As Akira watched, the creature's form shifted. Its tall, skinny shape shrank and curved. In just a few seconds, it had transformed into a stunningly beautiful woman with long, flowing hair and eyes that seemed to promise endless pleasure.

Then it changed again, becoming a strong, handsome man, and finally it blended the features of both.

"I can give you everything you desire," the Parasite purred, stepping out from the support beam, its wound seemingly forgotten. "I can see into your heart. I can be the one you truly crave."

The creature's form flickered rapidly now, cycling through faces Akira recognised. It became Mia, with her wide and obsessed eyes. Then it shifted into Rina, naked and blushing as she had been just an hour ago. It even flickered into Aoi, her face full of hidden desires.

"That jealous girl?" the Parasite whispered, stepping closer, its voice now a perfect imitation of Mia's. "The innocent one in your bed? The teacher who watches you from across the room? I can be all of them at once, Akira. I can be a harem of your own making, right here in the dark."

Akira clenched his teeth, feeling his ice shield start to crack as he struggled to concentrate. The pheromones were confusing him, and seeing those familiar faces reaching out made it hard to resist his instincts.

"Not... interested... in knockoffs," Akira spat, though his voice was hoarse.

"Are they knockoffs if they feel the same?" the creature asked, its form settling into a breathtakingly beautiful version of Mei Kasai, dressed in nothing but a translucent bathrobe. "Don't you want to feel me again, Akira-kun? Don't you want to see if I'm as tight as the real thing?"

It reached out a soft, shimmering hand toward his face.

"Darling, you're losing the battle of attrition!" Ai warned. "The toxin is building up. You need to end this now, or you'll become another cocoon on the ceiling!"

Akira felt his strength failing.

The ice weapons in his hands began to melt, the blue light flickering. The Parasite was too fast and too versatile, and the mental assault was more dangerous than the physical one.

Akira's vision was becoming blurry as the "Mei" figure moved closer. The smell of rotting lilies was overwhelming, sweet like a drug. He felt his knees give way beneath him. The pheromones were taking over; his heart raced, and a heavy, drugged warmth filled his veins.

"Why fight it, Akira-kun? You've worked so hard... you deserve to be taken care of."

Her soft, shimmering hand touched his cheek, and the contact sent a jolt of artificial pleasure through his nervous system, threatening to collapse his remaining defences.

"Akira! You're slipping!" Ai's voice was a distant scream. "If you let her kiss you, the parasitic bond will be permanent!"

As the creature's lips brushed against his, Akira caught a glimpse of his own reflection in its hollow, void-like pupils. He didn't see a hero or a monster. He saw the "Creep King" he used to be… weak, pushed around, and ignored.

A cold, sharp fury ignited in his gut.

"I'm not that person anymore," he thought, the words powered with the effect of his Aura of Dominance.

"I told you," Akira rasped, his eyes suddenly snapping open, glowing with a fierce, unnatural red light. "I don't like... knockoffs."

He didn't pull away.

Instead, he lunged forward, grabbing the "Mei" figure by the throat with a grip that crackled with frost. The creature's eyes widened in genuine shock as Akira's broke through the pheromone-induced fog.

"Siphon... FULL POWER!"

He didn't wait for an opening; he made one. He jammed his other hand, the one clutching the glowing dagger, straight into the centre of the beautiful woman's chest.

As the blade sank in, he unleashed the ice essence he'd absorbed from Shira, combined with his own raw power.

The Parasite let out a terrible scream, its two voices merging into a haunting wail. The pretty facade melted away like wax near a fire, revealing the thin monster underneath. The ice didn't just freeze the creature; it turned its life force into crystals.

"You... how...?" the monster wheezed.

"I've dealt with better than you," Akira growled.

He twisted the blade, and the creature burst apart. Instead of a messy explosion, it shattered into many crystal-like pieces. Grey, frozen fragments scattered all over the warehouse floor.

In the middle of the debris, a glowing deep-purple orb—the core of the Parasite—floated for a moment before Akira grabbed it from the air.

[ANOMALY ELIMINATED: THE HUSK]

[PARASITE CORE ACQUIRED]

[BONUS: WILLPOWER PERMANENTLY INCREASED (+5)]

[PP: 2715 + 400 → 3115]

The hum in the building died instantly.

High above, the translucent cocoons began to dissolve. The "mummified" victims began to drop from the ceiling as the membranes holding them vanished.

Akira moved with blurred speed, his enhanced physique allowing him to catch the falling bodies before they hit the hard concrete.

He gently laid a teenage boy down, then turned to catch an elderly woman. They were pale and unconscious, but the rhythmic rise and fall of their chests told him they were alive.

"Impressive. I was going to intervene, but it looks like you didn't need the help."

Akira quickly turned around with his dagger up, but he relaxed when he saw Ayaka leaning against a steel pillar in the shadows. She looked at him with real surprise, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Ayaka? How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to see you almost fall for a cheap parlor trick, and long enough to see you shatter a Beta-plus entity on your own," she said, stepping into the light. She looked at the bodies on the floor. "You moved fast. They'll live, though they'll have some hellish nightmares for a few weeks."

Akira wiped a smudge of green ichor from his cheek. "You followed me."

"Well, not immediately. I sensed the energy, and when I went to find you in your room, you were gone. So I tracked you down here. I couldn't let you get yourself killed before the basketball match," she teased, though her eyes remained serious.

She stepped closer, her voice dropping. "But we have to move. Now. You weren't the only one who felt that pulse."

"Darling, listen," Ai warned.

The quiet of the industrial area was suddenly broken by the screech of heavy tyres, followed by heavy coordinated footsteps and concentrated flashes of lights.

"This is the Special Phenomena Investigation Unit!" a loud voice announced through a megaphone. "Everyone, please identify yourselves! We have the perimeter cordoned off!"

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