Mutagen

Day 367 - 11:31 AM - Kajen, Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Mark and Amihan stared in front of them to see the result of their actions.

Most witnesses were in awe and disbelief, while relief began to rise within them as they saw the threat getting removed this easily.

However, it was not the same for the perpetrators of the scene.

"Master... This is bad..."

Amihan voiced out with her complexion slightly paler than normal. But as she turned her head to look at her master, her face became even more pale.

"Yeah... It's bad, really bad."

Mark agreed with Amihan as he raised his right hand, which held Ignis. Through his sleeves and arm armor, blood could be seen dripping.

"Master, your right eye and ear too..."

Amihan informed Mark since it seemed that he failed to realize.

***

After trying to confirm Mark's intentions, Luna retreated behind him and watched. It was not only her. Everyone who knew Mark around her felt both anticipation and fear.

Fear came from the fact that if Mark failed, it would be a grave fight for everyone here. After all, none of them saw Mark take direct action against enemies all this time. But for the same reason, anticipation also rose within their hearts. The strength and abilities of the members of Evernight were far beyond normal. And as the leader of Evernight, Mark should not be weaker than any of the members.

Now, they saw Mark take action with Amihan.

The [Sylph's] magic was exceptionally strong. It was clear by the fact that the birds all died and turned into minced meat with just a wave of her hands.

But what Amihan and Mark did was beyond Amihan's solo performance.

Those several hundred [Infected], or maybe even more than a thousand, just vanished without a trace. No flesh, no blood, nothing. It was as if they never existed in the first place.

That was what everyone witnessed and perceived.

No. Not everyone...

Luna held her chest. She could feel her entire being trembling inside. It was neither fear nor excitement.

When Amihan released her magical energy both times, Luna felt it. She also felt it when the silhouette of the eight-headed serpent appeared from Mark's sword.

It was neither the magical energy of the two that Luna felt. She was unsure what it was. While Luna was not someone who was used to magic or any energy involving it, she was not new to it. But she was sure it was not magical energy that was making her tremble at the moment.

Grasping her chest tighter, Luna felt something within her. She could not tell what it was. She could only stare blankly in front of her, staring at the visage of Amihan and Mark's backs.

"Gege!"

A beautiful voice entered Luna's ear as she noticed the blurry silhouette of a woman running toward Mark with worry.

"...na! Luna! Are you okay?!"

Luna noticed that someone was calling for her. She looked to her left and saw the worried face of her suitor. Trying to respond to the call, she tried to speak.

However...

***

"Luna!"

Edge yelled out after catching Luna, who suddenly fell unconscious.

Everyone, including Mark, turned in their direction and saw what was happening.

Luna, the leader of this journey, collapsed unconscious. It was a bad thing to happen in this situation. While no one might voice it out loud, some people would definitely have doubts about following her now.

After all, with Mark's miraculous display, why not follow him instead.

Mark looked at Luna and Edge, then turned to Limabela.

"Limabela, can you take the lead and deal with the remaining ones?"

Limabela was surprised at first, but after seeing Mei wiping the blood from Mark's eye and ear, she swallowed the questions she had.

It was not just Limabela. Everyone realized that what Mark did might not be something without consequences. The blood that stained his face and dripped from his arm was the evidence.

However, Mark putting Limabela in charge instead of General Wijaya also meant that the General had less authority in this group compared to the leaders of the Moon Chasers. This was what Mark clearly implied when he spoke those words.

"Everyone! Get ready! There are still enemies left!"

Limabela yelled, rallying the combatants to deal with the remaining [Infected].

While Mark and Amihan dealt with most of the enemies, it was not all of the horde. The ones still too close to the giant turtle were not caught in their attack and were now rushing towards the group. At least, the number was not even a quarter of the initial horde. They should be able to handle it without casualties unless they were careless.

After finishing the job, Mark and Amihan were dragged away by Mei. They rejoined the rest of the group while Mark sat down as Mei took care of his injuries. Said injuries had already healed, however. The only thing left was the blood that stained Mark's body.

As he sat down, Mark looked at where Luna was. She was being carried by Edge as they cleared a place for her to lie down. Mark's eyes focused behind Edge. It was Melfiss following them. However, there was not a single tint of worry on her face. Instead, she was relieved for some unknown reason.

Mark then felt a focused stare from a different direction. As he turned his head, the stare had already vanished. Unfortunately for the culprit, Mark was an [Empath]. He could clearly tell who it was. The fortunate thing was that Mark had no time to care for him right now.

It was because...

"Gege... Why are you doing dangerous things like that?"

Mark was currently being admonished by his wife after experimenting with something with his body.

"Sorry."

Mark apologized. However, the reply he received was the cute expression of Mei, who was angrily pouting as she wiped the blood on his arm.

"I didn't know you can actually bleed."

Someone commented. It was obvious who it was by her tone.

"Why can't I?"

Mark replied to Spera, who approached with Aephelia in tow.

"I never really saw you bleed until now."

Spera said, staring at Mark.

There was nothing wrong in Spera's words. When she joined the group, Mark was already a [Mutator]. Since his ability was to control his blood and turn it into metal, bleeding was the least of his concerns.

Unless Mark's head was cut off, or there were some special circumstances, Mark would not bleed despite his injuries. Not to mention that his injuries would heal in no time.

This situation was one of those special circumstances, for sure.

"Master."

Aephelia politely greeted Mark with a bow usually used towards royalty. It caused some nearby witnesses to feel odd while looking at them.

Not caring about the stares they were getting, Aephelia turned her head toward the mountain-like turtle in the distance.

"Do you want me to take control of that creature?"

Aephelia did not really need to ask. After all, there was only one reason she would be called here in this situation. Nonetheless, as a maid, she needed to confirm the orders she needed to receive.

"How many slots will that take? And how many free slots do you have currently?"

Mark asked Aephelia.

"I do not know how many slots it will take until I try to take control of it," Aephelia replied. "However, I immediately turned all the [Infected] I control at the base dormant after Spera arrived. I should be able to take control of it in my current state as long as there are no unusual disturbances."

"Alright. Go and try to control it," Mark gave his order and turned to Spera. "Spera, assist Aephelia. The two of you should jump on that turtle's head using a portal. Retreat immediately if there's danger, understand?"

"Understood."

"If you say so."

Aephelia and Spera replied, respectively.

And using Spera's portal, the two immediately commenced their mission.

The clash between the combatants and the [Infected] began below. Far beyond the battle, the mountain-like turtle continued to advance at its own pace while a portal opened above its head.

Seeing the silhouette of Spera and Aephelia standing on the turtle's head gave them a more accurate scale of how large that turtle was.

It looked as if Aephelia and Spera were standing on the roof of a grand cathedral. And the turtle's snake-like neck was not included in that size comparison.

But compared to the head and the neck, the mountain-like shell behind was far larger.

THUMP!

The last step was heard, and the mountain-like turtle froze in its steps. It seemed Aephelia had already begun working.

Mark and the rest only needed to wait.

"Are you okay?"

Mark asked Amihan, who now looked better than after they used that experimental magic.

"I'm okay now," Amihan nodded while sitting on Mark's left shoulder. "But I don't want to repeat that again. My energy just gushed out without control. I know my control is still bad, but this is much worse. It's as if I lost ownership of my magic, and it just gushed out and escaped."

"Hmmm..." Mark was rather confused. "I never felt that way when using the butterfly, so that's definitely not the cause..."

"But I did feel your energy wildly flowing through my body," Mark continued. "The injuries I got should be from trying to contain your overflowing energy. Still, I lost control when the energy was released. My right upper body went numb, and I lost control of my blood. It also ripped my arm apart while channeling it to Ignis."

Mark then turned to Mei, who was now glaring at him. The more Mark spoke about what happened to his body due to his experiment, the more she got upset.

However, Mei could not tell him to stop doing these kinds of stuff. She understood why he was doing these things, even if it ended up hurting himself.

At the end of it all, it was to protect everyone.

Mark caressed Mei's hair to calm her down. It was while talking to Ignis through his mind.

"What about you, Ignis? Something wrong?"

Mark asked.

"I'm a Demon Sword, so I didn't feel any physical problems," Ignis replied. "In fact, there's barely any rejection from the magical energy. I can't say the [Sylph's] energy is fully compatible with me, but there's barely any difficulty when transforming the energy and releasing it to attack."

Mark was quite surprised. If Ignis did not have much problem with it, it meant that what went wrong only involved him and Amihan.

"Wait..." Mark noticed something from Ignis' words. "Rejection... Compatibility..."

Amihan's energy entered Mark's body as if it was getting pulled out of her. She lost control of it, she said.

"I see now..." Mark murmured. "Huh?"

"Gege..." Mark was too deep in thought that he did not realize Mei's face was just an inch away from his. "You're thinking of something dangerous again, aren't you?"

In this position, Mark's intrusive thoughts won as he took a peck of Mei's lips, surprising her enough to make her freeze and forget her anger as she turned red as ripe as a tomato.

"Don't worry. I'll be careful next time."

Mark smiled as he ruffled Mei's head and pulled her closer to his embrace.

Unfortunately, Spera was not around to tell them to get a room, as everyone else just looked away in silence and gave the two some space.

THUMP! THUMP! THOOOM!

All of a sudden, two steps were heard from the mountain-like turtle. It then lowered its body, causing the ground to shake and burnt ashes to scatter into the surroundings.

As everyone looked in surprise and fear, Mark saw Spera waving at them, confirming Aephelia's success in taking control of the turtle.

At the same time that the turtle fell under Aephelia's control, the horde below suddenly became disturbed. It was as if they lost focus after losing their leader. It became easier for the combatants to defeat the remaining [Infected].

And when everyone thought that the only threat left was the mountainous turtle, they learned that it was not a threat anymore. They became even more flabbergasted after hearing the reason.

The giant turtle was now under the control of the unfamiliar maid that appeared just now, and it would now become their transport to Bali.

It was an absurd thing to hear. Some even thought they were dreaming or going crazy. However, whatever they had in mind, it did not change the fact that the giant turtle was now lying down on the ground, waiting for everyone to ride it.