Serpentine Madman, Master Surgeon

…And now, my worn companion… it is time for you to serve your purpose once again.

Everything else had finally been taken care of. The previous mess that had been within this laboratory. The blood splatters upon the walls and floor. All had been resolved, all had been removed. His family had distracted the woman lying on the table before him long enough. They were so helpful in making sure that she was kept company while waiting for him. At last, the time had come. Typically, the Doctor did not perform these procedures himself; that was generally work for the other Selves. However… the Selves in question did not have access to the Dust Element that the Doctor believed to be necessary for this kind of surgery.

That was always the delicate balance that the Doctor, Kabuto Hebi, needed to maintain. Especially when it came to working on patients with extraordinary durability. He needed something that would properly pierce the skin, that would cleave it open for him to easily access… no matter how tough or difficult it was to break through. "Now… Let us begin." The Doctor informed the woman lying on the table, sliding his scalpel along the plastic glove that he wore. The Doctor may not be a huge fan of painkillers; but he was not about to let sickness do in one of his patients. While hasty, the cleanup job had also been professionally done; she would not be getting sick or dying from going under the Doctor's knife today. "Remove your clothing. Any that you do not want dirtied. Try to avoid tightening your defenses."

Unless further complications occurred, of course.

"Alright… let's start with something small." The Doctor told the woman, pressing both hands against her wrists from behind. His hands were soft, but also slightly calloused. Their age showed, gripping around Ulv's. What happened next, though… Was that Ulv would find it quite difficult to move. "…There." Her hands were… stitched onto the table. The Doctor's spirit sutures ran along her entire body, keeping it exactly where she lay with her back facing toward the ceiling.

"…You understand… that I cannot have you moving about while I work… Those sutures will only break if you overpower myself… so please… do not make me overexert my abilities…" The Doctor explained in a neutral tone, now that Ulv was tightly stitched to the table. He stepped in front of her at that point, before letting himself fall to his knees. This brought him eye level with Ulv, if the woman tilted her face upward. "…I will be cutting into your back… I will be deeply realigning the flow of energy of your body… The procedure will likely take several hours… But I can promise… that your soul will never be able to display itself as powerfully without it. You may be strong enough to briefly overpower me, but understand…" The Doctor trailed off for a moment, looking at Ulv through his glasses, the normal small smile gone from his lips.

"You are my patient, now. That means you do not leave until I give the all clear… Even if I have to use force to keep you here. Any damage which I inflict… I can also recover. So please… Keep my job easy, will you…?" The Doctor's lips changed then, slowly stretching back up the sides of his face. "Time to get to work…"

With that, the Doctor relocated himself behind Ulv. Without warning… something very sharp, and very cold, began to run down her back. It did not have the strength it needed to pierce the skin. It could only stroke along it, the sensation rushing straight to Ulv's mind, in all likelihood. The Doctor's smile had not faded away as he continued to rub the knife into her flesh… And then at once, he turned the knife over completely, pressing the blade against her body.

Hmm..

The Doctor's face had a large smile… and perhaps, by this point… Ulv would notice that a mirror had been placed on the far wall. By looking into it… she could see the Doctor's expression. And unlike any other time she had seen him so far… the smile on his face had teeth. The smile widened and closed, widened and closed… the Doctor's eyes staring at her back as the knife pressed and pressed against her skin. As if waiting for something… searching for something. Pressing in at the top of her back, the middle… and then down below. Sharp, but apparently not sharp enough to break the skin… testing it, brushing along it… as if he was…

Preparing her like a slab of meat…

The Doctor's gaze shifted back over to her for a moment, pausing as he let out a slow breath at her question. It was almost as if he had completely forgotten that she was there, the knife between his hands having become his entire world. "…….It would be best if you stayed here." The Doctor finally replied, having realized that his patient asked if she should leave. "It will be very important that I understand the level of trauma you are going through…"

That was all the explanation the man gave, even as he probed her back with his knife. Those words were coming from a man that was at this very moment testing her defenses. "If you can maintain your connection with your hollow while reacting to what I do… then that should be fine… It's possible they will feel what I do as well…" At those words, the edges of the Doctor's mouth curved upward the smallest bit. As the smile grew, he rose up the knife, as if fascinated by it.

A quarry mostly resistant to pain… With a strong mental fortitude… and a body unlike anything I have come across before… like some of the things I have tried myself, but done properly… by someone with some degree of skill… This is… this feeling……..

As he gazed on his knife, a peculiar thing occurred. The red of his cloak began to bleed away, the blood disappearing as if it were being wiped away with several pieces of cloth. The Doctor's smile continued to widen. His head jerked as a peculiar glow appeared above both of his ears… and slowly, but surely, a bolt formed in his head. The screw-head stuck out on one side, with the end of it on the other. The Doctor's left hand slowly rose to the edge of the screw, adjusting it first left, and then right. The scale-like impressions on his skin had shifted to stitches, covering his entire body beneath his pure-white cloak.

Along the length of the blade, a strange purple haze took shape. It was razor-thin, but thick enough that the original blade could no longer be seen. The Doctor's hand began to move forward… directly along the line of her ribs. He needed to test, needed to understand…

For Ulv, it would be hell.

Searing pain shooting all through her body as the skin was ripped apart at an extraordinarily small level. The Doctor's Dust Release acting as thousands of microscopic blades, tearing her cells apart to make way for him. Blood welled up along the blade, but even that was quickly eradicated as it came against the knife's edge. Slowly, but surely, the Doctor moved the knife down the rib. He was closer to her head then her behind, and it was very likely the excruciating pain would shoot straight into her mind. Pain tolerance was one thing… but the lack of anesthetic meant that it was only Ulv's mind against this thing that was literally tearing her apart from the inside and outside as it moved.

The Doctor's hand brought the knife downward, his eyes looking into the mirror at Ulv's expression. The smile on his face was obvious now as the blood dripped down her back, onto the operating table. Without pause, one hand moved below her throat, holding her body steady. In this form, it would be possible for Ulv to feel the level of strength that Stein State maintained; something even she might have trouble overpowering. …The power of Dust… it works… so well… but… the blood no longer coats the knife… and in a way, I feel like I lose the connection with my patient… The smile on the Doctor's face rose as he moved the knife in deeper, the tip stopping just short of her bone. The razor thin line on her back was oozing blood, now.

Without pause, the Doctor brought his hand back, starting where he was before. The grip of his hand on her back loosened for a moment… but as the blade returned to her skin, its grip increased once more. Again, he brought the blade down her back. Again, the thousands of microscopic slashes would rend and tear at her flesh, breaking it down and separating it with far more force than the Doctor would typically use on a patient. So it was that once again he rend against Ulv's skin, still going as slowly as the first time, his methods causing far more pain than seemed necessary. The hand on her back, the way the stitches tied her to the table… the searing pain shooting through her body and spirit…

How much can you take, I wonder…? And what will I find within…?

The Doctor's tongue lightly ran over his lips as he gripped the slashed fold between her ribs… slowly drawing the separated skin back. If it resisted, the knife would come back, sliding neatly between the two folds of skin and cutting open the fold, the Dust Energy completely touching her flesh on the inside and the outside of the wound.

This was the Doctor's craft, and she was like a wrapped gift, full of new and exciting things for his craft… and he was very curious about what he would find within…

That grimace. That expression as the Doctor's knife worked its way into her skin. The feeling of power, of control... of the one beneath him vulnerable and at his mercy. It brought a smile to his lips. It brought certainty to his hands. It brought clarity to his mind. A sense of clarity that made every other little voice quiet, leaving only himself.

Only the Doctor, Kabuto Hebi.

"...Just a pinch, hmm?" He actually replied to her statement, his blade shifting and cutting away more of her flesh, digging in beneath the surface as blood oozed out onto her chest.

"It is... human, to feel pain." The Doctor told her, his knife turning over as he pierced it into her flesh once more, on the other side of her chest. His hand pushed hard against her, holding her in place as he dug the blade in. He had an idea of what would be too far, now, so it was without mercy that he cut in, still moving the blade agonizingly slowly as he cut out the next strip. The holes on her body were now exposed to the air, likely sending her nervous system insane.

"There are times... when we need pain. Even if that pain is constant... even if you watch it happen to your child..." The knife slowed as those words came out, the smile on the Doctor's face fading for a moment. He was thinking about that particular ball that had been stuck on his son... the sounds of his constant screaming, day after day... and there was nothing he could do.

Quickly, the Doctor finished the slice, moving much faster, proving that his lack of speed prior was by choice and not necessity. "Hmm.. But working through pain... makes us grow. Or... it breaks us. Will I break you? Or will you grow past the pain I inflict...?"

The Doctor's musings paused as he examined beneath the two removed layers of flesh. High amounts of calcium... very high amounts... incredible spiritual presence... in fact, I can't make out anything else as I normally would. How were her bones made..?

Gingerly, the Doctor moved his fingers forward, into one of the wounds. Pushing up on the torn skin as he did so, and the pain would be on a completely different level. This was due to the Dust Element on his finger tips, using it to push and tug away against her rib, giving the Doctor a better view at what happened beneath, how her flesh reacted. The pain would be nothing like before; like drills piercing inside of her skin, the spiritual energy that made up her body under attack.

"Sonny gave you anesthesia, did he not? Why do you not take it? Do you want to feel this much pain?" He gave her another moment to catch her breath from her bones being actively torn at from his fingers, before bringing his hand up to his face.

Unusual.. almost as if it's designed to move quickly, faster... The Doctor's unique gaze moved to her other hole... and his hand reached toward it.

"...Negativity is important. Without it, there can be no positives. If you erased your own negatives... you would cease to be yourself. I will administrate if you desire... but the negativity will always return. That... is what it means to live."

crrrk, crrrrrrek.

The sound of bone bending as the Doctor widened the gap in her rips, feeling the bone trying to resist him as he tried to look inside. The degree of pain this would inflict would be like if Ulv was being torn apart from the inside.

The Doctor kept his gaze on hers, the small smile having returned to his face. He wanted to see her beating heart, to know the degree of life she possessed...

She was extraordinarily tough. The Doctor was amazed she had not yet passed out from the pain. That was just fine by him, though. It meant he could continue to cut and slice and torment her for far longer than he had expected. It was a challenge within a challenge; the Doctor's mind was relaying the information he had gained so far back to his development team, referring them to the proper technologies or references they would need to properly implement his design.

"'Not entirely human'... Well... you have flesh, and nerves... and bone... your mind processes pain and knows why it's happening, why you aren't fleeing for your life... do you need anything more to be a person...?"

The Doctor's smile did not diminish from her comment about how much he enjoyed inflicting pain. He could not help it; for two reasons. The first was he needed to know how much she could, for what he had planned. The second was that he truly enjoyed her pained faces of stress and agony.

As her mental force from her willpower developed, however, the Doctor's knife rose.

"Careful... your surgeon can feel that, so clearly... and has a similar effect on the world around himseld... but it will crash against your mind if I let it loose... bring it to bear when we truly begin, though... you'll likely be too far beyond the threshold to care." Both hands gripped into her bones, forcibly wrenching them apart enough to see inside of her guts.

Before the Doctor's eyes was her heart. Pumping, pumping. Beating, and beating. The song of life itself beneath his hands. If he desired, he could have dipped a finger in, covered in Dust. He could destroy her heart.

He could kill Ulv.

What is with the size of her heart...? And this many blood vessels... I'll need that, and that... why would a heart be this size...? Because it makes it easier to endure the stress of beating at higher rates... and the heart beats faster from... The Doctor's mind clicked away,,drawing logical conclusions as he finally released her bones. His blood soaked fingers drew out of her chest, the red liquid dripping onto her chest as he let out a breath.

Even her muscles are modified... The way they tear along the Dust Energy is highly unusual. Without pause, a slicing pain coursed through her torso. The muscles around her ribs tightened, the Doctor's finger extending as it covered in Dust Energy. He reached in with both small forceps, gripping the sample and carefully extracting it from her body, blood dripping from it. He placed it onto a sample container, before filling a second some of the blood coming off of his hand. He wanted a sample of her heart, as well... but from what he could see, he thought he had enough information. A Selve came into the room, taking the sample, before leaving with them.

"Oh...? Well... when I try to do things like that... people call me a 'monster'.. or an 'abomination'... so, by whose authority do you decide that the person deserves to have a fate other than what has been determined for them by the world...?"

The Doctor's slow words came to a stop at last, his hands coming off of her body. Two fingers extended outward, rubbing along the wound edges. Tiny piercing sensations would stab along where his fingers touched, leaving a line of shining purple sutures.

"There... now, you can turn over. You could flee... but go far enough, and those sutures will pop out, exposing that damage to the outside world once again. And once your back is facing up... I'll start making the cuts..."

His right hand was extended, expectantly... ready to tie her body back onto the bench. Would she keep her wits about her...? Or would the pain from the Doctor's surgery overwhelm her thoughts, forcing her to seek any respite she could find...?

The Doctor's hands were drawing away from Ulv, allowing her a small moment to recover. The lucid manner in which she spoke highlighted how well she was able to undertake the degree of pain the Doctor gave her.

"Well... I do plan on adding to that... but in my own way." Came the Doctor's reply, both hands reaching onto her back. His fingers gripped in and inspected, prodding... and then...

Stchchchchchchchchchch..

That pain from her chest before swam around every inch of her body that was attached to the table. She was held down, for real this time, with the power of the Doctor's Stein State holding her there. Moving even an inch would cause resistance from the stitches, and eventually a tearing pain against her body.

"Well.. you should just relax then." The Doctor told Ulv, one hand reaching and clenching onto her back as he twirled the knife between his fingers. He was eyeing her back, as if tracing outlines for where he would be making incisions. "I doubt I would have an interest in such creations.. and you will understand very shortly why." He explained to Ulv, his knife pointing directly toward her back as cut in.

Unlike before, the Doctor was letting his knife dip in deeper. He started up at the top of her back, just on the side of her spinal column. One hand pressed against her back as he smiled, moving the knife slowly down her spine as he continued to speak to her. The smile on his face was wide as he severed the skin of her back, chuckling slightly as he went. "...Seems we agree on more than you realize. But whether or not they know what you're doing to them... surely you can't predict all the outcomes that it will have. Surely you must have thought once or twice of using it toward your own selfish ends... even if it does wind up helping the other person...!" The Doctor's words continued, reaching the base of her spine...

"But even then... that's not so bad, is it...? Selfishly wanting to improve another, getting something out of it for yourself in the process..."

And the great cluster of nerves that one could find there came under attack. As if she were being stabbed hundreds of times in the base of her spine, the Doctor created another rend within her flesh. Meanwhile, the Doctor's own Mental Manifestation was pulsating out of his body, directly above Ulv's head.

His Madness Wavelength, crashing down with intensity onto her mind and soul.

"That's what makes you question me...? The removal of some muscle? Not this...?" He asked her, stabbing his knife down in on the other side of her spine, at the base. The smile on his face was outright sadistic as he dragged his blade through her skin, the Wavelength his body gave of continuing to grow in intensity as he did so.

"I'm learning about you. For what I need.. to... do..." He finished, reaching the top of her spine once again. His stitches were still trying to hold her firmly in place, completely unable to move, only able to experience the pain he was carving into her body. Smaller cuts were made at the top of her back, and the Doctor carefully gripped the edges of her skin, pulling it away so that he could examine the top of her rib cage.

"And the next sample I'll need..." The Doctor's knife moved against the top of her rib cage, carving in as he disabled the Dust Energy around his blade. The Doctor's fingers reached in, gripping the chip of bone... extracting it and placing it into a similar glass container. He then fed the item to his snake, just as he did with the sample of muscle...

Reaching back in, the Doctor gripped his blade once again. It had remained lodged within Ulv's body as he extracted the bone, but his fingers touching it caused the Dust Energy to return, ripping at her insides again as he finally drew it out.

"...There.. Try not to pass out from the pain... We should have the next step ready shortly..."