Way of the Knights

Chapter 167 - Phantasm

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Phantasms. A rare type of parasite that developed consciousness.

Normally, Phantasm doesn't live long enough. Sudden changes of the atmosphere could easily kill them, making them somewhat on the weaker side. But in the end of the day, a parasite is still a parasite. Phantasms use weaker creatures like mosquitos, bees, worms, ants and so on as it's host.

Their target it the nervous system, once they're in they will be able to send signals in a form of 'subtle suggestion' that will affect the decision making of it' host. At the same time, the Phantasm will start to suck one's longevity little by little. What makes this process special is that, so long as the Phantasm is attacked to the host, it couldn't rot despite being dead, meaning that so long as the Phantasm is attached to a host, it would be able to control the host's body like it was still alive. Eventually, the 'subtle suggestions' will turn into a 'Command' but the host won't even noticed that their ability to make decisions were completely robbed off of them, they won't even noticed that they were infected by the Phantasm or that they were long dead.

Phantasms could spread to multiple victims, they could bisect themselves and infect other unsuspecting victims, what's surprising though is that even though it was divided into to two, it still has a single consciousness and it won't hesitate to kill the other if it needed be.

Normally, Phantasms could not infect humans. The nervous system of a human is too strong for a Phantasm to handle and before it could even feed, it would've been detected by the immune system and exterminated. But of course, it won't be same scenario if the Phantasm evolved, which is extremely rare.

"Unfortunately, they are not me. It's time to end this farce! Come out, Phantasm. Fight me!"

Hearing Raven's challenge, the parasite hiding inside Raul's brain shivered and shrieked. This caused Raul to let out an inhuman shriek as well, his whole body shivered and his eyes rolled all the way back to his head. His body bent onto a very unnatural angle, something that an old man could never do. Raul now had a very furious and wary expression but this wasn't him anymore, this is the Phantasm who used his body as a Host. Raul Newdawn was long dead, what's standing in front of Raven is just a mortal husk that this pest refused to let go.

"H-huuuuuuuuuummmmmmmaaaaaaannnnnn!"

A guttural and hair-raising voice escaped out of Raul's mouth, his head was also twitching from side to side like it was being twisted by something unseen.

"I will eat you human!" The Phantasm said as it quickly pounced forward towards Raven.

Raven's eyes focused, he made a step back and took out something from his storage pouch. It was a brown sack that contained a muddy brown powder. He coated his whole arm with the powder and scattered he rest of it on his body, then he made the stance and clashed with the Phantasm who's controlling Raul.

Raul was quick and strong, but this isn't due to a 'God's Blessing' it was due to the enhancements that the Phantasm brought. Unfortunately, no matter how strong it was, Raven's destined to be stronger than it.

Fist met fist. Raven's arm remained strong and straight while Raul's arm bent upwards while some bones where directly broken or shattered. The Phantasm was shocked, how is this kid so strong!? It had to be known that the enhancements it did to transform Raul's husk was at least equivalent to a decade of feeding. No one should be able to match Raul's husk yet there's one here and it never knew.

"No time to be shocked, pest. This is just my warm up." Raven sneered, he then performed a series of steps that made the Phantasm dizzy and unable to follow him, then Raven stopped and delivered a heavy blow on Raul's stomach.

Raul's body then flew and slammed onto the concrete walls, embedding him in the process. It was also this time that the Phantasm located at Raul's brain felt a severe pain that should've been impossible.

*Shriek!*

A series of inhuman shrieks escaped from Raul's mouth, Raven saw him clawing his head fiercely like he was trying to scratch something off from his head.

"Painful isn't it?" Raven coldly spat, "I made this shit specially for you so thank me later."

Parasite Bane, an anti-parasite concoction that is guaranteed to be extremely lethal to any type of parasites. It is a little tricky to concoct specially in a place where there are no energies but Raven didn't spend at least 1000 years under a time enchantment, studying alchemy just to fail on a simple task like this.

"It burrrnnnsss! What did you do human! I hate you! Hate you! Hate youuuuu!!!"

"Didn't you want to eat me?" Raven sneered and said, "Then come! Open wide! I'll shove my fist onto your mouth willingly!" He then pounced forward and punched the living crap out of Raul's face, embedding his deeper and deeper to the wall.

The more his attacks connected, the more pain the Phantasm felt. If this continues, there's no doubt in it's mind that it will die. So with all of its effort, it controlled Raul's feet and kicked Raven to create some space between them.

Raven saw this and crossed his arms in his chest, the attacked caused him to skid past a couple of steps. He was planning on charging at the Phantasm once more but it let out a very loud shriek that sent fierce vibrations all over the whole Astral Observatory.

Raven's tremorsense spread like crazy, it then told him that many people were charging towards the room. He immediately realized that the Phantasm called for reinforcements, and they are about to come very soon.

Just like what he predicted, the door of Raul's quarters swung open, revealing at least a dozen of people with their eyes rolled up. They were gritting their teeth and breathing rapidly like beasts as they stared glared at Raven. Without any hesitations, the great number of people pounced forward like rabid beasts, wanting to shred Raven into pieces.

Meanwhile, the Phantasm controlled Raul's body towards the windows. While Raven's focus was on the reinforcements, it punched the windows and escaped through gap. The phantasm wasn't fazed with the height and didn't hesitate to jump down.

Raven saw this and his expression became somber. He couldn't let this one go, he was sure that the Phantasm inside Raul's brain was the one that evolved and the one that must die.

After evolving, the Phantasm becomes stronger and it's natural talents as a parasite will receive a boost as well, which enabled it to infect humans. This particular one was special too, it actually managed to unlock another trait, and that is the talent to modify it's hosts body similar to that of a beast. But doing this is somewhat risky for the Phantasm's part, there is a great chance that it will kill itself in the process. Well, for the Phantasm, it could sacrifice a few of it's other bodies so long as the main one is still alive, this is another thing that the Phantasm must adjust too once it evolved. If the main body died, then the rest also dies with it, unlike how it was before it evolved.

"So you're thinking that I would be fazed by this height and wouldn't follow you?" Raven sneered as he realized what the Phantasm was thinking. He knew that he guessed correctly specially when the Phantasm looked at where he was with a mocking expression.

It would be somewhat disrespectful if he didn't comply with the challenge right? So under the dumbfounded gaze of the Phantasm, Raven jumped from the highest floor of the Astral Observatory without breaking any eye contact with it.

His body fell like a shooting star, when he landed the ground shatter beneath his feet but the impact didn't fazed him in any way, shape or form. Seeing their target jumped, the other infected humans also jumped but unfortunately, some of them weren't able to make it and had their bodies utterly crippled, therefore making them unable to control them any further.

The Phantasm shrieked once more, and immediately many humans around froze and simultaneously glared at Raven's location. They charged without care and with only one purpose in mind, that is to kill Raven and make sure that the main body was safe.

To this, Raven didn't shred any ounce of care. He didn't break eye contact with his sole target, he was determined to kill and even if gods descend right now, they won't be able to stop him from killing this thing.

Raven bent his knees and took a deep breath. He mobilized all of his vital energies onto his legs. His expression sharpened and when the Phantasm saw this, a great sense of dread washed over its consciousness.

Raven's body seemingly disappeared, making the numerous infected humans lose their target. None could follow his movement at all, and when he reappeared he was standing behind Raul's husk.

A sharp whistle was heard and Raul's head was separated from his shoulders.