Oh no. No, no, no, no.
Konrad wasn't ready for another mutant montage.
He might've sympathised with this monster child, but he was still an enemy, and no way he'd let him live after this. Definitely no mercy, whatever his origin story was. Besides—
It was more than enough to see how that oversized brain lived before he became his parasite.
'Okay, that's kinda rude, man,' the voice complained right on cue. 'He's only one year old. Let me scan through the highlights of his life, will you? I could find out something interesting, if—'
"Wait," Konrad scoffed—or thought? He was still only a soul with no mouth.
But he had his own thoughts, and a terrible hunch about this.
"Did you use me as a bait to get to him on purpose?!"
'Who, me? To get rid of your soul for a minute and use your body for an experiment in hopes I could improve myself? I would never do that, Konrad von Halstadt, Duke of Halaima.'
Okay, he was definitely doing it.
But the terrifying part was—he was completely powerless against it.
Heck, he might've stolen his body for good, and—
'Um, actually, I could've done that,' the parallel brain confirmed. 'And you couldn't, in fact, do shit about it. Plus, since I already know your memories, nobody would notice it, either.'
No. That couldn't be.
His story couldn't end like that. Lily, Gabrielle, or both would've—
'Yeah, well, that's your luck,' the voice noted. 'They actually would. And I'm not stupid enough to draw two interdimensional demigods' ire. So you'll get your body back in a moment.'
Ugh. Konrad hated people who hid behind their powerful friends.
But he was damn glad he had them.
And the moment he'd return to Kasserlane, he'd get rid of this guy once and for all.
'Hey. Here I was being honest with you to show my goodwill, but—'
"Tell me what you learned," Konrad demanded. "And then I'll consider leaving you."
'Okay, okay, I'm not done yet, but here you go. This is actually not one mutant, but two.'
"What?!"
He shouldn't have asked stuff he wasn't ready for.
'It's a human with its brain removed, and they implanted my miniature copy instead.'
"Miniature? No, you're way oversized, dude," Konrad pointed out. "If anything, these things still have a head too big, and—wait, did you say they're humans with their brains ripped out?!"
No, not any humans.
Babies.
'Clones,' the voice clarified. 'But I guess it's the same difference to you.'
Yeah. He couldn't accept such a human experiment in any world.
And while he didn't have a body right now, he wouldn't stop shivering, thinking about it.
'I can hook you up with his, but I figured you'd hate that.'
Ugh. Yeah, no kidding.
Even the fragments of memories he saw, complete with the things the parallel brain said, made him sick. Good thing that a soul without a body couldn't throw up.
But that reminded him—
"What's going on out there?" he asked. "I sure hope you keep my body safe."
And Dmitry, too. The Poltergeists?
Well, they were already buddies, so he didn't have to worry about them.
'Your military friend is about to wrap up everything with the Dwarves, although he ran out of ammo. Actually, I should help him out a bit with your sword lest he start to suspect something.'
Meaning, time didn't stop, and his body wasn't tucked away in a featureless void, either.
But this was still fine.
Fucking dandy.
"So? You found anything actually useful?"
The previous info was more creepy than helpful going forward.
'Ah, sorry, sorry,' the parallel brain forced a laugh. 'Figured I'd scan his victims' brains as well. These Dwarves are quite fascinating, and the scientists—'
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Konrad groaned, but nothing else he could do.
'Okay. Useful? I'll give you useful. Did you know Sidorovich is trading with these researchers daily? Or that one of the scientists from the swamp used to work with them, too?'
Uhh. No, he didn't, and now he wished he hadn't asked, either.
But this world was completely rotten.
He wanted his body back and to go home as soon as he could.
Pick up Strelok, and—
'Ah, speaking of whom,' the parallel brain added. 'He was right. His sister is here. Well, not here, but in the lab underneath the actual Power Plant. But she's not exactly human anymore.'
Fuck. And he had to tell him all this while he was floating in the dark?!
'Well, the alternative would be to show you the world through the Controller's eyes. And catch more glimpses of his memories. Do you want that?'
Yeah, no. Definitely not.
"So you got everything, right? Can't I go back into my body already?" Konrad pleaded, seeing monsters in the dark where only he should have been. "Please?"
'Dude, you've no patience,' the voice complained. 'I lived most of my life like this.'
Sure, sure. Very sad. But Konrad wasn't born as a standalone brain.
'I'm trying to scan through dozens of lifetimes without missing anything important. And get this? You sold a mana gem in Kyiv, right? They somehow ended up buying it. It was right here.'
Okay, that was too much.
If it turned out he even aided their research somehow—
'Oh, you very much did, but they couldn't capitalize on it yet.'
Fuck.
But before he'd groan, plead, or complain again, he was back in his body without a warning.
And it didn't move or feel like the way he got used to, in fact—
"What the hell were you doing with me?!" Konrad cried out, making Dmitry jump.
"I didn't—nothing?!" he yelped right away, squatting as if he was mourning his now-empty hand cannon. "Hey, uh. You good? Your arm is—it looks like it jumped out of its socket?"
Yeah. And that was exactly his problem.
'Whoops. Is it not supposed to do that?'
That fucking moron of a brain. He took over his body but had no idea how to use it?!
No wonder all those zombies were shuffling around like that.
And no way Dmitry wouldn't have noticed the swap.
"Okay, no worries, I can pop it right back in," the Captain claimed, approaching him with a terrifying scowl. Was it that bad?! "It'll only hurt for a moment."
But that was a fucking lie.
With a sickening crack, his arm was back the way it should have been, but the pain—
And that was even before he looked around.
Exploded Dwarves, a sliced-up Controller, zombies—
So, so many zombies.
And considering his parallel brain had scanned all their memories in such a short time?
He might have been a little impatient after all—and glad he didn't have to see any of it.
'Mhm, we can finally agree,' the voice boomed, his arm still emitting terrible pain.
"Here," Dmitry offered his healing artifact. "By the time I loot the place, you should be fine."
And that, again, didn't seem to mean much.
This was the scientists' office, after all. It was huge, and full of documents and stuff.
To clear it all—
The Wolves must have thought they were already dead.