Chapter 302: Parasite [1]
"Who had you partnered up with?"
"Secret."
"Come on man! It’s not like this is some competition."
"Meet me later."
"Huh—"
Returning to the academy, the tension of the assignment could clearly be felt as students kept discussing the same topic amongst themselves.
Not paying them much attention, I moved towards the headmaster’s office.
The sooner I got the permission, the better it was.
After the assignment to the Leviath Duchy, Sophie would have already arrived at the academy.
I could then meet the headmaster once again in order to officially introduce her.
There was no need for me to send an extra message to Arthur about whether the headmaster had given the permission or not, because in my earlier reply I had already told Arthur about the time when Sophie should have arrived at the academy.
Taking permission from the headmaster may prove to be difficult, but it wasn’t something hopeless.
I knew there was no reason for the headmaster to deny my... request.
Currently, I was walking alone, as Alicia had taken Diana to the dorm so as to let them relax.
We had already missed most of the day’s lectures, so there was no need to attend the rest.
Knowing tomorrow’s first lecture was going to be held by Elsa... I had decided to give the reason behind our absence in the class itself.
I mean even though Elsa was a strict teacher, that didn’t mean that I would be begging before her to forgive our absence.
Elsa could give whatever punishment she deemed fit, but it wasn’t like she could remove us from the academy itself.
Though I would have to take the blame for the absence of Alicia as well as Diana... which meant that Elsa might go a little too hard on me.
Hm?
For some reason the phrasing felt a little odd, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.
As for the episode with Diana... the girl still seemed a little upset with me, but I had long left the matter in the back of my mind.
There was no need to entertain her childish tantrums longer than what I had already done.
Still... it wasn’t like I was upset over Diana’s behaviour.
Going by the facts, these tantrums aligned with Diana’s behaviour that I had always known from the game.
It was her recent behaviour that felt a little outside her original character from the game, though for some reason... I felt like it was a sort of character upliftment on her part—
Huh?
My eyelids felt heavy for some reason.
The students walking before my eyes had begun to feel blurry, and distinguishing them felt difficult—
My vision began to feel narrower with every passing moment—
No.
For some reason I felt like time was stretching itself thinly across the plane of reality.
Everything in the direct vicinity of my narrowed vision felt like it was being played in slow motion, or was it my brain that was working faster than reality—
I felt my consciousness slipping away, but... it wasn’t like I could let it go.
Something was trying to overwhelm my sense of will, but I couldn’t pinpoint the exact source.
Like hell I would let any pest—
"Cough... cough"
Huh?
I felt a metallic taste in my mouth.
Lowering my head, my gaze froze as I noticed my hands dyed red.
Why?
"Cough... cough"
I couldn’t understand why I had begun to cough, but with each one, more blood had begun to colour my hands.
Looking around me, the number of students was fairly low as most of them seemed to have returned to their classes.
My body had become heavy, making me unable to control it as per my will.
Still, willing my legs to move, I dashed towards the quiet hallways of the academy, trying my best to not let anyone notice my state.
"Cough... Urgghh."
A deep moan escaped from my lips even before my mind could process any of it.
My eyelids had become a lot heavier than before and I felt like sleeping for eternity—
No.
Removing my sword from storage, I held the weapon by its blade instead of the hilt, and applied pressure on it with my hands.
Blood began to leak from the wound on my palm, but I didn’t stop.
The pain from the injury had somehow brought me back to reality, but the effect was short-lived as my consciousness began to fade again.
Someone clearly stronger than me was trying to take control over my body, but... I couldn’t understand who could be behind it.
I had to somehow stop the parasite from—
My eyes widened in realization and I was quick to will my mana to the region around my lower abdomen, the very place which had the mark to summon Arthur—
Huh?
Thud!
My body dropped to its knees as I felt myself being cut off from all the mana in my body.
My core... it felt like someone had already taken control over it.
Arthur... I had to summon him or else—
My vision condensed further, and within a second I felt my entire consciousness being suppressed by some force.
Who was it—
"Cough... cough."
That was a lot more difficult than I had assumed it to be.
Willing mana through my core, I began to heal all the injuries that the body had sustained.
His resistance was a lot stronger than my expectations.
Was it due to the increase in the body’s rank or had the merger given him more sense of identity?
Both felt like the main drivers behind Kael’s resistance.
The merger had increased the kid’s sense of self by huge margins and would only continue to do so the more Kael’s body got an increase in its rank.
Looking down, the floor had been covered in Kael’s blood.
Using a basic spell, I cleaned all traces of blood from the area, before walking towards the required destination—
Nemur’s office.
I had the thought of eliminating the entirety of Kael’s soul, but it had already been mixed with the remnants of my own soul.
Though I had been able to maintain my own unique sense of identity, the same wasn’t true for Kael.
And now... he had become something that was starting to walk on the same path as me.
I had no plans to take control over the body for a long time, but that parasite made me do so.
Thinking about Diana—
"That filth had to be eliminated."