"The fear of death follows the fear of living. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time" - Mark Twain

≫ ──────── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ────≪

Alard opened his eyes slowly, the image of Akuma leaning over his face shocking the last of his drowsiness away.

"What you doin' losing consciousness? I merely tapped ya," Akuma said.

If he could Alard would punch him in the face right now, but if that pain was from a "tap" he wasn't eager to experience more.

Hayaka fidgeted nearby. "Tapped?" He asked incredulously. "You tried to split my hand in two!" He was still grabbing onto his hand and considering that unlike Alard, he had suffered a direct hit, it was understandable.

Akuma rolled his eyes. He clearly wasn't a fan of holding back.

"Quit your whining and listen up," he commanded, taking a cross-legged seat in the mini crater he had created.

Was he teasing us?

"It's apparent we have much to work on judging by our little spar." Alard had never heard of a spar being a one-sided beatdown. "Starting with," Akuma continued, "the way in which you fight. Both of you. You still fight as if you're humans who were gifted with above-average strength and not like you and your parasyte are one. Give in to the superior instincts that lay dormant within you."

Alard recalled his parasyte saying something along those lines during his first mission. How did one even give in to some primal instincts, wasn't it an involuntary thing?

"How?"Hayaka asked, voicing Alard's question.

"By feeling the flow when you fight instead of lacking spontaneity and being all mechanical like you both were. Especially you Alard, you're thinking out your every move like we're playing chess. By the time you think up your next move on the board after the last one gets blocked, you're already a dead man. You're so deep in your thoughts that you can't feel your parasyte's tug."

"What about me?" Hayaka asked. "I was hardly thinking at all."

Alard didn't think that was something to be said so proudly.

"I've no idea about you, because quite frankly, you're not on the same level as us."

Hayaka's face darkened. "What?"

Akuma sighed as if he were explaining a simple concept to a little kid. "You're a normal parasyte user, in case you didn't realize which means that mediocrity is almost certainly your limit. Truthfully, I wouldn't even be bothering to train you if it wasn't made a condition."

Hayaka rose to his feet shakily and stalked toward Akuma. Although his hand still hung at his side, his confident gait and ferociously intense gaze distilled any feeling of weakness.

Alden visibly stiffened from his perch at the side of the road. There was no telling what Hayaka was about to do and there was certainly no telling how Akuma would react.

Hayaka stopped in front of Akuma who hadn't moved an inch, though his smirk had grown the closer Hayaka had come.

"I don't give a damn about this normal and rare parasyte crap that everyone keeps talking about. As far as I'm concerned, I'll still be able to whip anyone's ass when I master this thing. And mark my words," his stare was unrelenting, boring a hole into Akuma as he leaned forward slightly, "I will become strong enough to slap that stupid smirk off of your face. Just you wait."

Akuma stood up in one smooth motion. He was at least 6'1 which meant that he had some significant height on Hayaka's 5'8 stature, and as he looked down at him he towered over him in more ways than one.

Thankfully, Akuma cut away the tension with a smile. "They do say it's important to dream big, but I'd point out that aiming for an unreachable delusion isn't healthy." He said while patting Hayaka on the shoulder. "And judging by your attitude," he moved his hand in a blur, going from patting him to smacking him across the face and sending him flying back across the road, "it seems like you're ready for round two."

The next hour was filled with more two-on-one sparring which felt more like two against fifty for Alard and Hayaka. Amidst their typically unsuccessful attempts at landing an attack on Akuma, Alard tried to take his advice and listen to the instinct within, even trying to maintain the mental connection while he fought, but the task proved to be difficult.

It was easy enough to focus on establishing and maintaining the mental connection when he stopped moving or didn't have anything really splitting his focus, but during battle, it felt impossible to mentally multitask while attacking and under attack from a foe as strong as Akuma.

Learning to extend his sphere of consciousness while fighting had been a level of multitasking akin to learning to connect the perfect liver punch right underneath the floating ribs on the right side. Once you did it a few times you understood the method and conditions needed to achieve it. But communicating within while fighting was like doing the same thing but blindfolded. It took a higher level of skill, focus and awareness that he just didn't seem to currently have.

Finally, after approximately two hours, the two landed in an exhausted mangled heap. Alard could feel his skin stretching and bones twisting and snapping back into place as his body mended itself. Next to him, Hayaka was in a similar state of forced meditation.

Akuma clapped, not a single spot on his obnoxious purple suit. "I guess that's it for now. Let's discuss how much you know about the art of parasytes before you scurry back to your jail cells."

"The art of parasytes?" Alard asked with obvious interest.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Akuma nodded. "Let's start with the basics; have you named your Parasytes?"

Alard and Hayaka exchanged a confused glance.

Named their Parasytes? The thought felt so weird yet obvious. Why hadn't they named them or asked its name?

Alard turned to Alden. "Why weren't we told to?"

"Because the practice is frowned upon by the majority, including Jarek. They believe there's no reason to name their parasytes because it heightens the risk of becoming too friendly with the parasyte and thus being tricked into having your body taken over," Alden responded in an even tone.

"That's what the paranoid morons tend to believe," Akuma said with a disgusted shake of his head. "They think that the best way to use a Parasyte's power is to imprison the supreme being in their head and siphon off the smidgens of power instead of being a joint force with an understanding of each other's wishes and motivations in order to reach full potential."

"Surely even you could see the risk in such a practice. What happens when that thin leash you hold your friend on breaks? The Parasytes simply need a body to inhabit, not necessarily a person, I'm sure your friend would much prefer being in the driver's seat."

"Don't you see?" Akuma asked excitedly, "That's the fun of it all! The unpredictability around each bend, with all the suspense building there's never any time for the ugliness of boredom!"

"Not everyone values fun over their existence," Alden remarked.

"Indeed," Akuma said, his excited expression dissolving in a blink of an eye. "The fear of death is the world's greatest limiter."

Alard's eyes widened.

Was that wisdom in the midst of Akuma's craziness?

"I'll do it. I'll name my parasyte," Alard announced.

Hayaka looked at him like he had gone crazy and although Alden's expression stayed as neutral as ever, the way his eyes jerked toward him was his version of doing the same Alard imagined.

Akuma clapped like an excited kid. "Finally, someone who isn't afraid of their own shadow. Go on, boy."

Alard closed his eyes, imagining the mindscape that he had gotten a glimpse of when the Parasyte had asked for his control. He wanted to properly face his intergalactic companion instead of simply communicating over their mental phone line. Though he understood Alden's wariness, what Akuma said about gaining the most power by becoming a joint force did make a lot of sense to him.

"What are you doing?" Hayaka asked, destroying his focus.

Alard reopened his eyes to Hayaka staring at him in confusion and Alden and Akuma gazing intently.

"What?" He asked, confused. "I'm just traveling into my mind to speak to the Parasyte directly." He had to admit that sounded much crazier when he said it out loud but surely they understood. It was a normal thing for a parasyte user and he wasn't going crazy...right?

Hayaka's face morphed into a more confused portrait but Akuma just whistled with a slight shake of his head.

"Quite impressive, boy," Akuma said.

"What is?"

Alden cleared his throat. "What he's referring to is that it usually takes one month to enter this mindscape, much less be notified of its existence. You've done it in a week flat."

Alard scratched his head. "Well, my parasyte has been communicating with me and that's how I got an idea of this...mindscape."

A worry crease appeared on Alden's forehead just as Akuma leaned forward with a predatory smirk.

"Excellent..." Akuma droned, "Go ahead and name your parasyte. I sense an opportunity to build a bond between you and that eager fellow."

Alard looked at Hayaka who still seemed as confused as ever. He had thought that it was normal for the parasyte to communicate as much as his had but that didn't seem to be the case. Did that mean that he would be leaving his new companion behind now?

Alard had envisioned Hayaka fighting side by side with him and eventually ending the Peacocks' reign together but he didn't have time to wait for him.

He had made a promise that would haunt him until he completed it after all.

Alard closed his eyes and once again focused on imagining the mindscape that he had caught a glimpse of before. He experienced a weird suctioning sensation that stemmed from the tip of his head and ballooned its way down to the base of his heel.

Alard reopened his eyes when the sensation stopped and was greeted by a beautiful courtyard. A glance behind him betrayed a tall black castle that seemed to stretch for an eternity upwards into the sun. There was a particular sinister aura that the castle emitted but Alard's gaze was quickly drawn to the gate that lay at the end of the courtyard.

It was built like all of the medieval movies Alard had seen in the past, with a drawbridge of some sort no doubt leading to it, but what seemed to be drawing his attention was a presence beyond it, beckoning Alard to come and take a look.

Alard obeyed, closing the distance to the gate. Each step he took felt dream-like, as if there were clouds under his feet and not the actual ground.

He peered through the gate warily, his body screaming in protest in fear of the ominous aura that seeped from the black castle gates.

Akuma's earlier words echoed through his brain as he fought against the urge to run away and not face the presence.

'The fear of death is the world's greatest limiter'.

Without warning, a shadowy figure intruded into Alard's field of vision. It was like the thing had materialized out of thin air. It had swirling dark pools for eyes that threatened to suck him into its murky depths if he dared to hold eye contact.

"Stare into the abyss, and the abyss shall stare back." Its voice oozed malevolence though there was no indication of a mouth that the words could've come from. Still, there was a certain prudeness in the tone that was all too familiar to Alard.

Alard attempted to pull away from the Parasyte but found himself locked in place as a hand grabbed onto his shirt, and pulled him back into the gate. He fought against it but the grip didn't even budge at his efforts.

"I come in peace," Alard squeaked, hoping he didn't sound as feeble as he felt.

The Parasyte seemed to cock its head and Alard took it as a sign to continue. He wisely decided to take a more diplomatic approach instead of his previous plan of naming the parasyte. "I've come to find out your name. That way I can address you properly when speaking to you."

It was obvious the parasyte thought highly of itself and Alard prayed that stroking its ego would be enough to not get him killed. The thought was haunting.

Could he be killed in his own mind?

"Foolish being. Even if I did tell you my name you would be unable to comprehend it due to your intellect not allowing access to a language as supreme as ours."

Alard raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "Then, how have you been speaking English?"

The Parasyte scoffed as if the very question was insulting. "A language as simple as this is child's play. I reside in your mind, boy. I have access to enough of your memories and knowledge that made it easy to piece together."

Alard didn't particularly like the idea of the Parasyte prowling around his memories.

"Nonetheless, we should think of something to call you," Alard offered.

The grip on Alard's shirt vanished as the Parasyte let go, its black orbs squinting slightly. "No need, I've already thought of a name suitable for me." The Parasyte raised to its full height. Alard imagined if it had a mouth it would be smiling like some sort of evil villain right now.

"Jigoku will be my name."