"Since life is an ever-evolving process, one should flow in this process and discover how to actualize and expand oneself." - Bruce Lee

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Alard couldn't resist even if he tried as his hand refused to cooperate under the snake-like hold he found himself in. The pain had grown so intense that a numbing feeling had washed over his arm and he could no longer feel it, much less fight against his adversary as the ground greedily awaited the falling pair.

Alard was sure he wouldn't die from the impact, but if the landing immobilized him, it would leave him defenseless against the rogue positioned on top of him.

Just as Alard prepared to shut his eyes, a third figure entered the picture. Hayaka scaled down the side of the building, managing to create more momentum so he could catch up to the pair, and then leaped off toward them, unnaturally stretching his hand forward to land a blow on the preoccupied rogue.

The rogue reacted to the punch, loosening his grip slightly to glance in Hayaka's direction. Alard, seeing an opportunity, kicked upwards with all of his might, barely managing to dislodge his shoulder from the rogue's grip. He twisted in the air, attempting to right himself before hitting the ground but to no avail, as the pavement welcomed his face with a painfully loud splat.

His cheek stung, and for a second, he couldn't see through his right eye. He forced his body upwards, feeling a wave of nostalgia from the countless times his body was left aching from a day of getting beaten up in boxing.

Admittedly, he would choose getting pummeled by a human over his current predicament any day of the week.

.Alard struggled against his roaring body, forcing himself upright to survey the scene. The rogue had already recovered from his desperate attack and now circled Hayaka who bravely faced off against the predator, whirling around to keep the creature in his sights. Above them, Akuma watched from his perch, making no movements to intervene.

As Alard pulled himself to his feet under protest from his body, he made the mental connection that was quickly becoming second nature to him. 'Any tips on how to defeat this thing?'

Jigoku made a grumbling sound. Alard imagined him looking up from his resting spot with a bored expression. 'My first tip would be not taking your eyes off of him.'

Huh?

Alard glanced back at the fight just in time to see Hayaka's body flying his way. He barely managed to get up his hands in time to catch his partner. Hayaka's momentum caused Alard to lose his balance, however, sending the pair skidding down the road to the dismay of the skin on Alard's back.

Alard didn't have time to comfort his irrate skin as the rogue jumped, aiming its landing at its two targets below. Alard pushed Hayaka off of him, rolling the other way so that the rogue landed in between them. Almost immediately after its feet touched the ground, it twisted in Alard's direction and charged at him as he once again fought to regain his footing.

His arm ached anew as he raised his guard but the rogue ducked under it, landing a body blow so powerful that Alard's feet lifted off the ground. In a flash of Akuma's beloved spontaneity, Alard tucked his body in, performing a graceless flip that allowed him to land a kick on the rogues head.

Not that it budged under the force of his kick.

Alard could've sworn he saw an amused glint in the rogue's eyes as it eyed Alard's foot which still laid on its head. In one smooth motion, it brought its hand down, its nails suddenly growing a ridiculously sharp edge that cut straight through bone and disconnected Alard's foot from the knee down.

For a second the world stopped, the only moving object in Alard's world being the half of his foot that slowly fell to the floor. Then, pain.

Pain and more pain. It was as if his leg had been stuck into a blacksmith's hot forge and was now being hammered repeatedly to atone under the hellish fire for his sins. The rogue seemed to sever in his suffering, standing above Alard as he whimpered and squirmed uncomfortably on the floor. Its motive clearly wasn't a clean and precise kill. It wanted him to suffer, as it had itself being locked away and exploited by one of his kind.

The searing pain gave way to a chilling feeling, one that Alard quickly embraced, locking his eyes shut and focusing on the chilling area within the darkness of his eyelids. It felt almost like he was going down a slide, away from the fiery pain and to something unknown.

Alard opened his eyes when he realized that the pain had disappeared. In fact, he couldn't feel anything, it was as if a numbing wave had swept across his body but as his eyes took in his new surroundings he realized that wasn't exactly the case.

He was in his mindscape, surrounded by forestry and an irritated-looking Jigoku glared at him from behind the gate that separated them.

"What do you want?" Jigoku asked.

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Alard grimaced, doing a quick sweep to make sure he had both legs in his mindscape. It was remarkably easy to take something for granted until you lost it. "I don't know if the Wi-Fi here is bad or something, but in case you missed it, we're getting manhandled out there."

"And why is this my concern?"

Alard squinted in annoyance. "If I die I can't see it ending well for you. I figure it's in your best interest to help if you don't want to end up as bird food."

"No need, that man you call Akuma will not let you die. He sees my potential embedded inside your husk. As for your friend, however...his survival is on your ability to protect him I'd imagine," Jigoku made an awkward lumbering motion with his shoulders that Alard took for a shrug. "Which makes his probability of survival outstandingly low."

Alard folded his fist, his mind racing to find a way to give an incentive for the self-centered being's help. Alard imagined that time didn't stop when he was in his mindscape and the rogue had probably turned its attention back to Hayaka by now. Which meant he had to think of something fast.

"Is that really fine with you though?" Alard asked. "Relying on some human to save the one you merged with? I picked you out of the batch of parasytes because I believed that you would grant me the most power and give me the best chance of avenging my district." Alard snorted, his confidence growing enough to return the parasyte's glare. "Now I'm wondering if I made the wrong decision."

Jigoku's whirling eyes squinted, his entire demeanor changing as he closed the distance between himself and the gate in slow deliberate steps. Alard involuntarily flinched back, the intensity in its swirling sockets burning a hole in his eyes. "Do you think that I take pride in having my chosen host be as weak as you are? Had I thought you were ready to handle more of an output of my power I would've granted it, but you've lacked that fire you showed when I first laid eyes on you."

Alard's mouth twisted in a snarl and he stepped back toward the gate so that he was almost face to face with the parasyte through the gate, or rather, as much as possible as he could be to the towering figure. "Try me."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Jigoku replied, his prior hostility replaced with barely concealed amusement.

Alard called upon the frustration that he had felt in every fight thus far. He had been nothing but a punching bag when it came down to it, always finding himself relying on others to save him. He liked the idea of teamwork, especially with Hayaka whom he felt he could trust to have his back, but the reality was he wanted to be strong enough to stand on his own.

He needed to be strong enough.

Alard once again fixed Jigoku with a glare. "Try me."

Jigoku made a chortling noise and then dipped his head. "Very well. Prove that what I saw in your soul was not a mirage."

With that, the mindscape faded away and Alard found his senses returning and with it, a relief much like the popping of an ear. The pain had dulled significantly, and as he cracked his eyes his leg was back.

He quickly shifted his focus to the sound of a hard crash. The rogue stood over a wounded Hayaka whose limbs were twisted at such awkward angles that he resembled more a clay figure than a human. The rogue seemed about ready to finish off Hayaka, if the long talons that now trailed from its hands were any sign.

Alard jumped up quickly, sending a quick thanks to the man above that his leg properly supported his weight and allowed him to dash forward toward the rogue. By some sixth sense, the rogue felt his approach and turned, slashing out wildly in his direction.

Alard, having been focused on reaching the rogue before it realized, was caught off-guard by its lightning-quick response and barely managed to shift his body sideways but the rogue displayed greater speed than it had before, bringing its arm up in a flash, and with it, the long sharp talons that had replaced its human nails.

Something flashed across Alard's vision, a red line of sorts that highlighted the rogue's talons and a path above it. On a whim, Alard dodged the lined path, and sure enough, the talons followed the line a mere mili-second after, narrowly missing his head. Before he could comprehend what had just occurred, another line popped up and another, and like before Alard did his best to move out of the way of the red lines and as a result, dodged the rogue before it even began its attacks.

There was a certain exhilaration Alard started to feel from his sudden feat of agility, a feeling of superiority that he had lacked before. A dopey smile inhabited his lips as his momentum dodging began to build and with it his confidence.

For once his racing thoughts were nonexistent as he skittered around the road like a ballerina with the rogue in angry pursuit. He eyed the rogue in between his own controlled dodges and felt a rage bubbling beneath his being. A rage born from the pain he had felt at its hands. His euphoric state gave way to murderous intent and as he glanced at the rogue's stomach after a precarious dodge he saw a red dot appear on its knee.

Without proper thought, he lashed out at the red dot and was rewarded with the rogue's knee buckling under the power of his strike. The rogue, seemingly desensitized to the prospect of pain, used the slumping momentum to score a slash across Alard's face. With his rage fed more, Alard backed out of the way of another red line that appeared and then focused his vision on another red dot that appeared on the slouching rogue's head.

The red dot changed, morphing into something similar to a hit-marker that he remembered from his favorite shooting games. Instead of dodging the next red line that appeared, Alard timed a parry, flinging the attempted slash away and the hit-marker grew larger as the opening widened. He set his feet, feeling a vibrating power begging to be released from his enclosed fist that he rushed to please. The sound of his fist landing on the forehead of the rogue was so loud he half expected a cartoonish flock of birds to fly up into the sky.

To say the rogue flew back on impact would be a gross understatement. It was more like the head of the rogue was incinerated on impact. One second it was there in its full ugliness and the next it was gone.

Alard's eyes widened as he looked down at his smoking fist, the insanity of his new abilities hitting him all at once.

What the hell had he just done?

Before he could make a mental connection to Jigoku to curse him for hiding this power from him, a blinding migraine attacked him. Migraine didn't fully account for the pain that stiffened his body, lighting every single cell on fire as they screamed at certain death that clutched their host. Alard barely managed to weakly touch his wet nose, revealing blood on his shaking finger.

Then the darkness of a starless space consumed him.