*whoosh... slash... ting*
Many sword-swinging and clashing sounds reverberated the empty lake like the world's end was near.
The knee-deep water rippled and made an appropriate wavy sound for every sword clash as if it was applauding the fight of life and death between Vikram and the humanoid.
"... Hahaha!"
After a serious bout with swords for two minutes, Vikram suddenly put down his sword and stared back at the reflection from his past.
"You can't kill me... can you-?"
He assumed based on the short duel.
Parasites have had many chances to drive a sword through Vikram's heart during their short duel, but had stubbornly refused to do it.
Not only was the humanoid made of black parasites taller and stronger than the current Vikram in Avi's body, it was also at the peak of its swordsmanship unlike Vikram.
The humanoid's every muscle sculpted to use the most of every motion were a piece of art, whereas Vikram was in a foreign malnourished body of a teen.
Vikram believed that there was no way for him to have lasted this long against the humanoid unless it didn't want to or couldn't kill him for some reason.
"kekeke... You really are naive... *zap*"
As the words from the humanoid reached Vikram's ear, so did its sword which penetrated his left shoulder with a zapping sound of teleportation.
It wasn't teleportation, but to Vikram, such high-speed movement was akin to one.
"AAAGHHHH!!!", the pain was too much to bear for Vikram but he still stood straight; his pride didn't allow him to be humiliated in death.
*...swoosh*
In a last desperate attempt, Vikram swung his sword with his right hand and aimed for the humanoid's neck, but what happened next made every last bit of confidence in him shatter.
The steel sword aimed at the humanoid's neck passed through its body like it was made of air and the humanoid was none the wiser for it.
"Did you think we wouldn't know what you are planning? We are basically you... kekeke... *thud*"
The humanoid pushed Vikram's weak body and he fell down on his butt with a huge splash of the black water.
"Why do you struggle so much even in death? From the moment we first met, you were quite an enigma, you know that-?"
Vikram simply looked upwards at the blank face of his past in confusion, as if to register his protest at the meaningless banter of the Akashik Parasites.
"... When we woke up during the ceremony, we thought that we had hit a jackpot... *khatchak*"
Not minding Vikram's vengeful gaze, the humanoid pulled out the sword from his shoulder and brought it near its tingling nostrils; it took a deep breath as if it was doing cocaine and felt the rush from Avi's blood.
"... Not only were you the first one in years to have Animus, but it was also purer and abundant than anything we had ever seen before", the humanoid took a deep breath of Vikram's blood and paused for a second, "... It is really amazing how sweet your blood smells"
"... However, that damn ability of yours", the reverberating voice suddenly felt colder than before.
"... Despite being in a foreign body, not only your mind was like a fortress, but you even awakened an ability that was directly detrimental to us-!!!!!", the parasites complained in a composite voice but Vikram was too engrossed in his pain to even feel the anger in their voice.
For their possession to work, they had to fulfill two conditions: One, the host must have Animus in its body or should be able to cultivate it; and Second, the host mind should be weaker than the parasites or at least be vulnerable to influence at the time of possession.
Although Vikram satisfied the former condition for possession quite handsomely, his body became the arch-nemesis of the parasites.
"... but when we read your memories, oh boy, were we blown away by your past", the humanoid eyebrows went up in amusement but its lips, eyes, and cheeks all remained unmoved, "... for a human to do all those horrendous things to their own friends and not even flinch a bit, it was like ART!!!!", the humanoid exclaimed.
"... If we had met in different circumstances, we might have even kept you around as a human blood bag because of how interesting and different you are from other humans"
The humanoid took a long pause and stared at the shivering Vikram covered in a mixture of water and blood.
Vikram's eyes were bloodshot with revenge and anger, but a sense of helplessness also lingered in them.
"... Although, you did disappoint us too. Wasting the 'Animus Unity Manual' like that."
"... Tch. Tch. Tch. Do you even know how amazing it is to have a document of experience?"
"... It is great that you have an eidetic memory, otherwise even we wouldn't have recognized that it was AUM"
Vikram who had completely lost his will to fight didn't have the energy to argue with the alien virus currently imitating his previous life. The pain from a missing arm was overwhelming his senses.
He didn't know what the "Animus Unity Manual" or AUM was, nor did he care.
He was already shocked by how the Parasites had basically read his memories without his notice.
But the parasites were feeling extremely chirpy at moment, as they continued their rant.
Vikram helplessly channeled whatever small bit of Prana he could muster to stop the bleeding from his shoulders and his hand.
"... Oh you don't know what that is, right? kekeke... You pitiful human."
"... We think you called it the Prana Manual.", Vikram's ears perked up, but his body remained on the waterbed drenched in a pool of black water.
"... You thought the 12 Pagan tribes wrote it, how dumb-! kekeke... You even waged a war against the pagan tribes because you thought they will have the complete translation of the manual. HAHAHAHAHA!!! You think human insects can translate the AUM - the source, HAHAHAHA!!!!!"
Humanoid's sealed lips and its eerie laughter didn't match each other at all. They were disorienting to see and hear at the same time.
"... Anyhow, we are finally free now and it is all thanks to those bloody Sirens, without them you wouldn't have fallen into a trance... kekeke!"
"... It's funny really. To have a ridiculous mental fortress and still fall for their musical wizardry... kekeke"
'so that's what happened!', Vikram felt dizzy, his eyes didn't carry the same fire as before.
Although he wanted revenge, he was far from executing it. He felt his end nearing as the humanoid strode about his weak body; the dam of regret he had closed off in his heart was about to burst open with an explosion.
"... We must also thank Avi though, without him we would have been completely purified by your ability"
"... We don't know how he did it, but to fight over your gene power (the only thing keeping you safe).. kekeke... New Year came a couple of days early this year, won't you say? kekeke"
After a monologue that felt longer than the royal lectures he had to take in his previous life, Vikram's mind cleared as if a veil was finally lifted to reveal magician's trick.
He came to a realization that he was never more than just a mere puppet from the very beginning.
The things he had taken for granted like Avi's influence or the Akashik parasites had come to bite him.
'an another shitty ending sir KRM-?', he thought to register one last complaint to his favorite author before he left to meet Yama.
Both Avi's influence on his body and the Parasites' power were beyond his strength.
He couldn't control his gene-power, nor had he recovered his previous fighting capabilities.
Even Prana, or Animus, was nothing more than ornament from his experience of fighting the Hylio in this world.
He was an infant trying to fight tyrants.
"The reason you didn't attack me earlier was that [Adaptation] can purify you?", Vikram asked with a battered breath.
His heart rate had slowed down to a non-medical level due to blood loss.
*stun...* The humanoid froze and stared back at Vikram, his unmistakably frozen-in-time eyes wobbled just a little at Vikram's words but the stoic face didn't change much otherwise.
"It doesn't matter even if you know that. Avi's dormant memory will make sure that you are not able to use gene power... kekeke", the humanoid spoke with confidence hiding it's fear.
As if it could see the future, the humanoid's confident voice didn't falter after that.
"... Anyway let's get this over with. The only reason we haven't killed you is that we wanted to see Avi's body in action, that's all... Once we take over the body, this fight would help us adapt to Avi's body much faster. Unlike you, we believe this threesome to be really annoying"
'you think I don't', Vikram thought internally.
*zap... slash...*
The humanoid teleported once more. Although the normal sword swing didn't carry any superficial power attached to it, Vikram still knew that it was his end.
He closed his eyes as he finally let go of the sword in his hand and it fell into the water with a splashing sound.
*splash... TING!!!!...*
However, before the humanoid's black sword could reach Vikram's heart, another 17-year-old boy appeared in front of him.
The boy deflected the humanoid's attack using a parry similar to Vikram's technique. It was the same technique he had used to parry the Demonic Plant's vine.
"YOU-! KREEEECHH-!!! *prattle... prattle* H... HOW-????"
The young boy simply extended his free hand forward with the palm facing the humanoid and didn't utter a single word
The humanoid screamed in agony holding his head as if it was being burned alive.
Humanoid's body suddenly started to vibrate and shake uncontrollably as its scream remained to be the only sound being heard for a while in that dark and empty lake with knee-deep water.