Mutagen

Day 240 - 11:05 AM - Mount Canlaon, Municipality of Codcod, Province of Negros Occidental

Amihan stared at the woman in confusion. Her reaction was not surprising, considering her unstable mental state and the woman's cryptic words. Just now, she was in the middle of a deadly situation, and all of a sudden, she was in this place. And then, she met a woman sharing the same face and telling her words she could not comprehend.

What did it mean when she said that she and Amihan were the same? Why did she say that Amihan was a fragment of hers?

"Wait! This is not the time for this!"

Amihan yelled out as she snapped out from her confusion.

"The person you chose to follow and his companions are in danger, is it?"

The woman asked in a gentle tone.

"If you know, then let me return! I am in this place because of you, right?"

Amihan lashed out. She did not know how she ended up in this place, but she was needed more back on the battlefield.

"You think that you are needed there, but how can you help in your current situation?" The woman then vanished, and Amihan froze as the woman continued speaking behind her. "Trapped inside a wind under someone else's control when the wind is supposedly your forte. Against the power of a God that ruled over the sky, you will face death."

"I don't care!" Amihan turned towards the woman behind her. "I already lost a family once. Even if I exchange my life for it, I don't want to lose another! Just let me go back!"

The demanding words and blaming tone of Amihan were met with a smile, however. By the time Amihan noticed, she received a gentle pat on her head before the woman walked passed her.

Amihan touched her head in surprise and followed the woman with her gaze.

"I am glad," The woman spoke with glee. "We definitely are the same."

The woman then faced Amihan with a beautiful but sad smile.

"I, too... Sacrificed my life for someone else. That old man hated conflict, and us his followers and his children did not want him to change that. Thus, we all forced him to hide in safety, and we fought the enemies we had to face. Although we lost our lives, we managed to keep him safe. We are happy to fulfill our final goal, but he must have been sad losing all of us."

As the woman recounted her past experiences, Amihan's eyes stared at the blank space in front of her.

Scenes... Memories that she was not supposed to know flowed into her brain.

The battle between the foreign gods and the [Eyes]. Most importantly, the old man that the woman mentioned.

Tears began to drip from Amihan's eyes.

"I..."

As the memories flowed smoothly in Amihan's head, she now understood what the woman meant by her words. Amihan was the woman, and the woman was Amihan.

"Then, I..."

Amihan voiced out, becoming uncertain of her own existence.

But before Amihan became lost, a cool gentle wind blew around her.

"There is no need to question your existence," The woman smiled. "You are I, and I am you. You are my fragment. But despite that, you are also you, and I am also I. Having the same root did not mean having the same existence, especially when you are the fruit."

"Then... Am I your rebirth?"

Amihan asked.

"Given what you showed me so far, I would love to say yes," The woman replied. "But no. You are not my rebirth. As a being from another realm, I cannot be reborn in this realm. You are just a fragment of me. My incarnation."

"That is the reason why..." The woman added. "We are the same, but also different."

"It might be confusing. But between worlds, there are still a lot of things we have yet to understand. Even Gods are not omnipotent. Even the Gods of creation did not know everything about the things they created."

"There are times that knowing is more than enough, and understanding is just an obstacle."

Amihan continued to listen. And as the woman said, it was kind of hard to understand. However, she made sure to remember.

Nonetheless, it made Amihan glad. She was the [Sylph] named Amihan and not the woman in front of her.

And this time, Amihan pulled the courage.

"We are fighting against a strong enemy. Can you help us?"

Amihan could feel that this woman was a strong being. And since she was pulled into this place by her, the woman was likely to offer her help.

But the woman returned a gentle smile.

"You are mistaken. You did not need my help," The woman spoke as if reading Amihan's mind. "You are my Incarnate. A fraction of my strength dwells within you, sealed, for you to live a normal life. It should remain sealed even after you enter the cycle of souls. But there is a time when the seal would be broken."

Amihan was then surprised as she felt a powerful energy dwelling within her.

"I believe you understand now. This meeting is the key to unlocking the seal. There is no need for such strength when living a normal life. But the power of a God could only be fought by another God."

"If an Incarnate was threatened by the power of another god, the seal would break. It will allow the Incarnate to use a fraction of the power of their origin to protect themselves. In your case, you will be allowed to use the fraction of my power inside you."

Amihan listened as she touched her left cheek. She could feel it was warm, and somehow, it was glowing with a yellowish golden light.

"Will the power be resealed after?"

Amihan asked.

"Resealing an Incarnate's power required the direct contact of their origin. And in our case, that is impossible."

The woman replied with a bitter smile.

"Then... you..."

Amihan looked at the woman with sad eyes.

"You should return. The time inside this place is faster but would not stop the time outside. And so, I bid you farewell."

The surroundings went brighter, and Amihan could only close her eyes. That farewell had a deeper meaning.

This would be the first and last time the two would meet since the woman was nothing but the memory left inside Amihan's soul.

After the seal was broken, the woman's existence would finally be erased.

It was because the gentle Goddess of the Wind, Amihan, was long dead and was never reborn.

***

On the ground, Mark's body continued to break and reconstruct. Even with the emotionless Mark, the pain on his face was impossible to hide. Nonetheless, his method was clearly working. As his body regenerated repeatedly, the changes in his body accelerated rapidly.

And while Mark was in grave pain, Sinogo watched his suffering in glee. It was pure arrogance, thinking that whatever Mark was trying to do, was nothing to his current power.

However, even Sinogo did not want to waste time just watching. He made the giant wind spiral to spin and chase Mei faster. Mei, who was already having a hard time avoiding getting sucked into Sinogo's attack, struggled even more.

Mark saw that and knew that there was no other choice.

BOOM!

While in pain, Mark kicked the ground. He then unstably flew towards Sinogo with the crystals rotating around his arm.

Mark's sudden action was unexpected and caused Sinogo's attack on Mei to slow down a little.

And facing Mark, Sinogo raised his right hand. In the blink of an eye, another swat was already a few centimeters away from hitting Mark.

But then...

BOOM! 

Mark was thrown back, not by Sinogo's hand. An explosion occurred between Mark and Sinogo, causing the two to separate instantly. Mark had just used the combination of the [Flame Manipulation Crystal] and [Wind Manipulation Crystal] to cause an explosion between him and Sinogo. Not only did it make Sinogo's attack miss, but it gave Mark more time to distract Sinogo due to the smoke the explosion caused.

The impact still made Mark land on the ground and immediately fall to his knees. He was still in pain, and the point-blank explosion just caused more injuries to him.

But Mark did not care about the pain. Mei was in danger, not to mention that Chimetrice and Amihan were still trapped inside that wind spiral.

Unfortunately, the smoke only distracted Sinogo for a second or two as he appeared in front of Mark instantly.

BAM!

Mark was flung away as Sinogo kicked him like a ball. The kick from a Deity blessed with speed was terrifying. It did not seem that Sinogo exerted much force in that kick, but Mark was flung another kilometer away.

Once Mark fell to the ground and landed, the impact would definitely give him grievous injuries.

But to everyone's surprise... It did not happen.

A strong wind blew around Mark in mid-air, stopping his fall. He then gently landed on the ground, only to see Mei and Chimetrice coming to support him.

Everyone was confused. Chimetrice was swallowed by the horizontal tornado with Amihan, and Mei should still be being chased by that same attack. Yet, the two appeared where Mark was supposed to crash and arrived even before he landed.

Sinogo was the one most confused. He turned to see the attack he created, and it was still there in the sky. But it was suspended in one place, chasing or trapping nothing.

"Gege, are you okay?"

Mei asked Mark in worry and sorry. In this late stage of this fight, she became more of a piece of baggage than help.

"I'm fine," Mark replied. "My arms are broken again, though. Can you help me hold it?"

Like what Mark said, his arms were dangling with broken bones. He used his arms to block that kick, which caused the injury.

Mei immediately helped Mark hold his arms in place as they began to heal. Chimetrice also stood in place, recovering from the cuts he received from being trapped inside the wind spiral.

His injuries aside, Mark turned his attention to someone else.

It was Amihan, flying between the group and Sinogo. Yellowish-gold markings appeared on her left cheek and shoulder, glowing brightly with her wings.

Most of all, Amihan was releasing a familiar pressure on her surroundings. It was a familiar pressure of a godly being.

Who would have thought that a small [Sylph] like Amihan would be able to exude such a powerful aura? A [Sylph] that was supposed to be one of the weakest Spirits of nature. A [Sylph] that did not even have the greenish hair that everyone in their race had.

To [Sylphs], the color of their hair signified how strong their magical energy was. And Amihan, a [Sylph] with black hair, should be among the weakest of the weakest.

Yet, Amihan flew with her glowing body, exuding an aura that could compete with Sinogo.

It was an unfathomable scene, if not a miracle.

However, it was a misjudgment.

Amihan's hair was not black because she had weak magical energy. It was black because of her true identity.

***

"Looks like she successfully awakened."

Magwayen spoke with a smile to everyone's surprise.

"Hey, what is going on here?"

Fourth turned to the Goddess of the Underworld to interrogate her.

But Magwayen used this opportunity to snarkily reply.

"As the protectors of this world, why do you not know?"

The two [Eyes] could only frown. Yes, they did not know. After all, the godly aura around her only meant that it was done by a god. Even the [Eyes] did not have full superiority toward the foreign gods, after all.

"If you two knew nothing, just watch, then," Magwayen triumphantly smiled. "Let us see how strong the awakened Incarnation of the Goddess of the Wind is."

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