Mutagen

Strong winds roared, and the earthen spikes destroyed the road. Keiji stared at his opponents, his remaining eye wide open, as he stood in the middle of the malicious magical turbulence.

Keiji\'s mind might be corroding, but it was clear that he was as shocked as Ren after the identity of the armored woman was revealed. None of the siblings expected that the intervention would be their youngest sibling.

"How?" Keiji voiced out with great difficulty. "Aren\'t you..."

"Aren\'t I with the family?"

For the first time after arriving, the armored woman spoke. Her voice. There was no doubt that she was the youngest sibling they knew.

Sayuri stood up. Her armor cracked here and there, while the front of her helmet was largely broken. Since the helmet would be in the way instead of help, she removed it as she spoke.

"Funny, isn\'t it?" Sayuri\'s tone was full of sarcasm, different from her usual demeanor as the dolled-up mascot of the clan. "My role in the clan is so insignificant that none of you noticed you have been living with my double all this time."

"I left the clan since Onee-sama\'s death was announced," Sayui glanced at Ren. "None of you really noticed? Or none actually bothered to notice?"

It was clear in Sayuri\'s tone that she was unhappy with the clan, its elders, and its members... No, she held contempt against them.

And Sayuri especially hated their father and Keiji.

"You think I didn\'t know?" Sayuri took out a kunai and spun it in her hand, "After the Demons succeeded in taking over this place and the clan became the ruler of the Reclaimed City, Otosama and the elders planned to arrange my marriage with a Demon? A political marriage to solidify the clan\'s connections with the Demons with my life as a bargain."

Sayuri then sighed.

"Otosama and those stupid old bastards never learned their lesson. Isn\'t that the same reason why Oneesama left? Do they really think what happened with Oneesama won\'t happen again just because they limited my privileges and reduced my training? I\'m just waiting. And when I managed to get the chance, I immediately grabbed it, even if it meant I would be someone else\'s underling."

"And now, I\'m here," Sayuri grabbed the spinning kunai in her hand and shrugged, "How is it? My pent-up frustrations?"

And there, Sayuri threw the kunai toward Keiji.

"Tch."

Sayuki clicked her tongue as she saw the wind surrounding Keiji blocking the kunai. She already knew that it was unlikely to work. However, she still tried.

Ren and Keiji listened to Sayuri\'s words. The two were still appalled by the situation.

However, they now understood the situation. Just like Ren, Sayuri left the clan. And by the looks of it, she joined forces with someone. That someone was clearly Mark.

On the other hand, it was a partly sad thing. The clan only cared about the elders, the clan head, and the heir. Everything else besides them was just tools to be exploited.

The foundation of the Mitsui Clan was drowned in their desires, and the members of the clan suffered because of it.

At this time, Sayuri showed a bitter smile.

"Otosama is dead, right? My double had some ways to contact me. It seemed that the information I stole in his office really helped Boss root out the traitors. They deserved it."

That revelation caused another wave of shock to Ren and Keiji.

And here, Keiji\'s rage soared.

"YOU!" Keiji roared. "IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU?! EVERYTHING FAILED, AND OTOSAMA IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU?!!!"

And in response to Keiji\'s enraged question, Sayuri tilted her head.

"Yep. Partly." Sayuri admitted. "Don\'t blame everything on me, though. I only provided the list of traitors. I have no exact idea what your plans are. The clan kept me in the dark as always, right?"

Sayuri was not entirely at fault. In fact, Keiji was. The main reason the Mitsui Clan\'s plans to betray the Reclaimed City were leaked was because of their attempt to kill Ren and most of the Black Lotus. It was the start of everything.

Of course, there was no way Keiji would accept such a thing, even if he knew. Well, there was no way for him to understand now. He was not even listening to Sayuri\'s words.

In Keiji\'s mind, it was all Sayuri\'s fault.

"RAAAAHH!!"

Keiji roared and stomped his left leg, creating a crater under his foot.

RUMBLE!

The ground shook. And as if something was crawling underground, earthen spikes quickly traveled through the ground from Keiji\'s foot toward his sisters. It moved as fast as a speeding bullet while carrying the force of a cannonball at every spike that protruded from the ground. In every spike that shot out, the size grew larger and larger.

Ren and Sayuri dodged in opposite directions. The two managed to evade the earthen spikes, allowing the spikes to pass between the two.

And, this time, it was Keiji\'s turn to shock everyone around.

It was because his attacks did not stop at the two women but continued through the road, striking the building at the northwest corner of the intersection. In an instant, the building collapsed as the last spike, which had a length of four meters, pierced through the building and destroyed its foundations.

And that was not enough for the enraged Keiji.

Keiji whipped his left hand horizontally. Everyone nearby saw nothing but heard a sharp whistling sound.

Ren felt danger as she rushed to Sayuri, jumping over the earthen spikes, and pushed her sister down. Together, they lay down on the snow.

A sharp gust of wind passed over the heads of the sisters. It was followed by the sound of glass shattering as every window in the surrounding buildings shattered.

And it was accompanied by...

"AHHH!"

...Screams of people as many of the soldiers maintaining the defense perimeter of the evacuation were torn to shreds by the invisible attack.

Ren and Sayuri\'s hearts were loudly beating as they turned their heads and saw the rain of flesh and limbs caused by Keiji\'s attack.

What in the world was that?

That was what the sisters and soldiers that survived had in mind. Fortunately, the attack did not reach the evacuating civilians. Even so, the lives of the soldiers were gone just like that.

All of a sudden, the sisters felt the ground shaking once again. They immediately separated as earthen spikes punctured the ground where they lay.

FOOOM!

Then, it was followed by a wall of flames as Keiji spewed fire in the direction of the sisters.

The sisters could only dodge in desperation as they faced the barrage of attacks from their enraged brother.

Keiji roared as he attacked. The scales on his body continued to spread. The fourth tail became physical, and at the same time, Keiji stretched his right arm forward with his fingers in a flicking posture.

The molten snow from Keiji\'s attack began to vibrate and float, forming needles made of droplets of water.

And there, Keiji released his flick. The water needles shot at his sisters one after another like a machine gun.

The sisters ran as the impact of the needles followed behind them. At the same time, the two tried attacking. Sayuri with her kunai and Ren with her petal blades.

However, the attacks were rendered useless. The kunai was blocked by the wind surging around Keiji. On the other hand, the petal blade passed through the wind barrier and hit Keiji\'s body. However, as the purplish-black scales spread on his body, his resilience began rising at the same time.

The everyone\'s dismay, Keiji was turning into an uncontrollable monster. The situation had already reached a level Ren could not take responsibility for.

But at this moment...

"BRAT!"

A familiar voice echoed into Ren\'s ear. She turned towards the voice and saw the grumpy old blacksmith, Yasuo, standing by the door of the Toyosu Market on the other side of the street.

It was dangerous here. That was what Ren wanted to shout.

But the old blacksmith clearly knew this fact. He was not stupid. Then, what was he doing here?

As the two\'s gazes locked, the old blacksmith shouted.

"USE THIS!"

The old blacksmith threw something big covered in cloth toward Ren.

What could it possibly be?

Keiji\'s mind was already gone. The only thing left was his rage toward the sisters standing before him. He did not care about the blacksmith at all, but he saw the item he threw in the air. No matter what the reason was, Keiji attacked it with a blast of wind.

The cloth covering the item was torn to shreds, revealing a black-colored katana with a blade that shone with a reddish hue.

Surprisingly, the cloth covering the weapon was destroyed, but the sword was not flung away by the force of the blast. It continued toward its trajectory, and its handle was caught by Ren\'s hand.

The moment Ren\'s hand touched the handle, her body shivered. The katana felt connected to her in every way. It was as if the katana was an extension of her being.

"CUT THAT B*STARD TO DEATH!"

The old blacksmith bellowed.

Yasuo was shouting out loud despite the dangerous situation. It caused the people hiding inside the market to drag the old blacksmith back into hiding.

However, Yasuo would not relent. He tightly held unto the doorsill.

It was the first battle of his best creation. He wanted to watch it with his very own eyes.

Ren nodded. She did not know why, but she felt that, with this katana, she could somehow do something against Keiji.

"RAAAAHH!!"

Keiji roared.

Ren felt the same danger when Keiji unleashed that invisible wind attack.

But instead of pushing Sayuri down to avoid the attack, Ren stood in front of her sister.

Ren knew she could do it.

SLASH!

The reddish gleam made a vertical slice in front of Ren. And the invisible wind attack dissipated.

Keiji\'s eyes dilated. It was the same for Sayuri, the people watching, and even Ren. The only one who had a confident grin was the old blacksmith, now pinned down by the people trying to pull him inside to no avail.

"GO!"

Yasuo shouted with a laugh.

Ren began running toward Keiji.

And, of course, Keiji began an absurd amount of attacks on Ren. Water needles, wind blasts, and earthen spikes were shot at her.

However, none of them reached Ren. Taking advantage of her agility, she dodged the attacks. It was when Keiji spewed a wall of fire on her.

But Ren did not stop. She waved her katana. The wall of flames dissipated.

It was not visible the first time since wind attacks could not be seen clearly. But it was seen with the flames. As the katana touched the wall of flames, a vortex appeared around its blade, sucking something out of the flames and causing it to dissipate.

Keiji began stepping backward. He was not retreating or being afraid. He was making some distance in order to send more attacks at Ren before she reached him.

But as he took his fifth step.

BOOOM!

An explosion occurred by Keiji\'s feet. It caused him to stagger. Only then everyone noticed that Sayuri was already behind Keiji. Using Ren as the distraction, she used [Misdirection] to sneak behind him.

However, Keiji was still being protected by the surging wind. It was impossible for Sayuri to throw her kunai toward him. Yet...

BOOOM!

Another explosion was triggered after Keiji took a step to stabilize his body from staggering.

It was when the truth was revealed. Sayuri was not throwing her kunai. She spread a few on the ground after she saw Keiji stepping backward. Several kunais were on the ground, barely affected by the gust of wind. And as it made contact with the black aura surrounding Keiji\'s body, it exploded.

Keiji\'s attacks were disrupted. It gave an opening for Ren to charge forward.

In a little bit of panic despite his mental state, Keiji stopped his feet, causing the ground to shake. He tried to remove the weapons lying by his feet. However, it was a stupid attempt. As the kunais were thrown into the air by the stomp, it made contact with Keiji\'s aura.

BOOOM!

It caused a chain explosion, causing Keiji to lose balance.

The next thing Keiji saw was Ren slicing through the surging wind surrounding him before her katana also sliced through the aura enveloping his body.

SHING!

The katana made contact with Keiji\'s scale-covered neck, but the katana struggled to cut through.

There, Ren muttered.

"[Crimson Blossom]."

Ren recited the katana, no, the [Artifact\'s] name, the name engraved on its blade.

Its blade glowed red, and its sharpness heightened.

Ren passed by Keiji\'s body and landed a few meters away.

Blood splattered behind her as Keiji\'s head was flung through the air.

The onlookers rejoiced. The feeling was stronger to Yasuo, who created the katana.

Everyone felt elated as the crisis within the city was averted.

But someone then asked.

"Is he dead?"

Everyone that heard it shivered.

No, everyone was actually shivering whether they heard that question or not.

The sense of danger was strong that even those who were dense felt it.

Ren and Sayuri immediately looked at Keiji, readying their weapons once more.

Keiji\'s head never touched the ground. It hovered in the air, connected to his body through the black, malicious aura.

Then, the aura sprouted seven more necks, each with a ghostly serpentine heads.

Keiji\'s head and the serpentine heads bent their necks. They all stared at Ren. It was a horrific scene as the severed head of their brother stared at Ren with unparalleled rage.