A Sudden Upheaval, Take Over, Demon Mira

Chiba couldn't help feeling that the gorilla was far too weak.

He had expected that even if he went all out from the start, the gorilla wouldn't be suppressed the entire time and could at least counterattack. Who would have thought that after Chiba finished showing off his moves, the gorilla would be finished?

And not only was the gorilla weak... it didn't seem to have anything to do with a "demon," did it?

His expression suddenly darkened.

He seemed to have misunderstood something. The priest had summoned mages to eliminate a monster and had never once mentioned a "demon." Chiba had simply assumed the monster and the demon were one and the same.

And thinking back to the original story, when Mira recalled her childhood...

The demon... had been lurking inside the church!

This was bad!

There were few people inside the church.

Alili stood beside the priest, his face completely expressionless, like a puppet at another's command.

If Chiba had seen him there, he would surely have recognized that his eyes were now crimson, with the same strange pattern as the black gorilla's.

"Father, do you mean that if I pray, the god will be able to hear me?"

Mira, a young girl in a white dress, spoke timidly from the center of the church.

Before her stood Bobbit, a blond young man in a white robe. He smiled warmly and said, "Of course. The god loves speaking with mages most of all. Although you haven't become a full-fledged mage yet, you have an astonishing amount of magic power within you. The god will do everything possible to grant your prayer."

"Go on, little girl. The god is waiting for you. Whatever happens, don't open your eyes, because it may be the god manifesting."

Mira walked carefully forward, then knelt on the cushion beneath the statue and gently closed her eyes.

"Honorable god... I hope... Chiba comes back safe and sound."

Mira spoke softly. Suddenly, the statue shone with brilliant light. Mira noticed the change but kept her eyes shut, because the priest had said it was the god manifesting.

What Mira couldn't see was that, amid the dazzling light, wisps of black mist were pouring out of the statue. They coalesced into the form of an incredibly ugly demon.

When the blond priest saw the ugly demon, his eyes filled with fervor, and he slowly knelt before it.

The demon formed from black mist extended a gem-studded arm and waved it. A stream of black mist entered Mira's body, and the girl passed out.

"Lord Black God," Bobbit said with utmost reverence.

"Very well done. This is your reward." The demon spoke in a low, raspy voice and waved its arm again, sending a stream of black mist into Bobbit's body.

As Bobbit felt the dark magic power bestowed upon him by "Lord Black God," he sensed that his own magic power had increased a little. Overjoyed, he hurriedly thanked it. "Thank you for your gift, Lord Black God!"

The demon didn't answer. Instead, it floated over to Mira and let out a sinister cackle.

"Such a body, such magic power. What excellent food!"

It opened its grotesque maw, and a scattering of bones fell from the black mist onto the floor.

"Clean those up," the demon ordered.

"Yes," Bobbit answered respectfully.

It opened its maw again, preparing to swallow Mira whole.

But a pitch-black vortex of magic power suddenly appeared on Mira's body. It produced an unparalleled suction, drawing in the black mist.

"Wh-what is this thing?! No! No!"

The sudden change made the demon scream in terror, but the black vortex's devouring force grew even stronger. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed the demon.

Then Mira's once-fair right hand gradually transformed into a demon's arm!

Bobbit froze.

"Die!"

Realizing that the god he revered had been devoured by her, Bobbit flew into a rage. Black mist swirled around his palm as he struck at the unconscious Mira.

"Bang!"

His palm, wreathed in black mist, missed Mira and struck the cushion instead. In an instant, a large hole was corroded through it.

"Who?! Who's there?!"

Bobbit spun around and shouted.

A black-haired boy in gray cloth clothes had appeared on a roof beam above. He held the unconscious Mira in his arms, and his crimson eyes, marked with Tomoe, were mesmerizing.

A second ink-black Tomoe had now appeared in his left eye, which had previously held only one.

Chiba looked at the girl's right hand and gritted his teeth.

"That group of mages from before... did they leave?" Chiba asked through gritted teeth.

Bobbit's face darkened, but remembering that there was no one else around, he said darkly, "You know quite a lot."

"Your black magic gave you away!" Chiba said angrily.

"What black magic?! That was a gift from the god. They died as food for the god, and their souls ascended to the divine realm. Ah, how happy they were." Bobbit wore an entranced expression, but it soon turned vicious. He glared at the girl in Chiba's arms and said, his face contorted, "But this girl... she actually gave up a wonderful chance to go to the divine realm and devoured the great god instead. Unforgivable! Unforgivable!"

Chiba almost burst into curses. You'd be fucking happy if you were eaten?! Their souls ascended to the divine realm, huh! Why don't you become that thing's food and ascend to the divine realm yourself?!

But in the end, had he failed to stop it?

He looked down at the girl in his arms, who still had no idea what had happened, his Sharingan full of heartache.

He jumped down, landed, and gently laid the girl down.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

He formed the hand seal and created a clone. The clone then picked up the girl's slender body and used the Body Flicker Technique to leave through the door.

"Don't even think about leaving!"

Bobbit chased after them.

"Bang!"

In the next instant, Chiba suddenly appeared in front of him using the Body Flicker Technique and kicked him into the wall.

Chiba slowly lowered his foot, his handsome face dark and contorted. "You're not going anywhere either," he said slowly.

"Cough, cough!"

Bobbit slowly slid down the wall and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Then he suddenly flung off his priest's robe. Pitch-black magic power swirled around him, and twisted fervor appeared on his face.

"Very well, then let me show you... the power bestowed by the god!"

Just as the two were about to fight, Alili groggily woke up, rubbing his forehead.

"Cousin... boss..."

He looked at the two in confusion. Then, when he noticed the black magic power swirling around Bobbit, his eyes suddenly widened.

"C-cousin, how... how do you have dark magic power?!"

Having read Training and Circulation of Magic Power, he naturally recognized it as dark magic power!

And in the mages' guilds, only a very small number of people used dark magic power. Aside from them, only the followers of Zeref, the black mage of the dark guild, used black magic!