Mutagen

Day 234 - 9:51 PM - Tokyo Skytree Ruins, Forbidden Zone, Oshiage, Sumida City, Ruins of Tokyo

After seeing Mark emerge from the explosion of her attacks, the Priestess could not hide the surprise she felt. Her opponent had six wings shaped like a bat's. However, the wings' exact appearance was hard to determine due to the black, hazy film covering them. She could not even be sure if that film was a cover or if they were part of the wings.

Nonetheless, the Priestess was not new to such a mysterious scene. Such unexplainable things were prevalent among the side of the world that common humans could not perceive. Besides, it was not the most important part of what the Priestess was currently seeing.

For humans, having more than a normal quantity of something in their bodies warranted scorn from a lot of people. An extra finger, an underdeveloped extra limb, or even just having unnatural extra height. A few would voice their amazement, but more would laugh at those people and call them freaks.

But to non-humans, having more of something would mean they were unique. It would even be respected since, to some races, having more of certain body parts was a symbol of that individual's strength and, most importantly, bloodline.

To some magical creatures, it could be limbs, heads, and even tails. There were also Demon races who praised those with more horns and eyes.

And there was a unique race known to humankind that also exhibited such qualities.

[Angels].

The most powerful [Angels] had more of various things. In fact, the beautiful humanoid [Angels] were the lowest and weakest kinds as the caste increased, the more of an abomination they would become. Of course, there were exceptions, but there were not that many of them.

Seeing Mark's multiple wings, the Priestess immediately knew he was a Pureblood Demon. It was not the first time she encountered one. In fact, she fought one around a hundred years ago. Of course, in the current era, sealed by the protector of the world, it was almost impossible for anyone to encounter a Pureblood Demon in the mortal realm. The Priestess was just unlucky during that time, and she almost got killed in the process.

Furthermore, the Priestess determined something that even Mark might not have known. But that was not important for now as the Priestess' surprise turned into a smile.

The Priestess encountered a Pureblood Demon back then and almost got killed. But now, it was different. She was far stronger than in the past, and the current fight was not to the death. She had fought many unusual things over the years, but it would be the first time she would be able to test her current strength against a Pureblood Demon.

Without waiting for Mark to recover, the Priestess immediately shot three talismans each from both her hands. The six talismans burst into flames, shooting toward Mark in a curved erratic flight.

On the other hand, Mark raised his head as his wings stretched open. He faced the incoming barrage of fireballs with a spin of his body, erasing the attacks with his wings.

The Priestess did not know, but anyone who knew Mark might notice it. His wings were quite different from a month ago. Although his wings had a drastic change once the [Blessing of Death's Aura] activated during his fight with the [Mechids] in Catanduanes, they still underwent a few changes over the past month.

Among the changes, the most noticeable was the black haze which now covered his wings. It was not like he did anything special to achieve these changes. In fact, it was more like his body's natural response as it adjusted to the things happening within his body.

During the fight with Sinogo, he had to use one of his unused crystals and acquired the ability of the [Earth Demon] to manifest magical energy physically.

In Catanduanes, he received Maguayen's blessing and acquired the ability to manifest and control the [Aura of Death].

Those new powers combined with his [Miasma], [Mutative Physique], and bloodline as a Pureblood [Blood Demon] resulted in these wings. At least, that was how Mark hypothesized it. There was no other explanation that Mark managed to find, and Magwayen also agreed with Mark's guesses.

And even now, these wings of his were still undergoing this slow growth.

Nonetheless, Mark was able to utilize its new properties. Just like how he blocked the Priestess' elemental attacks, the black haze actually contained the ability to negate magical energy and absorb it. At a glance, it seemed similar to [Miasma]. However, it did not have [Miasma's] corruptive properties. In fact, this haze could only affect things with magical properties and was untouchable by anything physical. If one was to try and touch Mark's wings, they would not affect the haze and would end up touching his wings directly instead.

Due to these reasons, Mark's new wings could be a great defense against magical attacks but would not be able to stop bullets on their own.

Mark flapped his wings. He jumped and flew toward the Priestess.

As Mark flew to her, the Priestess released a barrage of talismans in an attempt to stop or stall her opponent in his tracks. However, Mark's wings gave him wider options for evasion while they also protected him from the elemental attacks he could not evade.

Seeing that her elemental attacks were not working, the Priestess also stepped up her game.

BAM!

Mark tried to land an axe kick toward the Priestess from above. However, the Priestess turned into a blur as she evaded, vanishing in her original location and appearing several meters away. It caused Mark's kick to land straight on the ruins, causing a large explosion of dust and debris.

The bridging ruins of the Skytree shook as if it was going to fall apart. Nonetheless, while Mark's kick was powerful, it was not enough to bring down the crumbling ruins.

Mark flapped his wings strongly. The cloud of dust scattered away immediately. However, the moment the dust stopped blocking his view, six beams of light shot toward him.

It was just in an instant, but Mark felt these beams were different compared to the previous attacks that the Priestess released. Instead of blocking the beams with his wings, Mark made a quick decision to evade. However, the beams were quick, and he was caught in a surprise attack due to the explosion of dust he had caused. Two of the six beams managed to graze the haze on his wings and actually tore through it.

The six beams were not elemental attacks. They were spiritual attacks with purification properties.

Mark should not have forgotten. The practitioners of [Onmyodo] were Demon exterminators. They had many ways to fight Demons and negate the natural and magical corruptions of the world.

But those beams of light were not actually attacks aimed to defeat Mark but to stall for a little more time.

After Mark evaded the beams of light, the darkness of the night was disturbed by a source of light brighter than the attacks the Priestess had used so far.

Mark turned to the Priestess, who was the cause of the disturbance. She could be barely seen as the light covered her body.

In an instant, the light settled down. It revealed markings on the Priestess' face releasing a bright sheen. And more importantly, there was a bright golden halo that appeared behind her head. The halo was not a simple one that angels could be seen within media, but an intricate-looking one that looked more like a magical crest than an angelic halo.

If Mark had his wings as the symbol of his bloodline, the Priestess had this crest as her own.

Mark saw the markings and the halo on the Priestess. It looked vaguely familiar. He then remembered that ancient depictions of Amaterasu showed a bright halo around her head. And those markings were quite the same as his, although also far different.

Other than the halo and the markings, Mark could feel the magical energy around the Priestess skyrocket.

The Priestess looked at Mark. She had a bright smile on her lips. Her excitement was going through the roof as she spoke.

"Let's contin- Whoa!"

Those excited words from the Priestess were interrupted as she took a step back.

A shadow passed by her front, which her halo illuminated.

BAM!

The shadow, no, the [Mutated Infected], received an angry kick on its face, flying back to where it came from, below the bridging ruins of the Skytree.

"That darn [Infected], interrupting me when I'm talking!"

The Priestess' excitement over the fight was doused a little bit due to the sudden interruption.

But as she turned to Mark once more, he was not paying attention. Only then she noticed as she gave out an annoyed sigh.

"I shouldn't have chosen this place..."

The Priestess grumbled in regret as she looked around.

It was her idea to fight here. But now, she was the one annoyed by her own decision as dozens of shadowy figures surrounded the ruins of the Skytree. Many of them stood on the ruins in the surroundings, while most climbed up the steep ruined walls with their claw-covered limbs.

"[Ruin Stalkers], huh. Deal with them first or continue?"

Mark's voice entered the Priestess' ears.

That was right. These [Infected] was the kind of [Mutated Infected] that Mark called [Ruin Stalkers]. They were the kind prevalent around the ruins of Tokyo.

And to Mark's question, the Priestess' answer was...

"Both!"

The Priestess yelled as she released a barrage of talismans flying everywhere. A good number of that barrage actually went straight toward Mark.

This barrage was also different from the Priestess' previous attacks. The ones before would burn the talismans after she let go, turning them into forms of attack like fireballs, lightning bolts, and beams. This time, the talismans flew on their own without turning into any elemental attack.

Mark could evade the talismans, but the same could not be said for the uninvited guests of the battle. The talismans hit the bodies of the [Ruin Stalkers]. On hitting the targets, the talismans released a slight glow before turning into the same elemental attacks the talismans had turned so far. It was an attack that activated on impact, releasing the concentrated elemental attack on the enemy.

BOOOM!

Several explosions ensued as the talismans obliterated a lot of the uninvited guests.

On the other hand, Mark felt a bit competitive.

Mark waved his hand, also releasing a barrage of magical attacks. It was not only toward the [Infected] but also toward the Priestess.

Black-colored balls of flames rained around the ruins. The painful cries of the [Ruin Stalkers] as their bodies burned to a crisp echoed loudly.

As for the Priestess, while she had a bit of a surprise, she did not falter as she evaded a ball of flame at her every step.

Mark could not help but admire her movements a little. The way she evaded was beautiful and impactful as if she was dancing. It was the result of trained footwork and skills gained as a Priestess.

On the other hand, the Priestess was wary of Mark's black flames. While science explained that white and blue flames were the hottest, black flames were not that different. It was just that everyone could perceive the color of flames due to the energy and light they were exuding. On the contrary, black flames were black because they did not exude any light, preserving their concentrated energy within without wasting or leaking it.

Light and Dark. The [Inyo]. Two contrasting forces, equally powerful and driving the world forward. The balance, as they had said.

The two continued to rain attacks on each other and the uninvited guests that kept appearing to interfere with their fight. It did not take long. The central areas of the Death Zone of Oshiage turned into a hell of contrasting flames and dead corpses.

There were already a few hundred deaths among the [Infected]. And all of them were mutated. This showed how dangerous this place was for the common people, [Ability Holder] or not.

But it seemed that the massive death count among the [Infected] triggered something.

KRYIIIIEAKKKKKK!!!!

A deafening cry was heard within the ruins, stopping Mark and the Priestess in their tracks as the ruins began to shake.