Mutagen

Day 148 - 2:34 AM - North Codon Coast, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes

Back at the camp, the little girls had already fallen asleep. Not inside their tent, though, but inside Mark and Mei's tent. It included Emika that did not want to sleep alone inside their tent. Amihan was also here, sleeping on an extra pillow.

Edzel and Pearl also slept inside their tent. Their sleep was not too deep, and they would readily wake up when needed.

As usual, Pefile stayed on guard right away after he returned. Berrak was also awake. It was not like he did not want to sleep, but he was still digesting all the things that happened.

Mark defeated Berrak overwhelmingly. He also knew that Mark was strong. Still, there were things that he did not expect that happened earlier.

Aside from his occurring thoughts, there was another thing that kept Berrak awake. It was the sharp attributed energy that was gathering in the surroundings, centered around Mark and Mei's tent.

Inside the tent, Mei was still awake. It was her habit, every time that Mark was away. Except for this time, however. While watching over the sleeping girls, she started to practice the basic cultivation technique Mark taught her.

The event earlier gave her a bit of a sense of urgency. After all, the infected were growing fierce by the day. And at this point, practicing Chinese Cultivation would help her a lot. Of course, she did not want to be a cultivator, but no one would be able to deny that even the basics of it could enhance a person's body.

Nevertheless, her main goal for this was to keep standing beside Mark and not drag him behind.

The waiting took awhile after Mark took away his unconscious brother and the members of the rebels they caught. But then, before the sound of Chaflar's flapping wings reached them, Mei had already stopped her meditation and rushed outside.

Berrak was confused by that gesture. He could not help but look at Mei as she stared in a specific direction. And soon, he realized what she was doing when he vaguely saw the dragon's silhouette in the northern sky. He could not help but turn back to Mei in both confusion and surprise.

"You don't have to be surprised," Pefile said to Berrak. "For some strange reason, her ability to perceive her husband is absurdly high."

As Mark and Chaflar landed, everyone woke up, well, except Emika and Amihan.

As usual, Mei and the little girls welcomed Mark back.

Well, Mei was looking at Mark strangely, though. Before Mark could ask her what was wrong, she started sniffing him.

There was no need for him to ask now. He had seen such gesture from a lot of anime to be unable to understand what was going on.

"Smells like flowers, doesn't it?"

Mark said with a bitter smile as he pulled Mei into his embrace.

"Who?"

Mei asked, staring at Mark's eyes.

This situation made Mark shrug.

"Let's sit down first."

Mark said.

There, they sat around the campfire as Mark told everyone what happened. Of course, while he told them about his family producing magically inclined people, he left out the actual circumstances behind his lineage.

"What an odd family you have."

Pefile said while the others could not help but agree. Even Berrak was the same.

Mark was a Demon, and now, his Aunt and Grandmother from an unknown Generation got revealed that they became Spirits. Their circumstance was very complicated.

Looking at Mei, Mark ruffled her head.

"So, don't get jealous, alright?"

"Un," Mei replied with a red face. "It just didn't smell like a human, so..."

Mark could only smile bitterly.

Mei would not react if it were a human, but it was the opposite if it was not. Pretty much like when Snow was targetting him in New Jersey as a mate.

"By the way, Grandmother wants to meet you and the girls next time."

Mark said.

"Meet your Grandmother?"

Mei asked.

"Yeah, she seems excited to meet my wife and children, you see."

Hearing Mark's words made Mei even redder and nervous.

"I-I don't mind..."

Mei said, twiddling with her index fingers.

What a cute reaction.

Still, Mark could not help but look at someone. It was Abbygale.

"What's wrong with her?"

Even Pefile noticed it.

Abbygale was shaking. The calm Abbygale seemed to be afraid of something.

Mark could only shake his head as he stood and picked her up. He then came back to his seat, letting the scared girl sit down on his lap. The little girl could only curl up in the body of the person she recognized as her father, trying to regain her calm.

Mei and the others could only watch in concern. Even Miracle, who would always compete with her sister for that position, remained quiet.

"Don't worry, Gale. She's a very kind Grandmother, alright?"

Mark whispered to the girl.

Slowly, Abbygale raised her head and looked at Mark's face.

"She won't hit me?"

"No, she won't."

Mark replied, caressing her head hair.

That exchange gave Pefile and the others the idea of what was going on.

"Boss..." Edzel called out. "Does her real Grandmother..."

Edzel could not finish his question, though, looking at Abbygale that would shiver just by hearing the word.

Everyone here knew that none of the girls was Mark's actual daughter. Even the new member, Berrak, was not a fool to not realize it. Looking at Mei, who did not seem to be past twenty, there was no way that she would have Iola as her daughter unless she gave birth as a child less than ten years of age.

Mark continued caressing the girl's head gently as he recalled the story. It was a circumstance that none of them tried to dig up in front of Abbygale.

And as everyone could tell from the little girl's question, she was indeed abused by her grandmother. Of course, this information did not only come from Abbygale but also her blood-related Aunt, Jaeya.

From the start, it was one of the things that Abbygale said to Mark. She did not have a father, and that was one of the reasons she wholeheartedly cherished Mark.

Abbygale came from a rich family. A family that Jaeya's mother, Isolde Delos Reyes, raised from the dirt on her own after their father left them for another woman. Although her husband leaving led Isolde to become a strong woman, she also became an extremely strict mother to her two daughters.

It ended up with Isolde dictating her daughters about things. About what they should do and should not. Even to the point of matchmaking her daughters to men that she approved of. Sons of rich people in her field of business.

But as if destiny dictated, her first daughter, Aica, got pregnant with an unknown man as a father. What was worse was that the man actually ran away after knowing about Aica's pregnancy.

As such, Isolde was infuriated.

She urged her daughter to abort the child. However, Aica begged to keep the child. In exchange, she would follow her mother's words from then on.

In the end, Aica managed to make Isolde agree. But of course, it did not mean that the grandmother accepted her bastard of a grandchild.

The child was born. Of course, it was Abbygale.

And as it seemed, whenever there was a mishap, like Abbygale behaving the child of her age, accidentally knocking off things, she would get unreasonably scolded, or worse, hit. The worst was the words that Isolde would hurl towards the child that was inappropriate for her age.

At an early age, Abbygale knew that her supposed father left her and ran away. It was because he did not want Abbygale.

Aica knew what was going on. However, the only thing she could do was to endure and take care of Abbygale as much as she could. She had thoughts of running away with the little girl. However, there was nowhere they could go. Even their relatives hated her mother and no one would definitely accept them.

What added to the fire was when Jaeya ran away from home, eloping with a man. Isolde became more distraught that Aica could not take away her eyes from her daughter.

If not, Abbygale would receive all the brunt of her grandmother's anger.

And thus, while Aica was not home, Abbygale could only stay inside their room.

And then, the event came. The expensive ragdoll cat that Isolde was raising sneaked into Abbygale's bedroom. As Abbygale knew that it was her grandmother's she was afraid of going near it. As such, she tried to chase it out.

However, like its grumpy owner, the cat was as hateful. It started to rampage inside the room, knocking off a lot of things in the process.

In desperation to get the cat out of the room, the little girl grabbed it after it was cornered. However, it resisted and in the end, Abbygale got bitten. 

It all happened while Aica was not home as she needed to attend to their business.

That bite caused one of the cat's fangs to be broken. And of course, Abbygale got hit for that.

Due to implications in the business, Aica went home the next morning. Only to find their room had become a mess and Abbygale was burning with fever due to the bite. The mother immediately rushed her daughter out, going to the hospital.

That was when the outbreak struck.

With the little girl's experiences, it was no wonder that the word Grandmother struck her negatively. To her, it was far scarier than the infected.

As Mark told everyone the story, they could not help but look at Abbygale with complicated expressions.

By this time, the little cat girl had already fallen asleep, curled in the embrace of the father she recognized.

"You really have a pretty complicated family, don't you."

Pefile remarked.

"You're the last person I want to hear that from."

Mark retorted to everyone's confusion. After all, aside from Mark, no one here knew about this Tamawo's circumstances.

"Ahem." Pefile coughed. "What is your next plan, now?"

Mark thought for a bit and nodded as the idea entered his mind.

"I want to clean this island."

Mark declared.

"What do you mean?"

Berrak could not help but ask.

"I already confirmed that my family is in a good situation. The only thing left was to make their environment safer."

"You don't intend to wipe out the infected and evolved animals on the island, do you?"

Pefile asked.

"That one is impossible, of course," Mark replied. "Unless we flatten the whole island, we won't be able to do that."

"But it didn't mean that we can't do anything about other things."

Mark added.

"The rebels and the Demons..."

Mei spoke.

"That's right. The neutral and peaceful factions of the rebels aside, the aggressive ones and the Demons don't need to exist on this island anymore."

As Mark said that, Berrak could not help but feel chills on his back. Without a doubt, Mark was planning to conduct a massacre on this island. Furthermore, there would be no discrimination between humans and non-humans. Even though Mark and his family were Demons themselves, they would not hesitate to eliminate other Demon Races.

"You care a lot for someone who did not want to meet his family," Pefile said. "Isn't that being a hypocrite?"

"You really have a sharp tongue, seriously." Mark shrugged. "But you are wrong about something. I might have some disputes with them, but they are still my family. It's not like I care but they are still a responsibility I have to fulfill. I don't intend to take them in or directly help them. At least, they can't say that I did nothing for them."

Pefile shrugged back. Mark's line of thought was very hard to understand.

"Are we moving immediately?"

Mei asked.

"Tomorrow." Mark nodded. "We will spend a day to clean this island and then move on."