Nathan swallowed his saliva as he considered his escape paths.
'Clearly, the doors won't work… the windows might, but then again, they might also be reinforced with something as well… Doesn't seem like I can fight him either, as he somehow managed to trap me with an Ultimate Devil in the house…'
Finally, Nathan decided on the method that held the highest chance of survival- stalling.
"What do you want?", he probed the mysterious voice's intention.
Just a few seconds after he said that, space seemed to distort before forming an ancient-looking antique clock.
[From you? Heh, what could you offer me? Nothing much. I'm just here to talk.]
'... Bullshit.' Nathan thought speechlessly as he cautiously asked, "About what?"
[My stay in your body, of course.] The antique clock 'scoffed' as it floated in the air, before moving closer to Nathan, stopping right in front of his forehead.
Nathan wasn't a stupid person by any means. He instantly made the connection with the information provided.
His eyes narrowed as he said, "You're the parasite in my body?"
[I wouldn't call it a parasitic relationship necessarily. I'd call it a mutual partnership instead.]
Nathan involuntarily snorted, "Partnership? What have you done for me?"
The antique clock replied as its arms began spinning rapidly, [I helped you survive the explosion that your servant caused. Speaking of which, that was one hell of an explosion. It would've been impossible for you to survive without me.]
When the clock's arms stopped spinning after a few seconds, it projected images into the air with a green tint to it.
Nathan focused his attention on the green-tinted projection, and his eyes narrowed as he kept watching.
When the projection ended Nathan was left in silence, in shock of not how he was saved, but of the clock's powers.
Nathan shakily breathed as he thought, 'That was a complete reversal… There's no way I can even get close to it no matter how much I train… The only person with time manipulation abilities of this caliber in Greece was… Kronos.'
"You're Kronos aren't you?"
[A part of him.]
Nathan caught onto its words, "What do you mean?"
[... Do you really want to know?]
"Of course I do."
[Then,] it- no, he said with a dramatic pause, [Find out yourself.]
Nathan's eyebrows twitched in annoyance as he took a deep breath to calm himself, before asking, "Is that everything that you needed from me? Conversations?"
[Of course. What else can you provide me?], the clock, Kronos, said as its arms began spinning rapidly once more, but this time, it was spinning backward.
When the spinning was stopped, Nathan found himself blinded by a green flash, before opening his eyes… only to find Sekirai's mother hugging him and sobbing.
'What the hell happened…?' Faced with an awkward situation, the only thing Nathan could do was awkwardly pat 'his' mom on the back.
Eventually, after Nathan's shirt was marred with snot and tears, Alisa looked up at 'her' son, before placing a kiss on his cheek, and walking away.
'... Don't scenes like this usually come with a conversation? Or did it already happen when I was in that space? If so, was he controlling my body?'
Nathan came up with a very wide assortment of ideas to the point that a conspiracy theorist would be proud of him, but regardless, Nathan headed for Sekezer's office after bidding Alisa goodbye, and a tearful promise that he won't die.
When Nathan arrived at Sekezer's office, he hesitated before knocking on it.
"Come in, Sekirai."
After receiving a green light from Sekezer, Nathan opened the door and entered Sekezer's office.
Nathan opened his mouth to say something, but Sekezer beat him to it.
"You don't need to be sorry for Balher's death."
"... It was my fault, was it not?", having guessed his intention, Nathan didn't try to deny it, and pressed on.
"Indeed it was your fault." Sekezer agreed with Nathan, "However, it was his choice to use his Balance Breaker, even knowing that he'd die. But that doesn't mean Balher would want you to sulk over his death for long. Knowing him, he'd be happy if you mourned him for a week or two."
Nathan remained quiet for a while longer, before hesitantly asking, "What about his things?"
"... His room is as it is. No one has touched it since Balher's untimely death."
"... I see. I'll go tend to it, then."
Nathan turned around and left Sekezer's office to head to the servants' quarters, specifically, Balher's room.
He avoided eye contact with many of the servants and instead kept his head low, all the way until he reached Balher's room.
As he was about to turn the corner, he heard sobs coming from the direction of Balher's room.
It was Lissara, his father's Bishop.
Nathan hesitated to continue forward- he could turn around right now, and avoid contact with her until all is done.
But he decided against that. He continued on his way to Balher's room, and Lissara noticed him, hurriedly cleaning herself up to look presentable.
"Hello, young master. I take it that you are here to visit Balher?"
Nathan nodded, and replied, "...Yeah."
"Then I'll leave you to it." Lissara bowed and walked back to her own room, but on the way, they made eye contact, and Nathan could feel restrained anger from her aimed at him.
He thought to himself in a self-decrepitating manner, 'I f*cked up harder than I thought, huh? Where… where did I go wrong?'
Before he knew it, he was in front of Balher's room.
Nathan took a deep breath before stepping forward and he opened the door, entering the room of his saviour.
After having dinner at his house, he immediately went back to Ajuka's lab.
"Are you staying here tonight?", Ajuka asked as he noticed Nathan's presence.
"No. I need you to do a test on me." Nathan hurriedly asked Ajuka as he began walking over to the medical station in the lab.
"A test? About the parasite in your body?" Ajuka followed after Nathan, helping him set up the required equipment, before instructing Nathan to lay down.
"Yeah. I feel something strange happening to my body."
Faced with an irresistible opportunity for a joke, Ajuka took it and said, "Are you sure it's not puberty?"
Nathan retorted amusedly, "I'd much rather that be the case."
"Heh."
*Pzzzt*
The machine that Ajuka created scanned Nathan's body, and after a few minutes, the results were shown on a screen.
Ajuka and Nathan looked at the result as Ajuka grimly said, "It's good that you came to me."
"..." Nathan narrowed his eyes at the screen as he took in the results.
"The third source of energy in your body… is bonding with your cells. Even as we speak, right now."
"... What will happen to me?"
Ajuka furrowed his brows as he closed his eyes in thought, "Theoretically, as it is only the first step,so only about 5-10% of your body has bonded with the energy. There shouldn't be any side effects as far as I know, maybe except for the fact that your demonic energy reserves took in the extra energy, making it bigger."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"No. Well, it might look good at the moment, but there's no telling what might happen once it fully bonds with your body. Perhaps it could develop a consciousness and take over your body, but likewise, it could also massively enhance your overall abilities."
That was when the gears in Nathan's brains clicked into place.
'I was able to stop time yesterday because… because my cells bonded with Kronos' energy?' The more Nathan thought about it, the more it made sense to him. But that was also when he realized something horrifying.
'... Earlier this morning when I came back from my talk with Kronos, it seemed like I already had a conversation with Alisa… but I have no memories of it.' A chill ran up Nathan's spine as he realized what had happened. 'Kronos… took over my body.'
Nathan's breath gradually became rugged, prompting Ajuka to notice and ask in concern, "Is everything okay?"
'No. Nothing is fine.'
"Yeah. I'm fine. I was just imagining what would happen if it took over my body."
"Horrifying thoughts indeed," Ajuka agreed, before talking about his treatment, "Well, if we want to stop the invasion of your cells, we need you to completely stop using demonic energy of any kind. Of course, since that isn't possible, I'd rather you stop your training, or only focus on one aspect of your powers. Remember, the more you use it, the more it spreads."
Taking in the information that he'd just receive, Nathan nodded in agreement, "Okay. Is that all I need to do?"
"I don't know. I'll look further into this and create a treatment plan for you."
"Alright, thank you." Nathan thanked Ajuka before leaving the lab and returning home.
As he headed off to bed, there was only one thought in his mind.
'I wonder… will I gain enough power if I allow the bonding?'