Lost was currently in Marios' Characteristic Magic, Babel Tower. But they weren't fighting. Lost and Marios were testing the weapon they had just finished making.
The model Lost was fighting right now was an exact replica of him. It was impressive how much they looked alike, given how short of a timeframe Marios had to work. The model was even wearing actual clothes to increase the fidelity.
However…
"You might look just as good as me, but you're not nearly as strong."
Lost was having no trouble fighting the model, while the model was clearly giving this all it had.
The model tried kicking Lost, but he easily defended with his arm. The model tried a series of fast attacks, but Lost was even faster and simply dodged them all with little effort.
The model was by no means weak, in fact it was one of the best ones Marios had made so far, but the hurdle was just too high. It couldn't keep up with the original.
"I'm bored now."
That was all Lost said before attacking. His arm transformed into a spear, and it impaled the model, killing it.
The model fell to the ground. Marios came to look at it. The damage was minimal, but it was aimed to kill.
"I'm sorry, master Lost."
"It's fine. I already imagined it wouldn't be that easy to go around your Arcana's limitations."
The reason why Lost had enslaved Marios with Psyconnect was simple: anyone could see that the team Lost put together, Death's Group, was a ship waiting to sink. Lost wasn't lying when he said he wanted them to fight the Triumph, but he saw this team and its members as mere disposable tools.
But the idea of having an army he could actually count on wasn't bad, that's why Lost decided to enslave Marios rather than eat him. Of course, Marios' Cards came as a bundle deal. Once he learned about Marios' power in detail, all he had to do was find a way around the power limitation.
His first guess was the obvious one. If adding more details, like making a model out of a character in a book, gives them more power, how about making a replica of a living being? Would it be able to reproduce their power?
Sadly, the results were much lower than expected. The model seemed to have copied Lost's fighting style, but it couldn't replicate his powers.
"What to do, what to do…?"
Lost was thinking about a way to solve the problem as Marios finished checking the damage. That's when an idea popped into Lost's head.
"Say, if you wanted to reactivate that thing, you'd have to fix that hole, right?"
"Yes. Does master Lost want me to reactivate this model?"
"In a second."
Lost impaled his own torso with his bare hands. Rather than blood, a black liquid came out, but Marios didn't find that strange due to Psyconnect.
Lost took out a lump of flesh, or rather something similar to that, from his own torso and placed it in the model. The black liquid soon filled the hole in the model, and Lost also regenerated.
"Let's try it now."
"Yes, master Lost."
Marios used Materializing again and, surprisingly, the model did reactivate. The battle restarted.
But something was different now.
"Hooh."
Lost felt the model's attacks much stronger than before. It was also faster. From Marios' reactions, Lost was sure it wasn't just a mistaken impression.
But now comes the real test. Lost once again transformed his arm into a spear and impaled the model in the same place as before. That means what he actually hit was the black goo.
The model not only shrugged off the attack, but actually regenerated from it. That put a smile on Lost's face.
"Now that's what I'm talking about! Let's see how much you can do!"
Lost started making more of an effort. More power into his attacks, and more speed into his movements.
The model was able to keep up to a point, but then Lost started getting the upper hand again. That said, this was a huge improvement compared to the original.
But Lost's happiness didn't last for long. Once he started attacking other parts of the model, such as the arms, he noticed that the regeneration didn't spread too far from the torso.
Lost was able to finish off the model with a kick to the head. Nothing of the model's head remained, only dust. Once he was convinced the model wouldn't come back alive, Lost retrieved his black goo.
But still, Lost was not unhappy with these results.
"Hah! It was so easy. Hey, Marios, change of plans. We're making Frankenstein."
"Frankenstein was the doctor, master Lost."
"Whatever, you get what I mean. For now… use this, learn to make models from it. I'm going to make a 'shopping list' of whose body parts we're going to use."
Lost gave his black goo to Marios. It was unsettling how he simply grabbed it without hesitation.
Normally, Marios would be disgusted by the idea, but with Psyconnect, he was no more than a slave. So Marios simply nodded to Lost.
Babel Tower was deactivated, and they both returned to Marios' room in his tower base.
"See ya, Marios. Remember to make a few models for when we actually attack the Triumph. Make something strong, but don't let our out secrets out yet."
"Yes, master Lost."
Now, they both had work to do. Marios had to learn to mold the black goo like clay, and Lost had to make a list of who was more useful as his slave, and who was more useful as his food.
