"Mr. Louis, how does it feel? Do you need me to release the RC suppressant gas?" Kanou Akihiro looked through the glass into the sealed testing chamber and spoke into the microphone in front of him.
"No need."
Louis's voice came over the speakers.
Beyond the glass, Louis crouched on the floor, his body covered in frost. Streaks of black flame appeared on his chest, shoulders, and back.
These were not flames, but gaseous ukaku, fashioned into a living Quinque and grafted onto his body.
Before activation, it posed almost no danger, clinging to his skin like a breastplate. Once activated, however, these things-Kagune by nature-would break through his skin, ravenously devouring his flesh as they burrowed deeper.
But all the Chimera sites were places he could undergo Crystallization. He only needed to crystallize the areas where they burrowed in, leaving tiny openings, to stop the Kagune from penetrating deeper while allowing them to draw his blood and exert their full power.
Louis watched the black flames gradually stabilize and tried to subject his internal organs to Elementalization.
In the space where cold winds mingled with warm currents, crystals crept up from beneath his clothes to his neck, then his face and skull, continuing deeper inside.
A few seconds later, every part of his body had undergone Elementalization except his brain and the places where he had left openings.
His pale blue eyes watched the black flames drifting before him, confirming his suspicions.
After drawing his blood, the life-sustaining Kagune grew explosively more effective. With a continuous supply of blood, he only needed to control the size of the openings to adjust how much power the Kagune could exert.
The life-sustaining Kagune also ensured that his brain remained conscious after he underwent Crystallization of his internal organs, preventing brain death