Mira's Voluntary Demon Transformation

The third Forest Vulcan vanished in agony. Hughes had kicked its crotch into a bloody pulp without stopping, and he kept kicking until it disappeared, leaving a deep crater in the ground.

Unscathed thanks to Tekkai, Hughes remained inside the encirclement. He pointed at the four remaining Forest Vulcans, listing their offenses.

"You punched me three times, you threw a rock at me, and you kicked me twice..."

"Second brother, go capture those three humans. The three of us will gang up on him," said the smallest Forest Vulcan before Hughes.

Hughes stood where he was, looking unconcerned as he waited for them to finish their arrangements, every bit the consummate expert.

A moment later, Hughes frowned, his expression growing strange. He pointed repeatedly ahead, kindly urging the sole Forest Vulcan still in front of him to look behind it.

"Human, don't try to fool me. I won't fall for it, and I won't give you another chance to ambush us!"

"Man, you've been sold out and don't even know it!!"

Flames erupted beneath Hughes's feet, propelling him right in front of it in an instant. He raised his leg and drove his knee into it.

As it staggered backward, doubling over, Hughes seized its head with both hands.

"Crack!"

With its head turned a hundred and eighty degrees, the Forest Vulcan stared at the empty space behind it before abruptly vanishing in disbelief.

Hughes landed and clapped his hands. Then flames roared up around him.

"Run. Running counts toward the time limit too!!"

Propelled by flames, Hughes left the three fleeing Forest Vulcans behind him in just a few breaths.

He twisted in midair and kicked a Forest Vulcan's head apart with his flame-wreathed right leg in an overhead bicycle kick. There was no bloody spray, though; the Forest Vulcan simply vanished in wisps of smoke.

Pressing his advantage, Hughes performed the extraordinary feat of a double jump in midair, formed a flaming spear in each hand, and hurled them with all his strength.

The two spears would provide the answer...

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

But Hughes didn't spare them a glance. His expression grew grave as he looked to the side.

A demon he knew had gone berserk over there... It wasn't a demon transformation through Take Over Magic. It looked more like a demon had emerged from Mira's body.

That was why, despite not wanting to use the Flame-Flame Fruit, he had ultimately used it to finish off the Forest Vulcans faster.

[Ding! Hidden quest "Avenger of Mount Colubo" complete. Quest reward has already been issued!]

With no time to wonder why Mira had suddenly transformed into a demon, Hughes turned into a human torch and shot into the sky, landing near her in no time.

Hughes glanced around in surprise. Elfman and Lisanna were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, ridges had risen all across the hard ground, as though something were burrowing beneath it. The demon-transformed Mira was furiously pounding those ridges.

Realizing something had gone wrong, Hughes pictured magical beasts and dark mages flashing through his mind. He knew this world was darker than he had imagined.

"Mira, are Elfman and Lisanna down there?"

Hughes called out to Mira, but she gave no response. She kept pounding the ground, seemingly out of control.

"Ah!"

Hughes shook his head helplessly. He had a feeling he was about to lose control again...

"Sea of Fire!"

With that quiet shout, thick flames poured from Hughes's body... No, he had turned into flames himself.

The flames began spreading through the forest, burning over every inch of ground and every blade of grass, flower, and tree. In an instant, the entire forest became a world of fire.

Hughes became flames and merged with the blaze, sensing every cluster of fire. He was using the fire throughout the forest to search for Elfman and Lisanna.

The immensely complicated control required placed a heavier burden on Hughes's mind, and the flames in the forest grew increasingly unrestrained.

The natural-disaster-like power of a Logia Devil Fruit began to show itself. The ground began cracking under the scorching blaze, followed by several muffled curses.

"Damn it, who the hell is this inconsiderate? You can go to jail for setting a forest on fire!" Three black-robed figures emerged from the ground, their leader cursing.

The two black-robed figures behind him were each carrying one of the siblings, Elfman and Lisanna. Both were still conscious, but their mouths were sealed with mud, and they were staring pleadingly at Hughes.

"Boss, let's get out of here!" one of the black-robed figures said, looking ahead with trembling legs.

Ahead of the three, Hughes had entered his deranged state. His crimson eyes seemed filled with flames, a wild grin was on his face, and his lowered hands gripped flaming spears.

The demon-transformed Mira's body was like dead wood, the crystals on her torso gleaming brightly. Her crystallized eyes were fixed on them.

"Run for what? As long as we capture those two and deliver them to the cult, won't the position of the person in charge of the Kingdom of Fiore be ours?"

The greed in their leader's eyes was no less intense than the madness in the eyes of the two monsters ahead.

"Earth and Stone Cage!"

The black-robed leader slammed both hands down on the ground. Magic power surged through him, an earthen-yellow magic circle formed in an instant, and the ground across the entire forest abruptly changed.

A dense mass of stone pillars rose from underground, bending and crossing in the air. As they advanced toward Hughes and Mira, they formed cages, trapping the two of them separately.

"Oh! What a coincidence. It's you from the Black Magic Cult again!"

Securely trapped, Hughes showed no sign of nervousness. Instead, he spoke in a flippant tone and flung the blazing flames in his hand onto the bottom of the stone cage.

Under the searing heat, the sturdy stone cage was burned dry and hard. Hughes rose onto his toes and gently brought his heels down. The bottom of the cage proved as fragile as a bubble, cracking apart with a snap.

Having easily escaped the stone cage, Hughes looked at the leader defiantly, the silent mockery at the corner of his mouth almost deafening.

"I'll give you time. Summon a few more of Zeref's demons!"

That was right. Having entered his deranged state, Hughes was hungry, especially with the faint aroma of a demon drifting into his nose.

His crimson eyes glanced sideways at Mira, who had just emerged from her stone cage.

One demon wasn't enough for him to eat... He would save this one for last.

Seeing Hughes escape his magic so easily, the black-robed leader flew into a rage and pressed his magic-clad hands together.

"Stone Whip!"

With his furious shout, the ground in front of Hughes caved in, and a thick stone whip formed from earth emerged from the pit.

The highly flexible stone whip spiraled upward to its peak, then came whipping down with a roar.

Below it, Hughes spread his arms and let it strike.

"Boom!"

The stone whip split his figure apart and smashed into the ground. A crack spread with a rumble, dirt and sand flew, and thick clouds of dust billowed up.

As though drawn by gravity, the scattered sparks gathered in the dust, and Hughes, who had been whipped in two, re-formed.

Against a move like that, he didn't even need to turn into an element; Tekkai alone could have withstood it. Hughes rolled his neck and strode out of the dust with reckless swagger, compressed flames erupting beneath his feet.

In the span of a breath, Hughes appeared before the black-robed leader.

At such close range, Hughes could clearly see his pupils contract and hear him swallow.

"Come on, summon Zeref's demons!" Hughes patted his head, his tone friendly.