Mutagen

Day 253 - 9:11 AM -  Mountainous Crater, Municipality of Viga, Province of Catanduanes

Something strange was happening to Mark. Not only did the markings on Mark's body change, but he was exuding the aura and smell of death for some reason.

Chimetrice stared at Mark with unconcealed surprise.

There was only one time in a person's life that they would exude the aura of death. It was when their time living in this world was up.

At a glance, one who would feel this aura from Mark would think he was about to die. However, Chimetrice knew that this was not the case.

The aura of death seen on a dying person felt like smoke from a fire about to die out. That kind of aura of death would spread out of their bodies before vanishing. It would not linger too long but would continue to emanate until those people breathe their last.

Mark's aura of death was different, however.

It was not spreading out and vanishing. Instead, it was lingering around Mark's body like an invisible veil.

Mark slowly closed his fists. Was it agitation? Excitement? Mark could not understand what he was feeling. It was as if some unknown power suddenly appeared, bursting inside his body.

It had a similar feeling watching Levi rage in the OVA or Ryner one-sidedly slaughtering the Magic Knights.

It... It was a wonderful feeling.

A smile slowly crept up Mark's lips.

Mark still could not understand what was happening. However, he had a hunch about who was responsible for this. Confronting the person responsible was for another time, though. Because right now, they have the battle to continue.

"Chimetrice, deal with the ones below again. Leave those five to me."

Mark said without looking at Chimetrice with his eyes focused on the five [Fighter Mechids] hovering from afar.

"If you wish to."

Chimetrice replied.

The [Humanoid Chimera] was unsure about Mark's order, however. It was clear that Mark had yet to fully recover, and he was kind of struggling to fight the first [Fighter Mechid] head-on. Nonetheless, Chimetrice was not the kind of being to question someone's decisions and orders. In case the worst happened, he could just go and support Mark.

Mark did not wait any longer. His wings opened wide with a reddish glow emanating from them. Both his eyes exuded the familiar purplish light.

BOOOM!

The sound of wind exploded as Mark flapped his wings. In the blink of an eye, Mark flew dozens of meters away.

Chimetrice followed Mark with his eyes, seeing something that normal people would not see. It was the trail of foggy black smoke that Mark left behind as he flew. That black smoke was the aura of death leaking from Mark's body.

Deciding to pay attention to Mark's current state, Chimetrice flew forwards, aiming for the enemies left below.

As Chimetrice suspected, Mark's state of mind was far from normal. He was under the overwhelming urge. He was seeking the satisfaction of witnessing the end of the enemy before him.

THOOOM!

Mark's speed accelerated. The five [Fighter Mechids] moved to intercept him.

As Mark predicted, these [Fighter Mechids] were slower than the first due to them sacrificing speed to wield a weapon.

Nonetheless, it did not make them any less dangerous. In fact, facing these five was far more dangerous than facing one moving faster than the speed of sound.

These [Mechids] were moving under one command. Their cooperation, while not flawless, was well established and calculated.

The moment Mark reached a certain distance from the center of the Mountainous Crater, the [Fighter Mechids] moved. Furthermore, they moved into a formation.

Directly intercepting Mark's path, the [Fighter Mechid] with the sword and shield positioned itself. Behind it was the [Fighter Mechid] with the spear. The one with the gauntlet and the other with the daggers flew in separate directions around the first two. Lastly, the [Fighter Mechid] with the bow stayed a distance behind, aiming its weapon.

It was a concrete formation. The one with the defensive equipment was to block the enemy while the two close combatants would ambush from different directions. The spear, which had a longer range than a sword, would support the defender from the back. And, of course, the bow would support the whole group from a distance.

If one heard about these [Mechids] implementing these formations and strategies, they would definitely think of it as a joke. However, it was the truth, and Mark was facing such enemies.

Did these [Mechids] learn these things from somewhere? Or did they learn about it on their own? It was hard to tell which it could be.

However, whatever it may be, they needed to die here.

Mark charged towards the group of [Fighter Mechids]. His eyes glowed brightly with a ruthless glare and a merciless smile. With the [Crystal Staff] in his right hand wielded like a spear, he stabbed toward the [Fighter Mechid] that blocked his path.

Was it a reckless move? Sure it was.

The [Fighter Mechid] blocked the [Crystal Staff] with its shield. At the moment of contact, the boosters of the [Fighter Mechid] activated, enabling it to withstand the impact of Mark's powerful attack.

At the same time, the dagger-equipped [Fighter Mechid] along with the one with the pair of gauntlets appeared on both Mark's sides with their attacks already mid-way. A spear also appeared right over the left shoulder of the defending [Mechid], aiming for Mark's face. An arrow was also shot towards Mark, passing over the defending [Mechid's] right shoulder.

One defender and four attackers. In an instant, Mark was facing four attacks from different directions.

However, no sign of urgency was seen in Mark's expression and movements.

Instead, the purplish glow of Mark's eyes became tinged with a grayish hue. His ethereal-looking wings became covered in a gray-colored mist. And the moment the attacks hit his body, it turned all black.

BOOM!

All attacks hit the darkness-covered body of Mark. Each attack was fatal, and it all happened in a split second.

But then... Mark's body, which turned black, began to disintegrate into black smoke.

Was it [Shadow Mist Movement]? No, it looked really different.

[Shadow Mist Movement] allowed Mark to enter a subspace that also allowed him to move at extremely fast speeds. Outside this ability, the people could only see Mark turning into a puff of black mist, and although moving extremely fast, strong enough beings would be able to see Mark's mist for moving about.

However, it was clear that Mark's body did not turn into a surge of black mist. Instead, it looked as if his body was consumed by darkness and disintegrated afterward.

The unexpected circumstance caused a delay in the reaction of the [Fighter Mechids]. None of them were able to confirm the death of the enemy and began using their other mechanisms to detect the enemy. However, knowing the failure of the first [Fighter Mechid], there was also a delay in the activation of these detection functions.

When the [Fighter Mechids] activated their motion and thermal detectors, however...

All of them immediately found Mark and turned their bodies in his direction.

Where was he?

SHING!!!

A sound of metal being sliced echoed.

The bow-wielding [Fighter Mechid] suddenly had its vision vertically split as it slowly fell from the sky.

Mark's figure hovered over the falling [Figther Mechid's] body. His eyes glowed with a mix of purple and gray. But on his hand, the [Crysal Staff] looked different.

The [Crystal Staff] was still there. But now, it was more or less the base of a different weapon. A tool for harvesting and an iconic weapon that symbolized death.

A scythe.

It was the very same weapon that split an entire [Fighter Mechid's] body into two from head to the lower thrusters.

With the defeat of the [Fighter Mechid], its bow transformed, and the transformable bits attached to its body all detached and tried to fly towards the remaining [Mechids].

Mark's chilling stare fell unto those transformable bits. He was clear about what was going to happen.

If one [Fighter Mechid] was defeated, the transformable bits that were not destroyed would fly to the remaining ones, empowering them in the process. Once this happened, it was possible that the last [Fighter Mechid] in the group would have the strength and speed of several [Fighter Mechids] combined.

Mark would not let that happen.

The scythe in Mark's hand was swung. Bolts of black-colored lightning were spread unto the surroundings.

Considering the effect of this black lightning was already experienced by the first [Fighter Mechid] and was defeated because of it, the remaining [Fighter Mechids] made a cautious move and retreated.

The [Fighter Mechids] managed to avoid getting hit by the bolts of black lightning. However, it was at the cost of the transformable bits from the defeated [Fighter Mechid].

After being hit by the lightning bolts, the transformable bits were not destroyed. However, they lost some of their energy, and their flight became unstable. It was when Mark appeared before the transformable bits with his right arm outstretched. A hole in space appeared and swallowed the transformable bits mid-flight.

One [Fighter Mechid] was down. Of course, it was from this group, and the first one before was not included in the count. Aside from one being defeated, Mark prevented the chance for the remaining ones to strengthen themselves.

Mark turned to the remaining four [Fighter Mechids]. The four of them were already on another round of attacks.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Four sonic booms spread out slower than the movements of the four [Fighter Mechids]. Although slower than the first one, all of them could still move faster than the speed of sound.

All of them instantly appeared, surrounding Mark from four directions and already mid-way through their attacks.

Mark was about to parry the incoming attacks and stage a counterattack. With his [Future Sight] and current speed, he should be able to do it. However, Mark noticed something as his eyes glowed. He could see some sort of black misty emissions from the spear of spear-wielding [Fighter Mechid]. He could not understand what was going on. However, those black emissions gave him a bad feeling.

Once again, Mark's body was covered in darkness, and the four attacks hit his body.

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The darkness-covered body did not even have the time to disintegrate on its own. The tip of the spear of the spear-wielding [Mechid] suddenly exploded, releasing a fatal amount of energy. That energy was similar to the lasers these [Mechids] usually use. However, the laser was in a form of a concentrated explosion this time around.

This gave Mark another thing to be confused about. That explosion of light was clearly not related to that misty emission he had just seen.

Wait... That black emission...

Mark realized as he glanced at his current weapon. That emission was the same as what the scythe in his hand was made of. The grayish-black energy of death he was currently enveloped with.

The aura of death. There was no way that these [Mechids] would suddenly wield the aura he currently had.

"Materialize."

Mark murmured as a surge of grayish mist slowly covered his right arm. Earlier, he removed his gauntlet after being dented by the first [Fighter Mechid's] attack. Using the power to materialize magical energy, he created a new one using the energy currently overflowing within him.

Seeing it manifest, Mark was sure that it was the same as what he saw at the [Fighter Mechid's] spear just now.

Mark was confused. But then, Mark suddenly saw the [Fighter Mechids] show that misty emission once again. This time, all four of them emitted the gray mist as they seemingly tried to use their transformable bits to launch a powerful laser barrage.

As Mark had thought, the barrage of lasers came. However, he was able to react one step ahead, dodging the lasers from the smallest gaps possible.

And to his surprise, all the lasers exuded the misty emission around them.

This time, it all dawned on Mark.

The [Mechids] was not exuding the misty emissions. It was him, who was seeing those things appear at things that could serve fatal to him.

And now, Mark understood what was going on.

Whatever this aura of death that currently enveloped him, it was getting integrated into his current abilities.