Chapter 13 - 14 : Evolve (1/2)
”Since you asked earlier how I saw your level, I am going to answer you but I would like to keep what I'm going to tell you a secret”
Arthur tried to speak with a soft and gentle soft but it sounded cold and threatening nevertheless the girl nodded her continuously with excited eyes as she was a child who was going to hear a bed-time story , Arthur chuckled as the sight and continued to speak ”I have a special skill called appraisal, when I use on an item or person it gives me small information about it, that's how I knew your LVL.”
The demon girl stayed silent for a moment before speaking ”A-and you saw my name too?” , actually, she wasn't that much astonished because she kind of guessed he had an ability like that otherwise how else would he have known her LVL so accurately.
”Yes, your name is Lucy, the skill tells me the name lvl and Race”
Lucy still remained silent and stared at Arthur with those breath-taking eyes, she was giving him a glare that could freeze bones, like being nude in the middle of hailstorm, where every chunk of ice was a frosted dagger cutting into her eyes , but soon the glare softened and you could feel some warmth from her cold eyes . Arthur noticing his change in her mood said reassuringly ”don't worry, I would not say your name as it seems you do not want it to be discovered”
”It's ok , since we are considered c-ccompanions you can call me by my name”
though Lucy seemed to hesitate before she spoke nonetheless she told him he can call her by her name which really surprised Arthur as he didn't expect this cold girl to allow him to say her name even though it seemed to bother her that her name got discovered.
From the beginning of the conversation, Arthur didn't shift away from his eyes from her face for he couldn't, he was mesmerized, her soft lips, her white skin which made her even more gorgeous he couldn't have enough looking even if he spent all his life doing it.
Even though he was staring at her, she didn't seem bothered or disgusted for Lucy knew he wasn't someone evil, the way he protected proved that he somehow cared for her safety, to be totally honest she still had some doubts here and there but when he saved her and she saw that he was not human or at least didn't appear to be .
First, she was surprised by his appearance but slowly she just became curious as to what is he? And why would he save her , after all it didn't seem he was after her body and he also didn't hand her to the holy church so she got a lot of questions to ask , and when he told her he will reply to her suspicions she wanted to bombard him with questions but even after so much curiosity she couldn't utter a single word.
Maybe she was startled by his stare and focus on her or maybe she was feeling embarrassed she couldn't tell, but she felt that this was a familiar feeling as to 'back then'.
time passed and no one talked, the atmosphere seemed awkward so Arthur broke the silence by finally saying ” If you have any more question, you can ask them”.As if she was waiting for this moments, Lucy lifted her head and spoke
”T-then are you human?”
Although deep inside, she knew he wasn't human when she saw his appearance she wanted to make sure, after all, what humans have done to her she still felt deep hatred for them.
”No I am not, I am a race called a parasite.”
Lucy's mouth was wide open, she was startled by the reply of this black-robed man in front of her, after all,she expected him to say demon, undead even a beastmen but never would she have thought he would say a 'parasite' she didn't know such race even existed as she never heard of them.
Arthur seeing her astonishment continued to explain
”My real appearance is not this body, a parasite can change body at any time just by possessing, for example, I can possess you now but I won't because I don't possess living beings so I just stuck with this skeleton corpse.”
This time, once she heard what he said Lucy was silent and deep in thought
”If he could possess me then why didn't he do it? if he needed to use me he should have done so right? after all, it would have been easier..”
She questioned his actions as she was used to people deceiving her so him saying that is contradicting all her beliefs.
A strange emotion surged in her heart and she seemed complexed and overwhelmed by such emotion that she didn't feel in very long time, she opened her heart to him even though they had not been together for a long time, he didn't try to trick or even use her and even if he wanted to he could've just possessed her albeit the fact that with his strength it should be a piece of cake to do it.
It was not like the man she previously loved who deceived her for months to lower her guard, this black-robed man could have killed her, tortured her, raped her ... but he didn't do it on the contrary he protected, bought food and clothes for her and even told her his secrets.
After all those years, she trusted someone again and even felt warmth being with him but she still questions that needed to be answered to ascertain her complex emotions
”Why did you buy me at the auction? or protect me from the holy church or even that attack from the dragon, you could've just let me die after all we are not family or friends.”
She asked him then looked at towards focusing on his face to see how is he gonna react or what is he gonna say, after all this was the question she wanted the most answered,he gazed at her for sometime before looking down as if remembering some painful memories and soon he replied with a voice which seemed sad and cold
”There was once a man who loved a women and married her, but to his surprise she was just a deceitful women who only married him for his wealth and she used the cruelest methods to get him to give all his wealth to her but he, overwhelmed by anger and revenge didn't give in and was tortured for months if not years.
He learned that humans are but greedy creatures who only seek what their desires and don't care how they reach them, this man was given a second chance by a certain being and has been reincarnated into a different world into a parasite so he decided to never trust anyone.
However, someday he saw a certain girl who reminded him of his past self so he helped her and promised himself to protect her until he could break her sealed powers which he finally did but the funny or perhaps stupid thing is he couldn't bring himself to part with her as he felt a special connection between them, so asked her to follow him for he will protect her from her pursuers.
After that, they began their journey and someday they were ambushed by a sneak-attack so he protected her from the attack and after defeating the opponent, he knew that he felt a special thing for her and didn't want to deceive her so he decided to tell her the truth about himself because he didn't want to be a deceitful and lying person like most humans are...”
As he finished speaking Arthur lifted his head to look at the girl and was surprised to see her eyes were a bit teary and wore a sad look on her face.
Lucy didn't expect to hear such an answer, as she more and more listened to the story, she knew he was talking about himself and that he had a past similar and had gone through a lot, she was slightly shocked hearing he was from another world but she didn't bother with it much as it didn't really matter right now.
It's impossible to say she wasn't curious about this world but she couldn't just ask him for it will remind him of his sad past. She couldn't control her emotions and cry for the first time in years, last time she cried was when she found out that the 'man' she loved was deceiving her and that was the last time she showed any emotion.
After that incident she became cold to everyone and had an emotionless face and a freezing gaze. She knew he wasn't lying but the way he narrated the story, you could feel he was lonely and sad as he didn't even lift his head to look at her the whole time until he finished his story and even at that moment he only looked at her for a second before looking down again.
She cried for sometime before she returned to her calmness but her cute face was red and her beatiful eyes were swollen from crying, she really felt a strong connection with him and somehow felt strange towards him as for Arthur he didn't dare lift his head , he heard her cry and seeing her so affected by his story touched him deeply , you could even say he began to have feeling of love towards her , it may sound idiotic for him to love someone after what happened to him but he couldn't do anything about it as he felt warmth and happiness when he was with her, even with almost no interraction he still felt her company was comfortable so he didn't want to let go of her and protected her even with his life when the dragon attacked he just didn't want to admit it but deep down he loved her dearly even more than his ex-life but he didn't want to confess to her as he was afraid, afraid of being betrayed and used again for benefits, but after seeing her cry like that when hearing his story he couldn't hold his mouth as he unconsciously blurted out
”E-even though it may sound stupid after what I just told you but I have realized that I have fallen in love with you but please do not be mistaken as I only love you for your appearance ” Arthur said that while lifting his head and gazing at her , if he had real eyes he would've cried right now but unfortunately he didn't and he cursed his luck as to be reborn in a parasite , he didn't want to possess a living body because it seemed wrong for him and even if he did, it would still not be his real appearance. While he was thinking about this and somehow confessing so suddenly he heard her speak
”Y-you know, I too had a past similar to you, I was chased since I was a kid and when I finally thought I found a man who could protect me and love me for who I really am, a demon, he betrayed my trust and was only someone from the church , he and his friends even used my body as they liked for years, so how could you love someone as filthy as i am when you don't know anything about my past” Lucy never thought she would tell her past to someone, as she was speaking tears flowed from her cheek and she sobbed silently , she was happy to his confession but she thought that once he knew what they did to her and how they sullied her and played with her, he would no longer want her, after all, who would want a dirty women, if anyone heard her story they would only call her a 'slut'.
”Even though the past creates the person, the present is what matters, I say I love you for what you are right now and what happened to you is irrelevant to me and would not change my feelings towards you , you can call me stupid if you want but I only loved once in my life which ended in being a dillusion but from the very first moment I saw you I fell in love with you but I didn't want to admit it as I was very afraid of being betrayed again and continued to make excuses everytime I helped you”
”But aren't you afraid I will just use you like your ex-wife did?” (Lucy)
”If you ever wanted to do, you would have used me from the beginning but you didn't which shows that you are not that kind of person and even if there is even a little chance that you use me I still trust you for I really do not want to feel lonely again because it's more painful than death itself”(Arthur)
the sobbing girl stayed silent for a moment before she responded ”Please give me some time, I have mixed feelings right now and cannot think properly. Arthur just nodded his head, stood up and left as to let the girl some time to calm herself down and think things through. He too didn't believe what just happened, in such a short time he told her his past and confessed, he didn't know why but he felt attracted to her and after he heard her past he didn't pity her instead he felt warmth because she shared her deep and tragic past with him.
He stopped thinking about this for the time being as he can't dwell on it all night but he still promised himself that he will treasure more than his own life as he realized what was important for him when he was attacked by the dragon,
'the dragon! yeah, I didn't use [death touch] on him, how could I have forgotten”
He soon took out the dragon from his storage and used [Death touch] on him, it was a waste to just absorb all those precious scales but the experience was more important for him right now. Just when he finished absorbing it in a few seconds notifications came ”ting”
level up ! level up ! level up! ...
Congratulations! Since you reached Level 100 you can now evolve: soul parasite / advanced void parasite/humanoid parasite
Soul parasite: You no longer possess a physical body, and can only live by possessing living beings, your ability to possess creatures will be more efficient and you will gain double the stats of beings you possessed
Advanced void parasite: you will keep your current body, and can also possess other beings but your void manipulation will be at a maximum stage and your magic attacks would be more powerful
Humanoid parasite: you create a unique body and still can possess other beings, you gain significant raise in stats if you create a unique body and depending on the body you may gain a new skill
WARNING: Creating a unique body is an extremely painful experience, we advise you to rethink before choosing this option
Arthur was overjoyed by the fact he could evolve as he wondered why he didn't get it much sooner but as time passed and he didn't get any notifications telling him he could evolve so he gave up on that idea and judged void parasite to be his final form but now that he saw he could evolve again and he had 3 different choices he was delighted.
He wasn't going to think them over as he long since decided he wanted a body for himself and was sick of possessing Zodiak's body, first it was all bones and second he couldn't even enjoy eating or drinking so he wished for a body from the moment he came to this world and he finally got the chance to have one.
It specially said that it would be painful but that didn't seem to be a problem for him as he was used to being tortured for months so enduring a little wouldn't matter either. Arthur also chose this option because he longed for a real body to be able to touch the beautiful hands of Lucy and be able to feel her body (AN : I MEAN THAT NOT IN A SEXUAL WAY OK?so don't let your mind take you far away in perv land).
”I choose humanoid parasite”