Mutagen

Day 35 – 11:43 PM – Barangay Poblacion I, Real, Quezon

Mark sighed as he watched the shadows moving outside the house from the second floor bedroom. He was quite troubled as to why these outlaws picked the attack to be close to midnight when these hounds did not even bother hiding their activities outside. Even if everyone inside the house was asleep, the noise these outlaws made as they surrounded the house was enough to wake everyone up.

It was unless these people were not aiming for a surprise attack but waited for more reinforcements. If that was the case, these guys were too cautious even though they were outlaws.

Since Mark did not rest at all and was waiting for these people, he was already alarmed when he heard vehicle sounds coming from the highway. After the apocalypse commenced, the noises of insects in the mountains during the night had already vanished and the only natural noise that could be heard was the rustling leaves of plants and trees every time the wind blew. That was why the sound of vehicle from the highway further away was totally audible to them who were inside the house.

Karlene and Joash had already brought Tyson and Alana into the toilet. Luckily, the space inside was more than enough for four people since the toilet had allocated space for a pair of industrial drums being used as water container. The rusted drums had already been removed by Mark and that made the space inside the toilet larger.

Mark opened the only wardrobe inside the bedroom and put his bag inside. He also made his tree companions hide inside since this battle was not something for them to partake. The wardrobe was placed at a blind spot from the windows so Mark was not afraid that it would get accidentally shot.

Preparing for battle, Mark took off his jacket. He was wearing his armor underneath his jacket but since the front zipper was left open, the others could see his front armor. On his back however, no one had seen yet aside from Nicole and Hallie that helped him in designing it.

On his back was not just a part of his armor. There was a sci-fi like shield. The shape was like a spade with three pointed protrusions above. The most eye-catching thing about the shield was that it had several layers which were overlaid by the topmost layer which was also the middle piece. Another thing was that there were several protrusions that did not seem to belong to a shield at all behind it.

This weapon was one of Mark's designed masterpieces even before the outbreak. He designed it along with his commissioned cosplay props but never made into an actual item due to the complexity and time needed to make it. Not to mention that as it was intended to be made with metal, it also needed some blacksmithing methods to make. That was why this weapon only stayed in Mark's mind but he never ever forgot about it. After all, he made this design in inspiration from the [Fusion Sword] and [Kogan Anki].

The shield on his back was actually composed of seven different weapons and each weapon had at least three forms. Furthermore, he modified the design he had before into something that would also work with his [Blood Whips] and added another form to the weapons.

How long did he manage to finish the design? It was about a whole year due to the fact that he spent more time playing games and working at home.  Now that he had his [Blood Metal], he was finally able to materialize the item.

He called the weapon set with the name [Darkness Shade].

Mark raised his folded arms over his shoulders and pushed the layer of the shield that he could touch. Several clicking sounds were heard and two sword handles sprang from the back of the shield. He immediately grabbed the handles and with a twist, the handles and the blades were pulled off from the sheath within the shield.

"This two is fine for those guys outside, I think."

The pair of blades was two of the seven weapons in [Darkness Shade]. The right one was called [Slicer] and the left was called [Divider]. The current appearance of the blades was rather odd. The blades were as wide and as short as a cleaver but the handle was made straight in the middle of the blades indicating that it was more like a wide shaped dagger than a cleaver. Another thing was that the blade looked like it was divided into eight smaller sections.

However, it was just the first form of the two blades. For the second and the real form of the two blades, Mark whipped the two blades splitting the air at the same time.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Three clanging sounds echoed from each blade that was now almost a meter long and was now just three fingers wide. The whole blade was divided into four major segments while each major segment was also divided into eight minor segments. On the handle, a hole could be seen and that hole extended not only through the handle but also through the blades.

In each hand, Mark conjured a [Blood Whip] which entered the holes. The segments then detached from one another.  The two blades were not just blades anymore but turned into almost two-meter bladed whips that could move on Mark's command.

Mark was ready to attack and so as the outlaws outside. Even though it was dark, Mark could tell that each of them was itching for bloodshed. Unfortunately, it was their blood that would be spilled tonight.

He would do the preemptive attack since he would not let them rain bullets into the house. Although everyone inside the house was hiding except him, he would not take chances. Even the miniscule chance that a bullet bounced somewhere and hit what it should could still happen.

Mark vanished from the room in a puff of black mist. The darkness of the night hid the mist that moved over the ranks of the outlaws and landed right behind them.

The man on the back of the pickup truck was about to shout and signal the attack but he was not able to as he heard the commotion among his men. When he was about to question what was happening, he heard a shout.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The outlaws nearby the guy that shouted came to their aid but they did not see anything, not even the person that shouted. The night was dark and they could not see their surroundings clearly as their only source of light in hand were torches but they could smell the pungent odor of blood. One of them who held a torch crouched and lit up the ground. All of them around could not help but step back at what they saw.

There were several bodies of their comrades. All of them were dead with their heads, torsos and limbs scattered everywhere. They were not even sure whether they would be able to identify which body part was whose.

"AHHH!!! Enemy at-!!!"

Another shout came from a different direction but the words that were about to be said was not even finished and was cut off. Those who responded to the shout also saw the same scene of their comrades being chopped to pieces.

Those who witnessed the scene could not help but feel fear creep up to their bodies. They came here to avenge their comrades that were killed and slaughter the perpetrators and not for them to be the ones to be slaughtered. Furthermore, they were really being slaughtered in a literal manner, chopped to pieces. Not to mention that none of them knew what was happening, it was as if they were being attacked by a ghost.

While the outlaws started to panic, Mark who had just killed nine outlaws in succession had already turned into mist that was waving across the ground. He was doing this not only to attack in different places but because he was also looking for the person that was spying on him twice today. If he could get rid of that person, he would be able to at least, stop the outlaws from tracking him.

His first attack was on the western side and the second was on the northern side. Now, Mark appeared on the southern side. The moment he appeared, he had already shot the two whip blades forward and whip blades coiled on the unlucky outlaw's neck and limbs. With a sudden strong pull, the limbs and head of the outlaw separated from his torso. Everything fell on the ground splattering blood everywhere.

He then waved his whip blades in two different directions which dismembered the lower limbs and decapitated the necks of the two outlaws that was about to turn around after hearing the sounds behind them. Before the other outlaws were able to see Mark, he had already disappeared and was again aiming for the western side where the orchard was located.

However this time, someone jumped unto Mark the moment he appeared. A huge machete was hacking towards him. Mark's body then blurred and the machete phased through his body and hit the ground leaving a deep dent on the soil.

The attacker was obviously taken aback and he even let go of his machete before he leaped backwards. He started to fumble around and pull up his assault rifle.

Mark turned at the attacker. Since it was dark, he could only see the silhouette of a burly man but the most noticeable was the red glowing eyes of the man. Those eyes reminded Mark of animals that could see in the dark. No wonder this man managed to notice him and find his trail. Unfortunately, this man was surely not the one he was looking for.

Still, this person was going to be troublesome and needed to be dealt with first. The other outlaws that were looking for the attacker were also coming.

Mark leaped back and behind the trunk of a fruit tree before he vanished into mist. His disappearance made the outlaw with night vision perplexed and he hurriedly aimed his assault rifle anywhere he was able to here rustling sounds.

"Be careful! The enemy is around!"

He shouted to his comrades that were around the orchard making them all vigilant on their surroundings.

They did not notice however that there was a misty shadow moving over the trees ready to dive down towards them.

Mark straightened his whip blades and placed the backsides of the blades side by side. He was going for the fourth form of [Slicer] and [Divider], the [Fourth Form- Fusion: Dicer].

After a few inaudible sounds coming from the blades, he pulled the whip blades apart revealing a net of sharp metal thread.

With a puff of mist, he dived down and smashed both whip blades downward letting the almost invisible net between the blades envelop the outlaw. The outlaw noticed the two whip blades going down but he was confused as to why the two blades were ways off from him. It was until the two whip blades smashed on the ground that he noticed that his sight started to tilt in different directions.

Mark then pulled the [Slicer] up and waved the two whip blades towards opposite direction inwards. Before the body of outlaw with night vision fell on the ground, his body was already diced into bloody pieces like what the name of the form of Mark's weapon had.

Without wasting time, the net retracted and the two whip blades fused once more. Mark pulled the two handle backwards and folded it in a split second. [Sixth Form-Fusion: Bastard Whip Blade], the two blades docked together into one sword with cleaver wide double edged whip blade.

Mark dashed towards the other outlaws and spun his body causing the huge whip blade to follow suit. Before the outlaws could fire their guns, their waists had already been cleanly sliced off. Six bodies fell with their upper and lower bodies separated spilling their organs and blood on the ground.

Nineteen had already fallen and it was just the start. Unfortunately for the outlaws, they behaved what Mark wanted to when he attacked several places in succession. Before, they surrounded the house and were placed around the house side by side which was the reason Mark was only able to pick a few to kill in his previous attacks. After his attacks however, the outlaws left their positions and grouped up on several places to look for him. Their actions made it easier for him to hunt them down.

Mark smiled with a satisfied expression. With another puff, he vanished into black mist. The wavy trail he left behind moved towards the next group of prey.

The outlaws were used to hunting other people. This time however, it was the opposite.

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