*****"Who reads my words, summons the shade,
Echoes of the lost in twilight fade.
In the Dark Continent, the secret sleeps,
Only the sealed book its silence keeps.
Through silent halls where whispers creep,
In the fold of night where shadows weep,
Step softly, wanderer, tread with care,
For the book awakes what dares to stare."*****
Killua read the incantation repeatedly. He understood nothing, yet kept repeating it hysterically… until he suddenly snapped back to reality.
Panting, he muttered:
"Damn… what's happening to me?"
He clutched the paper tightly.
He thought in distress:
"Should I not read it with focus? What's happening…? My limbs… they feel numb and heavy…"
One thought repeated itself relentlessly: the book… he wanted the book.
So… the book really exists.
Suddenly, he felt something slithering from the shadows nearby.
The madman appeared before him, as if materializing from nothing. His eyes bulged, and his voice trembled:
"Whoever can read the incantation… summons me."
Killua stepped back quickly, the cold wind whipping across the rooftop.
How had the man appeared so fast? And how did he know about that?
The man stepped closer.
His face pale, features collapsing as if another presence inhabited his body:
"You know something…"
(pleading) "Tell me… where is the book? I must return…"
Killua asked:
"Return… where?"
The man screamed hysterically:
"Home… to the homeland!"
Killua's heart shuddered.
Could he mean… the Dark Continent?
"Is this what my father meant… another world?" Killua thought anxiously.
The man came closer, his voice shifting into a deep, distorted tone, as if many entities spoke through him:
"Do not lie… If you solved the incantation, you know… And if you don't tell me,
I will enter your mind… I will make your brain my pillow… just as I did with this body."
The man's body trembled.
It was clear he wasn't the one speaking—something else was.
An entity… a creature.
Like Nanika, but deeper, uglier, hungrier.
Killua shouted:
"I told you, I don't know anything! If you want the book… find it yourself!"
A terrifying roar erupted from the man.
His body stretched unnaturally, as if his bones tried to tear through his skin from within.
"So… I will kill you!"
He lunged at Killua with feral speed.
Killua dodged swiftly, but the man quickly adjusted and continued the assault.
Killua was cornered at the rooftop edge—
until a voice shouted from behind:
"JUMP!!"
It was Katsubi (one of the group members) hovering on his glider.
Killua leaped without hesitation.
Clinging tightly, he asked:
"What are you doing here?"
Katsubi said seriously:
"Lina had been watching the man since last night. She said the human energy inside him was almost vanishing. She monitored him through her hawk 'Oka's' camera. When he moved suddenly, he was running crazily toward this spot… we were the closest."
Then he looked at Killua with concern:
"But what were you doing on the rooftop?"
Killua froze inwardly—he could not reveal the truth.
He gave a partial answer:
"I… solved the lullaby… just went out to get some air after succeeding."
Katsubi, astonished:
"Impossible… how—"
But a horrific scream cut him off.
They looked up:
The madman's body was lifted into the air.
Long fleshy tendrils shot from his ears, twisting and intertwining, his head cracked, blood erupted, then elongated, contorted limbs formed.
He fell from the building, yet the limbs reached out to the walls, crawling like insectile creatures.
The sight froze everyone in place.
Lina and Khayri arrived.
Lina could not move from terror.
Khayri pulled her back, whispering:
"Don't look…"
The creature lunged toward the glider where Killua was, running madly along its limbs… its shredded body suspended in the air.
*****The Battle
Killua jumped from the glider and charged at the creature.
Its limbs moved while the host body remained still, seemingly a separate entity.
Killua sliced its limbs with sharp hands, but they instantly regenerated.
Everyone was stunned by his skill, yet it was futile—the attack failed.
Katsubi intervened, swinging the glider's central metal rod as a serrated weapon, cutting fiercely…
But the monster produced more and more limbs.
Khayri fired silver bullets—
Holes appeared… then closed as if the flesh consumed them.
Lina swung her heavy hammer, elegant yet brutal.
She attacked fiercely, surprising them, but the monster was faster.
Suddenly, it stopped.
A disgusting laugh…
Then it vomited something slimy from the host's abdomen.
Something filled with fluids fell to the ground.
Lina screamed:
"Oka!!!!!"
Her hawk… was dead.
Losing her composure, she lunged madly.
Khayri pulled her back:
"Useless! Stay back!"
Rejil joined, throwing knives with deadly precision,
but everything regenerated.
Then his throws became chaotic—
They thought he lost focus—until the massive scissors appeared, formed from thin metal wires connecting the knives.
He yanked the wires forcefully.
They cut the limbs—but had no effect.
One strike went off-course… cutting the host's leg.
Katsubi:
"What did you do?!"
Lina shouted:
"It had been dead for a while!"
Killua noticed the creature's scream wasn't pain—it was fear.
Fear of losing its host body.
Killua:
"Attack the host body! Not the limbs!"
The monster trembled.
They attacked together.
Killua shocked it with electricity… one limb tore off, staying in his hand, drying instantly.
He understood: the parasite dies outside its host.
Finally, they tore apart the host body…
And out came the creature: a translucent blue mass, writhing, with terrifying eyes.
It crawled toward a damp spot.
Lina stepped forward, eyes wide in astonishment:
"This… this is a Parasaito… of this size… wow."
The parasite leaped toward her, attempting to possess her—
It was fast…
Khayri shouted to warn her, but suddenly:
Katsubi threw the glider at her full force!
It hit and sent her flying.
Lina, standing, shattered:
😡👹 "Idiot!! Are you insane?!"
Katsubi: 🤬
"Shouldn't you be thanking me?!"
Lina:
"I'll kill you!"
Rejil intervened, confused:
😵💫🙂 "Calm… calm…"
The parasite fell into a large pit, gradually drying.
Everyone was shocked—who had created this creature?
Khayri approached, sliding into the pit, a strange look in his eyes… possessed.
The parasite extended a stiff limb toward him, and Khayri reached out too.
He was about to… surrender himself to the parasite.
Killua realized it.
He leaped… his hand sparking with electricity.
Explosion!!
He pushed Khayri away.
Killua emerged from the pit, smoke rising around him.
The others ran to him.
Rejil:
"Are you insane?! You almost hit Khayri!!"
Khayri finally stood, wounded… saying nothing, withdrawing silently.
His gaze… no one understood.
Katsubi grabbed Killua by the collar sharply:
"You crazy kid! Were you so reckless you almost killed both of them?!"
Killua, with an angry look:
"You don't know what he was about to do…"
Everyone fell silent.
Lina closed her eyes, as if she understood.
Rejil, worried:
"What do you mean?"
Killua, sternly:
"That idiot was about to hand himself over to the Parasaito.....