Mutagen

Mark was the first to arrive at the enemy camp and attack. Unfortunately, he was also the first to get hit by an attack.

In a split second that Mark took the initiative to attack, Gar\'Vlam blocked Mark\'s sword and counterattacked with a quick jab to his stomach. It was a simple jab. However, it was too fast that a blur of Gar\'Vlam\'s fist was barely even seen. And most importantly, its explosive impact sent Mark flying.

Mark got thrown back to the center of the frozen river. His body drew a letter C as the impact of Gar\'Vlam\'s punch carried his whole body away.

It was a perfect and powerful counterattack. That would have been the thoughts of anyone to see what happened just now.

However, Gar\'Vlam would say otherwise. He had a strange look on his face as he stared at his fist and Mark far away. The impact Gar\'Vlam felt on his hand was strange. He had no way to describe it, but something was definitely wrong.

And Gar\'Vlam was not mistaken.

Mark landed upright and slid through the frozen river. His boots left marks on the ice as spikes protruded under the soles of the boots to stop his slide.

And the moment he stopped...

PSHHHHHH...

Slots appeared at the sides of Mark\'s armor. All of which faced backward as they released what seemed to be steam.

As Mark raised his head to look at Gar\'Vlam, a cloud of steam covered his background.

Mark stood up, tapping his slightly dented armor. It got dented by Gar\'Vlam\'s fist, but it was not broken in the least. And it could likely still hold after another two or three of the same attacks. 

Incorporating Erielli\'s anti-impact technology used on their spaceships in his armor sure was a good investment. It was the most important function of the [AbyssTech] armors that Mark made. It was to absorb kinetic energy, redirect it, and release it afterward. This would lessen the damage received while ensuring the armor would not break too fast.

This function would not be possible with Earth\'s materials. However, using [Mechid\'s] bodies as the main material and combining them with specific magic circles did not trick.

Mark took a deep breath as he combined his two swords into one. The Gar\'Vlam he was fighting this time was different from the last time. Although he managed to overpower Gar\'Vlam when he was newly awakened, Gar\'Vlam now had recovered his original powers to a great extent. Thus, he had to try a lot of things to see which approach would be effective.

HOOOOOOO!

Agitated sounds entered Mark\'s ears.

The moment Mark landed, he already got the attention of the [Miasmic Residues] and began to approach him.

Unfortunately for them...

BOOOM!

Mark\'s legs emitted a reddish glow. And as he kicked the ice below his feet, he catapulted himself away, leaving the explosion of ice and water behind him.

Once again, Mark flew towards Gar\'Vlam, and the [Miasmic Residues] that tried to surround Mark fell into the ice-cold water of the river.

On the other side, Gar\'Vlam stretched his right arm forward, with his palm facing Mark.

WHOOOM!

Like a machine gun, Gar\'Vlam fired dozens of fist-sized fireballs in succession.

Mark\'s charge was met with hundreds of fireballs mid-way. However, his body appeared and disappeared, turning into black mist when a fireball was about to hit him. He flew in an erratic fashion to evade the incoming attacks without losing speed and momentum.

And in a blink of an eye, Mark was in front of Gar\'Vlam once more.

This time, Mark disappeared and appeared behind Gar\'Vlam in an instant. He then unleashed a side slash at the enemy\'s right flank.

However, Gar\'Vlam saw through Mark\'s movements. Without even looking, he conjured a flame barrier to protect his back.

Mark showed a smirk as he saw Gar\'Vlam\'s arrogance.

Sure, Gar\'Vlam managed to anticipate Mark\'s attack trajectory. But without looking?

Gar\'Vlam needed to at least turn his head to see that Mark\'s sword was already covered in black mist.

WHOOSH!

Mark\'s sword and the barrier connected, but the flame barrier barely stopped the sword before its energy was absorbed by something. The sword then passed through the weakened barrier and connected with Gar\'Vlam\'s body.

Gar\'Vlam immediately flashed away as he felt a stinging pain in his back. As he appeared a few meters away, he knew that Mark\'s sword wounded him.

"I was careless..."

The Flame Demon Deity muttered as he saw Mark\'s sword clad in [Miasma].

While the wound Mark\'s sword inflicted Gar\'Vlam was actually small, it was infected with [Miasma], which would continuously eat Gar\'Vlam\'s energy if left alone.

BOOOM!

Gar\'Vlam\'s energy exploded. It caused the [Miasma] on his wound to dissipate as the wound on his back closed without hindrance.

The appearance that Gar\'Vlam had right now might look human. However, just like Amihan, his body was constructed with elemental energy. As long as he had enough energy, wounds would pose no problems. Of course, a good amount of energy was wasted to heal the wound. Even for a Deity, it would be better not to rely on this kind of thing.

Gar\'Vlam had no time to mull over his carelessness, however. Mark was already on his next attack.

The two began exchanging attacks afterward. The [Miasma] that clad Mark\'s sword disabled Gar\'Vlam\'s flame barriers and forced the Flame Demon Deity to retreat several times. As Gar\'Vlam was being more careful, Mark was unable to get another hit. 

However, Gar\'Vlam was the same. He tried to counterattack several times, but Mark was already wary of his quick and explosive attacks and would retreat a few steps back or disappear once Gar\'Vlam tried to.

It looked like the exchange of attack and defense between the two would take some time. At the least, Mark was able to fight head-to-head with a Deity near its prime.

***

On the other hand, the separated battles began on other sides.

Gar\'Vlam was using his head when he sent his subordinates to fight specific individuals on purpose.

The [Blue Oni] was giving the Priestess quite a fight. The [Oni] race was known for its outstanding constitution and strength, but its race was also known for having outstanding sorcerers.

And the [Blue Oni], Aoba, had all those qualities to a great extent. Too great that it would not be surprising if he was the current king of his race.

BAM! CRACKLE!

Using her talismans, the Priestess attacked with both explosions and lightning bolts.

However, the attacks did not even faze Aoba as he met them head-on with his body. And if he deemed an attack to pose even a little threat, he would wave his club with a barely visible speed and destroy the attack without reaching him at all.

The Priestess could only frown. This [Blue Oni] was a bad matchup for her. It seemed that she would need to call upon more powerful attacks. However, she had already expended a great amount of her strength to protect the Reclaimed City from the shockwave earlier. She was trying to conserve her energy to fight the Serpent God, but it looked like she would not have any other choice.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

On another side, the Empress was fighting the [Jorogumo], Renea.

Fighting was not really the Empress\' forte. She could fight, but not to the extent that she could say she excelled in it. Instead, she relied on her magic and illusions.

Light-blue ghostly flames appeared around the Empress, which all flew at her enemy. Flames would be the best against spiders, as they said. Well, if it was an ordinary spider.

Renea screeched. The sound was not loud to envelop the entire battlefield. However, its power came from the vibrations it created, which could even distort light and the scenery around it.

The collision of the [Fox Flames] and the vibration resulted in an explosion that canceled each other.

But as the explosions blanketed the surroundings, silhouettes of several figures emerged to surround Renea.

And the silhouettes were all the Empress after she conjured her clones.

All of the eight clones conjured [Fox Flames], attacking Renea from all directions.

SCREECH!

But the [Fox Flames] were again met with the vibrations from that screech and exploded.

At the same time, Renea went on the offensive, casting webs around her from her three sets of arms.

The Empress\' clones were called back and could only retreat.

As the nine bodies of the Empress stood away, the land several meters in diameter around Renea were blanketed with webs strong and sticky enough to entrap elephants.

For the Empress, who relied on her clones for offensive attacks, Renea was also a bad matchup. A [Jorogumo] was known for deception and trapping their prey. It was not wrong to say that they were a master of crowd control to restrict enemies and devour them.

On the final side of the battlefield, it was the team battles. The [White Kitsune], Yukine, and the [Tengu], Kouki, against the team of the [Demonic Human], Shin, and the twin [Sirens], Yoko and Tsukiko.

Unexpectedly, it was the most lively battle.

Shin and Kouki were already in a fierce exchange of attacks. The [Tengu], with speed and strength, was attacking Shin in a quick barrage of attacks. However, Shin was able to hold on without problems. In fact, Kouki was struggling because all of Shin\'s attacks were all area-of-effect, as each of his sword\'s slashes would spew blades of flames.

Furthermore, the twin [Sirens] would attack with soundwaves from behind, which would cause Kouki to be momentarily disoriented from time to time.

To counteract the hypnotic soundwaves, Yukine became Kouki\'s support. Since she was the Empress\' right hand, Yukine had a similar skill set with her illusions.

However, illusions were not only used in disorienting enemies. It could also be used to counteract illusions and mental effects affecting allies.

The twin [Siren\'s] song should have given Kouki blindness. However, Yukine prevented it by casting an illusion on Kouki\'s mind, showing him what he was supposed to see in front of him.

But the most important fact was that Yukine\'s main job was not being an illusionist.

It was...

"ACK!"

Tsukiko\'s song stopped as her voice echoed into the ears of her twin and Shin.

The other two did not notice. However, the Yukine behind Kouki was nothing but an illusion.

After all, Yukine\'s main job was as a Spy and an Assassin.

"Sister!"

Yoko screeched at Yukine, who was holding the unconscious Tsukiko.

Those soundwaves from Yoko should have burst Yukine\'s eardrums. Unfortunately for Yoko, explosions occurred as Yukine retreated. The soundwave from the screech was dispersed, and Yukine vanished from the spot, dragging Tsukiko away.

"Where are you looking at?"

Kouki\'s voice entered Shin\'s ears at his momentary distraction.

BAM!

Shin tried to defend, but he was flung away by an impact on a fist on his stomach.

CRASH!

Shin landed beside Yoko, crashing into the layers of snow on the riverbank.

Yukine appeared near Kouki. The unconscious Tsukiko was carried over her shoulders.

And by Yukine\'s will, one of her three tails vanished, turning into a clone.

"Bring her away."

Yukine passed Tsukiko to the clone as it ran towards the Reclaimed City.

"Where are you going!"

Shin roared as the snow he crashed into exploded. He tried to retrieve Tsukiko from the fleeing clone of Yukine.

"Your enemy is here."

Kouki said with a stern tone as he appeared in front of Shin and unleashed another punch.

Once again, Shin created another pit in the snow on the riverbank as he crashed.

"How disgraceful..." Kouki\'s voice entered Shin\'s and Yoko\'s ears. "Do not tell me you three participated in this battle and expect nothing to happen to any of you? This is a battlefield where everyone is staking their lives into. Not a playground for you children."

Kouki\'s words stung the hearts of Shin and Yoko. That was right. The three participated in this fight unprepared for any loss between the three of them.

Was it overconfidence?

No. Unfortunately no.

They were all young and inexperienced. It was no surprise that they took things for granted. And now, they would learn their lessons the hard way.