66 - The One Who Shouldn't Exist
The enormous white serpent was gasping for breath.
Its once-pristine, polished white scales were now smeared and slashed, crimson blood leaking out in violent contrast across its long, coiled body. Dozens of gashes lined its shell, glowing faintly with residual energy from previous attacks. Each time the beast inhaled, its entire ribcage visibly rose and fell — ragged, strained — as if each breath required effort.
Moon and Kai stood firmly, locked in place, their eyes locked directly onto the serpent's glowing, furious pupils. Neither flinched. Neither blinked. The battlefield was dead silent, except for the heavy huffing of the wounded beast.
And then… it happened.
The serpent's body arched in agony — its movements erratic, trembling from blood loss and spiritual fatigue. It coiled tighter, muscles bulging beneath torn scales, and then, slowly… horrifyingly…
It began to open its mouth.
Wider. Wider. WIDER.
Far beyond anything natural. Its jaw cracked and stretched like it had no bones at all. Blackened, rotting fangs jutted out in grotesque patterns, each one humming with unstable energy. The inner flesh of its maw was a terrifying sight — laced with writhing, glowing tendrils of raw power, like lightning made liquid, slithering along the walls of its throat. A pungent, burning scent filled the air — the stench of ozone, blood, and something unnatural.
And then…
At the center of its abyssal throat, something began to form.
A pinprick of pure, glowing blue essence — no larger than a raindrop, yet vibrating with a power that felt ancient and final.
Moon's body went stiff.
Kai's heart skipped a beat.
In seconds, the tiny dot expanded, and the temperature around them dropped several degrees. The pressure in the air spiked so violently that it made their ears pop. The orb condensed violently, sucking in every drop of residual essence from the serpent's broken body. Blue veins lit up across its scales, pulsing in rhythm with the orb — every beat thudding like a war drum.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Bolts of violent blue lightning began lashing out from the growing orb — slamming against the serpent's teeth, tongue, and the roof of its mouth. Each strike caused tremors in the ground, sending loose rocks levitating for a split second before crashing down again.
Moon's pupils contracted into thin slits. His fists clenched.
Kai's instincts roared like sirens in his mind.
"That's not just an attack," Kai muttered, barely breathing.
"That's a suicide strike."
The serpent's body contorted as it poured everything — its remaining essence, its lifeforce— into that sphere.
And then —
RRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
A deafening, primal scream tore through the battlefield — shaking the air itself.
The serpent launched the orb.
---
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The moment it left its throat, the world exploded.
A wall of white-blue destruction erupted outward in every direction. Sound ceased to exist for a moment — replaced by a high-pitched ring that pierced the mind. The sheer shockwave split the earth like paper, sending jagged cracks tearing across the land in every direction.
The sky ignited — clouds vaporized into steam. The force of the detonation displaced the atmosphere, creating a visible dome of pressurized wind and raw force that crushed everything beneath it.
Moon and Kai didn't run. They didn't have time.
The moment the orb detonated, their bodies were caught in the blast — launched like ragdolls, spinning mid-air as shards . The heat scalded their skin. The pressure nearly ruptured their eardrums.
And just before the full force could reduce them to smoldering pulp—
SHRRRRRRRRAAAK!
A sphere of glowing blue water burst to life around them — Kai's final defense. His hands trembled as he forced every drop of essence into it. The hydro-sphere screamed under pressure, vibrating with dozens of fractures as the explosion slammed into it from every side.
Inside, Moon was on one knee, blood dripping from his lips.
Kai's face was pale. Sweat poured down his face. His arms were outstretched, holding the sphere intact.
The world outside was obliterated.
And inside, their bubble of survival felt like it could shatter at any moment.
The sound of the explosion finally reached them fully — a deep, rumbling thunder that reverberated in their bones. Then silence. Smoke. Ash.
And finally… breath.
They were alive.
But only barely.
When the dust cleared and the boom faded, the desert was a crater. Flames burned in scattered pockets. Ash drifted in the air like snow.
Kai exhaled sharply, still shielding Moon.
Before Moon could even ask if they were okay, Kai suddenly yelled, urgency in every syllable:
"That wasn't a killing move! It was meant to throw us back — to give it time to escape! He's running! Moon, we can't let it go — it's 90% professional-level!"
Moon didn't waste a second. He launched forward like a lightning strike, his body glowing with blue, electric energy — crackling arcs flowing down his limbs, trailing behind him like a storm cloud in human form.
Kai followed close behind, slightly slower, but still nearly matching Moon's speed — water aura swirling around his frame, his steps lighter than air as he ran over the cracked terrain.
They followed the fading spiritual residue — like a scent trail, visible to those attuned to essence flow. Faint pulses in the air told them they were getting close.
In the distance, the white serpent could be seen darting between dunes. It looked back — its massive eye locking once more onto its pursuers.
The chase had narrowed to a blur. Moon and Kai were sprinting at full speed, their bodies glowing faintly from residual energy. The serpent was still ahead — barely — its body weaving through the shattered forest like a dying god trying to flee its fate.
But then, something changed.
A strange distortion flickered across reality.
For a split second, everything flipped — up became down, left became right — as if gravity itself had betrayed them. Moon and Kai stumbled mid-run, their minds reeling from the sudden shift in space. The serpent, too, twitched unnaturally, its long neck jerking in confusion.
And then… silence.
A whisper of a sound.
Shunnnnnn...
Too fast to see.
Too clean to believe.
SLASH!
The serpent's head didn't just fall — it was separated perfectly, so precisely it seemed like space had cut it rather than a blade. Its body, still rushing forward on momentum, continued for a second… then collapsed with a sickening weight.
Its massive head, still bearing its expression of primal fear, floated in the air for the briefest instant before crashing down into the dirt.
CRUNCH!
A titanic foot descended onto it — shattering the skull like it was nothing but glass under pressure. Blood and bone sprayed outward like shrapnel, soaking the earth in red mist.
Moon and Kai skidded to a halt.
Their foots dragged lines in the cracked dirt.
Their lungs paused mid-breath.
Their eyes locked forward in stunned silence.
And then they saw him.
---
Standing in the aftermath of the kill was a monstrous, humanoid figure — still, silent, and impossibly overwhelming.
He stood nearly 6'9" — a wall of physical perfection that defied nature. His bare chest looked like it had been carved by a divine sculptor: not merely muscular, but unnaturally engineered — like something between a god and a weapon. His skin was a shade of pale marble, so smooth and cold it almost glowed under the dimming light, untouched by the blood around him.
But it wasn't just the body.
It was the way power radiated off of him, like a constant, unbearable pressure in the air — every breath around him felt denser. Moon felt it in his bones. Kai felt it behind his eyes.
The man's long, wild silver hair blew in the breeze — strands floating as if possessed by static or will. His face was sharp, angular, and disturbingly beautiful — but his eyes ruined that illusion.
Those burning crimson eyes looked like two pits of hellfire, glowing with ancient rage and bottomless hunger. They weren't just looking — they were measuring, judging, as if deciding who deserved to live and who didn't.
He wore no armor.
Because he was the armor.
His forearms had morphed into dark, elongated claws, rippling with veins of shadow energy that pulsed like a living thing. The claws emitted smoke — not from heat, but from corruption — the very aura around them distorting reality like poisoned heatwaves.
From his shoulders and spine jutted sharp, jagged bone-like protrusions, asymmetrical and organic, as if his skeleton had grown outward from sheer power. They gave him the silhouette of a demon — no, something older than demons. Something born from fear itself.
A tattered, crimson-lined cape hung behind him, torn and frayed like it had survived a thousand battles. Around his waist, black chains hung like living snakes — twitching slightly, as if hungry, as if remembering the thrill of restraint... and eager to snap.
Moon inhaled sharply, but it felt like he had to pull the air into his lungs. It didn't want to come.
He whispered, "Who… what is that?"
But Kai didn't answer immediately.
Because Kai's face had changed.
All color drained from it. His jaw was clenched. His pupils were fully dilated. His hands were shaking, just slightly — but in that moment, it was enough to say everything.
Then, finally — like coughing up a buried truth — Kai spoke:
"Parasite…"
The word wasn't loud.
But it hit Moon like thunder.
He turned to Kai. "You… know him?"
Kai nodded slowly — too slowly. His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Not him specifically. But… his race. I read about them — once, in a forbidden race classification scroll. He's from the Parasite race."
Moon's brows furrowed. "Never heard of it."
Kai didn't look at him. His eyes were still locked on the figure.
" They're a race that was wiped out over 100,000 years ago. Not defeated — erased. Every race, every clan, every empire came together to destroy them. The Parasites were… apocalyptic. Unstoppable. And when they were finally cornered, their very bloodline was cursed. So that if any ever appeared again, their existence would tear itself apart."
He paused.
"There shouldn't be a single one left. Not even a cell."
Moon's breath caught in his throat.
"Then how is one standing right in front of us?"
---
The being finally moved.
His head tilted, just slightly — like a predator noticing the twitch of prey. The smirk on his face was cruel and amused. His voice, when he spoke, was like glass grinding against metal — smooth, but with an edge that promised pain.
"Are you two done whispering?"
His tone was mocking, casual, bored.
He took a slow step forward, the earth seeming to sink beneath his heel. He raised one of his clawed hands to his chest and gave a small, sarcastic bow.
"Allow me to introduce myself."
"I am Parasite. Of the Parasite race."
He stood straight again, crimson eyes flaring like dying stars.
"Judging by the looks on your faces… I don't think I need to explain what that means."
His presence was suffocating. Not because he screamed, or flexed his power. No. He just stood there, like the calm before the end of everything.
Moon and Kai exchanged one, silent look.
They both knew it.
This was no longer about chasing the serpent.
This was no longer the same battlefield.
They had just stepped into a nightmare that should have never existed.