Mutagen

Day 368 - 6:08 PM - Pudakpajung, Banyumanik, Semarang City, Central Java, Indonesia

Eyes filled with darkness and a pair of pupils with a fierce red glow. Enveloped with the violent waves of rage and vengeance that originated from the poor souls he sheltered in his body, Mark fiercely charged at the abomination the Deity of Soul Sacrifice had become.

But with a loud clang, Mark blocked a sword clad in flames as hot as magma waiting to erupt for several thousand years.

"I don't like being ignored."

The Great One spoke, expressing annoyance using Shin's face.

That clash returned a bit of sanity in Mark's eyes. Nonetheless, he did not back down. As the blade of his sword collided with The Great One's, he tried pushing the Deity back with a violent surge of wind.

The Great One did not back down. Responding to Mark's attack, flames erupted from the crimson katana he held, causing it to mix with Mark's wind and create a violent firestorm around them.

As the magic attacks of different but compatible attributes collided, Mark and The Great One got pushed away by the collision of the attacks they released.

Taking advantage of Mark's plight and the distraction The Great One created, gigantic tentacles swarmed from all directions, attempting to drown Mark within their disgusting might.

The tentacles of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice, despite their gigantic size and appearance, surrounded Mark in no time. In the battle of beyond-human proportions, size was not always parallel to speed. The large tentacles of the disgusting Deity might look slow, but if a mortal were to witness them move, they could only see blurs of something large moving at incredible speeds.

As the tentacles surrounded Mark in all directions, he did falter. Not one bit. He did not even move.

It was as if he was letting the tentacles move closer to him.

Suddenly.

The tentacles were suddenly torn to pieces, not sliced, not cut, but torn.

Black mist surged out of the pieces of the tentacles. All of the mist quickly flew towards Mark and entered his body, accompanied by eerie wails.

"This can't be..."

The deep but baffled voice of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice echoed from the abomination.

"Tch."

The Great One and the Deity of Twisted Beauty also reacted.

Mark did not attack the tentacles. He literally did nothing and let the tentacles swarm him. The tentacles were destroyed on their own.

The [Authority] of the aspect of death was growing. Mark's [Blessing of Death's Aura] was resonating with the souls filled with vengeance.

While it was involuntary, Mark, who took the souls into his body for temporary shelter, was temporarily given an important task.

The task of the Ferryman.

It was to send souls back to the cycle.

A [Psychopomp] for these poor souls.

Unfortunately for the Deity of Soul Sacrifice, his current body, powers, and entire existence revolved around corrupting souls and preventing them from reentering the cyclicality of souls.

The [Authority] Mark received was the bane of the entire existence of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice.

Now, finding their chance for salvation and vengeance, the souls the Deity of Soul Sacrifice collected began to revolt. Of course, the souls were not strong enough to break free. Their existence, although not lacking in number, was far below that of a Deity's.

Nonetheless, the moment the souls entered the influence of Mark's [Authority], they received enough strength to break free.

More souls entered Mark's body. His ethereal wings showed more substance as the aura of death he embittered grew stronger.

"You.... YOU!!!"

The Deity of Soul Sacrifice's anger was reaching its peak. He never expected this to happen. His ambitions and goals. His entire existence. It felt like all of it was being denied at this very point.

Countless tentacles began squirming violently. The ground beneath them cracked and crumbled. And then, fragments of the ground shot to the sky, gathered and compressed, turned into gigantic spikes as sturdy as metal.

It was the Deity of Soul Sacfrice's [Telekinesis] at work.

Most of the time, people did not understand the difference between [Telekinesis] and [Psychokinesis] as both have similarities, specifically, moving things using an invisible force. However, [Psychokinesis] was the ability to envelop the target with said force and freely control it, while [Telekinesis] allowed the user to push targets using that force.

[Telekinesis] was not as versitile as [Psychokinesis]. However, in terms of raw destructive power, it could be above the latter, depending on how it was used.

It was just like what was happening right now. By using [Telekinesis] to push the clumps of earth from all directions, the Deity of Soul Sacrifice managed to replicate something similar to [Earth Magic]. And that magic all pointed to Mark at this very moment.

At the same time, The Great One waved his katana. The lava-like fireballs appeared around him once more.

Whether it was planned or not, both Deities unleashed their attacks on Mark in almost the same instant.

A deadly rain of earthen spikes and lava-like fireballs. A barrage of attacks that could decimate towns and cities flew toward Mark.

And facing the incoming attack, Mark's response was to stupidly tilt his head. He looked as confused as a child.

"Ehehehe."

No. Mark did not only look like a confused child. It was because a child-like laughter escaped his mouth.

And that laughter actually sent a chill through the Deity of Twisted Beauty's spine.

The attacks reached Mark just after he let out that laugh. However, before the impact, his wings suddenly enveloped his body.

A large explosion occured mid-air. It was an indication that the attacks hit their target, or at least something to trigger that.

But the smoke and dust did not last long. A surge of wind blew it all away in an instant.

And what was there was...

Wings.

Three pairs of black wings that resembled raven's wings formed something like a cocoon, hovering mid-air.

"You two! Kill that thing! Quick!"

The Deity of Twisted Beauty yelled.

Something was wrong. The Deity of Twisted Beauty could feel it.

In the first place, it was not a good idea to shelter souls inside one's body. It was just asking to be possessed. Yet, how many souls did Mark let into his body? It might be different if Mark was a Deity or at least a Demon who was aligned with the aspect of death. But Mark was neither of the two. He might have a blessing related to that aspect, but it was still different.

It was not just the Deity of Twisted Beauty. The two other Deities felt the same.

"Hah..."

The Great One sighed. He was enjoying playing with this body. However, it was now time to throw away this toy.

Cracks formed on the skin around the arms of The Great One as he raised his right hand facing Mark.

A surge of black sand roared around his palm. It was The Great One's true and unique ability, [Corrupted Sand]. It was the very same ability he used during his first battle with Mark that he had yet to use in this battle for one very important reason. Unlike the body of the [Eye] that he turned into a puppet, Shin's body would not last using this ability.

As for the Deity of Soul Sacrifice, countless eyes appeared all over his body. Each of the eyes on his body glowed brightly. He was preparing one of his most powerful attacks.

Both Deities attacked at almost the same time once again. One released a tornado of black sand while the other shot pale-colored flames from his countless eyes.

The attacks showered Mark with all their might.

One sandstorm of [Corrupted Sand] that could render large cities dead. The other was a barrage of flames that directly attacked souls.

Yet, Mark remained unmoving within the storm of malice that could devastate half an entire country.

***

"Hmmm?"

Mark opened his eyes. He was within a familiar place.

"Master."

A voice entered his ear. It was no other than Ignis.

Mark turned his head to Ignis. What he saw was a young man in his late teens, wearing what seemed to be a Western variant of Japanese traditional clothing in the ancient eras.

It was the current form of Ignis. After he fused with the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the legendary sword made out of Yamata-no-Orochi's tail, his spiritual appearance grew and changed. There was also an impact on his demeanor as he was not as bloodthirsty as before.

But Ignis' current appearance aside, seeing his spiritual form meant one thing.

"My [Subconscious World], huh?" Mark murmured. "It's been a while."

But why was he suddenly thrown into his [Subsconsious World] all of a sudden? Was he not fighting the enemies this time? What about his body? Was it in danger?

It was when Mark felt some presence. It was not just him and Ignis who were present here.

Mark looked around him. What he saw was nothing but darkness. No, it was not darkness. It was the corrupted souls he sheltered in his body. It only looked dark because they were all in the form of black mist.

With a sigh, Mark closed his eyes. The moment he opened it again, the scene changed. There was no darkness anymore. Instead, he was surrounded by people and creatures, both confused and surprised, as they looked at their bodies.

Many of them teared up. Even animals and insects were rejoicing. They had all forgotten how long it had been since they had seen their previous bodies.

The first ones to calm down were a pair of souls. The two held hands as they approached Mark, who was still sitting on the ground.

Mark looked at the two. He was familiar with them. At the same time, he felt pity for the two.

"It's you two, huh?"

Mark opened his mouth as he looked at the pair of brother and sister.

It was the poor siblings forced to copulate with each other because of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice's twisted experiments.

But what Mark did not expect was for the two to suddenly kneel and kowtow towards him.

With a sob, the sister spoke in an unknown language. Yet, Mark strangely understood it.

"I would like to express our gratitude to you, our benefactor. And also an apology."

The sister said with respect and reverence but also with fear and guilt.

Mark was confused. He understood the other parts, but why guilt and an apology?

But there was no need for Mark to ask as the sister continued.

"It seemed that our daughter," The sister glanced at her regretful brother who bore the guilt of everything that happened. "Our daughter took control of the benefactor's body."

Mark frowned, making the two flinch in fear. Then he turned to Ignis, who was also looking confused.

There was no anger in Mark's face. His frown was also of confusion.

How could a soul suddenly take control of his body when Ignis, a cursed sword, the elder cultivator, and even the Deity of Bloodshed all failed to do so?

"How is that possible?" Ignis could not hold back and asked. "There is no way a mere human soul can take control of Master's body."

Mark observed the two. He noticed something.

The other souls were all rejoicing, speaking with all sorts of sounds and language, but Mark could not understand many of them.

Yet, Mark could understand the two and some strange-looking souls.

"You two aren't humans, despite your appearance."

Mark spoke.

"Benefactor is wrong," The sister answered. "We are indeed humans. It was just that we are part [Spirits]. Our mother was human while our father was a [Spirit]. However, our human blood was stronger."

"It was why we were subjected to such humiliation," The brother, who was silent all this time, finally spoke with a tearful voice. "To create an offspring that was more of a [Spirit], yet having the qualities of a human. That was that monster's intention when he forced us to do such things."

"So, he succeeded on the first try, huh?"

Mark spoke with a shrug.

The siblings shivered as memories of that humiliating event resurfaced.

But it was actually a good thing that it succeeded on the first try. It was because the two were disposed of and were sacrificed after the Deity of Soul Sacrifice achieved his goals for the two. If it did not, then there would be more of that traumatic experience in store for these siblings.

It was obvious that the child was taken away from the mother right after birth. But considering that the child was also now a soul, the Deity of Soul Sacrifice achieved what he needed and also killed the poor child.

"Haah..."

And now, that child that was born from a twisted experimentation took control of his body. It seemed that the child had a strong thirst for revenge and wanted to take things into her own hands.

"You two can stand," Mark told the siblings. "I don't mind it that much. But let me knock on that brat's head later."

The siblings stood up, happy that their benefactor did not seem angry.

But with a fluster, Ignis spoke.

"M-Master... You should look outside..."

Mark looked at Ignis in confusion. He then made the sky in his [Subconsious World] project what the eyes of his body outside could see.

It seemed that the daughter possessing Mark began fighting the Deities. But Mark noticed something as he slapped his forehead in dismay.

"I changed my mind. Let me strangle her."

Mark said to the siblings, who shivered in fear.

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