Tap... tap... tap...
Their footsteps echoed along the hallway. The familiar footsteps were trailed by two new sets of gait.
Noah led Kisara and Rentaro here. Their faces were tense but they still followed Noah.
This is the underground complex situated below Fairy Tail HQ. Rentaro and Kisara didn't think Fairy Tail built something on this scale beneath their HQ.
Judging by how there is nobody around, this facility is probably top secret. The other members weren't aware of its existence.
Indeed, that's the case.
Aside from Noah, few knew about this facility.
Noah got past the winding corridors with Kisara and Rentaro in tow. After a while, they arrived at the end of the hallway.
Kisara and Rentaro looked up and they saw a high-tech door that reeked of science fiction stopping them.
There's a scanner near the door.
Noah stood in front of the door and he placed his palm on the scanner's input field.
Zing
The scanner fired up and a laser scanned Noah's palm.
The bulbs above the door changed from red to green color
Kisara and Rentaro reckoned the door's a fingerprint scanner.
After that, the scanner retracted while a keyboard appeared.
Noah tapped a few keys, the 30-digit password, and another bulb lit up green.
Swish
The mechanical door opened up, revealing a rather normal-looking room to Kisara and Rentaro. They were slightly disappointed to see the average room considering the top-notch security door in place.
The floor, walls, and ceiling were made of alloy. The room looked more like a prison than a room, it felt cold too.
Aside from bundles of wires running along the seams of the ground, there is a biological vat here.
Inside the vat is boiling liquid that looked rather nasty. It's bubbling and sizzling for some reason.
Kisara and Rentaro couldn't help but examine the vat. They turned their attention towards the owner of this room.
"Noah."
Rentaro asked in a slightly shaky voice.
"Is this the thing you talked about? The cure that can stop a cursed child's corrosion?"
Noah shrugged. He led them deeper into the room, they stood before the vat and he started explaining.
"The liquid inside this vat was my blood."
"Your blood?!"
Kisara and Rentaro's eyes widened.
Noah slightly nodded.
"Rentaro, you're a product of the New Human Creation Plan. Your right arm appears to be made of varanium alloy, it's very powerful and you can boost your attack with canisters of potent explosives. That is a power nobody can ignore."
"Really?"
Rentaro bitterly laughed.
"You blocked my attack rather easily, didn't you beat me just a while ago?"
"That is the case, yes."
Noa shrugged.
"Didn't you ever wonder why a normal human like me can fight a mechanical soldier like you with my bare fists?"
"No, it has always been on my mind."
Rentaro said.
"That power is just out of this world. If you used special skills and techniques like Kisara, I would have been fine. However, you used brute force to bring me down. That shouldn't have been possible, not for a body made of stardust anyway."
"You're correct."
Noah chuckled.
"Sometimes, I question my humanity too."
Noah shook his head.
"Anyway, my body is very peculiar. Not only did I adapt to the Gastrea Virus I introduced into my body, I even absorbed the superhuman-power granting trait of the Gastrea strains. This assimilation process granted me superhuman abilities."
Kisara and Rentaro gasped.
"What?!"
Kisara stepped forward.
"Why?"
"I am looking for the answer to that question too. I just know my body is very special, I don't know why it's like this or how it can adapt the way it did."
Noah sighed.
"Don't ask me any more questions on that. Just know that the Gastrea virus isn't effective against me, all the strains out there can only increase my power after absorption."
Noah changed the topic.
"When I found out that I am immune to Gastrea virus. I started working on the corrosion inherent to cursed children. Using my body as the test subject, I asked the researchers in Fairy Tail to take samples and run tests on my blood. I ordered them to start research on my blood."
"Then, we found out my blood is fundamentally the same as other humans. However, when the Gastrea virus enters my body, it will be automatically dissolved by my blood."
Noah told them his secret.
"After noticing this dissolution trait, the researchers and I started coming up with theories. If my blood enters a cursed child's body, will their Gastrea Virus infection be stopped? Changing them back to normal kids?"
Kisara and Rentaro listened with beating hearts.
If what Noah said is true, cursed children can soon rejoin humanity.
But, Noah showed them a disappointed look.
"Alas, once my blood leaves my body, this curative trait becomes exponentially ineffective. It isn't potent enough to cure a cursed children's condition."
"But, if my blood is directly injected into a cursed child, coupled with adjuvant fluid, it can stop the corrosion of cursed child."
He turned towards the vat.
"You're looking at the vat producing the serum that was derived from my blood.
Kisara and Rentaro listened to Noah's shocking words. They were baffled by what reality is throwing at them.
A serum that can completely stop the Gastrea virus' corrosion.
It's something researchers all over the world couldn't do despite a decade of research.
Kisara and Rentaro were shocked for all the correct reasons.