The parasite didn't just fly him up the cliff after recovering it kept acting as a mount all across the desert, landing only after they reached the border of Rainbow Terrace

"Do you have any tiny forms?"

"Only one, it's a Scitoc"

"Then transform into It"

The parasite gulped nervously, must it consume that rotten fruit once more

"No need for the fruit, wouldn't want you alarming the entirety of Hortus with screams"

He understood the parasites expression at a glance and assured it, much to its relief

Finding cover within the trees the parasite started the unpleasant process of shedding this large amount of flesh and shrinking down to pinky size

Just that took it three hours on its own, the subsequent body shaping brought the time up to five hours and a half

During the entire time YuJu was keeping watch, the terrace was under constant surveillance for unusual activities at the borders, the place they were was less frequented but not abandoned

Thankfully the transformation finished in time, a small creature flying up to him from the ashen remained of what was once piles of shed flesh

"This isn't a normal Scitoc?"

"No, the body belonged to a prominent figure among their race"

Replied the small demonic mix of fairy and rat sitting on his shoulder with a squeaking voice, one suiting its tiny size

YuJu nodded, interested in the topic of this sneaky race but withheld any questions, trying to stop his inquisitive habit

He held the tiny parasite in his palm, coating both of them with camouflaging energy before sneaking through the colorful jungle, past the gate, and up the tower, not spotted by any surveillance even as he infiltrated his own heavily guarded mansion

'Master! Master!'

'Calm down little one, stay in your place, I'll be coming out in a jiffy'

Anput must have sensed him coming and couldn't wait to jump into his lap for pats, he didn't want a commotion though and had her stay still

Hiding the parasite up his sleeve he checked for anything out of place, tidied his outfit then headed toward the balcony where he felt the presence of the two

On his way a maid spotted his leisurely walking figure, she almost panicked at the sudden appearance but had a good grip over herself, bowing and following him to open the door leading to the balcony

""Congratulations on recovering Sir""

All the present maids bowed in unison upon noting his exit from 'recovery'

He kept a straight face up until Anput jumped from her seated position, rushing at him with too much enthusiasm

"Little one, have you missed me"

"Awuuwu wu!"

Rubbing against him she spent dozens of seconds just nestled in his arms, much like a puppy who hadn't seen their owner in forever

It took him a bit to calm the hound down enough to let him walk into the balcony and take a seat

Ellis, who had been standing all this time, bowed and congratulated him as well before taking her seat again

"How was your training"

Was the first thing he said to her

"Quite good, I could now path energy inward and outward through my aura, much like building tunnels for it to pass through"

"And Anput?"

"She's got a good grip on her sand control now, takes her a lot less energy to control sand even when it's not originating from her, the improvements were so quick she must be a natural"

'Your one to talk miss genius aura master'

He wanted to reply but couldn't, boosting her ego would only cause trouble,

"Did any visitors come?"

"General Verbrand came twice Sir, we've denied him entry based on your orders Sir"

Replied the maid standing next to Ellis, the very same one who lost an eye and an arm as punishments

Hearing her speak instead of Ellis put a smile on his face, one the maids knew all too well

"I recall there being a rule when in the presence of your superiors, what was it again?"

"...Speak only when spoken to"

"Exactly, yet you seem eager to stand out"

He stood, looking toward her who seemed to be serving as Ellis's personal maid with how close she was to her seat

"Since your so knowledgeable of the ins and outs of this place how about you tell me, who exited the mansion while I was recovering?"

"Nobody Sir, the mansion is on high alert, exit is banned just as entry is"

His smile deepened, feet stepping toward her in a slow, heavy manner

"Peculiar you say that, I seem to recall a certain someone sneaking in and out every now and then"

Putting a finger under her chin he lifted her face so that their eyes meet, a measure to be sure of his guess, and sure he was, calm and steadfast as she was the trace of panic in those eyes could not be hidden, not from his own at least

"Hmm, silent are we? It's a sign of guilt you know"

She opened her lips to speak but his finger touched upon them in a shushing manner

"No no, we already went over that point"

It felt like he was bullying her, Ellis didn't seem to care however and Anput was merely tilting her head, wondering what her master was going on about

"You know how to best spot a spy? An assassin? How to make sure you can tell them without keeping an eye on everybody around you?"

It might feel like he was going off topic but his words were clear as day, or accusations to be more precise

"It isn't by knowing who serves you, it doesn't need any fancy skills or even a complicated strategy, you just need to-"

His smile was a little mischievous at this point, but she wouldn't know as he'd already walked around her, speaking into her ear as dread overtook her

"-creat the spy yourself"

Snap!

One twist and her face faced him once more, only now with a new expression, one of utter fear etched before her last breath

With horror the other maids watched the body fall lifelessly to the floor, not knowing whether she was or wasn't actually a spy made them fear for their well being, perhaps this man just liked torturing people and then killing them? There were many such sickos out there

YuJu didn't stop there and called for Anput to come over

"Try your hand at extracting a War Shadow from this one"

"Awu!"

Lifting her head high in a manner that portrayed her confidence Anput tottered to the dead body and howled to the sky

"Awwuuu!"

There was a moment of brief silence following the echoing howl before a hand poked from the dead body, delicate looking it was until it slammed at the floor, pushing against it in a bid to pull out the rest of itself from the corpse

Once fully emerged the black and green shadow lacking a hand and eye bowed to Anput, no trace of anger, confusion, or any emotion as it was merely an unfeeling remnant of what it once was

"Good, guess you don't need to waste time devouring this one"

He spoke to the parasite, calling it out from his sleeve into the open

"That doesn't look like a normal shadow technique, is it some advanced class?"

"A unique one actually"

YuJu answered back, the two now speaking earth's language, earlier they had been all speaking the common of this regions, even Ellis who'd learned it in such a short span of time by leveraging the high intelligence stat

"I suppose Master still needs something from me?"

"Yes, use your Skin Walk to cover this shadow's figure, make her look normal again"

The parasite nodded and landed next to the body

Both Ellis and Anput looked on with interest, what was their new companion going to do? Soon as they saw it bloat however they retracted their sight, lunch ended not long ago and they didn't want to throw up the good meal

The transformation didn't last long, only half an hour, perhaps due to the size and shape of the new form being small and very basic

It was only a ball of flesh with two long insect like legs, one would think such a creature was kind of useless until they saw it bouncing at the corpse, its legs sinking inside and spreading through the veins as skin started to open up from the back, leaving flesh and bones behind to stand on its own, hollow on the inside

Creepy? Yes, much creepier when the ball of flesh nestled in the shadow's empty eye socket before its skin bag wrapped around the body, zipping itself up like a suit

"Hmm, you need an eyepatch, and some new clothes, get them a new outfit"

He ordered the maids, none of whom missed a beat, rushing to get this combined being of undead and grotesque creature new maid clothes to replace the ones ripped during the freaky skinning

Once more dressed the parasite's flesh body was covered with an eyepatch and everything looked brand new, one would never guess there were two scary creatures hiding underneath this false front, everyone who witnesses the process of its creation however would never forget it, neither would they ever trust anything to be as it seems ever again