141st Adversary: Aftermath? (New Beginning)

Somewhere in the world. Tang Xian was walking down the halls of a building with a small smile on his face.

"Looks like you're having fun."

He turned to the side and saw a familiar person leaning on the wall. Tang was certain this person wasn't there a second ago, yet he wasn't too surprised to see them.

"Prof. Draxler, you came to visit? I didn't know teachers still do home visits."

"I'm not here as a teacher."

Tiana leaned off the wall.

"But I'm sure you know that."

Tang nodded.

"Are you perhaps here to kill me?"

"Don't be stupid. I nurture the future, I don't kill it. Even if that future is rotten, it's still accepted in the era of new."

"You're like a saint mother."

"Don't make me laugh. I'm pretty much Lilith herself, the mother of demons."

"Then, What are you here for? Speaking of which, this is a secret base. How did you find it?"

"Please. I've been around for quite sometime now. There's barely anything that I don't know. Even if I don't know it, I'll figure it out eventually."

She pointed at Tang.

"The reason I'm here is to punish a misbehaving child for stepping out of line."

"Punish? Stepping out of line? That's weird coming from you, who never interfered in the Dragon Stars affairs outside of the academy. Or is it because of Miko? Could it be that he's your favorite now?"

"I have no favorite. The reason why you should be punished is because you're throwing everything out of balance with your fight with him."

"How so?"

"You're speeding up Miko's growth too much. He wasn't suppose to experience something like this until several years later, after he's matured. But because your actions, his growth will escalate to a point I can no longer predict how things will go."

Tang smiled.

"I see. You've been keeping an eye on him for a while now? I guess it was right to pick a fight with him."

"I've been watching you too. I thought you would grow to become something beautiful in the future, but it seems I was wrong. The moment you made contact with him, your future was sealed."

Tang stopped smiling.

"It seems that you really know everything."

"Of course. I know you told your people that the reason for attacking Renacido is to acquire its Parasite Demons and it's newly created drug. Two things you've acquired with the 500 Parasite Demons you kidnapped and the drug you were able to reproduce."

"Those were my reasons as Dragon Storm leader."

"Yes, but not as Tang Xian. Your personal reason was to help that brat to get revenge on the Dragna clan by breaking their prized child."

"So you know that much? I'm surprised. Do you perhaps know his true identity and connection to the Dragna Clan?"

"I do and I agree he's in the right for wanting to destroy them. But that is that and this is this."

Tiana smiled.

"I was originally gonna destroy Dragon Storm for your actions, but I was able to see something really interesting because of you, so I won't."

She placed her hand on his shoulder.

"But your actions deserve punishment, so I've decided to do this."

She brought her mouth closer to his ear.

"I will allow you to continue your fight with Miko as you wished. That will be your reward and punishment."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're seeking the greatest thrill right? Then I'll allow you to obtain that with Miko."

A grin appeared on Tiana's face.

"But that wont be all you'll obtain. You'll soon realize just what you pick a fight with. Whether you end up regretting it or not doesn't matter. Why? Because I know Miko will make you lose everything just like you nearly let him experience."

She stepped back and patted his head.

"If you want anyone to blame, just blame yourself when the time comes."

After saying that, she disappeared as if she wasn't there in the first place. Left alone, Tang recalled her words and a grin slowly appeared on his face.

"You just made me want to mess with him even more."

He continued to walk as he recalled the report his subordinates gave him. It was about an unidentified monster that wreck havoc during the "party" he planned.

"That thing must've been Miko, otherwise the Dragna clan wouldn't spare it a second thought when they went there specifically for him. The report also stated it fought against and tried to kill members of the Dragna clan including Miko's own family. That means it's a berserk form that can't be controlled on his own. Since Nero fought so hard to stop it, then its possible this form is very harmful towards Miko himself, which means they'll do everything they can to prevent it from happening again."

Tang grinned.

"So in other words, this form isn't important since it definitely won't make another appearance anytime soon."

He laughed a bit.

"Even so, I think there's fun times ahead. Right, Miko?"

Dragna City, Dragna Empire. After Miko had returned to normal, the Dragna forces retreated by killing their way through the sea of enemies that tried to block them. They made it back to the empire with fewer casualties than they expected.

"I see, so that's what happened."

Currently a meeting was being held among the top brass of the three clans. The one who had spoken was Joesph, who had just received a report.

"Uncle Joesph, I take it from your reaction you were fully aware of what Miko was capable of."

Rouge said.

"Well, I won't deny that. I'm sure you all had an idea of it yourself."

Joesph spoke the truth. The events of Miko's birth had arose suspicions among them a long time ago. They had long figured out that Miko was an unique existence.

"I'll tell you everything I know."

Joesph went on to explained all he knew about Miko's origins, Augustus' prophecy, and even about Satan himself.

"I see. After hearing what you said everything made sense."

Alexus said.

"So Miko is basically a Satan….Is anyone else feeling proud or is it just me?"

Markus said. Having the blood of a Great Demon King flowing in his veins, it's was normal for him to look up to those with the title of Satan.

"Nero, were you aware of this?"

Kimiko asked her husband who was covered in bondages.

"More or less. I already knew he was an Irregular like Augustus but of the opposite nature. It doesn't really change anything in my eyes though. Miko is still Miko."

He smiled.

"After all, he was able to make me enjoy myself for the first time in a while."

He started laughing.

"At least we know why Miko is being targeted by the Higher Beings. The next issue is what to do."

Alexus said.

"We put on a display of power as a warning to the world, but it seems that it wasn't enough to stop them. There are still fearless people out there who won't hesitate to mess with us."

"If violence hasn't solved your problems then you didn't use enough."

Andreas said.

"Why is war all you think about?"

Ecko asked.

"Because being alive means to constantly be at war, whether it's a physical or mentally one."

"For the time being, let's wait until Miko wakes up. This concerns him greatly, so we'll need to discuss it with him."

Darwin said.

In the Tertitus Domain, Miko was inside a capsule-shaped machine with vapor circulating inside it.

"...."

Miko's parents, the trio, the twins, Aeon, Momo, and Luka were all staring at the machine in silence. That's when Tiamat appeared from a golden light.

"It looks like your link was finally restored."

Momo said to Tia.

"Yeah…"

She placed her hand on the machine.

"I thought I lost him."

"We all did."

Sasha responded and then smiled.

"But we were able to get him back."

"Oh, I see that everyone's here."

The door opened and Alec walked in with Kirika and Gizmo.

"Alec, How is he?"

Sasha asked.

"Well, he has signs of broken and fracture bones, but they've mostly healed. It might be because of his transformation. Most of his organs were damaged but those too have healed. Physically he's fine."

"But there's something wrong right?"

Alec nodded.

"We decided to do an extensive check up to see if his transformation left any long lasting effects….And it did."

Kirika explained while projecting a chart for everyone to see.

"We've discovered that Miko's body now possess a high amount of mutated cells. We don't know what affect these cells will have on him but look here."

She brought up Miko's DNA map.

" 0% Human, 25% Demon, 10% God, 15% Dragon, 50% Unknown."

That was what the map showed.

"0% Human?"

Kirika nodded.

"Miko has shown signs of losing his humanity for a while now, so that's nothing new. The problem is the unknown. This is the source of the mutation and it currently makes up half of Miko's dna. His demon traits have increased while his god and dragon traits have decreased."

"After the latest events, I'm certain that the unknown gene is related to Satan. So we've decided to call it the Satan Gene."

Alec explained.

"Then Miko's half Satan?"

"Pretty much. My machine doesn't lie."

Gizmo added.

"What effects will it have on him?"

"I don't know nor can I even begin to guess. He might have changes in his mentality or he might develop unique physical traits. Anything is possible."

"It doesn't matter."

Tiamat stated.

"Miko will always be Miko."

The others nodded in agreement to her words.

"What about Ishma and Regis? They still haven't awaken."

"We believe they'll wake up when Miko does. Their link to Miko might have affected their bodies as well."

Alec looked at the trio.

"Also, we would like to run some tests on the three of you."

"Us? Why?"

Hina asked.

"You guys reacted prettily strongly when Miko transformed. Your Apostle Crest even changed. There's a chance the mutation has spread to you as well."

A few days passed before Miko woke up. After waking up he was informed of everything that had happened, in case he didn't remember. He was told of his capture, his transformation, Layla's death, and the cost for her resurrection. He was told everything. His reaction to everything was-

"I see."

With a face that lacked any strong emotion, he simply nodded to the report and locked himself in his room.

"Will he be alright?"

"I don't know. A lot of stuff happened after all."

His parents and others were concerned by Miko's behavior, but didn't know what to do to help. Just like this, Miko isolated himself for another couple days not responding to anyone. Tiamat also didn't meet with him, so he was left alone.

For those days, Miko sat on his bed curled up with his eyes peeled open. He didn't blink or make a sound. If it wasn't for the fact that you could see him breathing, you would think he was a statue. He just kept sitting there as if he was lost.

And he was.

His family and friends only found out when it was too late.

"Mama!"

It happened at Miko's home. Tessa and Kristen ran towards Sasha who was in the kitchen preparing to bring food to Miko.

"What is it?"

"Big Bro…"

"He's missing!"

"What?!"

That day Miko had suddenly disappeared from the Dragna empire and was nowhere to be found.