29 Hours and 40 minutes until the arrival of Eliminator
Unless it was necessary, Arthur refused to act as a mount for the entire journey, therefore, everyone had to rely on their feet to walk.
Only Isabella, still unconscious, was carried by Arthur. She was tied to a hastily-made wooden contraption on Arthur’s back.
“Um… Chris?”
Charles approached Christopher and lightly nudged him.
“Yeah?”
“Arthur is… acting strange.”
The young apothecary snuck a glance to the Parasite, who stayed in the rear.
Chris didn’t seem surprised as he dismissively waved his hand.
“Don’t mind him. If it gets worse, I’ll take care of it.”
Charles’ worries weren’t unfounded. They had been walking for a couple of hours yet Arthur mostly kept silent and didn’t communicate with anyone. Furthermore, he’d occasionally mutter under his breath, as if he was talking to someone.
In fact, even Chris, who knew his best friend more than anyone else, was confused by this. Even back on Earth, when Arthur was lost, for want of a better word, he didn’t behave like this.
Chris knew that, although he didn’t show it, Evelyn’s death affected him alot, nevertheless, it shouldn’t have led to something like this.
‘It could be an amalgamation of grief and stress, however, with all the bullshit present in this world, there’s a possibility that someone or something is messing with him.’
Unfortunately, Chris’ knowledge regarding magic was too minimal, so he couldn’t come up with a plausible guess.
“Keep an eye on him.”
After that, Chris edged closer to Lucy, who immediately turned her head and glared at him. Her piercing stare seemed to be a warning.
“I need to talk to you.”
“No.” She gave an immediate response, her face completely deadpan.
“This is about Arthur.”
Noticing the serious expression of Chris’ face, Lucy frowned and threw a glance toward the Parasite.
“I don’t care.”
Her refusal notwithstanding, Chris still kept talking.
“Can you check if he has been cursed or something?”
“...”
“Was he subjected to a spell?”
All his questions were met with a long silence.
“Aren’t you connected with him?”
“She is.”
Chris was surprised as Arthur came from behind, a smile on his face. He was using Leonis’ body, which was like a withered flower. The face was pale like a corpse’s, filled with wrinkles and a handful of permanent scars, and the overall body wasn’t going to hold on for much longer.
At most, it could be used for traveling.
Whether it was due to over-using the body or Arthur’s current mental health, ‘Leonis Sanguis’ certainly didn’t look healthy.
“I am fine, Chris. You really don’t need to worry.”
“Who said I’m worried? I just wanted someone’s opinion, is all. Can’t have you losing your shit all over again, right?”
“Is that so?” Arthur nodded, not bothering to offer any more reassurance.
He himself was aware that he had been acting out of character, to say the least. He knew that he was talking to himself, but it wasn’t due to craziness.
This odd occurrence started yesterday night, when he re-experienced that argument with his ex-wife. At first, he thought it was due to mental fatigue and Evelyn’s death, but after a couple of hours, the strangeness continued.
This wasn’t the work of simple sorrow or stress. As to what it was exactly, he didn’t know.
Arthur thoroughly examined himself and even searched for any signs of magical influence, however, there was nothing.
This wasn’t the work of an outside influence, but something within him. It was unlikely to be the System, which left two things: First, the claw-shaped artifact he got from Halric.
It was, by far, the strongest artifact in his possession. A weapon that allowed him to contend with the apparition of a Demon Lord as well as the unique Fire Spirit spawned by the Devil Doctor.
‘If it’s that artifact, it would have started affecting me earlier than yesterday. I didn’t feel anything when I used it the first time, nor after having it with me while traveling to Wilsden. It’s certainly ominous, but it can’t be the cause of this condition.’
The second possible cause was a combination of two ‘conditions’. The Anomaly in the Lernon Manor and Arthur’s race.
More often than not, Parasites, especially Mutant-Type Parasites, would lose themselves after possessing a significant amount of non-sentient bodies. Alternatively, they could lose their original identity due to the absorption of many ‘essences’.
In Arthur’s case, it hasn’t been long since he became a Parasite, and while he possessed a fair number of bodies, it still wasn’t a lot compared to other Parasites.
In summation, the voices that keep whispering to him couldn’t just be originating solely from his race as a Parasite. Something else must’ve caused a change, thus resulting in this inexplicable occurrence.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Admittedly, this was just Arthur’s initial conjecture. His condition wasn’t severe enough to warrant an immediate solution, nor was it affecting his skills and spells.
What was most important right now was to distinguish between what was real and what was fake, as well as remain calm and carefully assess anything that seem unordinary.
As he was marching like all the rest, lost in thought, Arthur noticed a figure appear next to him. It was semi-translucent, invisible to all but himself.
‘...’
He looked at Lucy, who solemnly stared at him.
Curious, he looked at her real self and saw that she was still walking.
“It’s happening again.” She said while also looking at herself.
“So it seems.”
Lucy kept gazing at him for a bit, impatiently waiting for this ‘thing’ to be over.
“There’s nothing wrong with you. I detect no abnormalities.”
She seemed to have said to reassure him, but the cacophony of whispers in his mind were still echoing, stopping only occasionally.
“I know.”
“If you turn mad, I’ll kill you. Traveling with a Parasite is already stressful enough.”
“I’m not turning mad.”
“Then stop acting as such.”
Arthur was about to retort, however, when he blinked his eyes, Lucy was gone. She seemed to have returned to her body.
As everyone pretended nothing was happening to Arthur, the group kept traversing the woods, and late at night, they reached the northern end of the Greenbell Forest.
They were welcomed by a collection of flat planes that stretched for dozens of miles North-East.
If they kept traveling at this moderately slow pace, it would take them a relatively long time to reach their destination. Still, with how hectic things were becoming in the Archwood region, this was the safest option right now.
As the four set up camp, as usual, Charles and Chris went into their respective tents to rest.
The silver-haired Demon hugged her knees and sat near the campfire, her eyes reflecting the crackling flames.
Arthur was sitting across from her, not in the mood to talk. To not further alarm his companions, he had stopped himself from responding to some of the ‘clearer’ whispers. Alas, in just half a day, he fully realized that things weren’t looking good.
“Did you discover why the three of us are ‘connected’?”
Lucy suddenly broke the silence and asked, her voice softer than usual.
“I’m not sure yet. It’s likely the doing of a God or a Demon Lord. After all, it isn’t easy to connect three Souls like this.”
“...”
“We don’t have anything in common, especially with you.”
Lucy shrugged her shoulders and, while exhaling a long sigh, remarked,
“At least, with Isabella in a coma, it’s not happening anymore.”
A look of surprise appeared on Arthur’s face, one which he quickly hid.
“... yes. You’re right.”
“You can go rest. I’ll stand guard.”
While keeping himself calm, Arthur retreated inside of his tent. He slowly sat down, closed his eyes, and took deep breaths.
‘That earlier conversation with Lucy… it didn’t happen. I imagined it?’
*The Chamber of Choices:
Available Evolution Sub-Races:
-Dreamweaver Parasite(Ultima)
-Multi-Psych Parasite(Mutant)
-Savage Beasts Parasite(Mutant)
-Dark Spirit Parasite(Mutant)
-Deadly Fungus Parasite(Mutant)
Unsurprisingly, upon evolving into the Multi-Skill Parasite sub-race, Arthur had been presented with new choices, however, both Dreamweaver Parasite and Multi-Psych Parasite were new.
Moreover, for a Mutant-Type Parasite to evolve into an Ultima-Type Parasite was strange, if not a little worrying.
‘That Anomaly definitely did something to me. This is proof of that. Still, this isn’t enough of an explanation. I need to figure out a solution… and fast.’
Right now, he and the others were going to the Lost Isle to look for a potential cure for Isabella.
Arthur didn’t want to divert their focus from that problem to another one, nevertheless, he couldn’t his own condition and kept pretending he was alright.
He had Christopher by his side, and with enough effort, he was confident they would find a way out.
Generally, Arthur wasn’t the type of person to actively seek help, even from friends, but dealing with this by himself could prove disastrous and even put everyone at risk. He needed to look at this from an objective point of view.
‘I’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.’
----------------------------------------
16 hours and 50 minutes until the arrival of Eliminator
The Despot Collective
Eldest King City
The Grand Palace
The notorious Tyrant of the South, ruler of the Despot Collective, sat on an extravagant throne. His upper body, muscular and big, was uncovered, while his lower body had a pair of simple black pants.
Phalaris Dam Akhal, self-proclaimed King of the South overthrew the Mad King 25 years ago and took hold of the Despot Collective through might alone.
It was said that, in all of Astria, there were only a handful of people capable of facing Phalaris. The rumors of him being a demigod weren’t unfounded, especially since it was unknown that he fought the Masked Queen and survived.
Four scholars, dressed in long white and golden robes, were fearfully kneeling near the stairs leading to the throne.
“All three shots failed?”
Unlike the calm and strategic Emperor, or the manipulative Ten Seats, Phalaris was a hot-blooded savage through and through. He was an oppressive ruler, hot-blooded in nature and extremely savage.
It was for this reason that, during the last 10 years, the Despot Collective had no less than three civil wars, all of which failed and resulted in brutal massacres.
“T-there has been an un…unexpct…d… interfffnce…”
An elderly scholar, his face stricken with fear, barely managed to squeeze a couple of words. He kept his head bowed, too scared to look at Phalaris.
In response, the Tyrant raised his hand and signaled a 2-meter tall man wearing barbaric armor to step from the side.
Without any hesitation, that warrior held the axe strapped to his waist and swung it at the elderly scholar, beheading him on the spot.
This act of brutality frightened the remaining others.
“Speak coherently next time. What exactly happened?”
For a bit, there was no response. When the Tyrant’s Warrior was about to swing his axe again, one of the scholars raised their hand.
“Speak.”
That one particular scholar was a relatively young-looking girls with large round silver-rimmed spectacles. She had messy curly auburn hair and a slim body.
Her brown eyes had dark circles under them, her thin lips were dry, and her nose was a bit runny.
“M-my lord…” The girl took a deep breathe to collect herself and her thoughts before explaining,
“Our aim was correct. Each shot had enough energy to obliterate an Imperial Warship. The aforementioned interference didn’t come from Gold City.”
The girl paused again while sneaking a glance at the expressionless Phalaris, who was attentively listening to her.
“Something else, likely with opposite properties of the active Mana within the blasts, interfered and negated the blasts altogether. Alternatively, it could be a domain of energy that has the same properties as the blasts but much stronger in potency, thereby absorbing any outside ‘interference’. We have yet to receive the reports, however, the source of this must’ve come South of Gold City. Somewhere West of Greenbell Forest.”
“So, you mean to tell me you wasted three ‘shots’?”
The girl, although frightened by the inevitable punishment she would be subjected to, shook her head.
“We can circumvent this interference. Another way would be to use it to our advantage and potentially strengthen the power of the blast. If you give me some time, I’m sure I can-”
Upon seeing him raise his hand, the girl closed her mouth and waited.
“What’s your name?”
“Arete, My Lord.”
“Good. Arete, you have a week to show me results.”
After that, Phalaris stood up and left.
As for Arete, she kept kneeling while the ruthless Warrior beheaded the other two scholars, leaving only her alive.