Mutagen

The sleeping woke up and joined the awake. The people of the settlement all gazed in the direction of the Central Area of the [Safezone].

A pillar of light towered towards the sky, circled by ominous clouds darker than the night sky.

Confusion? Fear? Most of the witnesses did not know what to feel about the situation. Their minds had yet to digest the scene before them.

Was something dangerous happening inside the walls of the [Safezone]? If that was the case, should they run away?

Even though this kind of thought flashed in the minds of the people, running away was the very last thing they would likely do. If they ran, where would they go? This settlement was the safest place they knew.

The military struggled to traverse even a kilometer or two away from the settlement without incurring injuries, or worse, casualties. There was no way regular people could reach further than that.

And thus, the confused people stood still. They watched the pillar of light, hoping that they would be fine in the end.

***

Inside the fortress walls of the [Safezone], the situation was not much different than outside.

In the northwest compound of the [Safezone], General Perez stared at the pillar of light, recalling Mark\'s words a few hours ago during their planning.

***

"Gather your forces and follow the plan. Then, wait for my signal."

Mark said.

"And what signal?"

General Perez asked.

"I haven\'t thought of it, actually," Mark answered. "Don\'t worry. I\'ll make sure it\'s noticeable."

***

Seeing the pillar of light, General Perez could only shake his head. The signal sure was noticeable. In any case, it meant that his daughter was already in safe hands.

"Attention!"

General Perez stood on a podium, gathering the attention of his soldiers and allies.

"All of you had already been briefed of the outlines of the plan. Many of you should have questions, but now is not the right time to answer those. Some of those questions might even answer themselves later on. What I ask of you all was to follow my lead one more time."

"Don\'t worry, General! We\'re on your side!"

"Yeah! Down with those crocodiles!"

The soldiers voiced their unyielding support towards their General. Unlike those politicians that only showed themselves for pretense, they saw General Perez devote himself to the masses.

And with the overwhelming support, General Perez could not help but feel touched.

"Men! Ready!" General Perez shouted out loud. "Mobilize!"

There, leading more than five hundred soldiers, volunteers, and allies, General Perez marched out of his compound.

***

With the forces of General Perez mobilizing, there was no way it would not reach the eyes and ears of the President.

"Mr. President. General Perez and his troops began to march. However, there\'s an issue."

Major General Bautista reported. However, his expression seemed strange.

"Then we\'ll deal with it as planned." President Deroa ordered while still gazing at the pillar of light. "Tell our troops to prepare for sortie. Perez should already know that his daughter is already safe and had nothing to fear anymore."

"Mr. President. There\'s something wrong with the situation."

Major General Bautista repeated, making President Deroa turn around.

"Then what are you waiting for? Just say it."

A senator present inside the office told the Chief of Staff in agitation.

Not minding the impudent senator, Major General Bautista spoke.

"General Perez and his troops marched not towards here. From the report, they forced themselves through the north gate instead."

The report caused a deafening silence in the room. The report had yet to sink into their minds.

"What did you say?"

President glared at Major General Bautista, wishing that he reported incorrectly.

"General Perez and his troops are marching out of the [Safezone] instead of going here."

Major General Bautista repeated.

The confusion ensued within the Presidential Office. No one could understand why General Perez was doing this. Were they planning to leave? Where would they go in this situation?

"Continue monitoring General Perez." President Deroa said with a frown. "How about our Elite Special Forces?"

"They are already en route, Mr. President. They already found the target standing on the rooftop of the laboratory. They are amidst securing the perimeter before initiating the attack. They are also evacuating the personnel around the perimeter."

Major General Deroa reported.

"So, is it really the target?"

The President asked.

"Apparently, yes." Major General Bautista replied. "It seemed to be the very same person the scouts saw within the base of the White Snake Gang the other day."

At this point, the radio on Major General\'s belt sounded.

"Mr. President, our Elites are ready to sortie."

"Then, begin. Make sure to capture him alive. Having a torn limb or two or two should suffice. If not possible, take all of it."

"Yes, Mr. President."

***

On the roof of the laboratory, at the center of the flood of torrential magical energy, Mark stood calmly.

Mark stared at the floating crystal in front of him. Its glow began to dim.

"As expected of the magical ability of the King of Merpeople. Its released energy alone can affect a large region."

That was right. The crystal that began to dim was the [Stormcaller Mental Crystal]. While Mark used the [Photokinesis Mental Crytal] to create the pillar of light, that was it. Instead, the raging magical energy in the surroundings was all the [Stormcaller Mental Crystal].

Mark released the energy without manipulating it to summon a storm. Yet, its energy alone affected the weather and called upon the swirling dark clouds and in the sky.

Plop! Tap!

One drop, two drops...

One after another, raindrops began to fall. The start of the rain marked the last bit of energy from the crystal to be drained.

The [Stormcaller Mental Crystal] fell on Mark\'s palm. Its glow was all gone and would probably need a day or two to fully recharge.

It did not matter, however. In terms of fighting, it had fewer uses. However, the [Stormcaller Mental Crystal] was good at setting the stage.

Even though Mark did not plan for it, a rainy stage sure was more advantageous for him...

... Especially since the place he stood at was now surrounded.

"There\'s around a hundred, huh," Mark murmured. "They don\'t seem like regular soldiers."

Mark monitored the movements of the enemies as they stealthily surrounded him. They moved efficiently, and there was barely any time wasted as they proceeded to take their positions.

"Twenty snipers, thirty ready for infiltration, and aside from ten, the rest are ground troops. All of them are fully equipped."

Mark closed his eyes...

"Those ten... They are not just some regular humans."

Mark knew these people since General Perez explained it to him before.

The Elite Special Forces. However, they were not just soldiers trained to be dispatched on elite missions. They were mainly in charge of paranormal anomalies in the country.

They were the aces of this country against problems that could not be solved by normal means.

TSST!

Overshadowed by the sound of the rain, muffled gunfire could be barely heard.

"Hmmm?"

Mark was suddenly thrown to the floor. His right leg was pierced by a bullet which caused him to fall violently.

However, it was not just one shot. Following the first one, several more gunshots occurred. All the nine remaining Snipers took their shots at Mark, targeting his limbs.

Mark lay on the wet rooftop, blood spilled onto the floor.

With his fall, the pillar of light vanished. He then stopped moving.

No movements were observed on Mark, causing the soldiers to be bewildered. Five shadowy figures jumped from roof to roof before arriving at the laboratory\'s rooftop to check on their target.

"Is it done? I thought he\'s someone powerful."

A woman\'s voice could be heard as one of the five figures spoke.

"Don\'t let your guard down."

A man warned the woman.

The five cautiously approached Mark. One of them began using his assault rifle to nudge their unmoving target.

"Is he dead? We\'re doomed if he is."

The same woman asked.

"He\'s not. I can sense his heart beati- Get away from him!"

One of the five seemed to have keener senses than the rest. He could tell that Mark\'s heart was still beating without getting close. However, he noticed that the rate of the heartbeat of their target had was not the same for an unconscious or injured person.

The man warned the other four, but it was too late.

BAM! BAM! BOOM! BAM!

Out of the five, only the man with keen senses remained standing. As he detected the anomaly first, he managed to jump away.

The other four, each of them were hit by a sudden attack. One became embedded to the floor, one was thrown off the rooftop, the other blown to the edge of the roof, while the last one was flung away to another building.

"SH*T!"

The last man cursed. They were caught off guard. This was the first time they encountered someone that managed to stay alive and conscious after getting hit by ten fifty caliber sniper rifles, not to mention using their special bullets.

"Tch. Why the hell did it hurt this much?"

Mark said as he stood up. The holes left by bullets on his limbs began to heal rapidly. Even the bullets stuck inside his arms and legs after hitting his bones were pushed out.

"So, this is why."

Mark said, catching one of the bullets from his arm.

It was a silver bullet, not to mention a blessed one.

"A bullet against Demons..."

Mark wondered if these guys knew that he was a Demon. However, that was impossible. He never revealed such information to anyone from outside his base after all. It may be their standard bullets.

As Mark wondered, the two he attacked that were still on the roof stood up.

"You guys alright?"

The man with keen senses asked his comrades.

"I\'m fine, but damn, that hurts. My arm got dislocated. If its others, they\'re dead by now."

One soldier, the noisy woman, replied with her dangling arm. The other did not bother answering. Instead, he stared warily at Mark, who baited them.

However, the dislocated arm of the woman did not stay that way as she twisted her arm back into place before stretching it.

"Quite a resilient bunch."

Mark shrugged.

What the woman said was right. The attacks he did would probably punch a hole through the chest of a regular human. Yet, the four that Mark managed to attack did not sustain any heavy injury at all.

"I didn\'t expect that the country had the kind of people like you all."

Mark spoke to the three in front of him.

"Don\'t worry, we didn\'t expect you to be fine after that, either."

The woman replied to Mark.

"Stop talking to him. We are here to do our job."

The man with keen sense reprimanded the woman.

SHOOSH!

Suddenly, the sound of wind being torn apart entered Mark\'s ears. He took a step back, and the guy thrown to another building flew past his initial position. The speed was very fast, probably as fast as a bullet. It was literally a human-sized bullet.

Unfortunately...

BAM!

Mark slammed his palm on the back of the man before he whizzed past him. Although Mark was not targeting their vitals, he was holding back.

GAHACK!

The man spurted blood from his mouth as he was slammed to the floor.  Due to the strength of Mark\'s attack, the floor gave way, creating a huge hole two floors below.

"How rude. We are still talking." Mark said as he gazed at the hole. "Anyway, that\'s one down."

This time, Mark was sure that the man was incapacitated, at least till the end of the battle.

The three soldiers in front of Mark began concentrating on him. They did not say anything about the plight of their comrade that fell down the hole. Instead, their attention was all on Mark.

Suddenly...

"DODGE!"

Another woman\'s voice could be heard. As her voice entered the ears of the three soldiers in front of Mark, they jumped off the roof.

BOOM!

All of a sudden, the entire rooftop was engulfed in flames.

Unexpectedly, it was not explosives.

The woman that shouted just now conjured flames out of nowhere and made it explode.