Mutagen

Battles between immortals of similar strengths could last long. It could be days, weeks, months, or even years before their battles concluded. The same applied to even higher beings such as Gods and Deities.

The only way to end a battle quickly was to have a card to play and overwhelm the opponent. But if such cards did not work, it would lead to a contest of stamina and magical power. And for Gods and Deities, such stat attributes would last longer than the lives of their weaker spectators.

Such was the case in the battle between the Deity of Soul Sacrifice and the Night Goddess. Since both could not overwhelm their opponent, they could only continue fighting until one finally lost.

And it seemed that the collapse of the sky-reaching tree was due to the battle of these two.

Such a magnificent, fantasy-like tree fell because of a berserk Goddess and her creator.

Well, it was not like Mark did not share the blame. After all, he was the reason why the Night Goddess was like this.

But the two battling each other aside, Mark\'s eyes focused on the other two. It was the second time Mark saw that blond androgynous guy. The first time was during the eruption of Mount Muria when this guy appeared in the middle of the battle between the Deity of Soul Sacrifice and the Night Goddess.

As for the last person, there was no way Mark would not recognize him.

"Shin..."

Mark murmured.

Shin. One of the [Inheritors] who also became Gar\'Vlam\'s [Blessed One]. From the testimony of the younger one of the [Siren] sisters, he fell into the temptation of the promise of power and abandoned them.

But looking at Shin floating beside the androgynous man, Mark had the strong urge to burst out laughing.

"... In the end, you\'re just another idiot. That\'s Karma for you, huh?"

Mark gave Shin one last insult. It was because there was no point in insulting the dead further.

Glancing at the soldiers in the middle of evacuating, Mark shrugged. They gathered a lot of things that they became too slow for the current situation.

WHOOOOOOOM!

All of a sudden, a wave of surging blaze flew towards the soldiers. The soldiers, not used to magical attacks, panicked. Well, even if they did not panic, there was barely anything they could do against such an attack.

WHOOOSH!

The surging blaze vanished as it collided with a dark surge. The two forces clashed without any explosion or impact. The flames vanished as darkness ate it like a pebble swallowed into calm waters.

Mark appeared in front of the surging blaze and blocked it with a considerable amount of [Miasma].

As the flames and darkness before Mark vanished, he stared at Shin.

"That\'s quite a greeting, don\'t you think, The Great One?"

Mark mocked.

"You\'ve grown stronger."

Shin... No, The Great One smiled with interest.

"And you didn\'t change at all," Mark responded with a mocking smile. "Still using puppets and subordinates to do your dirty work. Why don\'t you come here personally instead of using another toy?"

Shin was gone. All that was left was an empty husk used by the twisted Deity as a puppet to toy with. Similar to the [Eye] before, The Great One was using Shin\'s body as a puppet.

"Sir Mark! We\'re done here!"

General Wijaya yelled as only he and Spera were left outside the portal.

"Just go, you two," Mark replied without taking his eyes away from the enemies. "These guys aren\'t enemies you can turn your back to."

"But-!"

General Wijaya hesitated.

"Let\'s go."

However, without hesitation, Spera pushed the General into the portal.

"Don\'t die."

Spera whispered before vanishing, and the portal closed shortly after.

It seemed Spera closed the portal quickly so that the others on the other side did not have the opportunity to jump in and try to help Mark.

Spera\'s thinking was on point. Right now, any of them would end up getting in the way instead of helping. Amihan could be of help. However, someone as powerful as Amihan needed to protect everyone, considering the enemies they currently had.

And right now, in front of Mark. There were three Deities and a newly-born Goddess.

"It is a dangerous situation," Magwayen\'s voice echoed in Mark\'s mind. "You should not hold anything back if all of them decide to fight you at the same time."

"Whether there\'s only one or four of them, I don\'t plan on holding back when that annoying one is in the fray."

Mark replied, staring at Shin, who was now The Great One\'s puppet.

"You are still protecting humans despite being a Demon," The Great One spoke, ignoring the provocation Mark spat out before. "What is there to care about mortals. When they cannot benefit from you any longer, they will only regard you as another monster."

"Are you speaking from experience?" Mark mocked. "Besides, aren\'t Demons known for doing whatever they want without minding consequences and other\'s opinions? Just like what I am doing right now."

As Mark ended his sentence, he let out a deep breath. Ignis then appeared in his right hand.

***

The Great One watched Mark below, who was getting ready to fight. His eyes fell on the sword that appeared in Mark\'s hand, which felt familiar, yet unfamiliar. It should be the [Cursed Flamberge] that was once a member of Auraboros. When it came into Mark\'s hands, it had already turned into a [Demonic Weapon].

But now, it looked far different from the last time he had seen it.

Worse, it actually exuded a faint Godly aura.

While The Great One watched Mark, a voice was transmitted into his mind.

"It truly is unexpected for your target to appear here, but are you really going to fight now? We have yet to capture the Alchemist\'s creation. Seriously, who told him to make a Goddess of the night? Out of all things, he picked one with the trickiest abilities in escaping."

The Great One did not look away from Mark as he replied to the telepathic voice of the narcissist beside him.

"You can see that the Alchemist did not take the situation into account. And about fighting... Is there any reason not to?"

"Can you leave me out of it? I would rather not get close to him. I did not think your target would be this lacking in terms of appearance."

"There you are again with that useless drivel. Appearance had nothing to do with strength. Just like how you are the weakest among the founders of Auraboros."

"The other founders aside, I am still the strongest among all the other members."

"You are a Deity. It would be a disgrace if you were weaker than them." The Great One snorted. "If you are not going to entertain yourself, then just stay silent."

***

Mark frowned, glaring at The Great One. Right now, he was just exchanging stares with the enemy, waiting for the other to make the first move.

But while Mark was staring at the enemy, The Great One suddenly smirked.

BOOOM!

An explosion occurred where Mark stood.

Flames, smoke, and dust scattered around the ruins of the military outpost. The explosion was strong enough to engulf the entire ruins. If a regular human were to receive that attack, nothing would be left of them.

***

The Great One did not think that he won with that, however. He panned his eyes in the surroundings to find Mark. Oddly enough, he could not feel even the slightest bit of his presence. It was as if Mark had suddenly vanished.

It was not something Mark was capable of before. After the previous battle, it seemed that Mark had gained unfathomable abilities.

All of a sudden, a faint whistling of the wind entered The Great One\'s ears. However, there was nothing to be seen that could make such a sound.

Nonetheless, The Great One suddenly chopped the empty space to his right with his hand while forming a blade with the index and middle fingers.

The space ruptured following the movements of The Great One\'s hand. It was accompanied by an invisible attack, getting torn by the ruptured space.

Several whistling sounds appeared from different directions. However, The Great One slashed the space with his fingers a few times, blocking all the invisible attacks, which appeared to be sharp blades made of wind.

"This sure is a convenient ability, isn\'t it?" The Great One remarked as the ruptured space around him started to return to normal. "It is much more useful compared to that Flame Demon\'s blessing in this body."

After making his remarks about the abilities within Shin\'s body, The Great One stared at the cloud of smoke and dust that had yet to subside. He then stretched out his left hand towards the ruined military outpost.

WHOOOM!

A ball of fire, about the size of a basketball, was conjured in front of The Great One\'s left palm. The ball of fire hovered in the air, even after The Great One retracted his arm.

SNAP!

The Great One snapped the fingers on his left hand. With that signal, the ball of flames split into dozens of smaller spheres before all of it began to rain on the ruins below.

Several of the raining spheres made contact with the ruins at the same time.

BOOOOOM!

Consecutive explosions covered the ruins as the spheres of flames caused a massive chain reaction.

The Great One\'s eyes then followed the figure of Mark escaping the explosions.

***

Mark had no choice but to stop hiding within the cloud of smoke and dust after the entire place became a blanket of flames and explosions.

"Tsk."

Mark could not help but click his tongue. He had just gotten out of hiding, but a large ball of flames was already flying at him.

Unfortunately, trying to dodge would be futile. There was no way he could, as the attack was already just a few meters away from him, hurled at bullet speeds. The explosions caused by the smaller spheres were already devastating. This big one would definitely cause an explosion far more massive than before.

Trying to dodge it would make it hit the ground and explode, getting Mark caught in its radius while he tried to evade it.

That was why...

SWOOOSH!!

Mark waved Ingis, facing the incoming ball of flames.

A silent blade of wind flew at the ball of flames, splitting it in half.

BOOOM!

The ball of flames still exploded. However, the blade of the wind was accompanied by a strong gust, which forced the direction of the explosion away from Mark.

"Hoh?"

The androgynous man could not help but react after seeing what Mark did. He was clearly impressed.

At the same time, The Great One let out a smile. He was clearly feeling entertained by Mark\'s actions.

Of course, Mark felt their reactions. He could not help but feel annoyed. He was starting to understand what The Great One\'s problem was.

It made Mark remember the first time he met this annoying Deity. At that time, The Great One wanted to claim Mei, as she had an extremely rare physique. But now, it was clear that The Great One did not care that much about Mei anymore and was purposely targeting him.

While Mark did anger The Great One before, it was not the reason why The Great One was targeting him.

It was because The Great One was bored. Boredom was a problem for long-lived races. Even Gods were portrayed to have such problems in fiction and literature.

And The Great One, who did not only lived for a long time but was also sealed since the end of the Lost Era, had the same problem.

Now, he saw Mark as a good source of entertainment and a way to test his puppets.

Responding to the truth of the matter, Mark smiled.

Mark just got another reason to kill this arrogant Deity.

With Mark\'s eyes starting to exude a purplish glow, ethereal black wings opened behind him.

And then, while holding Ignis in his right hand, Mark took out the sword he originally made in Japan with the Elder Blacksmith, which was now modified even more.

Holding the [AT - Elemental Blade Mk. II] in his left hand, Mark moved Ignis above it, fusing the two swords into one large greatsword.