Mutagen

Day 147 - 1:21 PM - Western Coast, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes

A human phasing into existence out of nowhere, everyone who would witness that would be shocked beyond belief. Was this a Mutator ability? Or maybe, magic?

No one would be able to tell among the people watching.

One thing was for sure, though. This man appeared here to come to the Marines General's aid.

When this man arrived after his call, General Seguerra's confidence rose.

"Berrak! Kill him!"

The General roared, pointing at Mark.

That command made the gallery anticipate a fight to happen. But to everyone's dismay, Mark and the man stared at each other for a few seconds. Then, that was when he turned back to the General.

"This guy? You sure."

Berrak strangely asked General Seguerra.

"That's right! With your powers, you should be able to kill that bastard!"

But then, Berrak slapped his forehead.

"F*ck."

After cursing, Berrak finally made his move.

In the blink of an eye, he grabbed the General's shoulder before the two suddenly teleported beside Liden. Without waiting for anything else, Berrak's free hand reached towards Liden.

But then, with a surge of black mist, Mark appeared beside Liden, grabbing his broken arm.

Unfortunately for Mark, his fast speed was still not comparable to an instant movement. He only managed to touch Liden's arm before the three teleported several meters away, leaving Mark standing in place.

"Sorry man," Berrak spoke to Mark from far away. "I know these two offended you but I can't let them die here."

"You really think that I will let those two escape?"

Mark replied as he waved his hand. A flash of black lightning shot towards the three.

With a loud sound of chirping birds, the flash of lightning traveled in an instant. However, Berrak extended his hand, and a magic circle appeared in front of him, shielding the three from Mark's attack.

At this point, the gallery started to run away. The scene in front of them was not just some unfolding drama. It was a battle of the unknown.

The two forces, lightning and shield, dissipated at the same time. Mark's lightning got nullified, but Berrak's arm was clearly shaking from the impact.

"Damn. Even escaping won't be easy."

Berrak cursed. He might be able to teleport some distance away alone, but carrying two people with him would be different. After all, teleportation, a kind of space magic, was not his forte.

He was not a wizard. He was...

"Hou! Tepes! Terran! I'm sorry, but you three will have to sacrifice yourselves!"

Berrak shouted out loud, making three large magic circles appear on the ground in front of him.

From the magic circles, three creatures appeared.

One was a black hound with skeletal armor on its body and a flame-like mane. It was as large as a motorcycle.

The second one was a red lizard spurting out flames from its mouth. It was not any smaller than the hound.

Lastly, the third was gigantic. It was a four-meter giant made of stone.

With a wave of Berrak's hand, the three charged towards Mark. It was not to kill him but stall for time.

The appearance of three monsters alerted the people and even the soldiers. They got their firearms ready in case these creatures started to harm people. However, they did not carelessly plunge into the battle as it was not theirs.

The three creatures moved differently. The hound moved the fastest, even turning into a blur at its every step. The lizard was slower, but it was still as fast as a speeding vehicle. As for the stone giant, it was lagging behind. Its heavy body made it move slower than the two. Its duty, however, was not to charge but become Berrak's shield.

These three might have been able to hinder Mark a little. That very little time should be enough for Berrak to escape. Unfortunately, Mark was not alone.

A white flash passed by Mark's side, facing the hound. It was no other than Abbygale that already transformed into her catgirl form. She started to fight the hound, with both of them turning into black and white blurs that the people could barely see. In a second, however, everyone saw the hound got shot away by a kick from the little girl.

Lagging slightly behind, Miracle also charged in. To everyone's surprise, the smallest among the four girls was aiming for the stone giant. The giant smashed its huge fist towards the little girl. This scene made the remaining bystanders look away. Those that continued to watch, however, was in for a shock. Miracle faced the giant's fist with her own. With a loud bang, the rock giant's arm cracked open, making the mouths of the people agape.

Last was Emika, who came running while laughing. Her opponent was the lizard, which she should have a disadvantage fighting. Fortunately, there was Iola to protect everyone. The lizard blew flames at Emika, but a barrier protected her. Facing those flames, Emika waved her green hair, turning each strand into a thick thorned vine. The lizard tried to burn the vines, but its flames could not keep up with the river of green thorns. Soon, it was entangled, unable to move.

"Sh*t. It's a family of monsters."

Berrak cursed as he sang a chant.

A wide magic circle appeared in the sky about the size of a basketball court.

And from the magic circle, a gigantic fish-like flying serpent appeared.

Berrak grabbed General Seguerra and Liden with both arms and teleported to the back of the serpent.

However, Mark, who was not hindered by the three creatures at all already appeared in front of the serpent from an explosion of black mist.

That was when Berrak roared in urgency.

"BAKU! ESCAPE!"

With that command, a wave of unexplainable energy was discharged from the serpent. Even with that, Mark should have been able to reach the three with his current speed. However, all of a sudden, the surroundings went black, pitch black. It was as if the sun was swallowed away by something, forcing Mark to land back at the sand.

The people and the soldiers panicked. Fortunately, the darkness only lasted for about half a minute.

At that time, however, Berrak, General Seguerra, and Liden had already vanished along with the giant serpent.

"Gege, did they escape?"

Mei approached Mark and asked. She already had her sword sniper rifle out but the sudden darkness disabled her from shooting.

Mark smiled it was a sinister one.

"Not yet."

Mark then turned to the girls. They already decimated the three creatures by themselves. The thought of capturing the creatures came to Mark's mind. After all, these were unusual ones.

Unfortunately, as the creatures stopped moving, they all turned to particles as their lives were extinguished.

"Mei'er," Mark turned to Mei. "Take care of the girls first."

"Un," Mei nodded. "Leave them to me."

Some people heard Mark, including General Padilla and his entourage. They thought that Mark would chase the three that escaped immediately. But then, they were up to a gruesome sight as all the people, Liden's men and the soldiers of General Seguerra, had their heads detach from their bodies as Mark appeared at the center of the commotion.

Mark did not give any chance for General Padilla to negotiate for the lives of the soldiers. He immediately ended them there. It was obvious that Mark was angry.

And then, in front of everyone, Mark disappeared.

***

At the same time, Berrak, General Seguerra, and Liden were already flying several kilometers away, southeast of Catanduanes. The flying serpent could really move fast. It had just been a few minutes, but they could already see the northern coast of the province of Samar.

"Berrak! Why did you bring us to escape?!"

General Seguerra asked Berrak for an explanation.

However, what the General faced was Berrak's anger instead.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? FIGHT THAT THING? F*CK!"

Berrak was definitely furious.

"If I did not owe my life to your late wife, do you think I will put my self in danger and save you two against that thing?! Damn! I already sacrificed three of my summons! Do you think the lives of you two are enough to exchange for that? Sh*t!"

General Seguerra and Liden could not say anything as they received Berrak's anger.

Still, the General forced out a question.

"I-is that man really that strong?"

"Strong? You ask me if that thing is strong? F*ck! If that thing goes wild, he could sink your small country! Out of all things, you two tried to offend something like that?"

"Y-you must be exaggerating..."

Liden said, covered in a cold sweat.

"Exaggerating? Exaggerating my *ss! I already told you two before to lay low since secret masters are everywhere, especially now that most humans are dead! Most of the people capable of living leisurely now are those with overwhelming strength! Tell me! What is that man doing before?"

Berrak asked, but Liden did not dare answer. However, with the furious stare from the former, the latter could only give his answer.

"A-a picnic at the seaside."

"See?" Berrak slapped his forehead. "Think about it! You think just anyone can afford to have a picnic at this time? You think just anyone can keep a woman like that safe? Damn, just where did your brain go?!"

Berrak started to throw ridicule after ridicule towards the two for their meager intelligence and overflowing ego. In this event, he was the one that sacrificed the most.

General Seguerra only received some mental damage, while Liden had his arms broken. Those were not comparable to the three creatures he captured and raised to be his summons. He spent years taming them, even putting his own life in jeopardy. Now, those three were gone, and he was left with two idiots that did not know their place.

The two went quiet while Berrak commanded the flying serpent. He could not help but glance at the two behind him for his loss.

Berrak was not a wizard nor a sorcerer. He was a summoner. Of course, it was not like the summoners in fantasy stories that could summon creatures from another world or out of thin air. He needed to search for demonic and spiritual creatures, capture and tame them before he could summon them freely. In a sense, he was more like a magical tamer.

One time, he almost died while chasing a spiritual creature in the Philippine mountains. It was General Seguerra's late wife that found and saved him from the brink of death. That was why he pledged to protect her family in exchange for the favor. Unfortunately, the General's wife had already passed away from an illness. Nevertheless, he was still fulfilling his promise.

Luckily, General Seguerra never had any children. Or else, it would have been harder to escape this time. As for Liden, Berrak could not care less. This did not have a fixed family and had children from different women. In any case, he would not go all the way to save them all.

"Where are we going now?"

General Seguerra asked Berrak.

"Anywhere. As long as it's far from here." Berrak replied, trying to calm himself down. "I don't know what you two did, but that thing is keen on killing you two. If we just settled down somewhere close, you should start praying that you two will not encounter that thing in the future."

"Why do you call that man, "thing.""

Liden could not help but ask, groaning in the pain of his arms.

"Because that's not human. Get that?"

Not human. The two brothers could not fathom what Berrak was talking about.

"You two don't get it?" Berrak frowned. "That thing had no ties with destiny and life. He's a living dead being. Sooner or later, if he continued to grow, an existence like that can become a Diety, or even an Earth God. Get what I'm saying?"

Berrak then turned to Liden.

"I ran into that guy earlier, but I think, he's not the type of person to care about things. Just what did you do to offend him, huh?"

Liden heard the question. But he did not dare answer.

However, an answer came from a very unexpected direction.

"He just laughed out loud with his men while saying that they will play with my wife tonight."

A cold chill touched the back of their necks as they heard that voice.

They looked behind. At first, they could not see anything.

But then, as if the curtain of light opened, the figure of Mark standing at the back of a black dragon appeared.