[ Chapter 5 - Control ]

The cold enveloped Denma, the darkness numbed his mind.

Denma felt sleepy, but cold enough to not fall asleep.

Consciousness fading in and out, but not managing to come to a decision.

Denma, slowly opened his eyes inside of his consciousness.

[ Denma ] "Ugh."

Denma groaned, feeling the headache he once felt when overworking himself.

[ Denma ] "What is this place?"

Denma wondered, confronted by a void of emptiness.

[ Denma ] "What, happened to me?"

Denma looked down, down at his hands and saw...

[ Denma ] "Wait, wait, wait no, no, no!"

Panic surged through Denma as he beheld his hands, reduced to bones devoid of flesh, blood, or skin.

All that was left, was bone.

[ Denma ] "Am I alive or am I dead?"

Denma checked his whole body hastily, he checked his: feet, torso, back and arms.

[ Denma ] "Now, for one and final test."

Denma somehow felt sweat drip down his forehead on to his cheeks.

Denma lifted up his right arm and put up his thumb.

He slowly and cautiously tried to shove the thumb into his eye.

The thumb neared the eye, but Denma, stood his ground.

The thumb blocked Denma's right side of the vision, he did not stop pushing the thumb into his skull.

[ Denma ] "What the hell, how can I see if I don't have any eyes!"

Denma was shocked at this body's specialness, he could not help, but smile.

Denma took out the thumb from his right eye and put the hand down.

[ Denma ] "Wait, if my body is that of a human skelet-, no, wait, human?"

Denma quickly realized that when he checked his torso, it seemed... Irregular.

[ Denma ] "Let me count the ribs."

Denma glanced down, to his torso and started counting.

[ Denma ] "two, six, twelve, sixteen, twenty-three..."

Denma quickly realized...

[ Denma ] "Twenty-eight..."

That his body...

[ Denma ] "The other worlder's physique!"

Has changed to an otherworlder's body structure.

[ ??? ] "Welcome back, host, kehehehe!"

A voice came from above Denma's current position.

Denma took a hurried glance at what's above him, but soon enough, he regretted it.

Denma only saw an eye, just an eye staring, from above, a giant eye, one that rivals the gods, the same being that seemed like a god, sounded strangely familiar to Denma.

Denma stood in horror, afraid of the intimidation caused by the eye that stared.

[ ??? ] "How was your sleep, host?"

The voice tried to hold in it's laughter at the pitiful human, who did not resemble a human, at all.

[ Denma ] "Wait, that voice!"

Denma remembered who this voice belonged to.

[ lich ] "Aw, did you forget me while you were asleep, kehehehe."

The giant eye split into many small eyeballs that surrounded Denma, and as he noticed the bottom eyelid lifted, it appeared as if they were having fun.

[ Denma ] "What did you do to my body!"

Denma's voice trembled with anger as he shouted at the lich, furious that his body's structure had transformed into that of an otherworlder.

[ lich ] "More accurately speaking, it's my body now, kehehehe!"

The eyeballs that surrounded Denma let out a tear of joy.

[ Denma ] "Then why am I still here?"

Denma was confused by the lich's goal.

[ lich ] "Confused, are we now, kehehehe!"

The lich spoke in an arrogant voice, the eyeballs flew around Denma at a constant slow speed.

Denma got frustrated so he clenched his teeth and his boney hands.

[ lich ] "I am keeping you deep in the body, don't worry, there is no way you can retake this body, at least, not anymore, kehehehe!"

The eyeballs that surrounded Denma quickly piled up on one another in front of Denma and formed a body."

Denma dared not to speak, as for he did not want to anger the lich and risk his life for no reason.

The eyeballs finished forming the lich's body, the lich was as always, a giant body that resembled a humans, but truthfully speaking, superior to a humans body.

[ lich ] "Do you really want to know?"

The lich's voice dropped to a deeper and more ominous tone, instilling a sense of seriousness.

Denma was shaken by the lich's sudden change that he stood up straight and felt a cold shiver travel down his spine.

[ Denma ] "I do!"

Denma put on a serious look while hiding his trembling hands behind his back.

The lich kept staring at him, not moving, not speaking, not examining, just kept looking into Denma's eyes.

[ lich ] "Alright, I will show you my goal, I will give you temporary control of 'my' body."

The lich lifted his head towards the sky.

Denma was confused, he saw his body slowly forming, while the lich's body become like Denma's.

Before blacking out, Denma saw the lich crack a smile while looking at the sky.

[ lich ] "Kehehehe, enjoy the scene I will gift you!"

The lich quietly blurted out to Denma, who could not understand these words.

The darkness once again enveloped Denma's sight.

Denma did not feel cold, but instead, felt...

[ Denma ] It's warm.

Denma unknowingly spoke out with his eyes closed, feeling the breeze of the wind.

[ Denma ] Warmth and wind?

Denma quickly opened his eyes and saw both of his hands extended and what lied at the end made Denma regret opening his eyes.

[ Denma ] W-w-w-wait, w-w-what I-Is this!

Denma held a human, a hunter by the neck with both arms.

Denma looked down, realizing that his body felt warm due to the recently splattered blood covering his bones and black robe.

Denma looked at the hunters eyes, the hunter, barely conscious.

[ Male hunter ] *Cough* B-b-bastard *Bloody cough*, ugh, I will end-

The hunter passed out from blood loss.

Denma shook as he has never shaken before.

He let go of the warm corpse and stared at his hands in disbelief.

[ Denma ] W-what is this, what did I do?

Denma let out a bloody tear from his eye socket while he starred up at the sky with his hands lifted.

[ lich ] "Kehehehehehe!"

The lich enjoyed human emotion; imitating it by observing how others displayed their emotions. Its favorite emotions were desperation, anger, and sadness.

[ lich ] "Did you like my present?"

The lich didn't stop laughing inside Denma's head which drove him crazy.

[ Denma ] Aaah!

Denma clutched his skull, collapsing to his knees and wailing like a child, blood tears streaming down his face.

[ lich ] Kehehehehe!

That made lich only laugh more at the ungodly sight of Denma crying like a child before mommy.

Denma's vision tinged with red as he registered the encroaching undead horde.

Denma swayed his right arm at the undead, the arm he swayed with had power of the lich.

[ Denma ] Leave me alone!

Denma screamed with the sway of his hand.

The sway of his hand created a big mana wave which cleaved down most of the undead into smithereens.

Denma quickly froze after that action.

[ lich ] "Kehehe, that was fun to watch, but sadly, you're getting used to 'my' powers too quickly, it's time to be rid off you."

Denma shuddered at the lich's comment, the thought of 'being rid off' scared Denma.

[ Denma ] N-no y-y-you d-don't!

Denma resisted going back to sleep, or rather, his death by trying to not fall unconscious because of the lich's prowess.

[ lich ] "You damn imbecile, dodge!"

The lich's scream echoed in Denma's mind.

[ Denma ] "You're not gonna trick me this ti-"

Denma's words fell short as he felt the world become silent.

Denma looked down and realized that he got stabbed from behind, the blade poked through his torso.

Denma looked behind and with the glimpse that he caught, broke his heart.

[ Little girl ] B-b-brother *sniff*, I-I avenged you *Sniff*.

A little girl trembled as she held onto the blade's hilt while trembling.

[ lich ] "To get done in by a little insect, the heavens must be laughing!"

The lich fumed and the lich's voice inside Denma's head was loud, until...

[ lich ] "I'll take care of this insect."

The lich spoke in a calm manor.

[ Denma ] "W-what do you mean-"

[ Little girl ] I-If only you didn't exist-!

Both Denma and the little girl were cut short off speech as an undead from Denma's left side pounced the girl, then another pounced, another, then one more, another, until all that was left of the little girl, only an arm with torn skin and soaked in blood.

Denma sat quietly, in disbelief, he breathed heavily while also not taking off his eyes of the little arm that was left of that brave little girl.

[ lich ] "That insect's gone, now, I will take the control back."

The lich's voice sounded displeased and annoyed as he talked while Denma sat there quietly, with a blade in his back.

[ lich ] "I swear, these insects-!"

The lich got cut short by Denma.

[ Denma ] Insect that, insect this, can you ever shut the fuck up!

Denma screamed in frustration of the event he did not stop, knowing, he had the power to stop it.

The lich quietly listened to Denma's frustration, while trying to take away control every passing second.

[ Denma ] What is it with you, bastards, taking over earth, calling them insects, making fun of them while they struggle to live, it is none of your fucking concern on how we live you fucker!

Denma started feeling dizzy, like the first time the lich made Denma fall unconscious and Denma realized that the lich was maybe trying the same thing again, so her resisted.

[ Denma ] Want control, over my dead body!

Denma shouted, trying to stay conscious.

[ lich ] "Give me control, otherwise we're both gonna die!"

The lich seemed desperate and troubled by the fact Denma, won't give him back control.

Denma started to see black souls emerge from the ground and circle around his body up above.

[ lich ] "Are you dumb or what, do you really, like no, seriously, want to die!"

Denma did not hear a word the lich had said to him, he only stared at the souls that surrounded him.

[ Denma ] "Is this how I die, or is this another hallucination."

[ Denma ] "It doesn't matter anymore, I will still end up dead either way, if this isn't an illusion, I am dragging this bastard down with me!"

A desperate urgency gripped Denma, he yearned to succumb, taking the lich down with him, their fates inexorably linked within his new body.

The black souls that hovered above Denma got closer as the arms of the body started to turn to dust.

The undead all around Denma slowly dissipated into the wind, leaving behind a pile of dust.

[ Denma ] "I hope that in my next life I wont be as misfortuned as in this life."

Denma lifted his fading arms into the air, as if to welcome someone.

[ Denma ] "The sweetness of death, it's not that bad, rather, it's calming."

Denma closed his eyes and hugged himself while he slowly dissipated into the air, leaving nothing, but the sword of the brave little girl and his dust covering the sword.