Mutagen

<strong>Day 134 - 9:56 AM - Cliff House Meeting Room, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon Province, Philippines</strong>

Mark jumped back in utter surprise. It had been a very long time since he had last felt this way.

If he remembered correctly, he was still in preschool at that time.

When Mark started to develop his Emphatic abilities, although he would still get surprised from time to time, it was not as impactful at this.

And why Mark would not feel surprised? The girl's presence only appeared after she finished her sentence. It was as if she was a ghost that suddenly popped up there without any sign.

The moment her presence appeared, however, Mark knew in an instant that this girl was an eye. It was because her mental fluctuation had a distinct pattern that was similar to Ninth.

Furthermore, no one would think that she was human, even at a glance after seeing her face. She had three eyes. Usually, one would think that she only had an extra eye on her forehead. While that was correct, her eyes were all far from normal ones.

It was because all her eyes had vertical slits. Even the eyelids were symmetrically shaped left and right.

Anyone that would see her would think that she was a monster.

Well, in the least, she looked better than the one that became The Great One's puppet, who had a single large eye covering half of his face.

Still, because of her sudden appearance, everyone in the room went into alert and defensive stances. One word from Mark and all the combatants in here would attack.

"Everyone. Don't make any move."

Mark said in a warning. He knew that his people were all waiting for his command to attack. But even if he did give it, there was no way that they would win. Some of them even knew that fact by the feeling within their guts.

"Ooowaaa... What's wrong with you people???"

The girl annoyingly spoke. It was questionable whether it was how she really speak or if she was taunting everyone.

No one responded to her question, however. Instead, Mark asked his question in return.

"What does an Eye want from us now?"

Mark was frowning at this point. Of all the things he did not want to encounter at this moment, it was the Apostles of the Observer, the Eyes. There was no ill intent coming from her like Ninth. However, there was a distinct feeling that was pushing everyone on edge whenever the Eyes were present.

"Eh?" The girl reacted in an unexpected way. "You know what I am? How?"

Things became confusing at this point. Even Mark was frozen for a bit.

"Now that I thought about it... How did you know about the Second Wave?"

Sure enough, it drove everyone into confusion.

The people here did not know what an Eye that Mark mentioned was. It was expected that they would be confused at the sudden appearance of this strange girl.

On the other hand, Mark was confused because of a different reason. It was because this girl seemed to have no idea about him at all.

"Hey! Tell me! How did you know about us?!"

The girl suddenly appeared in front of Mark from the spot where she initially appeared. No one in the room was able to follow her movements at all. It was as if she was not walking or running at all.

It was not even exaggerated to say that she was teleporting instead.

Furthermore, the way that the girl asked that question was a bit like a kid that was about to throw a tantrum.

Thus, Mark answered with one word.

"Ninth."

That was the safest answer that Mark could give at the moment.

Still, that answer seemed to have surprised the girl.

"What?!"

She said out loud.

And then...

She vanished.

This made everyone even more confused. Everyone looked around, searching for the silhouette of the strange girl.

However, none of them managed to see even her shadow.

"Boss, what is that?"

Huey could not help but ask. As the person with the highest senses in his room, he could tell that that girl was not something they should fight at all.

And to that question, Mark replied honestly.

"Remember the source of the news I mentioned before?"

"A person akin to an apostle of a god?"

Huey replied.

And there, Mark nodded.

"That's right. That girl is one of them."

This caused a commotion in the room. None of the people in the room could believe what they had just heard.

And there, Mark made a prompt decision.

"I already said the news of what will happen in the future. I think it's fine to end the meeting here." Mark then spoke louder. "The meeting will end here. I will write about what preparations we will need to do in the future. In any case, just continue what all of you are doing these past days until I give further instructions."

Mark then looked around a bit.

"It looks like that girl left for now. But she will return for sure." Mark returned his gaze to the people in the room. "They are an unstable bunch. More dangerous than the infected. It's better if none of you are here when she returns."

Hearing that, many of them felt scared and left by Mark's instructions. Mark should have the capability to handle her at least. As for them, they were just humans. Something of the higher plane was not something for them to meddle with.

There were some people that wanted to stay with Mark, not because they were not scared, but because they wanted to be beside Mark if things went awry. However, Mark forced all of them to leave. It was easier for Mark to handle things if he was alone.

Thus, those that wanted to stay had no choice but to follow the ones that already went out.

Now, the only one left inside the meeting room was Mark. He also chased out Mei and the others. If it was just a normal circumstance, Mark would let Mei stay with him. However, who knows what would happen.

Sitting on the sofa, Mark waited.

About ten minutes later, Aephelia came, bringing Mark a drink after confirming that Mark was the only one in the room.

After handing the drink, she immediately left per Mark's order.

***

Mark got a bit bored. It was already an hour since the girl vanished, and the meeting ended.

However, he waited. It was better to deal with things the moment that that girl appeared again.

And Mark was not mistaken.

Another half-hour passed, the girl appeared as suddenly as she vanished earlier.

"Eh? Where're the other people?"

That was what she asked the moment she saw the almost empty room.

"I already sent them out," Mark replied. "Now, can you tell me what your business here?"

Mark went straight to the point. If he let this girl go her way, who would know how things would end up.

"Heeh... Straight to the point, are we?" She reacted at Mark's word with amusement. "You really don't seem to be afraid, huh?"

As she said those words, she appeared and disappeared around Mark. She was observing him closely.

And then, she appeared sitting on the sofa opposite of Mark. Her short legs were dangling off in front of her.

Finally, she stated her business in this place.

"You see... I'm supposed to deliver that news that you and your people are talking about earlier. But how in the heavens did you meet Ninth? We are in South East Asia! My jurisdiction! Just how would you meet Ninth that is in charge of Eastern United States?!"

The girl was calm at first. But as she went on and on, she started flailing her arms and legs in frustration.

It looked cute if not for her oddly placed eyes. The bad thing about her tantrum, however, was that she was releasing a displeasing aura around her. If it got worse, it would affect everyone in the base.

"Can you calm down?" Mark asked in a reprimanding voice. "Aren't you Eyes supposed to not directly affect mortals? If you continue, you will break that rule."

Hearing that, the girl froze. She took deep breaths and calmed herself.

"Say! Say!" The girl leaned on the coffee table, moving her face closer to Mark. "You're not really afraid of me, huh? You're really amusing just like Ninth said!"

"So, you met with Ninth just now?"

Mark asked, keeping himself calm.

"Yeah! Yeah! I did. I confirmed that he met you in New Jersey during an incident there several days ago!"

"Say it! How in the heavens did you end up there? And now, you're here? Tell me! Tell me!"

The girl was like a curious kid. Her oddly shaped eyes were staring at Mark as if she wanted to know his secrets.

"We have someone who can create portals," Mark answered. "Is that enough?"

Mark did not hide it. Even if he did, it was not hard for the Eyes to know if this girl could vanish and appear and even hide her presence completely.

Hearing that, the girls' pupils dilated while her eyes widened. It was quite an unpleasant sight.

"Ooohhh. How amusing!" She clapped. "Is it a human? A Spirit race? Demon? Or someone like you?"

That question made Mark frown. This girl seemed to have known a lot of things that were going on in his base.

"Don't look at me like that!" The girl grumbled. "I know about that because I have been watching this place for five days already! A pure spirit tree suddenly appeared on Earth and not on the Spirit Dimension. Of course, it will get my attention after we started searching!"

And there, the actual reason why the girl was throwing a tantrum was told.

As Ninth had said, the Eyes were seeking people that was legible to know about the incoming Second Wave. And five days ago, she noticed this base because of the Night Everred Spirit Tree and the strange traces of destruction that was present around the area.

However, she did not find anyone that was eligible at that time. It was not surprising considering that Mark and Mei were in New Jersey, and the others were in Pennsylvania and were securing The Pagoda.

Despite that, this girl would still pass by from time to time to check. After all, she had not found the owner of the Pure Spirit Tree yet.

And today, she passed by once more. However, there was a lot of unfamiliar presence that was currently in the base, particularly several powerful people. Most importantly, Mark and Mei, who had their strings of fate detached.

There, she found the meeting and appeared here just at the moment that Mark started talking about the fusion of dimensions.

She was rather amused by Mark's theory and finally showed herself to bring the news to Mark and Mei.

And that was where the commotion in the meeting started.

"I am supposed to bring you the news since you're base is inside my jurisdiction!!! Me!"

She started to throw a tantrum again. Although this time, she seemed to be controlling the fluctuations she was releasing.

"There's nothing that we can do about that, right?"

Mark tried to reason. None of them was at fault for this. If there was someone to be blamed, it was that guy who called himself The Great One.

The girl stared at Mark silently after his words entered her ear.

That was right, there was nothing they could do about it.

Still, she felt unpleasant. She was even puffing her cheeks.

Looking at that appearance, Mark scratched his head.

Without a doubt, the Eyes were troublesome to deal with. Still, he did not want a fight against this girl to break out. He had more important things to do than wreck the base everyone painstakingly built.

So, how should a child throwing a tantrum be dealt with peacefully?

And there, Mark spoke.

"Want some chocolates?"

With a shrug, Mark took out several bars of chocolates from his ring. Of course, he did not expect that it would work out.

Unexpectedly, the girl's eyes widened in delight as she immediately unwrapped the biggest one.

As she took her first bite, her expression brightened.

"You're an amusing person!" The girl smiled. "By the way, I'm Fourth! The Embodiment of Amusement!"

Finally, the unstable girl introduced herself.