Mutagen

While everyone was bracing the violent shaking of Earth, screaming and enveloped in fear, Mark and Mei, instead, were watching a spectacular scene from the sky.

Mark and Mei watched the terrifying tremors on the ground. Everything was shaking, even mountains as if they were small trees rooted in unstable soil.

The two watched mountains moving as if they were living giants.

The base of the mountains was torn apart, forming unfathomably deep cliffs and crevices. Only to get filled with soil and rocks, once more, appearing from thin air with a whisk of bright light.

Those narrow and shallow rivers widened and deepened.

Lakes turned into small seas.

New trees also appeared, along with animals that did not exist in the Mortal Dimension before.

The familiar structures in the Spirit Dimension popped out of nowhere, along with everyone alive inside them.

Even the sky was changing as the cracks slowly vanished. The sky was never this blue, even after the apocalypse started.

Mark and Mei were watching the birth of a new Earth. It was a once-in-a-lifetime scene that most people on Earth had no way of seeing.

Nonetheless, the Earth\'s change did not only give birth to the new. It also brought destruction to the old.

Most of the things humans and other races created and existed before in both worlds were destroyed.

Cities and towns that survived the rain of hell turned into ruins. It was even worse for man-made structures. There was no way any building created by humans would withstand an earthquake with a magnitude higher than ten.

Even buildings inside settlements protected by barriers collapsed, causing a massive amount of deaths among the survivors.

The barriers might have protected everyone from the dangers outside.

But the dangers from within were a different issue.

Even if the Eyes wanted to protect humanity from an outside threat, natural disasters were not something they could put their hands into.

Yes, the current change, the fusion of different dimensions on Earth, was considered by the world as a natural disaster. It was an inevitable event that would happen due to Earth\'s current situation.

As the change progressed, Mark and Mei were actually worried about their base. But unexpectedly, it barely felt the brunt of the earthquake.

The earthquake sure was not a regular one. An earthquake would usually last a few seconds to a few minutes. Of course, not including unusual ones like the earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1861, which lasted thirty-two years.

The earthquake that was the result of Earth changing its topography lasted for about three hours. It was already sunset when the changes began to stop.

After even a whole hour of the earthquake, something that demolished cities in a few seconds, the base stood still.

And it remained safe even after Earth\'s change finished.

This made Mark and Mei felt relieved.

"This is unexpected." Fourth\'s voice entered the two\'s ears. "Your base escaped the world\'s transformation unscathed. I thought there would at least be a few buildings collapsing. You guys did some preparations, didn\'t you?"

The two turned to Fourth, only to see her weakened state. She behaved the same, but her body was as transparent as a ghost.

Sensing the stares, Fourth shrugged.

"Don\'t mind my state. It\'s a small price to pay, considering we had to stop Earth from destruction." Fourth explained. "I\'ll recover in the future. Considering how many humans are left and if it did not decrease too drastically anymore, it\'ll probably take about a hundred years or so."

That made Mark wince. A hundred years was too long.

"Stop staring at me pitifully." Fourth complained. "Quick! Tell me! How did you manage to pull it off?"

Of course, Fourth was interested.

The whole world was devastated except for places where powerful beings resided. Yet, Mark\'s base, where only a few hundred humans lived, managed to remain unscathed.

And to Fourth\'s question, Mark answered.

"Not telling."

That answer made Fourth pout in displeasure. Even if she looked like a beautiful lady, Fourth still behaved like a child.

"Tch. I\'ll ask Nineteenth instead."

It was just a gamble. That was why Mark did not want to say it.

For the base to avoid the earthquake, there were two cards that Mark put into play.

First was Chiyo, the Night Everred Spirit Tree. Her roots already had consolidated the entire Mount Malabito. Because of it, it would be harder for natural disasters to deform the whole mountain. It would also stop landslides from happening and even nourish the land around it slowly.

The second card was no other than Louis Morgan. The inheritor of [Geokinesis] Psychic Ability. Mark had not had a proper talk with the guy yet and only gave him an order for now. That order was to use his psychic ability to keep the land around the base intact. With his current level, it would be hard to do it for the whole three hours. However, Mark had given all his [Earth Attribute Crystals] to the guy. Mark did not have many of it, but it was something that he did not lack.

They managed to pull it off because of these two cards, leaving the base as is even if almost everything in the world was destroyed.

Mark looked around and noticed that the barrier that Fourth created was still up.

"What about that?"

Mark pointed at the barrier in the sky.

"Want me to remove it?"

Fourth asked with a smug look.

"I\'m just asking."

Mark did not mind her trying to take advantage of the question and just turned away uninterested.

Seeing that move by Mark, however, Fourth pouted even more and explained.

"Hmmph! The barriers around every place on Earth with surviving humans with be up for about another month." Fourth harrumphed. "It\'s to allow them the opportunity to prepare and rebuild as things would soon get even more dangerous. Remember, those space debris are not the only threat. The danger is what those chunks of metal carried."

"Besides..." Fourth added as she turned her head towards the sky. "Not all the debris had already fallen."

As Fourth said those words, they saw a streak of red light in the sky as another flaming debris flew above their heads.

It was not a surprising thing. Given that the gigantic planetary debris exploded in space, not all its fragments would fall into Earth immediately. Many of the chunks of planetary debris would float and orbit around Earth for some time before being pulled by Earth\'s gravity.

This meant that the rain of hell had not truly ended. From time to time, a chunk of planetary debris would enter Earth and cause massive destruction.

However, that was not all.

The actual threat was not those chunks of space debris but the thing they carried.

It was the second pathogen that entered Earth through space. The [Mechid Pathogen].

Not much was known about it and its effects on Earth. Would this new pathogen create another army of creatures that would threaten humanity? Would they work hand-in-hand with those infected with [Mutagen]?

There were a whole lot of questions to ask, and there was no answer to find at the moment.

"You two better go home and start your preparations." Fourth spoke the two in a serious tone. "Who knows when those machine creatures would appear outside your doorsteps. I\'ll also have to return too."

And with those words, Fourth flew off, vanishing from the sight of Mark and Mei.

The expression of the two was quite serious too. The change of Earth was not the end. It was just the beginning of a new struggle for survival.

***

Day 156 - 7:25 AM - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

While the rest of the world had the chance to rebuild and prepare, South America was already going on its last stand.

Without an Eye to protect them, more than half of the continent turned into a dead man\'s land. Seawater flooded a large part of the continent, sinking coastal areas to the ocean floor. Even the fusion of dimensions did not help, as those places were swallowed by the ocean before it happened.

As there were no barriers created in any part of South America, whole chunks of space debris crashed to the ground. The largest ones were a size of a skyscraper, flattening an entire city into a deep crater.

***

Day 156 - 7:31 AM - Amazon Rainforest, State of Amazonas, Brazil

Many places in South America faced the same fate. Even the Amazon was not spared.

The wet and cold rainforest was already enveloped in flames. At the center of the forest was another crater with towering space debris at its center.

It was the largest chunk of space debris that crashed into Earth without any hindrance. Although the fusion of dimensions filled some parts of the crater with a new land, the destruction that the crash left was still visible for everyone to see.

The worst thing, however, was not only that the space debris landed intact. Its so-called "passengers" managed to survive as well for the most part.

Yes, most part.

CLANK! BAM!

A large part of the planetary debris fell off, causing a loud crash. It revealed a hollow interior on the space debris.

And there, stepping under the light of the sun for the first time, was a creature with four legs.

Was it an organic monster? A destructive robot?

It was hard to say with just a glance.

A creature with four metallic legs and a humanoid upper body composed of pulsating flesh.

As it stepped through the door of its hollow, dark prison, its red, bulged right eye scanned the surroundings.

The rotation of its eye revealed wirings behind its eyeballs, covered in greenish rotting flesh.

SPURT!

Its left eye just spewed black goo with a strong smell of infectious pus. The creature staggered, showing that the crash also caused damage to its horrendous body.

The creature stared at the burning forest. Living trees blanketed in flames. It was the first time this creature living in space had seen such a scene.

CLANK! CREAK!

Slowly, one step at a time, it moved out of its prison.

CLANK! BAM!

The creature fell. It did not realize that the door it opened was far above the ground.

Staggering, it slowly lifted its body up.

CLANK!

One of its four limbs fell. The fall did more damage to its already broken robotic body.

But the damage did not deter the creature. Using its three remaining legs, it moved forward, scanning the surroundings.

It approached the burning forest. The curiosity in its eyes was clear.

One step at a time, it advanced.

Until its rotting body felt the scorching heat that it stopped.

As its receptors received the heat...

"CRUUAAAAKK!!!"

It roared in pain as it hurriedly retreated. Its robotic voice echoed into the surroundings.

The pain transmitted was perceived as a danger.

The creature looked around. The crater was surrounded by a burning forest.

"CRROOOAARRRR!!!"

The creature roared, thinking that it was surrounded by a danger that it could not face alone.

And as it did...

CLANK! CLANK! BAM! CLANK! BAM! BAM!

Countless pieces of the planetary debris fell off, each one revealing a hollow interior. Some appeared to be rooms, while others looked like hallways.

The appearance of the interior was the least to be concerned about, however.

As pieces of the planetary debris fell like it was being shaved off, one after another, rotting creatures, half-metallic and half-organic, stepped out of their space prison.

All of them appeared to be damaged. Some of the creatures pulled their hind legs as their wiring released sparks. Others dragged their bodies with their hands on the floor with their entire lower body smashed to pieces.

They all observed the new world they crashed into, a planet that was totally unfamiliar to them.

The planet that they would conquer soon.

Seeing its allies come out of their "prison," the first creature tried to move forward. It staggered and fell to the ground. As it stood up once more, it looked at its broken leg.

It knew that it needed to find something that could replace its leg soon. It did not matter, whether it be a machine or an organic limb.

-VOLUME 12 END-