Mutagen

The shockwave comparable to a nuclear bomb\'s explosion was felt throughout the entirety of the Reclaimed City.

It was a shockwave that caused the ground to shake violently. Everyone who was unable to brace themselves or hold unto something fell down. Many buildings outside the Reclaimed City collapsed, and it could have been the same inside if not for the Priestess\' barrier holding everything up.

Even so, many of the people inside the shelters were injured due to their unceremonious fall. And, of course, it caused their worries to grow further. The people in the shelter had no idea of what was happening outside. All these people could do was wait until the people fighting the enemies told them the danger was averted. 

But with this earthquake-like shaking, there was no surprise the evacuees were worried. What if no one came back from outside? What if, when they came out, everything they had left was gone?

Such anxiety-provoking thoughts filled the minds of the poor evacuees. Unfortunately, they could not do much. They were inside the shelter for a reason. It was because they were weak, both in mind and body.

The only thing the evacuees could do was to wish and pray. Pray that the danger ended sooner. A wish that they still had a place to return.

These people were lucky.

It was because they had no idea what was happening outside.

If they were outside, would they still be able to pray? Or would they succumb to hopelessness?

It was because that situation was what exactly was happening right now, even among the brave soldiers.

***

"What in the world is that?"

The head of the bureau, Shigeru, voiced out in shock.

The clouds in the sky were gone, and the blizzard came to an utter stop. The shockwave blew away many things. All that was left was the eerie haze, but it did not stop everyone from seeing the mountainous thing on the other side of the river.

It was not only Shigeru who was rooted on his feet. All the soldiers in his command, his two comrades, and even the Onmyojis, Priests, and Maidens from the Temple. All of them had the same reaction as the mountainous figure appeared out of nowhere after the shockwave pushed them all into disarray.

The shockwave crushed all the newly erected barriers by the members of the Temple. The many tanks of the army were blown to the side of the road. Some unlucky ones were even turned over, just like most of the vehicles they brought.

Many soldiers were injured. Some unfortunate ones even broke their bones. The only leeway the soldiers luckily had was the protection of the shattered barrier, which prevented instant deaths within their ranks. Even so, the situation turned more than half of their forces unsuitable for combat and plummeted everyone\'s already low morale.

On the other side, at Kachidoki\'s docks...

The members of the Black Lotus and Evernight were all in fighting condition. In fact, they were all unscathed, along with a few Priests and Maidens nearby. The members of the Black Lotus thought the shockwave would still harm them even with their armor borrowed from Mark. 

But to their surprise, someone stepped, no, and flew in front of everyone.

Just as the shockwave arrived, Amihan flew forward, unleashing her strongest wind wall to protect everyone behind her. A power that a [Sylph] like her was not supposed to have. This could have been more shocking if not for the giant silhouette that appeared after the shockwave.

How gigantic was the silhouette? It was like a hill-shape shadow, towering over even the giant skeleton from earlier. About ten meters? No, it was more than that. It might be even higher than fifteen meters, but it was hard to pinpoint the exact measurement.

Not to mention that everyone could not see it clearly because of the eerie haze.

SPLASH!

Everyone flinched.

Only then everyone noticed the frozen river beginning to defrost. It seemed that the shockwave did not only affect those on the ground and in the sky. Even the underground and underwater were affected.

On the further west of the riverbank...

"Gege!"

Mei\'s voice echoed as she rushed towards Mark\'s direction. She saw it clearly when Mark was thrown away by the shockwave for several dozen meters before crashing into the riverbank. And among everyone here, he was the closest to the center of the shockwave\'s source. It would not be a surprise if he got injured.

As Mei hurried, she saw him stepping out of the crater created by his impact. Mark\'s attention was on the mountainous silhouette.

"Gege, are you okay?"

Mei asked in worry as she landed beside Mark.

Mark finally turned his attention away from the silhouette and looked at his body.

"Still intact, I guess?" Mark replied. "My back kinda hurts, but it should be fine since nothing is broken."

Mark moved his body a little and twisted his waist a bit. His body was truly fine, protected by his armor. If Mark was not wearing his newly upgraded armor, he would probably have several broken bones to complain about.

"How\'s everyone?"

Mark asked, hiding the worry he had. He was thrown like this by the shockwave. How could the girls by the docks fare against this? Although they also wore similar armor, it did not mean they were invincible.

"They are fine," Mei replied in relief. "Amihan blocked the shockwave for them. But the Defense Forces and the people from the Temple are not in good condition."

"Let\'s join the others," Mark suggested as he paid another glance at the silhouette. "Looks like got some miscalculations. And whatever that thing is, it doesn\'t seem to be moving for now."

Mei nodded, and the two opened their wings and flew toward the docks.

When the two arrived at the docks, there were already some familiar people present who were not there before.

But this was just the right timing. Mark needed to talk to two of those people.

Mark and Mei landed. His eyes immediately scanned the members of his group. He was relieved that they were unharmed. Mark patted the heads of the two little girls that welcomed his return as he turned his attention to the two most important people that arrived.

The Priestess and the Empress.

But Mark noticed that Priestess seemed to be catching her breath, and trickles of sweat could be seen on her forehead.

"What happened to you?"

Mark asked the Priestess straight, to the surprise of those around them. After all, not everyone knew about Mark\'s relations to the Priestess.

But what surprised them more was how the Priestess replied.

"What do you think?" The Priestess replied with a scowl, disregarding her dignity, stature, and commonly known image. "I had to protect the city. Whatever happened was enough to destroy everything from the northwest to the center of the Reclaimed City. I had to put more effort into this than before since it happened without warning."

"We decided to come since we felt Gar\'Vlam\'s presence," The Empress chimed in. "Did he cause this mess? And that thing?"

The Empress was frowning as she looked at that towering silhouette.

It was not only the Empress. The Priestess had the same reaction as she gazed at that thing.

And Mei, who had seen Mark\'s frown before, realized that the three had the same reaction. No, it was not only the three. As Amihan landed on Mark\'s shoulder, she had the same reaction as them.

"Gege... There\'s a huge problem with that one, doesn\'t it?"

Given that Mark did not react this way to an army of Demons numbering thousands, it meant that whatever that huge thing was was way more threatening.

Furthermore...

·ƈθm "What\'s with your eyes?"

Spera suddenly asked Mark, noticing that his eyes were still glowing strangely. It drew everyone\'s attention to him as they realized the glow in his eyes through the helmet he was currently wearing.

Mark removed his helmet, and everyone saw the different colored glow in both his eyes. It looked cool but felt really eerie. What was stranger was that Mark tried to rub his eyes as if trying to deactivate whatever was causing it, to no avail.

"Damn it..."

Mark said with a click of his tongue. It was not that he did not realize his eyes were glowing, but it was not deactivating at all for some reason.

And every time Mark gazed at that silhouette, all he could see was an even larger silhouette of a monster with eight heads and sixteen glowing eyes.

Mark could not understand. It seemed that his abilities were hinting at something.

There was a miscalculation. There was something that none of the people present, not Mark, not the Priestess, nor the Empress, knew that caused all this to happen.

But one thing was for sure. Mark messed up with something. And that something was telling Spera to bring Keiji somewhere closer here.

Mark should have suspected it since the start. There should be many clans, groups, or just individuals who would want to put the Reclaimed City under their control. Yet, the Demons cooperated with the Mitsui Clan.

While it was unknown whether the Mitsui Clan or the Demons reached out first, there was barely any reason for the Demons to cooperate if they could pull this kind of stuff.

Then why?

Mark had no idea.

In any case, it led to the current situation. If there was something suspicious, it should be that strange sword and Keiji\'s uncanny transformation.

"Should we attack that thing?"

Someone suggested, pointing at the silhouette. However, neither Mark, the Priestess, nor the Empress replied as they kept their frowns on that huge thing.

At this time, Mark suddenly froze as a few scenes flashed in his eyes.

"Everyone! Get ready!"

Mark yelled, making everyone flinch as they readied to fight.

However, there were no enemies in sight, nor was the silhouette making any move.

But they were wrong.

Slowly, figures began sweeping out of the cracks left on the frozen river. The figures seemed ethereal and formless until they showed elongated shapes. One would think they were shaped like serpents if not for each different figure having an uncanny body part. One example was a humanoid upper body with a serpent lower body. Another was an entire serpent shape with a human head. However, no features could be distinguished from the figures. Just their shapes and their dark, murky-colored bodies.

As the figures rose from the water into the icy surface of the river, everyone felt chills on their backs.

And if their eerie appearances were not enough, the figures began shambling like decayed monsters as they made their way toward the river bank of Kachidoki.

"What the hell are those?"

Sayuri voiced out while rubbing her arms to fight the eerie chill. It was not working, though. She was wearing armor, after all.

At this time, the Priestess stepped forward.

"The [Miasma] is forming... It\'s the echoes of the Demons that died just now. They are the residue of a bloody sacrifice. And since their life force was snuffed out, they will try to siphon the life force of the living."

The Priestess then formed an elemental pentagram in the air before her.

"Don\'t fight these things in close combat if you understand what I said just now."

And then, the Priestess mumbled her prayer, ending up with a circle of light appearing under her feet and spreading across the riverbank.

"Those who can\'t fight should stay inside the light. Those who can, step we better deal with the situation immediately."

The Priestess then stepped into the frozen river.

To the side, Ren immediately sent one of her members to spread the word to the soldiers. The [Miasmic Residues] were all over the lake, and it would be bad if the soldiers tried to fight without knowing what was happening. 

With a signal from the Priestess\' hand, the members of the Temple who were still able to fight charged forward. With a wave of their hands, they released talismans which shot through the residues and tore them apart.

However, to everyone\'s dismay, more and more figures slowly formed from the cracks of the ice.

But with the combined effort of the remaining members of the Temple, none of the [Miasmic Residues] were able to take a step on Kachidoki\'s grounds.

On the other hand, Mark sat on the docks, staring at the mountainous silhouette. He was trying to figure it out while stealthily sending a trail of [Miasma] underwater, trying to find and absorb the source of the [Miasmic Residues].

Mark managed to stop many residues from forming above water. He also gained a nice amount of [Miasma] to absorb.

But at this time, the silhouette finally made some movements.

Everyone\'s eyes dilated as a pair of glowing red eyes opened from the. It was then followed by another pair of red eyes.

Then another pair...

And another...

Just like with the hazy figure that Mark\'s eyes saw, there were sixteen eyes. Eight pairs of eyes, to be exact.

And parts of the figure finally rose upward, revealing its eight serpentine necks and eight serpentine tails.

In Japanese myths and history, only one creature had such a unique appearance.

"Yeah, right... We\'re into one big dang mess here..."

Mark said, which woke everyone from their stupor.

All witnesses felt chills far greater than before as they all watched the shadow of the eight heads staring at them.