Mutagen

Day 125 - 9:01 PM - Military Camp, New Infanta Settlement, Barangay Banugao, Infanta, Quezon

Mark fought physically with the two jumping corpses in front of him. The two were very sticky opponents. Dodging, blocking, counter-attacking, and even charging forward and retreating. The two corpses coordinated too well and fought too smoothly that anyone would forget that they were nothing but moving dead bodies.

But to say, Mark was enjoying the company of the two. After all, he never had any proper training, and his fighting style was nothing but a mash-up of things he self-studied. It was a way to train his muscles to fight with these two, who seem to be only able of physical fight.

Furthermore, the two corpses were able to cope with his enhanced body after he awakened his ancestry of being a Blood Demon. It was a good thing for him to have proper training partners.

He could play a little bit with these two.

After all, with the chaos that ensued in the settlement, Mark had nothing to do here anymore.

The future already changed.

***

Back in the workshop, Mark's eyes blurred as he got a vision. The Clairvoyance he had that would only activate at random times and when something was going to happen to the people close to him. And it would not show any vision for trivial matters. 

The only times that it activated was when something very crucial or something concerning death would happen to them.

And he could not deny, but Emika was one of them. Not only that, she fought by his side several times, but her personality and trait as a Mutator were very pleasing. She was annoying at times, but it was just a part of her charms as a child.

However, this night marked the start of her supposed suffering.

The Auraboros abducted people from the New Infanta Settlement stealthily. It was a very successful mission for them as they managed to get a lot of people. Worse, the Military only noticed it after hours the mission had ended.

People disappeared, many died hidden outside the walls, and worse, Emika's family were also gone.

Chervil was a capable scientist. Among the scientists that the Military had, he was one of those that had been able to come up with good results after the apocalypse. And thus, after seeing the research, the enemies would take him to work for him.

And of course, he would not just accept that. As such, they would use his sister, niece, and nephew to force him.

The first example was to force Emika to swallow a pill. She was the most active in protecting her family, being noisy and resisting, and such, the leader of the enemy did not fancy her.

Swallowing the pill turned her a beautiful green-haired child into a hideous vine monster. Worse, it did not change her into a savage beast, keeping her consciousness intact. If anyone was to mutate that way, it was better if it also destroyed her mind in the process.

They made her suffer like that to force his uncle to work under them.

The vision Mark saw was clear as spring water. Like before, it felt real, and he could feel Emika's emotions. He found it very unpleasant. It was as if it was choking him. Even though she became a monster, she did not cry outside. She insisted on protecting her brother and mother, forcing the ire of the enemies unto her.

Inwardly, she was in pain. The body she turned into felt pain in every movement. Having her body like that was torture. And yet, she did not voice any of it. Her many eyes under her leaves glared at the enemy with resolution. She would protect her family at all costs.

What she felt did not escape Mark's vision. It was as if he there beside her. And thus, he would not let it happen.

Mark immediately asked Spera, who had just left his workshop. He needed a portal towards the New Infanta Settlement. Not only that, it was the fastest method of travel, but it would not alert the enemies like how it did if he created an opening through the mist.

And thus, he appeared at the outskirts of the New Infanta Settlement to change the future once more. He was together with Mei and Amihan, who would serve as his backup from outside. The two would also be in charge of alerting the people of the enemies.

Aside from what happened to Emika, the vision gave Mark a good thing.

It was the closeup figure of the enemy leader and his aides. Without the enemies even knowing, he was able to see their leader and his subordinates.

He knew how many jumping corpses were there, and he now knew the face of the leader of the enemy. Furthermore, he heard their plan to use these people and infected to deal with his base. It was good to know as he had the same idea. It looked like he needed to do some tweaks on the infected he imprisoned and not send them as is.

***

Mark waved Ignis to one of the two Jiangshis. Of course, it evaded the attack smoothly while the other took the opening to attack him from behind.

He kicked the ground, backflipping, and evading the chain that flew towards him from his back. He spun his body int he air, trying to cut the chain. It caused a loud clanging sound, but even if Ignis was a Demon Sword, the chain only received a few scratches.

The Jiangshi wielding the sword jumped from in front, charging towards Mark, who was yet to land. With the sword pointed at him, it tried to pierce his chest.

Mark twisted his body, causing the sword to pass an inch before him. He then grabbed the head of the Jiangshi and smashed it to the ground as he landed.

BAM!

The dirt sunk and a small crater formed with the head of the Jiangshi at the center. While the attack smashed the ground, the head of the Jiangshi was unexpectedly still intact.

Furthermore, it slipped out of Mark's hand, leaving its hat, keeping the talisman still stuck on its forehead. It then spun his body with one hand, using the other that held the sword to cut Mark.

At the same time, the chain came hurling at him once more, trying to wrap on his body and constrain him.

BAM! CLING!

Mark kicked the chains away and slapped the flat side of the sword, forcing it to the ground. Using the same hand he used to smash the head of the sword-wielding Jiashi to the ground, he pushed himself away from the sandwich of the two.

He smiled. Fighting like this was enjoyable.

And to say, he already got his goals here. One was to change the future. The other was to test the enemies.

He already saw the leader and these jumping corpses from his vision. He already saw Chaaya and Huo Long Yue. The only thing that he had not done until this time was to test their abilities.

Why? Not because he wanted to know to be able to protect his base. What he realized this time when he returned was that he was not the only one that needed to grow stronger.

In the upcoming confrontation in his base, he would try to make a safe environment where he would allow his people to learn.

He would benefit from absorbing the energy that created the mist, while his base would have experience thwarting a siege. In that case, he needed to measure the abilities of the enemies.

And this time was an adequate opportunity.

It was kind of unfortunate that the shadow woman named Chaaya was not here for the test. In any case, he would just deal with them with the time came.

As for his other abilities, he would not use it this time. He would only use the things he showed when he returned. After all, that fox that was always watching was around.

Mark could not fathom what it wanted. It was just watching without hostility or any notion to face him. This behavior made it hard to guess what its goals.

However, as long as it did not show any hostility, Mark was not going to confront it. If he started to find it annoying, however, he would not hesitate to eliminate it together with these robed annoyances.

While Mark played with the two Jiangshis, Huo Long Yue faced two people.

Emika was supposed to be the victim. Yet, she was now fighting with the person who was supposed to abduct her. She stood on the second floor using her vines to distract the Huo Long Yue.

On the other hand, the person with an alias of Ogre. The mercenary Jones Galley, faced with Huo Long Yue.

Huo Long Yue was a rogue cultivator. He was more powerful compared to regular people. Strong enough to see the speed of bullets and even catch the ones from assault rifles flying towards him.

Yet, Jones Galley, who was supposed to be nothing but a mercenary, was able to cope with him.

Emika's vines crept towards Huo Long Yue, trying to constrain him. The latter waved his hands with a bright light, slashing the vines into pieces.

At the same time, Jones charged towards Huo Long Yue and punched.

Huo Long Yue, on the other hand, smiled with ridicule as he released a punch of his own. 

His slight tap could sink a bulletproof armor worn by a soldier. A punch from him could pierce the armor of a tank. If a human received this attack, he would explode into pieces.

BOOM!

Huo Long Yue's eyes turned wide.

The two punches they threw connected with a loud boom. Yet, Jones Galley was still standing with a smug smile on his face.

Huo Long Yue retreated in a hurry as he knew that something was not right. Even Mutators with enhanced bodies would not be unscathed after receiving a punch from him.

"You! Who are you!"

Huo Long Yue asked. After all, it was clear that Jones was of another country's forces. He did not look like a Filipino and more of European or American origin.

"Isn't it rude for you to ask my name without introducing yourself first? Well, in any case, I don't mind." Jones smiled. "My name is Jones Galley. A mercenary."

Hearing the last word, Huo Long Yue felt smug.

"So, you are paid to fight here? Why not join us. Have you heard of us, the Auraboros? We like to take talents. We can pay you more than what you can get here."

Huo Long Yue was quite confident about this. In his eyes, mercenaries were nothing but money huggers. Pay them more, and they would go from enemies to allies.

But then, Jones Galley smiled with ridicule.

"Don't make me laugh. The Auraboros will take me and let me join?"

Huo Long Yue suddenly felt confused.

Then, Jones charged towards him once more with his fist that shone with a glossy metallic hue.

Huo Long Yue retreated.

BAM!

There was nothing that the punch hit, but the air trembled with a strong wind.

"I've been fighting with your organization for the majority of my life. How will your superiors let me join you? Hahaha!"

Huo Long Yue was shocked by that statement.

"Your people chased after me for a long time and every single one of them... I killed."

Jones Galley stated.

And then, Huo Long Yue remembered the name of the man laughing in front of him. His eyes turned wider.

"It seemed that you realized." Jones smiled. "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Jones Galley. But they also call me SSP-018367. One of the few survivors of the experiment that your organization conducted on innocent orphans before. And the only survivor of your organization's Supersoldier project."

Jones then adjusted his fist, getting ready for a better fight.

"Now tell me. How do you want to die?"