Chapter 67 – Parasite
The dry desert wind blew dust between their feet.
Moon and Kai stood frozen, staring at the parasite—
Just like they had stared at the white serpent earlier.
But this time, their eyes weren't just focused…
They were filled with hesitation and shock.
Moon slid his black gauntlet onto his hand.
Kai was already gripping his sword tightly.
The parasite tilted his head with a crooked grin, his eyes glowing faintly.
"Looks like you two are ready. Let's fight."
There was no battle cry—
No dramatic moment of silence.
Just an explosion of movement.
CRACK!
Moon surged forward like a missile,
The black gauntlet on his arm gleaming under the desert sun.
Sand exploded beneath his feet as he launched.
Kai moved in perfect sync beside him—
Sword drawn, eyes sharp, body tight like a coiled spring.
Moon reached first.
BOOOOM!
His gauntlet collided with the parasite's jaw.
The sound was like metal slamming against bone.
A small shockwave rippled from the point of impact,
kicking up sand in all directions.
It should have snapped the parasite's neck—
Should have sent him flying.
But—
Moon felt it instantly.
The resistance was wrong.
Like punching smoke with weight.
The parasite's head twisted slightly from the hit—
But his feet never moved.
His smile never faded.
Kai arrived a breath later.
His blade came down in a clean, practiced arc,
The kind meant to end fights, not prolong them.
But the parasite was already gone.
No blur. No flash.
He just vanished.
One moment he was there—
The next, he wasn't.
Moon's fist, still extended from his punch,
skimmed through empty space.
He blinked, stunned.
Then—
The air shifted.
Like a vacuum collapsing.
WHOOSH!
A sudden, violent gust erupted between them.
It was as if the wind itself had been torn open.
Moon and Kai were blasted backward,
flung like toys tossed by a child.
They spun mid-air, limbs flailing for balance—
The ground a blur beneath them.
Moon slammed into the sand and rolled,
his mind struggling to catch up with what just happened.
Kai was still airborne—
But before he could hit the ground—
He appeared.
The parasite.
Right beside Kai, mid-air, as if he had been there all along.
There was no sound.
No tell.
Just a presence.
A cold, suffocating pressure.
He leaned in close—so close that Kai could feel his breath.
"Tsk."
His voice was soft. Almost playful.
"Attacking an unarmed man with a sword? That's rude."
And then—
CRACK!
He reached out, plucked Kai's sword mid-fall—
And snapped it clean in two with a single twist of his wrist.
The blade clattered in pieces to the sand below.
Kai hadn't even hit the ground yet.
He hadn't even blinked.
Time seemed to freeze.
Moon pushed himself up, eyes locked on them.
He opened his mouth to shout something—anything—
But a strange, metallic sound stopped him.
Clink.
He looked down.
His gauntlet—
The black gauntlet that had taken beasts head-on…
A jagged crack split across the surface.
Then another.
Tiny fractures crawled like spiderwebs across the armor.
With a soft, defeated snap, it fell apart.
Bits of shattered plating hit the sand at his feet.
Moon's heart dropped.
When?
When had that happened?
He didn't even feel the hit.
A cold realization settled over him.
This wasn't just a powerful enemy.
This was something else.
Something terrifying.
Something that played with them like they were insects.
Suddenly, the air twisted.
SHHHINK SHHHINK SHHHINK—
Suddenly, the air tore apart—
Not with sound, but with pressure.
Something unnatural split the space around them,
And then—
It came.
A storm of dimensional slashes
rained down like a bladed monsoon.
Thousands—maybe more—
Thin as paper. Sharp as hatred.
They sliced through the air with a hollow hum—
Not even touching the sand,
Just carving reality itself.
Moon's eyes widened.
Each slash moved like it had intent.
Like they were being aimed.
They weren't fighting blades—
They were fighting math.
Precision beyond human understanding.
Kai dove low—
Moon twisted to the side—
Both of them moving by instinct,
Not thought.
WHIP! WHIP! WHIP!
Slashes missed their skin by inches, then centimeters,
Then hair strands.
Moon rolled. Kai spun.
Kai shouted, "LEFT!"
Moon ducked right.
Another slash skimmed past his neck,
close enough to burn.
Their bodies moved like dancers,
But their chests heaved like prey.
Breathing became a luxury.
Then—
Moon's spine tingled.
Something was behind him.
No sound.
No shadow.
Just an ache in the air.
He froze mid-step—
And then it hit.
SLASH—SLASH—SLASH!
Invisible blades
ripped across his back, arms, ribs—
deep enough to bleed,
not deep enough to kill.
"Ggh—!"
Moon's body jolted.
Blood splattered across the sand.
But he didn't fall.
He spun mid-air, twisted his limbs in controlled chaos,
and slammed down with both feet.
THUD.
Sand kicked up.
He planted himself—
Stable. Grounded. Alive.
Blood trickled down his side, but he barely felt it.
His face twisted—not in pain—
But in madness.
A feral grin spread across his lips.
His eyes gleamed with that same fire
he had back when everything was taken from him.
"YOU CRAZY PUNK!!"
His voice echoed through the open desert.
"GO PUNCH FOR PUNCH WITH ME!"
"STOP TRYING TO BE A DAMN MONKEY!"
Across from him, Kai was breathing hard,
His legs bent low, arms ready.
Eyes focused.
Mind racing.
Every muscle in his body was ready to snap,
But his thoughts were screaming:
> We can't track him. He's not moving like a person—
He's moving like a ghost.
The parasite was nowhere and everywhere.
Even sensing him felt like trying to catch wind in a closed fist.
Kai shut his eyes briefly,
Focused on feel instead of sight.
The shift in temperature—
The pull in the air—
The wrongness before an attack.
There.
A flicker.
THUMP!!
The punch landed before he could move.
It hit him in the gut like a sledgehammer—
Air exploded from his lungs.
And then—
CRASH!
He was flying backwards, limbs flailing—
Straight into Moon.
BOOM!
The impact knocked both of them back,
kicking up a cloud of dust.
Moon slid across the sand but dug his heels in,
arms catching Kai before he could fall.
"You good?"
Moon asked, his voice breathless but steady.
He didn't wait for an answer—
His hands were already steadying Kai,
shoulders squared like a wall.
But before Kai could answer—
The parasite was already in front of them.
He stood tall.
Smirking.
The parasite's voice broke through the ringing in their ears.
"How's my speed?"
he asked, tilting his head slightly.
His tone was amused—like a teacher quizzing children.
"Fun, right?"
Moon and Kai tightened their grips, ready to lunge—
But they froze.
Their instincts screamed danger.
Something cold brushed against the base of their necks—
Too close.
Something sharp.
They didn't need to look to know what it was.
Fangs.
Not blades.
Not claws.
Fangs, hovering barely a centimeter from their skin.
A wrong breath, a twitch, a single heartbeat out of place—
and their throats would be sliced open like paper.
The parasite's voice dropped to a whisper,
his breath brushing against Moon's ear.
"Oi, green eyes… What did you call me?"
Moon didn't answer.
He couldn't.
His entire body was locked.
The parasite grinned wide—too wide.
His fangs flashed like polished ivory.
"Crazy punk, right?"
He chuckled.
"Try tasting my fangs."
He raised one hand slowly—
Claws glinting, poised in a perfect arc.
Like an artist about to deliver the final stroke on a masterpiece.
Moon's muscles tensed.
Kai's eyes darted.
Nowhere to move.
Nowhere to run.
The moment was death—
But then—
The parasite stopped.
His expression stilled.
His smile wavered.
He didn't move for a breath.
Two.
Then his eyes narrowed.
He looked down.
At the sand.
His entire posture changed—
Like a predator that just sensed a bigger beast in the wild.
The grin faded completely.
His face turned thoughtful, almost disturbed.
Something was wrong.
The sand beneath their feet…
It wasn't just still.
It was hiding something.
The parasite's pupils flicked—
Side to side, then locked downward.
He straightened slowly, pulling his claws away from their throats.
Then looked back at Moon and Kai.
But this time…
There was no malice.
No playfulness.
No mockery.
Only pity.
A look that hit harder than any punch.
"You won't die by my hands,"
he said softly.
A calm statement—
Like he was reading a fact off a page.
"Something bigger is coming."
He glanced back at the ground beneath them.
"I hope you survive…"
His voice dropped.
"Because I still want to kill you myself someday."
And then—
Without a sound—
Without a flash—
He was gone.
Vanished.
Like smoke in the wind.
Only silence remained.
A silence so loud it echoed in their heads.
Moon and Kai stood motionless,
breathing hard, chests rising and falling.
The wind picked up around them,
whipping sand into the air.
Still, they didn't move.
They stared at the empty space where the parasite once stood.
"…What just happened?" Moon murmured,
his voice hollow.
Kai didn't answer at first.
Then quietly, as if afraid of his own words—
"Why didn't he kill us?"
The silence returned.
But this time, it felt heavier.
What filled them wasn't relief.
It wasn't hope.
It was humiliation.
Again.
Like with Tom.
Like with every battle before.
They had come to the Shifting Expanse with fire in their hearts.
With the dream of becoming strong.
To rise above ridicule.
To become warriors no one could look down on.
But here—
Every encounter only pushed them deeper into the dirt.
Outclassed.
Mocked.
Spared.
Not because they fought well.
Because others chose to let them live.
Moon's fists were trembling.
He didn't even notice the blood dripping from his knuckles.
Kai stood beside him, broken sword still in hand.
He didn't even know why he was holding it anymore.
He clenched his fists,
so tight his fingers went numb.
His lips pressed into a thin line,
his jaw locked.
But it was his eyes that said everything.
Pain.
Frustration.
Helplessness.
And underneath it all—
Doubt.
The kind that cracked confidence like glass.
Then—
RUMBLE…
The sand beneath them trembled—
barely at first.
A subtle shiver beneath their boots.
Moon's head snapped down.
"What now?" he whispered.
BOOM.
A loud, thunderous crack.
The desert floor beneath them collapsed—
Not caving in—
But pulled, like it was being sucked downward.
They didn't even have time to jump.
"Kai!"
"Moon!"
Too late.
WHOOSH—
The ground beneath them vanished.
They fell—
Sucked into darkness.
The desert swallowed them whole—
Down, down, down—
Into a black tunnel that seemed to stretch forever.
To be continued…
Parasite illustration dropped on Instagram page "Omnirevenant "
Go check that out