Mutagen

Day 152 - 12:30 AM - Ruined Mountain Farming Village, Barangay Mabini, Municipality of Viga, Catanduanes

The arrival of the two people, Bathala and Fourth, was very surprising. It was even more for Mark, Mei, and Amihan. After all, they knew that the two were not supposed to be together.

"HEY! What happened here?!"

Fourth's eyes fell on the group below.

BAM!

The surroundings felt heavy. Berrak and Morlkil fell on their knees immediately.

Although Diwata Iraya did not go down like the first two, she was having a hard time just standing up. However, despite the situation, her attention was more focused on the old man than the source of the coercing pressure around them.

As for the last three, Mark, Mei, and Amihan, Mark took quick action fast. When he felt that Fourth was agitated, he immediately put his glowing hands on their heads to protect them from the pressure.

Mark then raised an eyebrow as he stared at Fourth.

"Who do you think can answer your question if you don't control that strong pressure from you?"

That was right. It was one mistake that would happen to a lot of beings in power. Asking questions while releasing out heavy pressure or killing intent. Then, getting angry because no one was able to answer.

It was plain stupid. The idiots were not the ones unable to answer but the ones asking the question.

In any case, it was different in this circumstance.

"Who else? You, of course."

Fourth proudly replied to Mark with her hands on her waist.

Mark could not give a come back here. Fourth knew that Mark could withstand the pressure from the Eyes in the first place.

"In any case, calm down and retract your aura." Mark shrugged. "I'm not in the state to talk a lot right now. Ask her instead."

Mark then pointed at Diwata Iraya.

Beside Fourth, Bathala stared at the two while sweating bullets. He was afraid that Fourth would get angry because of how Mark, a lower creature, behaved in front of her. Unfortunately, he was not really in the position to meddle here.

It was kind of amusing to see an actual god to be afraid of a little girl.

Unexpectedly, Bathala saw Fourth withdraw her pressure and actually floated down in front of Mark.

"You got injured?"

Fourth asked, looking at Mark's state.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Mark said, pulling at his clothes.

"Torn clothes are not an injury." Fourth retorted. "But I'm not gonna argue. Your voice sounds rougher than before. I'm pretty sure that you're suppressing the pain right now."

But then, Mark glanced at the sky.

"Before asking questions, shouldn't you better deal with that first?"

"AH!"

Fourth looked at what Mark was glancing at and exclaimed in panic. Without waiting for her to forget once more, the little girl rushed towards the sky.

As the little girl flew, Mark stared with interest. It seemed that he was right. The Eyes could mend this kind of trouble. In fact, Fourth began to close the holes in the sky. Of course, despite the distance, Mark could hear her annoying grumbles about making temporary repairs.

At this time, it was Bathala's turn to go down to Mark's group.

And then, it was Diwata Iraya's turn to go down. She was not just kneeling. The Diwata was actually prostrating.

"Mahabaging Bathala."

Diwata Iraya respectfully greeted.

Being greeted like that, Bathala let out a bitter smile as he helped Diwata Iraya up.

"You don't have to do that, my child. I am nothing but a Forgotten God now."

"I cannot do that." Diwata Iraya replied. "Forgotten or not, you, Bathala, is our creator."

Likewise, even if the majority of humans in this country had forgotten him, his creations would not.

Although the Diwatas were not the direct creation of Bathala, he had some hand in their existence. In the first place, it was odd that the descriptions of Nature Deities, the Diwatas, were more or less endemic to the country of the Philippines.

It was Bathala's influence in this country that caused the birth of Diwatas in the past and in the present.

To Diwata Iraya's respect, Bathala smiled. Then, he turned to Mark.

"I'm surprised. When I met you before, you don't even know anything about the Eyes. Now, you actually have a good relationship with one."

Mark could only shrug slightly.

"We're not close. She just finds my existence amusing."

"You're mistaken." Bathala shook his head. "Do not think that the Eyes would just follow the words of anyone. She even showed concern for your injuries."

Mark did not reply. In the first place, even as an Empath, it was kind of hard for him to exactly pinpoint the emotions of the Eyes.

Instead, Mark asked back a question to Bathala.

"How about you? Did you get caught?"

At Mark's question, Bathala smiled.

"You can say that. Though I don't really have any choice but to turn myself in."

Bathala then turned to the holes in the sky.

"As you can see, the walls are weakening. Just my existence in the Spirit Dimension is causing it to collapse. That's why I can only enter the Mortal World where it is stable. Of course, the Eyes immediately found a foreign God like me."

"You're not going to get killed, right?"

Mark asked. It was alright for him to show concern about this. Bathala not only gave them gifts last time but also blessed his relationship with Mei.

"No, fortunately." Bathala shook his head. "I already learned the truth. I might get erased if it was the past, though. I was just lucky this time."

By the looks of it, Bathala had no choice but to leave the Spirit Dimension. It was in fear of it collapsing because of this existence. He was putting himself at risk for his people. It was his known character since the past. However, it seemed that the circumstances changed now.

"We need them to contribute their energy. Then, we'll send them out to the upper realms where they should go."

At this point, Fourth that was already done with her work just went down and chimed in.

"Them, huh?" Mark noticed. "So, there are also others."

"That's right." Fourth nodded. "They had no choice but to come out of hiding because of the Dimensional Instability. If they did not and the space in the Spirit Dimension suddenly collapsed around them, they might lose their lives even if they call themselves gods."

From there, a round of information exchange happened.

At first, Diwata Iraya looked at Fourth with a bit of a condescending expression. It could not be helped as she did not know who Fourth, who looked like a strange little girl, was. Furthermore, she showed no respect at Bathala, who was worshiped by the Diwata. Fortunately, Bathala there to manage the Diwata.

As Mark suggested, Diwata Iraya did the explaining, pointing at the dead body of Lord Seis. She told that the dimension holes that appeared were all the fault of the Lord of Demons.

Well, although it sounded like pushing the blame on the dead, it was the truth.

Realizing that Mark's group was just preventing the worse, Fourth's mood lightened. It was true that it could have gotten worse if Lord Seis was not defeated.

While the exchange was happening, Bathala took the opportunity to greet Amihan and Mei. The amicable god sure was fond of interacting with people.

To the side, Berrak watched the scene in utter silence. It was not like he did not want to join in. It was more like he should not. After all, in front of him was the actual god of creation in Philippine Mythology. Furthermore, even though he did not know what Fourth was, for a god to be afraid of her, she would be someone higher.

And that pressure from earlier... It made Berrak quite afraid of this little girl. That was why he decided to stay silent beside Morlkil.

In any case, Berrak's view of Mark's group changed drastically. It was even more to Mark, who could casually converse with these godly figures.

As for Mark, he intently listened to Fourth and Bathala. As it appeared, they were in the middle of a conversation when Fourth noticed that there were issues with the Dimension Barrier in this area. That was why the two were together.

"By the way," Mark spoke. "Why do you guys need the energy of the gods? It's not to repair the Dimension Wall, right?"

"If that can happen, we'll do that." Fourth sighed. It seemed that the situation was not amusing for her. "It's good that you are here. I'm looking for you, actually."

Mark was confused. But then... He realized the only reason that an Eye would be looking for him.

Then, Fourth pointed upwards to the dark sky.

Mark could only follow the direction pointed by her finger. Looking at the sky intently rather than just a glance.

The others did the same, but it seemed that only Bathala understood what Fourth was pointing at.

As for Mark... His eyebrows could only make a frown. He saw what Fourth was pointing at immediately.

Mark had full access to his subconscious memories. Even just a glance would make him remember things as long as the details were seen clearly. And from what he had seen in the past nights...

Something had changed.

Mark was sure that at the direction where Fourth was pointing, there was no star.

But now, there was something twinkling there.

"That's not a star, is it?" Mark spoke. "And for sure, not a meteorite either. I'm pretty sure they don't twinkle like that."

"That's right." Fourth replied. "It's not a star or a meteorite. Absolutely not a comet either. It's a huge chunk of metal. That's why it's twinking."

"Metal?"

Mark was confused.

Well, it was not only Mark. Everyone here was. 

Did it come from some sort of mothership?

Fourth knew their confusion. Thus, she began to explain.

"That's a huge chunk from an artificial planet that exploded. As for the reason why it exploded, I guess I don't have to explain it to you, right?"

Fourth said, staring at Mark.

And, of course, Mark could only frown.

There was only one planet that he knew why it exploded. And it was likely what Fourth was implying to.

"The planet got infected..."

Mark murmured.

"That's right." Fourth nodded. "It came from an artificial planet that got destroyed after an outbreak struck the inhabitants."

And then, Fourth showed a serious expression.

"It will be the cause of the Second Wave."

"Well, damn it..."

Mark's shoulders fell.

"Are you saying me that another variant of this outbreak will come from that chunk?"

Fourth did not reply. It was a sign of agreement.

Mark's head started to ache.

"As it is a foreign matter, we barely had any information about that planet or this chunk of metal approaching Earth." Fourth explained further. "All I can say is we only have another week before that thing hit Earth."

"So, you are going to use the energies of the gods to stop that thing?"

Mark asked.

"Unfortunately, that won't be enough." Fourth shook her head. "The gods of the past already lost most of their powers. The most that we can do is to prevent it from directly destroying Earth after it hit. While we use the energy from the gods to do that, us Eyes will prevent any large catastrophe from happening inside our territories."

And then, Fourth dropped a bomb.

"It's unfortunate but South America might probably sink."

"?"

It was surprising. Fourth said that the Eyes would protect their territories. Then, why would she say that South America would likely sink?

Mark, Mei, and Amihan fell silent. They knew the reason.

South America lost its protector after one of the eyes vanished. It was very likely that the Eye that Mark fought before was the protector of that place. However, that Eye was turned into a puppet by the Great One. And then, Mark disposed of the puppet.

Who would have thought that it would cause a whole continent to get destroyed in the Second Wave?

In any case, it was not Mark's problem.

Right now, what was on his mind was to hurry up with their plans. It was good that his business here on this island was almost finished already.

Then, they could leave to get Edzel's mother from the grasp of the Tamawos.