Mutagen

Day 368 - 6:05 PM - Pudakpajung, Banyumanik, Semarang City, Central Java, Indonesia

Sensing the aura Mark suddenly released, the three Deities were quite surprised.

The aura of death. It was as if Death God himself came down to reap the souls of the departed.

This situation made The Great One smile. The more Mark showed him, the more entertained he became. While this was a life-or-death battle to others, The Great One would not be bothered, as his current body was of Shin's and not his own.

To The Great One, this was nothing but entertainment. The Great One did not care whether he would win or lose. He also had no qualms about whether Mark lived or died. If Mark won and lived, they would see each other again in another fight. But if the opposite happened, it was the extent of Mark's abilities.

If Mark died here, it did not matter. The Great One would just go and focus his attention on another person. In this case, it would be Mei and the members of Mark's group.

Nonetheless, since Mark was showing more unexpected things, The Great One could not help but enjoy this battle.

On the other hand, The Deity of Soul Sacrifice was heavily frowning. As a Deity who dabbled with souls and alchemic creation, stealing souls and recreating them anew, he was defying the aspect of death and its laws. The aspect of death was his worst enemy.

"Kill him."

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice's heavy voice resounded, commanding his army of abominations.

With the command their owner had given, the army of [Experiemental Homonculi] began their attack. Due to the large number of varying species of the [Homonculi], multitudes of different attacks rained upon Mark.

A flash of purplish light bloomed from Mark's pupils. He immediately moved and flew sideways. It was followed by a strong vibration of the air in his previous location as a powerful sound attack passed through, fired by around a dozen [Homonculi]. But there was no time for Mark to stay in one place. He immediately left the new location as a rain of acid fell there.

CLANG!

Mark then moved his sword, causing a loud sound of metal clashing after a Giant Fly with bladed claws appeared like the wind in front of him. Pushing the Giant Fly back, he retreated a step before unleashing an unnecessarily wide horizontal spinning slash at the same enemy. However, it was not as unnecessary as it looked, as several more horrendous creatures suddenly appeared around Mark.

But before any of them could make a move, they were bisected by the horizontal slash, together with the Giant Fly Mark blocked beforehand.

But then, Mark noticed something.

"Noo..."

Several faint cries entered Mark's ears as black hazes escaped from the dead bodies of the [Homonculi] he killed. The black hazes then flew towards the Deity of Soul Sacrifice, reentering the abyss within the robe of the Deity.

"I... This is..."

Mark's eyes showed a vague trace of emotion. His [Empath] abilities began churning, resonating with the aura of death he was emitting.

"No! Put it back! Put THAT back! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

PUT IT BACK! AHHHH!"

Mark's eyes dilated. A scene of a man with his body being opened, his organs being taken out one after another, as he was forced to watch, being kept alive by some unfathomable magical formation.

"My daughter! What did you do to my daughter?!"

The scene flashed to a different one. It was a mother crying while shackled, staring in horror as her daughter was beheaded before her eyes.

"Brother! Stop! Brother! NO!!!"

"I'm sorry!!! I'm sorry!!!"

The next was a scene of a brother crying in despair, as his body was being controlled by something, being forced to impregnate his own sister, who was desperately resisting.

"UWAAAA!!! UWAAAA!!!"

It was the last cry of a newborn infant as his body and soul were separated by someone.

Countless scenes of horror, pain, sadness, and despair flashed before Mark's eyes in that short moment. The process and the result. All of it.

Mark returned to reality. Before his eyes was the army of [Homonculi] commanded by the Deity of Soul Sacrifice.

In that instant, Mark's body stopped. His head propped down, his arms seemingly losing strength.

"Master! What is happening to you?!"

Ignis shouted into Mark's mind. However, there was no response.

"Why are you dozing around?" The Great One shouted. "Are you giving up? All of a sudden? Then this will be your end!"

The Great One finally released his attack. One after another, the lava-like fireballs shot at Mark at breakneck speeds.

At the same time, the Deity of Soul Sacrifice also took the opportunity. He immediately commanded his army to start an all-out attack, even if they had to get caught up in the barrage of fireballs The Great One unleashed.

It was then that Mark made some movements.

[Miasma] churned around Mark's body, also resonating with the aura of death. But instead of spreading out, it began to cover Mark's body, forming a rather eerie-looking cloak.

"Hmm?"

The Great One was pleasantly surprised once again. The fireballs he unleashed hit Mark, but the [Miasma] covering his body swallowed the fireballs that collided with it. On the contrary, the fireballs caused damage to the army of [Homonculi] instead, causing the Deity of Soul Sacrifice to glare at The Great One.

However, the Deity of Soul Sacrifice's glare did not last long. It was due to something he did not expect to happen.

Mark's body swayed. His figure vanished. The moment he appeared, a few dozen [Homonculi] were torn to pieces, with the remains of their disgusting bodies falling to the ground. But it was not an unexpected thing. The next thing that happened was.

Just like before, black haze came out of the bodies of the dead [Homonculi]. However, the haze did not come back to the Deity of Soul Sacrifice.

Mark extended his left palm in front of him. The black haze began to gather there instead, forming a ball of black mist.

With the ball floating above his palm, Mark finally raised his head.

"There's quite a lot of you, huh?" Mark spoke to the ball. "I guess you all will have to wait a little more until I'm done here."

Mark then shoved the ball of mist into his chest, making it enter his body.

"My fight will also become your fight," Mark murmured. "This will be your first and last opportunity. Help me beat that bastard to a pulp."

"What did you do?!" The Deity of Soul Sacrifice roared. "THOSE SOULS ARE MINE!"

The space itself was shaking. The anger of a Deity was not something to scoff at. A regular human receiving this much force would have died several times without knowing anything.

But facing the unrestrained anger of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice, Mark only reacted with a glare.

"And so?" Mark scoffed. "You can steal these, but I can't? Since you did the same first, you have no right to complain. If you want them, why not take them back yourself?"

"You're pushing your luck."

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice changed his mind. Instead of trying to turn Mark into a specimen, he decided to destroy him instead.

At this time, Magwayen's voice echoed inside Mark's head. The scenery around Mark suddenly slowed down.

"You... Seriously. I'm done being surprised," Magwayen sighed. "You are entering a dangerous boundary, letting foreign souls into your body."

"I know," Mark let out a troubled smile. "But it looks like the evolving [Death's Aura] and my abilities as an [Empath] is a bit of a bad combination."

"The pain of the dead. They are resonating with me..."

"Their pain now feels mine..."

At this time, Magwayen's voice turned sympathetic.

"That is just how it is. The ferrymen and those who deal with the underworld undergo such experiences every now and then. You have the makings of an outstanding God of Death, although I doubt that will interest you."

"Yeah, that won't interest me at all," Mark shrugged. "It sounds like a pain in many ways."

"True," Magwayen agreed. "As a Goddess of the Underworld, I would not deny that."

"Let us end this here. There is a limit to how much I can accelerate your perception of time for this conversation," Magwayen continued. "The battle here already started. So far, there are no casualties. But this will be a tough fight for your wife."

Magwayen then relayed the summary of the situation.

"I see. Kana can help, but there is no water there. That is why I should use the [Stormcaller Mental Crystal]. But it won't be too effective there if I use it here," Mark then had a memory flash in his mind. "I will send the crystal there instead. Tell Iola to call the crystal."

"Will that work?"

Magwayen was quite skeptical.

"The crystals are hers in the first place. She can do it if needed."

Mark replied.

"I see," Magwayen seemingly nodded. "Then, I will focus on this side."

"Yeah, thanks."

Mark agreed.

In a flash, the slowed-down scenery returned to normal.

Mark immediately took out the [Stormcaller Mental Crystal] and encased it in [Miasma].

The Deities were confused as to what Mark was doing. However, Mark suddenly threw the crystal encased in [Miasma] out of the barrier of [Miasma]. After the crystal got out, the [Miasma] encasing it vanished, letting the crystal fall to the ground. But before it could land, it began floating. It then shot towards the east like a shooting star.

Inside the [World of Decay], Mark sensed the [Stormcaller Mental Crystal] flying away. He then focused his eyes on the Deity of Soul Sacrifice and his army.

It seemed that the Deity of Soul Sacrifice was brewing something as he suddenly made his army of [Homonculi] retreat and surround him.

Of course, Mark would not let the enemy. Turning into a blur, Mark charged at the Deity of Soul Sacrifice while destroying any [Homonculi] within his reach and absorbing their souls.

"You will pay for your impertinence."

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice remarked as he opened his robe wide.

In that instant, the abyss inside the robe of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice expanded wide. It began swallowing the army of [Homonculi] under the Deity's command.

And then, the abyss swallowed the Deity himself.

But the abyss did not vanish. Instead, it expanded further, even making Mark retreat.

Mark fired a few magical attacks using his sword, but the abyss swallowed it all.

Five meters... Seven meters... Ten meters...

The abyss expanded to about fifteen meters high and wide before it stopped.

And from that abyss, a giant monster emerged.

It was a monster with unexplainable features. A monster fused with countless bodies of different creatures.

"To see this form is an honor. This is the result of my thousands of years of research and experiments."

The abomination spoke. It was the true form of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice.

"A fused [Homonculus], huh?"

Mark glared. Each part of the abomination in front of him had the soul of a pitiful victim. There were countless souls trapped within that body. Their despair was churning Mark's emotions violently.

BADUMP!

Mark's heart beat loudly. The anger of the souls he stuffed into his body was overflowing.

Within the body of that abomination, the souls of their loved ones were trapped. They want to free them. They want to avenge them.

The pupils of Mark's eyes turned red, and the rest of his eyes turned black. His ethereal-looking wings expanded. The wings began to look like flames filled with vengeance.

Sensing another change in Mark, the Deity of Soul Sacrifice tried to interfere. Giant tentacles emerged from his body. Each tentacle was several meters thick and a few hundred meters long. Covered in acid that dripped to the ground, those tentacles shot toward Mark.

As he faced the gigantic tentacles attacking him, Mark's body swayed before vanishing. He appeared a few meters away, but the fast tentacles were already charging towards his new location.

Mark then vanished once again and appeared in another location, only for the tentacles to chase after him like homing missiles.

"Tsk."

Mark was feeling impatient.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Mark vanished. But this time, he did not dodge. He began slashing the tentacles like a madman. Each of his slashes left black flames burning on the remains of the tentacles.

After getting rid of the few tentacles attacking him, Mark's vengeful eyes turned to the abomination. With his sword clad in black flames, Mark immediately charged at the giant monster.

However...

CLANG!

"I don't like being ignored."

The Great One appeared in front of Mark, attacking with a powerful slash, which Mark had no choice but to block.