Mutagen

Day 197 - 4:02 PM - Southern Outskirts, New Infanta Settlement, Infanta, Province of Quezon

The sudden bloom of light enveloped everything. And as instant, it happened, the explosion of light vanished. Still, even though blinding surroundings only existed for a few seconds, it felt longer for everyone that witnessed it.

It felt even longer for Major Bautista.

Karlene was inside the radius of the explosion of light. As a father, Major Bautista was worried to death about the safety of the only family he had left.

Major Bautista frantically made his way down the ladder of the watchtower. His eyes could not see yet because of the light, and he was literally a blind person feeling his way down the structure. The major managed to get down the watchtower but ended up tripping down. 

Fortunately, Jones did not seem to be as blinded by the light as the other people and chased after the worried major. He caught the major mid-fall.

"Major! Calm down! Your daughter is safe!"

Jones said to the panicked major, looking in front.

The light had already vanished a few seconds ago. Everything inside the ten-meter radius that the light engulfed was burned to a crisp. Even the soil was charred, and the rocks were melted, looking like droplets of magma.

As for the [Mechids], none of them remained to be a threat any longer. The sturdy robotic menace that even explosions could barely harm were turned into melted pieces of debris, nowhere resembling their appearance just a few seconds ago. It was even impossible to tell that they were dangerous robots before.

Even with just a few seconds that the bloom of light existed, its destructiveness was apparent.

The only different place within the scorched area was where Alana and Karlene lay down on the ground.

Alana immediately noticed something was wrong when she saw the jellyfish-like [Mechid] glow after Karlene cut it in half. As an Otaku herself, Alana knew the possible event that could happen if something absorbed or charged high amounts of energy and was unable to discharge it properly.

Yes, the result of that was an explosion as the energy stored was released into the environment.

At that, though, Alana used all her abilities and rushed towards Karlene. Alana grabbed her best friend and dragged her away. They needed to get away from the explosion as fast as possible.

But when the light exploded, it was too fast. Alana knew that they would not be able to get away unharmed. In the worst case, this would be their end.

Alana did not give up. At the last moment, she threw herself and Karlene down to the ground. It was the last measure that Alana could think of.

Looking at the area swallowed by that explosion, however, Alana and Karlene did not manage to leave the area of effect entirely. Both their legs were within the radius of the explosion, looking at the difference of the scorched soil.

Alana and Karlene opened their eyes. Since they were facing away from the light, they were not severely blinded by it. What the two saw first was the contrast between the soil they lie on and the soil affected by the explosion. The grass under them might have wilted because of the heat, but it was not burnt at all.

The two best friends sat up, and what they immediately saw was the silver-haired woman standing in front of them with her back, facing them. That silver hair, Karlene would be able to forget it easily.

"Artenaris..."

Karlene voiced out in her daze.

The silver-haired woman looked back with a smile.

"I... I came to... help?"

The beautiful half-Diwata-half-Demon said in an awkward voice. It had almost been a month after her tribe decided to cooperate with the military under Mark's suggestion. Since then, she slowly learned the human language and could now communicate despite her awkward grammar and pronunciation.

"You saved us?"

Karlene asked and realized that they were safe and sound. Her skin felt a bit sunburned, but that was it.

Karla came running towards the two, worried. She was further away from the two and managed to retreat quickly. Her eyes seemed to be hurt, but she was also fine. The little girl deactivated her mutation, turning back to her child body, and quickly embraced Karla. 

"We're fine, we're fine." Karlene tried to pacify the worried child. "Why did you immediately turn back. You're naked again."

It was one of the drawbacks of Karla's transformation. Since her usual appearance was of a child, her transformation tears all her clothes to pieces. They brought extra clothes for her, but all of their things were inside the settlement.

Leaving the sisters aside, Alana slowly stood up and faced Artenaris.

"Thank you for saving us."

It was heartfelt gratitude from Alana. They were careless and almost died. Even though they managed to slightly get out of the race of the explosion, both Alana and Karlene might have lost their legs. And it could be the lightest consequence of their carelessness.

But to Alana's gratitude, Artenaris shook her head.

"Barely did anything..."

Artenaris said as she glanced in front of her. On the ground, traces of black mist had yet to dissipate, although it would be hard to see because most of the people here were blinded by the explosion of light just now.

The half-Diwata then glanced at the forest not too far away. There, a silhouette stood behind the trees. If Artenaris was not a powerful entity herself, she would not be able to see the shadow at all with his eyes glowing purple.

After he was seen, the silhouette stared at Artenaris before moving out of sight. The meaning of that stare was clear. It was for her to not say anything.

"Now I'm regretting it." Artenaris murmured in Spirit Language. "If I knew that he was this protective of his people, I might have accepted his offer back then."

But there was no use crying over spilled milk. That was what Artenaris thought. It was her fault for not being perceptive enough.

Alana was confused at the reply of the silver-haired woman that saved them. And even more when she saw their savior gaze at the forest when there was nothing there at all.

"Karlene! Are you okay!"

The silence was broken by Major Bautista, who arrived with Jones. He could not help but embrace his daughters together.

"I'm fine." 

Karlene said, feeling awkward. But she did not say anything else since she knew that her father was extremely worried. Well, she already know that she would get scolded after this, and it was better to keep silent.

At this moment, the gates of the settlement opened, with soldiers led by General Faustino storming outside. That explosion of light was seen all over the entire settlement. The general had been trying to contact anyone, but no one was answering the radio. Thus, they could not help but make their move and go out in case that something bad happened.

Of course, General Faustino did not forget another thing. Some of the soldiers came out, pushing wooden carts that contained a few metal barrels. These barrels contained gasoline, and the entire stock that the military had left.

And there, things began to settle down.

Alana's group was safe, although the three of them would not be exempted from any sermon because of their carelessness. Nonetheless, their contribution, managing to kill the [Mechids] without any casualties, was something no one would be able to ignore. If it was the soldiers that faced those [Mechids], who knows how many more of them would have to sacrifice their lives.

The issue with the parasites also fell under control. Dangerous at it may be, that explosion of light sure dealt with the parasites for the most part. It seemed that the parasites were sensitive to extreme concentrations of light and heat, which caused them to become fatally injured and immobilized. The explosion of light became a great help in this regard.

However, the parasites did not die and were definitely beginning to recover, albeit slowly. Without giving the parasites any chances to become a threat once more, the soldiers set the damn parasites ablaze.

The soldiers saluted as the flames burned in front of them. Within those flames were not only the parasites. Inside were also the bodies of their comrades that died in this battle. Because of the circumstances, a proper burial for those soldiers was unlikely. These parasites might have left eggs within those bodies, which could turn into another threat in the future. It was better to get rid of any potential threat within these gloomy flames.

Artenaris also received the gratitude of Major Bautista and General Faustino for helping. Of course, she was reluctant to accept that gratitude. As she said before, she barely did anything.

While Artenaris jumped to save Karlene and Alana and was confident to save them, they would all still be injured afterward. That explosion exceeded her capacity, although not enough to kill her. The injuries would also be superficial, and that was why she did not hesitate to help. But as everyone could see, aside from barely distinguishable burns on their skin, they were perfectly fine.

Before Artenaris could do anything, there was already someone present to interfere.

Of course, Artenaris did not say anything.

With this, however, Artenaris received a heightened level of trust from the soldiers. This would be beneficial for her and her tribe, especially with their interactions with the humans.

And while everyone was dealing with the effects of the battle that happened, no one was able to notice the western sword with a wavy blade overseeing the settlement from above.

***

Day 197 - 4:08 PM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Province of Quezon

"I'm back."

Mark said as he passed through the portal that Spera opened. Everyone could see that his eyes were still had a tint of purplish glow, but the glow was about to fade away.

"How is it?"

Mei asked.

"They faced some troublesome things," Mark replied. "They were careless."

"But I guess they were lucky." 

Mark added, closing his eyes and touching his eyelids softly. The moment he opened his eyes once more, it already turned back to normal.

"You're really absurd, you know that." At the side, Spera chimed in, looking at Mark as she was gazing at an absurd being. "I thought, we already knew you. But it looks like you are hiding many other things."

Spera sure was surprised as Mark urgently called her with his eyes glowing intensely in purplish light. And it was only Mei who was around him at that time. By the looks of it, it was only Mei who know the reason for Mark's eyes glowing purple uncontrollably.

For Mark to make Spera open another portal back to New Infanta Settlement was strange, especially since they just left that place this past noon.

When Spera arrived, she overheard Mark telling Mei that Karlene and Alana were in danger.

How was he able to know? That was a question that Spera had until she managed to deduce that Mark might have an ability to see the future. And it was confirmed after Mark allowed Mei to tell Spera what was going on.

After all, if these kinds of things happened in the future, Spera's help was needed if things became urgent just like this time. It was better for her to know so that she would not ask questions.

"Are they supposed to die?"

Mei asked. Of course, she was asking about Mark's vision.

"No," Mark shook his head. "I didn't really understand it either."

From Mark's vision, Alana and Karlene did not die, and Artenaris did manage to save them despite receiving injuries. However, for Mark to have this vision, there should be something worse to happen. Unfortunately, his vision only showed him the scene where the three were enveloped in that blooming light and the scene after they emerged from it.

It was very likely that the deadly part of the vision had something to do with that bright light. Unfortunately, Mark had no way of knowing since he could not control his visions even a tiny bit.

In any case, it was better to prevent it from happening. And if another similar event occurred in New Infanta Settlement, Mark left Ignis to help in the shadows.

"By the way, what is that?"

Spera asked, pointing at the thing that Mark had on his hand.

"Some sort of laser gun," Mark said, raising the metallic weapon he held. "There's two of this, but one got melted to scrap. I just wondered if I could study this, so I took it home."

Mei and Spera shrugged at Mark's genuine enthusiastic eyes as he gazed at his loot. It looked like he had a new toy to spend time on.

Anyway, they should continue on their tasks. They were still preparing their things since tomorrow, they would depart for a long journey through this now unfamiliar Earth.