Mutagen

Day 152 - 12:16 AM - Mountain Farming Village, Barangay Mabini, Municipality of Viga, Catanduanes

"Seriously, what the hell happened?"

Mark was baffled by this sudden change.

Usually, every time his abilities evolved, it would be a painful experience. It was not only once. Mark had experienced it several times already.

Yet this time, the only pain he felt was when his arm got broken and during his transformation.

'Wait... Transformation?'

Mark had a sudden thought.

What if this change only happened in his transformed state? Now that he remembered, he gained a partial state of this transformation after absorbing the Deity of Bloodshed that tried to take over his body. Then, it fully awakened when he awakened his bloodline and turned into a Pureblood Blood Demon.

At both times, Mark did not remember it to be extremely painful, unlike when evolving or gaining new abilities.

It was because this transformation was more or less an innate form of his body for being a Blood Demon.

"WHAT ARE YOU SPACING OUT FOR?!"

A roar came towards Mark, along with a huge figure charging at him.

"Watch out!"

Diwata Iraya's voice followed suit along with a blinding flash of light. She shot another beam of magical energy, trying to intercept Lord Seis.

"F*CK OFF!"

Lord Seis roared as he shot a beam from his mouth. 

Like before, the white beam was torn effortlessly by the black beam. Diwata Iraya could only retreat hurriedly, unable to hinder Lord Seis in the slightest.

BAM!

Lord Seis punched Mark, causing the air to shake fiercely.

With his outstretched arm, Lord Sies' eyes dilated. His punch hit nothing but air.

Lord Seis felt a huge threat from Mark and charged with an attack. It was unfortunate because, against Mark, he could not use his energy attacks. It would be a foolish move to use energy attacks on someone capable of controlling Miasma.

Even so, Lord Seis arrived almost instantly in front of Mark and attacked. He was sure that it would connect. Yet, Mark vanished without him noticing at all.

"Who said that I'm spacing out?" A voice came from behind the Lord of Demons. "I just had something in mind. It's not like I'm not paying attention."

Lord Seis immediately turned around with his arm lashing at Mark. On the other hand, Mark effortlessly avoided the attack by somersaulting in the air before counterattacking with a kick.

Black flames suddenly covered Mark's right foot and connected with Lord Seis' chest with a loud boom.

CRASH!

The ground below was even more destroyed as the huge body of Lord Seis plummetted down.

"Ooops, I did a Kuuga kick by accident."

Mark said with an amazed tone.

He opened and closed his hand while staring at it. Mark could feel overflowing energy inside him. Even though he absorbed energy with his Miasma before, he never felt anything like this.

BOOM!

An explosion suddenly occurred below, making dust and debris shot everywhere. From that explosion, Lord Seis shot up towards Mark, turning into a blur that was very hard to see.

Mark, however, could see the guy clearly. Unfortunately, it seemed that while his kick took Lord Seis out of the air for a bit, he was not hurt at all. The kick he gave only left a slight burn mark on the fur of the Lord of Demons.

"DIE!!!"

Lord Seis roared once again. This time, it was not just a simple punch. He was exerting pressure with his aura towards Mark.

Mark felt stiff. Even in this transformation, the pressure from a being near Deityhood was not something he could nonchalantly ignore.

Nonetheless, compared to the pressure that the Deity of Bloodshed, The Great One, and even Chimetrice exuded, no, compared to the Eyes, the Lord Seis was nothing.

It was one advantage that Mark had after getting in contact with powerful beings.

Thus, even if the pressure from Lord Seis had some effect, it would not be able to stop Mark.

BLAM!

Mark opened his wings. The markings on his body began to exude a reddish glow. Suddenly, his wings were covered with black, hazy mist.

Lord Seis arrived and attacked.

But the only thing that the Lord of Demons hit was a trail of black mist as Mark flew away like fish in the sea.

"Seriously, this feels strange," Mark murmured as he glanced at the reddish glow on his body. "But... it doesn't feel bad at all."

Unfortunately, Mark was aware that while it seemed that his movement and flying speed grew exponentially, he still lacked the physical strength to contend with Lord Seis.

Well, it was not like he planned to do so. Mark only did it once to gauge the physical strength that Lord Seis had.

And to say, one slight mistake could bring severe injuries to him. No matter how brave and daring Mark was, he would not gamble letting Lord Seis hit his body.

It would not be surprising if a single punch from Lord Seis tore a hole in Mark's body. That was the difference in their physical strength.

In any case, Mark did not plan on a physical fight. Furthermore, he was not fighting alone.

BANG!

PSSSK!!!

"ACK!!!"

Lord Seis grunted in pain. Now, there was a bloody gash on his shoulder.

With Mark's signal, Mei, who was waiting for the opportunity, opened fire.

Mei aimed for the left wing of Lord Seis. To be exact, at the part of the wing that overlapped with his heart.

However, it seemed that Lord Seis sensed the attack and tried to evade it. That was why the bullet hit his shoulder instead. Even so, it seemed that the magically enhanced bullets from Mei's sniper rifle could not even pierce his body. The bloody gash that he received was nothing more than a scratch.

Even so, it did not mean that Lord Seis was unaffected. At first, he thought that he should only watch out for Mark and Diwata Iraya. Now, there was also Mei that was hiding somewhere.

Lord Seis turned to where the shot came from. Unfortunately, Mei was already a seasoned sniper. Knowing that her shot did not kill the target, she immediately made her move and left her initial position. Furthermore, with her movement ability, there was no way that her traces would be followed easily.

But then, when Lord Seis that it was just three people, another attack came.

SLASH!

A gust of wind accompanied by invisible blades blew towards Lord Seis.

Like Mei's shot, the wind blades barely did anything. Nonetheless, Lord Seis could not pinpoint where the attack came from aside from it coming from somewhere below.

Of course, it would be hard. Compared to the usual Sylphs, Amihan that started to receive scientific education about wind and air was not someone to ignore.

And then...

CRACKLE!

Another attack hit Lord Seis out of nowhere.

Up in the sky, Berrak commanded his Thunderbird to shoot a lightning bolt towards the enemy.

Unlike the attacks from Mei and Amihan, however, the lightning attack from Berrak seemed to have affected Lord Seis more.

It was not surprising. In some myths, Lightning had a bit of purifying energy that was effective against evil beings.

"RAAAHHH!!! ALL OF YOU PESTS!!!"

Of course, Lord Seis was infuriated.

The Lord of Demons of this island was actually being toyed with by ants.

His thoughts were not wrong. Among everyone here, only Diwata Iraya could be considered as the one in the same standing with him. Diwata Iraya was a Deity. Unfortunately, she was a Deity of Nature and someone with abilities not oriented for battle. That was why she came short against Lord Seis in terms of fighting prowess.

Yet, he was being besieged by the ants he could crush with his raw physical strength.

Being the only one exposed, Lord Seis aimed for Berrak and his Thunderbird.

Flapping his wings, Lord Seis was about to charge towards the target in the sky.

"Oi, don't forget that I'm here."

A voice entered the ears of Lord Seis from behind.

Suddenly, a searing heat hit the back of Lord Seis, causing him to plummet to the ground once more.

BAM!

Another crater formed on the ground as Lord Seis brutally crashed.

This time, Mark was not holding back with his kick any longer. Aside from the flames and the markings on his body glowing red, even his veins all over his body started to glow.

But even so...

"Tsk." Mark clicked his tongue. "This guy is like a world raid boss."

It was a reasonable complaint.

The arsenal of abilities of Lord Seis might be lacking. In fact, aside from his voice shockwaves and energy beams, the only magical ability he showed was that energy storm. However, the body of Lord Seis was unbelievably resilient.

At this point, it would not be surprising if it needed a nuclear missile to instantly kill this guy. No, Lord Seis might even be able to survive a single nuclear strike. At least two would be needed.

In any case, Lord Seis was having a hard time fighting multiple enemies at the same time.

CRASH!

Lord Seis stood up from the crater, glaring at Mark.

He was still infuriated. However, he knew that this battle was going against his favor. The enemies were like cockroaches. Although he could squish under his foot, they were excellent in scurrying about to avoid him.

Thus, although it might be shameful, Lord Seis decided.

BOOM!

Lord Seis punched the ground, causing dust and debris to scatter in a wide area. Then, Lord Seis charged...

...Towards the forest.

Lord Sies decided to escape. He was not stupid to fight a losing battle. It was not too late to get revenge in the future. At that time, he would be even more powerful. Powerful enough to squish these ants between his fingers.

But then...

"Don't think that I'll let you escape."

A voice entered his ear from upfront.

The wind suddenly blew strong, blowing away all the dust that scattered in the air.

There, Mark stood on the way of Lord Seis. It was as if he knew that the Lord of Demons would escape.

"I wanted to conceal some cards since there are pests watching but it's better showing them than letting you escape."

Mark said with a frown.

Lord Seis did not try to understand what Mark was saying. Instead, he concentrated on trying to escape.

The Lord of Demons charged towards Mark.

There was no way that Mark would be able to receive his attack. He would not have any other choice but to dodge.

Unexpectedly, Mark did not dodge.

With his whole body glowing red, Mark received the punch of Lord Seis with both hands.

CRACK!

Sure enough, Mark's arms got injured. However, he did not get thrown away and managed to take his stand.

BAM!

At this point, several attacks rained towards Lord Seis that were caught by Mark.

Several gunshots echoed.

Wind Blades flew.

A Lightning Bolt fell from the sky.

A Light Energy Beam shot down.

"RAAAAAHHH!!!"

Of course, even if his body was resilient, he was not numb to pain. Getting hit by enchanted bullets from Mei, [Wind Blades] from Amihan, [Lightning Bold] from Berrak, and an [Energy Beam] from Diwata Iraya consecutively would hurt bad.

Suddenly, a magic circle appeared under Lord Seis. It started to sap his energy out.

Furthermore, a chain shot out of nowhere, tying the other arm of Lord Seis.

Lord Seis roared in pain. He tried his best to resist and escape from Mark's grasp.

However, Lord Seis noticed several sources of light in front of him.

That was when he saw two crystals floating behind Mark, glowing brightly. One was white while the other was green. It gave out the feeling of light and wind energy consecutively.

Furthermore, Mark's body also began to release two types of energy. [Black Flames] started to soar out of his body, accompanied by crackling streaks of [Black Lightning].

Danger. Lord Seis' instincts were telling that he was in extreme danger.

In an attempt to retaliate, Lord Seis opened his mouth, shooting a beam of energy at Mark at point-blank range.

However, as Lord Seis expected. An energy attack had no effect on Mark.

Like a hungry predator, a veil of Miasma swallowed the energy beam that Lord Seis released.

The pressure around Mark was suffocating. Even for Lord Seis, it felt harder to breathe.

Finally, Mark released four attacks at the same time.

BOOOM!!!

A huge explosion swallowed Mark and Lord Seis. The shockwave from the explosion reached several mountains and blew the clouds away.

Tons of trees were uprooted, and even Diwata Iraya that was floating nearby was swept away by the wind.

Veiled with thick dust and debris, the conclusion was yet to be revealed.