At Miko’s home.

“I’ve been summoned again by the elders, so I’ll be gone for a while.”

Momo said to Miko. He was pulling Ishma’s cheeks and she was pulling his angrily. She didn’t ask what led to this because she thought it was best she didn’t know.

“Again? Those bags of bones sure are persistent.”

Miko ignored Ishma trying to claw out his eyes

“Tell me about it. But they haven’t caused trouble in a while, so it might be something more serious this time. So be careful.”

“Those guys are really becoming annoying.”

Miko released Ishma’s cheeks and she released his.

“They’re Krow’s people, right? Then it’s better to ignore them.”

“I can’t do that. They’re elders, so they outrank me. Especially since my rights to the throne were stripped. There’s also the fact I can’t give Krow an excuse to harass me.”

“I see. Then good luck.”

“Stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”

“Can’t make any promises.”

Momo sighed and then left.

“Tia, Krow is your stepson right?”

Miko turned to Tia. She was styling Regis’s hair while she sat on her lap.

“Yeah. He was Augustus’s last child. His mother was Augustus’s 3rd wife.”

“Did you two get along?”

“Not really. I have many reasons, but the biggest reason was that his mother disliked me and my children. Especially the fact my children were so talented and had praises constantly rained down on them. She taught Krow to hate me and his siblings. She even made him believe he was the one true heir to Augustus.”

“I see.”

Miko looked like he was pondering something. After a while, he opened his mouth and spoke.

“If he were to die, would you be sad?”

Tia was momentarily shocked by his question.

“Do you have a grudge against him?”

“Nope. We’ve never really interacted that much.”

“Then why do want him dead?”

“Because I can tell….He’s going to be an obstacle for me in the future. How should I put it? He gives off a dangerous feeling. I would prefer him dead, to be honest.”

“What coldhearted thinking.”

Tia smiled.

“But you can’t kill Krow now. He’s far too strong.”

“I know. That’s why I’ll leave him to the Old Man.”

“You want Nero to kill his uncle?”

“His uncle wants to kill him, so what’s the problem?”

Tia smiled when she heard that.

“I guess you’re right.”

Later in the day, Miko decided to take a walk to clear his head. Both Ishma and Regis were in their glove forms, while Tia remained home.

“Say, Ishma. You said you would teach me how to use my demon powers, right? How do you go about strengthening them in the first place?”

(That depends on the type of demon you are. However, all demons become stronger from slaughter. We kill people and absorb their resentment.)

Ishma answered in his mind.

“How?”

(You can absorb it from bathing in their blood or from absorbing their souls. Absorbing their souls would be difficult for you, so for now just bathe in the blood of your enemies.)

Miko recalled an old tale he heard when he was younger. It was said humans could become a demon if they bathed in the blood of countless people and absorb all the negative emotions of their victims. However, he didn’t believe it. But listening to what Ishma said, it seemed to be true.

(Now that I think about it, didn’t my father’s ancestors become demons by drinking Beleth’s blood and eating his flesh? I guess blood really is the essence of life.)

Miko smirked.

“Bathe in the blood of my enemies, huh? So in other words, I just need to kill a lot of people.”

He stopped and looked around. He was currently in the middle of town. His sixth sense for danger was going off like crazy.

“Looks like I’ll get my chance.”

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At that moment, he saw people coming out from alleys, blocking off roads, and standing on roofs. He was completely surrounded.

“There are more people than I can count and I’m sure there’s more hidden.”

He showed a smile.

“So this is what happens when you piss off Nebulous? I might be in deep trouble here.”

All of the men armed themselves with a variety of weapons.

“So it’s like that? Fine by me.”

Miko activated his Dragon Rage.

“Let's party!”

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

All who had projectile weapons immediately started firing them at him. Bullets, arrows, rockets, and countless projectiles rushed toward him. Miko channeled his Dragon Shot in his hand and fired it towards his front. The dragon-shaped shot rushed towards the enemy. It devoured a great number of them, destroying buildings in the process before eventually exploding. At the same time, Miko moved to avoid the projectiles that were fired from the other directions. He realized he couldn’t avoid everything. So he used his Dragon Rage to form armor to stop the rest.

“Time to break for it!”

He charged towards the direction where he fired the dragon shot. It was now in chaos and was perfect for escaping the encirclement. The other thugs chased after him, firing weapons and magic attacks at him. Miko spurted his wings and took off in the air.

“He’s up there!”

He looked down. There were vehicles with AA Guns attached to them.

“The fuck? These guys really came prepared.”

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

Miko maneuvered through the air to evade bullets.

(Miko, your front!)

Regis shouted in his mind. He looked in front of him and saw what looked like giant spikes flying toward him. He ascended and avoided some of the spikes.

“I can’t avoid them all! If that’s the case!”

He flew towards the spikes. He stepped on one. He ran on it before jumping from one to another. He scanned his surroundings. There were people on roofs throwing those spikes at him.

“Fuck off!”

He created the spinning water orbs in each hand and threw them at the roofs.

*Bam!*

The roofs were instantly pulverized along with the men on them.

“?!”

A chill went down his spine. He flew up and avoided an onslaught of bullets from AA Guns below. He activated his Vita and formed another dragon shot. He fired at the cars following him.

*Boom!*

The area it hit received tremendous damage.

“Ahhhh!”

The surrounding citizens were panicking and running around in fear because of the sudden violence.

“Tsk.”

Miko clicked his tongue when he realized the blame he would receive later.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

He heard a string of explosions and looked around. There he saw dozens of spikes being launched in the air, all aiming at him. He heard some more explosions and saw that there were people on roofs and in buildings firing rockets at him.

He found himself in a net of death.

“Regis! Ishma!”

He stretched his arms to his sides. Ishma and Regis took their weapon forms.

“Ahh!”

He roared and swung his swords around, unleashing powerful azure and green slashes.

*Boom!*

A string of explosions erupted around him as he cut through all projectiles. He clenched the swords tightly.

“I’ll receive some severe backlash for this, but it’s either that or death.”

His swords started glowing as he lifted them overhead.

“Go to hell!”

He swung down the swords. Two powerful slashes descended on his enemies. It destroyed buildings and killed thugs and innocents alike. It was mass destruction.

Two long trenches were left in the ground with rubble and body parts at the side. When he saw that, Miko instantly knew; even if they don’t kill him today, he had just committed social suicide.

“Well, it’s not like I had a place here in the first place.”

He descended from the sky. Flying made him an easy target, so he decided to travel by foot. His sixth sense was still going off, meaning that his life was still in danger.

“This is bad. I’ve used too many big attacks after the other. The mana in my body is running low.”

He mumbled to himself. He decided to stick with using Dragon Rage for now.

“Ugh?!”

Suddenly, he felt something pierce through his shoulder. He instantly knew that he was shot. He dove out of the way and hid behind a piece of rubble.

“A sniper? It even pierced through my Dragon Rage armor. It must be an anti-magic bullet.”

He started to carefully scan his surroundings.

“Anti-magic weapons are expensive. So they can’t be that many. Then again, that’s wishful thinking. There’s no telling what they brought. If they bring anything made by MYTH, I’m fucked.”

He mumbled to himself.

(Are you scared?)

Ishma asked him.

“Scared?”

Miko showed a savage grin.

“I’m excited.”

He clenched his swords.

“So this is war? This is how it feels to be truly cornered. I gotta say it’s not a bad feeling.”

He walked out from behind the rubble and stood in the open. He saw dozens of people coming out from who knows where and surround him.

“So I was right. There are so many weapons designed to fight against magic. I underestimated Nebulous’s wealth and influence.”

He deflected a bullet that was aimed at his head.

“So there you are.”

He looked at a building about 500m away and saw a sniper pointing at him.

“Ekk!”

The sniper shrieked when he saw the savage look in Miko’s eyes. He started to run.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

He charged forward, and the men around him instantly blocked his path.

“Move!”

He swung Regis and a powerful slash rushed forward. The men got in formation and pulled out a huge cloth. The slash hit the cloth and was instantly absorbed.

“A magic absorbent cloth?”

Miko smiled and leaped.

“Then let’s do this the old way!”

He swung his sword with pure strength and without magic.

“Ahh!”

He cut through two men that blocked his path, and even the cloth. This shocked the men because the cloth was incredibly durable. They looked at Miko’s swords in horror. They wondered where he got such high-quality weapons.

“Surround him and kill him! Without magic, he’s just a brat!”

The men all rushed at Miko from every direction.

“Just a brat?”

He swung his sword and separated a man’s waist from his torso.

“Them come and try me!”

He jumped and broke a man’s neck with a kick. He was stabbed in the back by two other men. He spun around and thrust his swords through their hearts.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

The men started firing at him with their guns. He tapped his feet on the ground and moved with a gale. He moved like a leaf in the wind and approached the men.

“Ahh!”

He swiftly slayed them with his swords.

*Bam!*

He was hit in the stomach with a shot from one of the guns.

“I got him!”

“Nope.”

He ripped his shirt and showed off his stomach which was covered with his Dragon scales. The bullet had pierced his skin, but nothing severe.

“M-Monster….”

“Why thank you, Human.”

Miko instantly beheaded the man and then turned to look at the rest. They all started to back away in fear.

“Now then….”

Miko flashed the blood off his blades and walked towards them.

“Shall we play?”

Elsewhere.

“Hah~! Hah~!”

The sniper who shot Miko earlier was running for his life. The town around him was in shambles after being hit by the violent battle between his comrades and Miko.

“That thing ain’t normal!”

He shouted while remembering the looking in Miko’s eyes. Despite being in a clearly disadvantageous situation, he was smiling.

“He’s insane! That brat’s fucking insane!”

He ran while holding his gun. He passed countless corpses and body parts while running.

“I need to tell the boss we can’t underestimate him! We need more people! We need to use our best weapons or we won’t win against that thing!”

“Oh? So you guys really had better weapons.”

“?!”

The sniper came to a halt when he heard a voice. He looked around and spotted someone sitting on a roof. It was Miko who was covered in blood from head to toe. He had several wounds on him but was still smiling joyfully.

“Could you tell me more about them? In great detail of course.”

“Ahhhh!”

The sniper’s scream echoed throughout the area along with Miko’s laugh.