Chapter 99: Sleep

Alec walked won without hesitation. He was more than used to the creepy stairway, after all.

Dario looked at Millie hesitantly.

Millie jumped out of his arms and followed Alec into the underground lab with resolute steps.

Along the way, they couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t as bad as Alec had warned them. Then they saw the rooms.

They had been cleaned and sanitized, but the cells, the tools, and the workbenches with straps were still there. Millie glanced once before her imagination about what had happened to Milo became too much, and she stared straight ahead at Alec’s lonely back.

It didn’t take long for them to follow Alec into the room he had used the most. They stopped dead in their tracks.

Since Alec had said that he had only been able to talk to Milo a little before it was too late, they were expecting to see Milo’s corpse or something on the table.

Instead, he was sitting there on the floor, leaning against the wall, staring straight ahead with empty eyes.

Dario and Millie were confused at first, especially since Milo didn’t have any arms. But then they noticed the black horns on his forehead.

Ah.

Right. Alec said they were taken by a monster researcher.

What Alec meant by ’too late’ was that Milo had turned into a monster.

“Why is he just sitting there?”

“What happened to his arms?” Dario and Millie asked at the same time.

“I have a theory that when humans turn into monsters during moments of distress, enough lingering emotion can create a sort of ’mission’ for their monster selves, which they will do anything to complete. Once complete, they kind of lose their motivation and turn into numb monsters.

“But it might also be that there is more variance between human monsters than there is among animal monsters, and that there is no way to predict their behavior. But Milo has been like this since the first time I put him to sleep after he killed the fucker that kidnapped us.” Alec answered without looking away from Milo. He could only guess.

Right now, he had a feeling that Milo was calm because of the Poem. But Milo had been reactionless even when Alec chopped off his second arm.

That thought brought Alec to the harsh reality of Millie’s question.

He could lie and say that it was Shim. He could avoid answering. He didn’t want to. It wasn’t right.

He had to tell the truth.

“As for his arms…”

“Yes?”

“…I needed to examine the flesh of a monster to figure out how monsterification works, and Milo was the only monster left.”

“You used him for experiments?” Millie asked, seeking clarification, her voice seething with suspicion.

Alec couldn’t say anything for a few moments. It was long enough for Millie and Dario to understand the answer even without him giving it.

“You…!” Dario stepped forward and grabbed Alec by the collar, pushing him back several steps until Alec’s back was against the wall.

Dario was strong, but he wasn’t stronger than magic. Still, Alec didn’t defend himself.

He was ready for Dario to punish him.

“Wait!” Millie called out with a sharp voice, quickly catching up to Dario and pulling on his shirt.

“He said he did it after Milo turned into a monster!”

“So?! He still lopped his arms of and used them for his twisted experiments! How do we know he was actually kidnapped and isn’t just the disciple of the twisted fuck who turned Milo into a monster?!” Dario shouted, knocking back Millie with a swing of his arm. It wasn’t gentle.

Millie stumbled back and fell.

Dario realized what he had done moments before the back of her head hit the edge of the workbench.

He stiffened in shock as something hit the bench before Millie’s head did, stopping her in her tracks.

Millie still lost her balance and ended up on the floor, though, but at least it was without hitting her head, thanks to the barrier Alec cast.

Dario turned to Alec with wide eyes like a deer. He realzed that if Alec could cast a barrier that quickly and without him noticing, he could probably do other magics without Dario noticing.

Alec was letting him rough him up.

Dario frowned.

“Punk.” He turned around and helped Millie up.

“I’m sorry, Millie, I didn’t mean to.”

“Shut up. Apologize to him!”

“No way!”

“There’s no need. Regardless of whether Milo was a monster or not, I still used his body for my experiments.”

Millie laid her arm down in the air and pointed sharply at Milo.

“That is not Milo. Milo is dead. What you used, Mage, was a monster’s body parts. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

“What?” Dario frowned. It was clear as day that the monster sitting there was Milo, just not anymore.

Millie glared at him angrily.

“Don’t you DARE compare that thing to Milo!” She shouted.

Dario’s eyes widened, and he stepped half a step back in admission of defeat.

“Alright, alright. Not Milo.”

Clearly, Millie had thought, prayed, and hoped for a different ending for Milo. Becoming a monster was worse than most of them.

As if she suddenly thought of something, she turned to Alec.

“D-did it hurt…?”

Alec nodded slowly.

“But only for a moment. Turning into a monster is worse for the ones around.”

“I see…” Millie’s head sank, and she looked at the ground. There was a little relief in her voice. At least Milo hadn’t suffered that much. It had been quick. It could have been worse.

But he was still gone. She would never hear him call out her name again. She would never see his smile again. She would never be able to hold his hands again.

“Sleep?” She looked up with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t hold herself back from crying anymore now that she knew Milo was well and truly gone.

Alec nodded and pointed at the door to the bedroom without another word.

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