Momo’s mansion.

“Miko sure is late.”

Hina and the others were still inside Momo’s special space.

“He said that he had something to do and suddenly left. He must’ve been in a hurry because he didn’t even bring Ishma and Regis with him.”

Said Ace.

“Could it have something to do with Uncle Darry?”

“You mean the guy from your story? Well, he did seem oddly interested in him. Could it be that he knew him?”

Sora asked Momo.

“I wouldn’t know. It’s not like I’m with him all the time.”

“But didn’t you say that he’s dead, Hina?”

“Nebulous once said he killed him because he was in the way. I haven’t seen him in years, so I believed it to be true.”

“What if he’s alive?”

“If that’s the case, then I would really be happy. He was like a father to me, after all.”

Hina showed a bright smile.

“Is that so? Well, isn’t that good for you.”

At that moment, Miko appeared in the space.

“Miko?!”

“What happened?!”

Everyone was frightened when they saw him covered in wounds and scars.

“Who did this to you?”

Momo rushed to treat him but Miko brushed her off.

“They’ll heal on their own. I don’t want to forget this pain, so I’ll endure it.”

“What are you talking about?! You look like you can barely stand!”

Momo held on to him. Miko turned his face to hers and looked into her eyes.

“I said they’ll heal on their own.”

His eyes darkened to a soulless black.

“Leave them.”

“?!”

Momo stepped back on instinct. Her body shivered from the raging bloodlust leaking from his body. Miko ignored her and started walking slowly. Every step he took blood would stain the grass.

“Miko, I really think you should-”

“What?”

Miko looked at Sora with burning crimson eyes. His eyes were interchanging from black to crimson. It was as if the anger he was feeling was switching from burning hot to dark and bottomless.

“No….Do as you like.”

Sora backed down. It wasn’t that he was scared to say anymore, he just felt that the current Miko couldn’t be reasoned with.

“Fuck…”

Miko cursed himself for lashing out at his comrades. However, he just couldn’t help it. His fight with Darry just kept flashing in his head. It was like every step he took the angrier he got.

(The last time I saw him like this, he was planning on destroying the empire.)

Momo thought to herself.

“Miko….”

Hina watched him struggling to walk and bit her lip. Just looking at him made her angry. She didn’t like how unreasonable he was being, and it made her want to yell at him.

So she did.

“Stop being stubborn and take the treatment! Are you trying to die?!”

She angrily walked towards him.

“I won’t die. Not until I kill that bastar-”

*Bam!*

Miko was interrupted by a punch to the head. He fell down but was caught before he touched the ground.

“Seriously, the current you is a pain in the ass. Just sleep and let those who care about you take care of you, idiot.”

Said Ace. He was the one who hit Miko on the back of the head and knocked him out. He threw Miko at Momo, who caught him with a surprised look.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. I’m just being a good bro.”

Ace said with a smile. Momo smiled back and laid Miko on the ground. She then started to treat him.

“How horrible. He has scars all over his body.”

Hina walked up to him and examined his body.

“Who did this to him?”

“I think that’s obvious considering that he went out to look for someone.”

Momo mumbled.

“Are you saying that Uncle Darry is alive and he did this to Miko? Why?”

“I don’t know. But come to think of it, Miko did seem to find himself a powerful sparring partner for the last month. That’s mainly the reason why he got so good at fighting.”

“So that sparring partner could’ve been Darry? But this doesn’t look like something he would get from a spar.”

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Said Sora.

“Because it wasn’t.”

Suddenly, a holy light shone and Tia appeared from it.

“Miko and Darry weren’t sparring. It was a battle to the death.”

“A battle to the death? Why?”

Hina asked.

“It’s a long story. But I think we should wait for Miko come to. He could help shed some light on the situation as well.”

Tia was in obviously a bad mood.

“In the meantime, go fetch Layla Song for me.”

The dark world inside Miko’s soul.

“You’re pretty pissed.”

The silhouette burst out laughing.

“Of course, I’m pissed. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Miko was sitting on a grave.

“So, what are you going to do? The man who you respected and was starting to acknowledge, turned out to be your enemy.”

The silhouette smiled.

“Are you going to kill him?”

“……..”

Miko didn’t answer. He just silently clenched his fist.

“Why? Why him? Do I have to personally kill my own happiness all the time to please this damn world?”

He gritted his teeth.

“I’m really starting to hate this world.”

“Well, that’s to be expected. The world or rather destiny hates us after all. It’s natural for it to try to make us suffer.”

The silhouette approached him.

“We’re this world’s adversary after all. You realized that as well, right? What we really are…”

“Tsk. Everything about this is so depressing that it’s pissing me off.”

“By the way, how do you plan on beating him when you couldn’t in your Beast form?”

“I have ways to win, and I will win.”

“That’s the spirit. Kill more, destroy more, hate more. That’s the way we should live.”

“………”

When Miko opened his eyes he was looking at the blue sky. His body felt heavy like it didn’t belong to him, but there wasn’t that much pain.

“Oh, Miko’s finally awake.”

He heard Sora’s voice and soon saw everyone looking down at him.

“How do you feel?”

Tia asked him.

“……..”

“Well, I guess I don’t need to ask.”

She shrugged.

“Here, let me help you up.”

She lifted Miko off the ground with one hand and made him stand up. When Miko looked at his body, it was covered with bandages from neck to toe. He moved his limbs to feel if they were alright. He found out that his fractured bones were mostly healed up.

“How long have I been out? I know I can’t recover from my injuries that fast even with Momo’s help.”

“You’ve been out for three days. This was the best I can do.”

Momo answered.

“No, it’s fine. Thanks.”

Momo sighed in relief when he saw Miko was himself and wasn’t rampaging about like earlier.

“Looks like Darry really did a number on you.”

He looked to his side and saw Layla standing a couple of meters away from him.

*Swoosh!*

In an instant, he stood in front of Layla and grabbed her by the throat.

“?!”

Everyone was shocked by the speed Miko displayed. He gripped Layla’s neck and lifted her off the ground.

“Wait, Miko! Calm down! Killing her will only add to your crimes!”

Momo quickly warned him.

“Crimes? What crimes did I commit?”

Miko replied while choking Layla.

“Only I can judge whether my actions are right or wrong.”

He showed a cruel smile.

“And right now, snapping this bitch’s neck feels right to me.”

“G-Go ahead. I’m not afraid to die for him.”

Layla spoke with a strained voice.

“Whether you’re afraid or not doesn’t really matter to me. To be honest, I’m just doing this to blow off some steam.”

His fingers started digging into Layla’s neck.

“Miko, I wouldn’t do it if I were you.”

Tia walked up to him and said.

“She still has a lot of information that’s valuable to you. There are also other things she can be used for. Take a breather and calm down, and use that anger against the right person.”

“Tsk.”

Miko let go of Layla. She fell to the ground and started coughing. Miko walked away from her and went to sit under a tree by himself.

“I thought that he had calmed down, but I guess not.”

“Now that Miko’s awake, let’s get down to the main issue at hand.”

Tia said.

“First of all, the Darry that Hina talked about is the same Darry, who Miko has been hanging out with for the last month or so. He’s also the one who hurt Miko a few days ago.”

Everyone listened carefully. During the three days Miko was out, Tia didn’t reveal any information, but everyone else had their own theories and discussions.

“As some of you guessed, Darry is Nebulous.”

Hina’s eyes became watery. She had acknowledged the possibility, but she didn’t want to believe it to be true.

“Then Layla is a fake?”

Momo asked.

“No, she’s Nebulous too.”

“What? Nebulous isn’t one person?”

Everyone looked at Layla who was rubbing her neck. She had an expression as if she was saying “I told you so”.

“Well, it was at first. But a lot of complicated stuff occurred and there end up being two.”

Tia opened her mouth to further explain the situation, but she was interrupted before she could speak.

*BOOM!*

An explosive sound reached their ears and the space created by Momo started to tremble.

“What was that?!”

“An enemy attack?!”

Outside of the mansion.

There was a line of armored vehicles, with cannons attached to them. They all were pointed at Momo’s mansion.

“Fire!”

*Bam!*

The cannons fired in unison and bombarded the house without mercy. Behind them were countless armed persons all staring at the mansion with hatred.

“Get out here, Miko! You damn murderer!”

“Give me back my son!”

“My wife died because of you!”

“Get out here, you monster!”

*Bam!*

The cannons fired again. They didn’t care about the surrounding houses or the fact that they were being damaged as well. They only wanted Miko to come out.

“From the looks of it, they’re citizens who lost their love ones in your battle with Nebulous men.”

Momo said to Miko. They were all watching what was happening outside through a mirror that Momo conjured.

“That’s some powerful weapons. They must’ve been given to them by someone.”

Said Sora.

“Nebulous, huh? Using people who have a grudge against Miko is pretty smart. After all, Miko can’t just slaughter citizens.”

Said Ace.

“Citizens? They’re more like terrorists.”

Hina cursed. She couldn’t believe someone as kind as Darry would do something like turning regular citizens into weapons.

“This house can’t be destroyed by normal weapons, but if they bring out magic weapons, then we have a problem.”

Momo looked at Layla.

“Do you guys have any weapons made by MYTH?”

“What do you think? MYTH makes the most powerful and most advanced magic weapons, there’s no way we wouldn’t buy some of their stuff.”

“I heard that MYTH’s Shiva Series Trident is quite powerful. It’s an anti-proxy rifle, right?”

Miko stood up and looked at the crowd outside. Especially their weapons.

“I wonder if they have any.”

“Miko, what are you going to do?”

Momo quickly asked. She had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen.

“………”

Miko didn’t answer immediately and watched the angry mob through the mirror.

“Get out here, monster!”

“Damn abomination!”

“Leave this country!”

Insults like these reached his ears.

“After progressing so far, we end up back here with everyone throwing around the word monster again.”

Miko laughed a little. His eyes became fierce and the smile left his face.

“Fine, if that’s how you want it, then I’ll play the role you want me to play, Humans. I hate you and you hate me, so of course we can’t exist under the same sky.”

He started walking towards the exit.

“Ishma, Regis, its slaughtering time.”

His bandages suddenly caught fire and were quickly reduced to ash. The ashes wrapped around him and formed a fresh set of azure and black clothes.

“Alright!”

“Yes.”

Ishma and Regis followed behind him.

“Aren’t you going to stop him?”

Tia walked up to Momo and asked. Momo looked at Miko until he completely left the special space. After he was gone, she sighed.

“I can’t look after him forever. If he wants to make the whole world his enemy, then let him. But in return, I’ll fight by his side.”

Tia was a bit surprised to hear that.

“That’s good. Acting docile and compromising with those beneath you aren’t things a proud dragon should do. If you’re a member of this clan, you must be proud even when committing wrongs.”

Meanwhile, Miko arrived outside the mansion.

“There he is! Miko!”

He drew the attention of everyone outside. The crowd started raining down slurs on him, but Miko ignored them as if they didn’t exist.

“Ishma, Regis.”

He stretched his hands out. The girls transformed into swords in his hands. They emitted a green and azure glow. Miko's eyes turned demonic and his body gave off a crimson glow. He jumped into the air under the eyes of the crowd and lifted both swords overhead. The image of a crow and a dragon entangling around a crimson demon appeared behind him.

“What the?!”

The crowd was frightened by the image and started firing at the flying Miko. He ignored them, and the images behind him turned into green, crimson, and azure flames. The flames wrapped around Miko and his swords.

“Mad Beasts of Avicii!”

He swung his swords and the three flames rushed forth and swallowed everything in front of them.

“Ahhh!”

Screams resounded as the three streams of flames rampaged through the area in the shape of a crow, dragon, and demon. The flame beasts moved as if they were alive, targeting wherever there was life, making sure to extinguish it. They were beasts from the deepest level of hell, dancing through the district. After a while, the beasts collided into each other and caused a massive explosion, which resulted in flames devouring the district in waves. It didn’t take long before only a colorful sea of flames was before Miko. Everyone in the mob had been reduced to ashes and their vehicles had already melted.

Miko showed a savage smile.

“You’re next, Darry. No, Nebulous!”