Mutagen

Day 154 - 9:45 PM - Root Cave Dungeon, Tamawo Ancestral Tribe, Municipality of Badian, Province of Cebu

"Father... How did come to this..."

Those sorrowful words echoed inside the damp and dark hallways of the dungeon.

Urille kneeled in utter devastation as he stared at the dead body of his father, Erille.

A warrior's death. It was the most honorable death that a Tamawo, a race of warriors, wanted. Of course, not everyone could have such an ending. Those who lived through a Tamawo's lifespan would lose that eagerness for a warrior's death and would instead want a peaceful one.

It was what Urille's father wanted, being an old Tamawo with only about a decade left to live.

And yet, here Erille lay inside the dark and damp dungeons, lifeless. His old body was mangled by injuries brought by extreme levels of torture. The old man's limbs were skinned painfully hanging by theHis eyes had been dug out and were left on a bloody table to rot.

"This is not the kind of death you wanted..."

Urille wailed as he forcefully broke the roots that tied the old man to the cold walls of his prison cell. It was hard but with his unnatural strength even among their race,  he managed to do so.

As the old lifeless body fell to the ground, Urille hurriedly caught it, staining his pale skin with the red blood of his father.

The old man was highly loyal to the previous king and supported him wholeheartedly. It was brought by the two fighting the threats to their tribe together for several hundred years. At one time, a human army wielding explosive staves, now known as guns, tried to forcefully break into the realm of their tribe.

Those usurpers were ousting non-humans from the mortal world, accompanied by their priests wearing black cassocks uttering prayers with their handheld crosses.

Erille almost died that time, and it was the previous king that saved him. It was when Erille became the trusted general under the previous king. The two also became the best of friends.

It was also why Urille, Erille's son, became close to the two princes, Pefile and Artile.

That was why when fallout between the supporters of both princes came, Urille managed to stay within the tribe and support both his exiled father and the new king, Artile.

For Urille, it was a very fortunate thing. If he racked in achievements while being the new leader of the warriors, he likely could wish for a pardon for his father and allow him to return to the tribe. It was also what Artile and Terville promised to him in the past.

Why would he wish for that thing?

To Tamawos, being a member of the Ancestral Tribe was more of a religious thing. It was the tribe where all the current Tamawo Tribes around the world originated.

For them, being exiled from the tribe was similar to being branded as a heretic and a traitor of their entire race.

It was the sole reason why no one wanted to become exiled from their tribe, and those who were exiled would have extreme prejudice toward the king that exiled them. It was even if the reason they were exiled was their own faults.

"Father... You always said that true warriors should not cry, but... Forgive me... I can't help it."

Urille said, wiping his tears.

Slowly, Urille picked up the eyeballs of his father from the table covered in blood.

Opening his mouth, he swallowed them whole.

To humans, it might be a disgusting thing.

However, to Urille's deranged mind...

It was a promise where he would live on to the ideals of his father. And with his father's eyes inside him, Erille would always see him.

With a sad expression and burning emotion, Urille lifted the remains of his father.

"This is not the right place for your eternal rest."

Urille uttered.

With the dead body of his father in his arms, Urille walked out of the dungeon.

There, he found that Pefile and his group were no longer here. Still, they left the place in utter chaos.

The first prince did not show any mercy. Many of the warriors died without leaving their bodies intact. Structures and trees were destroyed by the first prince's rampage. Even the two human soldiers with the first prince managed to kill a lot of warriors.

At the center of it all, the current king, Artile, lay unconcious after being defeated by Pefile in a one-sided fight.

"You deserve it."

Urille muttered as his eyes left the sight of the king being carried away by his panicked tribesmen.

He did not want to bother with this place any longer.

Nonetheless, it seemed that he would not be able to leave this place peacefully.

"Urille, what is the meaning of this?"

Standing in front of Urille was the shaman of the tribe, Elkile. This old Tamawo was among the exiled who was brought back into the tribe after Artile took over the throne. He was an old man loyal to the current king and one of Terville's associates during the rebellion.

"Is there something wrong with me burying my dead father?"

Urille asked the shaman.

"No prisoner can get out of the dungeons without the king's permission, dead or alive." The shaman said as he gestured several warriors to point their weapons at Urille. "You should know this."

"So, you are telling me to let that bastard Artile feed my dead father to those bugs? Is that right?"

Urille said. His eyes started to look threatening.

"How dare you curse our king's name?" Elkile roared. "The King and the tribe's rules are absolute! Do you want to be exiled like your father?!"

"Exile me or not, I don't care anymore," Urille spoke loudly. "I'm leaving this place. If anyone tries to block my path, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Those words shook the whole place. The strongest warrior of the tribe decided to leave. After seeing the prowess that the first prince showed, they could not let Urille leave. At this time, everyone knew that only Urille could be able to contend against the first prince.

The judgment of the Tamawos was correct. Even Pefile did not dare receive Urille's attack head-on and used the Ancestral Trees' roots to block the latter's spear.

Urille was one of the few anomalies within the tribe. In his case, he had physical strength that far exceeded the average within their race.

The tribe could not afford to lose Urille at this time where it was being threatened.

"Are you sure about this Urille?" Elkille spoke. "Although we had left the Village of Exiles alone, it doesn't mean that it will be left alone forever."

It was a blatant threat in an attempt to keep Urille within the tribe.

"Are you saying that you will leave the village alone if I don't leave?"

Urille asked.

"We can promise that."

Elkile confidently replied, thinking that Urille was catching on with what he wanted.

Unfortunately, Urille was done with these empty promises. It was also a promise that kept his hopes up. Now, everything was ruined by that promise.

"Get out of the way while I can still control myself."

Urille said with a deadly glare.

That reply made Elkile extremely surprised. His eyes fell unto the dead body Urille was carrying and realized his mistake. Artile and Terville already broke their promise to Urille. How could another promise tempt him?

"Damn it! Capture him!" Elkile roared. "I don't care if he receives injuries! Just capture him alive!"

Once they capture this guy, they could find another way to retain him. That was what Elkile thought.

However, it was the worst move they could do.

Urille, devastated by the broken promise and death of his beloved father, was also finding a way to vent his frustrations.

Normally, the Bowmen would be the ones to attack first. However, the previous battle had just ended, and the Bowmen had no time to reposition themselves and participate in another battle all of sudden.

Thus, only Spearmen charged toward Urille in an attempt to capture him.

And Urille's retaliation was...

BAM!

Urille jumped up high towards the nearest Spearman.

And then...

CRACK!

Without hesitation, he bashed the heel of his left foot to the back of the Spearman's head. The loud cracking sound was heard as half of the Spearman's head was smashed into bloody smithereens.

Urille landed at the same time as the Spearman's dead body plopped to the ground. The battle was not over. While carrying his dead father, Urille rushed to the next Spearmen. With a set of quick jumps and spinning kicks, more than ten bodies littered the place in a few moments.

Elkile stared at this situation with eyes opened wide.

It was outside his expectations.

Why?

Although Urille was extremely strong, one problem he had was his control over it. That was why even if Urille was the strongest warrior, he was not the best. The first prince, Pefile, could still defeat Urille in a one-on-one battle only by talent and insight.

Because of this lack of control, Elkile was confident that they would be able to capture him only using numbers.

But what was happening?

All of Urille's movements at this moment were too precise and controlled. There were no wasted movements or uncontrolled swings of his feet. Each attack was measured and swift, only aiming at the vital parts of the bodies of the enemies.

Unknown to everyone and even himself, Urille experienced evolution. The overwhelming emotions he had at his father's death and the shattering of the hope that he held onto caused him to stimulate the effects of Mutagen that already invaded all parts of Earth.

And now, a natural warrior was born.

Urille's lack of control was fixed by his evolution, and he was now a machine capable of killing his enemies with precise movements.

It did not take long. With the exception of Elkile, everyone that tried to capture Urille was killed. The shaman tried to order more of their warriors but no one had the bravery to charge in any longer.

These experienced warriors were all killed in one hit. There was no need to mention that Urille was only using his feet and was still carrying his father's dead body.

At this point, only Elkile stood in front of Urille, alive.

As Urille walked towards Elkile, the shaman was frozen in fear.

Being a shaman, Elkile had very weak fighting prowess. There was no way that he would fight Urille face to face.

Fortunately, Urille had no intention of killing anymore.

Urille walked past Elkile, shoulder to shoulder.

That was when Urille paused and spoke.

"For the sake of our hundred-years friendship, I won't go on my own to kill Artile for what he had done. But tell him that he better not show his face in front of me. I am not sure if I'll be able to control myself if he did. So, stay away from the Village of Exiles. I'm going to live there from now on."

With those words, Urille walked away, leaving Elkile falling to the ground because of fear.

Today, the Ancestral Tribe of Tamawos faced their greatest disaster.

The human town they captured was attacked.

The first prince returned, killing most of their warriors and destroying many things, even the castle of their tribe.

Their king was defeated in a one-sided battle. What was worse was that he was defeated by a rival in love. It would leave devastating effects on the king and his life was now in peril.

Lastly, Urille, their strongest warrior and protector, rebelled. This would, without a doubt, leave a huge hole in their tribes defenses.

"If Terville is here, he could have done something to prevent all these. He better return quickly. What is taking him too long?"

Elkile muttered devastated.

Unfortunately for Elkile that put his trust in Terville, the latter was in grave danger.

For Terville to return to the tribe, it was something questionable if it could still happen.