All Chapters of Mosquito System: Blood Required: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
79 chapters
The Soul's Eviction
The journey upward from the bowels of the palace was a sloshing hell. Being liquid was a sensory nightmare. Every step the guards took sent a jarring vibration through my consciousness. I could hear their muffled heartbeats, the heavy clank of their armor, and the haunting echo of the violins from the Great Hall getting louder and louder.But as the heavy iron doors of the ballroom swung open, the scent of expensive perfume and aged wine was instantly drowned out by something foul that my newly formed spirit-senses buckled.The guards set the blood down, and I used the "Blood-Leap" connection to peer through the surface of the ruby liquid. A gruesome, horrific scene welcomed me, one that made the butchery in the basement look like a playground.The lights were still low, the only illumination coming from the sulfurous glow of the octopus-devil, Luciferao. He had descended.His translucent tentacles had mutated. From the center of each suction cup, a needle-thin, pulsing cord—an
Arc - 1
"Hahaha!" The laugh hit my atoms. Luciferao’s voice was a tectonic grinding of tectonic plates, a sub-bass frequency so powerful that the gold-leafed marble walls behind the Prince’s throne shattered into a fine, white powder. The vibration turned the air into a solid wall of pressure that forced the black-sleeved rats to the floor, clutching their ears as blood leaked from their nostrils. "Served them right." I murmured. I felt my temporary mecha—tremble with a terror that even my 'Hostile Takeover' couldn't suppress. "DO YOU REALLY THINK," the devil boomed, his sulfurous eyes glowing, "THAT AN INSECT'S PETTY TRICKS COULD FOOL A PATRON OF THE VOID? I CAN SMELL THE STINK OF AN ALIEN SOUL. YOU AREN'T ALISTAIR. YOU'RE JUST A PARASITE HIDING IN THE BLOOD." I was shocked. How does he know? I’d suppressed the soul, hijacked the motor cortex, and used the Eternal Mantra to mask the frequency. I was supposed to be invisible. System! Any help here? Silence. The fucker was still
Oh no!
The last light in my eyes flickered, a dying candle in a room filled with monsters. I was thinning. I could feel the edges of my soul unraveling like a cheap sweater. Each time an official’s hand ripped a piece of my shadow-flesh away, it wasn’t just mana I lost—it was memories. There was no hope this time. Goodbye, Gulp, I thought, the image of my stupid, loyal skeleton friend appearing in my mind. Goodbye, System. You stingy, glitchy bastard. I hope your next host is dumber than you. I closed my eyes, sinking into the inevitable numbness of fate. I waited for the final rip, the one that would tear my core in half and end the tragedy of a man, who became a mosquito. Slash. Cachang! Slash. The sound wasn't the wet tearing of shadow-flesh. It was the sound of a meat-grinder. "Ahhhhhhh! Ghost! Ghost!" "It’s a monster! A dinosaur!" "My arm! My god, my arm is gone!" The screams changed. They weren't screams of hunger anymore; they were screams of pure terror. T
Entering the Final Battle
The air in the Reservoir smelled like the end of the world. I looked at Gulp. My brave, battered brother from the Red Zone trenches was shaking, his obsidian armor cracked in a dozen places, leaking a faint, golden essence. Beside him, Gulp and the dinosaur leaned heavily against a stone pillar, its breathing a series of wet, labored rattles."Savor me, you devil!" Gulp screamed, his voice a jagged buzz that echoed off the hanging cages. He stepped in front of me. "Master, run! I can shield you for at least three minutes. I’ll turn my soul into a bomb if I have to!""Plus two," the Drake chimed in, its ancient, reptilian voice vibrating in my bones. It stood beside Gulp, head lowered, horns aimed at the looming darkness. "Five minutes of life, King. Take them and fly."A stinging sensation pricked my eyes—a phantom pain of a human tear that I no longer had the body to shed. They were beaten, broken, and drained, yet they were standing in the mouth of hell, offering their very e
Final Battle
The Reservoir was no longer a room. It was a throat where we were being swallowed.Millions of black strings—necrotic, pulsing veins of stolen memory vibrated with a sound of a collective, agonizing sob. Luciferao stood at the center of this web, his mangled body knitting itself back together with the grey essence of the dead. "YOU CANNOT PURIFY AN OCEAN WITH A SINGLE SPARK, LITTLE THING!" the devil roared. "THESE AREN'T JUST SOULS. THEY ARE THE UNPAID DEBTS OF THREE HUNDRED YEARS! DRINK THEM! DROWN IN THEM!"The strings lashed out. They hit like memories. One touched my shoulder, and for a split second, I... I was a father being dragged from his bed in the middle of the night, smelling of my own blood as a Harsley guard laughed.I recoiled, my light-speed perception making the moment feel like an eternity."Master!" Gulp cried out. He was being pinned against a meat-slicked wall, the black strings sewing themselves into his obsidian armor. He was trying to bite through them,
A Promise to My Generals
Gulp. My brave, broken scavenger was panting. Beside him, the dinosaur—the massive creature that had smashed through stone and steel for me was leaning heavily against a rock, its breathing a series of wet, whistling rattles. They had given every ounce of their primal strength to pull me from the devil's mouth. "Wait, Master," Gulp rasped, his voice a buzz. He tried to stand, but his legs buckled beneath him. "If you need... if you need blood... let me find a man. One of the survivors. I can still hunt. I can still bring you a feast." "Wait. Wait," I whispered, my tiny mosquito voice trembling with a sudden realization. I looked at the shimmering red timer in my peripheral vision. The seconds were bleeding away like water through a sieve. "I almost forgot. I don't have to hunt. Not yet." System... I called out into the cold, digital void of my mind. I have only a few minutes left to pay my Task Tax. If I don't settle it now, there won't be a tomorrow for any of us. ["I'm lis
Mourning Tide
The rain had stopped, but the world was still weeping. I hovered there, looking at the two beings who had become my entire world in this godforsaken world. Gulp, my obsidian-clad brother, and Drako, the ancient engine of destruction. They were fading. Their forms, sustained only by the chaotic energy of the Reservoir’s collapse, were thinning out like smoke in a gale."I'm not leaving anyone behind," I muttered, my voice vibrating through the wet air. "System... do it. Integrate them in me. Secure their souls."["Initiating Soul-Binding Protocol,"] the System roared. ["Earth and Neitherworld... Open the gate of life and death. Bless these souls to live within another soul, bound by blood and mantra, until the original shells are reclaimed. The Debt of the King is the Shield of the Servant."]Then, the world went mad.In the middle of the perfectly sunny light that was starting to break through the clouds, a sound erupted that shouldn't have existed. Groan... Groan. It was th
The Meat-Grinder of East Side
The horizon was still choked with the black, oily smoke of the Harsley Palace, but as I flew East, the air just changed flavor. The smell of burning and ancient stone was replaced by something more synthetic—like the stench of a thousand exhaust pipes, unwashed bodies, and the tang of mass-produced blood!It was high noon, but in the East Slums, the sun was a filtered, struggling to pierce through the layers of smog and the towering holographic advertisements that hung over the city vultures.I was off the clock for the moment. On my left limb, the obsidian mark of Gulp prickled with a sharp energy. It was a radar that hummed whenever something dangerous moved in the shadows below. On my right, Drako’s emerald coil was a slow-thumping radiator. He was giving me a thermal map. Through his eyes, I could see the city as a series of heat signatures. The glowing red of living veins pulsing through the gray concrete.Too many eyes, Master, Gulp’s voice vibrated through my shell. The
The Meat-Grinder of East Side-2
I straightened my posture in mid-air, trying to maintain some semblance of the CEO dignity I used to have. "Woman," I said, my voice dropping into its most serious, authoritative tone. "Are you talking to me?""Yes," she said. "Please... help us." She said again.I almost choked on the air. "How can you even notice me? I am a tiny insect! I’m smaller than your fingernail!" I tried to gesture with my front limbs, showing her just how ridiculous this situation was. "You should be looking for a knight or a soldier, not a gnat!""Please follow me," she said, ignoring my logic entirely. She stood up, her movements felt urgent. "It’s not safe here. The clicking... they’re getting closer."Instead of answering my questions, she turned and darted into a dark, narrow alleyway.Master, should we follow her? Gulp and Drako asked in unison, their voices heavy with suspicion. She is human. This smells like a trap."Nah," I said, shaking my tiny head. "I’m not that brave. I’ve had enough de
The Curse
The jar rattled as she moved, and every step she took felt like an earthquake in my glass-walled prison. I sat there, arms crossed, trying to ignore the way Gulp and Drako were whimpering in the corners of my mind like two puppies caught in a thunderstorm.Finally, the motion stopped. I heard the thud of a door sliding into place. She took the jar out of her pocket and set it down on a wooden table with a gentle clink.I stood up, shaking off the dizziness, and surveyed my new surroundings. It was a single room, cramped and smelling of cooking oil. It was a stark contrast to the sprawling, gilded halls of the Harsley Palace. A few chipped plates, a single cooking pot over a small heating element, and a bed that looked more like a collection of rags.But it was clean. Impeccably clean. In a slum, this woman had managed to keep her sanctuary spotless. I’ll give her credit for that."Where did you bring me, Woman?" I buzzed, my voice echoing off the glass walls."Mimo," she said