**Chapter 17: Severed Arm**
The clash between their tentacles created afterimages in the air, clang, clang, clang!! The sound of metal colliding was incessant. Xia Shang, having gained a moment to catch his breath, checked the iron sword in his hand. This poor long sword, just acquired, was already battered after the previous slashes, half its blade ruined, looking as though it could fall apart into a pile of iron scraps at any moment.
Parasyte A saw that it couldn't deal with Xia Shang immediately.
So it decided to transfer its attention to Shinichi Izumi. As long as it killed Shinichi Izumi, it could effortlessly deal with the injured Xia Shang.
"The quality of this iron sword is really damn awful. Looks like I still have to rely on myself." As he spoke, Xia Shang's right arm had already transformed into a blade woven from flesh and blood. The silver-white blade reflected the unique cold gleam of sharp metal under the sunlight.
His stamina couldn't compare to the Parasyte's, so this battle had to be concluded quickly.
Xia Shang was very patient; after all, opportunities were fleeting. "Now!" He swung his arm, slashing towards Parasyte A's chest.
Unexpectedly, Parasyte A grew another tentacle and slashed diagonally towards him as Xia Shang approached.
Now Xia Shang faced two choices: either give up this precious attack opportunity, or perish together with Parasyte A.
Facing these two choices, Xia Shang declared he would choose neither! Instead, he didn't hesitate to turn his body sideways, using his other arm to block the diagonally slashing tentacle. At the same time, he turned his blade and slashed across the opponent's left arm.
Instantly.
Two streams of fresh blood spurted out from Parasyte A and Xia Shang's severed arm respectively.
Immediately after, Xia Shang rolled over, picked up his severed arm, and then, enduring the pain, pressed the arm against the severed point.
"Mr. Xia!" Izumi's eyes welled up with tears. Using all his courage, he thrust a chair leg made from a hollow steel pipe into Parasyte A's abdomen. Soon, Parasyte A's blood flowed out along the steel pipe.
The massive loss of blood instantly made Parasyte A incredibly weak.
If it continued to stay here, it would surely die.
"Idiot, I can reattach it, can you?" Xia Shang staggered to his feet. At this moment, his face was terrifyingly pale, and his forehead was covered in large beads of sweat. However, when he saw Parasyte A, which was in a worse state than himself, he couldn't help but laugh.
Parasyte A didn't speak, it just dragged its body, which was bleeding non-stop, and walked towards Reiko Tamura's location.
"Shinichi Izumi, finish it off while you have the chance!"
Migi didn't want any accidents to happen, so it said to Shinichi Izumi.
Shinichi Izumi looked at the opponent but couldn't bring himself to do it, because Parasyte A had already transformed back into the appearance of a normal human. "No, I don't want to. If this continues, it will be murder."
Seeing that Shinichi Izumi was hesitant to act, Xia Shang glanced at his right arm, which had become a blade, and chased after it.
"It's fine, then I'll be the one to finish it off."
Xia Shang concentrated, then swung his arm and slashed out with his sword. Facing the attack from behind, Parasyte A had already lost all ability to resist. With a squelch, a head rolled onto the corridor floor, then quickly decayed and withered.
"It was really troublesome trying to kill you." After ensuring the opponent was truly dead, Xia Shang's entire body felt as if his spine had been removed. He swayed, leaned against the wall, and slid down.
"Shinichi Izumi, he's almost gone due to excessive blood loss. Quickly take him to the hospital."
Migi reminded him in time.
"Mr. Xia, hold on, I'll take you to the hospital right now." Shinichi Izumi immediately carried Xia Shang on his back and rushed downstairs. Along the way, Xia Shang only felt the scene before his eyes becoming increasingly blurry, and his head felt heavy and dizzy. Just before he finally lost consciousness, he faintly heard the sounds of many people exclaiming in surprise.
"Quickly get this student into the police car and have the police car take him to the hospital." "Isn't that the Swordmaster? What's going on? Why did he faint?"
...
After an unknown amount of time, Xia Shang groggily opened his eyes. The first thing that came into view was the clean white ceiling.
"Killed a Parasyte and ended up in the hospital myself. Hiss... why does my head still hurt a bit?" Due to his past experiences, Xia Shang was very unaccustomed to the hospital environment. He glanced at the IV drip next to the hospital bed, guessing it contained glucose.
Xia Shang used his hands to push himself up and opened his panel.
[Transformation Talent is Fusing, current Progress 69%]
[Player Remaining Stay Duration Countdown: 142 days]
"This coma actually wasted two days." Xia Shang said, looking at the countdown on the panel.
"Attention Nurse responsible for Hospital Bed 36, the patient in Hospital Bed 36 has woken up. Please proceed to Hospital Room 36 promptly."
As the announcement in the hospital room sounded.
Soon, a female nurse wearing a nurse's uniform pushed open the hospital room door and walked to Xia Shang's side, beginning to check if his body's various data were normal. "Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere in your body?"
The Nurse asked softly.
Xia Shang on the hospital bed shook his head. "I feel very good now. When can I leave?"
"Not yet. Your blood sugar is a bit low right now. You need to be observed for another day. If all your data is stable, then you can complete the discharge procedures." The female nurse took out an unopened bottle of glucose, skillfully opened it, and hung it up for Xia Shang.
"Need to stay for observation for another day? I don't have money to pay you."
The Japanese yen provided by the panel wasn't enough to support such a long hospital stay.
Unexpectedly, the female nurse smiled at him and said with a hint of admiration, "You are currently a news sensation in the Media. You single-handedly dealt with the Criminal who broke into the School. Many people in society are donating money to you right now."
Her words left Xia Shang completely confused; he didn't understand the situation.
After asking the Nurse for his phone, he finally understood roughly what had happened.
It turned out that when Shinichi Izumi was questioned by the School Authorities about why he had fainted, he recounted the general course of events. However, he hid many details, such as not knowing Parasyte A's true identity, only saying that he found Xia Shang next to the man's corpse.
As a result, the news about the West High Swordsman single-handedly killing the Criminal quickly went viral on the internet.
Xia Shang had become famous overnight again, and this time, it was throughout all of Tokyo.
"Looks like I can't take off this Swordmaster hat now," Xia Shang said helplessly.
Soon, the Media and School Authorities learned of Xia Shang's awakening. Within the time it takes to eat a meal, Xia Shang's hospital bed was surrounded by all sorts of News Media who had come to interview him.
"Currently, there's a rumor circulating that the Criminal who broke into the School wasn't actually a human, but some kind of unknown creature. What are your thoughts on this? Was the one you fought against at the time truly not human?" A reporter with an entertainment logo asked Xia Shang.
(end of chapter)