Nathan stared at Mitsuhide as darkness and blood crackled around his body.
The pressure pouring from him had changed completely. It no longer felt like the power of a skilled lord using a twisted ritual. It felt closer to Nathan's own, the heavy, suffocating aura of something standing at the edge of demigod territory. There was more than raw strength in it. There was corruption, hunger, and a violent will that did not belong to an ordinary man.
And worst of all, it felt familiar.
For a brief instant, Nathan was reminded of Morosuke, of the moment he had shed his humanity and become that monstrous thing, a Kijin. The path here had been different, but the result was too similar to ignore. Mitsuhide had used the sacrifices, the shrine, and his own blood to force a pact into existence. He had crossed into the same cursed state through another door.
The problem was that he was stronger than Morosuke had ever been.
Much stronger.
