Mutagen

One of the Emerald Robed people on the east side of the magic circle collapsed. The situation immediately caught the attention of everyone around. Nevertheless, none of the other people around the magic circle tried to help at all. Even those that were beside that person did not try to move a single inch from where they stood.

It was not that they did not want to. However, these people wearing Emerald Robes could not leave their current positions without finis.h.i.+ng today"s ceremony. Instead, they channeled more of their energy in an attempt to fill in the gap created by the one that collapsed.

The people that took the person away was the Grey Robed ones.

"What happened?"

The Grey Robed commander of this team jumped down from the second floor and asked the person leading the ceremony. It was an elderly person wearing the same Emerald Robe but was not within the magic circle.

"There had been some interference." The Elder replied. "You might not have noticed, but the energy to feed the Féth Fíada weakened for a bit. That one that collapsed just now... It indicated that the Féth Fíada had been attacked with a powerful individual in the direction he is designated."

"So, something is happening on the east side. Is that what you want to say? But Féth Fíada shouldn"t be damaged even with magical attacks."

"Yes, Madam Chaaya. The Féth Fíada is not easily damaged but is not without weakness. If possible, send someone to check it immediately. Although we can patch up the hole, the next attacks will might affect the rest of us. "

 Looking at the Elderly"s expression, this was a rather unusual circ.u.mstance. And also, a rather dangerous one.

Féth Fíada, it was a magical mist that a supernatural tribe called Tuath Dé used to conceal themselves from the eyes of the mortals. And in this instance, the Emerald Robed people were the current descendants of that race that were left after most of them returned to the Otherworld. Their powers were far weaker than their ancestors. However, they could still exhibit such abilities. This time, under the orders of the organization, they combined their strength with a magical ritual to isolate a large area.

Nevertheless, for them to encounter a setback like this, it must mean that whatever was happening on that side was not something to joke at.

"Madam, should we check?"

Several Grey Robed figures were already behind Chaaya and were all ready to receive the orders. This was how everyone here was trained to do when something unusual happened.

"No, I"ll go myself," Chaaya said, serenely. "I"m faster than anyone here. We can"t wait and let the plans take a wrong turn."

"Yes, Madam." The subordinates backed down immediately. "Please, just be careful."

Chaaya nodded and was ready to leave.

"Wait! I"ll come too! This can be interesting."

The Black Robed Chinese on the balcony shouted as he jumped off with his sniper rifle.

"Do as you wish."

Chaaya replied without emotion as her body swiftly moved away, leaving a dark blurred image. She then jumped over the cla.s.srooms on the east side of the school. As she entered the forest, her visage vanished into the shadows.

The Black Robed figure did not mind her att.i.tude and just chased behind her. He was not any slower than the first one, either. However, he did not vanish and just jumped on the trees propelling himself in every kick. It was even though the branches and leaves on top of the trees should be weak and fragile. Despite that, his steps did not break anything and moved as if he was running on concrete.

From afar, the dome of mist around at the center of the two mountains was entirely visible. That just showed how large of an area was affected by the Féth Fíada. Furthermore, the mist was scattered into the surroundings making it look even more vast.

***

Day 119 - 10:19 AM - East Side, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

A few minutes before the commotion in the elementary school in Barangay Daraitan happened, a strange-looking sword flew out of the walls on the East Side of the Mountain Base.

It was Ignis, who was tasked by his Master to investigate the area.

Sure enough, the visibility outside the base was much lower than inside. The visage of the forest on the east side could be barely seen, even though it should be just more or less a dozen meters away.

Nevertheless, Ignis flew straight towards the forest without hesitation. The sword was daring and did not fear too many things. He just needed to fly through the mist and report back what he saw.

Thus, the sword entered the forest.

And then... exited a few seconds later.

Sure enough, Ignis immediately halted on its flight after he saw that hew was now facing the direction heading back to the base. Furthermore, it was at the exact location where he entered.

Not convinced, it tried once more and entered the forest.

Only to return the same way a few seconds later.

Ignis became confused. And at the same time, furious.

His Master barely used him these past days and allowed him to use his time to absorb the energy in the Spirit Dimension. That was why he should be more formidable than before.

And thus, it would be a failure if he was not able to accomplish his task.

Thus, he charged into the forest once more. This time, its blade was burning with black-colored flames.

TANG!!!

And there, a change happened.

Ignis continued flying through a few meters into the forest and did not return the way he came from. Instead, he felt like he crashed into something that sounded like gla.s.s.

It could only stop on its flight and looked in front of it. It could see some distortions in the air in front, which immediately vanished. Ignis realized what was going on.

Thus, Ignis extinguished the flames and flew forwards. Sure enough, he returned where he came from just like before.

Ignis then moved as far as possible from the forest, where the end of his hilt touched the walls of the base. Then, clad with even more black flames than before, Ignis shot off with the fastest speed he could fly.

From the wall of the base, across the vacant area, and through the forest, he flew.

CRAs.h.!.+

A sound of gla.s.s shattering was heard, and Ignis flew past the distortion. He left a hole in the mist in his wake and charged straight to the east.

When he realized that the mist had thinned, that was when he decided to fly above the trees. He then looked around.

There, he saw the dome of mist covering the whole area around the case. It was quite a surreal sight even for him.

Remembering his duty, Ignis entered the forest once more, and he started to scour the area for any suspicious activities or people.

Unexpectedly, aside from the strange mist, he found nothing in the close vicinity of the base. He flew around the dome and towards the west side and found nothing, either.

As Ignis decided to return, it felt a presence below it. It saw a disembodied hand coming out of the shadows to grasp his hilt. As it was too sudden and there was no time to dodge, Ignis burst into black flames which scattered in the surroundings.

The black flames did not burn any trees but surely made the hand retreat hastily.

"Hoh, that was dangerous, isn"t it?"

A voice of a man was heard as a Black-Robed figure with a large gun landed quite a distance away from Ignis. However, it was evident that the person was not talking to Ignis. As suspected, a figure appeared from the shadow on the ground next to the first one. It was a Gray-Robed person.

"A cursed sword? And intelligent one at that." The man spoke again. "Never thought that I would be able to see one here. But that shape... A western sword? Not my type."

Then, the man turned the Grey Robed person who did not say anything and was just staring at Ignis.

"Is this the one?"

"It should be. It is the only one suspicious currently moving around. But don"t you think that its appearance quite familiar?"

The woman replied.

"Familiar or not, I don"t care. This sword surely is not my type. But I, Huo Long Yue, is not afraid. I will take this sword. What do you say?"

The man said in a smug tone.

"Do what you want."

The woman said as she walked to the side.

"Don"t mind if I do."

Then, the man called Huo Long Yue charged towards Ignis. Anyone would doubt whether it was of pure bravery of pure lunacy. Nevertheless, the greed in his eyes was truly apparent.

On the other hand, the woman just looked at what was going to happen. In fact, she was hiding her right hand just now. Her hand was currently scorched, and the energy she used to create her physical body waned. After being scalded by those flames, her hand became more transparent.

That should be why she decided to stand down. Those black flames were fatal to her. She wanted to see how the troublesome b.a.s.t.a.r.d would deal with it, though.

As Huo Long Yue charged towards, his hands moved across his sniper rifle. Folding the b.u.t.tstock and muzzle, and flipping it upside down. There, a blade protruded from the back of the gun, turning it into a large, odd-looking sword.

Ignis, being a warmonger himself, did not back down. Seeing that the other person was using a sword, it decided to clash head-on.

CLANG! CLANG!

The human and the Demon Sword clashed several times, with every hit causing sparks to scatter.

At an opening, Ignish slashed itself towards the side of the enemy. The enemy managed to dodge as he jumped back. However, the left side of his robe was torn.

Seeing that, the man was even more delighted as he tore away his robe. It revealed his clothes underneath, which was a black ancient Chinese robe with golden embroidery.

"Alright! One more time!"

Huo Long Yue shouted as he charged forward Ignis once more. But this time, he was not holding back.

His body was releasing a glow that channeled unto his gigantic sword.

"Heaven Subduing Blade!"

The man shouted as a formidable force enveloped his sword.

Unaware of what it was, or probably, stunned by how cringy the line was, Ignis received the slash with his own.

TANG!!!

Ingis was flung back rather violently. He recovered his balance as soon as possible, but he was still flung across a dozen meters. 

The Demon Sword s.h.i.+vered inside as it checked its body. Fortunately, he was upgraded when he accepted Mark as his Master. If not, his blade might have gotten a nick after receiving that attack. How careless he was.

And thus, he decided not to play anymore.

Black Flames covered its body as it shot towards the enemy.

Huo Long Yue immediately counter-attacked with the same technique.

The two blades clashed loudly, grinding each other.

It was then that Huo Long Yue noticed that he was on the losing side as the energy he was channeling to his sword was dispersing at an alarming rate.

Noticing that caused a lapse in his concentration. Thus, Ignis took advantage of it created an explosion of Black Flames.

As it was an explosion only made with nothing but those Black Flames, there was no substantial impact that happened. However, the flames covered the whole sword of the enemy, making him let go of it as he retreated in panic.

Still, although he managed to retreat, he was not unscathed. His clothes had been scorched here and there. He only managed to leave his skin intact by channeling a large amount of energy on his body.

Then, as the enemy expected the flying sword to attack once more...

It used its uncanny shape to hold unto the sniper rifle that was turned into a sword. The sniper rifle was not just some regular metal. It was something made with an unusual method and was not melted by the flames Ignis released.

Then...

Clad with surging Black Flames, Ignis flew into the mist, causing another cras.h.i.+ng sound and back towards the base.

"STOP!"

Huo Long Yue called out desperately. However, it was no use. Even the two would not be able to enter the mist unless they made the Tuath Dé stop the ceremony. And that would surely ruin all the plans of their leader.

Despite knowing that, Huo Long Yue chased after Ignis... Only to return to where he entered and see Chaaya, who was snickering on him.