1638 Guardian
Parasite Queen made an elaborate plan against the Guardian, one that had no chance of failing. But the plan was supposed to start only a few years after she digested everyone.
Varian flipped the table and threw everything into jeopardy.
'I hate that child! He's so, so, so unruly!'
The lady still looked as kind as ever with a gentle smile on her face. But she exuded a dark red aura as she floated high above, an aura that covered dyed half of the sky in her color.
With every flick of her wrist and wave of her finger, tentacles shot into the sky, spewing infectious energy that aimed at enslaving any sentient creature that came into contact with it.
The energy would first start at the body level. Then, it'd drill into the soul of the target and blockade it from reaching out to the body.
If the parasitism deepened, even the soul would be gradually corrupted. While not as much as the actual soul pathwalkers, it was certainly good enough for the job.
Her attacks, treated the sky like a canvas, painting thick red strokes that trapped the guardian in the middle.
The demon of death was shrouded in darkness, just like the first time she saw him. But now, he couldn't dismiss her attacks like he once did.
Even though he had the blessings of purgatory which directly pushed his strength beyond the range of a peak rank 1, parasite queen proved to be a formidable opponent.
The darkness around him was being corrupted at an uncontrollable, unpredictable pace. The black got covered with patches of red, showcasing the infection happening visible to the naked eye.
Due to the precise study she made on him and the temporary boost she got from devouring Klynster, she was able to overpower the guardian.
"Kuhhh, gruhh!"
Like worms eating away an injured living creature, the patches of red continued to eat away the darkness.
The guardian, for all its might, tried desperately to free itself and failed.
If it hadn't been distracted and tried to finish off those four annoying women, he wouldn't have fallen into this trap and—
"Ah?"
In the sky that's dominated by darkish red and black, a lotus of light red and pale green bloomed.
"No, that's!"
The guardian's power rose up a notch and an aura shockwave exploded out of its body.
"My child, please stop!"
Parasite Queen withdrew into the distance and glared in the direction of Varian.
A tentacle broke the sky above him and descended down even as she requested him in a polite tone.
"Please don't bother mother, I have an important thing to do! Just go to sleep!"
The tentacle reached Varian in a blink and spewed out a thick red mist. Four shields materialized over him and two of them broke upon contact with the mist. The third cracked and only the fourth remained intact.
'Sleep? She means permanent sleep.'
Varian wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and blessed the guardian further with his slivers.
"Ahhh! Da! Da! Da!"
A bunch of terrific sounds came from the one-eyed guardian before it dived down.
The queen's torso dried up, forming a very incongruent look compared to the rest of her body.
It was an attack which the guardian was long storing and did its job.
With two more strikes, the queen lost her limbs despite her best responses.
Momentum was very important in any battle. Once she lost it, it's hard to win, especially against a stronger foe.
While she got more and more cornered, the amount and intensity of attacks on Varian skyrocketed.
Thankfully, the excellent defense provided by his women, sometimes at the expense of their own injuries, kept him safe.
"…Is this it?"
As she watched the guardian summon a beam of death to finish her off, the parasite queen gnashed her teeth with reluctance.
Born in a long lived species, she married young. She lost her husband and three children to a city riot.
A century later, her second husband and two children died in an explosion.
Three centuries later, her third husband went insane and murdered their ten children.
Since then, she had kids every year using her powers without the need for any physical contact.
Her desperate desire to have a family only brought her more pain.
A thousand years and hundred children later, not a single child lived past fifty.
It broke her in ways she couldn't even imagine. And drove her to Purgatory.
Since her children were all dead…wouldn't the problem be solved if she welcomed the dead as the children? And unlike the living, she could parasite and turn every being into her child.
For the cursed existence that was her life, this was the twisted blessing which filled her heart.
Parasite Queen grabbed the opportunity with all her might back then when she was just a newcomer.
'I can't lose!'
And when death stared right at her, she fought back.
As if the heavens were helping her, the lotus helping the guardian flipped.
Instead of giving him a boost, it temporarily seperated him from purgatory.
Doing so not only withdrew the enhancment it was giving him, it also took away the boost that purgatory always provided the guardian with.
As a result—
"Die!"
The sudden interruption which wouldn't have mattered at any other time destabilized the guardian for a split second.
That was enough.
A tentacle broke out from ground, pierced through the veil of darkness and dug into the pitch black eye.
The darkness was devoured by a dark red light before it exploded.
A soothing feeling began to fill her being and a blessing started to fall on her, declaring that she's the new guardian.
Parasite Queen immed
"Haa! Haa! Children of the alliance, I am com—"
Four powers struck her in that vulnerable moment with more strength than parasite queen expected.
Still, she could've survived their attacks with the blessings. But the new blessings were interrupted by a pair of slivers.
Yet, she could've had a chance to blast them away and buy a few seconds to stabilize her situation.
But two powerful attacks struck her soul back to back, blocking her range of response for a brief moment.
When the queen came to her senses, a man was standing in front of her with an indifferent gaze.
He's the target she's supposed to kill, the one person who she didn't take seriously at all due to his low strength.
But he…
"Heuk!"
Varian twisted the sword lodged in her heart and the burst of vitality flooded the already injured parasite queen.
Like darkness being chased away in the face of light, her powers suffered a tremendous backlash and she twitched violently.
Dozens and dozens of tentacles emerged out of her body in a desperate attempt to cull Varian. But they were all stopped by a blade of darkness and a wheel of light.
A few moments later, the parasite queen broke into twinkling aura and blew away.
"Haa~"
Clutching his dizzy head, Varian relaxed his shoulders.
The purgatory seemed to freeze for a moment before it bestowed him with a boost in strength. And as it did, it also informed him of something he didn't know before.
[A great secret is awaiting you behind the three regions.
Purgatory: Cleared
Elysium: Not Cleared
Nirvana: Not Cleared]
