Rashta
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6. Test Subjects
🕑 Added 2025-05-07 07:00:55 +0000 UTC
After breakfast, Shiki carried Hidan to the laboratory.
When the cult leader saw Hidan being dragged in like a sack of potatoes, he rubbed his temples in exhaustion.
"Shiki, I know Hidan has an immortal body, but you can't just—"
Before he could finish, Hidan cut him off.
"Shut it, old man! Why'd you call us here?"
The leader swallowed his words.
Sure, Hidan had always been a little shit, but he’d raised the kid himself. That had to count for something, right?
At least he was better than Shiki, this random outsider who’d somehow become a chosen one.
Now? The leader was half-tempted to tell Shiki to chop Hidan into even smaller pieces.
Even Shiki was curious—how the hell had Hidan survived this long before gaining immortality?
Ahem.
The leader, being the dignified cult master he was, managed to keep his composure—unlike someone who defaulted to decapitation as a greeting.
He studied the two chosen ones, a flicker of jealousy and resentment hidden in his gaze.
"I called you here today to understand what abilities you received from Lord Jashin."
Maintaining his leaderly aura, he added, "Lord Jashin holds countless divine powers. I wish to see what blessings you’ve been granted."
(Truthfully, he should’ve asked yesterday, but Hidan’s "That cat is thirty-seven!" nonsense had derailed everything.)
Hidan’s eyes lit up at the question.
With a dramatic toss of his head—
—he rolled right off the table and thudded onto the floor.
Awkward silence.
Three seconds later, a red-faced Hidan roared, "DAMN IT, SHIKI! PICK ME UP!"
Shiki hesitated, then gingerly pinched Hidan’s hair between two fingers and lifted him back onto the table.
Humiliated but undeterred, Hidan gritted his teeth and continued his grand reveal.
"As Lord Jashin’s most beloved prophet, I’ve inherited his immortality and curse power!"
"No injury can kill me! Not only that—my Dead Demon Consuming Seal can transfer any damage I take straight to my enemies!"
His eyes gleamed with manic fervor as he licked his lips.
"Give me someone’s blood, and I could kill the Sage of Six Paths himself!"
He shot Shiki a taunting glare. "Watch your back, bastard. Once I get your blood, you’ll beg for death!"
Shiki adjusted his glasses, unfazed.
Hidan’s ability was terrifying—if used strategically. A single drop of blood could become a death sentence.
But.
Shiki side-eyed the loudmouthed idiot on the table.
This guy wouldn’t know "subtlety" if it stabbed him in the face.
Hidan was the type to charge into battle screaming "PRAISE JASHIN!" while swinging his scythe like a maniac.
No wonder the leader was bitter.
Why would Jashin bless this moron instead of me?!
(Shiki suspected Jashin didn’t have much choice either.)
After noting Hidan’s abilities, the leader nodded.
The cult could monetize this—long-distance assassinations, curse contracts...
"Demonstrate it, then."
The leader stood, ordering cultists to bring in Hidan’s body and strap it to a cross.
"Hey! Experiments are one thing, but watching you mess with my own body is WEIRD!"
Hidan wasn’t wrong. Most people wouldn’t enjoy this.
But Shiki wasn’t most people.
"Shiki, cut him."
"Yes."
Without hesitation, Shiki’s [Armor Kakuja: Mantis] lashed out—slice, slice.
"Ahh~~"
Hidan’s… noise made the leader’s eye twitch.
After a long pause, the leader examined Hidan’s wounds.
"Incredible. His regeneration is absurd."
The gashes had already sealed shut.
"Next, test the curse."
At the leader’s signal, a bound prisoner was dragged in.
"Shiki, reattach him."
"Mm."
Shiki placed Hidan’s head back on his neck.
"YOU PUT IT ON BACKWARDS AGAIN!"
(Facing the wrong way, Hidan’s furious scream was directed at the wall.)
"My bad."
Shiki cheerfully twisted Hidan’s head 180 degrees.
"There."
His spider-silk limbs stitched the neck seam shut.
"I’M BACK, BABY!"
Hidan stretched, grinning.
Just wait till I get Shiki’s blood…
Heh heh heh.
Then he’d make Shiki his personal slave!
Shiki frowned at Hidan’s creepy smirk.
"Did your brain leak out with the pork cutlet? Why are you smiling like that?"
"THE HELL DID YOU SAY?!"
"Enough!"
The leader massaged his temples.
"Just show me the damn curse already."
"Fine! Witness TRUE divine power!"
Hidan’s grin turned sinister as he approached the trembling prisoner.
With a quick stab—
—he barely pricked the man’s skin.
The prisoner wheezed in relief. Thought I was dead for sure!
"Ever felt despair?"
Hidan licked the bloodied spearhead, shuddering.
"Delicious."
His skin morphed into black-and-white patterns as he slashed his own arm, letting blood pool into a circle-triangle sigil.
"Ready to suffer?"
