"Gurgle~! What the fuck... are you?" The sound of someone's voice immediately made Mark move again, and he turned around quickly to see who it was. There was someone hiding in the shadows. It had a feminine body, and from the looks of it, she wasn't wearing anything to cover up her nakedness.
She slowly came into the light of the moon shining from the ceiling, and Mark narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth once he got a look at her.
"Ufufu~! What do we have here? Another Superhuman? How fitting that you would come to sacrifice yourself to the queen~!"
The creature that showed itself was completely naked. It had both Arit's body and her face, but that was where the similarities ended. Its skin was purple, and large oval wings were protruding out from its shoulder blade. Two antennae on its forehead spiraled around its temple like a crown.
Its claws were sharpened to points, and there was a devilish smile on its face that showed sharp fangs peeking through!
In one of its hands, it held the limp body of Meta in a vice grip. Mark would have tried to get Meta out of its hold, but Mark could tell that Meta was already dead. The creature's claws were digging deep into Meta's neck, and Meta had literally choked on his own blood as he died. That was not a good way to go.
"Arit...?" Mark immediately called out to the creature while taking a calm step forward. The QUEEN tilted her head to one side once Mark mentioned that name. Mark could see a flash of recognition in the QUEEN's eyes, but that flash of recognition immediately disappeared, and it was replaced with a look of irritation and bloodthirsty desire!
"Arit? Ah~ The girl whose form I took~? How fitting that her lover would come to retrieve her~ I should thank her. This body... it is truly the perfect vessel for my ascensions. I could not have picked a better body myself if I had the choice. Very fitting indeed.
"Although, I wonder where all of my subjects are. Tell me... are you the one that killed all of my underlings before I could even meet them?"
Mark ignored all of the things that the Queen said as he took another step forward. "Arit... Talk to me. Are you still in there?"
Another flash of recognition passed through the creature's gaze before it narrowed its eyes again and tossed Meta to the side like trash!
"Are you trying to mock me, human!? Do you believe you can call forth your lover and erase me? I am the QUEEN of the anima, and I will not stand this disrespect! I will end your paltry existence! I will kill all of you humans as reparation for the death of my people! I will kill and kill and kill until there is nothing left to kill!"
Boom!
A massive pressure suddenly filled the room as the QUEEN released its power, and Mark had to dig his feet into the ground so he wouldn't be pushed back by the pressure! This had to be at least a high-level Calamity class! It was probably even stronger than that!
But Mark was not as intimidated as the QUEEN thought he would be! He stood his ground and faced her head-on. He could feel the desperation in her actions from a mile away. She was trying to rush his death because she also realized that Arit was not completely dead.
When Mark called Arit's name, there was a look that crossed the QUEEN's face both times, and that reaction was enough to give Mark hope that there was still a chance.
Ping!
A system notification suddenly appeared in front of Mark, and Mark only glanced at it for a moment to see what it was. But what he saw immediately made his pulse race in anger!
[The system has detected significant changes in the life force of the rescue subject ARIT.]
[Due to the changes, the below mission is no longer viable, and it has been erased from the system database. A new mission will be issued as a replacement.]
...
Mark's anger slowly increased until there was a burning sensation in his chest that made him want to rip his heart out! What the fuck does the system mean by unsalvageable! Who the hell did it think it was to say some bullshit like that! Mark saw it himself! He saw the recognition in her eyes, and he knew that Arit was in there! She recognized him, and that means she is still salvageable!
"I refuse the mission."
There was a beat of silence in the cave before another ping echoed from the side of Mark's vision as a new message appeared from the system!
[... What?]
Mark could almost hear the disbelief and shock in the system's programming as it sent this message, and Mark just jumped back to create some space between himself and the QUEEN. The QUEEN shot after Mark and tried to take a swipe at him with her sharp claws, but Mark easily ducked under it before he performed a low sweep to take her off her feet!
Bam!
Surprisingly, the low kick actually connected, and QUEEN was thrown off her feet and she grunted in annoyance as she landed on her ass!
The QUEEN just came out from the pod, so she was still not fully balanced since she hadn't walked in a real body before. Her motor function and sense of balance were not perfect, and that is the only reason why it was easy for Mark to incapacitate her!
"I said I refuse the fucking mission! I don't care what you think about her, I know Arit is still in there! Give me another fucking mission!"
[The user does not have the authority to manipulate system missions. All system missions are designed to improve the user's power in the most efficient way possible, and it is advised that the user carry out all missions given by the system.]
"You can go fuck yourself!"
[...]
Mark jumped further back as he kept his gaze on QUEEN. QUEEN was still on the ground, and she looked up at Mark with anger in her gaze before she looked down at the ground and slowly got to her feet. Mark watched her wings flap a few times as she started trying something new, and he sighed tiredly as he saw her slowly rising off her feet and into the air.
She wobbled a bit since she was not completely used to flying either, but it came to her naturally, and after a few tries, she was already in the air, and she glanced at Mark with a ruthless smile on her face.
"I shall kill you and use you as food for the next generation of my children!"
"Give me another mission!"
[The User does not have the authority to manipulate the system missions. The user is advised to carry out the mission.]
"SOZIN!!! Come down here, you useless -!!"
...
"I really don't think I deserve that much insult. I didn't even do anything."