Ravien looked down at Fauriel, lying motionless on the ground.
His right hand was still filled with nerve fibers—twisting, coiling around his fingers in spirals, releasing wet, subtle noises with every flex. Blood had dripped from his chin and spread across his neck, staining the fabric deep crimson.
Yet not a single trace of emotion showed on Ravien's face.
---
(POV: Ravien)
I took a step back. As I loosened the fibers in my hand, my eyes drifted—unintentionally—toward the distance… toward the silent seas, the hazy horizons… back to the days when I was still an admiral.
Then I remembered those creatures—the ones we found inside the fish caught in those damned waters. Parasites… but not ordinary ones.
They'd mimic parts of the body, replace them. From the outside, you'd never notice. But inside, they lived their own lives.
"Those parasites… they always made me think.
They don't just settle inside. They behave. They imitate.
The body doesn't reject them—because it doesn't recognize them.
Maybe that's the point:
If you look familiar enough, the body won't treat you as an enemy.
So why not build a system based on that?"
I tilted my head slightly. My eyes slowly moved toward Fauriel's right leg.
Everything was clear now. It had taken time to reach this point, but now… I was ready.
It wasn't just about implanting the parasite. As I uncovered more of the fibers' potential, I realized I could trigger bodily deformation without direct contact. That's what I want to use.
I took a deep breath.
"Now... we proceed to Phase Four and Phase Five."
I reconstructed the process in my mind.
"Phase Four: Remote Deformation."
Affecting muscle structure without direct contact—only using the fibers and mental commands.
"Phase Five: Autonomous Parasite."
A new lifeform, capable of making its own decisions, directly linked to nerve endings.
Ravien raised his right hand and commanded the nerve fibers.
With an invisible signal, they shot forward.
They twisted through the air, darting toward Fauriel's right thigh from both sides.
At the point of contact, the skin rippled slightly.
The fibers slid in like snakes, not tearing the skin, but moving seamlessly through the layers of muscle.
Ravien didn't move his hand; he simply lowered his eyelids halfway.
"They've entered the lateral muscle. Now they'll navigate internally and meet in the center. They won't touch the bone—just wrap around it."
Fauriel's leg suddenly twitched.
The muscles coiled as if struck from within.
Veins bulged and pulsed beneath the skin—something was moving inside.
The fibers moved delicately between muscle strands without tearing them.
At that moment, Ravien's eyes flickered.
"Ready... now pierce."
The fibers hardened instantly.
The pressure made both sides of the thigh bulge outward.
Then, with a sudden surge—like a released spring—they expanded in a tearing motion.
CRRRKK—!
The leg ripped open from both sides.
The skin split along with the muscle, veins snapped one by one.
Thick, dark red blood sprayed onto the ground.
From the ruptured flesh, muscle strands spilled outward.
Some veins dangled, unsevered, still pulsing with blood.
The muscle looked skinned; some places exposed fatty tissue, others bare nerve endings, twitching in the open air.
Within seconds, the inside of the leg became a warm, crimson pool.
Along the paths where the nerves passed, the flesh had collapsed inward, leaving hollow gaps.
The bone was exposed.
Its whitish surface was covered with fine cracks and trembled visibly—fractured in some areas, stripped in others.
Ravien still hadn't lowered his hand.
The fibers remained inside—but they were motionless now.
"Intracavity is sufficient. Bone exposed, veins separated. Now the space is ready for the parasite."
He took another step.
His boots sank into the blood—but made no sound.
Ravien crouched onto the blood-soaked stone floor.
Flesh fragments and darkening blood stuck to the soles of his boots, but he didn't seem even remotely disturbed.
His eyes locked on Fauriel's opened leg—the flesh torn on both sides, still pumping blood rhythmically.
The inside of the leg resembled a cave with a heartbeat—warm and alive.
Ravien leaned in, and slowly extended the nerve fibers from his right hand toward the exposed muscle mass.
"Everything's ready for the parasite… Now let's create it."
The fibers dove into the hollow of the leg.
They pulled the muscles closer from both sides, applying pressure to the open veins.
Tension built between the fibers, drawing the tissue inward—as if the collapsed void were now folding in on itself.
And right at the center—
Where nerves, fibers, and tissues converged—
Something began to be born.
---
[deep breath]
(POV: Ravien)
At first, it was just a reddish, pulsating mass—trembling like a heartbeat.
But under the guidance of the fibers, its texture began to shift. It became denser, harder—a thickened tissue born from the union of muscle and nerve.
Within seconds, the mass began to take shape.
Its surface was slimy, veined. Nerve endings dangled from parts of it, dripping with pus.
Then, the center began to swell.
Beneath the surface, curved hollows became visible. The first indentation formed a lobe—then another followed.
Veins spread across the surface like a net, feeding the new tissue.
The mass quivered. Twisted.
And finally—
Right at the center, a small brain began to form.
It resembled a miniature human brain—but darker, stickier.
Its surface was covered in purple veins. Some parts of it throbbed gently.
Mucous fluid seeped from its folds, slowly trickling into the open cavity of the leg.
Ravien tilted his head slightly.
"Now it's time to connect," he said.
He extended the fibers again, letting them reach toward the neural roots at the base of the newly formed brain.
Fiber-like extensions slithered outward, crawling toward Fauriel's exposed peripheral nerve endings.
Some of them wrapped directly around the nerves—
And then suddenly twisted inward, embedding themselves into the nervous system.
With that inward pull, the brain became integrated—fused—into the host's nerve network.
Now, the brain had become a separate center of control within the leg.
But the transformation didn't end there.
Ravien raised his left hand and closed his eyes.
Then he sent the final command through his mind:
"Motor extensions: lateral limb projections."
Inside the inner flesh of Fauriel's leg, faint tremors appeared.
At first, they looked like nothing more than subtle twitches.
But then—
The flesh bulged.
Tissue pushed outward from within.
And then came a sharp, wet tearing sound:
CRRKT—
Thin structures burst out—made of nerves, like twitching strands.
Each was about as thick as a pencil—flexible, soft, yet capable of contraction.
They grew rapidly: five... eight... twelve...
Each one was rooted into the muscle.
Some of them were fed directly through nearby veins.
They were limbs—slim, jointed, and bendable.
And at their tips… a new detail emerged.
Fauriel's toes twitched. But this time, the tips began to change.
The toenails pulled back.
Small pits opened on the flesh.
From these pits, moist, eyelid-like membranes unfurled—and suddenly snapped open.
Eyes.
Tiny, wet, living eyes.
Each one blinked independently, gazing in different directions.
The foot had now become a sensory organ.
Ravien furrowed his brows.
"Interesting… Toe-eyes could be used for external threat detection."
But the most unusual transformation began in the heel.
The rear muscle mass of the leg swelled.
The tissue peeled into scales.
And from within the fibers, a slimy, sunken mouth opened.
At first it was just a hollow.
But then—the muscles tightened.
A circular structure inside expanded outward—
Like a fleshy flower blooming.
It had no teeth.
But its insides were slick, coated in saliva-like fluid.
The mouth was directly linked to the vascular network of the new brain embedded in the leg.
Realizing this, Ravien took a step back.
"Swallow reflex... It developed earlier than expected."
The mouth inhaled the surrounding air.
It drew in a few drops of blood.
As if… it was feeding.
And the entire structure… was alive.
The room fell silent.
Fauriel remained unconscious—his head slumped to the side, breath so faint it was barely noticeable.
But now, what was connected to his body…
Was no longer just him.
---
[deep breath]
From above, looking down at the stone floor…
Fauriel's right leg no longer resembled anything familiar.
Its center had been torn open, and in the hollowed-out cavity, a small brain had formed—its reddish-gray tissue pulsing as if breathing, the thin veins on its surface throbbing slowly.
On either side of the leg, thin, jointed limbs made of nerve fibers gently touched the ground.
Some curled beneath the leg, others stretched outward—like extensions ready to move.
Each of the toes held a single eye, nested in wet, membranous sacs.
They pointed in different directions, occasionally blinking open and shut—perceiving their surroundings even in total darkness.
The mouth on the heel expanded and contracted rhythmically, its sunken shape opening and closing with a wet, sludgy sound.
Every time it opened, thickened blood was seen pooling inside.
The blood gathered slowly from within and then—another drop spilled to the ground.
At first, everything was silent.
But then… a tremble.
The tiny limb-extensions on the sides of the leg tensed.
Fiber tissues vibrated faintly.
Then, the entire leg took a step to the right—on its own.
The floor was slippery, but the creature's stance was not unstable.
It was as if the newly-formed brain inside was analyzing its environment.
One step left.
Then right.
A small forward slide.
The leg moved, fully independent from the rest of Fauriel's body—acting under the command of the implanted fibers.
Fauriel's body was still unconscious; his eyes closed, his hands limp.
But the leg...
It was alive.
The eyes began rotating, one after another—upward, sideways, to the ceiling, toward Ravien…
The mouth let out a deep suction.
Thick, dark red blood spilled out from inside, flowing across the stone floor.
Slime-threaded blood strands oozed from the corners.
The mouth closed again, then reopened.
An inhale—then exhale.
It was now functioning… like a gill.
Ravien stood motionless, watching.
A few seconds passed.
Then the leg suddenly froze.
Every structure inside it shuddered.
The thin limbs retracted inward, the eyes began to close.
The mouth let out one final stretch and sealed shut.
The brain slowly sank deeper into the cavity of the leg.
The new neural connections coiled around it, forming a protective membrane.
The entire structure began folding inward—just like a sea anemone retreating into itself.
The leg was quiet again.
But something remained within.
Ravien slightly turned his head.
His gaze was fixed on the still-closing incision.
"This... resembles Asogi's self-regeneration ability."
His eyes narrowed.
At the edge of the closing tissue, a new formation had begun.
It was made of fibers—but the joints were denser, more segmented.
A centipede-like structure.
It was composed of thin overlapping rings.
From each ring, a pair of legs extended to the ground—curling, flexing, and resetting.
It wasn't directly connected to the brain, but it was close.
As if it were an extension of it.
Between the fibers, partially formed organ structures began to emerge:
A curled fold—like an inner ear…
An open channel—resembling a trachea…
Asymmetrical vein networks…
All incomplete, but alive.
Still mid-development.
It was truly astonishing.
All I did was create the environment and the brain.
I didn't interfere with the rest.
But this parasite-like structure…
It evolved on its own.
And that wasn't even the most interesting part.
Despite being newly born, it was already using its capabilities.
And every time it activated those functions…
…it regenerated.
It adapted.
It evolved.
Heh...
How fascinating.
Phase Five: Parasite Test — complete.
What's left are minor—but intensive—trials.
---
[deep breath]