Mutagen

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"Did your planet get infected with Mutagen?"

Seeing the scene in front of them, Mark could not help but ask. Now he was frowning. He was truly feeling the threat Earth could possibly face in the future. If it was really Mutagen, it would not be long before Earth followed the path Planet Eriellis took.

Surprisingly, Freed shook his head.

"Just watch."

Freed urged Mark to watch the scene around them.

Like a fast forwarded scene, the birds that were flying high before they were blown away started to grow in size and started to grow features way different from their initial appearance. The mutated birds of different species started to fight. Then, the unexpected scene happened and the expected physical fight did not happen.

Instead…

One bird threw fire balls to another bird while another released electricity around its wings. Icicle spikes were conjured in front of one bird and the icicle spikes flew like a bullet and skewered the bodies of the enemy birds around it. It looked like a scene from an anime adaptation of a certain monster battling and hunting game.

,m The scene flashed and they were suddenly in the middle of the city. The fascinating city before became a scene of destruction. People wearing odd looking clothes were running away while many people had turned into zombie like creatures. There were different looking ones which had similarities to a Mutated Infected but they were actually hurling magic like attacks on the soldiers defending the civilians.

Even though the soldiers were wielding laser and plasma rifles, it did not have effect on some of the magical zombies since some of them conjured wind barriers and energy barriers around them. Some of them could even fly.

This was not Mutagen. Even though the transformation and the symptoms were similar, it was way more dangerous than Mutagen. It was no wonder that despite being an advanced civilization, Eriellis lost this war.

The scene flashed and fast forwarded. A woman bitten by the zombies in front of Mark and Freed did not turn. Instead, the bite wound started to heal and her hair started to change color. Her hair turned crimson as if her hair was colored with flames. She recovered from her pained and weakened state and started conjuring flames on her hand. She started to fight the zombies with her new power and protected the innocent people.

Mark watched the woman and he could link her to the Mutators infected by Mutagen.

"Get it now?" Freed spoke. "That is why I did not recognize it first when I woke up few days ago when you fought with Odelina. Mutagen seemed similar but also different to the infection we experienced in our planet. The main difference I can see is that Mutagen affected creatures more on physical aspect while PsyPathogen affected creatures on a mental aspect."

"You call it PsyPathogen?"

Mark questioned.

"That's right. It is because it turns almost everyone infected by it into Psychics or in another term, Espers." Freed affirmed. "Our scientists found out that PsyPathogen could either change or enhance the human brain enough for us to be sensitive and able to control forces and energies around us. It was never understood how the change or enhancement were chosen for every ability but it was confirmed that people with the same bloodline as those that became Psychics first had a higher chance to become one."

"That's the same as what I assumed."

Mark said.

"You're right. There are a lot of similarities between Mutagen and PsyPathogen. Even though the effects to those who were infected were different, I'm sure that both pathogens came from the same source."

Freed agreed once more.

"Or maybe, the other was a mutated pathogen of another."

Mark thought making Freed nod.

"So, you're also a Psychic from that pathogen, right?"

"I am. I'm sure, my hair gave it away."

The scene flashed once more and they were transported in a room where Freed about a year or two younger was lying in a large regal bed. He was obviously in pain and his arm was bleeding. Around him were his officials and two beautiful girls sat to the right of his bed worriedly looking at him. Behind the two girls was a man about the same age as Freed looking all serious.

Before Mark could ask, Freed started to talk.

"A levitating infected managed to sneak into the castle and killed almost everyone. My father who was the king, the queen, my mother, the crowned prince, the soldiers and even maids and other officials, a lot of people died." Freed looked at Mark with a helpless smile. "I'm not really the crowned prince. I'm the second prince, the first son of the king on the first concubine who was my mother. In that attack, in order to protect the first princess who was my sister from the second concubine, I was bitten. Luckily, I did not die and became a Psychic and also inherited the throne that way."

Freed looked at the younger girl and approached, he tried to touch her head. Unfortunately, everything around them was not real and his hand only passed through her.

"This is my beloved sister, Elailia. We've been too close since we were kids and she was even closer to me than my mother." Freed glanced at the other girl but he did not introduce her to Mark.

Mark noticed the mixed emotions freed had for that girl. He was sad, lost, angry and happy at the same time.

Seeing that Mark noticed his emotions, Freed inhaled deeply and spoke.

"This one here is Amecia. My childhood friend and supposed to be my Fiancé. The one I loved."

"You two did not end up with each other? I don't think the reason is that she died."

Mark voiced his assumptions making Freed shake his head with a bitter smile.

"When I became the king, I can't participate anymore in the front of the defense. I'm the final pillar holding the kingdom. Once I die, our civilization would have crumbled faster." Freed looked at Amecia and the man standing behind her with complex emotions. "Amecia… along with my best friend Orulian led the battle together since both of them became Psychics too. In the middle of the long defense against the zombies, they helped each other, protected each other…"

"And fell in love to each other."

Freed squatted on the side of the bed watching the unconscious younger version of him.

"They told me what happened and apologized. I was angry at that time. I called them traitors and wanted to banish them out of what remained of the kingdom. But I held it in. I just wished them to be happy since both of them were important people to me. You can say that it was the magnanimity of a king."

"So, you've been NTRed and you accepted it like that."

Mark said expressionlessly with his arms crossed.

"DAMN! YOU! Do you really have to ruin the atmosphere that way?!"

Freed shouted, his nose was blowing smoke.

"What happened then?"

Mark shrugged Freed's angry shout.

Calming down, Freed continued.

"They vowed to protect me, the king to their last breath as atonement to their sins. That however caused them to be nothing but puppets to my control. If I wanted to do something to them, they would not be able to refuse since their former status was stripped from them with that vow. Well, they really fulfilled that promise. They really died protecting me so I can't say too much."

The scene flashed.

The city was gone. Bodies over bodies of dead people littered the former city that was nothing but a wasteland now.

Freed along with fifty Psychics were fighting on their own and the young Elailia was even among them. There were no soldiers anymore and there were no other people to help them. Aside from the zombies that they were fighting, a creature as tall as a mountain was moving from afar. For sure, that creature was even larger than Mount Everest. It was a creature with millions of eyes and thousands of more than kilometer long tentacles.

A bright light flashed and a large ray of red hot beam seared across the battlefield from that gigantic creature. The target was none other than Freed who was at the center of the battlefield. Orulian who had the best reflex managed to react and pushed Freed away and ended up being hit by the beam of light. He died with his body split slanted from his armpit to his waist. However, before everyone could react to his death, another beam flashed towards Freed and Amecia was the one to block it. Her forehead was pierced by that light and she fell beside the decapitated body of Orulian.

It was a losing fight. Everyone was dying one by one. Even Elailia died soon after. It did not take long and only two people were left. They were Freed and a woman wearing a hood he was protecting.

In the last moment, Freed helplessly nodded to the hooded woman behind him. Mark could not make out her face due to the hood but he could see that she had a bright glow on her eyes. Her left eye was glowing red while her right was glowing purple. She took out a crystal that could not be any more familiar to Mark. It was the double terminated crystal with marble sized crystal orbiting around it.

The marble sized crystals flew towards every dead body of Psychics and started glowing. Soon, each crystal had a glowing orb inside them. With a flick of her hand, the crystals returned and orbited around the larger crystal one more. Then, the woman clasped the crystal above and below causing it to glow brighter and brighter. A force field was erected preventing anything from entering aside from Freed and the woman.

With the force field enveloping the two, the crystal flashed and their bodies fell down to the ground lifeless. What replaced them were two more crystals with glowing orbs inside that started orbiting around the largest one.

The crystal immediately flew away out of the planet leaving everything behind.

The scene flashed once more and they were already outside the Eriellis. The blue planet had already changed its color. As if a balloon filled with air, it suddenly exploded. The crystal that was escaping was swept away by the explosion and its force field dimmed despite the fact that it was already several hundred thousands of kilometers away. The crystal then drilled itself entering a large stone debris from Eriellis hiding from every danger.

More than a thousand years passed, the stone debris found its destination, the blue planet and the mother planet of their ancestors. However, before the debris could enter the planet, it was shot down and exploded. Most of the crystals were lost around the world while only three remained around the large crystal.

The next that happened was what Mark knew.

"So, you really travelled using those crystals huh."

"We did. I and the woman you saw behind me. We call her Keeper. The crystal was a manifestation of her ability and it can be used in many ways and not only to store abilities of Psychics, Mutators and Infected. It could do a lot more."

"Then? Why did you choose me and what do you need from me? If you ask me to save the world, then I'll totally decline."

"Don't worry, I won't ask for something stupid as that." Freed smiled. "Though, I won't force you to do it, what I want is for you to find out what was the source of this mess. That's only if it's possible. I'm sure, whether it was PsyPathogen or Mutagen, there should be someplace they came from right?"

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