Mind Demon's Path of Domination

The "Parasite" demonic trick allowed Mark to absorb the Mindpower of others through vines that grew out of his hand. Additionally, if the target has zero Mindpower, he could invade into their body, effectively using them as a protective shell or "second life" for himself.

He liked to call that Parasitic Invasion.

It was an interesting sub-ability of his demonic trick: Parasite.

As Hailen watched in horror, Mark's real body grew somewhat immaterial and Mark vanished into the other man's body like a ghost.

Hailen thrashed about, screaming hellishly. Choi Sung watched from the side with wide eyes.

Inside Hailen's mind, Mark and his Souls were combating each other for control over Hailen's body—and Mark, being a demon who devoured souls, easily dominated Hailen in no time.

Calmly, the effeminate young man's cold black eyes fluttered open and 'he' stood up.

Mark—controlling Hailen's body—groaned slightly and looked down at the broken road beneath him. There was a hamster there and it was looking at him with watery eyes. It had fell out of his original body's head.

Mark picked the hamster up and placed it atop his current, human head.

Parasiting over a Native body, he didn't have to worry about the World Will finding him anymore. He was the same as any other human.

But at the same time, Mark didn't really enjoy using Parasite to add the cover over his body, or he would have done this a long time ago.

For one, using a human as his Host suppressed most of Mark's senses—smell, taste, hearing, and similar. Other than that, using it also made Alchemy Shapeshifting impossible to use, since the activation of the demonic trick required him to touch things with his main body's palm.

Parasite Invasion on a human also slowed down his thought process significantly. A demon had a quicker head. But there were also benefits; he could take his wings in and out. He couldn't bring his main body's hand or some other body part out but he could bring out his wings.

Yuri had said before that his wings were a very unique material that was interacting somehow with gravity. Maybe that was the reason. He didn't really know as of yet.

Reol'ran blinked. "Well, your demon form suits you more. There is a sort of wrongness to you being human. I don't know why but it just irritates. Even though it is better that you are not a small giant now."

Mark sighed. "I don't give a heck about wrongness but yeah, I don't want to be in this form for long. I'd rather have a strong demonic body as my 'second life' instead. It would have better Resistances at least.

"And I don't plan to be around my women with another man's body; I hate that. Probably Dona would hate it too." He mused. "I'll find a way to get a storage ability so that I can store a lot of bodies with zero mindpower locked inside me. I will use them as my 'second lives' when a battle happens; quickly get into those bodies like warriors get into armor."

For example, Maki's Shadow Dimension ability had been able to store a Wind Demon Wolf and Seo Jin Hu's body inside it. Mark wanted exactly that kind of thing.

Reol'ran nodded, intrigued. "But storage abilities are somewhat rare. Parasite is a good power, though. Using it, you have two forms even without considering a collection of bodies in your storage. Your enemies would have to first defeat your weaker form to awaken your stronger form, it's a good ability with a lot of shock value.

If you could store a lot of bodies with '0' Mindpower with a storage ability, it will be even better since you would essentially be unkillable."

Mark nodded, excited.

"Actually, this is another hypothetical thought: If I learn to use Alchemy Shapeshifting to an impressive degree, maybe I can turn the Host I am parasitizing into an actual armor," he said. "I mean, if I could shapeshift this Hailen's body into armor or clothing over my main body with a touch without killing my Parasite-host-body, it would still serve as amazing armor. "

This was an idea that Mark had.

To use Alchemy Shapeshifting on the body he uses Parasite Invasion on, and turn it into an actual armor over his main body. A living body would die if it turned shape into an armor, but what if he could turn the shape of it in a way that the body wouldn't die but turn into an actual living armor instead?

Reol'ran raised her white eyebrows inside his soul space. "That's a long ordeal. To change a living being's form into armor without killing it would require you to know incredibly well about the life systems that support its life. But yeah, it doesn't seem impossible. Living Armor, indeed a queer idea.

"You will need to learn a lot for that to happen, though. You will have to contain all the organs and other such things of a living being inside the shape of an armor. Such things are likely going to die rather than survive, so your parasite-host dying would make your Parasite Invasion end. It must allow your main body its needed mobility, too."

Mark nodded. "It's just a hypotheses. We don't know what other abilities I will gain over the course of my life. This is just the start of my path."

"Indeed."

Mark clenched his human hand.

It just felt weaker.

He tried to use the Sacrificial Healing Hunter Ability that Hailen used to have. Indeed, it didn't work either. Parasite Invasion didn't give him the Host's ability.

He only had the body under control. And the body, as of now, hurt like hell.

Mark himself had given it a pretty good beating before he possessed it.

Curious, he raised his hand and punched the road beneath him with as much strength as he could muster. The place quaked and cracks expanded across the entire area. The road caved down quite a lot. His hand also hurt.

He could crush vehicles easily.

Mark nodded to himself and turned to stare at Choi Sung. Smiling, he used Heart Input. This was a good chance to plan more seeds of loyalty. The Hunter was in awe after all.

He whispered into the mind: "Mark is so versatile and capable, only if I follow Mark's footsteps like a slave do I have any chance of reviving my sister. And maybe, Mark is not a bad choice to be my sister's husband if I ever revive her. He is so strong, smart."

Choi Sung looked at him with awe. The Hunter gulped.

Mark looked at him. "What?"

"You… became a human?"

"My demon body is much better," Mark said, frowning. "I like to be a demon much more than a human, but this form is useful for some purposes for now."

Reol'ran shook her head inwardly. "How shameless can you be, Mark?"

"You can hear me when I whisper using Heart Input?" Mark asked with a straight face.

"I can because I share your Mindpower," she mind-smiled. "But yeah, I don't hate it. It's good to have confidence."

Mark coughed into his hand.

Choi Sung took a deep breath and threw a mobile phone at Mark.

"This was that guy's phone, it's glass cracked when you yanked the guy away. It had been ringing for a while, somebody is anxious to call."

Mark caught it and looked at the ringing screen (which had a small crack) with a grin.

The caller was saved as… Brother.

He answered the phone.

"Hailen, are you alright?" a rough voice asked.

Mark answered with Hailen's mouth, "Yes, brother, I am alright."

The A-Rank Brother!

"Come home, your brother is busy these days. Don't give me extra work."

"Okay, brother."

Cut.

The link got cut from the other side.

Choi Sung looked at Mark with some apprehension and forced a smile.

Reol'ran chuckled inwardly. "You are the best at the deception stuff. That's where your talent is at."

Mark stretched, thinking. Reol'ran was not wrong.

"I have talent in many things though. But its a pity that your body is trapped inside ice."

"My body is way stronger than you, you know that, right?"

Mark chuckled and started to walk.

The Parasite ability was indeed very weird. He felt like a battery cell inserted into a remote. But it was also an incredibly powerful ability at the same time for it to be ignored and not used. He could use that ability to possess the body of anyone who had (0) Mindpower as long as they didn't have a Resistance against Plant Poisons.

Moreover, after he became the Parasite, without killing this secondary body first, they couldn't even hurt his main body, not to mention kill it.

What could be a better armor than another body meat-shielding him?

Of course, it was not as practical as a normal defensive ability but it was good in a weird way. And the best part?

He could use it for camouflage. Like he was doing now.

"Choi Sung, bring the hamster with you. I am going on a short mission."

Mark could make his wings come out of his back but he didn't, he climbed into the jeep that the B-rank Hunter had come here in, asked Yuri for the location using Hailen's phone, and began driving.

Yuri knew about Mark's old puppet having had Parasite Ability, so she didn't need any more confirmation to understand that Mark had the ability now. She could now guess his plans.

She couldn't help but whistle at the thought.

"Mark, be safe out there."

"Of course."

And for the first time in months, he could walk in the open without needing Dona or the hamster with him.

His jeep blitzed through the silent highway.

And without the demonic night vision, the night was as dark as he remembered it.

"I am the strongest when I am alone," he said.

"You are not really alone, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."