Mutagen

"Wow, he looks really angry..."

Emika voiced out by Mark\'s side.

Even from a distance they were at, she could see Shin\'s furious face and feel his overwhelming anger.

"Yeah," Mark agreed. "He\'s so angry he\'s starting the fight at phase two."

Mark was kind of joking, but he was partly not. 

It was because Shin began transforming the moment Mark\'s appearance entered his eyes. There was no confusion. No Questions. Just pure anger.

On the other hand, Mark had a bitter smile on his lips as he detected the reaction of the [Siren] sisters. In complete contrary to Shin\'s anger, Yoko and Tsukiko were in utter fear after they saw Mark. He could feel their trauma which planted extreme fear inside their hearts. The previous encounter between Mark and this group sure left a deep scar in their hearts and minds.

Mark then turned to the girls beside him and Amihan on his shoulder.

"Emika, Iola. I\'ll leave the guarding duties to you two. Also, look after Gale and Miracle so they don\'t get too deep into the enemies. Amihan. Don\'t do too much. Just stop the enemies from crossing the docks. But focus on supporting the little girls."

Then, Mark patted the heads of the youngest two.

"Listen to your older sisters. I\'m going to ask them later if you two behaved."

"Yes~"

"Yes."

The two girls replied.

After Mark finished giving his last instructions to the children, he turned to face his waiting enemies.

Shin, who already finished his transformation, stood waiting. He also gave his instructions to the two [Sirens], telling them to retreat. They had already seen the effects of their song on Mark, and there was no need to repeat that mistake.

And for Shin, he might be furious and thirsting for revenge, but he was not blinded by it. He patiently waited for Mark to step onto the battlefield, not aiming for the children with him.

After all, among everyone here, Shin was the person who best knew what a monster could do after their family members were harmed. He was the same. That was his starting history. And he did not want to become the same kind as the people that harmed his family.

Shin\'s enemy here was Mark.

Mark alone.

ROOAR!

GRRR!!

The roars of the dragon could be heard from the sky, and the growls of the golden wolf sounded on the ground.

But in the middle of the loud sounds emitted by the terrifying animals, Mark calmly walked forward, heading towards Shin.

While walking, Mark observed Shin\'s transformation.

Shin\'s black hair had turned reddish-orange. The color carried a gleam as if it was flowing lava. On his forehead, two red horns could be seen protruding. Compared to scheming Demons with smaller and fatter horns, Shin\'s horns were slim and about four inches long, indicating his blessing that was oriented more toward fighting.

All over his body, Demonic markings could be seen. These markings looked like threads of flames tattooed on Shin\'s body. Each strand of thread had an otherworldly and intimidating gleam. The markings were different from Mark\'s but carried the same meaning. The extent of their powers as Demons and their status within their species.

Unfortunately, Shin\'s Demonification ended with just those things. Shin was a human that became a Demon after receiving a blessing from Gar\'Vlam. On the other hand, Mark was a human that became a Demon due to the Demonic Blood from his ancestry sleeping within his veins.

Thus, as Demons, it was clear that Mark\'s status was much higher. Unfortunately...

Shin had no idea that Mark also became a Demon. The last time Mark and Shin fought, Mark had yet to awaken his sleeping bloodline. And Mark, using the [Blessing of Death\'s Aura], could mask his own Demonic presence.

Thus, although Shin had no idea how Mark and his group appeared in this country, he was more assured that the outcome of this encounter would be different from the previous one.

As Mark walked closer and closer to Shin, a few Demons thought of attacking him. But Mark just turned his eyes on those Demons. His red glowing eyes gave the Demons shivers. Many Demons feed on fear and emotions. As such, they were more sensitive to it. And Mark\'s [Empath] abilities were surely far more effective on those kinds of Demons.

The Demons stepped back, making way for Mark to reach Shin. 

"You waited patiently."

Mark said as he stepped a few meters in front of Shin.

And as the two stood face to face, the Demons in the surrounding felt that they should stay away. It left the two alone in an empty circle in the middle of a battlefield filled with Demons.

"Did Spera bring you here?"

Shin replied with a question.

"Not exactly," Mark answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Her portals were unusable after the world changed. She can only connect to places she had a clear image of, after all."

"So, she really is still alive," Shin grunted. "Looks like she also defected."

"Rather than defecting, it\'s more like she\'s tired of being passed around as a tool," Mark explained. "Of course, if someone gave her a better living condition and a place where she is treated as a human, she will never return."

Those words made Shin laugh at himself. Mark was right. Spera was only treated as a convenient tool for travel, whether it was the Auraboros itself or even Shin. Still, he could not imagine the ever-silent Spera complaining about such things.

SPLAT!

A body suddenly fell between Mark and Shin. It was a flying Demon shot to death and turned to ash in front of the two.

"Should we start?"

Mark asked.

Shin did not reply and just drew the katana hanging on his waist. As Mark looked at the katana, which had the same aura as Shin, he could not help but blurt out.

"Did you just use your horns to make that?"

Shin did not reply, making Mark shrug. He then took out his helmet from his ring and wore it before taking out his new weapon.

That weapon made Shin shiver a little. It was a large sword with two handles. And as Mark grasped the handle in each hand, the sword separated, giving Mark two smaller swords.

Shin did not let himself feel intimidated. He posed his stance, the sword stance that was taught to him by his father.

Mark also readied his pose. It was a more relaxed pose, making him look unpredictable as he wielded his two swords in both hands.

With the two prepared for battle, silence ensued between the two. No one moved, but the circle of Demons around the two widened.

Mark and Shin stood still, but the pressure around them was too strong that the Demons nearby felt extremely frightened.

And then...

SPLAT!

A Winged Demon fell between the two. The moment that Demon fell to the ground and started turning to dust, the figure of Shin and Mark had already vanished.

BOOOM!

With a loud boom in the middle of the battlefield, a shockwave occurred, trashing everything near its epicenter.

Dozens of Demons turned to dust in that instant as the shockwave carried waves of lava-temperature flames. The Demons enveloped by the waves felt like drowning in flowing lava before their deaths.

And at the center of it, Mark and Shin appeared as Mark blocked Shin\'s katana, now enveloped in flames, with both his swords crossed above his head.

No wonder why Shin made the two [Sirens] retreat. His powers as a Demon were fatal to both enemies and allies alike.

But who cared about the cannon fodders of the Demon army? Definitely not Shin.

There was a sudden silence on the battlefield. Soon enough, whether it was the Onmyojis, the members of Black Lotus, or the Demons, they all tried to flee from the effects of the battle between Mark and Shin.

CLANG!

The two exchanged attacks with their swords. In the beginning, it was nothing but a battle between two swordsmen of inhuman caliber.

Waves of flames scattered in the surroundings in every attack the two exchanged. The Demons were dying from those waves, and it was in the middle of a cold blizzard. What about Mark? How was he able to stand in front of those deadly attacks?

None of the witnesses could fathom how Mark could stand straight under the extreme heat of Shin\'s sword. But Mark was really not bothered by the heat. The heat was just a form of energy. And his [Miasma] absorbs and converts energy.

Bathing in Shin\'s flames was actually giving Mark a growth in power, albeit just a little.

However, Shin was not the only one with an elemental weapon.

Mark parried another slash from Shin using his left sword, sending the flames to a nearby group of horrified Demons. And as Mark parried with one sword, he swung the other.

Shin avoided getting carried away by Mark\'s parry and jumped back to avoid Mark\'s counterattack.

But then, the crystal embedded in that sword glowed.

CRACKLE!

A shot of blinding lightning was released from the sword Mark swung. The bolt of lightning crackled as it headed toward Shin.

Shin was taken aback at the unexpected attack. But he was calm enough to slash his sword at the incoming lightning bolt and tear it to nothingness by tearing the space in its path.

Not wanting to give any opening, Shin stepped to the side and passed the tear in space he created. And with a reddish blur, Shin appeared by Mark\'s left side and swung his katana.

Mark had just parried with his left sword and attacked with his right. His left flank was open wide for any quick attacks.

The attack slashed Mark\'s waist into two. Until his body vanished.

What Shin attacked was just an afterimage of Mark, who had already jumped back with a reddish glow on his body.

It was another surprise for Shin. Mark clearly did not have such an ability the last time they fought.

Shin grasped his katana tighter. He became stronger, but, of course, Mark was the same.

On the other side, Mark patted the left side of his waist. There was a nick on his armor which Shin actually managed to hit. It was clear that Shin currently had an advantage in the fight due to the difference in physical prowess.

It was not surprising. Shin had already [Demonized] while Mark was still in his usual form, which was stronger against regular humans but far weaker than a high-level Demon.

That was right. Shin was a high-level Demon. After receiving a blessing directly from a Demon Deity, his strength was on par with mid-level Pureblood Demons.

But Mark was still not willing to transform. Until the right moment, he could not transform.

Mark\'s mind drifted. He wondered how long he needed to keep this up like this. In any case, he needed to overpower Shin without transforming. And Mark just had the right things to use.

Shin vanished and moved with nothing but a blurry trail. He made another attack on Mark, which the latter avoided acrobatically by somersaulting sideways.

Mark landed and slashed at Shin. This time, using the sword in his left hand.

And the same as what happened with the right-hand sword, the crystal embedded in the sword Mark swung released a bright glow.

Shin jumped back and tore the space in front of him in advance. But as the attack was released from Mark\'s sword, Shin froze on the spot.

The sword released a wave of flames that flew at Shin before it got torn by the tear in space Shin created.

Using a fire attack on someone blessed by the Demon Deity of Flames. Stupid? It looked like it.

Fire would not damage Shin at all due to his blessing.

However, the attack affected Shin mentally. After all, his flames and the flames Mark released came from the same origin.

As the tear in space vanished, Shin stood staring at Mark and the sword that released those flames.

Just how was it possible? How was Mark able to use Gar\'Vlam\'s flames?

Those questions filled Shin\'s mind, not realizing that only he was not the one baffled.

The origin of Shin\'s flames and the owner of the flames Mark released, Gar\'Vlam, felt it.

Gar\'Vlam, who was busy with something else, stood facing the direction of the Reclaimed City.

The Demon Deity of Flames felt his own flames from somewhere else. His flames, something that was only his.

And there, a thought entered Gar\'Vlam\'s mind as he measured the possibilities.

Gripping his fists, Gar\'Vlam began hurrying up what he was doing.

Gar\'Vlam needed to know.

Who was it that managed to steal his remaining powers from his missing body.