Thanks for the Invitation, I'm on Terra, and I'm a Parasite: Clothing and Zuo Jian

[It tried to spread through your body, then I absorbed it.]

[The taste you experienced was what I felt when I absorbed it, so don't be so shocked. Honestly, it'd probably taste disgusting if you drank this stuff directly.]

"Uh... you mean... wait, absorbed?"

Laurentina seemed to have realized something.

[Yes, absorbed. That word generally describes the intake of nutrients.]

"You can... absorb something like Originium?"

She looked at Zuo Jian as though she were looking at an alien.

"Won't it affect you?"

[Not at all! It even feels kind of refreshing!]

[In other words, if I weren't here, the reason your strength weakened would be the liquid substance called Originium they'd injected into you.]

[But now that I'm here, the reason your strength is weakening is that those guys simply haven't injected enough Originium!]

[This body needs a tremendous amount of energy, but given the current situation, replenishing it by eating food isn't really possible.]

"So as long as those bastards increase the dosage, I can tear this place apart and slaughter every last one of them, right?"

Laurentina revealed a cruel smile.

"Sir, what is it?"

Amaya entered a concealed room and asked the man inside.

In the candlelight, the report in his hand looked as though it had been sprinkled with dancing blood.

"Strange. Why is this happening?"

The man addressed as Sir handed the documents to Amaya.

"This is..."

"The test subject's condition."

"The current dose of high-concentration liquid Originium is already nearly enough to infect everyone in an entire village."

"Yet there isn't even the slightest trace of an Originium outline within the test subject's body."

"Ahahaha, interesting! What a rare constitution!"

"In a few days, bring over an even higher concentration of liquid Originium. I want to see just how long her body can endure it."

Zuo Jian and Clothing

Moonlight spilled down, making the crimson earth gleam.

Drip. Drip.

Zuo Jian walked across the boundless land, his feet sending ripples through puddles of blood.

Amaya passed through the damp cellar, looking at the iron cages around her that occasionally emitted mournful sounds.

Inhuman bodies mixed with black Originium crystals tormented one sallow, emaciated child after another.

She looked at those children, at the bizarre limbs twisted together from Originium crystals and Seaborn infection.

Their frail bodies seemed to have become a chessboard for those two forces to fight upon.

No matter which side won, it had nothing to do with whether they survived.

"What a waste. These little brats can't accept His gift. It seems the degree of acceptance for assimilation doesn't change with age."

The Abyssal bishop, his body hidden beneath robes, came to Amaya's side and spoke with slight regret.

"Bishop Quintus, your deduction failed. Because of that, we even alerted the Inquisition and the Defense Force."

"So what? Are you saying it wasn't worth it? Even failure means we've taken another step closer to that grand goal!"

Quintus turned his head and looked at Amaya in confusion, as if the lives of dozens of children were merely incidental losses in this great experiment.

"...No, you're right."

Amaya raised her head and looked at the locked door in the distance.

At the end of the day, he was only a madman excessively intoxicated by the fantasy world he had woven for himself.

And the "god" he had desperately tried to approach understood none of this even more.

How pathetic.

She looked at the children in the cages, then at Quintus, who continued muttering to himself nearby.

How pathetic.

This was humanity.

"Right, right, right! The high-concentration Originium fluid Sir wanted has arrived! It took quite some effort to bribe those Inquisitors!"

"Good, good. The new experiment will begin shortly. Amaya, you're looking forward to it too, aren't you? Seeing how much longer that defective product made by the Aegir can last?!"

"You... really hate that Abyssal Hunter?"

Amaya narrowed her eyes at Quintus, whose hatred seemed ready to seep through the strips of cloth wrapped around his face.

"Why shouldn't I hate them? Those defective products are nothing but trash that can't comprehend the greatness of the gods! Trash! Useless trash! So why do they get to move about freely by relying on the gods' gifts?!"

"They're filthy thieves! They stole the gods' great power, yet not only do they fail to respect Them, they even raise their blades against Them!"

"Stupid! Filthy! Shameless thieves!"

Quintus stared with bloodshot eyes at the locked room in the distance.

That was where Laurentina was imprisoned.

"Is that so? Defective products."

Amaya glanced at Quintus, then at the struggling children collapsed on the ground behind her.

Then what kind of creature could truly be called perfect?

She thought it, but didn't say it aloud.

She knew the answer, but she didn't want to hear Quintus recite it.

"I'll go prepare the experimental equipment first. I'll be leaving ahead of you, Bishop Quintus."

After speaking, Amaya gave the bishop standing there, still cursing the Abyssal Hunters, a slightly pitying look.

Defective products... was it?

.

[Laurentina, I found something incredible!]

Alone in a cage within a separate room.

Zuo Jian eagerly controlled Laurentina's left hand while opening an eye in her palm to look at her.

"Oh? What did you discover, my dear Mr. Left Hand?"

Laurentina crouched in the corner and replied with interest.

Three days had passed since their first meeting.

Over those three days, Laurentina had clearly felt her condition recovering.

Not because of any change in her constitution, but purely because she now had someone she could communicate with.

Compared to unending pain, bottomless loneliness could drive someone insane more easily.

Laurentina was fortunate that, just as she was about to be driven mad, she had encountered someone she could talk to.

Besides, he was quite an interesting fellow.

[Laurentina, I was thinking earlier. Since flesh and blood can be used to construct weapons, doesn't that mean that, without changing its form—]

As he spoke, Laurentina saw her forearm begin to change color and layer over itself as though paint had been poured over it.

Then, fabric-like structures grew from her skin and began spreading from her left hand to cover her entire body.

Before long, Laurentina's old clothes—more like rags, which she hadn't changed in nearly a month—had disappeared.

In their place was an extraordinarily exaggerated outfit.

The upper half resembled portable hunting attire one would wear only while hunting, while the lower half was cleverly joined to a flamboyant skirt.

Deep-blue satin ribbons bloomed amid the black fabric.

The blue crystal brooch at the collar added an air of nobility.

"Wow..."

This time, Laurentina was a little surprised.

More than Zuo Jian's unusual ability, she was surprised by his design sense.

Even Aegir's designers couldn't naturally combine two clothing styles into a single garment so seamlessly.

Much less make the finished product not only harmonious, but striking.

"I never expected you to have such good taste, Mr. Left Hand. Were you a fashion designer before?"

[No, I was an artist for a gacha game.]

[Designing unreasonable outfits that still create a visual impact is one of my specialties.]

[Since these count as extended limbs, they can basically ignore weight and structural layering. Everything serves the visual effect.]

[And more importantly—]

The blue crystal brooch on Laurentina's chest suddenly stretched out, then moved before her eyes.

Only then did she realize that the blue crystal was actually Zuo Jian's eye.

[Laurentina! Girls can't just wear clothes like this! We're hiding our strength right now, but if we manage to escape later...]

[Are you planning to parade around in those rags?]

"Huh? You worry about things like that? When the time comes, can't I just take some nun clothes from their church?"

[What?!]

Zuo Jian's voice was so loud that Laurentina instinctively covered her ears.

The skirt of the dress seemed to come alive, transforming into two large hands that circled around and settled on Laurentina's shoulders from the front.

[Laurentina, my dear Laurentina, don't you know that girls shouldn't casually accept food from others when they're out, shouldn't get into strangers' cars, and shouldn't casually wear strangers' clothes, shoes, hats, or any other clothing?]

"Ugh, you're so annoying. You sound just like the captain."

[Then your captain must be someone who cares about you deeply, which means you should remember it even more!]

"Yeah, the captain..."

Laurentina suddenly recalled the elegant figure carrying a long lance.

"...She treated me very well."

A trace of nearly imperceptible sorrow appeared in her ruby-like eyes.

Had Aegir already fallen?

Did the killer whales of Squad Three succeed?

And Captain Two...

[After we get out of here, go find your companions.]

At that moment, the skirt seemed to possess life, resting on her head like an arm.

[What's wrong? From the look on your face, don't tell me your captain is such a loser that her own squad members have to worry about her?]