Mutagen

<strong>Day 54 – 11:16 AM – Industrial Area, South District, Bay City Settlement, Parañaque City, Metro Manila</strong>

A huge cloud of dust enveloped a large part of the industrial area due to the fallen jib. The visibility immediately became zero for both the soldiers and the members of the organization.

When the jib fell, almost all the soldiers were focused on their own battles since the enemies already came in full force. There was very little chance for them to hear the sound made by the disconnected metal supports due to the sound of gunshots and voices around them. The moment they noticed that something big was falling from above, it was already too late.

It was the same for the enemies. The humans on their side also had guns while the other races were using other weapons of their choice. They were also focused on the fight as they also needed to fill in the remaining people they needed. They needed to catch the soldiers alive but it was not easy as not all of them were insusceptible to normal bullets like the shadow people, the ethereal spirits and the werewolves.

The fight below the crane suddenly halted when everyone noticed the big shadow falling unto them. Even though it was late, all of them tried to run away as fast as possible. Since most of the soldiers were just normal trained humans, a lot of them were not able to avoid the disaster. The unlucky ones made it out of the trajectory of the fall of the jib but got buried in the rubble of the collapsed buildings instead. There were lucky ones but the numbers were too little compared to those that were unfortunate.

As for the forces both from the Auraboros and the Evolvers and Mutators under Senator Estrada, the number of casualties were too little compared to the soldiers. They had inhuman capabilities enabling a lot of them to escape unscathed aside from being showered with dust. As for their casualties, it was because there was not much camaraderie between these races. If there was, the shadow people had the capability to save them but they did not.

Midair, Mark and Mei looked at the scene below. Even Flam who was keeping himself afloat despite being unstable also stopped to see the result of his actions. Aside from the three, Amihan who was hiding inside Mei's robe could not help but peek outside.

"Sh*t. Dopp's gonna scold me later."

Flam seemed to have realized that what he had just done would affect their plans severely. Not only was that but his actions resulted to their subordinates and targets dying.

While Flam was having a dilemma, Mark was scratching his head. This was going overboard. The military's goal was not only capturing Senator Estrada and fighting the forces of Auraboros, the most important thing to them was to regain the industrial area intact as much as possible. If they could destroy this place, they might as well use explosives and not put themselves in danger to confront the enemies.

Unable to maintain flight, Flam landed on one of the taller buildings that were yet to be finished in order to avoid the cloud of dust below. Mark and Mei however could still maintain flight unlike their opponent. Flam could not help but look at the two with envy.

"Hey you two, are you vampires?"

Flam shouted to ask but of course, Mark and Mei had no plans to answer to his disappointment.

As the fight was still not finished, Mei was about to charge once more when her shoulder was held to stop her. She could only turn to Mark who was shaking his head.

"Mei'er, you can stop now."

Hearing that, she tried to hide it but Mark sensed that she was dejected. Mark could only pat her head with a smile.

"Don't worry. I'm not stopping you because you can't beat him. Between your fight, no one gained advantage at all. It's hard to say who will win between you two but your chances isn't low either. But we need to end this faster or this place will get destroyed because of that guy."

"Okay."

Mei finally felt at ease. Mark acknowledged her current abilities and that was enough for her. She smiled sweetly and retreated.

"Ewww… you two should get a room… Are you the one fighting me now? You shouldn't think that I can't hear what you just said. She can't defeat me. I'm not even serious yet."

To that mock however, Mark only smiled.

"You don't need to get serious. You won't be able to."

Without waiting for a reply, Mark vanished from his position in a puff of black mist.

As his opponent vanished like the female before, Flam readied himself to intercept. He noticed the trajectory the waving mist was moving towards. As he did not know what that mist was, he just assumed that it could either be the trail his opponent was leaving behind or an attack he needed to avoid.

Flam immediately slashed the mist as it moved in front of him. That slash however, caused a burst of black smoke that tried to envelop him. He could not fathom what this smoke was but he was feeling danger from it. With that, he waved his hand causing a burst of flames to burn and to scatter the smoke. The oxygen in the air combusted by his will but to his surprise, the flames was too small to even light a bonfire. It did not even need to touch the smoke before the flames vanished.

Without any choice, he tried to jump back and fly by combusting the air under his feet but before he was able to, he felt a deep sense of danger behind him. Flam was too focused on the black smoke that he was not able to follow the trail of black mist that changed direction and circled towards his back the instant the smoke burst out.

Quick enough, Flam reacted. He turned his body to intercept Mark's attack from behind and jumped while creating a burst of flames under his feet to escape the smoke.

That was when…

"WHAT?!"

Flam exclaimed as the combustion beneath his feet he expected never appeared. Instead, he saw clumps of black smoke around his feet that seemed to suck the energy that should have ignited the air.

From his jump, he fell back down and missed to intercept Mark's attack. At that circumstance, Flam could only try to block whatever kind of attack was coming.

To his surprise, even though he felt the animosity and thick killing intent, no fatal attack came and instead, a hand grabbed his wrist that held the sword. Then, a painful sensation was felt from his wrist as it stopped moving. He tried to move his wrist only to fell more pain as if his blood vessels were being torn open.

"Alright, got you."

Flam heard his opponent's voice as he lost grip of the sword. Mark then fully materialized in front of him and took the Flamberge from his hand.

At that moment, Flam lost consciousness and fell on the spot. As the guy lost consciousness in the air after his jump, his immediately fell. Mark hurriedly caught the unconscious body and moved it on the roof of another warehouse.

Laying down the unconscious body, Mark finally confirmed his assumption.

"As I thought, once this sword is taken away from the possessed body, the connection will stop."

Mark looked at the unconscious Flam, right now, he could only detect a single consciousness inside his body and it was the one that was deeply asleep.

Mei also landed on the roof seeing that the fight was over. She was looking at Mark with amazement and joy. She was having a hard time fighting Flam but he took the enemy out in seconds. However, she noticed something.

"Gege, your arm."

She noticed that the hand that was holding the sword was shaking intensely.

"It's nothing. This guy here is trying to possess me." Mark pointed at the sword. "I already expected this so I'll deal with it in a minute. I can't let go of this right now so guard me for a bit."

"Yes. No problem."

Mei nodded and Mark sat down in a comfortable position.

SWOOSH!

As another consciousness tried to invade his body, he was able to enter his world once more. When he entered, he expected the spiritual body of the sword to attack him, however…

"You…"

Mark was surprised. Instead of a formless spirit or apparition, he saw a little boy about five or six years old.

"Hey! What is this sh*t?! I'm supposed to take over your body already so why am I in this place?"

Hearing a young boy curse like this was not new to Mark but it was still annoying to hear.

"You should shut up. Sad to say, you're mine now and I will be the one controlling you, not the other way around."

"Impossible! I am amazed that a human like you had something like this blank space in your consciousness but you think that you can control me?"

"Who said that it is just a blank space?"

Mark smiled sinisterly and snapped his finger.

To the kid's horror, the surroundings changed. The blank space turned into a mountain covered in snow and there was even a strong blizzard. The boy immediately shivered as his body started to freeze.

"Y-y-y-y-you! W-w-hat is this?!"

On contrary, Mark stood normally as if he was not feeling the cold weather.

"You tried to enter my consciousness and you don't know what this is? You seem to be as strong as that deity whatever but you lack knowledge at all. You're just a muscle brain aren't you? You don't look like you have muscles though."

Mark stared at the boy who was not even able to reply anymore as his body was shivering fiercely from the cold.

"As I said, you are mine now so just behave. Do you submit?"

Hearing that, the boy glared at Mark. It seemed that it was not enough.

With a snap of Mark's finger, a thin streak of electricity shot towards the kid causing his body to convulse fiercely.

"What's your answer now?"

Mark asked after he literally tortured the kid with a continuous bolt of electricity under the freezing temperature. As he finally sensed that his will to fight was broken, Mark stopped everything.

"I-I will…"

"You will what?"

"I will… submit."

"And how can I be sure about that?"

"Dammit! You're my master now! I submit! I surrender! F*ck!"

The kid started to throw a tantrum.

"If you really feel that way, then return to your body. Also stop cursing or I'll strike you with lightning or cook you inside a large pot with boiling water."

Hearing those threats, the kid became wide eyed and shivered. He immediately vanished from Mark's consciousness as if trying to run away. Seeing that he was left alone inside his space, Mark closed his eyes.

When Mark opened his eyes once more, he was back in reality. Mei was in front of him being on the lookout with a serious face. Even Amihan was outside already and joined Mei to guard him.

Mark asked as he waved the Flamberge in his hand. The sword already stopped resisting and rather than a fierce aura, it was exuding a sad and helpless one.

"Gege, are you fine?"

"Yep, no problems. Anything happened?"

"The two guys around the senator saw that you defeated this guy so they were on the move already."

"I see. This makes things easier if they come to us on their own."

Mark and Mei were already preparing to act if the two men that was left made their moves when Mark froze.

Not only Mark but almost every single member of Auraboros that had bodies made of energy or those sensitive to paranormal energies also froze. It included Devon who was on the way out with Dopp.

SWWWOOOOOOOOSHHHH!!!

A beam of light pierced towards the sky. The beam was as bright as the sun causing everyone's eyes to dim for a bit.

"Mei'er, Amihan, let's go." Mark was starting to feel infuriated. "If these bastards harmed any of my people, I'll eradicate them all here."

Without looking at the current state of affairs in the Industrial Area, Mark, Mei and Amihan flew off as fast as they could.

It was because that beam of light that pierced the sky came from the direction of the church where Mark left everyone.