Mutagen

Day 130 - 3:13 PM - Browning Square, Bellmawr, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

Almost a quarter of an hour passed since Mark's game started.

In every round, Mark conjured the same attack. The hundreds of balls of electricity floated around him before flying towards the players of the game.

However, despite having the same appearance, the nature of every round was never constant.

In every round, Mark made the balls of electricity fly differently. From circles to spirals, he even controlled some of the balls in one round like a remote-controlled missile.

The speed of the attacks was never constant either. After the second round, he would increase the speed that the balls of electricity flew. Then, slow it down in the next attack before speeding it up once more.

It became harder and harder for the outlaws to adapt to the sudden and inconstant changes in speed that the balls of electricity flew.

And now, the seventh round just ended, and there was only a fourth of the outlaws remained standing. And of course, just standing. It was because most of them had no energy anymore to move.

Among the outlaws, only the Swift Brothers and the rainbow-scaled woman remained energetic. They had scorched marks on their bodies, indicating that they were not able to avoid everything. Still, compared to the others, anyone could say that these three had the best chances of surviving.

As for the fourth leader, the Speedo Guy, he was already at the end of the line.

At first, he was able to avoid the attacks by using the cars as shields. But as the game went on, the effects of the electric current in the air started to show. His mutation was something like copper muscles. And copper was a highly conductive metal. Even if he managed to avoid getting hit, a small portion of electricity in the air still entered his body.

This muscled man that was only earing a Speedo. While he had the strength, the tenacity, and a body as hard as a copper statue, he was not invincible.

Now, encountering his weakness, he already had one of his feet unto his grave. Well, that was nothing but an idiom. There was no way that they would have a grave after this.

No one would bother to waste time to bury the bodies of these degenerates.

While the outlaws were trying their best to survive the mess they entered, Mark's attention entirely focused on something else.

And that was to make himself used to the sensation he felt while using the crystals.

Mark could use the crystals to a great extent. However, his controls towards the magic of the crystals were far from perfect.

And unlike the other crystals that did not require great control, the [Wind Manipulation Crystal] was different. The air and the substances that it was composed of was not easy to control.

An example of this was when conjuring a ball of air above his palm. It was not as simple as saying that Mark only needed to gather the particles of the air in a single point. He needed a medium to keep the air he gathered intact without dispersing. That was where adding some rotation inside the ball was required, creating a small vortex that would suck in air and keep it in place.

There were also other methods of keeping the air gathered aside from forming a vortex.

And in fact, using only a vortex spinning in a single direction could barely keep the gathered air into a ball.

Thus, it was better to make several layers of air akin to a shell, with each layer spinning in a different direction.

And there, a Rasenga- a ball of compressed air was formed.

However, precise control was needed to do all that. It was not easy to make the air as hard as a solid ball.

That was why. Rather than playing with the lives of the outlaws, Mark was focused more on honing his skills and control. Or else, no matter how playful he was, he would not need ten attacks to kill all these outlaws. Just three should be enough.

And now, Mark reached that point that he would need to end this game.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

Suddenly, like a cellphone in silent mode, the ring on Mark's finger vibrated. It buzzed in intervals forming a sentence using Morse Code. Without a doubt, Mei already woke up.

'Gege, where are you?'

Mei asked, making Mark tap and send his energy to the ring to send a reply.

'I'm just doing something outside.'

'When are you going to return?'

Mei asked again.

'I'm almost done here. Can you tell anyone there to ask the Captain to send some transport vehicles in my location?'

'Where is Gege right now?'

At that question, Mark looked around.

"Where is this again?" He murmured as his eyes landed on that concrete signboard.

'Browning Square. Tell them to hurry since I already got the prisoners captured by the outlaws. By the way, don't come here and stay in bed. You need to rest. Alright?'

Mark replied to Mei and did not forget to tell her that. If he did not, she might leave the school to find him, neglecting the rest she needed.

'Okay.'

Mei sent affirmation, though Mark could tell that it felt a bit sulky.

Ending the message, Mark turned back to the outlaws. They were all looking at him with confusion on their faces. After all, the round ended already, but Mark was there flapping his wings, staying still in the air. Because of that, some of them had the notion to escape. However, the fear of being caught overwhelmed them more, forcing them to stay.

"I can't play any longer, unfortunately."

Mark said, making the remaining outlaws shiver.

Unlike the previous rounds, this time, for sure, Mark was aiming for the kill.

Mark stretched out his hand together with the crystals towards the outlaws. Since the outlaws had seen it before several times already, they all knew that once a crystal began to glow brighter, the attack was coming.

The remaining outlaws braced themselves as one of the crystals glowed brighter.

Unexpectedly, nothing appeared. The outlaws were expecting another barrage of balls of electricity, but there was none.

But then, Mark suddenly closed his palm turning it into a fist.

Then, the wind began to blow.

"AHHH!!!"

Several screams immediately ensue. The others could not help but look, only to see the bodies of their remaining comrades becoming sliced in half. As it happened too suddenly, not all of them died immediately. Their upper bodies detached, causing them to crawl and flail their arms wildly as they scattered their own blood and guts on the ground.

It was a horrifying sight, and none of them saw what kind of attack it was.

But that was not all.

From the outer parts of the parking lot to the center, the invisible attack continued.

More and more outlaws had their torsos and lower bodies separated.

Some were fast enough to realize that it was an invisible attack that aimed at their torsos. Some tried to jump, while others crouched.

However, the outlaws were unable to find the right timing to evade. Some of those that chose to jump had their legs cut while those that crouched got their necks and heads cut off.

At the end of the eighth attack, only seven people were left among the outlaws. They were not all the ones left alive. But the remaining others had their legs cut off with no way of evading the next attack.

The rainbow-scaled woman looked straight at Mark.

"Since the start, you have no intention of letting us live, right?"

She smiled with a fierce expression.

Hearing that, Mark shrugged.

"Yeah? So?"

"Damn it."

The woman cursed as she reverted back to her human form.

Then, the rainbow-scaled woman took out a pistol from her pocket and pointed at her temple.

"I don't want to become someone else's toy."

She said with a resolute expression as she moved her finger to pull the trigger.

But then...

"AHH!"

The woman cried out in pain as the hand holding the gun separated from her arm.

Seeing her hand on the ground, the rainbow-scaled woman glared at Mark.

"Why?!"

At that question, Mark smiled.

"Killing yourself is against the rules."

Mark replied as he moved his index finger.

SWISH!

The woman's head separated from her body.

Then, before the woman's head fell to the ground, a strong gust of wind enveloped the head, causing it to fly towards Mark.

Mark caught the head that had a frozen expression of pain on her face. After turning the remaining blood in the head to metal, Mark stored it. He did this because not because he wanted to be the one to kill the woman. It was just that if he let her fire that gun on her head, her brain would be damaged, and the ability he would get from her would be weakened.

"This rainbow scales will suit Mei, I guess."

Mark murmured. It was the main reason he could not let the Mutation of that woman go to waste.

With the death of the woman, only six people were left. Because of the unexpected action of the woman, the Speedo Guy that was almost dead lasted longer than her.

"Well, only six left," Mark smiled. "Time to end this."

Mark then pointed his palm once more at the people below. Because of the woman's question, they all had unsightly expressions. They knew that they would die anyway. So...

"ESCAPE!"

The older Swift Brother shouted. The others were caught off guard, but the younger brother managed to react.

The two brothers started to run in different directions.

However, it was already late.

As Mark closed his palm once more, the next attack commenced.

The Swift Brothers that tried to run away were flung back into the center of the parking area.

Unlike yesterday, these two would not be able to escape.

It was because Mark could now control the wind in this whole area.

And there, like a net, blades of wind converged to the center of the parking area.

The remaining outlaws were cut to pieces with only their heads remaining intact.

As for the Speedo Guy, he had already given up. His head flew off after he stood in place without moving.

Everyone died, with only the Swift Brothers remaining.

The Swift Brothers were thrown at the center of the parking area. All the wind blades were now moving towards them.

"Stop! WE SURR-!!!"

The older brother tried to speak, but the barrage of wind blades had already reached them.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Shielding themselves with their armor, they managed to resist longer. However, the two's demise was inevitable as the wind blades slowly chipped their armor.

Soon, their armor was broken, and the wind blades penetrated their bodies.

"GUAAAHH!!!"

The Swift Brothers roared in both pain and anger.

It did not take long, and their roars disappeared.

Mark landed in front of the two's corpses. Their bodies were barely damaged because of their armors. Still, it would be difficult for them to keep living after some of the wind blades cut open their torsos.

With all the outlaws dead, it was now time to collect the heads.

Storing the heads one by one felt was disgusting in itself, but Mark had no choice. It was better to absorb the abilities privately than tell everyone that he could harvest these Mutations to give them to someone else.

Mark then turned towards the prisoners and could not help but sigh.

The glint of worship in their eyes felt uncomfortable.

"Hey, all of you," Mark shouted. "Find guns and bullets and kill the infected outside the walls. Your rescue is coming soon, and they won't be able to come here faster if there's a lot of infected around this place."

Hearing that their rescue was coming, the prisoners rejoiced.

Not only the people that made them suffer were all dead, but they were going back to their previous lives. Of course, there were a lot of changes. Families and friends of theirs died by the hands of the outlaws. However, they were still alive, and that was what mattered most.