Mutagen

Day 80 - 5:40 PM - Pagsanjan River, Maytalang I, Lumban, Laguna

The remaining men stared at the nightmare before them. This situation should not have been happening. They all wanted to believe that it was nothing but a dream. Unfortunately, they were facing a harsh reality.

They were already on the way back to their base after a successful hunt. Aside from collecting things from a few survivor groups, they also managed to capture a few women to play with.

It should have been a bountiful day if they did not decide to stop and surround two people who were minding their own business.

The arrogance they had, had taken away their ability to judge the situation. This gang had more people in their group. They also had deadly weapons at their disposal.

Unfortunately, all of these things were worthless in front of real, genuine strength.

They could not even do anything but freeze on the spot.

Watching their comrades die one by one.

Not even able to help or run away.

***

Mark stared at the next person he was about to ask the same question.

From the skinny man that died first, several heads were already rolling on the concrete. He asked several of the men already, and he was unsatisfied with their answers. Thus, they were beheaded in a flash.

Now, there were only eleven people left, including the already dying Mutator.

Mark then threw the necklace on the next man he was going to ask. He already experimented on this necklace on the previous men. There, he found the use of this thing.

This Agimat was able to ward off any magical or psychic attack that affects the mind of the wearer. It was the very reason why the leader was unaffected by his [Emotion Induction] in the slightest. To prove this fact, the next person fell on his knees after the necklace made contact with his hand. He was released from Mark's mental pressure.

However, there was one thing. The wearer was not protected from other kinds of magical attacks. One of the dead bodies were severely scorched after he threw a ball of fire on him. Another was festering after he hit that person with a surge of miasma. The necklace remained intact, but the person did not.

Mark bent down on the next man and asked.

"The same question. Do you know anything about this necklace?"

To Mark's satisfaction, unlike the previous men that were still afraid despite being free from the mental pressure, this one looked calmer. Now, looking at this guy, he did not seem to wet himself like the others.

The man then asked Mark.

"I don't understand. What exact answer do you want to hear?"

Of course, if this person was calmer, that was the question he would say to Mark. After all, unlike the first one, some of the previous men Mark killed gave one or two answers. However, they were still murdered brutally.

Since this one was different from the previous ones, Mark decided to change the question.

"Alright, have you seen another necklace that looked similar? At least, something that could be connected to that one."

Hearing that, the man racked his brains. And fortunately, he remembered something.

"Our leader..."

"Say it louder."

Mark said as the man's voice was nothing more than a mumble.

"I don't know if that is what you are asking for, but I remember seeing our leader wearing a necklace that looked like a large ring. Both that ring and this necklace looked similar."

Hearing that, Mark pointed at the armless Mutator.

"That isn't your leader?"

"No... Sir... He is our leader's younger brother."

That made Mark nod. He also thought the same before. In fact, the armless man looked nowhere qualified to be a leader of a criminal group like this. At most, he could be a right-hand man.

"Alright, thank you for the information."

Mark said as he reached for the necklace on the man's hand.

"Are you going to spare me?"

The man asked with a bit of hope. After all, Mark seemed to be satisfied with his answer.

Nevertheless, the harsh reality kicked him down once more. After the necklace left his hand, he immediately froze in place.

"Spare?" Mark glanced at the man sideways. "Why should I? After looking at my wife with indecent eyes, you think that any of you will live? Keep dreaming."

Mark said as the man's head separated from his body. 

The man had his eyes widened as he realized what had happened in his last moments.

Hearing those words, the remaining men had lost all hope. Furthermore, Mark already had the answer he wanted. The next goal was to find the base of these animals.

And thus, Mark's body blurred as the veins on his body glowed red. By the way that his body seemed to have lost its substance, he certainly left his position at that moment. When his body returned to normal, and the red glow on his body vanished, each of the remaining men fell down with their heads detached from their bodies.

It was a gruesome sight, and yet, both Mark and Mei barely had any reaction on their faces.

"Gege, you can just ask that gorilla there if you want an answer, right?"

Mei asked as she pointed at the armless Mutator.

To that question, Mark smiled.

"Well, I want to give them some hope before killing them. I can't have anyone looking at you like that die easily. At least some mental torture should be done."

Mei looked at Mark with a sweet smile. He might be keeping his cool, but he was still angry.

"Ok, your turn."

Mark said while looking at the armless Mutator lying on the concrete. He was bleeding to death, but as a Mutator, he would not die quickly. The muscled man was still conscious despite the pain. He also had some resistance to Mark's emotion induction because of his reigning trait. The only thing pinning him on the ground was the weakened body, and the pressure Mark was giving out.

"Just kill me already, you f*cking monster. My brother will avenge me. He will mess with that b*tch of yours in front of you."

He sure was fearless.

"You seem to have confidence," Mark had a sinister smile. This gorilla called Mei names for the third time.

And thus...

A [Blood Whip] from Mark pierced the shoulder of the man. However, instead of killing him, a black film of metal sealed his wounds, stopping the bleeding.

"Wh-what are you..."

The Mutator already expected to die. He was insulted to the fact that the bleeding of his arms was stopped. He did not need pity from his enemy. 

And of course, it was not pity. When the man saw the sneer on Mark's face, he felt chills all over his body.

"I changed my mind. I won't kill you here." Mark said. "I will let you witness how that brother you're confident about will die."

As Mark said those words, the [Blood Whip] changed shape and solidified into a metal chain. The chain was stuck inside the Mutator's body inside his veins. The moment Mark tugged on the chains, he felt his whole body being torn apart.

He could only scream in agony. Of course, the chain was not made to kill him, despite how much pain he felt, he would not die unless his mind broke down.

"Mei'er, let's go. We'll visit this gorilla's base."

Mark said which made Mei nod.

At their will, their wings sprouted in between their backs and the bags they were wearing. There were no problems with it as Mark tweaked with the bags. They could not leave these either since the bags contained the clothes Mei picked and some souvenirs to bring home.

Leaving the bridge, Mark and Mei flew.

"AAAAAAGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

With the agonizing screams of the Mutator being hanged in the air by Mark.

However, Mark had no idea where the base was. He also doubted that the gorilla would actually tell. That was why Mark was decided to go on a short stop nearby.

***

Paulo and Chris saw everything that happened at the bridge. Sure enough, the two could not believe what their eyes witnessed.

The members of the collector group of the Buddha Gang were slaughtered very easily. They thought of warning the couple on the bridge, but to think that it was the total opposite. The members of the gang were the ones who needed to be warned. Not like they would do anyway, even if they knew that this would happen.

Those animals of Buddha Gang needed to be killed. Any survivor living in this area would not go against that notion.

What made the two frozen was when they saw the couple sprout wings and take flight with the right-hand of Buddha Gang, Alias Macho, in tow. The two could even hear the dying screams of the Mutator from the gang.

Still, that was not the issue. The problem was that the couple were actually flying towards their direction.

"Paulo, call Zach and Danna. Quick!"

Chris said which made Paulo rush down from the watchtower.

***

Mark and Mei arrived at the hideout of a group of survivors living beside the river.

It was impossible for Mark to not notice the two lookouts that were watching the whole scene at the bridge. He also knew about the notion of the two to warn Mark and Mei, which gave him a good impression of these people.

As these survivors lived in this area, they should be aware of where the base of the enemies was. That was why Mark decided to stop by and ask.

When they arrived, the two lookouts already left the watchtower and stood in the middle of their yard with two more people.

They were wary of course. However, Mark had no plans to spend much time with them.

And thus... Before the group could say anything, Mark opened his mouth.

"Do you guys know where the base of this gorilla is?"

The sudden question made the four people below stumped. There was no greeting or anything. Just straight to the question. However, since two of them watched what happened, they just decided to answer. They did not want to receive the ire of this couple and follow the steps of the gang members. 

The appearance of the screaming Alias Macho was proof that they should not try to mess with the two.

"They should be at the Capitol. In Sta. Cruz."

The man that replied glanced at Alias Macho. It was not surprising if he received a deadly glare from the gang subleader. However, not mention glaring, the subleader could not even stop himself from screaming because of the torture.

As the question was honestly answered, Mark and Mei had no reason to stay. Mark, just spoke another two sentences before they left.

"The weapons, vehicles, and supplies left at the bridge belong to your group now. Just take care of the captured people there too."

With those words, Mark and Mei swiftly vanished from their eyes.

***

The four people left on the ground were both stunned and speechless. As what they just heard was too good to be true, it failed to register in their minds immediately.

Zach, the leader of their group was the first to snap back to reality.

"Everyone also heard it, right?"

"Ah..." Danna blinked. "I do?"

Chris and Paulo also nodded.

"Then quick! Get everyone! We'll retrieve everything before the zombies swarm the bridge! QUICK!"

And thus, their whole group of thirteen people left the protected walls of their base to go to the bridge.

There, they shiver at the sight left by the one-sided slaughter that happened. Nevertheless, the shiver they felt had vanished as they saw everything that was left for their taking. They also freed the captured women who were pitifully tied up and ravaged inside the trucks.

***

In the next few days, a new group would rise in Laguna, composed of several groups joining together. They were worshiping a man and woman with bat wings as their idol.

Of course, that detail was left not known by Mark and Mei, who were now heading towards the Provincial Capitol of Laguna. They flew in the air with the orange colored sky as the background picture. Unfortunately, their background music was the agonizing screams of Alias Macho.

The annoying Title Screen music of a certain insane bus video game from an old console was way better than this.

Thus, Mark decided to bash the screaming guy onto a building below. Alias Macho fainted as they left the crumbling building behind. Sure enough, that was not just a simple crash. It was surprising that Alias Macho was still alive.