Mutagen

<strong>Day 5 – 2:27 PM – Multi-Purpose Clubhouse, Citta Italia, Molino III, Bacoor City, Cavite</strong>

Mark dodged every single attack Black Devil was throwing him with great concentration. It was good that he had an about two hour rest on the way after leaving the settlement and he managed to release the unwanted energy he collected overnight to overload the brains of the thugs that surrounded them in almost an instant.

According to his experience, most of the fatigue that he suffered from being an Empath came from the undesired absorption of foreign emotional energies and storing those gathered energies somewhere in his subconscious. When he saw what Freed did before and started to practice it, he did not only learn that he could use the unwanted emotional energies and release it. The only restriction was that, there needed to be a recipient for the released energy for it to work.

For Empaths like him, fatigue was the worst side effect of receiving these foreign energies. As for normal people however, the sudden invasion of foreign energies containing condensed emotions could leave different repercussions. The mildest of those side effects was nosebleeds due to emotional stress but the worst was for them was that they were likely to receive psychological trauma.

Even if he did manage to rest along the way, if he was unable to release the pent up energies from last night, his movements would be likely to be too sluggish and he would be unable to avoid these ferocious attacks. Unfortunately for Black Devil, his mind was clearer now. Not only that he could see the attacks but he could also feel when his enemy would release the attack.

The worst thing Mark was experiencing right now however was that his Emotion Induction was not working on Black Devil at his current state. The black skinned man was filled with rage in his mind that it was blocking even the energy Mark was releasing on his opponent.

Still, none of the two was having the advantage against the other in this fight in the eyes of the spectators around them. Black Devil kept on attacking while Mark kept on avoiding the attacks. It seemed that there was no leeway for Mark to attack. Many of the soldiers and the police around wanted to help but they had no idea how to. None of them were Mutators or even just Evolvers. It was unknown why it seemed that it was too rare for soldiers like them to become one.

Not known to anyone, Mark was still not using his most trained ability in the previous years. It was not because he did not want to but he was reserving it as his trump card. He just needed to measure Black Devil's capabilities so that he could immediately give a death blow the moment he used it. After all, he could not prolong its use anymore especially when he lacked sleep himself.

Mark looked at his opponent who had just missed another punch. The man was wearing a white thin tank top and jeans with torn parts. His clothes further emphasized that Black Devil's whole body was covered in this black coloring. The only parts Mark could see that was not covered in black was his eyes and inside his mouth. Due to this, Mark deduced that the only part covered was his skin and his internal parts like the mouth and eyes were still normal.

The only way to kill this guy was to shoot his eyes and mouth. That was easier said than done. Mark was sure that if this person was to see where he was aiming his gun, he would either dodge or break his gun. If the latter situation happened, it would be even harder to defeat this self-proclaimed devil.

In the least, if he would aim at his opponent's eyes and mouth, he needed to make him in the least, take Black Devil's sight away from his attack. Mark suddenly smiled with a bright glint in his red glowing eyes. He had an idea to try. If it was successful, not only that Black Devil would take his sight away but could also confuse him for a moment.

Another kick came making Mark step to the side. On Black Devil's blackened face, aside from rage, there was a tinge of impatience. Since the start, none of his attacks were able to connect. With his fury reaching its peak, his attacks became faster and stronger.

"Don't f*cking move! Is this all you can do? Dodge and f*ucking run away?!"

Black Devil cursed as he punched the air.

"It's no use taunting me. Are you an idiot? If you really wanted to kill me then hit me first."

Mark calmly replied making Black Devil even more furious.

To everyone's confusion, Mark suddenly grasped the suppressor of his assault rifle. Even Black Devil was confused but he continued his assault of punch and kicks. There was no pattern or style to the attacks but the might and speed was really astonishing. Still, Mark kept on dodging the attacks and even started to remove the suppressor of his gun.

Black Devil then unleashed a kick from the side which Mark dodged by jumping backwards. Finally, the suppressor was removed. Mark raised his head looking straight at Black Devil. For some reason, there was a change in Mark's countenance.

At that moment, Mark threw the suppressor towards Black Devil's face incurring a ridiculous expression on almost everyone in the vicinity.

'That's it? That is why you removed the suppressor of your gun?'

That ridiculous question suddenly entered the minds of the people around.

No matter what, there was nothing that the thrown suppressor could do against the enemy!

As if to support that assumption, Black Devil caught the thrown suppressor and crumpled it with one hand.

Mark then started to move ignoring what was in everyone's minds. Kicking his foot backwards, he moved in a faster speed than before that even Black Devil was surprised. In the last moment, he unleashed a downward punch towards Mark but the latter only circled on the trajectory of that punch. At the moment the punch hit the ground, Mark kicked the outstretched arm launching him towards Black Devil's behind away from his sight.

Of course, Black Devil turned around to his left while he withdrawn his left arm that he used in the previous punch.

Unexpectedly, he felt a sudden weight on his right shoulder making him look at it by reflex and stop his turning movement thinking that Mark had already turned to the other side. What he saw however was a muzzle an assault rifle. His mind blanked. It was because he could not fathom what this was for. The muzzle was not pointed at him but towards the ground in front of him.

RATATATATATATA!

A torrent of gunshots echoed firing towards the ground causing several flashes at the corner of his right eye. The flashes did not do anything however but he suddenly felt disoriented and closed his eyes by reflex. He then held his ear and staggered backwards in shock. The bullets did not hit and the flashes were not enough to blind him but the sound of the multiple shots from the assault rifle placed directly beside his ear shook his brain. It made him close his eyes by reflex and some of his muscles stiffened.

The next thing he knew, there was a hot metal intruding the insides of his mouth. He tried to open his eyes immediately but he was not able to anymore. Black Devil felt searing burning pain in his mouth together with several mortifying impacts in his head and everything when black in that instant.

Mark pulled the gun away from Black Devil's mouth and let his lifeless body fall to the ground. This guy's skin was really too thick. Mark was sure that with the number of shots he made inside his mouth, his skull must have been broken. However, there were only bump marks on the upper back side of his head. Slowly, the color of Black Devil's body started to return to normal as a sign of his ability unable to support its activation anymore.

"Acoustic Startle Reflex… It's really effective when the target least expected it."

Mark muttered as he kicked the dead body. He was sure that it was dead since he was not detecting any consciousness from Black Devil anymore. If this guy was still alive after Mark wrecked his brain with the remaining half of his bullets, this guy would surely be a monster.

The people burst into cheers as the realization hit them. The seemingly unstoppable Black Devil was finally brought down. While the side of the soldiers and survivors were in a celebration, the remaining members of the syndicate that were caught by the soldiers were devastated. Black Devil was their last hope and he was still defeated.

Mark then left the dead body of Black Devil as he was not interested in it. He turned around and approached the encirclement of soldiers around Chameleon and his two thugs.

"Hey! What are you going to do?!"

One of the soldiers shouted when he saw Mark raise his assault rifle after bypassing the encirclement. He aimed his gun towards the heavily injured Chameleon.

The syndicate leader was mortified at this.

"Wha-what are you doing?! We already surrendered! It's a-against the law to kill me!"

Chameleon stuttered as he felt death loom on him. On the other hand, the soldiers had disgusted expression on their faces hearing that. A criminal talking about the law… The hair on their nape stood up as they felt a cold shiver on their backs.

Even the soldier that tried to stop Mark lost his interest in stopping the latter.

On the other hand, Major Lopez who was still within the circle of soldiers had his eyes lit up as he looked at Mark. He was anticipating what he would do next.

The next thing that happened was a not a sight for the light hearted. Mark shot different parts of Chameleon's body making the latter scream for every wound he received. Starting from the left foot to the left leg and then the right foot to his right leg, bleeding holes created by bullets appeared on his body in fixed intervals. Chameleon's tenacity worked against him this way.

When Chameleon's left arm was drilled with holes, his cries of pain started to get muffled. Mark on the other hand grabbed Chameleon's scaly head with his glowing hands not carrying about the soldiers around him. This way, Mark kept his consciousness awake until Mark was done shooting several holes on the syndicate leader's stomach.

Mark then took out a knife from his pocket, the usual ten peso knife and pierced the syndicate leader's right eye making him scream his last energetic one.

At the time Chameleon could not be kept awake anymore, Mark stopped. He only channeled that milky white light in his head prolonging his suffering. Chameleon's horrified left eye stared at Mark who had his eyes glowing red all this time. Mark's devilish grin was the entire thing that he saw in his last breath.

It was a grotesque sight that the least experienced soldiers could not help but look away. Those who remained watching could feel the cold sweat on their backs. On the other hand, the two thugs, Adder and Cobra tried to shrink their bodies and much as possible slowly away from Mark. They were afraid that they would be the next one in line to experience that horror.

To everyone's surprise, Mark only looked at the two after letting go of Chameleon's head. Mark then turned around to leave the encirclement.

On the whole process, Mark did not speak but everything he did was already enough to show how he felt.

Mark then shouted towards the tree planted at the street island.

"Emika! Take the two bodies!"

Emika who was intently watching behind the tree immediately ran out towards Mark's direction. There was a wide smile on her face for some reason.

"Nee~ Scary Uncle, the bodies of the ugly scaly guy and the guy with armament haki?"

Mark gently knocked on the green haired girl's head.

"Right, those two, I'll need them. Also, stop using that haki terms will you. I'll take back that phone if you don't stop."

"Guh…"

Emika had a complaining look but still nodded.

Then, under everyone's gaze, Emika's hair grew longer and thicker turning most of it into thick vine growth that made their way towards the bodies of Chameleon and Black Devil. The vines coiled around the bodies and pulled the bodies away.

"Alright."

Mark looked at the leaders.

"I'll take these two bodies with me. You all handle the rest."

He then called unto Abbygale and Odelina. Together with Emika, they made their way where their vehicles were parked.