*whizz... whizz...*
Avi's body was slowly losing colors and the humanoid was anchored permanently on the spot like a statue. They both had lost control of their bodies due to an external force.
In that eerie lakeside darkness, two parasitical leeches were attached to each other like two peas in a pod, and looking at them from the front was Vikram with a wide grin on his face.
"... You know my advisor told me once: 'All attachments are illusion'", he came near Avi and used his index finger to slightly push Avi's chin upwards.
"... that only by detaching myself from the world I will be able to grasp the reality; and the teachings of those old farts haven't been truer"
During the moment of epiphany when Vikram was looking at both lives side-by-side, he had seemed to have grasped a kind of enlightenment that helped him detach himself from his body's control and reverse the power dynamic.
"... You almost fooled me with the brotherly act though", Vikram said to the fading silhouette of Avi as he took a deep breath and let go of his chin.
"Wh... What are you saying-?", Avi replied with a pained expression; but his eyes looked guilty.
"Oh, stop with the cowardly act, but wait, before we get to that"
His body came to an abrupt stop before going *whoosh...*
With a swing of his hand, Vikram gestured the humanoid to fly up in the air and then fall back down with tenfold speed 10 meters away.
"This is for my left hand"
*Bang... splash... woosh... Bang*
The humanoid was thrashed like a rag doll being abused by a vicious child. Avi, who was watching a 7' body being flung around like a ball, had his face distorted with horror.
*BAM*
As the humanoid crashed, a crater was formed on the waterbed which soon got submerged with the black water. Vikram II's body lay deflated on the ground submerged in water, its lifeless black eyes were now soul-less too.
And just like that, the humanoid's diabolical plan reached an end with the Parasites losing shamefully to Vikram.
They were already helpless against the inherent gene-power, and now that Vikram had gain complete control, their chances were as good as gone forever.
Parasites by themselves were weak, to begin with. It was only because of Avi, that they could act superior, but now all their schemes had failed. Vikram's mentality was too strong to be messed around by the parasites alone.
"... Now, where were we"
Vikram turned to look at the crucified Avi's ghost with a sword through his chest.
"Vikram, don't kill me. You need me", he panicked.
"... As an outsider from a world without mutations, you will not be able to survive alone on the blue planet"
Avi tried to pedal one last lie; in hopes that he would be able to overwhelm Vikram that came from an ancient medieval world.
However, what he and the parasites didn't know was that Vikram was actually more acutely aware of the world of Diaspora than both their knowledge combined.
Even though both of them had read his memories, they weren't aware of the Diaspora trilogy or Sir KRM. Some information was even inaccessible to Vikram, so how could they read that?
"... Don't kill me, Maya will be left alone in this world without me! You too had a sister, right? I beg you-"
"Stop it!", Vikram shouted angrily at the mention of his sister, "... I am getting tired of this sibling lovey-dovey bulls*it-!!"
"... I already know who you are. You can drop the charade", he paused for a second.
"... What I don't know is, why did you approach the Dovici(s)? What do they have that you want?"
"What do you mean-?", Avi seemed stupefied.
"Oh... no, no, no! You don't play that game with me! or is it that you also want to feel the same pain?"
Vikram pointed at the lifeless body in the distance as he made that remark; Avi's face visibly lost color at the thought.
"Hah-! I and those parasites aren't the same. It is my body that you are possessing right now, even if you wanted to, you cannot purify me?", Avi's tone turned a complete 180 on Vikram's threat.
"Oh", Vikram faked a surprised expression, "... but this is not your body and you are not Avi", a sadistic grin appeared on Vikram's face.
*shock...* Avi seemed like he was sweating buckets, his eyeballs were moving frantically from side to side trying to avoid Vikram's penetrating gaze.
"H...How-?"
"Avi himself told me", Vikram said in a crazy man's voice; he sounded like the priests that claimed to talk to gods.
**
It wasn't right to say that Avi told him anything, in fact, Avi was very much dead.
However, during the re-awakening, when Vikram was detached from his physical self, he had managed to identify all the foreign elements in his body.
He realized that what he had felt towards Maya or even other humans was simply leftover muscle memory.
Everything had simply been chemical imbalances in his mind due to his recent takeover of the body, released due to Avi's previous biological impulses.
When Vikram saw both his and Avi's life flash through like a movie, he felt like a bio-scientist looking at viruses under a microscope.
And in that moment of inspection, Vikram found out that there were in fact two different lifeforms in his body, but neither of them were Avi.
'Instead of having a Resident mutation, this body is more like a residential colony, what the hell!'
That was Vikram's thought when he found out about the existence of another third party in his body, however, as he continued to monitor Avi's last memories he was shocked by the identity of the third party.
"... So, Master Kane, what are Kumbha(s) planning this time?"
Having heard his real name in a long while, Kane (Avi) felt extremely displeased and distant, more pained by the utterance of his family's name than the sword currently going through his chest.
"... Or should I call you, 'The third leg?'-? I guess Kumbha(s) aren't exactly doing well these days if they have to send a rusty cane like you to zone Y and make use of two orphans for your plans"
"H... How-? How did you know that name?"
Kane couldn't afford any more pretenses, his mission in Zone Y was a secret known only to his master, and his identity as the 'Third Leg' was a closely guarded secret of his master's force even inside the 11th Zodiac family - The Kumbhas.
'did one of the 'Legs' betray master? No, even if that was the case, how would this guy know about it?'
"Who... are you?", Kane's shaky voice betrayed his poker face.
"Hahaha... We are not sharing knowledge here, are we? *whoosh... thud*", Vikram sped up like a sportscar, and using that momentum, hit Kane's abdomen with all the force.
"This is an interrogation"
Using the palm movement just like Kane did before, Vikram activated the gene-power in his body and triggered [Adaptation].
"AAAGHHH-!!! STOP IT-!!!! YOU DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE MESSING WITH!"
"Then tell me, Mr. Kane... hehehe"
*stare... khwap-!"
Kane puked blood from his fading non-existent ghost-like body as he glared menacingly at Vikram like an injured hound.
"I know you are a tough nut to crack, that's why I will heal you first and then we will start from scratch..."
Channeling the Prana was easier than before, and as Vikram stopped circulating gene-power and switched to Prana, Kane felt like a mountain had crashed in front of him.
Although his fading image become apparent and tangible, the color of his face worsened and he looked like a rotting grape.
"Don't do this! You don't want to mess with the zodiacs", Kane roared.
"don't worry, I can manage a declining family. I've have done it in the past... hehehe"
He smiled mischievously thinking of the doom of the 12 tribes.
If KRM were to be believed, 12 tribes were current zodiac's ancestors, and the world of Diaspora was a continuation of his previous world but after eons had passed.
"AAGH!!", Kane screamed, just like the parasites had done before. Getting their existence removed didn't feel good.
The cycle of empty threats, screams, and healing continued for another couple of hours before Vikram finally managed to break Kane's mentality and received some answers that he could use.
*****
{ 12/26 - 2:00 AM | Lakeside, Dandi Forest }
A 17-year-old corpse-like body laid helplessly on the banks of the lake.
The boy had been in a comatose state for the last 12 hours due to the Siren's music.
Near him was another body, much older in age and appearance, but with black eyes and sealed lips as if it was a human puppet.
'AV, how much longer till the exam deadline'
[ I don't understand ]
'Of course, you don't'
Vikram replied annoyingly in his head.
Only a few hours were left till the submission deadline and he was quite far from the starting location.
'Aaaagh-!! What the heck is wrong with these zodiacs? Just leave the F**ing zone Y and let me live in peace!!!'
According to Kane, he had come to Zone Y on the orders of his Master, the third-elder of the Kumbha family.
Kumbha was the name of the 11th Zodiac family that is known for their underhanded ways and being in cahoots with the underworld.
But not only that, Vikram learnt that other Zodiacs had also sent people to zone Y.
All of them were living in secret waiting for a big event to unfold.
Zone Y was somehow related to the emergence of Root, but even Kane didn't know how exactly.
The association had been keeping the news related to Root and Vani a secret, and only the influential families and organization were in on it.
'Sh*t! Sh*t! Not only did I lose a limb, now I even need to be wary of the hidden Zodiacs on top of keeping Kane's death under a wrap! AAGHHH!!!!'
He felt like screaming out of his lungs but fearing the various monsters that might be attracted, he kept quiet.
Although the fight between the parasites and Kane had happened in a made-up dreamworld due to Siren's powers, it actually affected reality and Vikram was currently missing his left arm.
*whizz... whizz*
Vikram channeled more Prana, this time frantically and in a much-hurried manner. He needed to quickly fix the hole on his chest too.
The humanoid was a real person because the Parasites themselves were physical entities residing in his bodies, even at this moment Vikram II's dead corpse was laying near Vikram on the same beach.
However, Kane didn't have a physical self, or instead, Vikram was him; hence, all the damage he thought he had caused to Kane was received by his body.
'Dammit! If I had known I would have gone easy on that Zodiac brat!'