Chapter 40: Or maybe the host is already gone.

The blood test room was comparatively smaller.

Lucian sat in a chair while Dr. Sable drew more blood from his arm, the blood filled the glass tube, the tube was taken to a machine and when the results came—

Dr. Sable’s face changed.

The technician looked horrified.

Sable looked at the technician and gestured something and the technician quickly left the room.

Lucian narrowed his eyes.

The doctor then picked his blood tube from the machine and placed it in another machine, then another, then another, then the fourth.

After about five minutes, the technician returned and...

She did not come alone, she brought a few more people.

One was a technician just like her, another was a woman in a dark uniform, then an older man with grey hair and a thin face.

Lucian watched all of them with a suspicious look on his face, he could sense that the air in the room had changed.

Finally, Dr. Sable, who was done with the tests, turned from the screen and turned towards the rest.

"Incubus markers confirmed."

"Purity level?"

The older man questioned as he narrowed his eyes. That question made Doctor Sable pause for a moment and then—

"Highest."

The entire room turned silent.

"Is that... bad?"

Lucian narrowed his eyes.

The older man looked at him like he was not sure Lucian should be spoken to.

Dr. Sable answered instead.

"It is dangerous."

"Dangerous how?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Dr. Sable didn’t know how to answer that.

"The issue is behaviour."

That was when the old man spoke up, talking to Dr. Sable, not Lucian.

"Yes."

Dr. Sable didn’t deny that.

"What behaviour?"

Lucian asked.

Sable turned towards him and tried to explain.

"In most cases, demonic blood attacks the body. It corrupts tissue, overwhelms organs, damages the mind, or burns the host from inside. If the host survives, they usually mutate, degrade, or lose themselves."

Those words made Lucian remember what the Incubus said.

At worst, you survive and become a mindless, violent, hungry beast.

That made his jaw tighten.

"Your case is different, the blood is not attacking your organs, it is not fighting your nervous system, it is not trying to replace damaged tissue with uncontrolled demonic growth.

It is... following your human body’s system.

It is working like it... belongs there."

She explained, her last few words coming out much more weakly, as if she herself didn’t believe them.

But Lucian was different.

His thought process was still the same.

Wasn’t this... good news? Why was it making all these people nervous...?

He couldn’t understand, his mind, however, was... surprisingly cold.

Instead of trying to understand their thoughts, it had started thinking of ways to... escape, even if it meant killing a few of these people.

Lucian was surprised at how quickly such a cruel thought came into his mind, was this the effect of the blood he consumed?

No.

Lucian inwardly shook his head.

All this while, he had blamed every change inside him on the blood he consumed, this line of thought, however, was different.

This wasn’t new.

This wasn’t... a change.

Lucian had always been vindictive, this was also the reason that even in front of the demon, his first thought wasn’t running away or keeping his own life—

It was revenge, even if it was revenge in the pettiest of ways.

He came to a place he did not trust one bit just for the sake of his revenge.

That was how vindictive he was.

So could he... kill for the sake of revenge?

He very well could.

He always could.

The Demon Blood he consumed had nothing to do with it.

And as Lucian watched these people in front of him, even though nothing was obvious right now, something was wrong, his instincts warned him, these people were not allies, they were dangerous, they were... a threat.

A cold light reflected in his eyes.

"Or maybe the host is already gone."

And that was when the old man spoke up.

Lucian looked at him and at a frightening speed, the coldness in his face was replaced with absolute confusion—

"Huh? What do you mean?"

He asked.

And no one, not a single being in the room realized what he was actually thinking.

The old man looked at him with a cold look on his face.

"If the blood has already taken full control, then of course there would be no rejection. A demon wearing a human body would not reject itself."

"Ah yes, of course, now that I, a High Incubus, have taken control over a human’s body, my first step would be to come here, wouldn’t it?"

Lucian answered sarcastically.

His mind, however, turned even colder.

"Not like you had a choice."

The old man snorted.

"You must have known that if you hadn’t, we would still be keeping eyes on you, that would have been more dangerous since you might let your guard down anytime when you are at ease."

He reasoned.

"Righttt."

Lucian couldn’t believe how absurd his thought process was.

Not that he cared.

He had already decided.

The woman in the dark uniform was the most dangerous, if he got rid of her, the rest wouldn’t be difficult. There was a knife on the table next to him, all he needed was to get it, plunge it into her eyes, with his speed, she shouldn’t be able to react. By the time others too, it would be too lat—

"Calm down, Elias.

Don’t jump to conclusions.

We have a way to verify that too."

Just before Lucian completed the plan in his mind, Dr. Sable spoke up. She had no idea how many lives she saved today, she never would.

Lucian looked at her.

"There is?"

He raised his eyebrow.

"Of course."

The doctor nodded.

"As expected of the woman who offered to sleep with me the moment she saw me."

He joked, still keeping his usual exterior.

Sable just stared at him with a deadpan look on her face. Lucian just grinned playfully and—

"So how does it work?"

He asked.

"Soul Test."

"Hmm?"

Lucian tilted his head.

"The body can lie, blood can corrupt, memory can be copied, behavior can be imitated, but the Soul—

The Soul is different.

If you are indeed Lucian Cross like you believe you are, then your Soul will be that of a human.

And if you are a demon who has taken over Lucian Cross’s body, your Soul will be that of a demon."

Lucian looked at them, he thought about escaping right now, but honestly, no matter how much he planned it, he could see the chances of success were not high.

Even if he took the woman by surprise, this was still the Enclave. There were tens of people here that were on the same level as her, or stronger than her.

So while he would still give his best, while he would still take down as many as he could with him if it came to it—

He...

He still wanted to give them one more chance.

He wanted to take one more risk.

So—

"Alright, I am ready for the Soul Test."

He agreed.