Mutagen

Day 368 - 6:13 PM - Pudakpajung, Banyumanik, Semarang City, Central Java, Indonesia

The [Half-Spirit] siblings trembled in fear after hearing Mark wanting to strangle their daughter.

While Mark said it in a joking manner, the people of the Lost Era would not understand it. They immediately thought that Mark wanted to erase their child's existence.

"P-please, we apologize. Please spare our child."

The siblings pleaded despairingly.

The child might have been a product of a traumatic event, but they did not harbor resentment towards the innocent child. Furthermore, the poor child had it worse than them since she was born from wicked experimentation and had been under the Deity of Soul Sacrifice's sinister care from then on.

There was no way that any span of time the poor child spent alive could be identified as "living" at all. She had been under such a life until her body could not hold on anymore and perished.

Mark glanced at the desperate siblings. He felt that they were taking his words too seriously. Nonetheless, Mark had no notion of correcting it either. After all, he was also pretty annoyed after seeing the projection. Unfortunately, the projection could only show what his eyes outside could see. It was limited.

"Ignis," Mark voiced out. "Project what you are seeing. Show my current appearance."

Ignis looked at Mark. Since he had a full view of it, he was a bit reluctant to call it Mark's appearance at all. Even so, he complied. Accepting the bit of authority Mark gave him, he opened another projection.

Mark's frown grew deeper after seeing it.

It was because what Mark was seeing was not exactly him. While it had his traits here and there, there were huge discrepancies. The most important part was gender.

Mark's possessed body, currently holding Ignis, was a female. And a quite beautiful one at that.

She still had most of Mark's Demon Form's features, such as the horns, reddish-black hair, the red glowing eyes, and even the growing markings of the blessing of [Death's Aura].

However, the smaller build of her body, the oval-shaped face, puffy cheeks, and her small hands grasping Ignis were not Mark's features.

And if there was one thing that stood out the most, it was that...

If all of Mark's features were removed, the girl's appearance would be awfully identical to the Night Goddess.

Noticing that Mark understood very important things. It was the appearance of the [Half-Spirit] sibling's daughter mixed with Mark's traits. Most importantly, the appearance of the Night Goddess and possibly her core existence was strictly based on the daughter.

Still, Mark could not understand how it came to this. Sure, in movies and fiction, possessed individuals would start having changed appearances, although most of the time, it was the side effect of being possessed.

However, it did not feel like that in Mark's case.

All of a sudden, Mark's thoughts were halted. It was because the fight outside continued.

***

Outside, the three Deities were also surprised and confused. What happened? Where did Mark go? Who was this woman in front of them?

These questions were reasonable after seeing the girl who appeared after the wings opened. However, those thoughts vanished in an instant. After all, while there were changes, the aura the girl exuded and the equipment she wore was still Mark's.

But out of the three Deities, the one who was surprised the most was the Deity of Soul Sacrifice. It was because he recognized the girl's appearance. There was no way he would not remember the origin of the Night Goddess.

"This is impossible!" The Deity of Soul Sacrifice exclaimed. "You should have been extinguished as an ingredient for my newer creations!"

That was right. In order to create the first and the next generation of [Experimental Homonculi], the soul of the result of his so-called [Pure Spirit Experiement] had been torn to pieces and sprinkled to his future experiments after her inevitable death.

That was why the soul of the [Spirit Child] should not exist anymore.

Yet, under these unusual circumstances, that child that was supposed to be gone forever appeared. It was nothing short of a miracle.

In response to the Deity of Soul Sacrifice's words, the [Spirit Child] smiled.

For the first time in several thousand years, the gigantic body of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice shivered. The smile he received...

It contained all the malice from all his detestable actions.

The [Spirit Child] had become the embodiment of evil karma that the Deity of Soul Sacrifice created over the span of several thousands of years.

The [Spirit Child] had come to collect the debt the Deity of Soul Sacrifice owed his victims.

"No... NO!" The Deity of Soul Sacrifice roared. "You are nothing but an illusion!"

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice had become unstable. It seemed that the fear that suddenly enveloped him could not be contained and turned into unrestrained agitation. There was only one thing in his mind at this moment. It was to erase the existence of the source of his fear.

In that moment, the giant body of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice expanded. From a few dozes to hundreds, to thousands, to millions...

Everything on the side of [World of Decay] that the Deity of Soul Sacrifice became filled with disgusting and wriggling tentacles. It was to the point that some of the tentacles began touching the wall of [Miasma] and started rotting. But the rotting tentacles did not matter. If one rotted, a dozen more sprouted.

"This bastard."

The Great One said after some of the tentacles reached his position. He could not help but retreat. The tentacles were not just disgusting. They were coated with all kinds of substances from acids to poisons, giving each tentacle a different color. Even Shin's body controlled by The Great One would not last long if he was touched by those tentacles.

"Ugh..."

On the other hand, the Deity of Twisted Beauty was incredibly disgusted by what he was seeing. He felt like gagging in disgust. Worse, the plethora of disgusting odors from the tentacles entered his nose and made his stomach churn.

"HEY! GREATY!" The Deity of Twisted Beauty yelled telepathically. "I'M GOING OUT OF HERE! ARE YOU COMING OR NOT?!"

The Great One turned to the Deity of Twisted Beauty. He then turned to stare at his hands, now cracked and charred. The [Corrupted Sand] sure was more than this body could handle and it was starting to break down on its own.

Shin's body was clearly reaching its limits. It was a pity. He quite liked this toy even though it was rather low quality since it was a mortal body. There was no fixing it now. It was time to throw it away.

"You should go," The Great One replied to his ally. "There is no point keeping a broken toy. I will dispose of it first."

"I'm out then!"

The Deity of Twisted Beauty said in a hurry as he could not stand the sight of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice anymore. And with a flash of bright light, he was gone.

It was not like the Deity of Twisted Beauty could not escape the [World of Decay] Mark created. However, it was clear that he would have to sacrifice a few things to do so. And unlike the previous instances of his [Teleportation], the amount of magical power he needed to use to escape was several times more than normal.

It would not be a surprise if he would end up incapacitated for some time, unable to use his abilities.

As for The Great One, he turned to the Deity of Soul Sacrifice, whose body continued to expand.

"This disgusting bastard."

The Great One remarked.

At the same time, the countless tentacles began to move. From all directions, they shot towards the [Spirit Child].

Looking at the countless tentacles, it looked like rain. However, instead of raindrops, there were only tentacles covered in different kinds of slimy ooze.

Facing the tentacles, the [Spirit Child] brandished the sword in her hand. It seemed that even if she was just a soul possessing Mark, she understood his skills and abilities.

Unfortunately, while trying to release wind blades from the sword, she realized that she could not. The crystals were not responding to her at all. Realizing that the crystals were not activating, she waved her hand instead, releasing Mark's [Miasmic Flames] towards the tentacles.

This time, the black flames scattered like a giant wall, intercepting and burning the tentacles that touched it.

"Haha."

The [Spirit Child] laughed. She covered her left hand with black flames and played with it.

Nonetheless, while the wall of black flames blocked a lot of the tentacles, it would be useless if the other tentacles changed directions.

Avoiding the wall of [Miasmic Flames], the tentacles turned and charged at her once again.

"BOO!"

The [Spirit Child] pouted. The [Miasmic Flames] then began spreading from her hand to her entire body, including her raven-like wings. Then, instead of retreating, she flew towards the rain of tentacles.

Amazingly, she flew like a fish in the water, evading most of the attacks coming her way. It was not like she dodged everything, but it seemed that rather than evading all the attacks, she was letting weaker tentacles hit her and let the black flames burn them to ash.

The most important thing, the black mist released by the tentacles kept being absorbed by her as she flew. Some of the tentacles even crumbled before touching her, letting the trapped souls into her body.

And by the looks of it, she was actually absorbing the souls faster than Mark could. The cloak of [Death's Aura] covering her body was also stronger than Mark's.

BAM!

An invisible force suddenly hit the [Spirit Child] from the side. The Deity of Soul Sacrifice began using his [Telekinesis] to stop the [Spirit Child]. But while her fight lost stability for a second, it did not stop her from charging forward.

It was when another invisible force manifested. This time, from her front. If she continued flying at her current speed and collided with that invisible force moving in the opposite direction, it would not be surprising if she turned into meat paste due to the powerful collision.

But at the last moment, the [Spirit Child] changed course, dodging the invisible telekinetic force. It happened several more times, but the same happened in every instance.

"This can't be... This is absurd!"

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice could not believe what he was seeing. His usual attacks were useless towards the enemy. Furthermore, he could feel his powers starting to decrease.

It was now clear that the [Spirit Child] was not just flying around evading the tentacles. She intended to retrieve all the souls the Deity fused with his body and steal his powers.

"You impertinent whore!"

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice roared. It caused the entire place to shake. For the first time in this round of this battle, the [Spirit Child] was forced to stop. He was still a Deity, after all. And his authority lingered over souls as the Deity of Soul Sacrifice.

Even though the [Spirit Child] seemed powerful, she was nothing but a soul possessing Mark's body. The authority of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice could still affect her.

Forced to stop in her tracks, the tentacles swarmed the [Spirit Child]. Although the [Miasmic Flames] continued to burn the tentacles, it was unable to keep up with their sheer number and began to wane.

It was a dangerous situation. The [Spirit Child's] soul was shaken, and the [Miasmic Flames] could barely hold on. The tentacles swarmed her without stopping. It formed a giant ball of disgustingly squirming tentacles in the sky, trying to swallow the [Spirit Child].

But all of a sudden...

"BOOM!"

An explosion occurred. It was not around the [Spirit Child]. It was at the gigantic body of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice.

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice turned his countless eyes in a certain direction.

"What are you doing, Corrupted Sand."

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice questioned The Great One.

"That is my target. You are overstepping your bounds, Alchemist."

The Great One replied.

"And what can you do?" The Deity of Soul Sacrifice mocked. "That puppet of yours is crumbling. Get out of the way before I decide to turn you into one of my specimens."

"You really are out of your mind, Alchemist." The Great One smirked. "Just because this is a crumbling puppet does not mean it can't do anything."

And then, The Great One yelled toward the ball of tentacles in the sky.

"MARK! Better not perish in this place! You should entertain me more next time! HAHAHA!"

After that laughter, flames surged out of The Great One's body.

"You! YOU BASTARD!"

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice roared in fury. However, it was already too late for him to stop The Great One.

Releasing all of the power of the [Demonic Blessing of Fire] bestowed to Shin by Gar'Vlam, The Great One caused an explosion, not too far from the size of the explosion that occurred after Gar'Vlam died.

At this time, the [World of Decay] lit up with flames as hot as magma.