," the shadow suddenly said, with anger and irritation in his voice. Benimaru then felt that he was picked up by a large man. When Benimaru saw the face of the shadow figure, the ability that made his mother's head suddenly explode became apparent.

'It seems that Saturn is my father here, meaning that I am half D. clan and half Celestial,' Benimaru thought, fully believing that he was reborn into the character he made for his fanfiction.

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Saturn's POV

In the dimly lit laboratory deep within the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, Saturn stood before a reinforced steel table. The room was sterile, clinical, the air heavy with the scent of antiseptics and the faint, metallic tang of blood. On the table lay a baby, no more than a few months old, swaddled tightly in white cloth. The child's eyes were closed, his small chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths.

Saturn's gaze was cold and calculating as he examined the vial in his hand. The serum inside shimmered with a dark, iridescent hue, swirling like liquid mercury under the fluorescent lights. It was the culmination of years of research — a serum designed to integrate the genetic code of the Lunarian race, a race known for their god-like resilience, flame-producing abilities, and indomitable strength.

Saturn's lips curled into a thin, humorless smile. He had developed five variations of this serum, each more potent — and more lethal — than the last. The test subjects before had all perished in agony, their bodies unable to withstand the transformation. But this time, Saturn had a different approach.

Rather than using common slaves or lowborn criminals, he had decided to create a new test subject. One with the strongest genetic potential he could conceive.

The D. clan. The eternal enemies of the Celestial Dragons. Those accursed bloodlines that dared to challenge the gods themselves. Saturn had chosen a D. clan woman, her identity erased from history, and forcibly impregnated her. The result was the infant now lying before him — a hybrid of the Celestial Dragons and the D. clan.

Benimaru.

A child born not out of love or even necessity, but out of Saturn's insatiable lust for power and his desire to perfect his experiment.

Saturn pressed a gloved finger against the baby's cheek, feeling the faint warmth of life beneath the fragile skin. He could sense it — the latent strength coursing through Benimaru's veins. But was it enough? Could he survive the serum where the others had failed?

A dark, almost manic gleam shone in Saturn's eyes as he lifted the syringe, the needle glinting menacingly. He filled it with the shimmering serum, his hands steady, his expression devoid of empathy.

"This is for science," Saturn murmured, his voice flat and detached. "And for the glory of the gods."

The baby stirred, a soft whimper escaping his tiny lips as the needle pierced his arm. Saturn pushed the plunger, releasing the serum into Benimaru's bloodstream. The liquid coursed through the infant's veins like liquid fire, and within moments, the effects began to manifest.

Benimaru's body convulsed, his eyes snapping open as he let out a wail of pain. His skin flushed red, then darkened, veins bulging beneath the surface as the Lunarian genes attempted to integrate with his own. The air around him grew unbearably hot, and faint wisps of smoke began to rise from his skin.

Saturn stepped back, observing with a mixture of fascination and indifference. Was this the beginning of a successful transformation? Or would Benimaru, like the others, burn from the inside out?

The baby's screams echoed through the sterile lab, reverberating off the cold, unfeeling walls. But Saturn only watched, eyes glinting with a mad, scientific fervor.

After all, to him, Benimaru was nothing more than an experiment.

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As Saturn injected the serum into his body, Benimaru could feel the effects of the serum, as he was feeling like he was burning inside, despite being just a memory, Benimaru could feel everything that his original body experienced, but even though he was feeling the intense pain, he was surprisingly alright with it.

'The perk of the Essence of Self, I guess?' Benimaru thought, still watching the memories.

The entire 10 years of his life then began unfolding, as every day, Saturn would inject him with 5 serums inserted in the incubation pod, Saturn then would appoint other scientists to observe the changes in his body, as he was curious whether he would show the effects of the serums or he would have to grow up.

For the first year, Saturn watched as he spent countless resources on Benimaru's body to make him a perfect hybrid of a human and lunarians, but he was still not exhibiting any changes.

Benimaru knew his character had already unlocked the Fire Generation, since it was his own creation, while the durability of the Lunarian would be unlocked after he became 10 years old but it would be far stronger than anything, with only the disease as his weakness, but since he drank the Essence of Self, he knew that there would be nothing on here to harm him anymore, unless those stronger than him which are very few.

As Benimaru watched all of his memories, he felt different kinds of emotions, anger towards Saturn due to his cruelty and his experiments, pity for the slaves that he saw being put into a similar situation as he is, and happiness when he realized that Saturn was about to throw him away.

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Benimaru suddenly woke up, realizing he was in a different place than the beach.

"Someone must have found me passed out on the shore and decided to bring me here. Either they plan to sell me as a slave, or they're decent people. I'm leaning toward decent since I'm not shackled," Benimaru thought, his eyes scanning the room.

He noticed a charred burn mark on the ground where he had been lying, with bits of ash scattered around it. Before he could ponder further, a man entered the room. It was Wolf, who had come to check if Benimaru was awake.

"So, you're up. Feeling alright now?" Wolf asked, his eyes studying Benimaru carefully.

"Yes, thank you for helping me," Benimaru said, nodding gratefully to the man he didn't recognize.

Wolf crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe. "Well then, mind telling me what you were doing passed out on the shore?"

Benimaru hesitated for a moment, then forced a calm expression. "Our ship was attacked on the way here. The pirate ship sank, and my parents put me on a raft. I passed out after that, so I don't know what happened next."

Wolf's gaze lingered on him, as if weighing the truth of his words. "What's your name?"

"Benimaru," he said, introducing himself.

"I'm Wolf," the man said. "Alright, here's the deal. You can stay here, but you'll need to pull your weight. That means working for your meals and contributing to the house. There are four others like you living here, but they're out right now."

Benimaru nodded. "I understand. I don't mind working."

Wolf grunted in approval and pushed off the doorframe. "Good. Rest up for now. The others should be back soon."

Benimaru lay back down, relief flooding through him. At least I'm not alone here.

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