She swept her hand through the air, commanding Valora's body to a halt. A heavy sigh escaped him as he derided Elizabeth. "What a pitiful twist of fate. Your luck has abandoned you. Had you only guessed correctly and struck me in that crucial moment, perhaps you'd have found a glimmer of hope." He seized Elizabeth's neck, initiating the gruesome act of parasitism.
Elizabeth, ensnared in a macabre dance, found herself surrounded by a horde of spectral maggots. These ethereal creatures tore through her flesh, devouring her from within. Foreign entities writhing inside her triggered a symphony of agony as her nerves screamed in unison. Yet, amid the pain, Elizabeth clung to a final, desperate gambit that might tip the scales.
Summoning the last vestiges of her strength, she lunged forward, sinking her teeth into Frank Harrow's neck. "W-what? Get off of me!" he exclaimed, his disdain replaced with shock.
This is bad! She's trying to use a mind attack to combat my parasitism. It's already too late to disengage parasitism, so I just need to overpower her. I won't allow an existence like this to go unwatched!
He sought to drown her essence beneath the weight of his own, a futile attempt to assert dominance. Yet, as he delved into the recesses of her Witch Factor, a revelation unravelled - an ancient, twisted presence with an unfathomable madness dwelled within Elizabeth. This enigmatic force stared back at him, causing even Harrow's formidable spirituality to falter, if only for a fleeting moment. In that brief lapse, Elizabeth seized the ephemeral window to reclaim mastery.
The parasitic grip on Valora's doll-like form weakened, the ethereal parasites fading into dormancy, leaving her in a state of unconscious vulnerability. Elizabeth, however, teetered on the precipice of mortality.
After subduing the insidious parasites within her, she clung to a conference table, struggling to elevate herself from the ground. Her grasp on control remained tenuous, a delicate dance on the edge of defeat.
Elizabeth took out her index and middle fingers and stabbed them directly through her temple. As long as she could use her spirituality to maintain her regeneration, she would avoid certain death. She dug through her brain with her fingers in an attempt to find the primary parasite known as "Frank Harrow".
She felt the worm crawling within her hippocampus and promptly ripped it out. She held the pulsating parasite and crushed it in her hands. Frank Harrow was now dead.
As the chilling victory settled, Elizabeth found herself on the cold floor, teetering on the edge of mortality. Yet, in the throes of her own demise, a resilience sparked within her. With a will bordering on the supernatural, she drew upon the last reserves of her strength. Conjuring a magic circle on the floor, she utilized her own blood as the medium, inscribing a symbol of defiance against the encroaching darkness.
"Take us back…to the apartment."
Upon waking up on the cold marble floor, Valora Tusec instinctively said, "Master! Where are you!" As her eyes frantically darted around the room, she found the young Elizabeth Abraham on the floor in a near-death state. She quickly inspected her body and checked her pulse.
"Her pulse...is completely gone. Her heart isn't beating!"
She turned her head to the side and checked her temple. At the spot of her injury, a dark, liquid substance spread across her temple. Upon touching it, a violent, malevolent, dominant, insane aura radiated from Elizabeth. She instinctively retracted her hand, sensing the immediate danger. The wound on Elizabeth's temple miraculously stitched itself back together.
"Valora..." Elizabeth said with a labored voice. "Look in my back pocket...there is a USB drive containing the information about the identity theft operation. It's only a fraction of the total Karma, but it will do. Plug it into my computer and I'll print out the information to Derrick. We'll keep the rest of the file for later."
Elizabeth had prepared a virtual machine with no network capability or standard operating system to test the dangers of the Karma file. The USB might charge the capacitor and feedback a voltage to the USB, damaging the computer.
"Make sure you are not spotted on the way to his location. It will be quite dangerous."
"Yes Master Elizabeth, let's take care of your wounds first."
___
Derrick found himself perched on the edge of sleep, an open book covering his eyes as he sat on his bed. In the realms of his subconscious, hazy recollections of his regular teenage life flickered like frames of a fading film. Family dinners with plates of curry, prolonged sessions of video games with his older brother, and the moments of creative escape through doodles in the classroom – it was an existence painted with the comforting hues of simplicity.
Yet, the comforting scenes transmuted into disquieting nightmares. Raul and Rokka, two criminals who had been brutally executed before his very eyes, now lay shattered below him. An unseen force held his legs captive as he struggled to escape the macabre tableau. "It wasn't my fault! Let go and take responsibility!" Derrick's plea reverberated through the dream, his hands shaking off the ethereal restraints as he navigated through a disconcerting sea of dark sludge.
In the midst of this surreal struggle, a familiar mantra echoed from his lips, "I'll make the right choice. I'm sure this is it."
"Even if I'm guilty, I'll adhere to this path. No matter how long it takes, I'll see you all again. Just wait for me. I'm coming home."
Abruptly, Derrick jolted awake, the remnants of the nightmare still clinging to the edges of his consciousness. The rough touch of a book on his face brought him back to reality – the very book he had used as a makeshift sleep mask. The transition from the phantasmagoric visions to the tangible weight of the waking world left a lingering disorientation, as the boundaries between dreams and reality blurred in the lingering shadows of the night.
He removed the book covering his face and rubbed his eyes, the remnants of the unsettling dream still clinging to his thoughts.
"I keep waking up here. If only this were just a dream."
With a sigh, he prepared to face another day of investigations. Just as he was about to leave, a thin white letter caught his attention in front of his door. Curiosity piqued, Derrick picked up the mysterious letter, turning it over to check for any clues about the sender. In cursive, a name adorned the back of the letter.
[Elizabeth Abraham]
She swept her hand through the air, commanding Valora's body to a halt. A heavy sigh escaped him as he derided Elizabeth. "What a pitiful twist of fate. Your luck has abandoned you. Had you only guessed correctly and struck me in that crucial moment, perhaps you'd have found a glimmer of hope." He seized Elizabeth's neck, initiating the gruesome act of parasitism.
Elizabeth, ensnared in a macabre dance, found herself surrounded by a horde of spectral maggots. These ethereal creatures tore through her flesh, devouring her from within. Foreign entities writhing inside her triggered a symphony of agony as her nerves screamed in unison. Yet, amid the pain, Elizabeth clung to a final, desperate gambit that might tip the scales.
Summoning the last vestiges of her strength, she lunged forward, sinking her teeth into Frank Harrow's neck. "W-what? Get off of me!" he exclaimed, his disdain replaced with shock.
This is bad! She's trying to use a mind attack to combat my parasitism. It's already too late to disengage parasitism, so I just need to overpower her. I won't allow an existence like this to go unwatched!
He sought to drown her essence beneath the weight of his own, a futile attempt to assert dominance. Yet, as he delved into the recesses of her Witch Factor, a revelation unravelled - an ancient, twisted presence with an unfathomable madness dwelled within Elizabeth. This enigmatic force stared back at him, causing even Harrow's formidable spirituality to falter, if only for a fleeting moment. In that brief lapse, Elizabeth seized the ephemeral window to reclaim mastery.
The parasitic grip on Valora's doll-like form weakened, the ethereal parasites fading into dormancy, leaving her in a state of unconscious vulnerability. Elizabeth, however, teetered on the precipice of mortality.
After subduing the insidious parasites within her, she clung to a conference table, struggling to elevate herself from the ground. Her grasp on control remained tenuous, a delicate dance on the edge of defeat.
Elizabeth took out her index and middle fingers and stabbed them directly through her temple. As long as she could use her spirituality to maintain her regeneration, she would avoid certain death. She dug through her brain with her fingers in an attempt to find the primary parasite known as "Frank Harrow".
She felt the worm crawling within her hippocampus and promptly ripped it out. She held the pulsating parasite and crushed it in her hands. Frank Harrow was now dead.
As the chilling victory settled, Elizabeth found herself on the cold floor, teetering on the edge of mortality. Yet, in the throes of her own demise, a resilience sparked within her. With a will bordering on the supernatural, she drew upon the last reserves of her strength. Conjuring a magic circle on the floor, she utilized her own blood as the medium, inscribing a symbol of defiance against the encroaching darkness.
"Take us back…to the apartment."
Upon waking up on the cold marble floor, Valora Tusec instinctively said, "Master! Where are you!" As her eyes frantically darted around the room, she found the young Elizabeth Abraham on the floor in a near-death state. She quickly inspected her body and checked her pulse.
"Her pulse...is completely gone. Her heart isn't beating!"
She turned her head to the side and checked her temple. At the spot of her injury, a dark, liquid substance spread across her temple. Upon touching it, a violent, malevolent, dominant, insane aura radiated from Elizabeth. She instinctively retracted her hand, sensing the immediate danger. The wound on Elizabeth's temple miraculously stitched itself back together.
"Valora..." Elizabeth said with a labored voice. "Look in my back pocket...there is a USB drive containing the information about the identity theft operation. It's only a fraction of the total Karma, but it will do. Plug it into my computer and I'll print out the information to Derrick. We'll keep the rest of the file for later."
Elizabeth had prepared a virtual machine with no network capability or standard operating system to test the dangers of the Karma file. The USB might charge the capacitor and feedback a voltage to the USB, damaging the computer.
"Make sure you are not spotted on the way to his location. It will be quite dangerous."
"Yes Master Elizabeth, let's take care of your wounds first."
___
Derrick found himself perched on the edge of sleep, an open book covering his eyes as he sat on his bed. In the realms of his subconscious, hazy recollections of his regular teenage life flickered like frames of a fading film. Family dinners with plates of curry, prolonged sessions of video games with his older brother, and the moments of creative escape through doodles in the classroom – it was an existence painted with the comforting hues of simplicity.
Yet, the comforting scenes transmuted into disquieting nightmares. Raul and Rokka, two criminals who had been brutally executed before his very eyes, now lay shattered below him. An unseen force held his legs captive as he struggled to escape the macabre tableau. "It wasn't my fault! Let go and take responsibility!" Derrick's plea reverberated through the dream, his hands shaking off the ethereal restraints as he navigated through a disconcerting sea of dark sludge.
In the midst of this surreal struggle, a familiar mantra echoed from his lips, "I'll make the right choice. I'm sure this is it."
"Even if I'm guilty, I'll adhere to this path. No matter how long it takes, I'll see you all again. Just wait for me. I'm coming home."
Abruptly, Derrick jolted awake, the remnants of the nightmare still clinging to the edges of his consciousness. The rough touch of a book on his face brought him back to reality – the very book he had used as a makeshift sleep mask. The transition from the phantasmagoric visions to the tangible weight of the waking world left a lingering disorientation, as the boundaries between dreams and reality blurred in the lingering shadows of the night.
He removed the book covering his face and rubbed his eyes, the remnants of the unsettling dream still clinging to his thoughts.
"I keep waking up here. If only this were just a dream."
With a sigh, he prepared to face another day of investigations. Just as he was about to leave, a thin white letter caught his attention in front of his door. Curiosity piqued, Derrick picked up the mysterious letter, turning it over to check for any clues about the sender. In cursive, a name adorned the back of the letter.
[Elizabeth Abraham]
