"You, a mere human, wish to destroy me? Do you not understand the impossibility of your plan? The futility of your actions? You will die here and no one will come for you. Your human allies are already dead and there is no one left but we Anima."
Mark seemed to have appeared in the middle of a conversation between the two combatants. The Anima was one of those who could talk, and Mark immediately knew that this one was more intelligent than the other talking anima just because of how refined its speech seemed to be. It could speak in almost perfect English. How did it even learn that?
"Ah, fuck it. I'm going to die anyway so I might as well die fighting. I'm going to kill you even if it kills me in the process. Although, I really wish it doesn't."
Meta rolled his shoulders tiredly as he said this and he got back into a fighting stance. There was a nonchalant air around Meta that made it seem like he was not interested in anything at all. Meta just wanted to get this fight over with quickly so he could leave.
"There is only one superhuman who may pose a threat to our race, and you are not him. You are no KING. Shall we make a deal, human? Promise to bring me the human known as KING and I shall permit you to leave this place alive. He is on this island, I am sure of it. Bring him to me and your life is yours."
Meta's brow furrowed as he heard the name of the first superhuman. What the hell was the anima talking about? Didn't it know that KING was already dead?
The way that Anima spoke about KING was too familiar. It almost sounded like the anima was a hundred percent sure that KING was alive. But that couldn't be possible. Every superhuman has heard about KING and the battle he fought against the first Armageddon.
It is one of the first things you learn once you become a superhuman and it is one of the only reasons why many of them were even superhumans in the first place. KING motivated them to put their lives on the line for those who couldn't fight for themselves.
They all saw how destructive the fight between KING and the Armageddon was and they knew that KING died in that battle. There is no way KING would survive against something like that.
"Stop talking nonsense."
Meta took on a fighting stance as smoke began to waft off from his body and Mark could sense Meta's power rising even more as the smoke burned more of his fat and turned that into raw energy! Meta shot off after the anima and the anima only pulled its right arm back. The fingers on its right arm all fused together and elongated as it formed into a long blade that it wielded like a sword!
The anima swung the sword in a wide arc to take off Meta's head, but Meta dodged under the blade and tackled the anima in the midsection!
Bam!
The anima didn't even budge as it dug its feet into the ground! It raised its elbow up and delivered a massive downward blow into Meta's spine that made him howl in pain as he was forced to let go of the anima and take a few steps back. He stumbled as he moved back and it was obvious that he was on his last legs.
The anima had already injured him multiple times and he had run out of ideas on how to deal with it. Right now, all he was running on was fumes and pure luck! But Meta couldn't run. If he tries to run, then he would be killed by the Anima and it would just be the same as if he fought till the end.
He wasn't a ronin or samurai who preferred to die by facing his opponent, but he was still a man with his pride and he would not accept the shame of being stabbed in the back like a coward.
He charged forward again to continue the fight, but the sound of footsteps made him pause in his charge as he turned to the entrance of the cave. Meta expected to see Archer or maybe James who would be coming to help him. He left most of the other superhumans behind to face off against an Anima, so he was sure that they told James where he was and sent James to help him.
But he was shocked when he saw that it wasn't Archer or even James. It was a young boy that he recognized closely from the news earlier today. The young GHOST that fought and won against the calamity that attacked city A. He was shirtless and there were bloodstains and scars all over his body that showed that he had been in multiple battles before coming here!
GHOST did not even bother looking at Meta at all as his eyes stayed locked on something on the other side of the room.
Meta thought that GHOST would stop to face against the anima with him, but GHOST just kept walking as he passed both Meta and the anima without even glancing at either of them.
Mark made his way to the opposite wall and his teeth clenched tightly inside his mouth as he stopped in front of a large pod that was attached to the wall and the person that was trapped inside.
Arit.
Her eyes were closed and it looked like she was sleeping peacefully. There was a strange liquid inside the pod that covered her entire body and only allowed her face to be visible. The mere sight of her made an uncontrollable surge of anger rise inside of Mark as he saw the condition that she was in. He wanted to kill something.
Mark raised his fist up to break the pod, but he heard the anima talk from behind him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. There are many complications that could arise from stopping the metamorphosis before it is completed. Your mate is in a place between life and death right now, and stopping the process can plunge her towards death immediately. You wouldn't want that, would you, KING?"
Mark's hand paused in the air as he heard what the Anima said. He immediately thought that he should not trust a fucking ant. What if the ant was lying and it was only saying all this so that Mark would not take Arit out of there?
But there was also the chance that it was telling the truth.
Mark needed to know for sure and the only way to do that was to get someone knowledgeable about this stuff to this island so they could take a look at the pod and make sure that Arit was not at risk of getting killed if he opened it. He needed Pat.
But first, he was going to deal with this fucking ant.
Mark began to walk towards the ant with a deep glare on his face. When he spoke, it sent a shiver down Meta's spine from the sheer hatred he could hear within Mark's voice.
"I don't know what sort of plan you have for me that made you take her, but I promise you that it will be the last mistake you ever make. I will eviscerate you, tear you to pieces, and scatter your parts into the forest for your brothers to eat."