Mutagen

Emotions. It was one of the roots of every living being\'s existence.

Humans, animals, magical creatures, and even plants had emotions. A living being without emotion was no different from a non-living item. In human terms, someone without emotions was always compared to a doll or a puppet, a non-living creation.

But that said, each creature had a threshold for each emotion. 

Once certain emotions went past the limit of its threshold, surprising results would appear unexpectedly.

An eight-month-pregnant woman trapped in a fire, afraid of dying, would be able to break down wooden walls with bare fists and run faster than a track athlete.

An unfit man could be able to run faster than a rabid dog chasing after him.

A warrior protecting his land could endure all the pain in his body and take down an entire army of sword-wielding soldiers.

Some may attribute it to adrenaline. But then again, emotions and stress were the ones responsible for the adrenaline rush to trigger.

And depending on the situation and the person\'s personality, the results would also be different.

A prideful person would try to fight and struggle.

A weak person would immediately choose to flee.

And this time, the Serpent God was undergoing such an episode.

The Serpent God was a prideful being. Afraid of death, it struggled to break free. Now that it escaped imminent death, all it had in its mind was to eliminate the source of its humiliation.

It had forgotten all the pain, focusing on its mind on killing.

The Serpent God wanted to kill these measly insects trying to kill it.

With all the anger that suppressed its pain, the six unscathed heads of the [Yamata-no-Orochi] opened their mouths, facing the remaining territory of the Reclaimed City.

The magical storm began to grow stronger. Six forms of energy began forming in front of the Serpent God\'s six mouths.

One mouth began to form a stone sphere. Piece by piece, fragments of the earth began floating from all directions, converging into that sphere.

Another head had a ball of water. The water from Tokyo Bay began showing violent waves as pillars of water surged out of the bay into the ball in the sky.

The third head conjured dark clouds in the sky. Lightning bolts poured down from the clouds, creating a cracking sphere of lightning in front of its mouth.

Fourth was a green sphere of smog. Deadly fragments in the surroundings flew into the green sphere, creating probably the most poisonous and radioactive smog.

The fifth and sixth heads were the most mysterious. As both heads gathered energy, one created a blinding ball of light while the other created an ominous sphere of darkness.

In Ariake, the Defense Forces felt terrified. Whether they could feel magical energy or not, the hair on their bodies stood on end as they felt the extreme danger of the situation.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE AT WILL! STOP IT FROM ATTACKING!"

The Prime Minister ordered the soldiers.

At the center of the formation, with unwiped blood in the corner of her mouth, the Priestess began dancing to a different tune. The ground around her grew brighter, and the barrier showed a bright sheen as the Priestess and the members of the Temple tried their best to strengthen it.

Behind the formation, the Empress and the Demons began chanting an unintelligible chant. The chanting began conjuring a blood-red magic circle below their feet, temporarily raising the Empress\' powers. It was clear that it was a forbidden magic as the eyes of the Empress in her Golden Fox Form showed a bright red glow, and streaks of her magical fur showed the same color.

BOOOM!

The unified attack of the Defense Forces hit the Serpent God, causing large explosions.

Unfortunately, with the dulled sense of pain, as the Serpent God\'s anger went past its threshold, the attacks from the soldiers only shook the Serpent God\'s body a little. It continued to form its elemental spheres, making them grow to a terrifying degree.

Space was shaking. It was the true anger of a Godly Creature.

And right now, the mortals were trying to resist such rage. It was their fight to survive. There was no stepping back.

The Priestess steeled herself. She brought out all her power as she danced. It would likely be her last dance. There was no need to hold anything back.

It was the same for the Empress. Slowly, her golden fur turned red. Sparks of magic began emitting from it. And below her, the Demons fell to the ground one after another, drained of their magical energy.

At the side, the members of the Evernight were not watching idly.

In fact, they had their own preparations with Spera at the center of it.

Spera sat atop The Cube. She was sitting in the middle of a magical platform. Around her were dozens of [Empty Mental Crystals], connected to her through the platform.

It was the final card if all hope went down the drain.

Hopefully, there would be no need to use it.

Spera aside, Mei was also preparing something with the little girls. Her [AT-Etherbloom] as the main body, they combined all their [Abyss Tech] weapons with a large cannon. It was one of the features of the weapons Mark created. Furthermore, it was not just the weapons but also the three Golems joining the docking.

Amihan was also amidst her preparation. The green markings on her body glowed brightly. She would do what she could to intercept the godly attack. Even so, she was unsure it would work. After all, while she was also an incarnation of a Goddess, she was weaker than the Serpent God.

Underwater, Mark felt the turbulent stream around him. He was still looking at the sky, at the blurry visage of the Serpent God through the water.

Mark could feel the space tearing as the three powerful beings above began to gather their powers.

Unexpectedly, Mark closed his eyes.

Mark conjured the hammer with the help of the [Butterfly of Wisdom], and the [Crystal Staff] now merged to his sword with Ignis. He materialized it with an enormous amount of [Miasma] and the ability of a Demon Deity.

Yet, in a single relentless blow from the Serpent God, the hammer got destroyed, barely doing its intended purpose.

Mark closed his eyes. The words of the voice filled his mind. It tried to tempt him. It was to reach the level of the Deities.

That power, that [Manifestation]. The ability to let the power of the Deities free to take its shape.

It sure sounded easy. But it was more complicated than one would think.

Even if Magwayen gave Mark some explanations before, he was unsure about it.

Unbeknownst to Mark, he had fallen into a trance, unaware of many things happening in his surroundings.

ROOOOOOAR!!!

The Serpent God roared. The elemental spheres exploded into a stream of elemental energy surging toward Ariake.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

The Prime Minister shouted as the humans immediately took cover, even taking out shields to protect the formation.

BOOOM!!!

The stream of elemental energy crashed onto the barrier.

"Cough!"

The Priestess let out a muffled cough. Blood filled her throat and mouth, but she did not stop dancing as her barrier resisted the Serpent God\'s attack. The other members of the Temple were in the same circumstances, with some of them falling unconscious. Nonetheless, none of them left their post.

"ROAR!"

The Empress roared, and the magic circle below her bloomed with bright red light. And from her mouth, a stream of reddish-golden magical flames burst out toward the Serpent God\'s attack.

BOOM!

The flames clashed with the elemental stream. It alleviated the burden on the barrier and the Priestess but also caused a huge burden on the Empress and the Demons supporting her.

At the same time, surging wind blew as Amihan conjured her magical energy to create a tornado to support the flames and the barrier.

The space continued to shake, and the clash of magical energies caused the entire country to feel its waves.

***

Mark saw the beams of light above the water. In his trance, he failed to recognize the lights produced by the clash of magical energies. Thousands of thoughts were flashing in his mind right now.

In his trance, Mark raised his hand towards the lights. And right now, what he was feeling was hunger.

Hunger? Why was Mark hungry? It was not the right time to be hungry. Furthermore, he had a few snacks during the preparation.

But no. It was not the hunger of the body. It was the hunger stemming from somewhere else.

"▋▋▋▋▋▋~"

Suddenly, Mark began hearing something.

"~▋▋▋...~"

What was it?

"A song?"

Mark murmured as he realized the rhythm. Furthermore, it was the voice of someone familiar.

It was the voice of that kid who sang in front of Mark earlier.

Vaguely, Mark tried to detect where the song was coming from.

The song was coming from the shelter. He was singing to fight the fear they were feeling.

And inspired by the kid, other people began joining. As the singer changed, so was the song,

It was a song Mark was familiar with. It was an anime song. It was a song in an anime where the female main characters sing while supporting the fights of the mecha pilots protecting them.

In an instant, everyone\'s singing filled the shelter.

It was unity through a song.

And as Mark listened to the song and its effects, a thought entered his mind.

It was a phrase Mark read from some martial arts films and literature from China.

"Return to Origin."

It was a phrase that would come out when someone wanted to grow past their limit.

Sometimes, it meant to return to basics. At other times, it was to look back at the past and seek inspiration. There were also times it meant to look back at one\'s original aspirations.

But right now, Mark was reminded of something. The songs reminded him of something, to be exact.

Way before the outbreak started. 

Way before Mark was able to get ahold of his abilities as an [Empath].

And definitely before Mark became an [Evolver], a [Mutator], and a Demon.

Mark\'s very first ability. It was to manually trigger his adrenaline by manipulating emotions that he lacked. And to manipulate those emotions, Mark used music, anime music.

At this time, Mark remembered. It had been a while since he had a nice long sound trip.

Mark listened to the songs coming from inside the shelter, remembering the past.

The songs made Mark remember the anime he watched as a child, which made his heart pound.

Mark had dreams back then. Those dreams got lost in the flow of time and the harsh reality.

Hungry.

Mark felt the hunger for the aspirations he was never able to achieve.

BADUMP!

The songs continued, and Mark\'s heart started to pound. His blood felt boiling.

Mark opened his eyes. What he saw was his childhood. Afraid of everything, unable to do anything. A prisoner to the strict rules of his parents. He only found freedom through anime and songs.

That was why Mark became an Otaku.

Return to Origin. Return to what you really were.

And as Mark looked at his childhood. What he had the most was hunger.

Hunger for affection. Hunger for freedom.

And.

The hunger for power. Mark wanted the power to allow himself to do more than be tied to the shackles.

Power.

Mark opened his eyes. That power was right in front of his eyes.

***

"Hold on! We can do it!"

The Priestess yelled as she continued her dance despite stumbling several times.

Resisting a Godly Beast\'s full attack was hard, even if the Priestess had a [Divine Artifact] in her hands. And if not for this artifact, they might have gotten obliterated instantly.

As for the Empress, the reddish glow on her body began to vanish. All of the Demons around her had already fallen unconscious. Among the forces of Auraboros, only the Empress was the one left standing, not wanting to give up.

Amihan was also struggling. The glow of the green markings on her body had begun to dim, indicating that she had almost used up all her power.

On the other hand, the Serpent God did not even seem to weaken. It continued to pour its attacks toward the Reclaimed City, trying to erase it once and for all.

Finally, the Priestess stumbled one last time. The Priests and Maidens around her had already fallen.

The Empress had used up all her power. She then reverted back to her humanoid form before falling to the ground, kneeling.

Amihan\'s wind vortices got torn.

But the Priestess was not giving up. Using the staff to prop herself up, she was unwilling to give up.

The barrier and the attacks of the Serpent God clashed once again. The barrier was clearly on the verge of breaking.

But no one noticed. The water of Tokyo Bay had all gotten dark and murky.

When the barrier cracked, on the verge of breaking, a gigantic black shadow soared from the murky water. It was a giant creature without form, A giant blob with only its red-glowing eyes and mouth being distinguishable.

It soared straight at the Serpent God\'s attack.

And then.

CHOMP!

The giant blob\'s mouth opened wide, devouring the elemental spheres of the Serpent God.