Cain looked at Ivira with a strange expression. Something inside him twisted. It was a quiet, heavy, foreboding feeling. It made the back of his neck tighten. He did not like that feeling, not even a little. And yet it grew stronger when Ivira said she might be able to cure the old freak.
His eyes narrowed.
Why does this feel dangerous? Why does she sound so sure?
Ivira snickered secretly but did not explain anything to him. She only turned again toward her father's pale face. Her movements were slow and firm. Her white hair fell around her shoulders like soft snow, and she brushed it away before leaning closer to Rivik.
"Father, move your face toward me," she said softly.
Rivik obeyed without a word. The parasite moved the body carefully.
Ivira grabbed his chin and lifted it. She stared directly into his jawline.
"Your jaw is stiff," she said. "The muscles are tight. The veins inside are trembling. That's not normal."
Watching her, Cain couldn't help but blink.
Jaw veins? Jaw trembling? What?
Ivira pushed Rivik's jaw to the other side.
"Move again."
Rivik moved.
Ivira pressed her thumb below his ear.
"Your ear temperature is too cold," she whispered. "The nerves behind it are weak. They respond late."
She traced her finger slowly along the edge of his ear and frowned.
"Very late," she added.
Cain felt his lips twitch.
Ear nerves? Late? What kind of nonsense is this?
Ivira placed her hand on Rivik's cheek.
"Move your eyes," she ordered.
Rivik blinked left. Then right.
Ivira leaned very close, so close that Cain could see the reflection of her lashes on Rivik's eyeballs.
"Your eyes, father," she said. "The blood vessels are soft. The mana flow in the pupils is uneven. The outer ring is fading."
She moved his eyelids up with her thumbs.
"Move again."
Rivik moved his gaze downward, then upward.
Ivira hummed.
"This is not natural."
Cain stared. His face was blank.
She is… she is just making things up, right? Right? What is this nonsense? Pupils have mana rings? Why the hell… what is she even checking? Did she really learn medicine?
Ivira almost coughed up embarrassment. But she decided to keep acting. "moved lower," She said as she pressed her thumbs along Rivik's nose.
"Your nose veins are blue," she said. "The blood flow is going backward. That only happens when something inside you is blocking the natural mana channel."
Cain almost choked.
There are no nose mana channels. What the hell is she diagnosing?
Ivira's face reddened but decided to think her face, since she started it, might as well be committed to it. And soon, she started pressing in different places. She touched Rivik's temples. She pressed the underside of his chin. She pushed her fingers along both sides of his neck. She checked his pulse in his wrists. She touched his collarbone. She even leaned over and asked him to breathe directly into her palm so she could smell it.
She cataloged every detail, every inconsistency, every anomaly.
"There are many problems, father," she said. "Your blood is not circulating correctly. Your mana is being pushed out. Your spirit feels hollow. Your muscles move without your order. Your heartbeat fights itself. Your energy drains through your skin. Your eyes respond too slowly. Your nerves fire in strange waves."
She pulled her hand back at last.
Her expression darkened.
"It's parasitic," she said.
Cain froze.
His eyes widened. His heart skipped. He stared at her curly white hair like it was some divine relic.
Parasitic? She actually said it? What? No way. She is fucking correct? No way she figured it out. She looked like she was inventing shit the whole time! How did she do that?
Cain gritted his teeth silently.
I spent hundreds of years in the old timeline crying in the ruins of the Moonshade Family. I loved her so much. I mourned her so much. Yet I didn't even know she had this tiny, weird, strange talent for medicine? And THIS is her method? This insane nonsense?! This Overgod is impressed. How did she figure it out?
He mocked her hard in his mind.
He did not believe a single thing she said.
Ivira paused.
Her eyes trembled.
She ignored her condescending tone and mocking comments for some unknown reason.
Her lips parted slowly.
He… loved me? Two hundred years? He visited my ruined home? He cried for us?
Her hands shook almost invisibly.
I thought he hated us. I thought he wished we had vanished forever… I never imagined…
Meanwhile, Rivik—the parasite Rivik hiding deep inside—began to panic.
His soul trembled.
His thoughts spiraled.
How? How did she see this? She did not use blood magic! She did not use the vampiric detection arts! How could she know?!
Impossible. Impossible. Impossible. How did this little vampire detect me?
The parasite trembled inside Rivik's nerves.
The Chimera Ant Emperor's Infestation Magic is flawless. It is supreme. It hides in the nervous system. It buries itself inside blood. It washes away the host's will. No mage has ever detected it in the Chimera Empire. No healer has ever sensed it. That is why the Emperor was feared. That is why whole empires fell. How… how could she know?!
But then, the parasite calmed down.
Hmph. Even if she knows, so what? Even if they try to force me out, I can escape. I can possess another. This is nothing. Discovery means nothing if they cannot kill me.
The door opened.
The blood maids and blood slaves returned.
A muscular human man walked behind them. His body was strong. His veins bulged. His skin glowed faintly with vitality. His shoulders were broad. His chest was firm. He looked like he worked hard his entire life.
Rivik paled.
"Daughter," he said weakly. "Think carefully. This is not necessary."
Ivira shook her head.
"We should try," she said. "We don't know anything yet. Since the one needed was here, let me do this for you, father."
Rivik swallowed.
Or rather, the parasite controlling him was swallowed.
"Very well," he said. But in his mind, he smirked.
Try. Go ahead. You will fail. You cannot touch infestation magic. I am impressed that you figured that your father had a parasite inside of him but this is the magic of the Chimera Ant Emperor. You, lowly magic users, won't be able to remove it.
The human knelt before her.
"Lady Moonshade," he said.
Ivira raised her hand. Blood magic covered her palm. The glow was soft and red. The human lowered his head respectfully, unaware of what would happen next.
Cain watched with wide eyes.
Ivira's hand moved.
A soft slice of wind.
A quick flash of red.
A whisper of magic.
The human's head fell.
Blood sprayed like a fountain. It exploded into the air, into the room, onto the floor, onto Cain, onto Rivik. It splashed across Rivik's face in heavy crimson waves.
Cain stepped back.
The blood maids gasped.
Rivik stared blankly.
The blood coating Rivik's face began to sink into his skin.
Cain held his breath.
Ivira watched calmly.
The parasite waited.
Nothing happened.
Not a single reaction.
Not a single twitch.
Not a single ripple of change.
Rivik let out a breath of relief.
The parasite laughed in his mind.
"Haha… daughter," Rivik said softly, "thank you. But as you see, my sickness is… very powerful. There is nothing—"
His words stopped.
Steam rose from his skin.
Thin tendrils of white mist curled upward and twisted around his cheeks. His shoulders shook. His eyes bulged. His teeth clenched.
Cain's jaw dropped.
Ivira's pupils sharpened like knives.
Rivik suddenly groaned.
"Aah… aaagh… aaARRRGH—!!"
He clutched his head.
His fingers dug into his scalp.
His back arched violently.
The veins on his face writhed.
They pulsed under his skin like living worms.
His arms shook.
His throat bulged.
His body twisted inside the coffin.
"AAARRRGHHH—!!"
The scream tore through the room.
It echoed.
It ripped the air.
It chilled the blood slaves to the bone.
Rivik slammed his hands against the coffin.
His spine bent backward.
His neck stretched in agony.
His eyes rolled up.
His entire body convulsed.
"What… what is this… AAAGH… AGHHHH—!!"
The parasite panicked inside him.
No! This shouldn't happen! That blood—how?! How is it burning me?! HOW?!
Rivik's veins bulged again.
His flesh crawled.
His skin puffed and sank like something underneath was crawling.
He clawed at his face.
He kicked.
He cried.
Ivira watched with cold, sharp eyes.
The pain reached its peak.
Rivik suddenly snapped his eyes open and stared at her.
"You… you… damn… BAT!!" he screamed.
And the scene ended there.