Mutagen

Day 138 - 7:23 AM - Living Room, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon Province, Philippines

"Haahhh...."

Mark escaped the scene with Mei's help, alternating their movement abilities while returning to the base.

But of course, there was no way that Fourth would not chase after the culprit of the current situation.

And now, Mark could only sign in annoyance as three beings that he did not want to lurk around were currently sitting in his living room.

Furthermore, it was Fourth who brought the other two back like this place was her own house.

After suffering for half of the night, Mark wanted to rest. But now, he was forced to watch over the three in case they tried to something in his place. 

Right now, because of the presence of the three, the whole base was silent. Even crickets would not dare make noise at this point. It was because of the suffocating feeling that everyone had after the three arrived together. Even the maids and the children had to go out of the house for now. Only he and Mei were left behind, being able to resist the feeling to a great extent.

"Can you three go somewhere else? Or just leave already?"

Mark grumbled with a frown. He would respect anyone worthy of it. These three in front of him, however, did not deserve an ounce of respect for him. It was even more after barging into his place uninvited.

"You're an odd one, aren't you?" Twelfth said. "Other people might be begging for any of us to visit them. Yet, you're straightforwardly kicking the three of us out."

"That is right." Third chimed in. "You can't even serve your guests a cup of tea. Just be glad that we here to visit this unsightly cave of yours."

Mark did not mind what the spider-eyed woman said, but this pervert was irking him more than Ninth did before. Furthermore, she was quite hostile towards him.

Ignoring the two, Mark turned to Fourth.

"Just why did you bring them here?"

"I didn't bring them here! They forced me to lead them here!"

Fourth cried out. This girl genuinely disliked her two guests, but it seemed that she could not do anything to push them away.

As for Mark, he could not fathom why would Third and Twelfth insist on coming here. Even if Mark caused a commotion, it was of no concern for the Eyes as they were just sent now to spread the news of the Second Wave and not to meddle in mortal affairs.

"Don't worry." Twelfth shrugged. "We have no ill will coming here. I don't know about Third, but I'm just curious."

"Who would think that a place like this exists in this small country? Furthermore, there's also you." She added. "Now I understand where all those disturbances in the past months came from. It's all from you, isn't it?"

Mark stared at Twelfth. She was on point. In the past, there were also disturbances from unknown sources. These past months, however, Mark was the primary cause. Furthermore, not only here, but he also got involved in some things in America.

"And you?"

Mark turned to Third.

"I am the same," Third fixed her dangling hair. "Though I'm more interested in that beautiful Spirit Tree you have here and that woman beside you."

Hearing those words made Mei shrink beside Mark. She grabbed Mark's arm tightly, staring sharply on Third. It was the wrong move, however, as it seemed that Third became more entranced at Mei's current expression.

"Can you stop that?"

Mark's eyes grew cold.

To Mark's words, Third's eyes turned towards him with sharpness.

"Who do you think you are to order me? Beauty is to be appreciated. Someone unsightly as you is not someone for me to listen to. In fact, can you not cover her? Please, get out of the way."

Of course, Mark would not take that lightly.

"So, you want me to stay quiet while letting you stare like a pervert at MY wife?" Mark said threateningly. "Is that what you wanted to say? Just who do you think you are?"

Mark's sudden threatening attitude surprised Fourth and Twelfth. Even those half-step deities would not have the courage he had. After all, the Eyes were more or less the administrators of Earth. No one in the right mind would dare provoke them despite knowing what they were.

Nevertheless, Third's reaction was even more unexpected.

"W-what did you say?!!! She's the wife of someone with an unsighlty appearance like you?! Impossible! IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Uwa... She snapped..."

Fourth could not help but murmur as they watched Third's current state.

On the other hand, with Mark being degraded like that, Mei's eyes were about to spurt fire as she hatefully stared at Third.

But then... Third did something that both Fourth and Twelfth did not expect.

"You must have done something to her. I will unveil the truth!"

Those words of Third made Fourth and Twelfth's eyes grow wide.

"STOP!" "DON'T!"

The two cried out. However, the two were late. Third already used her main ability.

***

"What the hell is this?"

Third cried out as she found herself in an endless void.

Dark, everything was dark.

The Third Eye, the Embodiment of Aesthetic Appreciation. That was who Third was. She bore the title as the Judge of Beauty among the Eyes. And her ability was to enter the minds of people, read their memories, and judge the person's inner beauty.

As she could not believe that someone with an appearance as Mark managed to snag a beauty with a goddess-like appearance, she suspected that he used some underhanded methods to do it.

Thus, she used her ability, targeting Mark.

Third entered Mark's consciousness in an attempt to read his memories. However, she suddenly found herself wandering in an endless void.

For the first time, aside from their Master, Third felt fear from something else.

"Happy now?"

As Third wandered in fear, a voice was heard in her ear. The voice could not be any familiar.

"Y-you! HOW!" 

Third turned around, looking for the source of the voice. However, she did not see anyone.

"Show yourself!"

She shouted.

"Quite a nerve you have. You enter my consciousness, and you behave arrogantly. You better leave if you don't want me to consume you."

Mark spoke, showing himself walking out from the void.

"Impossible... this is impossible..."

Sure enough, Third saw something that rarely existed on beings at Mark's level.

For one to be able to enter his own consciousness was not a feat that just anyone could do.

"Impossible here, impossible there. You're noisy. This is the last warning. Leave!"

Mark warned for the last time.

"Hmp." Third huffed. "You think you can force me out? No matter what you try to do, I won't get out until I find the truth!"

Sure enough, this woman was a narrow-minded one. She could not believe that someone like Mei had fallen for Mark. Furthermore, it seemed that she knew that Mark could not consume her as he had said. After all, he would receive the ire of the other Eyes if he was to kill her.

"Then, suit yourself."

Mark smiled sinisterly. This suddenly gave Third the chills.

It was true that Mark could not kill her because of the possible repercussions. However, it did not mean that he would not harm her.

And with that creepy smile, Mark vanished in the void once more.

Third was quite surprised that Mark suddenly retreated like that. However, her goal came first. She immediately used her ability, finding a door to Mark's memories. Now floating in the void, a black door appeared. Not minding the creepiness of the door, Third dove inside.

It was a mistake.

Third opened her eyes widely in shock. The scene before her was even worse than hell itself.

The cries of thousands of infants as their bodies were slowly roasted over the blazing fire entered her ears.

The scene of ghoulish humans being chopped alive to pieces by unsightly deformed multi-headed monsters that drunk their fresh blood and feasted on their oozing flesh.

Beautiful women being mutilated like dolls by a gigantic baby that had a mouth instead of eyeballs on its eye sockets.

Bloated and desiccated corpses being torn apart by ghouls, playing with and eating their rotten guts and flesh.

Humans sitting silently at the side as maggots slowly ate their flesh alive.

"URGH!"

Third felt nauseous. She wanted to vomit, but as nothing but consciousness without a body, it was impossible. Without being able to release the urging fleeing on her throat, she started to suffer.

And finally, Third could not handle it anymore. With the collapse of her mind, she retreated.

***

In a flash, Third returned to reality. Everything felt longer, but in fact, barely a second passed outside.

Both Fourth and Twelfth were still in the position to stop her. But the two froze.

They stared at Third with unconcealed shock.

Third's eyes were flowing with blood.

The Eyes might be beings not born biologically. Nevertheless, they were alive and similar to humans, they could be hurt or bleed.

But to suddenly tear up with blood, something must have happened.

They could not help but look at Mark, who was sinisterly smiling at Third's state.

"I warned you."

Mark spoke, making the dazed Third look at him.

But then...

"URP..."

That sound from Third made Mark grab Mei and they turned into black mist and materialized in the far corner of the room.

Fourth and Twelfth were also surprised but they were able to react and jumped away from the table.

"BLUURGH!"

Third vomited on the table. However, since she seemed to have not eaten anything, it was nothing but saliva and gastric juice.

"How disgusting..."

Twelfth delightedly remarked. That made Third snap out of her daze and realized what she had done. Feeling the trickle of liquid on her face, she wiped it with her hands and found out it was blood.

Third was shocked at her own unsightly display.

She turned her head at Mark. Unexpectedly, tears were accumulating in her eyes.

Without saying anything, she floated and rushed out to the exit. There, she left just like that.

"I guess, I'm leaving too."

Twelfth suddenly lost the urge to stay and made her way out without waiting for any reply.

Finally, only Fourth was left among the eyes.

"I'm going to leave... too?"

Fourth turned to Mark but suddenly found him glaring at her.

"Clean that before you leave."

Mark pointed at the mess that Third made.

"You're asking someone like me to clean?! Are you nuts?!" Fourth cried out. "I don't know what you did, but isn't it your fault?!"

"You are the one that brought them here, right?" Mark argued. "Besides, maybe you can put that mess in a bottle or something and label it with that woman's name. You can use it to blackmail her."

Fourth froze. That was an amusing idea but disgusting at the same time. However, it would surely be effective towards Third, who was someone highly concerned about the aesthetical display of things.

"You sure have some amusing ideas, don't you?" Fourth complimented. "But I'm not cleaning this. I'll send someone else."

Fourth said as she teleported away.

Mark closed his eyes, checking if the other two truly left. Feeling them leave the area of his detection, Mark was finally able to feel relieved. He then slumped on the floor, with Mei worrying about him.

It was not surprising that he felt drained. He just underwent that painful experience last night, and now, he had to create a highly detailed world in his consciousness that was able to affect an existence at the level of that Eye called Third.

Nevertheless, it was good that the nuisance finally left.

He did not want to deal with those beings anymore.

Since Fourth said that she would bring someone else to clean the mess, Mark and Mei left the room and forbidden anyone from entering it.

Five minutes later, Fourth actually returned. She was with a humanoid creature with a maid-like appearance. It was quite unexpected that she really took Mark's suggestion to heart.