Chapter 24 : Parasite

Parasite

"Oh, my beautiful master, are you troubled because of that unreasonable fellow?"

A voice echoed in her mind. Serea looked down and saw that Dogsius was staring at her with his big, innocent eyes.

"Yes, since you're asking like this, do you have any good solutions?"

"Yes, it is my honor to ease my master's worries."

"Then let's hear it."

Serea asked curiously; she wanted to see what good ideas Dogsius could come up with.

"My beautiful master, have you forgotten my abilities? You can entrust that body to me, and I can transform the boundless power inside it into support for you."

"Mmm!!!"

Serea suddenly realized—how had she not thought of this before? Didn't she have a parasite demon—Dogsius—under her command!

"All right."

Serea agreed to Dogsius's suggestion, then turned her head to look at Celia.

"You want to follow me, right?"

"I just want to protect Princess Serea."

"But if so, you'll have to act together with us."

Celia said nothing, just stood there quietly listening.

"But as a member of the church, from a certain perspective, we're natural enemies. So if you want to follow me, you'll first have to prove you bear no hostility."

"How do I prove it?"

"Let it prove it."

As she spoke, Serea opened her hand, revealing a black furry ball. On seeing that strange fuzzball, Celia couldn't help but ask.

"It?"

Before Serea could answer, Dogsius introduced himself.

"I am Dogsius, the famed parasite demon—you must have heard of me."

"What is that?"

Celia's question almost choked Dogsius to death.

"A parasite demon! I am a high-level abyssal demon—a parasite demon. You mean you haven't heard of me?"

Celia shook her head, and Serea also shot Dogsius a disdainful look.

So the parasite demonic race had fallen to such a state...

No, I must reclaim the dignity of the parasite demons!

"Hmph, ignorant human! I won't blame you for your shallowness, but know this: If you entrust your body to me, then my great master will allow you to follow. Do you dare accept?"

"Go ahead."

"Eh?"

Seeing Celia's indifferent expression, Dogsius was stunned. Had humans these days truly become so foolish, agreeing so readily to possession by a parasite demon?

"Do it. As long as I can protect Princess Serea, I'll accept any condition."

Celia showed a fearless expression. Serea urged Dogsius.

"She's agreed—hurry up and do it."

"Oh."

Dogsius, just ruthlessly slapped by reality, lost all his earlier arrogance. He answered meekly, then jumped to the ground and moved to Celia's feet.

But after bouncing a few times, Dogsius couldn't climb up Celia by himself, so he had to look up at her.

"Um... Would you give me a hand..."

Having said this, Dogsius was deeply ashamed, feeling once again that he was embarrassing himself before his master.

He dared not look at Serea's expression; Celia, however, had already reached down to pick him up.

"Thank you. Just put me on your shoulder."

Following Dogsius's instructions, Celia put him on her shoulder. Dogsius then tried to crawl inside her light armor, but because the armor was seamless, he couldn't get in.

"Um... Could you take off your armor..."

As he continued, Dogsius's voice grew smaller and smaller. A parasite demon having to beg its host for help—this was truly shameful.

The girl didn't say much. She simply undid the strap at her back, took off her silver-plated chest armor, and Dogsius struggled to crawl to where her heart was, securing himself there.

"I'm starting now."

After saying this, Dogsius stabbed his four short legs into the girl's skin. Feeling the stabbing pain, Celia frowned, but she endured it.

As Dogsius stabbed in his legs, he fixed himself above the girl's heart, and his form began to change.

The furball hardened, acquiring a metallic sheen. The change lasted about ten seconds; the original fuzzball became a black, diamond-shaped jewel set at Celia's heart, looking almost like a crystal pendant at first glance.

After Dogsius's short legs pierced into Celia's heart area, they spread out to fix himself in place.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, Celia felt a sharp pain in her head and almost collapsed.

But after the confusion in her mind passed, she suddenly discovered that her body was no longer under her control.

Celia half-knelt in front of Serea. Then Dogsius's adorable voice sounded out from the black gem at Celia's heart.

"My queen, your Dogsius has returned in a brand-new form."

As he spoke, Dogsius controlled Celia's body, making her half-kneel before Serea.

Seeing her own body kneeling to that demon, Celia's face showed disgust, but no matter how she resisted, her body didn't respond at all.

"Don't bother struggling—your body belongs to me now."

The voice echoed from the black jewel on her chest. Hearing this, Celia could only accept her fate.

Seeing Celia kneeling resentfully on one knee before her, Serea felt as if some mysterious switch inside her had been turned on.

"Ahem, there's no need to kneel."

"Yes, Your Majesty the Queen."

Celia stood up and, embarrassed by her shameful behavior, turned her head away, avoiding Serea's gaze.

"Very good. That's fine, just follow me from now on."

Serea spoke, then Dogsius asked again.

"So, my master, should I erase her consciousness?"

"Huh?"

Serea was confused.

"To prevent her from resisting, I personally recommend erasing her consciousness entirely."

"This..."

Glancing at the composed Celia—saving her had been Serea's last wish, so...

"Forget it, just make sure you control her actions."

"As you command, my master!"

Dogsius replied. Noticing that Celia was obviously repulsed by being controlled, Serea spoke to Dogsius again.

"All right, return her bodily control. Only take over if necessary."

"Yes."

Dogsius's voice came from the black gem. Celia felt her control return, but having not been prepared, her body gave out and she collapsed. Serea quickly stepped forward to help her.

Once she stood firm, Serea withdrew her hand, while Celia put her chest armor back on and asked,

"Why not erase my consciousness? It would be easier for you."

Faced with this question, Serea scratched her head.

"How should I put it—since Serea's last wish was to save you, of course I'll respect her wishes, also..."

Serea smiled brightly at her.

"Why would I do such a thing? I'm not some kind of demon, you know!"

(To be continued...)

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Undead queen claiming she's not a demon...

Well, she's not wrong. Everyone she killed in this life were all trying to kill her...

I don't know about his/her past life though.