After the failed attempt to capture Archbishop of Lust Capella, Mark, along with Wilhelm and Garfiel, escorted people from the destroyed shelter to another. All the civilians looked at the young man in strange clothing guarding them from above, amazed at his strength they had witnessed in the shelter.
Mark felt awkward. There were many times on the ground where people looked at him like a hero, but these people in the air actually admired him, not wanting to take their eyes off him. Especially certain blond siblings that Garfiel looked after.
"Amazing!" Fred exclaimed from behind Garfield.
"That's true." Garfiel agreed, looking at Mark as the others did. "That guy's strong. He fought the big Kurgan like it was nothing. Hell, he even broke his jaw! I couldn't even knock him down in my beast form, and he did it with no problem."
The blond was a little sad that he hadn't been of much use in the fight against the enemy, but he was glad that his newly met sibling was safe. That was the most important thing to him.
Wilhelm seconded Garfiel's enthusiasm. Despite being distraught over his wife's disappearance through the green portal, the sword demon also looked at Mark with admiration. While he had initially distrusted him due to his appearance out of nowhere during the cult's attack, he now had no doubt that he was fighting on their side, fighting legends like his wife and the Kurgan. He still thought his nickname was a bit of an exaggeration, but it didn't bother him too much.
"Is it far to the next shelter, Mr. Wilhelm?" Mark asked suddenly, looking around for potential monsters that could threaten humans.
"What, from what I remember, is two more streets over?" He explained, to which Mark nodded in understanding. "Mr. Grayson, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, ask."
"Where did you get such strength at such a young age?"
"You see... My father was known as the strongest hero in my homeland. I inherited the strength of his species and that's how I am strong."
"You didn't have to train?!" Wilhelm was surprised.
"Of course I trained. I learned how to fight and how to fly as best as I could. Contrary to appearances, it's not as easy as it seems." Mark laughed, smiling.
"I suppose it was..." The sword demon said as he regained his composure.
Even though he couldn't see his eyes through the goggles, Wilhelm could tell from his voice that despite having such strength, Mark had witnessed many deaths up close more than once. He could also tell that he had witnessed a great conflict, and yet had managed to stand his ground... or at least survive.
"Mr. Grayson, you can go help the others. Garfiel and I will escort the civilians to the shelter." Wilhelm suggested, not wanting Mark to waste time.
"I'd rather stay and make sure everyone is safe. It's not that I don't trust you, Mr. Wilhelm, but knowing my luck, something unexpected will happen as soon as I'm gone and people will get hurt, and that's the last thing I want."
"I understand and approve." The sword demon nodded in approval.
They reached the new shelter. All the people started to enter it one by one. Mark together with Garfiel guarded the entrance while Wilhelm went ahead of the people to explain the situation to the people who were in the shelter.
"So these two children are your siblings?" Mark asked the Sanctuary shield.
"Hę?"
"Oh come on, it's obvious at first glance that you're family."
Garfiel rolled his eyes, annoyed that it was so obvious. He spent the next ten minutes telling Mark about his experiences and about his newfound mother with amnesia, who had created a new family for herself, and Garfiel himself was unsure whether he should tell her that he was her son.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" He scratched the back of his head..
"Don't say anything." Mark advised. "At least not yet. You should spend more time with her. If you tell her about it, she'll understand that she left her child and she's made her own life. She shouldn't feel this way because it's not her fault. If you stay and improve your relationship with her, it doesn't matter if you're her son or not, she'll still treat you this way."
"Maybe you're right..." Garfiel thought for a moment. "Thanks, I appreciate the advice."
"You're welcome." Mark smiled, looking at the starry sky until... "What the hell?"
In the sky, against the backdrop of the large moon, Mark saw the shadowy figure of a man, who with every passing second was getting closer to him. Suddenly, from the sky, with a bang, a dignified youth with fiery red hair, black eyes and...
"Oh no." Mark gasped when he saw the squid on Reinhard's head.
"Sword Saint?" Garfiel had a look of shock on his face. After all, Reinhard was supposed to be with his captain to fight the Archbishop of Greed. "What are you doing here?"
Reinhard didn't answer. He looked at them with empty, cold eyes.
"Mark Grayson, the Invincible." The squid finally spoke in Reinhard's voice. "You're pretty hard to find. I was beginning to think I'd have to start destroying the entire city to get your attention."
"What do you want? And how do you know my name?" Mark asked cautiously. He felt the air become thicker as soon as the squid spoke through the knight's mouth.
"You." He replied shortly. "In order to honor the terms of my agreement and keep this magnificent body, I must kill you."
"What deal, with who?" Mark asked, not caring how Garfiel looked at him in surprise because he was impressed that Mark remained calm when whatever was apparently possessing Reinhard was threatening to kill him. "Garfiel get out of here." Mark said deadly serious as he got into a fighting stance.
"You can't handle him alone, I'll help you!" The Sanctuary shield protested, also preparing to fight.
"Ha ha I am the Squid King, the chosen one who possessed the most powerful being in this world! What do you think your chances are?!"
The blond's eyes narrowed in readiness for battle. Mark felt a slight movement in the air, a rustle. It was Garfiel, who had been standing next to him a moment ago, who had disappeared.
With a lightning-fast attack, Garfiel jumped at Reinhard, wanting to strike him with his large animal paw. Everything happened too fast for a normal person to see.
"Pathetic." A voice rang out, full of boredom and disappointment. "And you call this an attack, little kitty?!"
Before Garfiel's powerful blow reached its target, the squid king, using Reinhard's physical attributes, grabbed the blond by the throat and then drove him into the street. He wanted to slowly kill him, watch the life drain out of him. He was so busy with it that he forgot about one important thing.
Suddenly, Mark punched Reinhard in the face, sending him into a random building across from him, making a hole in it.
"Stay away from him," Mark said, knowing that such a weak blow would not be enough.
"Oh, sorry." Reinhard stepped out of the newly destroyed building. "I forgot about you. Don't worry, I'm all yours now."
Mark didn't even know when he moved. Reinhard disappeared from his field of vision. After not even a second, he saw him for a brief moment before he received a powerful blow to the chin.
He felt very bad. For a moment he thought he had been hit by a meteorite and not a man. His goggles cracked from the blow. Reinhard sent Mark flying high into the air.
For a moment he flew upwards without control, but finally he came to and stopped in the air. He looked at the squid king, he and Reinhard's body really posed a serious threat, now he knew. Mark could see a wide smile on Reinhard's face.
The sword saint bent his knee and jumped. His movement caused a wave of air that spread throughout the street. He easily jumped to Mark and with a powerful kick sent him even higher into the air. He did not help himself as he crossed his arms trying to stop the blow.
When he stopped in the air again Mark took the opportunity that Reinhard was starting to fall back to the ground and rushed at him punching him a few times in the stomach and jaw but it felt like he was hitting something much harder. Finally they both hit the ground. Invincible continued to punch Reinhard hoping that the squid would finally let go of him but it didn't.
Reinhard apparently got tired of getting punched so he caught Mark's fist in mid-air and smiled.
"My turn."
Reinhard hit Mark so hard that he sent him flying forward at full speed. Because Mark couldn't stop, he destroyed building after building, making holes in them.
...
In the tower of anger, Priscilla had just defeated the Archbishop of Anger, Sirius Romanee-Conti. She watched as the restless people in the restless night tried to find Liliana, who after her magnificent performance disappeared after the tower collapsed.
When everyone thought it was all over, suddenly a yellow and blue figure ran into a small group of people looking for Liliana, cutting them in half and killing them instantly. This yellow and blue figure was Mark, who had been destroying buildings by Reinhard's blow, and now people who had stopped where they shouldn't have been. He finally stopped, hitting the ruins of a tower with his back.
Mark began to cough, spitting out blood. He saw with regret the destruction he had caused and how many people he had killed with Reinhard's strike. He gritted his teeth tightly in frustration.
"What happened clown, answer?!" Priscilla's voice reached his ears and she ran up to him demanding an answer.
"Get out of here." Mark tried to scream, but he could still feel the force of the blow he had received, so he couldn't say it loud enough as he wanted. "Get everyone out of here and to the nearest shelter."
Priscilla looked at his battered face with wide eyes. Instead of listening, she wondered what had gotten into him like this. She didn't have to wait long for an answer.
"Oh my, is that all? If so, I'm disappointed."
Reinhard landed ten meters in front of them, worrying everyone, especially Mark because he knew what could happen if he didn't do anything.
"Sword Saint?" Priscilla looked with disgust at the squid that had attached itself to the knight's head. "That's disgusting. Where did they let you out of, mongrel? Out of the trash?"
"I said run!" Mark screamed as he got back to his feet.
Priscilla just snorted insolently.
"Why should I listen to you cla..."
She didn't finish... Mark grabbed her by the throat angrily, which made Reinhard laugh.
"That wasn't a fucking request! Reinhard has lost control of his body! If you don't escape with the others because of my fight with him, you will die! Stop acting like a spoiled brat and get the fuck out of here!"
The strangled woman fought for breath as he spoke. Despite this, every word pierced her soul. She was afraid of him... Fear... It was a foreign feeling for her for a long time.
When Mark released her, the woman began shouting for civilians to follow her.
Only Mark and Reinhard remained on the battlefield. The possessed knight smiled with satisfaction at the Invincible, stretching as if during a warm-up, then began to provoke Mark with a hand gesture to attack him.
"How long are you going to stand there, or are you finally going to attack me?"
Mark clenched his fists tightly, lifting himself slightly off the ground, the air gathering around him until...
"AAAAAA!" Mark charged at Reinhard with full force, grabbing him by the collar and flying up with him.
"Bad idea." Said Renihard, hitting Mark on his temples with his fists.
Invincible under Reinhard's pressure, he fell to the ground with him with a great bang.
Barely conscious, Mark was knocked to the ground again and began to receive punches from Reinhard. These blows weren't as weak as Kurgan's. They were as strong as Nolan's blows when he fought his son. It brought back bad memories.
Suddenly the beating stopped. Mark looked in surprise at Reinhard, who had his blood all over his hands.
"Come on, I want more!" The knight shouted, spreading his arms. "More!"
He didn't have to ask for long. Mark quickly stood up and punched him in the face, creating a distance of 200 meters between them.
"Mark!" A familiar voice reached the young man's ears.
"Subaru?" Mark looked at him worriedly. He was accompanied by a girl with silver hair. "What are you doing here?! Get out of here now!"
"You can't defeat him alone, you need help!"
"You can help me best by getting out of the line of fire!"
The ground suddenly began to shake. All three saw Reinhard running at incredible speeds towards them.
Mark had to act quickly. He ripped the sheathed Dragon Sword from Subaru's hand and when Reinhard was close enough Mark swung the sword like a baseball bat, knocking Reinhard back again.
"Subaru, I'll take care of him. I can't fight when I have to worry about you, do you understand?"
"Yes." Subaru sadly admitted his weakness in this fight. He began to run away with Emilia. "Don't let yourself lose!"
"Sure." Mark said, throwing the dragon sword aside and making a mighty leap upward to find Reinhard.
The sword saint was waiting for him on the roof of the building. Mark no longer felt like talking and immediately attacked.
They started fighting, they dealt blows one after another, but it was obvious that Mark looked worse, he was covered in his own blood. Reinhard was also getting hurt, but a little less.
Finally, the possessed knight got bored with this game after causing a lot of destruction in the city. He hit the ground and fell to the bottom floor. Mark flew after him, but stopped immediately when he saw a large pool of blood. Reinhard wanted to crush the people in a different shelter than Garfiel and Wilhelm were with his blow and he succeeded. Everyone in the shelter was crushed by the rubble except for one woman, who Reinhard was holding by the neck.
The woman had blonde hair and green hair. Mark suspected with horror that it was Garfiel's mother.
"Leave her alone!"
Mark, not wanting to be a participant in the typical hostage game, shot towards Reinhard, creating a wave of air. It hit him in the face, causing him to let go of the woman.
"Run!" Mark shouted at the woman.
He grabbed Reinhard by the head and then hit him with his knee several times until he was finally pushed away.
"That was... interesting." The possessed Reinhard said, wiping his bloody mouth.
"This is just the warm-up."
...
Otto's fight with Ley Batenkaitos was long and hard. Even with Beatrice at his side, they narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Archbishop of Gluttony.
"Damn it!" Otto cursed in his mind.
Felt, one of the royal candidates, went to get some weapons that would help them in the fight, but Otto deep down worried whether they would live to that moment.
"BUT DELICIOUS! BUT GREEDY! YOU ATTACK ME AND DON'T DO ANYTHING TO ME BUT THIS..." The Archbishop didn't have time to finish another too loud monologue because he died.
Just as he was about to kill Otto with his blades, the bloody youth ran into him with inhuman speed, turning Ley's body into mush, killing him for good.
"What's going on...?" Otto looked in disbelief down the street and saw Mark. "Mr. Grayson?!"
Mark once again rose from the attack he had received. He looked terrible. Half of his face was covered in blood. His once fresh costume once again had many holes.
Reinhard landed in front of him, Otto and Beatrice with a bang. Beatrice wondered what the sword saint had on his head while Otto was so terrified by the air pressure that he couldn't even escape.
Mark, on the other hand, in the blink of an eye attacked the holy sword again with what looked like an easy strike, but Reinhard still had trouble blocking it.
Their movements were lightning fast, each of their blows causing an explosion of air. Finally, Reinhard picked up a random sword from the ground, a random soldier whom Ley had killed a moment ago.
Suddenly the light around him began to charge his sword for a powerful attack.
"Goodbye, Invincible!"
Otto, knowing what was coming, wanted to shield Beatrice with his body..
"ENOUGH!"
Before the light could explode, Mark cut off Reinhard's arms in one swift movement. That wasn't enough for him. He headbutted Reinhard's forehead, knocking him to the ground. The Invincible began to beat him relentlessly.
"YOU! GET HIM! LET GO! NOW!"
Mark knew that if he tried to simply rip the squid out of Reinhard's head, his brain would turn to mush. He had to get the squid to let go of Reinhard, and now.
He beat and beat until finally the squid, because of the great pain it was in, let go of the knight and tried to escape, but Mark wouldn't let it, grabbed it by the brain and crushed it.
"I don't believe it." When the dust settled, Otto and Beatrice couldn't believe their eyes. "He defeated the holy sword!"
Mark fell to his knees, exhausted. No one dared to approach him. Everyone remained motionless for another 10 minutes.
"Fuck!" From a distance they heard Subaru scream with Emilia next to him. "He really is... Invincible!" He gasped, looking at the barely breathing Reinhard, who no longer had the squid on his head. "Mark, man, is everything okay?!"
Mark was silent as the grave. He felt his body become heavier and uncontrollably fell face down to the ground losing consciousness.
"Mark?! Hey, put your shoes on, Mark!" Subaru and the others ran over to the injured Mark and Reinhard.
The holy sword's condition was more serious, so Emilia and Beatrice began to heal it with healing magic. During this, Subaru and Otto tried to bandage Mark as best they could.
Thus ends the first day of Mark Grayson, the Invincible in another world.