Mutagen

Day 323 - 11:10 PM - Underground Dungeon, Cliff House Laboratory, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Province of Quezon, Philippines

With the cylinders in hand, Mark turned to the dungeon cell, or what he called [Soul Preserving Cell]. The unfathomable thing he did just now was only possible due to this room, specifically, the runes and magical circuits carved and hidden within the walls and bars of the dungeon cell.

To the minds of the common people, death was already a grave punishment to people, even to unforgivable criminals. It was too grave that the death penalty was removed for criminal acts in many countries for many reasons.

There were also those that viewed death as a light punishment since the accused was freed from a lifetime loss of freedom and suffering. Of course, with all the corruption and stuff, a life sentence was nothing but a vacation to the most infamous criminals.

And for Mark... he had always been the type that saw death as a release than a punishment. It could be seen in his actions a couple of times before. If there was a possibility, Mark would leave the sinners alive in a state worse than death.

Now, Mark learned more things about the world that science had yet to prove. The existence of souls and the afterlife, for example.

If one's death would lead them to the afterlife, then death for sinners was not the best punishment. It was even more so since Mark was unsure if the concept of heaven and hell actually existed in this realm. And within Mark's acquired knowledge, dead souls were just being cleansed, processed, and reused to fill in the number of souls the world needed for the following generations.

And Mark would not consider such circumstances as a punishment.

When Mark was working with the equipment and experiments this past month, that thought entered his mind at some point. That was when he wished he had some way to conduct punishments on his enemies without actually making them pass to the afterlife. It was such an aggressive and psychotic thought, but considering the enemies, Mark had fought so far, many of them did not really deserve the sweet release of death. It was even more so for the enemies he had to fight in the future and those that would target his loved ones.

If someone tried to harm Mei or his daughters, they deserved to be tormented for eternity. That was what Mark had in mind.

It made Mark remember a certain popular fantasy role-playing game series. The games in that series had spells and enchantments to trap the souls of defeated creatures into gems that could be used for crafting or just for collection. Mark remembered a time years ago when he played the third installment of the series and trapped the souls of named enemies and bosses for collection. Unfortunately, he could not do the same for the next installments since the gems in the following installments remained unnamed even after trapping a soul inside them.

Mark wondered if he could do something like that. And fortunately, he had someone to ask.

"Oh, it looked like you finally tried it on humans."

These words from a familiar voice reverberated inside Mark's head.

Speak of the devil... No, the otherworldly Goddess of the Underworld.

Mark asked Magwayen about it. And to his surprise, she gave him a positive reply.

And it resorted to the current situation where Mark was finally able to capture the souls of the dead using a specialized room and containers.

All of it was thanks to the help of Magwayen, who did not hesitate to teach Mark her knowledge about souls. In fact, Magwayen was happy to impart her knowledge to the only person that received her blessing.

After hearing the voice that he had not heard for about half a month, Mark asked in his head.

"It's been a while. You're finally busy with something?"

It was no secret to Mark that Magwayen's world was having problems, and she was busy from time to time. However, it was more common that she had nothing to do and was watching Mark's domain through Mark and the artifact of the [Tamawos] to relieve boredom.

"I am busy," Magwayen replied. "A newly abandoned realm passed near ours. I am taking this opportunity to transfer souls from that realm to ours."

It looked like Magwayen was doing the same job as she did back when she was still on Earth. To bring souls from other realms back to her world since her world had a severe deficiency in the number of souls as one of its main problems.

"Those souls, what stupid thing did they do?"

Magwayen asked Mark.

"Assassins," Mark replied. "I haven't interrogated them yet since they immediately killed themselves. I'm just about to start asking them."

"I see," Magwayen replied, seemingly nodding on her side. "Remember. Do not attempt the taboo."

"I know."

Mark shrugged.

The taboo when dealing with souls. Entrapping or imprisoning souls was not a good thing. However, it was not a forbidden thing either. In fact, sealing powerful souls was within the acts of Gods in myths if they were unable or incapable of erasing their enemies entirely.

But as a mortal, there was one taboo that Mark should not cross while dealing with souls. It was to never erase the souls of mortals.

The souls of mortals were bound to the world through destiny. Haphazardly erasing mortal souls could result in unfathomable things like sudden shifts in fate or even changing the predicted future entirely. The effects might vary from a speck of dust being misplaced to the entire world suddenly ending. The scale was too large and unpredictable that one better not try their luck.

Fortunately, indefinitely imprisoning the souls was still within the possible acceptable actions. It was due to the fact that the important thing was the existence of the soul and not where it was. As long as the soul existed, the role it had in the world could be shifted, unlike when erasing it, leaving that role to be permanently empty and causing damage to the pages of the book called fate.

On the contrary, the souls of those not bound to the world were fine to erase. For example, the Deities, Gods, their direct creations, and the candidates for Godhood. Since the connection of these beings to the mortal world was already nonexistent, the erasure of their souls would not impact the world's fate.

It was odd, considering that these beings had the power to affect the world on a large scale. But then again, they could affect the world while they were alive and not when they were dead. Furthermore, the soul of these transcendent beings would not go back to the cycle of reincarnation unless they wanted to.

"By the way," Mark spoke in his mind. "I want to ask about something."

"What is it?"

Magwayen responded.

"I managed to get my hand on a broken artifact. I'm not sure about its effects, but it seemed to either heal a person or bring back a dying person to life."

"Hmmm," Magwayen seemed to be thinking. "I'm not that knowledgeable about Artifacts. But I can try and look at it."

As Mark heard the positive reply, he closed his eyes and recreated the image of the artifact that Mako asked him to repair in his mind. It was like Mark was sending a picture to Magwayen through a messenger app. This was also how Magwayen taught Mark her knowledge, and it was only possible due to Mark's high compatibility with the blessing he received.

"I saw it," Magwayen confirmed. "I am not entirely sure, but I will try to ask a few other Gods I know."

"Please," Mark was relieved. "I only have a week for this one. I need to repair it."

"What's going on? Why did you stop?"

At this time, Spera's voice made Mark's eyes open. After all, he was communicating with Magwayen in his head. There was no way Spera would hear it.

"Magwayen noticed I used her blessing," Mark answered Spera's question. "It's been a while, so I'm asking her a few things."

"O-okay."

Spera said and went quiet. It was obvious, but Spera was not really comfortable with all this God stuff. It was the same for the [Eyes].

It was the normal reaction for a mortal. After all, these Godly beings exude auras that mortals find unbearable. It was Mark who was weird for being able to communicate with them as if he was just talking to a neighbor.

Mark and Spera went out of the dungeon. Outside, Odelina and Aephelia were waiting for them. The two returned to the Mountain Base without warning, but it was amazing that the two maids were already there, ready to serve. Even if it was something one could expect from two professional servants, it was still amazing. Furthermore, it was in the middle of the night.

"Aephelia," Mark called to Freed's loyal maid. "There are seven corpses inside the cell. Dispose of them. Just be careful since they ingested poison."

"I'll take care of it immediately."

Aephelia replied. She was the best one to dispose of corpses since she could command the [Infected] to do it for her.

"Odel," Mark turned to Odelina. "Bring these to the soundproof room and squeeze as much information from them. These are assassins sent to harm us, so you know what to ask them."

Mark then handed the cylinders, or what he called [Soul Canisters], to Odelina.

"As you wish."

Odelina accepted the order and received the [Soul Canisters]. She was also the best for this job since, while she claimed that she only came from a family of servants, it was clear that she had a hidden background.

"We have to return to Japan immediately," Mark told the two maids. "I don't really have the plan to return if not for those pricks. We'll return in the morning, so Odel, I need you to get the information before I return."

"I'll get it done immediately," Odelina replied. "Please, be safe out there."

"Take care."

Aephelia also said her farewell.

Mark then nodded to the two maids in response, then to Spera. Spera then opened a portal that the two of them immediately entered.

***

Day 324 - 12:22 AM - Evernight Base, Kachidoki, Chuo City, Tokyo

The portal returned Mark and Spera to the second floor of the restaurant. And here, everyone was awake. It was not surprising. They just had some intruders. It would be more surprising if they were able to sleep after that.

But the reason why Mark and Spera returned immediately...

Mark and Spera went down to the first floor. The two saw Mei and the girls having coffee and midnight snacks with a few visitors in the restaurant area.

And the visitors? It was no other than the core members of the Black Lotus Group, who immediately responded to help after learning that someone sent assassins to Mark's group.

But when Ren's group arrived, they saw nothing but the rest of Mark's group watching a movie.

There were no assassins, to their confusion. But then, Ren knew that her people would not joke about this. And even stranger, Mark was not present when they arrived.

When Ren saw Mark and Spera, she stared at the two. But no matter how much she stared, she could not understand what was going on.

Ren clearly wanted to ask Mark. But she decided not to for some reason. She might be being considerate of Mark's group... Or she did not want to pry deeply into things she should not know.

In any case, they were already having a midnight snake and a movie to watch. It instead became a kind of awkward midnight gathering.

***

Of course, it was not only Ren's group who were confused about the situation.

Everyone watching in the surroundings was anticipating a battle of sorts to happen. They needed information, and those assassins should be the ones to test the waters first.

However, they were met with nothing but silence. The reinforcements from the Black Lotus Group even came, and nothing came out of the situation.

And this unfathomable situation became an addition to the rumors surrounding the mysterious group called Evernight.