Mutagen

Day 155 - 1:09 AM - Royal Chamber, Sacred Tree Castle, Tamawo Ancestral Tribe, Municipality of Badian, Province of Cebu

The myths about the Ancient Visayan Gods were too vague. It was the truth that no one would be able to refute in the modern era. Most of these myths were nothing but passed down hearsays with almost no written or illustrated records. Because of this, the exact details of the events were buried in the past without anyone to remember.

In the first place, what could a mere human understand about the actual circumstances of the gods?

Some of the details could be true, but being passed on from one mouth to another would cause changes that would make it stray far from the truth.

Not to mention that the Spanish colonization of the Philippines in the past literally erased most of the culture left by the Ancient Filipinos.

***

After stating that Sky God Kaptan was dead, Magwayen relieved the details in her mind.

It all started during the rebellion of Licalibutan.

The myths said it simply. 

The three grandchildren of Kaptan, Licalibutan, Liadlaw, and Libulan, tried to usurp the Sky God's position with the eldest leading the rebellion.

Nonetheless, it ended with the three being killed by the lightning smite of the angry Kaptan, and even the innocent Lisuga perished soon after.

It was too simple. Too simple to the point of being suspicious. It was as if it was told in a way that would favor the winner despite the odds.

A battle of Supreme Beings would not end in such a manner. Not to mention that despite having a body made of stone, Licalibutan was no beast. He was an intelligent being capable of thought.

Even with his arrogance, Licalibutan knew that he was not an opponent to his grandfather in a face-to-face battle. Even if his two brothers were with him, there was no way that they would win.

That was if they were to fight directly.

As the myth stated, the siblings did blow up the gates protecting the sky world, Kahilwayan. However, that was nothing but a way to lure the Sky God into an ambush.

They blew up the gates in a stealthy manner and pretended that someone else did it. It was not surprising since gods in that era had many enemies, and the contest was tight. At the time that the Sky God lowered his guard, the three lower gods made their move.

It turned into a bloody battle. A mysterious storm raged above Kanlaon and caused the volcano to erupt prematurely.

In the end, Kaptan killed his three grandsons with his lightning. But even so, Licalibutan's ambush successfully managed to fatally injure the Sky God. His [Source], the gathering of his magical energy, was broken by Licalibutan.

And to a god, a broken [Source] was irreparable. It was one of the causes of a god's death. Their [Source] weighed as much as their lives. As a Supreme Sky God, his broken [Source] pushed him to utter madness. It was the same rage that caused him to kill his remaining grandchild.

The unfortunate thing, all of it happened during Magwayen's absence. Everything could have been prevented if she was there. However, as a God of the Underworld, she had her duties to fulfill. She could not stay by their side all the time.

As Kaptan calmed down from his rage, the last thing he did was to use his remaining energy to envelop the bodies of his grandchildren, except Licalibutan, with everlasting light. And as said by the myths, the three formed the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Was it true? Did the three turn into those heavenly bodies? Yes. But not in this realm.

***

Inside the Ancestral Chamber, there was only silence.

The Supreme Sky God of Visayan Myths, Kaptan, was dead.

It was a piece of information that neither Mark nor the Eyes wanted to hear at this moment.

They needed Kaptan to at least remove his magical energy from the infected Sinogo. That way, Sinogo would be weakened enough for Mark to fight him. It was the only obstacle that blocked Mark from confronting the creature. Without Kaptan's magical energy, all that Sinogo would have left was his gigantic size and his infected army of mutated marine animals.

It could be difficult, but Mark was confident that he could kill Sinogo as long as the monster did not have that magical energy from Kaptan.

Now, that thought went all down the drain.

If Kaptan was dead, there was no way for them to remove his magical energy from Sinogo. In the end, he would become a threat in this country.

"So, we came to this place for nothing..."

Mark shrugged his shoulders with a sigh.

If it was possible, Bathala could likely suppress Sinogo even if his powers were severely weakened. However, the Eyes would not let that happen. Although Earth was in danger, its rules came first. A foreign god should not intervene with Earth's affairs. Furthermore, the Observer and the Eyes already made an exception and proposed a deal to the remaining gods. Their remaining powers were far more needed to deal with the incoming planetary debris that would hit Earth.

In any case, there was nothing they could do. Mark was extremely interested in the infected Sinogo. However, he would have no choice but to suppress his gamer tendencies.

Maybe in the future, they will find a way to deal with Sinogo even without Kaptan. No, Mark already had an idea. He had someone promised to meet in the future. It was likely that he will meet them soon.

"Unfortunately, we did waste our time."

Nineteenth agreed with Mark. They thought that they would find a god that could help with Earth's current predicament. However, Magwayen had already left Earth, and Kaptan actually died.

It was in these situations that Nineteenth would feel frustrated. After all, she had no grasp on information about anything directly related to gods. They were foreign beings, after all. Not to mention that all gods were not tied to any string of fate.

If Nineteenth could use her book to find information about gods directly, they would not have a hard time, unlike what they were experiencing currently.

"You're also a goddess that ferried the dead, right?" Mark asked Magwayen. "You're not able to do anything?"

At Mark's question, the goddess looked at Mark strangely.

"You... Know nothing, did you?" Magwayen asked Mark back. "But it is not surprising. Even the people of the past knew nothing but assume things about us."

Mark fell silent. Should he feel insulted? It was true, however.

"Foreign gods of death and underworld don't work the way you might be thinking." Fourth spoke to Mark with a jeering look. "They are not gods from this world. They had no grasp of this world's cycle of life and death. Besides, gods, no matter what realm, don't follow the normal reincarnation cycle. Even if a god died, one would not find their soul among the ferries sailing to the afterlife."

"Then, if they had no grasp on our world's life and death cycle, where do they bring the souls their ferry?"

Pefile, who was silent until now and hiding his presence, could not help but ask.

"Where else?" Fourth answered. "Back to their realm, of course."

Fourth's answer made Mark turn towards Magwayen. The goddess did not deny it and nodded.

"I did not know about the others, but I have the duty to repopulate the souls in our realm. Due to the lack of birth of new souls, the human population in our realm is waning. We had no choice but to get souls from other realms if we wanted to increase our realm's population."

"So, basically, those souls god Isekai'd?"

Mark suddenly blurted out.

"Isek- what?"

Magwayen was confused at the sudden unknown word that Mark spoke.

"No, don't mind me." Mark shook his head. "Something in my mind just leaked out."

"Are you not an interesting one?" Magwayen spoke with her eyes smiling. "To keep calm and think of unnecessary things in front of a goddess, I do not know if you are brave or just a fool."

"He's both."

Fourth replied without hesitation, gaining Mark's glare as a result.

At this time, Nineteenth spoke.

"It is better for us to leave already. We gained nothing here, and we should not waste more time."

Surely, Nineteenth was being grumpy. Their time was wasted, and their hope was raised for nothing, after all. Even if Kaptan was dead, if Magwayen was still on Earth, it would be worth the trouble.

However, the goddess they were talking to was just a projection. It would not be of help to any of the problems Earth was facing right now.

"No one is stopping you if you wanted to leave." Magwayen savagely replied to Nineteenth. 

Nineteenth glared at Magwayen. It was obvious that she already had the urge to attack the projection. However, Fourth stopped her.

"You already said that we wasted time going here. Don't waste more time and energy on a mere projection."

And there, both Nineteenth and Fourth began to leave. It did not take them long to leave the chamber since they moved pretty fast.

Mark could only shrug. It was a pity that he would not be able to deal with Sinogo immediately. He then looked at Pefile, who was already itching to leave.

However, Magwayen suddenly spoke, facing Pefile.

"The new king of Tamawos, I implore you to stay."

"My apologies, but I am no king."

Pefile replied.

"There is no mistake." Magwayen stared at Pefile. "You are the next king of your tribe. Why are you trying to push away your destiny? You should know that without the chosen king, your tribe would begin to decline."

"Why should I care about the decline of this tribe?" Pefile sure was beginning to become angry. "They could all die for all I care."

Without a doubt, Magwayen felt Pefile's words offensive. However, the unexplainable rage inside Pefile's heart piqued her interest more.

And there, Magwayen's projection flashed and appeared in front of Pefile almost instantly. By the time Pefile realized what was happening, Magwayen's right hand was already on his head.

Pefile wanted to resist or, at least, retreat. However, he felt powerless as the goddess grasped his head.

To the side, Mark was watching. He could tell that Pefile was feeling afraid right now. However, Mark did nothing. Even though it was just the projection of the goddess, he could detect her emotions clearly. While her movements seemed threatening, he felt no ill intent at all.

And then, Magwayen's expression took a turn for the worse. Her eyes showed anger and pity at the same time.

That look made Mark understand what was happening. Magwayen was reading Pefile's memories.

It seemed that she finally understood why Pefile, the supposed king of Tamawos, was too adamant about declining that honorable position. She saw the reason why Pefile did not care about the wellbeing of the tribe any longer.

Finally, Pefile managed to regain his strength. The first thing he did was to leap back, away from the goddess. But when he looked at her, her eyes were filled with helplessness.

"I now understand what happened," Magwayen spoke. "It is a pity, but I won't force you any longer. In the least, take the artifact with you. It can help you in many ways. Aside from the chosen king, no one else would be able to use it."

With those words, the [Mark of the King] floated from Magwayen's hand towards Pefile.

Pefile stared at the artifact and turned to Mark. The latter nodded, prompting Pefile to take the artifact.

"To think that the current king of the race I created would be working under a Demon. I did not expect this to happen." Magwayen turned to Mark. "I saw the things you did. I hope that you will continue to support Pefile and his family. With the king of Tamawos following your steps, the new tribe will flourish under your command. I just hope that you continue to treat them well."

"You don't have to ask me," Mark replied. "I know how to take care of my people."

"I hope so."

Magwayen stared at Mark's eyes.

Then, the projection of the goddess began to vanish.

"It seemed that I'm all out of time," Magwayen stated, looking at her body before turning back to Mark. "Find Kahilwayan. It still exists in that realm. Although I am not certain, there might be something there that could help curb the threat of Sinogo."

"I bid the two of you farewell."

And there, Magwayen's projection vanished with an explosion of bright light.