Two men were sitting at a table in a relatively small, badly lit room. A clean, French window was letting the moonlight in, adding to the single candle illuminating the room. The atmosphere was heavy, and the two men were staring at each other without peeping a word.
One of them was Glenn, sitting with his arms crossed in front of him. His left arm was completely revealed, the purple skin making it look like a poisoned limb. He was moving his legs restlessly, his heels knocking on the ground at a fast pace.
In front of him was a stern man, with blond, straight hair that added to his serious appearance. His eyes were filled with tiredness and annoyance. The deep, black circle under his brown eyes made him look like he hadn't slept in weeks, or even more. He didn't have a beard, showcasing an ass-shaped shin.
The man suddenly groaned, rubbing his face with both hands, before crossing them together.
"Alright, let's hear that one last time. You found a Seed of Darkness that had already grown into a Tree of Chaos, and destroyed it?"
Glenn yawned, blatantly disregarding the man's question. The young man stared at the ceiling with impatience.
"Listen, Kane. I know it sounds crazy, but just ask the others, alright? I already gave you my report thrice by now, I kind of want to go to sleep, man," He complained, changing his stance and placing his left leg on top of his right one. The stern Cleaner sighed and shook his head slowly, grabbing the back of his neck with a painful expression.
"You...Whatever. I'm glad you're back to...normal, but please explain to me how is it possible that you would find two Seeds when even I only chanced upon one?" The Cleaner leaned forward, frowning while cracking his neck. Glenn stared back at the man, holding his gaze, before shrugging dismissively.
"Well, you can just attribute it to my damned luck. Trust me, if I could have avoided those things, I would have done so!" The young man chuckled a bit, leaning back comfortably in his chair, balancing himself slowly. Kane glanced sideways at the French window, looking at the two moons hanging in the sky. He nodded slightly, before pushing himself up from his seat, giving Glenn one last look.
"Try not to put yourself in similar situations, in the future. All it does is increase my workload," The stern man's white coat fluttered, the red cross painted on it highlighted by the moonlight. Without another word, he exited the room, not closing it behind him. Glenn stared at the ceiling, picking his nose pensively.
'NO! STOP! THAT'S DISGUSTING!' Diamanes screeched in the young man's mind, horror and disgust mixed in his voice. The hand Glenn was using to pick his nose was, obviously, his purple one. The entity screamed in anguish, while the young man calmly took a booger out and rolled it between his fingers.
'Why would you do that with me—with this hand?!?' Diamanes complained, the young man shooting the booger away impassively. Finally, he answered his unfortunate guest.
'I did that because you promised so~ many explanations with me arriving at the True Initiate, yet the only thing you told me until now is the new use of your powers. I want my revelations!' He jested, standing up from the chair and getting out of the small room. He headed for the Dormitories, walking at a brisk pace. There weren't many people at this hour, but there were still some souls stranded in the hallways, moving at their speed toward their goal.
'I—I just thought the atmosphere wasn't set well! I was trying to make this special!' Diamanes tried to defend himself, only to provoke a mocking and distrusting sneer.
'My ass, you just wanted me to forget about it! I'm beginning to understand how you're working, you damned parasite!' Glenn pressed on in his mind while saluting Wilbur who was getting transported on a stretcher by masked people. The knight's face was half-burned, and his eyes were wide open while staring back at the seemingly unscathed young man. He opened his mouth, well, what remained of it, only to let out a weird moan.
'P–Parasite! Stop trying to rattle me! I'm a symbiote, bastard! It's a mutually beneficial relationship!' Diamanes huffed and puffed, barely restraining himself from exploding inside Glenn's mind.
'You know, what I'll tell you everything, right now, asshole!' Glenn suddenly made a sharp turn, arriving in front of the Dormitories. He was about to pass the threshold when he frowned and stopped for a few seconds. He looked through the door, didn't see anyone, and entered it with relief. He quickly went to the hot springs available to the Gold-ranked Fixers, which were of much better quality than the Silver ones. The young man couldn't wait to reach the next rank, Black-Gold.
He would get a personal hot spring, alongside a ton of other benefits. Being a Gold-rank one was already nice since there were now two separate springs for males and females. He wouldn't risk having an unpleasant encounter like it might have happened in the past. With a thought, he unsummoned his stylish sleeveless suit, leaving him with his underwear, his gloves, and his boots, all of which he quickly discarded
Glenn jumped in the hot water, sighing in pleasure as he sank slowly. He jerked his head to the side, half-listening to Diamanes yelling inside his ears a cocktail of swears that would even make Redan blush. Leaning against a wall, he finally began listening to Diamanes, grinning stupidly.
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"...and who the hell exactly do you think you are, huh? Saying I'm a parasite! You become a True Initiate and cut a puny Tree of Chaos and you think you're all that, huh? Well, let me tell you, you ain't shit! In fact, you ain't even worth a..."
Well, maybe he was going to wait a bit before listening to his angry companion. Ahh, how great it felt to chill this way in the hot bath, listening to an angry Diamanes. 'How great. His complaints are like music to my ears...' Glenn closed his eyes, dipping his head under the water. Diamanes' voice was, of course, not dampened at all, but the young man still enjoyed the feeling.
Sometime later, the young man suddenly jolted awake with a deep yawn, his eyes droopy. Diamanes was seemingly done complaining, and Glenn was also done bathing. He rose from the water, his skin wrinkled like an old man's, and he quickly dried himself.
"Siccum," The water on his body evaporated in a blue light, and his suit reappeared, clean and without a trace of the previous battles it suffered. The self-cleaning option was probably the best on this suit, almost better than the one allowing him to summon and unsummon it at will. With a calm and steady pace, he went back to his room, a much more comfortable one compared to what he had back when he was still Silver-rank. He now had a living room with an ever-burning fireplace, and a comfortable leather couch alongside a small bar filled with different bottles of alcohol. Glenn filled it mostly with the gifts he earned when he was working on specific requests, but he never drank much of them. They were much better as souvenirs than as consumables.
His bedroom, situated to the right after entering was much larger, with perfectly cleaned windows that let the moonlight in. His bed was large and the mattress was more than comfortable. A wooden desk was placed against one of the walls of the bedroom, in between two shelves of books. Exhausted, he crashed down on the bed, snuggling under the covers. Finally, he took a look at his left hand, grinning.
"...Alright. I give up," Diamanes reluctantly admitted, smacking his lips in disappointment. Glenn nodded slowly, still smiling. He made himself comfortable and readied himself for anything the entity was going to reveal.
"For now..." Diamanes muttered before the corner of his lips rose high up, "Well, let's start with the most important: my abilities," Glenn raised an eyebrow, before understanding that he only had a foretaste of what his guest could do back in that forest. That reminded him, was the Workshop done taking care of the matter? It was quite the mess back when they managed to leave...
"As you know, I can absorb any attacks, and spit them back. But now, instead of simply "taking" and "giving" back, I "digest"." Glenn rubbed his chin with his other hand thoughtfully. That translates to receiving an attack once and using it as many times as he wished after that.
"The downside is that the attacks coming from my "digestion" use a substantial amount of Mana," Diamanes licked his lips, before continuing, "Nonetheless, I think you understand now why I wanted you to hurry up to this level of Mana. Now, you can handle more of my abilities without your body blowing up, which is great!" Glenn was startled. Blowing up? When was that ever on the table? Diamanes kept on talking, undisturbed.
"Of course, there is a limit to how much I can digest. And you can't use my ability to absorb as a defensive ability. As you've seen with the flow of dark goo, you take twice the damage you're supposed to when using this ability. It's a "suffer-for-power" trade," He explained, satisfied. Glenn's thoughts were churning, trying to place this new ability in his already well-furnished skill belt. Thinking about that, he looked at the desk, which had been used as a display for Half-Moon, the axe he found back in that dark space.
"That makes sense. You talked about absorbing the spells on the gigantic statues outside the city, is it still possible?" The young man asked curiously. Diamanes' smile froze, and the entity gritted its teeth.
"Well, you can take a tiny bit, that's for sure, but it's actually not worth it," Seeing his host's dejected expression, Diamanes hurriedly added, "YET! Right now, you won't get much out of it, but it's not impossible to take up to half their strength in the future!"
The young man shook his head, his fists tightening. He didn't have time for "later". He still had to deal with Howard, while being careful of the Thorns Church, even if this trashy organization had calmed itself quite a bit these last months. Perhaps they had gotten scared, or the war with the Black Heirs simply took on too many resources for them. Glenn leaned his chin against his right hand, still watching Diamanes.
"So I still have a shot at it later. Got it. Is that all?" Diamanes smiled came back, and he kept on with his explanation.
"Of course not! I still have two remaining, very important things to tell you. Firstly, I can finally share with you: I'm a "he"!" Diamanes proudly exclaimed, leaving Glenn dumbfounded. The young man pulled down on his face, baffled, before focusing back on the entity, who seemed a bit sad that this news didn't provoke the reaction expected.
"Too bad, I was convinced my cute girl act worked..."
'What act is he talking about?'
"Anyway, the truly important information is coming next," Diamanes drew on a deep breath, making Glenn tense up.
"Glenn, you're already aware that I'm a special existence, right?" The entity carefully began, making his host nod hesitantly.
"Well, I'm actually not whole. Originally, I wasn't simply a "hand"," Glenn flicked his fingers together with an illuminated face.
"Don't tell me anything else! You're a Horcrux, right? I knew it!" The young man pumped his fist, smiling widely. Diamanes sighed. If he could have creased eyebrows, he would have probably done so.
"It's not far from that. But what I can tell you now is that if you find "pieces" of the Original me, you'll receive a reward equal to the "part" you find," Diamanes said plainly. Glenn rubbed the back of his neck, considering whether he would want to do that. On one hand, it would probably increase his strength, but on the other, he risked giving Diamanes more influence over his body. He already had half his arm completely purple due to said influence. What would he look like would he fuse with other parts of Diamanes?
Glenn, struggling to answer Diamanes, decided to sleep on the idea and consider it. After all, even if it was a risky bet, he might have to take it.
He didn't have much choice if he wanted to get back at Howard, after all.
But all that will have to wait for tomorrow morning.
Right now, sleep time.