Mind Demon's Path of Domination

This is only one of this guy's costumes, who knows how many more he has! Mark cursed his luck inwardly and flew away from the enemy. He flew as far away as possible, and when he was far away, he grew even more alarmed.

Why were all his enemies always so tricky to deal with?

A Soul attack? What was going to happen to his Soul? What was going to happen now?

It was a Demonic Art, so even if he had a good defensive Demonic Trick, it would have been useless against the Art. And Mark didn't want to use Clown's Circus so easily—he didn't even know how it would fair against a Tier 3 demon's domain.

And—what would happen if he used Clown's CIrcus when he was inside the detection fields of this world's inhabitants? Won't they know his biggest trump card?

Mark suddenly staggered midair and coughed up black blood.

Soul Eating Ant Horde!

He suddenly understood. This ability—Mark's eyes dilated for a second. He fell into his memories. The day he was reborn, the day he met Dona, and the days they spent lampooning together. All of those moments flashed through his mind.

Then, he felt a tug at those memories.

A little nibble and a moment in those memories vanished. It was the memory of himself, deep within an egg, trying hard to breathe amidst all the liquid inside. He forgot something he had felt while inside it.

"Fucking ants," Mark said, black blood dripping onto his own hands. In the black blood, he saw the visual representation of his lost memories. Before he could do anything about it, the black blood vanished.

The memory he just lost was anything worth mentioning, but Mark felt a deep sense of unwillingness. He felt as if he had lost something intrinsically meaningful to his soul—a part of his memory. A part of himself.

How many more memories could he lose before he forgot who he was?

"Use Clown's Circus, Mark!" Reol'ran said, worried. "Or try eating the pieces of the Armor—maybe, just maybe, that might help."

Mark thoomed through the air and appeared in front of the Ant Demon. He looked small in comparison to the giant creature. Yet, he didn't eat the Armor pieces, nor did he use Clown's Circus to stop the Ants inside his soul that were eating away at his memories.

He lost his memory about drinking Black Water for the first time.

Black blood oozed down Mark's lips.

"That's one nasty Art you got," Mark said, flapping his wings as his golden eyes roamed around. The Ant Demon opened its giant maw and howled at Mark, causing his ears to bleed.

Mark just smiled. But the smile had no good intentions behind it. It was filled with malevolence.

He forgot about the first time he saw a Demon eat another of its kind.

Without stopping, he flew in a circular arc and appeared in another place. The ant-filled fist boomed past the area where he stood a second ago.

Mark's masked face was ridden with black bloodstains.

"Memories have always held me back from thinking calmly," Mark said. "Don't get me wrong, I love my memories. But do you know what? You can have as much of it as you want. Take it all."

He forgot about the first time he met Dona.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Reol'ran shouted, hysterical. "MARK! MAR—"

Mark shut her out. With their increasingly better connection these days, it was surprisingly easy to do. She banged at the connection, but Mark was silent as he closed his eyes and felt his memories seep out.

The Ant Demon didn't attack and just squinted at Mark. "You are nuts alright. As I'd expect of any Maverick."

"Why do you say so?" Mark said amidst the gurgle of black blood seeping out of his mouth.

"You plan to have enlightenment in this crisis; you want to try and control one of your demonic tricks or whatever," the enemy said, suddenly transforming back into his previous form. A humanoid youth with eagle wings, black hair, and brown eyes.

Mark squinted. He had just forgotten everything about his first day after reincarnation. It was such a cruel feeling. To lose himself.

"I can't stay in one Costume for more than 5 minutes," the Youth said, pointing at his normal form and shrugging. "But it's fine. You have already been hit by the Ant Demon's most lethal attack. Even I can't save you."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Mark rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

If he used Clown's Circus right now, Mark knew he could take the youth by dastardly surprise and end him. But he didn't.

Even if he did attack, the Soul Attack had already taken effect and it wouldn't stop before he killed the ants in his soul or his soul's memories were all eaten. But killing the ants was impossible; he didn't have soul-type defensive or offensive attacks.

Another memory lost.

Mark's face contorted in a disgusted expression as he forgot about his first night with Dona. Her soft expressions, her moans, their connection that started that day.

"Are you not attacking?" Mark asked coldly.

Even though this wasn't a rash idea as Reol'ran was panicking about, he still felt ill at ease.

The youth shook his head. "Not really. I don't feel like it anymore. Your actions reminded me of someone else, you are too alike."

"Oh, who is that?"

"My father," said the youth, expression complex. "He was killed by a horde of Ant Demons who invaded my world.

"There were three Upper Demons, and even though my father was a strong Maverick who could fight Tier 3 while being Tier 2 himself, he couldn't last against three enemies.

"You acted exactly like my father did when he was hit by Soul Eater Ant Horde Demonic Art; tried to gain enlightenment as his memories slipped past his fingers."

Mark smirked. "Memories make you biased and narrow-minded. If you could just ignore your memories, you could be so much clearer with thinking. I can understand him. From a bias-less position, we can think unlike ourselves in a true sense. Did he get enlightened?"

"Yes he did, and he grew way stronger because of it. But you know what my father did after gaining enlightenment?" The Eagle Youth shrugged. "He killed my mother—his one true love—annihilated my family, and became friends with the demons he swore to kill.

"I had to grow stronger than him to kill him and retake the ownership of my World. Took my revenge cleanly. All three Upper Demons became my Costumes."

Losing memories could change a person. Mark thought calmly. If he lost his memories, he would become nothing but a normal Middle Demon.

The youth shook his head with a manic sense of schadenfreude. "You are exactly like my father. What use is enlightenment and growing stronger, if you lose yourself in the process?"