Mutagen

Day 198 - 7:09 PM - Bay City Ruins, Pasay City, Metro Manila

The battle finished causing hundreds of dead bodies to pile up in the ruins of Bay City Settlement. While it was declared finished, it did not mean that all of the [Infected] and [Mechids] were dead. In the first place, it was impossible to kill all existing [Infected] and [Mechids] in the area in one go. In the least, Mark's group managed to reduce the number of the loitering enemies to a number where they could investigate the surroundings safely.

After all, they were in an area in the middle of several cities in the past. Even if they managed to clear the place of most of the enemies, for now, others would come wandering sooner or later. 

In fact, it might not take long if not for Amihan. The smell of blood and the sounds of the battle would likely attract more enemies. That was why while Amihan was not participating in the fight, she was making sure that the sound and the smell would not spread out too much.

That was why they needed to investigate the place as fast as they could. It was unless they wanted to entangle themselves with a neverending battle.

But before everything else...

"Ugh!"

Mark painfully groaned with a frown. He was already holding onto his temple as if he was suffering a severe headache. His complexion was also pale. And although he was still able to stand, he seemed to be already losing strength.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Chimetrice stood beside Mark and asked.

Since the battle finished, everyone was already gathering outside the floating vessel. Even Illia and Spera, who stayed inside, came out.

Mark did not answer Chimetrice, seemingly looking irritated. He then picked up a part of a [Mechid] he was really interested in and made his way towards the vessel, with Chimetrice following behind in confusion.

But even though Mark was still far away, everyone noticed something wrong as Mark unstably walked slower than usual.

"Gege!"

Mei realized what was happening. She immediately rushed towards Mark.

And then, Mei embraced Mark without hesitation.

Both of them had the blood of the [Infected] on their clothes. It was sticky and smelled foul. But that was not important at this moment.

"Thanks, Mei'er."

Mark put up a small smile as he felt Mei's embrace.

With Mei's assistance, Mark reached the group faster. And knowing that there was something wrong with Mark, everyone gathered around him as he sat beside Mei on a large piece of rubble.

Seeing the state of their father, the three girls also looked worried. Iola and Abbygale were silent, but the youngest could not help but ask Mark.

"Papa, are you sick?"

Miracle asked, imitating Mei, trying to hug Mark with her short arms.

"Master, did something happen to him? Did he get injured by something?"

Illia embraced and asked Chimetrice, who fought together with Mark. But Chimetrice's initial response was a confused shake of his head.

"I don't think it's an injury," Chimetrice replied. "I just remembered, but his complexion did not seem good before we started fighting. It just got worse over time."

Chimetrice's reply added to the confusion. No one could understand what was happening. Well, aside from two people.

Everyone's eyes fell unto Mark and Mei. Within her embrace, Mark's complexion and state were clearly getting better.

And at this time, Spera stepped upfront.

"Mark... can you explain what is happening to you?" Spera asked straight up. "I remember you have the same state back in Infanta."

"I'm fine."

Mark replied.

"You're obviously not!" Spera angrily replied. "Everyone is worried, especially since we don't know what is happening! At least, tell us what is going on!"

Spera was being pushy, which was very unlike her. But knowing that Spera lost her control over her emotions, it was clear what was going on with her.

"So, you are worried about me?"

Mark looked up to the angry Spera with a sly smile.

"Wha-! No! I!"

Spera fumbled her words. As she closed her mouth, not knowing how to reply, she angrily stared at Mark, pouting with her embarrassed blush.

"Gege, don't tease her." 

Mei complained to Mark. She had an expression of an older sister trying to protect her younger sibling.

And in response to Mei's complaint, Mark shrugged. He would not be able to promise anything about teasing Spera.

Nonetheless, Spera had a point. The people around Mark were worried because they did not know what was happening. The only person who knew was Mei, and that was why she reacted fast when she saw Mark's state.

There was a bit of silence as everyone was waiting for Mark's response. But as if she felt uncomfortable with the atmosphere, the always silent Abbygale spoke.

"Papa, Mama, I'm hungry..."

Abbygale said, rubbing her stomach.

Mark and Mei looked at each other. Mark gave another shrug.

"Let me rest for a bit. Then let's clean up and have dinner." Mark suggested. "Also, let's find a better place to eat."

Mark looked around, and the others did the same. And considering the dead bodies scattered all over the place, it sure was not a good place to eat. There was also no proper space inside the vessel to eat dinner for the whole group. As such, after cleaning up themselves and changing clothes, they should have dinner somewhere else.

With Mei's help, Mark recovered fast. They all cleaned up and changed clothes. As for the place for dinner, they chose the area of Bay City facing Manila Bay.

Fortunately, while Manila Bay was now reduced in size, there was still a part of it that was water. And it seemed that the barrier of Bay City kept a wide area of the waterfront intact.

And here, they managed to peacefully prepare dinner.

It was strangely fun. It felt very much like a picnic in the middle of a destroyed city. It was all because of the ruins of Bay City.

Unfortunately, it was already late. As there was no time to cook, the group had to make do with canned food. It was not like canned food was bad, but because the main cook in the Mountain Base, Trisha, was a professional cook, even simple porridge was delicious.

Anyways, Mark started to explain what was happening to him while they ate.

"What's happening to me is a strong side effect of being an [Empath]."

Mark said.

"But how? There are no other people here."

Spera could not help but ask.

Everyone in this group knew that Mark was an [Empath], especially Spera, who learned it while being threatened by Mark. But they were unable to understand how it was a side effect. 

[Empaths] were known to be sensitive within crowds of people. However, Bay City was literally empty. They were the only people here. So why did Mark have a reaction that was way worse than when he was visiting Infanta Settlement, where there were still people?

But as it seemed, Chimetrice and Illia immediately understood what was going on just when Mark said it was a side effect of him being an [Empath]. Furthermore, Mark was more or less a transcendent [Empath]. He might be the very first [Empath] to reach this level as a mortal.

To Spera's question, Illia asked Mark.

"It's the lingering emotions of the dead, isn't it?"

And to that question of the [Elder Succubus], Mark nodded solemnly.

[Empaths] were sensitive to the so-called [Emotional Energy]. They react to it and absorb it without control. This kind of energy could be emitted by anything that was capable of feeling emotions. It was not limited to humans. Even animals and insects, and sometimes, plants.

However, that [Emotional Energy] did not need to come directly from the source to be felt. And pretty much like every other energy, there were things that could become a medium or trigger to be absorbed by something.

One example was art. A painting could be made sloppily or professionally. However, even professional works of art could feel dull without the proper emotions of the artist, while a child's art could be more emotional than an adult's.

And since emotional energy could be absorbed by things, of course, it could also spread unto the surroundings.

The worst thing, however, was that, unlike most energies, [Emotional Energy] had a tendency to linger. The stronger the emotions, the higher it was likely to linger in the surroundings.

Unfortunately, most of the time, the strongest surge emotions happen at a single event. And it was during a person's death. The more brutal and fearsome a person's death was, the stronger the emotions released to the surroundings. Furthermore, how unexpected the death was also strengthened it in most cases.

And at those times, those strong emotions carried negative traits.

Fear, helplessness, despair, regret, there were various emotions that could spread out during a person's brutal death.

During the fusion of dimensions, everyone watched the sky in fear as the debris from space rained on Earth. And the earthquake demolished buildings, destroyed the land, and killed people.

In Bay City, many people lived inside the buildings. The feeling they had as they tried to escape to safety but found out the floor beneath them crumbling was something horrifying. As they fall to the ground and get buried under the falling rubble, their emotions would intensify.

With the population that Bay City had, considering it was a place with many tall buildings, the death toll would be extremely high.

All of those people died at the same time, covering the entire Bay City with their emotions as their [Emotional Energies] scattered upon their deaths.

For an [Empath], places like this would be an enormous torture chamber.

It was the same for the New Infanta Settlement. That time, however, the negative [Emotional Energy] in the settlement was only enough to make Mark's mood sour.

In Bay City, however, the effect on Mark was overwhelming.

That explanation made everyone understand what happened to Mark.

"You should have been more careful."

Spera complained.

"I didn't expect it to be this intense, either."

Mark bitterly replied.

But then, another question entered Spera's mind as she looked at Mark and Mei alternately.

"But how come that you got better when Sister Mei embraced you."

At this time, it was Illia that replied to Spera's question.

"You didn't know, huh. Mei had a unique physique. It's what they called [Body of Void]."

"Void? as in Empty?"

Spera asked in surprise. It was the first time she heard about Mei having a unique physique. She was not new about physiques as there were people with unique bodies in Auraboros. But it was the first time for her to hear about the [Body of Void].

"Usually, void means empty," Illia explained. "But in the case of the [Body of Void], it means more like 'clear'."

They then explained to Spera that Mei could deflect or remove any negativities from her body. This time, she was using her body to protect Mark from the negative [Emotional Energy] in the surroundings.

"I see..." Spera said, looking at Mei. "You didn't tell me about this..."

It was obvious that Spera felt a bit disappointed. Illia and Chimetrice seemed to know Mei's [Body of Void] but she did not.

"Don't blame them," Illia interjected. "They did not tell us either. We just knew since we had seen a similar physique in the past."

That consoling from Illia made Spera feel better. It was not that Mei did not tell Spera. Mark and Mei were actually hiding it from everyone.

The dinner became a talk about Mark and Mei and their uniqueness. But it was not exactly peaceful because some [Infected] would wander nearby from time to time. Nonetheless, they managed to enjoy the dinner.

As it was getting late into the night, everyone decided to camp. With Spera here, they could just return to the Mountain Base to sleep, but it would destroy the atmosphere.

Of course, while it was time for the little girls to sleep, Mark did not plan to join them.

They needed to find clues as to where the people in Bay City went, after all.