"Really?!!" Ron's head snapped up, a desperate, wild hope flaring in his stormy-blue eyes. It was the look of a drowning man who'd just been thrown a lifeline. "Can you save her? Can you cure her?"
"Cure is a strong word," I said, my voice calm, betraying none of the mental calculations I was running. "I can... remove the problem. The parasite. But her body is already weakened from its feeding. The process will be a shock to her system."
"What do you mean? What kind of shock?" He was on his feet now, hovering anxiously beside me, torn between overwhelming hope and paralyzing fear.
"I am going to reach inside her, find the parasite, and eat it," I stated bluntly, watching his face carefully. "I have a skill that allows me to devour things. With it, I'll find the parasite and simply devour it."
"Eat... it? Just... reach in and..." He froze, processing my words. "I think that... would be dangerous."
"Yes," I agreed, my tone sharpening. "It's dangerous. But so is letting that thing continue to gnaw away at her soul while we wait for a bunch of soulless corporate bastards to get their shit together. We have three options here, Ron. One, we wait, and she fades away. Two, we trust the corrupt system and pray for a miracle. Or three, you let me do what I do best. Your choice."
I watched him, watched the war raging behind his eyes. He looked from my cold, steady face to his sister's pale, fragile form. The machines beeped their monotonous rhythm, a cruel countdown.
"Do it," he finally choked out, the words ripped from his throat. "Do whatever you have to do. Just... save her."
I gave a curt nod.
"Good. Now stand back. And no matter what you see or hear, don't interrupt me. Don't touch me. Don't even breathe too loudly."
He retreated to the far wall, pressing himself against it as if trying to disappear into the plaster. His knuckles were white where he gripped his own arms.
I turned my full attention back to Akira. My white hair fell around my face as I slowly leaned over her, my face just inches from hers, or to be more accurate, my lips were just above hers.
"S-Sister Azariel... What are you-" Ron began, but I silenced him with a sharp glance.
This position wasn't just for the dramatic flair. To use Devour this precisely, to target a specific entity inside another living being without consuming the host, I needed a conduit. A direct, intimate connection to her life force.
The closest point.
I placed my lips on hers, a kiss that was not about passion, but about possession. It was cold, clinical. The anchor for my will.
Ron's sharp, ragged intake of breath was the only sound in the room. Seeing me kissing his sister in her comatose state, I bet the boy's mind must have jumped to a thousand different conclusions. All of them were wrong.
'Oh!... Does he have a fetish for women kissing or sisters? I should ask him later,' I thought, distracted by the sudden lust that rolled off him.
'I'll have to test it later.'
I ignored him and pushed my consciousness past her lips, past her teeth, delving into the warm, dark cavern of her body. It was a strange sensation, like swimming through honey and starlight. I could feel the ebb and flow of her life, a weak but steady thrum against my own immense power.
And there it was.
A cold, dead spot in the vibrant tapestry of her soul. A knot of shadow, a tangle of thorny, black energy that was greedily sucking the light from around it. The parasite. It wasn't a creature in the traditional sense, but more like a cancerous concept given form, a void with an appetite.
It felt my presence.
It recoiled, then lashed out, not with teeth or claws, but with waves of pure, nihilistic cold. It tried to sever my connection, to freeze my will.
'Cute,' I thought. Pathetic.
Instead of fighting it head-on, I let my own nature bloom within her. I didn't bring a sword to a knife fight; I brought an abyss to a void. My energy, a swirling vortex of hunger and desire, unfurled inside her. It was everything the parasite was not—alive, predatory, and utterly, arrogantly confident.
The parasite, this simple, single-minded leech, had never encountered a predator. It had only known prey.
It tried to flee, burrowing deeper, trying to anchor itself to her spine, to her very core. But it was like a mouse trying to escape a tiger by crawling into its gullet. I was already there. I was everywhere.
My Devour skill activated.
It wasn't a violent rending or a tearing. It was an absorption. A complete and total assimilation. I wrapped my essence around it, squeezing, constricting, and then... I simply took a small bite, nothing more.
Then I immediately retreated.
'Biting more than necessary could harm her,' I thought.
The process took less than three seconds.
I pulled back, breaking the kiss. I stumbled, catching myself on the rail of the hospital bed. A wave of dizziness washed over me. The parasite hadn't been a substantial meal, not like Umbra's prey or a lust-fueled climax, but its energy was... foul. Toxic. Like drinking spoiled milk.
The room was silent save for the frantic beeping of the heart monitor. Akira's body didn't have any reaction.
"What... What happened? Did it work?" Ron's voice was a raw whisper from the corner. He was still pressed against the wall, his face a mask of terror and desperate hope.
I straightened up, shaking my head to clear the foul aftertaste.
"I devoured a small piece of it," I said, my voice raspy. I looked down at Akira. Her chest was still rising and falling in that same shallow rhythm. "The parasite is a large one. It has deep roots in her system. I couldn't take it all out at once. If I did, I might have destroyed her soul with it. So I took a small part and will need to repeat this process for a few days."
Ron's face fell. The fragile hope in his eyes shattered.
"You... you mean you didn't..."
"I mean, I started the process, Ron," I cut him off, my tone sharp. "I found the enemy, and I drew first blood. And I learned something important. This thing... it's not natural. It's been engineered. It has... safeguards. A fail-safe."
"What fail-safe?"
"A death-charge," I explained, my mind racing through the information I'd gleaned from that small bite. "If the parasite is removed all at once, or if it dies, it unleashes a final burst of energy that will completely annihilate the host's life force. A scorched-earth policy. I guess that BioSynth doesn't just want to control the cure; they want to make sure no one else can provide one either. They turned your sister into a walking hostage."
The implications of this settled in the room like a shroud. It wasn't just about corporate greed anymore. It was about malice. A deliberate, calculated act of cruelty.
Ron's despair curdled into something hard and cold. The storm in his eyes was no longer just a tempest; it was a gathering maelstrom. He looked at his sister, then at me, and then at the pristine white wall of the room. He saw the enemy, not just as a corporation, but as a faceless, soulless entity that had sentenced a child to death for profit and control.
"We need to find a new place to live," I stated, changing the subject.
"Right now?" he asked, still in shock.
"Right now," I confirmed. "That apartment is compromised. Those two cyborgs from The Black Hand tracked us there once. They'll do it again. We need a secure base of operations. A fortress. Somewhere we can plan our next move without worrying about an ambush."
"Next move?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.
I walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He flinched, then slowly relaxed under my touch.
"We're going to take your sister out of this hospital," I said, my voice low and firm. "And then, we're going to make BioSynth Solutions regret the day they were founded."
A small, dark smile touched Ron's lips. It was the first genuine smile I had seen from him, and it was as beautiful as it was terrifying.
"Good."
...
The afternoon sun blazed down on Neo-Tokyo as we rode in the back of a self-driving taxi. Ron was silent, staring out the window at the city that had become our hunting ground. I was scrolling through a real estate app on my phone, looking for potential safe houses.
The taxi pulled up to a large, imposing building in the upscale district of the city. It was a state-of-the-art condominium complex, with a sleek, minimalist design and a private security force.
"The Skyline Residences," I said, reading the name on the building. "The most secure residential building in the city. High-tech security, private elevators, panic rooms, and a direct line to the city's emergency services. Perfect."
"But... can we afford this?" Ron asked, his eyes wide.
"With the money we've made? No," I said with a smirk. "But with the money I have stashed away? Yes."
I still have close to 1500 gold coins in my inventory, and after converting some to this world's currency, I have more than enough.
I led him into the lobby, which was a vast, marble-floored space with a waterfall cascading down one wall. A concierge, a stern-looking man in a crisp uniform, greeted us.
"Welcome to The Skyline Residences," he said, his tone polite but firm. "Do you have an appointment?"
"No," I said, placing my black adventurer's ID card on the counter. "But I'm sure you can make an exception."
The concierge's eyes widened when he saw the card. He immediately picked up a phone and dialed a number.
"Mr. Tanaka, I have Miss Azariel Pendragon here... yes, the A-rank adventurer... of course, sir. Right away."
He hung up the phone and gave us a respectful bow.
"Mr. Tanaka, the owner of the building, will see you personally. Please, follow me."
He led us to a private elevator, which whisked us up to the penthouse. The doors opened to reveal a stunning, panoramic view of the city.
The penthouse was a masterpiece of modern design, with floor-to-ceiling windows, a minimalist aesthetic, and a state-of-the-art security system.
A middle-aged man in a tailored suit was waiting for us. He had a kind, gentle face, but there was a sharp, intelligent glint in his eyes.
"Miss Pendragon," he said, extending his hand. "It's an honor to meet you. I'm Hiroshi Tanaka."
'Tanaka?' I thought, glancing at Ron. 'Same last name. A coincidence? Probably not.'
Ron was staring at the man, his face showing no sign of recognition.
"The honor is all mine, Mr. Tanaka," I said, shaking his hand. "I'm here to inquire about purchasing a property."
"Of course," he said with a warm smile. "I have a feeling I have the perfect place for you. The one on the floor below this one. It has the same security features as my penthouse, but with a few... extras. Designed for clients who value their privacy above all else."
"Perfect."