Festering Desire

Jean was able to acquire consent from the hospital through her connections and using her authority. Hence, under the divine mandate of the state, Leo was to thoroughly examine the patients one by one. The Yoma seemed to have a wide variety of taste for its target; which of course, were all beautiful girls from different age groups, ranging from youthful high school students to mature housewives.

Each of them was splendidly tied up by the diligent nurse in bondage, with unique arrangements depending on their body builds. Spectacularly, the female patients were all bound into a position that maximized their sexual appeal.

A fearsome skill indeed. That was the consensus of all witnesses.

With pure and righteous intentions, Leo feasted his eyes on the women's lascivious bodies and touched their womanly parts to investigate the presence of Yoma. All of the while with Lilith, his unofficial girlfriend, watching from the back. Yet, instead of getting jealous, Lilith smirkingly asked the boy in whisper how their bodies compared to hers.

"Of course, none of them looked remotely as appealing as you, Lilith." With a straight face, Leo whispered his honest thoughts back to the girl.

The succubus had a delightful smile on her face. There was no contest when compared to an erotic demon whose body was built for sex, but it was pleasant to hear the obvious truth from Leo nonetheless.

At last, they arrived at the room of the final patient. She was a long blonde-haired college student in her early twenties. The nurse claimed she was the first identified victim of this particular case. Surprisingly, the girl did not suffer the same fate of being tied up in bondage. Why was she spared from the nurse's ill hobby? The group wondered.

"Well, this patient only exhibited the symptom for a day or so when she first arrived. Now she is just completely calm, but barely speaks. Weirdly enough, spiritual signatures are still detected on her, so we can't exactly let her go." The nurse explained.

There was a young man sitting next to the bed, feeding the patient slices of apple by delivering them to her mouth. He was the patient's boyfriend according to the nurse. Strange as it may seem, the girl was mostly unresponsive to her surroundings; she would only open her mouth until the apple slices touched her lips.

"Just when can my girlfriend be discharged? I know she is still recovering, but I can take care of her myself!" After feeding the last slice of apple, the boyfriend stood up and protested against the nurse.

"Uhm, I am sorry sir. I can't make such a decision on behalf of the doctors. Only they can discharge your girlfriend." It wasn't the first time the nurse had to make the same remark.

Jean sneaked a glance at Leo, asking him if he noticed any suspicious spiritual signatures from the patient. Leo shook his head, but suggested he needed further examination. He whispered some words into Jean's ear.

"Well, Mister. Would you give us a moment alone to diagnose your girlfriend? We have new findings recently. If we can remove the spiritual signature from her then she can be discharged right away." Jean stepped forward and interjected.

"Fine, I will take a restroom break." The boyfriend was disgruntled.

"Now is your chance, Leo." Jean said.

Leo circled around the patient under the gaze of her emotionless eyes. She was somehow responsive to his presence; not even her boyfriend received such treatment. Then, the boy grabbed the woman's chin and spread open her mouth with a few fingers, yet her expression remained nonexistent and her reaction was dull.

He pulled out her tongue, which surprisingly, extended way beyond the length of average human's. It was even longer than the bewitching demon tongue of Lilith in her succubus form.

"It seems like this Yoma has already seized a good proportion of this lady. Her body is starting to physically change." Leo concluded.

"No way, how come we couldn't detect a stronger signature?" The nurse exclaimed.

"There are too many ways to fool such a crude device. Especially during the day, where several kinds of spirits are dormant." The boy displayed his expertise.

"Is it possible to save her? If not, then..." Jean stopped her words and glanced gloomily at Leo.

A human being deformed by Yoma. Such cases were rare and there was only one method of treatment to those who cannot lift the spell. Jean's organization happened to be the main handler of these kinds of victims. The government simply cannot risk the adverse consequences of allowing a supernatural being to take control of humans.

"Maybe, I can give it a try." Before her boyfriend comes back though, Leo thought.

Without further of due, Leo proceeded to prepare his hand for a sticky and swampy thirty seconds in and out adventure. Jean and the nurse kindly helped the woman spread out her two legs by lifting them up with one on each side. Lilith even cheekily spread open the pinkish flower with her fingers. Yet, despite all these, the girl continued to stare at the boy with expressionless eyes.

With the entrance to the monster dent exposed, the boy bravely ventured in. Burrowing through the baleful crypt, there was a powerful suction biting down on his limb. The walls of the dark tunnel began to heavily contract, tightening around the intrusive arm. If it weren't for Leo's strong physical constitution, his bones might have been crushed inside from the immense pressure. He was unable to bulge an inch further, but also had difficulty in pulling out.

A foul sort of energy began to conjure and tried to break through the barrier guarding his arm. Droplets of sweat were forming on the boy's forehead. It was a fierce battle of Anima inside of the woman's sanctuary. Any misstep in maintaining his Anima barrier, his life force might be consumed by the creature inside. At the end, Leo had to forcibly pull back and came out empty handed, with only a thin layer of clear nectar on his arm to show for.

"As I thought, it's too difficult to challenge that thing in its home turf." Leo muttered.

"So, you weren't able to." Jean replied in a dark mood.

"We will try again at night. I have another plan...that involves a bit of luck."

There was some excitement on Leo's face. It seemed the Yoma planted inside the woman somehow grew stronger than the host spirit which he already consumed. An awful long time had passed since he met a spiritual entity as powerful as this one. The boy secretly drooled at the thought of how much that thing can fill up his stomach.

Not wanting to give up his buffet, Leo asked Lilith and Yuri to head back while he stayed with Jean to plan for tonight's event. The nurse was left to argue with the boyfriend again over the woman's discharge.

------------------------------------------

It was near midnight at the hospital security room. Jean and Leo sat idly waiting in front of the monitor while enjoying a few cups of tea. The boy's performance today further intrigued the female agent. From what she surmised; Leo could be some sort of special existence from that particular island.

Being the professional human resource management for her current division, the female agent took this opportunity to get to know the boy better. She explained the concept of her organization and then planted the idea that he was the talent that the country needed.

"By the way, I know you are an exorcist from the government, but who exactly are you?" Leo suddenly asked.

"What do you mean? I am Jean Valentine, a certified agent from the department of homeland defense." Jean raised her eyebrow.

"I saw you a few times around my neighborhood recently, and you seemed to know me." Leo showed a face that can't be fooled.

'Ah, I was caught.' Jean thought in her mind, but did not fluster and made up a plausible explanation on the spot.

"I am an acquaintance of Anna. She gave me the permission to scout you for my team. My intentions should be obvious by now." The female agent felt no shame in achieving her goal.

It was a surprise to know she was related to Anna and Leo decided to believe the woman for now. There were still many questions the boy wanted to ask, but finally, they spotted the signs of Yoma's movement through the monitor.

Back in the patient's room, the clock hit twelve at midnight. The blonde-haired woman slowly opened her eyes and spread open her legs. A menacing existence was conjuring inside of her womb. From the entrance of her flower, limb-like appendages gruesomely crawled out. They painfully stretched the pinkish flower gap as it forced more of deformed mass out of the woman's womb.

Eventually, the figure of a shriveled monster was birthed out of her crotch then quickly inflated into full size. The agony of that thing exiting her flower was probably no less than child labor. However, there were no cries of pain; the splattered blood from the overstretched flower dissipated while the wounds on her skin quickly healed.

The creature had taken a similar shape to the woman it possessed. With four limbs and a head, but had tree-like stems being the main bulk of its body. It quietly faded into the shadows to hunt for its prey. Abiding by its instinct, the taste of pristine Anima it savored earlier during the day was tempting the creature into taking an unknown risk.

Back at the monitor, although the camera could not capture the existence of the spiritual entity, the boy had a grin on his lips.

"Let's go, that thing has taken the bait."