Thanks for asking, I'm in Terra, and I'm a parasite — Chapter 9

Back when she was in the sea, he had possessed her dying body, allowing her to drift ashore alive.

Although all those things had happened in between, after waking up, he had helped her at every turn and pulled her mind back from the brink of collapse.

In a sense, he had saved her twice.

What's more...

Promise me, don't hurt yourself so casually.

"What a pain..."

Laurentina stood where she was and tossed aside the believer's weapon she had just picked up.

"She threw away her weapon!"

"Watch out, it could be a trick!"

"What are you waiting for?! She killed the sir! She killed the sir!"

Quintus shoved his way out from among the believers and shouted at Laurentina.

"Catch her! We absolutely cannot let her leave so easily!!!"

He shouted himself nearly hoarse.

"But, Bishop, we can't hold her down."

"Then chop off her arms and legs! She doesn't need those things anyway! Yes! That's what we should do! Cut off her arms and legs! Defective products like them don't deserve limbs at all!"

Laurentina quietly watched the frantic Quintus as if he were a rabid dog.

Sure enough, the lunatics of the Church of the Deep were beyond saving.

Squelch!

As she pondered, two black bolts fitted with syringe-like devices pierced deep into her knees.

"We've suppressed her!"

"Quick! Move in!"

Ah, so her first prison break was going to end like this.

Still, thinking of how the doctor who had operated on her had already been chopped into two pieces, Laurentina felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

Well, at least she hadn't lost out, right?

Squelch!!!

A sharp greatsword hacked into Laurentina's left shoulder, spraying blood.

"That's it! That's it! Keep cutting! Chop off her arms and legs."

Quintus kept urging them on as more believers raised their weapons and closed in on Laurentina.

"Why is it that, when facing kin with the same blood and the same appearance, you can treat them as aliens? Inhuman experiments, cruel methods of killing..."

"Why? Even if you gave me a swift death, I could at least believe you possessed the most basic human decency."

A hoarse female voice came from Laurentina, reaching Quintus's ears.

At that, he roared in fury.

"Shut up! What right do you have to call yourself kin? You're nothing but thieves who stole the greatness of the gods! Defective products!"

"We are the chosen believers! Your very existence is blasphemy against the gods!"

Quintus furiously refuted her words.

"Oh, that. I know you're angry, but sorry, the one speaking isn't me."

Laurentina smiled and glanced at the eye slowly opening amid the Sapphire ribbon on her chest.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Left Hand. Did you sleep well?"

I'm sorry.

As Zuo Jian's voice fell, the surrounding believers froze.

Their weapons seemed to have struck solid rock, unable to move an inch.

Then Laurentina's skirt swept out like the tail of a beast, sending all those believers flying with a howl through the air!

"Her clothes... are alive??"

The remaining believers stood rooted in place, staring at Laurentina as she slowly rose.

Her wounds began healing rapidly, and the arrowheads inside her body were directly forced out.

"Still, I ran out before all the high-concentration Originium Solution had been absorbed—"

No, it's enough.

"Oh?" Laurentina froze, then remembered something.

She lowered her head and looked at the two expelled arrowheads on the ground, each still fitted with a syringe mechanism.

Then she recalled what they had just said: They had suppressed her.

"Heh—"

"This really is..."

"Enough to make one laugh bitterly, isn't it, Zuo Jian?"

Laurentina, what are you planning to do next?

Zuo Jian looked at the several corpses lying on the ground and realized Laurentina had done this.

Was that so? To her, was killing the means to solve everything?

Then again... for these people, only death could bring an end.

"Not used to it?"

Whoosh!

A layer of hard claws and armor-like plating formed over Laurentina's left arm.

At the same time, a massive circular saw formed in the center of her right palm.

Sorry, I can't stand scenes that are too gruesome.

"So?"

I've closed my eyes. If you need anything, or want any weapon, just call out.

"What the hell have you been muttering about this whole time?! So you really are a defective product?!!"

"Get her! She's just putting on a front! Don't forget, she doesn't have much strength left!"

Quintus interrupted Laurentina and Zuo Jian's exchange, shouting at the believers under his command.

"Oh? You've closed your eyes?"

"It's all right, my dear Mr. Left Hand. Would you like to dance with me?"

"You don't need to open your eyes. I'll be a good dance partner~"

Laurentina extended her left hand, as though inviting the believers rushing toward her.

Tap.

A whole sensation seemed to come from her left hand, yet there was nothing there.

How sly. Someone like me has never accepted an invitation from a girl before. How could I refuse?

"Is that so? Then I'm honored to be your first dance partner~"

Laurentina revealed a bewitching, bloodthirsty smile. Then, as if taking hold of an invisible partner, she gripped the enormous circular saw and began a predator's dance from the deep, dark sea.

The hunter's dance. It had been too long.

The flesh-powered circular saw unleashed an unparalleled rotation speed! Her elegant movements became the climax of this performance.

(I didn't get Blacknight, I didn't get Blacknight, I didn't get Blacknight!!!!!)

(It's fine. It's fine. Having Sharky is enough for me, sob sob sob.)

The curtain falls, transformation begins

Blood, screams, and the shrieking howl of saw teeth cutting through the air.

As Laurentina danced as though she were linked arm-in-arm with an invisible hand, they formed a painting-like backdrop around her.

But Zuo Jian did not like such a cruel and bloody sight.

Yet everything Laurentina had gone through made him understand that the believers before her could no longer be judged by ordinary standards.

He had no right to criticize her, nor any right to pity them.

The one with the right to choose was Laurentina.

And he would respect Laurentina's choice.

He shut out the sounds from the outside world.

He closed that azure-blue eye.

Everything outside drifted away from him.

At this moment, it truly felt as though he were dancing with a beautiful lady.

"Ahhh—"

A believer who had lost an arm lay on the ground, howling in agony, but the companions around him seemed not to care.

Their eyes bloodshot, they charged forward as though they could not see the casualties from before.

Now surrounded, Laurentina closed her eyes as though she truly could see her dance partner.

She reached out and placed her hand in the empty air.

As though she had truly taken Zuo Jian's hand.

"Thank you, Zuo Jian."

Why are you thanking me?

"Because it's been a long time since I had a dance partner to dance with."

As she spoke, Laurentina lowered the long saw in her hand and began to focus entirely on her steps.

"I'm very happy, you know~"

Is that so.

"But it should end here."

Her steps paused, as though her dance partner had supported her, raised her arm, and spun her around.

"This is the finale."

As she spoke, she spun into the group of fanatics at the front.

Swish!

At that very moment, Laurentina's skirt bloomed like a flower.

Except its edges transformed into layers of hard, sharp blades.

As she spun in dance, the blades of her skirt danced with her.

Squelch!

Squelch!

The incomparably sharp edges sliced through the lunatics rushing forward in a frenzy as easily as cutting tofu, like blossoming blood-red roses.

Hah, is it over?

Zuo Jian opened his eyes and found Laurentina gently stroking the Sapphire on her chest with a hand streaked with blood.