First Degree of Infection

Turning his head towards the living room, the monster walked with a pace that evidenced his lack of haste, analyzing his surroundings with great interest.

Finally, he managed to see the object that his creator had ordered him to get at all costs, a large long bone on the floor.

Picking it up, he could not deny that he certainly felt something special about this object, something that seemed to call to him, captivating his attention.

While his creator had ordered him to take it back immediately, he wasn't going to do that, or at least not anytime soon, as he was very interested in what made this object so special.

Chac!

Just then, however, the monster could hear a noise behind him, turning around immediately and seeing that the human was no longer where he had left it.

Instead, he had crawled all the way from the stairs to one of the large symbols on the floor, and one of his hands, completely covered in blood, lay on top of it.

Immediately, the scarlet monster's instincts warned him of danger, and though he moved as fast as he could, there was no way he could do it faster than the electric sparks that began to fly from the symbols.

SHAA!

Starting with the symbol Noah had soaked with his blood, the web was activated once more, the focal point of this being the same as before, the large bone.

"GUO!"

For the first time since it was born, the monster released sounds that could well be interpreted as words.

Unfortunately, its creator was not here to appreciate this moment that perhaps in other circumstances would be worth remembering.

In a matter of seconds, the electricity had attacked the bone with such ferocity that the scarlet monster's right arm, despite its strength, ended up being singed.

Bam!

Unable to withstand this damage any longer, the scarlet monster threw the bone towards the ground, the sparks following it on its journey.

Unexpectedly, the bone ended up landing near the person who had caused all the chaos that was taking place on the first floor of the house.

Again focusing its attention on the young man lying on the floor, the monster noticed something strange.

The hand of the human, which had been the one that had started the violent reaction of the symbols and was suffering from the same amount of sparks than his, although it had changed, was not the same as what happened to his own arm.

On one hand, the scarlet monster's arm had been scorched, turning a gray color as well as giving off a smoke that seemed to indicate that he would not be able to use his arm any time soon.

In contrast, the young man's arm, while it had changed, was not the product of a burn, but something internal, as black veins stood out on the pale surface of his arm, centered mostly on his hand.

Seeing this, for some reason he didn't quite understand, the scarlet monster felt uneasy, something that even his own creator didn't provoke in him.

"A-ARGH!"

Before it could move to finish off the human, the human began to move again, and although there was still difficulty seen in its movement, it undoubtedly possessed much more vitality than before.

It was something strange, as if within this short period of time, it had recovered to a great extent, even if he seemed to be doing so between painful spasms.

Swoosh!

Without waiting any longer, the scarlet monster moved with all he had in the direction of Noah, his muscles bulging to finish him off with a single blow.

The reason for this was simple, because that feeling of discomfort began to grow even more as he looked at the young man move.

His speed was even greater than before, taking him barely an instant to have Noah in front of him, striking with all the force he had in his body.

Clang!

However, instead of feeling the young man's flesh being crushed and scattered upon contact with his fist, the monster met an unpleasant resistance.

Without knowing exactly when, the young man held the bone in his hands close to him and making use of it, managed to block the monster's fist.

Bam!

Even with this, despite having avoided the direct hit, Noah had still taken damage, with his body still being pushed into the wall thanks to the remaining force of the red monster's blow.

The difference now was that the moment he fell, the young man did not stay still, but quickly got up and moved towards the center of the web.

Crack!

A second after he moved, another blow from the scarlet monster landed on the ground where he had been.

With this was clear that the monster was no longer holding back at all, seeking to finish Noah off as soon as possible.

With the sparks from the web dwindling, both the young man and the monster were unafraid to enter, with the latter filled with renewed motivation.

'...What the hell is going on' As he watched the scarlet monster approach, Noah was extremely confused.

Not with the situation, but with himself.

He didn't understand how it was that just less than a minute ago he was on the verge of death, using the last of his strength to at least take the monster with him.

But just as his consciousness was about to fade, just as he activated the web, a warmth began to fill his entire body, replacing both the cold and the tiredness he felt.

Although the pain did not go away, this impulse was enough for him to start moving, giving him the opportunity to resist one last time against his opponent.

To his luck, the response of the unknown force that helped him was present in his arm.

__________________________

[Notice: The [Chaos] in the body of the "Host" has reached the first degree of infection, expect changes in strength and stamina].

__________________________

CLANG!

Noah's weapon and the scarlet monster's fist collided, releasing another loud metallic sound, marking the start of another fight for the young man, and hopefully, the last.

By this point, Noah was able to see his arm full of black veins, undoubtedly the effect of the chaos infection mentioned the system.

However, he couldn't afford to worry about this due to the fact that he had bigger problems, plus he wasn't going to complain about something that was arguably saving his life at the moment.

With that in mind, Noah simply focused on the current objective, which was to deal with the monster any way he could.

The monster attacked with ferocity, throwing quick strikes charged with enough power to numb Noah's arms despite not directly receiving them.

Whether in strength, speed or technique, it was clear in a couple of exchanges that the monster was vastly superior, leaving the young man almost no room to respond.

Despite his short lifespan, thanks to the gift of his creator, along with his innate beastly instincts to handle his body, the monster's movements were precise and without unnecessary movements.

In comparison, Noah was clumsy and jerky, expending twice as much energy as the monster just to manage to defend himself, only continuing to stand thanks to the chaos filling his body.

But still, victory was not going to the scarlet monster.

CLANG!

Several exchanges had already taken place between the two, and although the monster was superior to the human, for some reason, the latter simply wouldn't fall.

And what was more, it was not simply resisting, but feeling it with its own flesh, the monster was aware that in reality, their exchanges were getting shorter and shorter.

What was happening was that the human was responding to his increased speed, managing to fend off all his attacks.

Until something happened to make the monster take the encounter more seriously, after another ten or so exchanges.

BAM!

The human had unexpectedly managed to knock the monster back with one of his blows.

----------

After receiving the blow, the crimson monster stood still for a moment, but shortly after, a rage began to manifest within him.

From that moment on, as if the human in front of it was his nemesis, every blow was now charged with a great amount of anger, which seemed to empower its attacks greatly.

BAM!

With his left arm, the monster delivered a blow so hard and fast that Noah could do nothing but receive it squarely, causing a strange noise to come from his ribs.

However, his opponent, almost at the same time he received the attack, also moved with impressive speed, the weapon in his right hand turning into a white blur for a moment.

BAM!

"!"

Again, the human had managed to counterattack, nailing an accurate attack to the monster's right side, also causing it to release cracking sounds.

Just as the monster had powered up his attacks using his anger, there was something the human was using for the same purpose, managing to very slightly control the chaos within.

What had started as a pleasant heat had now turned into a small scale fire that was devouring Noah's body from the inside, but luckily, it was a controlled fire.

However, he didn't know how long he would be able to keep it that way, for the more blows he exchanged with the monster, the more he demanded of his own body and the more he felt the fire consuming him.

Whether he looked at his arms or other parts of his body, in addition to the black veins, he also saw his skin begin to emanate a strange vapor, the heat becoming almost unbearable.

Now, while he had more strength and speed, it was his endurance that was being tested.

BAM!

A fist slammed into flesh, and a weapon struck bone, the two enemies still engaged in their confrontation.

At first, the fight was different with the scales tipping to the monster's side and both taking their time defending, but now, both the human and the monster had abandoned caution and focused entirely on attacking.

BAM!

One was possessed by a rage the likes of which he had never felt before, while the other moved with the sole objective of survival.

As was evident, it wasn't long before the wounds and internal damage of both began to show due to the way they both had chosen to fight.

The monster's skin, once pure scarlet, now showed thick purple stains on both sides and face, places where the human's weapon had landed.

As for the human, his appearance had not changed much because from the beginning, his body was already full of bruises and cuts, in addition to now dried blood stains.

Or at least that would be the case if one were to simply look superficially, for in truth, the real damage was not on the outside, but on the inside.

Whether on the outside or the inside, the grace he received from the system, [Ferrous], was working at full strength, but even so, the internal damage had exceeded what the grace was capable of dealing with.

This had gotten to the point where, for some time now, Noah felt like every time he took a hit, something inside him was irreparably changed, but not for the better.

He felt as if his insides were now a mess that would flood him with pain if not for the warmth that pervaded his entire body, the only relief he felt coming from the grace of the [Ferrous].

This concern of Noah's was not far from the truth, for certainly, the vast majority of his organs were injured to such an extent that normally, a person would not even be able to stand upright.

But even with this, proving that in the mirror world there were things that could make a human go far beyond his limit, he still moved with ever more vitality and ferocity thanks to the chaos, even though he was going through a world of pain.

At this point, where even the monster was starting to slow down, Noah was starting to get the upper hand, taking advantage to unleash even more unbridled attacks.

CRACK!

"!"

Another cracking sound came from the monster's sides, making one wonder at this point how many intact ribs he had left, if any were even left.

Although he had received attacks of this type before, it seems that this one was stronger, for upon sensing this blow, the monster quickly backed away for a moment, giving Noah room, something he had only done once since the confrontation began.

BAM!

Unfortunately, it wasn't something he should have done, since as soon as he saw how the monster retreated, the human chased him with his weapon, not allowing him to regain the ground he lost.

With this, now the two were no longer at one of the edges of the spider's web, but in the living room, right in the middle of the horrendous web.