Chapter 21: Killing Possessed Hybrids
A few minutes later, Apolo appeared in front of the four men again.
"I thought they ran away. Turns out they came here to regroup, this makes it easier also your baleful aura can't escape my perception."
Apolo thought as he clenched his fist and drove it straight through the head of the one closest to him.
With a dull thud, the body collapsed to the ground as light left its eyes.
After killing the first one, Apolo didn't even spare it a glance. He blurred and appeared in front of the remaining three with his arms stretched out.
It was at this moment that they finally reacted. One immediately stomped on the floor, its rage boiling, the silver glow in its eyes intensifying.
It leaped into the air straight at Apolo on all fours, silver saliva dripping from its mouth.
Arching his arm backward, Apolo delivered a powerful punch to its stomach. Like a hot iron passing through butter, his fist went straight through, coming out from the back. Blood sprayed across the dirt.
"You are all demons. You killed and ate adult humans and children alike. If I don't end all of you here, more people are going to get hurt."
Apolo thought, trying to justify his actions.
"Is this what it was like when I just awakened my bloodline? I wasn't any better—I also killed and devoured adults and children in Sky City. Was mine worse?"
Apolo thought as he grabbed the third possessed hybrid and ripped its head off its body. The sound was sickening wet and disturbing.
"I didn't do worse."
Apolo thought as the heap of bones resurfaced in his mind, vivid and horrifying.
Though at the back of his head, he felt like his rampage during his awakening was actually the Phoenix bloodline's doing—but there was nothing he could do to prove it.
"Sigh... blaming something else for my actions doesn't make sense."
He thought with mental exhaustion as he stomped on the head of the third possessed hybrid, crushing its skull and putting it out of its misery. The crack echoed in the quiet forest.
Looking at the last one, Apolo immediately wanted to kill it like the others—but he felt something was wrong.
"Now that I think about it, wasn't it said that one of the reasons possessed hybrids are even more dangerous than chaos beasts is because they can't differentiate between friend and enemy?"
He thought, trying to place his hand on his chin, only to stop and nearly gag because of the strong blood stench oozing from it.
"According to my knowledge of history, possessed hybrids will eat anything—including other possessed hybrids. So why are these ones working together? They were even sharing food."
"Why are things no longer making any sense to me? Why is it that any random thing I come in contact with lately all turns out complicated later?"
Apolo muttered in frustration as he punched the last possessed hybrid several meters into the air.
Lunging after it, Apolo released several slaps to the back of its head.
"Slap... slap... slap... slap..."
The sounds were so loud they reverberated around him like a drummer trying to make a beat.
After the last one, Apolo grabbed it by the neck and tossed it down with enough force to crack the soil beneath and break a few bones—but not enough to kill it.
Landing a few meters away, Apolo stood for a moment, observing the possessed hybrid. A few seconds later, his eye twitched.
"How do you knock a person out again?"
He wondered, genuinely confused.
"I've given this thing a lot of slaps to the back of its head trying to knock it out, yet it refuses to go unconscious. How do I do it again?"
A few minutes later, Apolo was snapped out of his thoughts by a series of bone-popping sounds.
Looking toward the source, his expression turned sour. Hurriedly, he turned into a shadow and reappeared in front of the possessed hybrid—which was now bloating like an inflated balloon. Muscles bulged grotesquely. Thick black spikes started growing from its body, tearing through skin.
Without wasting time, Apolo drove his fist straight into its chest and crushed its heart. The body convulsed once, then went still.
"So they can transform"
He thought in amazement as he gazed at the corpse.
"But how come none of them transformed earlier? Why now, of all times?"
Apolo thought in confusion.
"Why are none of these things making any sense!"
He almost shouted in frustration, his voice echoing in the empty clearing.
"Anyways, whatever you were trying to become i don't want to know."
With his leg, he turned the corpse over to look at its face. Narrowing his eyes, Apolo muttered,
"Excluding the dirt and dried blood on this corpse, its real skin is almost as white as snow."
"Those village warriors—before transforming, all of them also had pale skin. And when they transformed, except for a few, the rest were mostly gorilla hybrids."
Allowing his eyes to wander around as his mind tried to connect different dots together, Apolo came to a conclusion.
"That small village in the wilderness should be part of these barbarian tribes."
Even Apolo himself couldn't help but smile wearily at his conclusion.
"When did I become this smart to be able to connect so many dots?"
He wondered in amusement, shaking his head slightly.
"I've caused quite the commotion here. I better get going before more of these things—if there are more—start coming."
Apolo thought as he disappeared into the night, just as he had done earlier. Only the corpses and the crackling fire remained.
[Time Skip]
Barely an hour after Apolo left, a series of rapid footsteps echoed in the vicinity. At first just a few, then more and more, until they became orderly—just like soldiers on parade.
Which they were, given the camouflage uniforms they wore. Each soldier moved in perfect formation, their weapons ready.
Stopping before the corpses of the possessed hybrids, the leading figure—adorned in shimmering armor and a helmet that glowed with faint golden rays in the night—stepped forward and crouched.
He examined the corpses with anger brewing inside his silver glowing eyes, which showed through the slit in his helmet.
"There's an intruder in this area!" he shouted, his voice sharp with rage.
"Find me that intruder—even if it means turning this whole forest upside down!"
He ordered, his anger barely contained.
"Yes, Marshal!"
The soldiers behind him all echoed in unison, their voices ringing through the trees.
"Who on this island dares to have the guts to kill the chief's pets?"
The Marshal thought as his anger threatened to erupt into flames. His armored fist clenched tight enough to creak.