"Fuck's sake… I waited three hours..."
Under the streetlight, Ivan muttered impatiently.
A figure stopped not far behind him.
"...Fuck's sake… I waited ...three hours."
The voice came out stiff, like it was copying him word by word.
Eh?
Ivan turned around and finally looked at the thing that had been tailing him.
A middle-aged man. Completely ordinary face. His white shirt was soaked in blood, a huge dark stain spreading across his chest. Under the moonlight, his skin looked pale as a corpse, and his eyes were empty.
The moment it realized it had been spotted, the man dropped the act.
Then it lunged.
Mid-charge, cracks split across its face. The skin peeled apart into strips, opening outward. Beneath it, rows of jagged teeth packed together like a nightmare, forming something that looked like a twisted, fleshy flower.
"Jesus… that's fucking disgusting."
Ivan spun and bolted into a narrow alley.
He'd walked this route dozens of times already. Every turn, every corner, all mapped out in advance.
The rapid footsteps behind him told him everything he needed to know.
The bait worked.
Using the tight layout of the alley, Ivan kept a safe gap between himself and the parasite. Then, at a corner, he suddenly vanished.
The parasite rushed to where he disappeared, its dull eyes scanning around. Just as it started to think its prey had escaped, a shadow stretched across its body under the moonlight.
Ivan was already above it.
He pulled out a glass bottle filled with sulfuric acid and smashed it straight at the creature's head.
The faint whistle from above made the parasite instinctively look up.
Too late.
Crash!
The bottle shattered against its face. Thick acid splashed everywhere, instantly coating its exposed flesh.
A sharp, sizzling sound filled the air.
The parasite recoiled violently. All the tendrils it had extended snapped back as white smoke rose from the melting, mangled mass.
Perfect opening.
But Ivan didn't rush in.
Instead, he dropped down from the wall and ran.
Better safe than sorry.
And yeah… in this kind of fight, playing it cautious never hurts.
The parasite clutched its warped head, screaming in raw agony.
Boom!
In an instant, several blade-like tendrils twisted out of its flesh and whipped around like steel lashes. They moved so fast they blurred. In just a few seconds, the walls around it were smashed into rubble.
"Yeah… you're running low on stamina."
Ivan narrowed his eyes.
"Huh. Still managed to find me."
Whether it was the thing's insane sense of smell or it caught the faint noise of his movement, it didn't matter.
The moment it locked onto him again, it charged, pissed beyond reason.
Ivan didn't fight.
Not yet.
His reaction speed still wasn't enough to safely handle those tendrils. No point gambling his life when he could just drag this out and let it burn itself dry.
One chased. One ran.
Soon enough, they spilled back onto the street.
Frustrated that it couldn't catch him, the parasite snapped. It lashed out at the ground instead, vents of rage exploding outward. The pavement around it split open with jagged gouges, torn apart in seconds.
After venting like that, its energy finally hit the bottom.
Its body hunched over. It staggered, then started to turn away.
"Leaving already? Bit late for that, don't you think, mate?"
Ivan stopped running.
He pulled out another glass bottle, smaller than the last. He'd prepped a few of these just in case. No way he was betting everything on a single throw.
"Here. Have another."
He aimed and threw.
Smash!
The bottle burst on impact. Concentrated sulfuric acid splashed over the parasite's entire head.
"Arrhhh!"
The already ruined flesh started boiling instantly, thick white smoke pouring out. The tendrils shriveled in front of his eyes, turning black and lifeless.
Ivan waited a beat.
No sudden movement and no counterattack.
Good.
He stepped in, eyes cold.
"Au revoir." (Bye bye in French)
Thrust.
The blade drove straight into its heart.
Just to be sure, he twisted the sword hard, grinding through until the heart was completely shredded.
The parasite, still writhing seconds ago, froze like someone hit a switch.
Its knees buckled.
It dropped in front of Ivan.
And then it went still.
"Phew~ As long as I win, that's all that matters."
Ivan didn't waste another second. One clean slash, and the fleshy mass on its head dropped off.
Done.
He dragged over a random motorcycle parked by the roadside, popped open the fuel tank, and tipped it over onto the parasite's corpse. Gasoline spilled everywhere.
He flicked open his lighter and tossed a flame onto the fuel pooling near his feet.
Boom.
Fire roared up, swallowing the entire body.
With the flames lighting his back, Ivan walked away without looking back.
…
Inside a Barbecue joint in Ginza, Tokyo, Ivan sat with a small bandage stuck to his face, calmly working through a plate of grilled meat.
He picked up a thick-cut slice of beef and bit down.
Ahh~Rich fat. Perfectly seared meat. The flavor hit hard and filled his mouth instantly.
For a second, he almost felt like passing out from how good it tasted.
Honestly, what beats a late-night meal like this?
Especially when it took actual effort to find a place still open this late.
"Damn… that hits."
Ivan leaned back slightly and patted his stomach.
Only then did he bring up the panel.
[Talent Ability: Morphing/Shapeshifting]
[Requirement: Kill one parasite]
[Requirement fulfilled. Fuse talent ability: Morphing/Shapeshifting?]
"Fuse it."
[Morphing/Shapeshifting talent fusing… Progress: 2%]
He could clearly feel something changing inside his body.
Not surface-level but deeper than that. Like his genes were being rewritten.
A strange itch spread across his entire body, crawling under his skin.
Then, just as quickly, it faded.
"If I want to speed this up, I probably need to observe more parasites… or fight them."
From his earlier experience fusing the kendo talent, Ivan already had a rough idea how to push the process faster.
And another thought popped into his head.
If parasites kept evolving, maybe they'd unlock more abilities.
Shinichi Izumi. Reiko Tamura. Or even Gotou.
Perfect test subjects.
After paying the bill, Ivan left the barbecue place.
His apartment had already been arranged by the system. Once he got back to the small one-bedroom, he immediately started testing his new Morphing ability.
He recalled the blade-like tendrils that parasite had grown earlier.
Then he tried to copy it.
Focusing, he controlled his right hand.
Slowly, under repeated attempts, it began to change.
His hand softened, almost melting like rubber. Then it stretched, twisting into a curved blade shape…
And then… that was it.
No further.
At his current fusion progress and stamina, this was his limit.
"…The fuck is this supposed to kill?"
Ivan poked the table with his floppy, half-formed blade-hand, looking completely unimpressed.