Mutagen

<strong>Day 137 - 11:25 PM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon Province, Philippines</strong>

The instantaneous release of energy caused by an electrostatic discharge of two electrically charged mediums, it was what Lightning was.

Seeing these branching flashes of light in the sky, moving from cloud to cloud, or even towards the ground, was both fascinating and terrifying. The loud sound of thunder it creates and the damage it could possibly cause when hitting the ground could make many people scared.

Lightning was not limited to the ones people could commonly see in the sky.

There were those that could be seen in the distance but could not be heard at all. It was called Heat Lightning.

There were also the Dry Lightning that would appear during Dry Thunderstorms.

And there was the rarest observed by people, the Ball Lightning. An electrically charged ball of light hovering aboveground like a St. Elmo's Fire. Among many kinds of lightning that were known amongst men, it was the one that was still unexplained.

And now, the people of the base were seeing an even more spectacular sight in the mountain. At the place where they saw Mark fly to, flashes of lightning accompanied by loud crackles were shot in every direction. It was even more amazing when some of it shot up towards the sky.

It was an alarming sight for everyone, especially for those that saw Mark crash midway up the mountain.

Those that witnessed what was happening called upon those that were already asleep. Soon, almost everyone that was in the base tonight was all looking up the mountain, worried about Mark. After all, very few were in the know of Mark's plans tonight.

And those that knew what could have happened, like Odelina and Spera, could only gaze at the same mountain, confused as to what Mark did this time. From what they knew, Mark never mentioned that something like this would happen at all.

However, this was when Karlene and Aephelia that stood with the maids, spoke.

"This feels the same as that time, doesn't it?"

Alana said, which immediately made Aephelia nod.

"That time, isn't it? I does feel the same."

"What are you three talking about?"

Karlene could not help but ask.

"Well, it's back then when Master acquired the ability to control the Miasma," Aephelia replied. "Only a few of us were present at that time."

Odelina and the others could not understand it because they were not there. But for Aephlia and Karlene that were there at that time, they remembered it. The feeling when Mark was in the process of absorbing a powerful ability.

Aephelia and Karlene were right in this regard. After all, Mark used both the crystal that Bathala gave him and the [Lightning Crystal] he acquired accidentally for the second time.

However, there was one thing that was bugging Aephelia.

Back in Eriellis, they were used to seeing some of their people receiving crystals that Keeper Collected. There were times that things like this happened. It was at those times that the ability seemed to be incompatible with the user of the crystal and started to rampage.

Those times would cause a lot of destruction in the surroundings and most often lead to the user dying. It was also a very painful process, and even if the user managed to contain the new ability, there were chances that they would have mental and physical disabilities.

This was the reason they did not advise consuming crystals more than necessary. Even Freed only had three before their planet blew up.

Furthermore, there was another setback in this situation. If the Psychic unfortunately died, Keeper would retrieve their abilities. As for those that had consumed crystals, however, only the first Psychic Ability could be retrieved while the remaining would be lost.

It was why after everyone died in the final battle, only their Original Abilities remained.

The only exception in this was Keeper herself, who had an odd Psychic Ability in the first place.

That was why in the eyes of Aephelia and Iola, the way Mark absorbed his abilities was very strange. It was like he was always on the verge of going berserk, and yet, he would end up succeeding.

In one word, Chaotic. It was the right description to call the way that Mark grow stronger.

Just the thought of that could make anyone worry.

However, they could not do anything about it but trust that he would always succeed.

***

While the whole base gazed on the mountain bathed in lightning, Mark, who was the cause of it all, was slumped on the ground, growling in pain. His clothes were all ripped to pieces and were entirely naked right now.

Using all three crystals at the same time was a bad idea.

A TOTALLY BAD IDEA!

Mark's body was enveloped in electricity that would explode from time to time, causing those lightning bolts that were flying everywhere. In that process, Mark felt being electrocuted with an extremely high voltage of electricity. His clothes were ripped to pieces and burned by these surges of electricity coming from his body. Even his skin had been burned countless times already.

However, that was not the most painful thing that Mark was experiencing right at this moment.

Currently, his head felt like it was going to split. No, it felt more like his head was being hammered by a baseball bat continuously.

Still, that was not the worst.

What Mark was suffering the most and caused him to be incapable of moving even a finger was his bones being ground to dust.

Incompatibility, that was the issue. Mark understood it now.

As he thought before, each Mutator mutated in the way suitable to their genetics and body. In that issue, not everyone had compatible genetic makeup for the mutated abilities that others had.

And Mark's body that was not compatible with [Swift Bone Armor] mutation started to suffer.

Of course, because of the crystal's positive effects, this would not happen to other people. It was very likely that the ability would be downgraded to suit the person's genetic makeup without damaging their body.

Unfortunately, the crystals had a different way of upgrading Mark, who was abnormal since the start.

Who would have thought that the effects of the crystal would take advantage of Mark's regenerative abilities to rebuild his bones into ones perfectly suitable to the mutation? And now, he was suffering the insane pain of his bones being destroyed and regenerated over and over.

If one was to see Mark right now, they would be terrified as Mark's body would deform from time to time due to the absence of bones in some parts of his body. Although his regeneration heals the destroyed bones almost immediately, this appearance was still horrifying.

"GAHA!"

Mark painfully coughed out blackish liquid as remains of his former bones were pushed out of his body. That black liquid flowed out of his mouth that he could not close at all.

BAM!

Another explosion of electricity made his body convulse painfully.

Mark's eyes were blurry. He was losing consciousness.

However, he should not.

Mark opened his eyes wide, glowing red, forcing himself awake.

It was painful. Maybe, it would lessen if Mark lost consciousness. However, there was a feeling that Mark would lose if he did.

Lose? To who? To what?

Mark's mind was clouded.

The burst of negative emotions he accumulated from his uncontrollable empathic abilities started to flood his consciousness.

'Would the pain end if I died here? It hurts. Just die and end everything here.'

Mark was already delirious. He started to feel that the pain was receding.

"NO!"

A voice echoed inside Mark's mind.

Suddenly, Mark was forced out of his delirious state, and the pain surged once more.

'These voices again.'

Mark complained in his mind.

'Still, thank you. I'm completely awake now.'

Mark was awake, yet, he started to close his eyes.

And then, red light covered his veins. At the same time, Miasma started to envelop his body.

'Breathe as deep as I can! Contain everything inside!'

Mark screamed inside.

And there, a change finally appeared.

The black-colored Miasma started to mix into the surges of electricity around his body.

It was unexpected considering how Miasma was supposed to do the opposite. Miasma should have absorbed the electricity instead, as it was a form of energy.

And then, it finally dawned on Mark what was happening.

Mark's body contained Miasma and lightning was a form of energy. Thus, the ability to control lightning that was supposed to enter his body could not and continued to surge outside, harming him instead.

But when he released Miasma, the surges of electricity that covered his body started to absorb it and take on its properties.

It did not take long. The surges of electricity, the streaks of lightning, started to lose its bright glow.

Seeing that, Mark smiled slightly, despite the pain he was still experiencing.

'Black Lightning... It does suit me better.'

That was right, the streaks of lightning that were supposed to be a convergence of light was now tainted black. Nevertheless, it felt closer to Mark's heart and mind compared to the usual lightning he knew.

And then...

BOOOOM!!!

The Earth and Sky rumbled.

Black streaks of lightning flew towards the sky like black dragons in the night. And then, flew back to Mark, entering his body.

THROB!!!

Mark froze. His body started to feel like it was pulsating at the same rhythm as his heartbeat.

"ARGH!!!"

A surge of unimaginable pain caused Mark to roar.

And the cause of it was the final adjustment of his body.

And there, like what happened to Mei, his body started to transform uncontrollably.

Mark's bones grew and changed shape as it tore through his skin.

Thin sheets of metal-like calcium growth covered his body, starting from his arms and legs. Unexpectedly, the bone armor had similar properties as his [Blood Metal]. Reddish black in color, metal-like instead of bones-like, and it had a sinister appearance.

Mark gasped as his transformation finished.

Slowly, he stood up. His whole body was still numb from pain, but the pain had already subsided.

Mark stood up and almost fell. He was still unsteady. As he lost balance, he could only rely on the rocky wall that was in front of him. He then dragged his body and sit down, leaning his back on that rock wall.

He could not help but look around and felt lucky. It seemed that he crashed at the rocky part of the mountain and not in the middle of the forest. If the latter actually happened, everything would be on fire now.

Mark looked at the armor covering his body.

"This looks nice."

He smiled.

It was a painful experience. No, hellish to be exact.

But it seemed that the result was worth it.

Mark opened his palm covered with his new armor.

CRACKLE!

Sparks of electricity appeared. It was black.

As he willed, it formed into a crackling black ball and he stretched his arm with his palm facing a huge rock nearby.

RUMBLE!

The roar of thunder echoed as the black ball of lightning shot towards the rock. It left a foot-diameter scorched Mark on the face of the rock, with cracks at the center.

"It's weaker, huh."

Mark mumbled. However, it was within his expectations. After all, he was supposed to be unable to use any Psychic abilities at all after absorbing a new one.

"The crystal Bathala gave worked properly, it seemed."

Mark could not confirm if that crystal actually worked by just feeling it. It was because he could not feel any changes in his body that it could have caused aside from being able to use Psychic Abilities right after he succeeded in absorbing the crystal.

While Mark was contemplating, he suddenly squinted his eyes. That was when he noticed as he looked up in the sky.

"The sun is already rising, huh..."

Because of the painful experience, Mark did not notice that he was in that state for the latter half of the night.

Mark wanted to return already, but his body was still numb.

That was when someone appeared.

"Y-YOU!!! What did you do?!!!"

Of course, there was only one person that Mark knew that could appear suddenly like a mushroom.

It was no other than Fourth, who seemed to have rushed here from somewhere far.