Parasitic Mites

///Lost'sForward/// 100 Power Stones = 1 Chapter

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At this moment in time, Cain was presented with an opportunity. 

In the basement of a criminals kidnapping ring, Cain sat next to two drugged out guards. In the corner of the room, a beautiful woman was propped up against the wall — but she too had been drugged, only not by Cain. 

The opportunity came with the situation. 

Behind Cain, a mere twenty to thirty feet away, a room housed eight individuals. Those eight people had been kidnapped, beaten, humiliated, and broken down. In addition, they were most likely already presumed dead. 

Given that assumption to be true, what should Cain do with them? 

The way Cain viewed it, he had two options: either report his findings to the UN or settle the matter himself. 

And by settling the matter himself, Cain meant killing them himself. 

Did they deserve to die? No. 

In fact, not at all. 

But Cain knew more than others that death meant mercy. In the state they're in, with mutilated physiques and shattered hopes — Cain was sure some, if not all of them, prayed for their torment to end. 

Killing them himself, however, was the selfish route. His alternative, reporting it to the UN, was another option. 

This option improved his trust with the global State, improved his trust with Sarah Barber personally, and was a step in the right direction for the betterment of humanity. How? 

Surely the toppling of a place like this, a place dedicated to kidnapping attractive guests, a complete and utter hellhole — was an overall good for humanity everywhere. 

Cain's only qualm with this option, however, was the aftereffects. 

If he reported it to the UN, would the UN make a move immediately? Would they report this club to the Brazilian police and let them take over the case? 

Cain was sure the police were paid off — that much was a given. 

And the United Nations, as mentioned prior, lacks tangible power. The UN themselves do not have the authority to barge into Brazil and shut this operation down — so the way Cain saw it, the UN would HAVE to report it to the Brazilian forces of which have been paid off. 

'But if I kill them myself, someone is bound to notice.' 

'And if someone notices, then Emilio will know someone is looking for him.' 

Cain didn't like the answer he was arriving at. 

'I can't do anything.' He realized. 

'If I do, I'll be found out.' 

'Does that matter though?' 

While Cain was discussing the possible ramifications of his actions, the |Jug of Mist| suddenly ceased emitting mist. Then, like magic, some otherworldly force manipulated the black cloth and scarlet rope to bind the gourd once more. Once the gourd was bound, it vanished — returning to Cain's System. 

This sudden action pulled Cain's attention away from his thoughts. Immediately, he understood he was just put on a timer. 

He grabbed the drugged girl and lobbed her over his shoulder. Then, Cain bolted into the corridor and barged into the room of human cages. 

He raised his arm to fire a |Corrupt Bullet|, but suddenly, he stopped. 

He looked up at the ceiling and placed behind him, in the corner of the room, a camera with a beeping red light pointed towards the cages. 

Cain's eyes widened. 

He rushed back into the corridor and inspected the ceiling. There too, a camera was recording the staircase. He continued this trend and returned to the security room. Even there, a camera protruded from the ceiling's corner. 

'Oh shit!' 

'I've been on camera the whole time!' 

'I forgot camera's fucking existed!' 

Cain pulled out his smartphone and prepared to call the United Nations. If he was caught anyway, then notifying the UN wouldn't matter since presumably, Emilio would already know. 

Then, another thought occurred to him. 

If the cameras were merely recording and not live-streaming…

If they're hosted on a local server, which they probably are, then the recording of Cain should be here — within the premises. 

'If I just destroy everything?' 

Cain summoned the |Reaper's Cloak|. 

The black strips of cloth drowned Cain's figure and hid him behind a mirage of darkness. His eyes emerged as flames underneath his hood and the temperature in the basement plummeted. 

Cain hovered above the floor, his sinister gaze landed on all of the technical equipment embedded into the security room's wall. He raised his arm, nothing more than a single piece of cloth, and conjured destruction. 

A black arc of lightning whipped across the room and slammed into the amalgamation of wires and servers. 

*BOOM* 

Electricity pried from the metal cases of the servers and a minor explosion erupted from the room's powerline. In the next moment, the monitors in the room flickered off and the lights throughout the entire facility blackened. 

Cain's golden flames slowly pandered over to the wall of computer screens. Again, an arc of black lightning zipped across the room and shattered the screens. 

He wrapped the drugged girl in a piece of cloth and dragged her behind him. Meanwhile, Cain approached the room of horrors. When he arrived, his black tethers stretched across the room and bound the suffering humans. 

Mummifying them, Cain drowned the desperate captives in his cloth and then ignited a current of corruption through all of his branches. Muffled screams escaped, but Cain chose to ignore them. 

Mercy was not always easy. That was a truth he had long ago accepted. 

He retracted his tentacles of cloth and prepared to leave, but before he did so, phantoms rose from the deceased. 

Lost Souls erupted from the chests of each captive. 

Cain was momentarily shocked. Eight Lost Souls at once? He had never been so lucky! 

His tentacle cloths sucked down the Lost Souls instantly. When he was finished, Cain ran up the steps and barged into the club's parking lot. He had more work to do. 

***

Olive opened her eyes to blue skies and white clouds. A gentle breeze tickled her nose and the scent of roses embraced her. 

She leaned forward and winced in pain — her head was throbbing and the bright light from the sun was only making it worse. 

She marred the sun with her hand and looked around. She sat in a minor field of grass surrounded by similar trees. Underneath her, dandelions rustled against her bare legs. 

Her eyes subtly adjusted to the light and laid beside her — the sunken corpse of an Orc rotted. 

Meanwhile, the Orc's head must have rolled away as Olive couldn't see it anywhere around her. 

In a moment of reflection, Olive looked at the palm of her hand. 

'I'm… alive?' She pondered. 

She summoned her Status. 

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Host: Olive Flinn

Species: Awakened Human

Class: Satanic Practitioner

Rank: Fledgling

Summons: |Lesser Evil • Cain| |Parasitic Mites| 

Strength: E-

Endurance: E-

Agility: E

Dexterity: E

Intelligence: E

Mind: F+

Vigor: F+

Abilities: |Summon • Hellspawn| 

Traits: |Fearless|

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Olive's eyes widened. 

'Parasitic Mites?' She questioned. 

Beyond that, however, her Stats went up even more than when she evolved into a Neophyte. From becoming a Neophyte, her Agility, Dexterity, and Vigor improved by a single tier. Reflected in her eyes, on the contrary, were vast improvements in Strength and Endurance — jumping two tiers respectively. 

In addition to her increase in Stats, a new summon graced her Status screen. When she thought of the mites in her head, she felt a vibration course through her veins. She called upon the |Parasitic Mites| and a rush of sensations erupted from underneath her skin! 

Olive frantically stood from the grass and patted her body down, but she found no bugs across her skin. Then, Olive looked at her arm and beneath her skin — she could see the unnatural wriggling of something moving within her. 

Olive panicked. 

She raced towards the nearest tree and slammed her arm against its bark, hoping to crush whatever had invaded her. Before her arm could connect, blood splurted from her wrist and a small shield suddenly formed in front of her. 

The tiny shield made of blood smashed into the tree and shook its leaves — causing acorns to fall prematurely. 

Olive froze. She watched the blood slowly liquify and soak back into her flesh until it vanished as if it were never present to begin with. 

Olive grabbed her arm in dismay. She wrestled with it and clawed at it until a small cut appeared. Her blood slowly ran down her arm just as she expected. 

But then it stopped and seeped back into the open wound — moving against gravity and hardening in record time to seal the minor wound Olive created. 

'What are you?' Olive wondered. 

In response to her question, a Status prompt appeared before her eyes. 

[|Parasitic Mites| Name:        ]

Olive stared at the transparent screen. Something was living inside of her, something she summoned, and now she was asked to name the foreign invader. 

Olive's spine shivered. The thought of mites, of all things, disturbed her greatly. Small creepy-crawlies that swam in her bloodstream. Her blood went everywhere within her body — even her brain. 

Then it clicked. Her headache was no headache at all. 

It is the uncomfortable feeling of something breaching her brain and squirming against her walls. 

'Unsummon!' Olive screamed within her head, but nothing changed. She still felt the push and pull of blood in her head — it was thicker, if only by a slight margin, but that minute increase in viscosity tore at her conscious. 

'Fuck!' Olive lamented. 

'Why don't any of my summons listen!' 

Olive inhaled deeply. She held her breath and counted down. 

'Be calm. Be cool.' She reminded herself. 

'If I summoned it — then it's here to help me.' 

Olive had to squint her eyes due to the sun, but regardless, she crouched beside the slain Orc. She had no recollection of slaying the Orc herself. In fact, the last thing she remembers is cursing the Orc before everything went black. 

Olive shook her head. It didn't matter. 

What matters is that she's alive — she won, somehow. 

She touched the Orc's corpse and felt its temperature. Its flesh was cold. A night must have passed unbeknownst to her. 

She returned to the decayed tree in the center of an orchard of live ones. Just as she remembers, a head-sized hole tore into the tree's trunk and led further beneath. Before returning to camp, Olive wanted to double-check that the underground oasis was still there — that it wasn't some grand illusion set up by the Orcs. 

'Wait.' 

'Orcs?' 

Olive had fought Orcs before. In the coliseum, in the black Gate found on the bottom floor of the pyramid. Why were they here too? Are the Orcs the aforementioned opponents? 

Olive needed to find out more, but more importantly, she needed to inform Isaac of their adversaries. The water source too, while she's at it. 

So she climbed a tree and studied the horizon. In the vast distance, a hill stood above the trees. Unlike before, Olive could see the makings of structures atop the grassy hilltop. 

Without waiting any longer, Olive leaped off the treetop and made her way through the forest back to camp. 

///LostNoteFound///

THANK YOU!! Moofin, WalkingBush, and DevilGod_of_Chaos!!!