Mutagen

Day 73 - 11:06 AM - Cliff House, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

Seeing Mark thinking deeply, Pefile paused his story. It was not hard to guess what he was thinking.

As for Mei and Odelina, there was no need to guess. They knew the real circumstances of Iola.

Karlene and Alana, on the other hand, also saw how Mark tamed Chaflar. He made the lizard drink a drop of his blood in the process.

Both Iola and Chaflar were among those that behaved strangely earlier. As for the others, they still had to wait for the possible clues about why they were the same.

Then, a question crucial question came into Mark's mind as he turned back to Pefile.

"If Pure Blood Demons can turn other races into their kind, how did they get extinct?"

That was a good question that everyone here was interested to know the answer.

However, before Pefile could even answer, Mark realized the answer.

"Seems like you realized it quickly."

Pefile spoke, making the others look at Mark.

"It's because of those rules binding the race, isn't it?"

Mark said in which Pefile nodded to.

"If a Pure Blood Demon wanted to turn others into their kind, the other individual must agree first. If not, they can reject the blood, and its ability to turn them into a Blood Demon will be negated. It's a rule of their race that came from their very origin."

This answer told everyone how such race had gone extinct. It was either the Pure Blood Demons had gone extinct first, disabling their way to repopulate their numbers. Or, there was a lack of other individuals wanting to join their race.

And now, there was the existence of a person named Mark. A being not bound to the rules of the world was actually a Pure Blood Demon. Just with a drop of his blood alone, he could cause chaos to two different worlds.

"It is good that I don't have to explain it any further."

Pefile nodded as he saw Mark's face, who surely realized his circumstances.

"How did the Blood Demons became extinct?"

Mark asked another question as he did not have time to dwell in his circumstances at this moment.

To that question, both Pefile and Amihan shared in telling parts of the history unknown to mortals.

***

Being said before, the Blood Demons kept the balance between the races in the world of spirits.

However, that position always put the race in jeopardy when an enormous conflict between other races occurred.

The story should start with the geography of the Spiritual Dimension.

Unlike Earth that was portrayed to be spherical or an oblate spheroid, the actual shape of the world of Spirits was unconfirmed.

It was even with the fact that the shape of its continents and countries were the perfect copy of Earth.

In that dimension, a group of islands identical to the Philippines existed. A vast continent like Asia existed similarly. It was the same for other countries.

The greatest difference, however. Instead of broad seas, each country and continents were divided by deep chasms. These deep chasms made the seawater flow down immeasurable cliffs. That was why the seas around countries were not that wide, allowing very few races to live in.

Under those chasms, the Demon Races lived. It was not wrong to say that it was an actual representation of hell in religious beliefs. The Underworld.

Because of the chasms, there were very few places that connected the Underworld to the Surface.

The Underworld and the Surface were two different realms but following a single rule.

Most Demon Races could only live in the dark depths of the Underworld while the vice-versa applied to Spirit Races. When races with these restrictions wanted to go on the other's place, they needed to prepare a lot of things or they would end up weakening themselves.

To a dimension prone to conflicts, being weakened in enemy territory would surely bring anyone to death. This reason made most races to live away from the places that connected the two realms. It was because, on those boundaries, both the spirit and demonic auras exist.

However, there were a few exceptions.

One of those exceptions was the Blood Demon Race. Being a race that was composed of different races and having high adaptability to surroundings, they lived by the border of the Surface and the Underworld.

That way, they also kept the balance between the two realms.

Many races did not like the Blood Demons and there were also races that were envious of them. Nevertheless, the Blood Demons were numerous in number that most races did not want to mess with them.

It was until a disaster occurred.

Aside from the Spirit Dimension, there were other two dimensions that existed. The inhabitants of those two dimensions were in constant war with each other. During one of their greatest wars, the Arcleaders of those dimensions opened doors to the Spirit Dimension.

The inhabitants of the Higher Dimension appeared from the sky while the inhabitants of the Lower Dimension appeared under the chasms. Rallying the spirits and demons to their camps, the great war occurred in the Spirit Dimension. It was all because of the rewards, power, and treasure, the two camps promised to the races of the Spirit Dimension.

That was the nightmare of Blood Demons. Being at the border of the Surface and Underworld, they have been sandwiched between the two opposing forces.

Being a neutral race that did not want to take sides, both the camps of the outsiders deemed the Blood Demons unnecessary.

In that war, many spirits and demons died.

For the Blood Demon Race that tried to stop it...

The very last of them was killed in the process.

There might be survivors of the race that had gone into hiding. However, none of them were found.

After the war at that time, the Spirit Dimension was left devastated. As for the instigators, none was heard from them as they closed the doors to their own dimensions.

It was already late when both the Demon Races and Spirit Races realized that they had been used. In the process, many races, like the Blood Demons, had gone extinct.

Because of that, more conflicts had risen since then. As there was no one guarding the borders of the realms anymore, it was easier for both realms to cause trouble to each other.

That was why some of the spirits that could not take the state of the Spirit Dimension fled to the Mortal World instead.

***

Hearing the story, everyone in the room was dismayed. Especially to Mark and those that showed the signs of being Blood Demons earlier. They felt a certain connection to the story that gave them more impact than normal.

The Blood Demons were in no doubt, victims. They were victims of the greed of other races. It was a rather pitiful end.

Now, however, Blood Demons had somehow resurfaced. Still, they could not fathom the actual reason why and how they became Blood Demons.

Finally, Alana could not handle it anymore. She asked a question.

"I have a question. According to what you said earlier, not only Mark, even me and some of the people here belonged to Blood Demons. But, how did that happen?"

Pefile turned to Alana before turning to Mark, then to Edzel. He then spoke.

"I don't know if you will believe me. I'll tell you, however... Not all humans are purely human."

That was a deep statement. However, no one could refute it at all. As the existence of Spirits and Demons were now revealed before them, they did not know what they should believe anymore.

"I don't know for sure..." Pefile continued. "There might be someone in your ancestry, that was a Blood Demon, or also had the blood of a Blood Demon in them. It is really something that is hard to determine. But... Facts, speak for themselves. As humans always say."

It was really a hard thing to determine. However, the reaction Mark and the others had earlier, it was hard to refute otherwise.

"Does the Spirit Tree had something to do with it?"

Mark voiced out in which Pefile shook his head.

"The Spirit Tree might have helped trigger the blood of Blood Demons hidden in their veins. The Night Everred Tree, it is one of the requirements to awaken the dormant blood of the Demon Blood Race."

Then, Pefile looked at Mark with a serious expression.

"It is different to you, however. Spirit Trees are born differently. What kind of tree it will end up differs depending on the individual planting it. For you to be able to plant a Night Everred Tree, it meant that one of your ancestors in the past is a Pure Blood Demon. Blood from a Pure Blood Demon can lay dormant but not acquired. Or else, that little girl there would already have the same pure blood as yours."

Pefile looked at Iola.

Mark was not able to refute that either. If the blood of a Pure Blood Demon could be acquired, Iola should have grown horns and wings too.

While Mark was thinking that, Pefile added something.

"There's something I am very confused about."

This made everyone turn at Pefile only to see him staring at Mark.

"What are you talking about?"

Mark asked.

"You see... Dormant blood, no matter what Spirit or Demon race it is, there are procedures to be followed to awaken it. Like these girls, they needed the presence of the Night Everred Tree to partially awaken the dormant blood of the Blood Demons inside them. The process was even more difficult for Pure Blooded ones."

At that point, everyone's gaze at Mark turned rather strange. Then, Pefile finally said his question.

"Just what did you do for you to fully awaken your dormant blood, to the point of being able to plant a Spirit Tree at the level of a king of a race?"

That question put Mark into a stupor.

The answer to that question?

HE. DID. NOT. KNOW!

Mark was just doing things randomly and did other things when the situation called for it.

He had a few speculations.

First, he absorbed an actual demon.

Second, he absorbed a blood creature.

Third, he mutated himself to have wings.

Fourth, he absorbed energy from another demon.

Fifth, because of the Mutation he got after becoming a Mutator.

Sixth, because of the PsyCrystal.

Seventh, it was a pure coincidence.

Still... No matter how much he tried to speculate, there was no way for him to find the actual answer!

There was only one thing that was sure.

Eight... It was because of Mutagen.

Everything of this started since Mutagen arrived on Earth. Compared to the other reasons he thought of, it was the most likely thing that caused it.

Furthermore, for some reason, Mutagen would cause some blood-related family members to have close to identical abilities and mutations. Emika and Mikio was the best example of this. Even their father turned into a huge treant after turning into a Mutated Infected.

What if Mutagen was not just mutating people, but was actually capable of awakening the genes dormant within the person's body? That was the best theory Mark could come up with.

As Mark could not answer, there was no need to push it further. Everyone understood that even Mark confused about the things happening right now.

"Alright, I give up. I can't think of any reason." Mark shrugged his shoulders. "Anything else you two need to tell us about the Blood Demons?"

Mark asked Pefile and Amihan which made the two turn at each other.

Pefile then sighed.

"I don't have much to tell. I haven't lived that long. What I know also came from others."

"Me too."

Amihan also answered.

That made everyone rather unsatisfied. There was not enough information at all.

Mark then asked about the Night Everred Spirit Tree that Pefile spoke several times before. However, aside from its name, appearance, and the fact that only a Pure Blood Demon could raise a tree like that, there was nothing else he knew.

Most information about races was rather kept by themselves. It was because some of it could reveal the weakness of a race. With how the Blood Demons had gone extinct, they brought a lot of information about their race into their graves.

The only thing that might tell them the things they needed to know was to find a true surviving member of that race.

Mark could only sigh as the reasons for him to visit the Spirit Dimension started to pile up in front of him.