"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." - Marcus Aurelius

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The rippling waves that seemed so soothing moments ago welcomed Alard with open deadly arms, the beautiful waves slamming into his body and with the assistance of the current created by the shockwave, pushing him under.

In his superhuman state, there was a chance he could stay afloat by sheer will thanks to his increased strength and stamina but Alard wasn't thinking of that. Instead, crippling fear gripped him, shutting off any thought processes that could lead to a solution.

He panicked soundlessly, sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean's greedy depths.

'Give me control,' a voice commanded from within. Immediately Alard felt a pressure on his mind.

It was as if his mindscape was a castle and the Parasyte had crossed the drawbridge and was now knocking at the door, demanding access to the inside.

Demanding control.

The Parasyte was sending Alard a life raft amidst his impending water grave, after all being able to swim would be the least impressive feat it was capable of. Yet, hesitation filled Alard's heart and he kept the gate door locked tight, mentally propping himself against it to keep out the Parasyte.

As much as he feared his current predicament, the prospect of giving the Parasyte total control was ten times worse. It would be like tearing off the last shred of humanity he desperately clung to.

He faced his death with the calmness that only someone who thought they had exercised all of their options could.

A solemn acceptance of fate.

His parent's faces flashed as he closed his eyes. They seemed disappointed, a matching frown on their faces. He had sold his soul and for what? To die in the ocean before he could make the Peacock leaders pay?

He had failed them. He had failed himself.

Just as he started to lose himself in the cruel darkness behind his eyelids, something gripped his collar and yanked him upward.

Alard opened his eyes in sweet exhilaration as he broke the water's surface, a pocket of warm air immediately blanketing his face. He gasped at his change of fate, his will to live resurfacing like he had, he started to fight against the current, desperately splashing around and betraying his lack of experience in the swimming department.

Again the hand gripped his collar and he felt himself getting tugged in a northern direction. Deciding that on this hand a better rate of survival lay than doing it himself, Alard went limp and allowed himself to be dragged.

Finally, Alard found footing with grateful feet and whirled to see his savior.

Hayaka.

Hayaka surveyed his face with a confused expression. "Why didn't you keep fighting when you fell in? We weren't far out from the island's shore, the current would've probably carried you there."

Alard turned away, unable to meet his eyes. "I don't know."

The sound of battle drew Alard away from the current disgust he felt at himself. A glance upshore showed that they were late to the party.

Jarek was locked in a fierce exchange with the man who had wrecked their boat. Their speeds were so great that Alard was only able to catch their identities thanks to the brief pauses when one side temporarily won their rally of blows.

They were on an entirely different level.

To their left, a much slower but still hard-hitting battle was ongoing with Kenneth and a tall man he hadn't seen before. Though he could actually follow their battle with his eyes, the power within each attack made the spars between Alard and Hayaka look like cat scratches in comparison.

"Wow," Alard breathed.

Hayaka moved forward with deliberate steps, motioning to his right. "Nessa's in trouble."

Alard followed his gaze and saw Nessa holding her own versus two opponents at once. One was a woman swinging around a chain and the other was an extremely agile short man.

She was doing a good job using her air ability to keep the chained user in check, but it was clearly proving hard doing any real damage with the nimble man constantly on the move. The balance was bound to be broken at any moment and not in Nessa's favor.

Hayaka rushed straight in, not bothering to think about advancing from a blindspot or any type of strategy for that matter, arrogantly believing in his speed. He reached the nimble man just as he slipped behind Nessa and seemed propped to attack. Alard could see the hunger in Hayaka's eyes as he grabbed at the man's neck from behind. The man ducked under his grasp at the last second, angling his crouch so that Hayaka's stomach smashed into his raised shoulder.

Hayaka fell on his back with a grunt and the man wasted no time mounting him, looking prepared for a good ol' superhuman ground and pound.

Not that Alard would allow it.

Alard, having taken a longer route to attack sideways from the man's blindspot, finally arrived. He aimed a flying kick at the man's head, sure that he wouldn't be spotted until it was too late.

Sure enough, the man's eyes flicked toward him just as Alard's foot was inches away from finding purchase in his cheek. In a show of extreme agility, however, the man raised his arms, making a makeshift guard as Alard's foot connected.

Even with the hastily thrown-up guard, Alard's attack sent the man sprawling off of Hayaka and sliding back quite a bit. Still, it didn't cause the damage Alard had been hoping.

Alard rushed toward the man, hoping to overpower him quickly. The man stood, cocking his head to the side and staring intently at Alard. Alard ignored the man's weird decision, focusing on getting in close. The man was incredibly nimble but he may be lacking in power and endurance.

As he closed the distance he glanced at the man's stare. His eyes were mesmerizing, they were the serpentine kind that he was getting used to, yet some purple tinge on his pupil made it colorful somehow.

His legs went to mush as his surroundings disappeared due to the intensity of the man's eyes. The sounds of fighting subsided and Alard thought he heard Hayaka shouting but he just couldn't focus on his words.

'Wake UP,' his parasyte commanded. The urgency in his usually neutral tone told Alard that something was very wrong.

He forced his eyes shut and then opened them again, just in time to see that the man had closed in. He tried to duck out of the man's path but it was far too late. The man's fist connected solidly with Alard's chest, causing a sickening cracking sound as Alard flew back a couple feet.

Shocking pain mushroomed throughout Alard's chest like wildfire, causing him to moan weakly as he turned on his side. Hayaka must have stepped in because no follow-up attack came but Alard could hardly summon a feeling of gratefulness in his current agony.

'How weak must you be mentally to be hypnotized by such a weakling?' The parasyte mocked.

The current pain made Alard's patience wear thin. 'How weak must you be literally to be trapped inside someone able to be hypnotized by what you consider a weakling?' Alard shot back.

It was the first time he had answered back to one of the Parasyte's insults, which had been frequent during his sparring. He had always been too scared before, but in this moment he couldn't care less.

The parasyte surprisingly didn't respond at all, leaving Alard to focus on his aching chest instead. Thankfully, the pain was subsiding which was a good sign that his healing factor was still functioning.

He managed to angle his head to see Hayaka fighting the man. He was actually holding his own more or less, though the man had clearly gotten some shots in on him judging by some bloody spots on Hayaka's body.

Alard stood up as the pain reached a tolerable volume, preparing to rejoin the battle when someone grabbed his collar, locking him in place.

He really needed to cut off that collar or something.

"Easy there tiger," he recognized Nessa's voice, "I have a more important task for you."

"But Hayaka's fighting alone," He complained, turning around. Again she seemed untouched but strangely tired, with her breathing sounding like thunder with his superhuman hearing. Looking past her he could see a big dust cloud which he guessed was where the girl she had been fighting temporarily laid.

She released him and nodded. "Kenneth!"

Kenneth seemed quite busy fighting his tall attacker but upon hearing her shout, feinted a punch at his foe's face then slunk low into a powerful body shot which he followed up with a spinning roundhouse kick to the man's head.

"Yeah?" He replied, glancing in their direction.

Alard got a distinct impression that Kenneth could easily overpower the man anytime he wanted but was enjoying himself instead. The wild look in his eyes all but confirmed it.

Nessa pointed in Hayaka's direction. "Our rookie number two needs help."

Kenneth sighed, taking the mummy he carried off of his back. In one smooth motion, he unwrapped it, revealing a life-sized female figurine.

"What the hell is that?" Alard asked.

"Kenneth's ability allows him to control an inanimate object by attaching his lifeline to it, and to answer your question; that my friend, is a life-sized doll for the male species."

Alard raised an innocent eyebrow. "So...like a large barbie for boys?"

"No, Alard. Like a sex doll."

Alard's mouth dropped open as the sex doll in question moved at a blistering speed toward the Hayaka fight. It announced its presence by dispatching the unsuspecting man with a kick to his ribs.

It sure looked like it was made out of plastic but judging by the man's reaction it didn't feel like it at all.

"Anyway," Nessa said calmly as if they hadn't just witnessed a sex doll attack a Parasyte user, "I need you to go to the tower with Aura to free the hostages."

Alard followed her gaze to see the redhead standing a distance off. She seemed unbothered by the carnage all around her, especially Jarek's battle which was beginning to leave craters on the earth's surface.

"Why can't she go alone?" Alard asked, his interest now taken up completely by Jarek's breathtaking fight.

"Because this isn't their full group. There's likely more inside the tower with the hostages so she will need assistance."

Alard sighed deeply but followed his given instructions. Hayaka, with the help of the sex doll, now had the upper hand on Mr.Nimble.

All around battles raged on, with the chain-throwing girl reappearing and attempting to take Nessa by surprise. It felt wrong turning his back on them but he needed to complete the objective.

He followed Aura who wordlessly ran toward the tower which stood more central on the small island. She certainly wasn't the talkative type but he saw rare emotion in her gaze as they neared the tower.

Her brows were knitted together in determination.

Finally, they reached the base of the lighthouse tower and noticed a figure propping against its base with his eyes shut.

Aura motioned for Alard to be quiet and approached the man. Alard marveled at how not a peek could be heard from her steps despite his superhuman hearing.

She flicked her hand, a dagger suddenly appearing in her palm ready for use. As she raised it the man's eyes opened and a smile adorned his hard features.

"B for effort, A for execution, but a C for precision." He rattled off.

Aura cursed at her stealth failure but still brought down her dagger in a blur of an attack. The man sidestepped the attack, lashing out with lightning-quickness which Aura thankfully managed to dodge.

She hopped back to stand in line with Alard, sparing him a glance. "He's strong but we should be able to take him. Let's not waste any more time."

She had an accent that he vaguely remembered hearing on TV but couldn't currently place.

Alard nodded in response, taking up a boxer's stance.

He hadn't done anything except get his ass handed to him this far but he was determined to change that. Seeing the rest of the team fighting had motivated him and now he was practically floating in anticipation as he sized up the heavily muscled man.

"Let's do it."

Cinco

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