Mutagen

The food was not too lavish as most of it was nothing but canned food cooked into another kind of dish. Even the drinks were just juice or soft drinks.

What mattered the most was the mood.

Laughing about each other\'s stories, spending time with their beloved, and watching the children play. These kinds of things made them forget the horrible creatures outside this place.

Nevertheless, it seemed that Mark was waiting for something else. After all, he was glancing at the Retreat House from time to time.

***

Inside the Retreat House, Case and Kaira slipped into the room they used last night to get their things. As this room was not really someplace to sleep at but a conference room, they all shared this large room. That was why they had to slip in and avoid anyone from seeing them.

Case packed his things with a lot of things in his mind.

"Are you really sure about this, Case?"

Kaira asked with uncertainty.

Case suddenly asked her to leave with him. Although she did not hate it, it was too sudden. They had no preparations, concrete plans, or even enough time.

Furthermore, even though Case already talked with the commander of the soldiers, there was no guarantee that they would be accepted by them.

Another thing was if they two were caught by Harold. Although Harold rarely showed his anger, one of the things he hated was desertion. It was the exact thing they were currently doing.

"Also, we aren\'t sure... if that commander is a good person either."

"Sir Mark? I\'m sure he\'s quite the demon. He won\'t hesitate to abandon unrelated people and let them die."

Case\'s reply made Kaira surprised.

"Then why..."

"You saw those people outside. The members of his group. What do you think?"

"They seem to be having fun."

Kaira replied as she zipped her bag.

"Exactly." Case nodded. "Their leader is a demon to those unrelated but the best leader to his people. If we can join them, then we won\'t belong to those unrelated anymore."

Case slipped his backpack on his arms.

"Let\'s go."

He grabbed Kaira\'s hand, and the two hurried out of the room.

Things should have been fine. Since it was not new for Case to appear and disappear, it should have been fine.

However...

"Where do you think you two are going?"

Prince who sat on the highest step of the stairs leading up to the second floor.

His back was facing the two but Case could tell that this narcissist currently had a smug-looking face.

Kaira froze. Compared to Harold, she was more afraid of this person. After what he did to her several times, she already developed an instinctual fear of him. For her, it would be better if Harold was the one who caught them than this lunatic.

Case frowned. He pulled Kaira closer which made her lose balance since she was frozen in fear. However, that made it easier for Case as Kaira would not be able to resist what he was about to do.

"Uwaaa!"

Kaira shouted as her body fell.

Case caught her and lifted her up in a princess carry.

"Hold tight and don\'t bite your tongue."

He said before he did the thing that not only Kaira but even Prince did not expect.

Since Kaira shouted, Prince turned around. The moment he did, however, what he saw Case jump over the railing beside the stairs.

This was unbelievable because no sane person would that kind of thing unless he wanted to suicide. The height between the second and first floor was rather higher compared to the height between the second and third floor. It was because of the reception areas and other activity areas built on the first floor.

A normal person might not die unless they land head first. Still, breaking a bone would not be surprising.

And yet, Case jumped without hesitation. He was even carrying Kaira.

"Hey!"

Prince shouted in surprise. His voice was loud that it obviously alerted everyone around them. It was including Harold and the other members of their group that was still watching the event below.

Contrary to what Prince thought, Case landed safely on the first floor. There was barely any sound of the landing either.

That landing was witnessed by several soldiers and the family members of the soldiers that were still at the reception and the open dining area.

Case ignored all those stares and bolted off. It was because Prince also jumped to chase after them.

As a Mutator, Prince landed on the first floor without effort.

"Case... How did you..."

Kaira was in shock. Although she managed to hold her scream when they fell, what just happened was still unbelievable to her.

"I\'ll explain it later."

Case continued to run while Prince chased behind them.

***

"Here they come."

Mark spoke while looking at the back door of the Retreat House.

Crashing the event, Case came out of the door while carrying Kaira.

Of course, the place fell into silence as they immediately became the center of attention.

"Gege, are you waiting for them?"

Mei asked.

"I am. Those two will be our new members."

Mark confidently replied.

"They seem to be in trouble."

Mei said as Prince also passed through the door chasing after the two.

"It\'s fine, they are not."

While Mark and Mei conversed, Case already arrived in front of Mark.

"Sir..."

Case was about to say something, but he was cut off.

"Just leave her here. Do what you need to do."

Case nodded and put Kaira down.

"Just stay here. Alright?"

Case spoke with a serious expression that left Kaira an impression that he would not take no for an answer.

"Okay..."

Kaira replied even though she was still uncertain.

As Case was about to face Prince who hesitated to chase further, he heard Mark speak.

"Give us a good show."

It might be simple words. However, Case understood the deeper meaning.

While Mark would openly welcome someone like him, he still needed to prove his worth.

Case stepped forward Prince with a subtle smile on his mouth.

"Hey, Case. What do you think you are doing, huh? Harold won\'t forgive you for this."

Prince spoke with a frown.

With his personality, he would not want to cause too much ruckus in front of the girls he was drooling for. That was why he hesitated.

To his surprise, however, Case tilted his head in confusion.

"Really, how naive are you? Do you really think that I\'m afraid of the likes of you? Even that bullsh*t leader wannabe. Just who the hell does he think he is?"

Case spoke in a manner very different from what they were used to.

"So, that\'s how you think of me, huh?"

Harold along with the other members of their group heard what Case said as they went out through the back door of the Retreat House.

"What else should I think about you? I\'m not like those idiots groveling at your feet."

Case said with a snicker as he panned his eyes to the other members of Harold\'s group. Of course, they were offended.

Nevertheless, Case was right about it. They were idiots for being easily manipulated.

Harold was not a good leader. He was just good with his words. He managed to convince the others and gain their hearts and minds as their leader. Slowly, he made others rely on him making them think that they would not survive without him.

As for other aspects, this so-called leader was trash. His planning was trash enough that many of their previous members died horribly. Yet, Harold never once admitted that their deaths were his fault. He always shirked the blame for saying that the ones that died were not weak and not suited to the current world. The remaining ones should not follow their steps.

Prince, on the other hand, was a pervert who would lay his hands on any girl he got close to. The worst part was that his handsome face made it harder for some of the women to resist his advances. This guy\'s mental case was so severe that he would not hesitate to touch the under-aged Kaira.

In fact, the social climber, Kate, was better than any of them. In the least, she knew what she should do and not.

"Harold." Case spoke without any shred of respect. "We will be splitting up with your dumb group. It\'s better if you all don\'t bother us anymore."

He then turned to Prince.

"As for you ugly bastard. I have a score to settle with you."

Case spoke to the narcissistic pervert with a smirk.

Prince\'s face turned red in fury.

Others might not know it since no one paid attention. Case, however, observed them far more than they would have imagined.

The narcissistic Prince, he was too sensitive to the word ugly, especially if the word was personally spoken to describe him.

Once that happened, Prince would lose control.

Seeing Price fume in fury, Harold panicked. Although he did not like the group watching even a little bit, it would be bad to show such unsightly behavior around them. After all, they still had the command over the soldiers. It would be bad if they suddenly decided to leave them behind.

"Prince! Don\'t!"

Harold shouted. However, his shout fell unto deaf ears.

Prince charged towards Case without any shred of sanity on his face.

"Who are you calling ugly!"

Prince shouted.

He charged while his body transformed. His pupils turned red and started to show divisions. His pupils looked similar to compound eyes found on many insects, especially the genus of flies.

A segmented armor covered his arms and on his back, a pair of clear wings grew. His mouth split into several parts showing a horrifying shape.

BUZZZZ!!!

His wings fluttered fast causing a loud buzzing sound causing him to hover above the ground. With his transformation, he charged towards Case at a very fast speed. Furthermore, he was screeching in fury as he released killing intent towards Case.

"CASE!"

Kaira could not help but scream in fright.

She was about to run towards Case when she felt someone holding her shoulder. Looking behind her, Odelina was there.

"You should trust your boyfriend more."

Mark spoke which caused Kaira to blush despite her fear of what was about to happen to Case.

"But, Case... He..."

Kaira stuttered while she tried to beg Mark to save Case.

"Why don\'t you look?"

Mark pointed in front making Kaira turn back to Case.

She was shocked.

Without a doubt, Prince was attacking rather fast. Smacking with his armored arms, attacking with the pointed protrusions on his armor, and kicking at different angles while flying around Case like a dizzy fly.

Nevertheless, none of the attacks managed to land on the supposed to be weak Case.

Even Harold and the other members of their group could not believe what they were seeing.

Among the three Mutators in their group, Prince was the fastest. Even though he was quite out of his mind at this moment, his attacks were still fast.

Yet...

Case was dodging each attack by a small margin.

"Ugly, can you fight seriously?"

Case pushed Prince\'s anger further.

He started roaring like a severely mentally ill patient.

At the side, Aephelia landed on Mark\'s shoulder and spoke.

"That boy isn\'t bad. He\'s really good at reading the attacks in advance. He must have good eyes."

"He still lacked experience though."

Mark added which made Aephelia nod.

"His personality is somewhat similar to a certain person."

Aephelia said before mischievously flying away.

"This woman."

Mark shook his head. He could admit that there were similarities between him and Case. However, there were more differences.