27 Alchemical Shenanigans

(A/N: I want to cause some chaos here. I'm assuming you readers are all anime fans. So, which quintessential quintuplet is number 1? Debate amongst yourselves!)

[Timeskip - 2 Days]

[Narrator's POV]

"Citrinitas," A voice called out a couple of metres from behind the plague doctor, who was tinkering with some tools on a workbench. "Yes, Arche?" Citrinitas put the tools he held down as he turned around to face his test subject who was currently sitting on a comfortable seat.

"What's happening with… her?" Arche questioned in a slightly confused, but scared tone as she pointed her hand to the person to her right. Her hands clutched into a fist as she gulped down the collecting saliva in her mouth. Laying on a gurney-like table, strapped and gagged, was a woman.

The woman strapped to the gurney had eyes full of tears as they trickled down and around her ears from gravity. Her stomach rapidly moved up and down from hyperventilation due to both emotional distress and having restricted oxygen access from being gagged. If she could make any noise like shouting, she could. However, only muffled and quiet noises came out of her gagged mouth.

This woman was none other than Clementine.

"Well," Citrinitas started. "The experiment involving your Talent needs a second person. So, I brought Clementine from the Happy Farm to conduct this test. Once everything concludes, I'll send her on her merry way back to Demiurge for breeding and skinning." The plague doctor summarised.

Arche shivered at the words of the alchemist as Clementine's muffled cries for help filled the silence of the Alchemy Lab. Of course, this silence was momentary as Citrinitas' acolytes working in the background were quick to fill it with whatever tasks they were doing.

"There's no need to shiver and get scared, Arche." The plague doctor reassured in his typical echoed voice thanks to his mask. "Clementine was quite the sick human. If you saw what she did to Ninya and all her other victims, you'd be glad she suffers in the Happy Farm. Anyways, you won't experience the pain that she will when I conduct the experiment. You already know that." Arche didn't know whether to be glad or scared shitless. The only thing she did was nod slowly.

"Now, enough talking. Ikaria, could you please pass over the tools?" The plague doctor gestured with his hands to the tray of tools on the other workbench. Ikaria swiftly nodded as she brought over the tray before placing it on a table between Arche and Clementine for ease of access.

The tray had all the tools required to remove the eyes of both people. Two sets of ophthalmic speculums to keep their eyes open along with some other tools to properly remove the eyes. "Thank you, Ikaria," Citrinitas said to the acolyte who gave a slight smile before giving a 45-degree bow.

"Hmmm, seeing as all the necessary preparations have been completed, let's get to work. I've always been curious as to how Talents function and all that. Arche, for this procedure, you'll be unconscious. I'll wake you up later to take note of the results, ok?" The former worker nodded in agreement.

"[Anesthetics]." Casting a 4th Tier spell, Arche was hit with a sudden feeling of tiredness before falling completely unconscious. Clementine on the other hand didn't get such treatment. "[Triplet Maximize Magic: Painful Surge], [Triplet Maximize Magic: Open Wounds]."

While both 3rd Tier spells didn't cause Clementine immediate pain like all his other offensive spells, the moment something cut her body, the blonde's pain receptors would be blaring alarms. The former spell increased the sensitivity of all Clementine's pain receptors in her body. The latter spell would make pre-existing or future wounds worse during the duration of the spell.

Of course, because of Metamagic [Triplet Maximize Magic], both spells had their effects tripled. The pain Clementine would feel by having her right eye removed would be unimaginable.

"Ikaria, make Clementine experience as much suffering as possible. However, keep the eye intact so I can transmute it into Arche's eye socket for the test." Nodding, the acolyte grabbed a set of ophthalmic speculums and forcefully inserted them into the eyelids.

The blonde warrior attempted to scream, but the gag in her mouth didn't allow that. In a desperate state of wanting to escape, Clementine thrashed her head in all directions. This, however, was also unsuccessful. Her head was bound with tight rope to the gurney-like table as she lay nude on it.

Ikaria then brought a scalpel within Clementine's vision as she violently thrashed her body uselessly about at the sight of the tool. "MHGHMMMMHGHMMHGMGHMMNNNMM!!!" The animalistic noises she made while gagged were wretched and filled with sorrow.

Out of pure fear, the warrior puked out her last meal consisting of raw human meat and excrement. But due to the gag, the disgusting liquid had nowhere else to flow but back down into her stomach.

"Ugh," Ikaria muttered under her breath, looking at the tear-filled warrior in front of her. "I don't want you dying by choking on your stomach acid. [Clean]." The vomit vanished from the warrior's throat as she gave another muffled scream of fear and desperation.

Wasting no more time, Ikaria brought the scalpel down to remove the subject's eye ruthlessly. "HMMMMMMMMM!!! PLMHHMHMSE!! STTTTTMMMMHMMHPPP!!!" The acolyte gave a sly smile as Clementine let out an orchestra of despair filled with agony and fright.

Not only did Clementine feel unbearable pain courtesy of [Painful Surge] and [Open Wounds], but the scalpel Ikaria used was slightly dull. Not dull to the point where the acolyte had to use lots of force and potentially damage the eye accidentally, but not sharp as to make the process quick.

The semi-blunt scalpel slowly cut in and out around the eye as you'd do with cutting a slice of cake because it was too thick. "HMHMHHMHGHMMGHGHMGMHMMHHMMHMM!!!" A waterfall of tears were generated in Clementine's eyes.

It was a slow and painful process for the warrior to endure. She didn't have the luxury of being under anaesthetics like Arche had. While grizzly and inhumane, some would consider this poetic justice as Clementine did this exact thing to Ninya, basking in the poor girls suffering. That, along with worse methods of torture such as using her stilettos and shoving them in and out of her anus and vagina.

As Ikaria was giving Clementine a taste of hell, Citrinitas had skillfully removed Arche's right eye before placing it in a small container filled with formalin fluid. This was just a way to store the eye properly as Citrinitas didn't want to leave it on a table and roll around. In addition, the fluid also functioned as a preserver and disinfectant.

Soon enough, the acolyte was finished extracting Clementine's eye and placing it in a separate container of formalin fluid as Citrinitas had done earlier. "As expected of Lord Citrinitas," Ikaria said with a slight tint of excitement and joy in her typically emotionless voice.

"To have masterfully extracted the former worker's eye so quickly. I only hope that my skills can improve so I can be as efficient as you and aid you wherever I can, my Lord." She continued, saying nothing but praise to her superior.

"I appreciate the flattery, Ikaria. And as for honing your skills, that only comes with time and practice." The plague doctor replied, causing the acolyte to form a small smile. "Umu, let's finish the first experiment involving Arche's unique All-Seeing Eyes Talent. Could you please insert Arche's eye in Clementine and vice versa for me? As for the transmuting, I'll do that job."

Ikaria slightly bowed as she did what she was told. Using some specialized tongs to take the eyes out of the formalin fluid, the acolyte inserted Clementine's eye into Arche's eye socket and the other way around. As that happened, Citrinitas was deep in thought about the whole experiment.

Sadly, his thinking needed to be put aside as Ikaria finished her assigned task quite quickly. Well, that was understandable as all she needed to do was insert an eye into an eye socket. "My Lord," The acolyte called out. "Everything is ready for you." Citrinitas nodded once as he walked up to Arche.

A small, circular incantation formed around Citrinitas' right hand. His palm glowed a light blue as the plague doctor muttered the spell's name.

"[Transmute]."

Instantly, Clementine's eye had all her nerve endings fused properly within Arche's eye socket. The only difference was that Clementine's eye was red instead of Arche's typical blue. Other than that, it would have been impossible to differentiate which eye was there from birth.

'Doctors in the Old World would have loved being able to do this. My respect for them only goes higher with how easy it is to help people with magic.' Citrinitas thought to himself, moving away from Arche and doing the same thing to Clementine.

[Transmute] had quite a bit of use outside typical alchemy where you'd fuse different materials to create a consumable item such as a potion. For example, just as Citrinitas just did, it was possible to fuse different body parts or organs into a person.

So, it was possible to fuse the upper half of a human child onto the lower half of an adult horse to create something like a centaur. However, biological constraints still had to be applied through this process. Taking that into account, the creation of such an abomination would result in the death of the child. This is because the child's heart wasn't adapted to pump so much blood to its lower half.

While Citrinitas would never do something like that due to personal ethics, with [Transmute], such an example was easily possible for the plague doctor to accomplish. There were plenty of other things [Transmute] could do, but that's a story for a later date.

'All I need to do is wake up Arche and test both women to see if they could use the Talent All-Seeing Eyes.' The alchemist thought to himself, walking away from the screaming Clementine and towards the former worker in order to dispel [Anesthetics].

"[Dispel]." With the wave of a hand, Arche slowly woke up feeling groggy and dazed. "Hmmmm?" The former worker lowly hummed, rubbing her eyes as she adjusted herself on her comfy seat. "What… happened? I'm kinda… tired…" She muttered under her breath, slowly opening her eyes.

"Hey, you, you're finally awake."

Citrinitas smiled under his plague doctor mask. 'Hehehe, Skyrim quote. Couldn't help myself. Jeez, it really has been a long time since I was Ajax Dalton, huh? All my friends and family… that life seems so far away now…' The alchemist mused to himself before quickly snapping back to reality.

"Did… the experiment work, Sir Citrinitas?" Arche yawned in-between words before the groggy feeling of waking up faded. "That's what I want to find out. Could you activate your Talent for me?" It wasn't like Arche was in any position to refuse. The alchemist could just demand she activate the Talent in an imposing tone. But, Citrinitas liked to be polite to those that deserved it.

Arche nodded at Citrinitas' request as she activated her Talent, All-Seeing Eyes. Upon activation, her eyes would typically glow blue as she had blue iris'. However, this time Arche activated her Talent, her left eye glowed blue while her right eye glowed red. This was due to Clementine's eyes being red.

"How fascinating… fascinating indeed…" The plague doctor mumbled to himself as he observed the Talent being activated. Thankfully for the former worker, Citrinitas was wearing a ring that concealed his magical aura so she didn't vomit rainbows like what happened on the 6th Floor.

'It seems like Arche could still use her Talent even with another person's eye. I would have thought she could only use the Talent on one eye but I guess I was wrong. I wonder if that has something to do with a gene in her body or her soul. Now I have to see if Clementine could use Arche's Talent…' The alchemist wondered before Arche spoke and made him dismiss his thoughts.

"It seems like everything is normal for me. Like nothing ever changed." Arche commented as Ikaria took notes on a clipboard in the background. Citrinitas hummed at Arche's response before turning his attention to the sobbing mess of a warrior a few metres away from him.

"HHMHMMHMGGMHGHMGHGHMHMMM!!!" She tried to scream with the uncomfortable gag in her mouth, but nothing could be done about it. "Activate the Talent, Clementine." Citrinitas' voice, even though it sounded the same as it did when talking to Arche, there was a minor difference in tone.

Before it was more polite and kind. In contrast, now, his tone here was more demanding and uncaring. It was a minor change only a few would pick up such as Demiurge or Albedo. Doing what was told of her in the hopes of not being tortured anymore, Clementine did her best to activate the Talent.

Despite her attempts, the warrior's eyes didn't glow like Arche's did, signalling she didn't have All-Seeing Eyes. The blonde gave a muffled scream as more tears collected in her tear ducts when she realized nothing happened. "HHMHMHMHMMH!!! PLHMHMHSM!!! MMMMMMCYYYY!!!"

Citrinitas only clicked his tongue, which made the warrior sob even more. "How disappointing…" He wasn't really disappointed. Well, the alchemist slightly was as the experiment of swapping eyes only partially worked. However, at the end of the day, he was glad he found out a new piece of info.

'If Arche was able to use Clementine's eyes and still use her Talent, but not the other way around, is it possible that Talents aren't a genetic thing but more soul related?' Citrinitas wondered as he tapped his foot on the expensive wooden floor of his Alchemy Lab.

'That could be a possibility and would explain why Arche can use her own Talent but not Clementine as Talents are tied to the soul. Moreover, Wild Magic was the original magic of this world and that was powered by the soul. Maybe Talents are some deviation of Wild Magic that was created when the Dragon Emperor failed his ritual those years ago?' The plague doctor mused.

'If that's the case, then it would be a hassle to take Talents from their original users with Super Tier Magic. As this world is vast, I wonder if there is a person out there with a Talent that could steal other Talents to some degree. I'd really want Evileye's Talent for myself. Hers, alongside Zesshi's Talent. God, I wish I didn't die so I would have known what her Talent was in volumes 15 and 16…'

"Ikaria," Citrinitas put those thoughts at the back of his mind for the time being as he focused on the gagged warrior. "The experiment was a partial success and failure. Despite that, the knowledge that Clementine can't use Arche's Talent is very useful." The acolyte nodded at his words as she scribbled down everything he said onto the clipboard she held.

"Lord Citrinitas," Ikaria started. "What should I do with the gagged woman? Should I send her back to the Demiurge's ranch?" The plague doctor hummed as he turned around, meeting the gaze of Arche before facing the acolyte.

"You're half-correct, Ikaria. However, I still want to conduct a few experiments on Clementine before sending her back to the Happy Farm." Ikaria bowed at the plague doctor's words. "Very well, my Lord. Do you need any of my assistance?" He shook his head as Ikaria bowed again before going off to do her other tasks for the day.

Once the acolyte left the general area, Citrinitas turned his attention back to the gurney-like table where Clementine was bound to. The warrior gave out a muffled, but agonizing wail filled with terror as she saw the alchemist tower over her, not wanting to feel any more suffering.

"HMMHHMHMGHMH!!! NNNNNNMHMHHMMH!!! PLEEEMHMHMM!!! DMMNMTTTT!!!!" The alchemist simply ignored her pleas for help. Using his jet-black gloved hand, Citrinitas dug his fingers into Clementine's left eye before putting it out and crushing it with his fist.

Blood and tissue matter oozed out between Citrinitas' gloved hand like squeezing toothpaste out of its package before trickling down his sleeved arm. All the while, Clementine's vocal cords were going dry from the amount of screaming she was doing and Arche watching in fear.

The acolytes in the background ignored everything occurring, focusing on the tasks Citrinitas assigned them at the start of the day.

"[Clean]." The plague doctor cast another spell which got rid of all the sludge on his arm. "U-Uhm… Sir Citrinitas," Arche slightly stuttered out from seeing such a gory sight unprepared. "May I ask of you what you're exactly testing? If you don't mind, of course."

"Why not at all, Arche." The plague doctor said kindly. Raising a hand into the air and opening his inventory, Citrinitas pulled out a glass cylinder around the size of a typical soda can. But this glass cylinder wasn't just any glass cylinder. What was unique about this one in particular was its colouring. From top to bottom, a gradient of sky blue turning into lime green.

"What's that, Sir Citrinitas?" Arche asked curiously. "A new health potion?" She pressed on, connecting the dots with the alchemist destroying Clementine's eye and a potion she'd never seen in her life as a worker and student of Flunder.

"You're partially correct, Arche. While it is a health potion, it also functions as an MP potion." The girl tilted her head in confusion. "An MP potion? Is that really true?" She questioned in shock and awe. "Do you doubt my words?" Arche immedietly shook her head in disagreement as Citrinitas slightly chuckled.

"Utterly amazing… does this potion have a name?" Arche got off her comfy seat and walked towards the potion Citrinitas held in his right hand. "It doesn't have a proper name yet as I created it only recently. However," The alchemist took an ominous pause, making Arche skip a heartbeat slightly.

"I like to call this concoction… Slurp Juice."

Yup, the potion was called Slurp Juice. While it was a joke on Citrinitas' end, the name fitted the brand-new potion quite well due to its physical appearance. However, that's where similarities ended. Unlike the Slurp Juice from Fortnite, this potion healed health and mana (not shields) simultaneously. Moreover, the Slurp Juice didn't have to be drunk and could be shared by multiple people.

"Anyways, I've yet to test out Slurp Juices parameters. That's why I ripped Clementine's eye out." Citrinitas gestured with his free hand to the warrior behind him who was still in agony. Arches' skin crawled as she recalled the last time she had a potion tested out on her. While it didn't hurt at all, the gore she saw before being healed up could never leave her mind till the day she dies.

Just as the former worker was about to say something, multiple and continuous knocks suddenly arose from the other side of the Alchemy Labs' expensive doors. These knocks on the lab doors were then followed by voices that were cute and adorable calling out the plague doctor's name.

"Citrinitas! Citrinitas!" The voices of Arche's twins called out. "It's time you play with us!" The alchemist put the Slurp Juice back in his inventory as he spoke to Clementine. "Don't get the idea that you've been spared. I'll make sure to damage your body more before the testing starts."

"Alright, alright!" Citrinitas swiftly changed his tone as he then spoke to the twins outside. He heard the mini-celebration between Ureirika and Kuuderika who were cheering with glee from his response.

Before walking towards the door, the plague doctor spoke to Arche. "Why don't you follow me, Arche?" He offered to the former worker. "This should be the first time you're seeing your siblings since you left the Empire, no?"

"That's correct, Sir Citrinitas." She bowed before looking at the alchemist's mask. "And… thank you for taking them in. It really means a lot to me." Citrinitas lightly huffed, which could have been mistaken for a hum of agreement. "No need to thank me, Arche."

Not wanting to leave Ureirika and Kuuderika hanging, the duo headed towards the lab's doors. Not before Citrinitas cast [Silence] on Clementine so her screams wouldn't alert the twins. Lightly pushing the heavy doors open, Citrinitas was greeted with two bundles of joy that clung onto his legs which were hidden by his grey robes.

"Citrinitas! Citrinitas!" The twin in the pink dress, Ureirika, repeated the name of the plague doctor excitedly. "Can we use your potions to play again?! Can you pla- big sister Arche?!" She interrupted herself from talking when she noticed her big sister behind the plague doctor.

"Big sis Arche! I'm so happy to see you! Today just got even better!" Kuuderika jumped up and down with her hands in the air before clinging onto her leg. Ureirika was quick to follow before the both of them were trying to hug both Citrinitas' and Arche's legs at the same time.

Arche put her arms around Kuuderika, hugging her tightly and doing her best to hold her tears in while Citrinitas knelt on one knee and patted Ureirika's head. "Now, what were you saying again?" He asked the twin in the pink dress.

"That's right!" Ureirika exclaimed. "Can you and big sister play with us and Esdeath, Shalltear and Cocytus?!" The plague doctor hummed before giving the twin a response. "I don't see why not." He started, causing Ureirika and Kuuderika to give a large smile.

"Speaking of, have Esdeath and Shalltear been nice to you? What about Cocytus?" As Citrinitas asked those questions, he brought Ureirika upwards and put her on his shoulder, making the twin laugh.

"Sister Arche! Can I go on your shoulder too?!" Kuuderika pleaded, slightly jealous that her sister was having fun without her. "Sure thing, Kuuderika!" Smiling, Arche picked up Kuuderika by the waist before placing her on her shoulder.

"Hehehe! I'm higher than you, Kuuderika!" Ureirika playfully taunted as Kuuderika crossed her arms and made a puffy face before laughing. "No need to worry, Kuuderika." Citrinitas said. "You can switch with your sister later. Or, I could put you on my other shoulder if you desire."

"Yes, yes, yes! That please!" The twin in the blue dress said eagerly. Helping the alchemist, Arche moved the twin on her shoulder to the free one on Citrinitas, who now had both twins sitting together. "Now, you both like to do something fun, huh? Why don't we meet up with Esdeath and Shalltear and do whatever fun activity there is on the 9th Floor?"

As Citrinitas and the twins talked, only one thought went through Arche's head. 'As long as my sisters are safe, that's all that matters…'

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(A/N: Talents are quite the mystery. Maybe in volumes 17 or 18 they'll have more information on them. But, as of now, I'm going off assumptions I feel are more lore-accurate. Anyways, how was the chapter? Good? Bad? Please, let me know with a comment and a review!

The next chapter will release on 4/09/2022)