Chapter 289: Vaelira’s Swift Decision
The Countess’s words were still dripping into the air when another sound cut through them, a scream.
It was Leon.
They turned just in time to see him crumple to his knees.
His back arched unnaturally, every muscle in his body straining against itself as if some unseen force were trying to rip him apart from the inside.
Dark veins erupted across his neck and face, pulsing in time with the Countess’s glowing Heart. His eyes rolled back, the whites flooding with inky black until no color remained.
"Leon!" Sasha’s cry sounded as she moved to him, only to freeze when his head snapped toward her. An expression twisted across his face that didn’t belong to him. His lips peeled back in a snarl, and when he spoke, it wasn’t his voice.
"Finally... Took way too long."
The parasite’s tone was outright triumphant.
Bastet’s eyes narrowed. "It’s feeding off the artifact’s pulse."
The Countess laughed. "I can feel it. Such a good little invader, so eager to join my family." She tilted her head toward Leon. "He’ll make a fine addition once it finishes hollowing him out."
Leon’s body convulsed, his breath coming in ragged, animalistic bursts. The parasite was no longer whispering but pushing, pouring its will through every fiber of his being.
The shape of his silhouette warped, as if the thing inside were testing the limits of his bones. His fingers ended in hooked talons now, and a thin trail of drool laced with black ichor dripped from his mouth.