Suddenly, the parasite controlling Rivik screamed. His voice cracked. His throat tore itself raw as he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"You! You! YOU!"
His roar shook the walls. The sound rattled the candles and made the blood maids cover their ears. His voice was not like Rivik's. It was deeper. It sounded hungry. It was furious. It feels like it doesn't have any remorse! And it was filled with a rage that did not belong to a normal creature.
"You low… level… BLOOD SUCKING CAVE DWELLERS!" the parasite howled. "How dare you! How DARE YOU foil the plan of the Demon Emperor! You gave crawlers! You vermin! You should have stayed silent! You should have bowed your heads! You should have let the Chimera Emperor's infestation take your weak clan and swallow your useless bloodline whole!"
He clawed at the air as he yelled.
"And yet you, you dare to fight back!"
His fingers curled like claws. His back arched. His muscles bulged unnaturally as if something inside him was trying to rip its way out.
"I WILL KILL YOU!" he screamed. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL! ALL OF YOU! I WILL—AARRRGHHH!"
His cry turned into a scream of agony. His veins bulged. His skin crawled. His eyes rolled back until only the whites showed.
Cain watched in stunned silence.
"She… really did it," Cain whispered, almost in disbelief. "She really did."
He had thought Ivira would make Rivik drink the blood. That was the traditional way. That was the logical way. That was the method every vampire healer knew.
But splashing the blood directly onto the face?
He never expected that. He never considered that she would do it.
But she did it without hesitation.
It means… it means… although he can't accept it, it means she knew how to indeed cure that parasitic infestation.
"Clever woman," Cain muttered. "It seems I need to take into account that she knows this…"
Hearing his thoughts again filled with compliments. Ivira's ears couldn't help but redden. She looked away, pretending she didn't hear him, pretending she wasn't smug, even though her chest puffed out a little. She held her chin high, but inside, she knew the truth. She had no idea how to cure parasite infestations.
She only followed the thoughts she stole from Cain.
He didn't know that.
Cain didn't know she heard every word in his mind.
Ivira didn't plan to tell him.
Suddenly Rivik's real voice broke through the parasite's screaming.
"D-Daughter…!" Rivik rasped, trembling. "Don't… don't follow his story… don't attack the Lycannis Family… don't! Don't make our Moonshade Family and the Kingdom become a pawn for the Demon Emperor!"
Everyone froze.
The blood maids gasped.
The blood slaves stepped back.
Ivira felt her chest tighten. She looked at Cain. Her eyes widened. She wanted to pretend. She wanted to act confused. But she failed. Although there's a lot of proof already, she couldn't help but feel shocked.
Cain was right.
He was right about everything.
But she couldn't say all of it, especially the words, "Cain was an Overgod."
She couldn't say she read his thoughts.
Now, she knows it. She needed to be careful. She has to. For the sake of their survival, against her very own husband. She must do everything in her power to let him stay.
Suddenly the parasite screamed louder, furious that Rivik's consciousness broke through.
"You old fool!" it screeched. "Why won't you just die already?! Why won't you let me consume you? If you surrender, I will spare your daughter! If you do not, then so what? Even if they don't attack the Lycannis Family, they will still die. If not by them, then by me! Then we'll think of another idea against the Lycannis Family… But your daughter ruined them all, she has to pay… she has to pay!"
Ivira stepped back. Her legs trembled. The blood slaves pressed their backs against the walls. The blood maids looked pale.
Fear filled the entire room.
There was no escape.
Not from this creature.
Rivik's body then jerked. His spine bent backward in an unnatural bow. His jaw stretched open. His skin crawled like something was moving under it.
"AARRRGHHHH!"
The scream tore out of him again. This time, it wasn't Rivik's voice.
It wasn't even a voice meant for a human throat.
Something wet and slick pushed out of Rivik's mouth. Then his nose. Then his ears. A dark, wriggling mass forced its way through every opening on his face. It looked like a mass of flesh that kept shifting. It pulsed. It twitched. It slapped the ground with a wet sound.
Rivik collapsed back into his coffin. His eyes shut. His chest rose and fell weakly. He was alive, but barely.
The parasite kept crawling out.
It spilled onto the floor. It flopped like a dying fish. Then it pulled itself together, its form shifting and rising.
It slowly formed legs.
Arms.
A torso.
A head.
It looked like a humanoid creature, but its skin rippled like liquid flesh. It was black and wet. It moved as if it was made of writhing worms melting into each other. Holes opened on its face like empty sockets. A jaw stretched open and then slammed shut.
Every blood slave stepped back.
Every blood maid trembled.
Even Ivira's breath stopped.
"That's… no parasite…" Ivira whispered. "That's a monster."
Cain simply stared.
The creature stood tall. Its shoulders cracked as they stretched wider. It looked around the room with hollow, empty eyes.
"You little bats…" it said, its voice warping. "You could have followed the Chimera Emperor's plan. You could have let yourselves be consumed quietly. You could have accepted your fate."
Its hollow mouth curled.
"But you made things difficult."
It laughed. The laugh echoed like bubbling tar.
"No matter," it said. "I will simply possess one of you and be done with it."
A dark aura erupted from its body. It was thick. Heavy. It felt like a storm pressing down on their lungs. The air shifted. The temperature dropped.
Infestation mana.
It was strong. It was overwhelming. It was far above their realm. The pressure was like a mountain crushing them.
The blood maids dropped to their knees.
The blood slaves fell flat on the ground, unable to move.
Ivira's legs buckled. She forced herself to stand, shaking.
Cain was the only one who stood unaffected.
The creature slowly turned its head. It surveyed them one by one.
"I need a host," it said. "A strong one. One that can handle the Chimera Emperor's mana."
It pointed at a blood slave.
"Too weak."
It pointed at a blood maid.
"Too fragile."
It pointed at another slave.
"No good."
It turned to Ivira.
"I could possess you," it said. "But you will die. Your body will break under my mana. You are too weak. And I need you alive to follow my commands. So…"
Its finger slowly turned.
It pointed at Cain.
"You," it said. "You are born vampire unlike this blood slaves and maids. Your bloodline is pure. Your mana channels are strong. You will do… I'll use you."
Cain's expression froze.
His head tilted slightly. And then his eyes turned cold.
"This bastard…" he muttered. "You dare target this Overgod?"
The creature crouched like a beast ready to pounce.
"I will make your body mine!" it shouted.
It leapt towards him.
However, Cain only sneered at this fool.