Chapter 49

Chapter 4: Eyelid (22)

***

"Professor?"

Rakshasha uttered the name, but it felt unfamiliar to her. She was the one who had tied the unconscious man to the ceiling with threads, so there was no way it could be someone else. Why, then, did the man before her, unchanged in appearance, feel so alien?

'No, one thing has changed, hasn't it?'

His eyes. The playful glint in his eyes, present in any situation, now flickered like those of a reptile.

The first to break this peculiar standoff was Isaac, who observed the situation with a look of great interest.

"Professor. Did you just call that monster 'Professor'?"

'Oh no.'

She had made a mistake out of surprise. The professor must have had a reason for hiding his identity.

A thin, sharp line appeared on Isaac's face, which had been motionless like a mask until now. His eyes, wide open as if he couldn't afford to miss a single moment, formed a smile that was truly that of a madman.

"Professor... Professor... Yes, I remember. There was definitely an experimental subject with that name. He was quite memorable among the many subjects. Now I remember. That appearance... is the one when he was first captured as an experimental subject."

Rumble! Rumble!

Isaac's hands, which had been clasped together, began to tremble uncontrollably. The mage, clasping his hands as if in prayer, felt the mana source behind him begin to boil explosively, reflecting his emotions.

"I will study your body and lead humanity to the next stage!"

Isaac's clasped hands spread apart, and the entire body of water floating above the mana source began to pour down like a waterfall, endlessly.

"Wait a moment. I'm thinking. Everyone keeps asking who I am, and that's quite a philosophical question. Since you saved the shell, I'll save you too. So just wait calmly. There's no need to rush."

"No need... to rush?"

Isaac nodded, blocking the path of Rakshasha, who was about to charge forward. His attention was focused on something other than the magic that now threatened both their lives.

Name. An independent entity has its own proper name. Although he was only a fragment of consciousness, now that he had emerged, he should have a name to introduce himself to others.

'Shadow? Too cliché. Monster? It seems like a useful name for waking up. Name... something I would like to be called when someone refers to me...'

In the slow flow of his consciousness, he slowly searched through the professor's memories and finally found a word that he liked. It wasn't an old memory. It was from when he was digging through the subject's trauma to take over his body.

[There is a beast inside every human... When the thin shell of reason is stripped away, a massive beast lurks inside, one that has never been imagined in a lifetime...]

"The inner beast..."

Snap, crack, snap!

The professor's skin began to split, and the monstrous flesh trapped inside started to step out into the world. Now that he thought about it, when he was young, the shell had read a story similar to their current situation. A story about a good doctor and his hideous inner self.

The thin mask covering the professor's face stuck to his skin, and the mouth, which seemed to be torn from his ear to ear, moved.

"Hyde. My name is Hyde."

The monster, having shed its skin, lunged at Isaac's magic.

***

Hyde, the monster, had never had a physical form from the moment of his birth. He was a special infection factor capable of independent activity, and he wondered if he was a kind of ghost, another self born in the professor's mind.

As the host's memories were consumed and his consciousness grew, the instinct of the infection factor that failed to dominate the brain was buried and diminished. However, the more memories he acquired and the more he shared the professor's senses, the more the monster's thirst grew. The thirst to experience things directly. The loneliness of being stranded on an island of consciousness, left alone in the professor's mind, and...

"Shell, your thoughts are too human..."

Trapped in the framework of Professor Park's consciousness, unable to use the excellent body properly, the frustration was unbearable.

For a short time, but infinitely regenerating body. What difference did the form make as long as the mind remained? Why keep the human form?

'Regeneration doesn't necessarily require injury. For example... using it like this?'

Dozens of red arms sprouted from Hyde's shoulder. White bones, muscles, and skin grew over the rapidly extending arms, endlessly layering and increasing in size. The softness of the material made it easy to shape. In the blink of an eye, what grew looked more like a giant spear or stake than a part of his body.

"Mage, you were curious about who I am, right?"

Boom!

Swinging the massive structure that originated from his body at the approaching water flow, Hyde spoke.

"I am a monster. Not a mute, not a human, just a monster."

Crack!

The giant spear, made of flesh and bone, bent and twisted upon contact with the wave but continued to split and cut through the water, breaking and regenerating endlessly. After being compressed hundreds, thousands of times, the tip of the spear, now resembling a black needle, finally pierced through the wave of pressure and penetrated Isaac's hand, which was forming the seal.

"Ugh!"

Isaac quickly summoned a water whip with the remaining mana, shattering the solidified spear tip like crystal, and calmly canceled the submerged wave, preparing the next spell.

The image of the deep-sea wave, formed by the seals, began to dissipate. In such a limited situation, maintaining the image of several overlapping revelations without seals was impossible. He decided to switch from offense to defense.

The red mute, who had suddenly transformed into a completely different creature, was no longer a situation where he could afford to be relaxed.

"Yes. This is the mute... Indeed, it lives up to its reputation! It's strong enough to defeat the best knight in this country!"

Just a little more. If he could just buy a little more time, the Tobrun forces would arrive here. Time was on his side. If he focused on defense, it might not be impossible to block the monster's bizarre attacks. Calm down. Calm down and visualize the next spell...

Crack!

"Argh!"

At that moment, Isaac's thoughts were shattered by excruciating pain.

'Water Bind was deployed flawlessly. How... how did it get through?'

The moment he turned his eyes to the source of the pain, Isaac realized he could no longer maintain his composure.

Hand. A hand grew from a small wound on his hand, twisting his wrist, and small teeth between his fingers bit into his arm. A white eyeball sprouted from the back of his hand, glaring at him and mocking him.

'This, this... What is this! It's growing from my hand, from my hand!'

Terror began to fill the old mage's eyes.

"You should use your knowledge. You knew that a mute could still move to some extent even if its head was blown off. That means it can move its body by sharing sensations among infection factors, even without a brain, right?"

Well, you haven't lived as an infection factor like me, so you can't do that.

Hyde chuckled, as if teaching his sleeping host.

"Argh! Ah, aaaaah!"

Isaac clutched his arm and rolled on the ground, losing his mind. It wasn't just the pain. It was a terror he had never felt before. The terror of being attacked by something that had grown inside his own body paralyzed the great mage's reason.

Hyde, watching Isaac's state with a smirk, quietly stepped back and approached Rakshasha.

"Human woman."

"...What?"

Rakshasha raised her dagger, wary of the creature. She didn't know what was happening, but it wasn't the professor, and it was an extremely dangerous being.

Hyde's face seemed hurt by her reaction.

"Tch! That's too much. You were so kind to the shell, but you treat me like this."

"..., Well, you're not him."

Yeah, that's true.

Hyde grumbled at her words and slumped to the ground.

"Can you finish this off?"

"Do it yourself?"

"I want to, but there's nothing left."

Rakshasha looked at him in confusion, and Hyde showed her his hand. His hand, which was now shriveled, was crumbling from the fingertips.

"I've used all the absorbed blood to its limit. The shell can't control this, so if I use any more, I'll really dry up and die. The time I can stay awake is also running out."

An infinite yet consumptive body. He had observed the battle, learned, and imagined everything.

-If impurities are mixed into the water, the mage's image will be disrupted.-

So he invested most of his resources into the magic, and as the spear pierced through, his flesh was swallowed by the wave, weakening the pressure and allowing him to reach his goal.

-Magic originates from the mage's visualization.-

So he squeezed out the last of his resources to stage the most cruel and unconventional attack. To make the enemy believe and to become a source of fear in the enemy's imagination, to make it impossible to maintain reason. Although he could move the infection factors that had separated from his body, they couldn't move as freely as his own body. The arm that had grabbed the mage's wrist had long stopped moving, the teeth that bit into his skin were weak, and the eyeball just rolled around on its own.

But isn't a mage someone who can change the world with their visualization? The fear that had seeped into the mage's heart was already growing and spreading. What Isaac saw was no longer something Hyde had created. It was just the fear the mage had created, taking shape.

A tactic the shell often used when facing enemies.

"This is what they call 'bluffing.'"

Ah, it was fun. Indeed, having a body is good.

As his consciousness gradually faded, Hyde smiled contentedly, trying to remember every sensation that was invading his mind. The cold sensation of water droplets, Rakshasha's beautiful face looking down at him with suspicion, the thirst he felt from his body craving blood, and even the pain of his body burning. Each sensation was precious to Hyde.

"Human woman, finish this off properly. And give the shell my regards."

With a final wink at Rakshasha, Hyde slowly submerged back into his consciousness.

***