Crimson and Furs 2

Chapter Seven: Mass Mutation

Evil Buddha who had just stepped out of the shadows to stop the Hellhound from escaping suddenly narrowed his eyes after seeing the Hellhound chew on the horn which he had been holding. As a Shadow he wasn't afraid of most attacks as he could always use the shadows to navigate around them. He could also use the shadows to give sudden attacks, making it very difficult to be guarded against. Hence he wasn't afraid of the Demon in front of him even though he could use Demonic Fire and Fire Blending.

Evil Buddha had hidden in the shadows, witnessing the fight within the Hellhound and Daniel. He had also observed when he fought Bloody Mary, studying his combat style and Cursed powers. With this he was able to gain overall knowledge of the Cursed powers the Demon had even though he didn't know their names. As a Shadow he was adept in combat observation and could directly copy a combat style of an opponent, mastering it. Hence he was able to quickly deduce the three Cursed powers the Hellhound showed.

So when the Hellhound finally escaped from Bloody Mary, he decided to strike and not let it escape! After all he had learnt of the Hellhound's abilities and had abilities to counter it!

Seeing the Hellhound suddenly chew the horn made Evil Buddha to attack immediately. He already guessed that this Hellhound had already consumed the essence of the next Cursed path and was trying to advance. The horn obviously contained the essence of the next Cursed path!

Evil Buddha immediately took out several papers shaped like daggers from the pockets of his trenchcoat, his eyes zeroing in on the Hellhound. He arched his back and suddenly threw out the papers in his hands at the Hellhound.

Sou! Sou! Sou!

The papers seemed to transform into very sharp swords as they flew towards the Hellhound! Any object in the hands of a Shadow would become a lethal weapon!

Boom!

The Hellhound immediately created a storm of Demonic Fire which shot towards the incoming paper swords, burning them instantly to ashes. The Demonic Fire surged towards Evil Buddha but he had already sank into his shadow a long time ago before it had the effect of burning his soul.

He travelled through a dark space devoid of any light. The various objects around him appeared in shadows, illusory in nature and couldn't be discerned. This was the shadow world which Shadows used to travel. Obviously they were the only ones who could read the coordinates of this shadow world, deducing where they corresponded with the real world!

Soon Evil Buddha saw an illusory figure before him writhing in pains. He immediately ran past him before appearing behind him. Then he took out a card from his pocket and stabbed at the neck of the Hellhound!

The Hellhound was in a great pain from suddenly consuming the Mutant essence when his mental and spiritual state was not alright. He felt his entire body and essence as they began mutating. At times various eyeballs would grow on his body and at times his body would split into two. This phenomenon was extremely bizarre and painful, assaulting him physically, mentally and spiritually!

Suddenly something stabbed him in the neck, causing black blood to spurt out. The Shadow has suddenly appeared behind him, delivering his attack!

Not bad...the Hellhound thought within himself. Now...that...you're...very...close... He couldn't complete his thoughts because of the various anomalies going on with his body from consuming the Mutant essence without a good mental state.

Suddenly Evil Buddha's reflex actions kicked in without him sensing any danger. He couldn't even control his body as he sank into his shadow instantly!

Boom!

The Hellhound exploded into several balls of Demonic Fire before converging some meters away. Due to the state he was in currently, he couldn't maintain his Fire Blending for so long. It would make him become irrational, transforming into a true monster!

Evil Buddha came out of the shadow of a car, his eyes flickering for a second before becoming normal. He then muttered to himself, "Thankfully Doppelgangers possess supernatural reflexes or else I wouldn't have been able to react in time..."

At that moment the Hellhound decided to transform into his Hellhound form! With a loud growl which shook Evil Buddha's very soul, causing him to immediately sink into another shadow to escape such a horrifying effect, the Hellhound transformed into a large hellhound amidst several cracks and tearing of clothes!

He was now engulfed in flames of demonic fire which caused the surrounding to instantly heat up, his eyes burning with rage. Two horns had grown on his head, his mouth opening to reveal a set of fangs which were red hot. He had finally transformed into his Hellhound form!

Evil Buddha immediately jumped out of the shadow of a building, landing on the ground before rolling nimbly and getting up to his feet. His body then began morphing as his clothes seemed to become illusory. His muscles twisted and contracted as he rapidly transformed into a hellhound. Demonic Fire spread across his entire body as a pair of horns grew on his head amidst an extremely painless expression. He had transformed into the Hellhound in front of him!

Shadows could also transform into others, mimicking everything about their physical appearance. But once they transform into a target for more than ten minutes, the target would die and they would be able to gain their identity for some time! And this was what Evil Buddha was planning to do!

Although Evil Buddha wouldn't be able to get the Hellhound's abilities, he would be still able to kill him in ten minutes. What other effect would be better than this?

Seeing an identical looking hellhound in front of him, the Hellhound couldn't help but have mixed emotions. He had always heard about Doppelgangers in his past life and had even met them. But he has never experienced this terrifying ability of transforming into someone else to steal their identities! It was said that for ordinary people they would die once this happened and their identities would forever belong to the Shadow. Whereas for a Cursed their identity would be only stolen temporarily at the same Cursed path for a limited amount of time.

Without wasting time the Hellhound spat out a large ball of Demonic Fire at Evil Buddha. Although he knew that this wouldn't harm the Shadow in any way as he could always escape, he needed to do anything to divert his attention.

Evil Buddha didn't panic and immediately blended with the shadows, watching as the Demonic Fire crashed to the ground amidst a loud explosion. He then traveled through the shadows around, jumping out of the shadow world onto the Hellhound's back. He then opened his large mouth and bit down on the Hellhound's shoulder.

Roar!

The Hellhound roared painfully as he attempted to use Fire Blending again but the Shadow has already vanished, leaving him in anger and frustration. But at that moment he felt a strange phenomenon within him. All the mutations that had been going on within him suddenly calmed down as if they had never existed to begin with. The former Path three Demon had finally advanced to become a Path four, Mutant!

Although his mental and spiritual state was still turbulent, this didn't stop him from organizing his thoughts to deal a damage to this annoying Shadow. He immediately used his newly gained ability to attack the Shadow!

Mutating!

His entire body split open with countless eyeballs with mouths embedded within them. These eyeballs blinked slowly, producing several statements that would cause even Cursed to freeze in fear.

"I've gotten you, haha!"

"It's your time to die!"

"Die, you pest!"

"..."

Evil Buddha who had exited the shadow world suddenly froze, his entire body becoming mutated the moment he saw the newly advanced Mutant. His torso wriggled as he felt arms trying to rupture it to surface to the outside world.

The surrounding wasn't spared as cars around became covered with hairs while trees grew fleshy limbs and began walking around while yelling incoherent statements! This scene was extremely bizarre, making Evil Buddha to shudder in terror.

At some point of time Crimson Wolf Daniel had already reached the scene with Bloody Mary in order to help Evil Buddha who had been hiding in the shadows to attack the Hellhound. Suddenly he and Bloody Mary saw the Mutant, their bodies experiencing mutations instantly.

Daniel immediately transformed into a large werewolf against his will. Several organs grew out of his body, writhing as they tried to extricate themselves from him. He opened his mouth and tried to growl but couldn't as his tongue had transformed into a mass of intestines covered with grasses.

This...Daniel suddenly thought in terror, his eyes widening. I'm...My rationality...is...gradually...slipping...away...

On the other hand, Bloody Mary's bloody gown transformed into a heavy skin covered with objects such as plastic, leather and glass. The ghastly faces on her gown transformed into countless eyeballs with mouths, screaming as they bit down on her!

The buildings all over the entire street transformed into blobs of flesh with countless hairs while the occupants began dissolving into streams of flesh and blood!

The newly Path four, Mutant who couldn't control his Cursed power effectively had just used his appearance to cause a mass area mutation on his targets and surrounding!

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Daniel coughed out his intestines one after the other, all of them transforming into snakes which slithered away. His vision blurred as his body weakened. As a Path two, Wolfman he couldn't endure the mutation for a long period of time like Bloody Mary and Evil Buddha. He was gradually becoming irrational and would soon transform into a monster!

"No!" he yelled as he used the last will and strength he had left to lung at the Mutant, his body slowly reverting into his human form. Only his arms remained in their werewolf form.

But before he could even get close to the Mutant, his feet transformed into roots which drilled themselves to the ground! At that moment he felt his mind turn adrift, various creatures and their DNAs surfacing within it. At times he would feel like a leopard and at times like a hedgehog.

This...Daniel who suddenly realized that he had harmonized his Cursed path collapsed to the ground, vomiting several strands of hairs which grew limbs and crawled away rapidly.

"Hahaha!" the Mutant laughed crazily. "Even the Specter stands no chance against me! You should have let me go when you had the chance!"

"What chance?" the Mutant who had thought he had everything under control suddenly froze. He turned his head upwards only to see another male figure dressed in the same red trenchcoat as the two Cursed who had attacked him. This figure was standing on the last floor of a building with six floor, his blue eyes zeroed in on him.

Not good...the Mutant thought within himself as he made up his mind to escape. He was still unstable from having to consume a Mutant essence in a haste without stabilizing his physical and mental condition. He had only wanted to deal with the Specter, the Shadow and Wolfman for creating so much trouble for him. Who would have thought another Cursed would arrive?!

This figure was none other than Crimson Moon who was to serve as backup in case of an emergency. Several colours of liquids were twirling around him, illuminating his gorgeous face.

The Mutant didn't hesitate any longer as he dissolved into countless pathogens, spreading in different locations till he finally vanished. This made Crimson Moon Orpheus to narrow his eyes but he ultimately didn't choose to chase after the Mutant. After all, he wasn't sure about the other party's ability.

He caused the potions twirling around him to fly into the air, fusing to form a thick mist which covered half of the street. He watched as the mutated objects around receded, transforming to normal.

Crimson Wolf Daniel, Evil Buddha David and Bloody Mary rapidly recovered, no longer showing bizarre signs of mutating. Compared to the former two who were almost unconscious, Bloody Mary appeared relatively strong after recovering.

At that moment they saw a ball of light appear over the street, sending a white radiance which swept across the entire street. Everything that was mutated immediately reverted to become normal.

"The Special Cops have arrived," Crimson Moon Orpheus said from where he was standing as a potion appeared in front of him, burgeoning to form a crimson portal. "We need to get out of here."

Although he was now the wealthiest person on Earth and had tried registering Curious Mythologists as a legal organization, he was met with a great failure. He was lucky to have not used his real identity or body back then or else the official Cursed would have apprehended him on spot. He had only used a robot to facilitate the transaction and it ended up getting killed.

So the best thing to do right now was escaping now that the Special Cops had arrived. They didn't want to clash with the official Cursed and end up becoming an evil organization instead of just a secret organization.

Bloody Mary immediately grabbed Daniel and Evil Buddha, her body vanishing into the spirit world as Crimson Moon stepped into the blood red portal which closed immediately.

Soon there was a white brilliance, a man dressed in a silvery starchy police uniform appearing. His hair was white, his eyes seemingly golden. There was a holy and solemn yet terrifying aura emanating from him.

"Such vileness!" he clasped his hands together, closing his eyes as he transformed into a blinding sunlight in the dark night. "Such corruption and dirtiness!"

Soon the light cleared, the man vanishing from where he had been standing. All that was left were the echoes of his voice which contained solemnity and holiness.