Comparison

Seeing this, the monster, apparently waking up from his rage for a moment, remembered what happened earlier when he picked up the bone, not wanting to be in a place that could suddenly explode.

Swoosh!

To his bad luck, he couldn't even move properly before he saw a white object rapidly approaching his face, forcing him to desperately dodge.

This maneuver had left the scarlet monster who already was under constant threat from his opponent's weapon, unstable.

Until at one point, he attacked with his left arm, seeking to regain control of the fight.

BAM!

However, as having foreseen this move on the part of the monster, Noah only attacked from another point, further increasing his opponent's instability and forcing him to retreat, moving from the living room to the entrance of the house.

"GUO-K!"

Letting out a shout, the monster lashed out at Noah, but no sooner had it started than it was met by a shove.

The human had pushed the monster in such a way that the weapon in his hands had trapped the monster's neck against the wall.

Using all the strength he could muster in his arms, despite the monster's savage resistance, Noah managed to keep it in one place.

"!"

Squeezing at the top of his lungs, the young man's goal was nothing more than to choke or simply crush the monster's neck, whichever came first.

Perhaps in another situation he could afford to make a comment, but right now, this task required his full concentration.

BAM!

Hitting both the wall and Noah, the monster was resisting as much as possible, not liking being in a passive position in this fight at all.

For a moment, it looked like this was the way the fight was going to end, as the human's arms were bulging with black veins that filled him with superhuman strength, but suddenly, something happened that changed everything.

CHACK!

"-GAHK!"

With blood falling on the ground, one more wound had appeared on Noah's body, this time being the worst he had ever received in his entire life.

With its left arm, the monster had driven its entire arm into the center of the young man's chest, piercing him through and through.

"A-AHh!"

Sadly for the young man, as the blood began to rise in his throat, a painful and deadly reminder of a truth he had forgotten some time ago began to pop into his head.

That despite the feats he had accomplished, and the graces he had received, he was still human.

Red blood coursed through his veins, his skin was soft to the touch and smooth to the eye, his bones, though hard, could break, and his muscles, though they gave him strength, could tear.

His tools were capable of hurting monsters, and he was capable of killing them, but no matter how strong his motivation and willpower were, there was a limit he could not overcome on his own.

A limit that his body had reached the moment the scarlet monster stabbed him with its arm.

"...KAH!"

A thick, warm but metallic-tasting liquid began to gush from his mouth, doing nothing more than confirming the gravity of his situation.

All at once, the warmth Noah was feeling disappeared, leaving him once again alone with the pain and cold that was beginning to fill him, along with a message that did nothing but depress him.

__________________________

[Notice: Upon detecting the fatal state of the "Host", the [Chaos] has stopped infecting his body, all augmentations will be abruptly removed].

__________________________

With his body now starting to lose heat, the black veins that covered his arms gradually decreased in size until they finally disappeared.

Apparently, sensing the young man's imminent fall, this force that was driving him to move more had decided to abandon him.

At this moment, an aura of death could be felt near the young man.

"FUCK IT!!!"

However, he wasn't ready to give up.

Then, after shouting, for the briefest of moments, forcing who knows how the chaos to return, Noah used his remaining strength to make one last desperate attack.

CRACK!

"GU-O!"

BAM!

The monster suddenly pushed Naoh away, quickly bringing his hands to his neck, which was now completely broken, causing him great difficulty to even keep his head in place.

Unable to keep his balance, the monster fell to his knees on the ground trying to keep his body under control.

Unfortunately for him, despite his strength and endurance, the wound was simply too severe, and although in the future he could be able to fix this if his control over his body was greater, now his resilience was only enough to prolong his pain.

Amid sounds of bubbling liquid, the scarlet monster crawled across the room, trying to reach the door.

He didn't know how long he would be able to endure in this state, but there was a chance that if he could make it until he reached his creator, he would be able to save himself.

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Getting to his feet, the monster then began to walk towards the door, slowly but soon increasing his speed, now firmly believing that this was not the end.

Bam!

"!"

However, just as he was about to reach the door, something caused him to stumble, hitting his head hard on the ground, further aggravating his injury.

Not being able to believe what had happened, the scarlet monster moved his attention to the side, finding the culprit of his fall.

Also on the ground, but behind him, in a pool of blood and completely pale, the human who had caused his injury had used the weapon in his hand to trip him.

There was no expression on his face, only a look that seemed to be filled not with hatred or anger, but one that showed his intentions at this moment.

That even if he were to die in this place, he was not going to do it alone.

Seeing this, the scarlet monster was taken aback for a moment, intrigued by the human's behavior.

Bam

The next moment, although the monster wanted to continue watching the human's expression, his body began to give way.

First it was his limbs, then his sight, and the last thing he lost was his hearing, the last thing he heard being how a breath came to an end, and it was not his own.

---

An unknown amount of time had passed, and all the while, silence abounded in the house.

Although what had happened here was undoubtedly a scene that would leave many people dumbfounded, the truth was that in the mirror world, it was an insignificant event.

Nothing changed with this fight, and no one was interested in the confrontation of a newborn monster and a young human.

This, though it might seem cold, was simply how things worked in this world infested with anything but humans.

Chack!

But for better or worse, even though the majority of sentient beings inhabiting the mirror world would not be interested in such an event other than for what they could get out of it, the minority existed.

In this case, the minority was nothing more than an object that had been an important part of the conflict.

The bone, still in Noah's hand, had undergone changes, specifically where the young man's body was holding it.

Before, while it was true that the grip the young man had on this strange weapon had been so strong that it seemed to have attached itself to him, now the latter had ceased to be a seeming.

Attached to the young man's hand by blood and flesh, the bone was releasing a vitality that while too weak to be attributed to a living being, was also too strong to belong to a corpse.

As for what it was doing, it was simple, it was making a comparison.

While one side of it was attached to Noah, the other side of the bone fell right into one of the scarlet monster's legs, also connected by flesh and blood.

The comparison was to see who was better suited to save, the consciousness inside the bone considering all it had seen.

Now, the fate of both Noah and the monster was completely at the discretion of the giant's bizarre treasure.

Something that after an unknown amount of time, the treasure had finished doing.

As for its verdict, it had had a rather difficult time choosing between the two.

On one side was a Priest especially made by its previous owner to retrieve it.

While the treasure was more than happy to have escaped the clumsy hands of its previous owner, it had to admit that while he lacked intelligence, he more than made up for it with power.

Otherwise, he would not really have been able to protect it from other beings who sought to possess it.

A good example of this was the fact that he was able to create a being as useful and with as much potential as the Scarlet Priest was.

A being which even with his body being in a dying state, the treasure was able to appreciate the potential he had for the future, being quite likely to become as strong or even stronger than his creator given enough time.

Because his creator himself was not particularly intelligent, his creation, made from his own flesh, would not excel in this aspect either, but still, the treasure agreed that it was not a bad job at all.

If he chose to help this Priest, his growth would be accelerated and it was most likely that after a certain amount of time had passed, he would become an Archbishop capable of breaking through the upper ranks of the mirror world.

By then, the greatest enemy nearby would be his own creator, but with his own strength and the help of the treasure, dealing with it would not be an impossible task.

On the other hand, he had a young human, with a physique so simple and weak that it really made it wonder how he had managed to survive so far.

At least, that was the case before it joined the human, for now it did know the answer to that question.

The reason why he had managed to hold out so well against the Scarlet Priest, and also what probably kept him alive until now, was the fact that he seemed to have been touched by greater forces from the mirror world.

Specifically, two forces, of which, one was almost completely unknown to the treasure.

The first force was the black substance in his body, which was a product of being touched by chaos, something that certain kinds of entities had in common.

To the young man's luck, it seemed that he had not had contact with the more aggressive type of chaos, but of a peculiar branch, as to what this was, even the treasure, with its knowledge of more than one life, did not seem to be able to recognize it.

Among the "benefits" of being touched by chaos were primarily the enhancement of all physical aspects of the infected, especially strength and a healing factor.

However, this was where these benefits ended, and the problems began.

From strange visions, nightmares, the constant feeling of being watched, the infected would be consumed long before they could realize what was happening.

The end result was something that the treasure had already seen several times, an aberration that only sought to spread chaos to any creature in its vicinity.

As for how this young man was contaminated, it wasn't hard to figure out by looking at the state of this one, not fearing being hurt in the slightest.

'...Careless...'

Rather, something that intrigued the treasure more was how it was that a mere human had managed to not only resist the chaos, but use it to such a degree without succumbing to it.

This led it to the second force it could sense coming from the young human, something that even with its perception, it could not distinguish correctly, something that made it feel as if the human was not unfamiliar with the mirror world.

It was as if he had something inside him that made the treasure think he was just another inhabitant of the mirror world, but as to what it was, it didn't really know.

Although it would like to investigate this subject further, the treasure could not deny that it was already beginning to feel the tug of unconsciousness weighing on it.

It was time to choose its vessel.

First there was the Scarlet Priest, a being with high potential who would undoubtedly become an Archbishop and that it could even possess due to his low intelligence.

Second there was the young human, someone who with the help of his condition of being touched by chaos and that which he had within him, had managed to survive in this world, until now.

Needless to say that with the second option, far from even possessing him, the mere fact that he listened to its suggestions was completely up to the young man.