Mutagen

Day 368 - 5:57 PM - Mountain Back, Balong, Pucakwangi, Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Going several minutes back in time...

"Sh*t! They're everywhere!"

Edge cursed as he ran, cutting off the squirming tentacles attacking him as they came out of the shadows.

There was only one reason Edge ran away from the group. It was not to save himself but to run to Luna's aid as the latter was left unconscious without anyone protecting her.

Luckily for Edge, the sword and shield in his hands proved very effective against these tentacles that could not be touched by mortal means. Once more, their debts towards Mark were growing without him doing anything.

After a little bit of struggle, Edge reached his destination. He was pretty surprised.

The hut where Luna was supposed to be was completely enclosed with some kind of barrier that did not let the tentacles through. No. Not even the darkness brought by the Night Goddess could approach the hut.

After detecting Edge, the tentacles attacking the barrier changed targets. Now, several hundred tentacles were aiming at him at the same instance.

But Edge did not falter.

"Shield Enchant: Flame. Reflect! Burst!"

Edge slammed the lower end of his shield into the ground, making three spikes shoot out at the same end. Those spikes affixed the shield to the ground as the tentacles slammed on it without him getting knocked back.

And as per Edge's command, the moment the tentacles hit the shield, it reacted. As if reflecting back the intensity of the attack, flames exploded out of the front of the shield. It destroyed dozens of tentacles in one go and damaged the rest.

Unfortunately, the damage did not stop the remaining tentacles from continuing their attacks.

"Sword Enchant: Flame!"

Edge chanted, and his sword's blade began to burn. With his sword clad in flames, he faced the continuous attacks of the tentacles as he ran towards the hut.

With all his efforts, he reached the barrier while besieged by the tentacles. Edge slowed down his feet before he ended up crashing into the barrier.

Unfortunately, slowing down at this moment was not the right timing. It caused the closest tentacles to reach Edge's blind spot.

But then, as if there was a sudden ringing in his ear, Edge's body moved first before his thinking caught up afterward. Raising his shield to where he was not supposed to see, he blocked the attack that was supposed to be coming from his blind spot.

[Animal Danger Sense]. It was an ability Edge did not have before. It was a [Mutator] ability that did not result in any changes in appearance or physical enhancements. It was nothing but a brain mutation. It was an ability that was useful for weaker individuals but was completely useless to already powerful people whose senses were already enhanced by their mutations.

It also seemed to have an awfully short distance to activate. After all, its original owner died helplessly in Mark's hands. While it could be something useful in a sense, there were other options to pick. For these reasons, it was one of the [Physical Crystals] rotting in Mark's collection after he got it from one of the criminals he killed back in Quezon.

And now, that crystal was one of the two that Mark gave to Edge.

With the [Strengthening] of an [Evolver] and the [Animal Danger Sense] of a [Mutator], Edge was making his steps up the stairs to become a powerful warrior.

Nonetheless, Edge still had a long way to go.

"Ack!"

Edge managed to block the incoming attack. However, he was not in the right posture for blocking and ended up getting thrown away by the impact. It was clear he would end up hitting the barrier with tremendous force.

"Ahhh!"

THUD!

Or he was supposed to.

"Huh?"

Edge forgot about the pain for a second in his bafflement. It appeared that he went through the barrier, although it was still preventing the tentacles from entering.

"What in the world are you doing? Just get inside."

Melfiss' familiar bratty voice entered Edge's ear, making him turn to the door.

"Why are you staring at me like an idiot?"

Melfiss left that remark as she turned around and back into the hut.

Their suspicions were correct. Melfiss did leave to protect Luna.

Edge gave one last glance at the tentacles behind. The tentacles had gone more violent after losing their prey and began hitting the barrier harder. However, it was to no avail. Seeing that, Edge finally followed Melfiss into the hut.

The first thing Edge looked for after entering was Luna. Seeing that she was still in the same unconscious state as before, Edge could not help but worry. Nonetheless, she was fine, and the ongoing battle did not affect her even one little bit.

"Thank you for protecting her."

That was the first thing Edge said as he turned to Melfiss, who sat on a chair beside Luna's bed.

Melfiss gave Edge a short glance before going back to watching Luna.

"Protecting her had no need for gratitude. It is a duty of mine," Melfiss replied in words deeper than one would expect from her childish appearance. "Besides, since my arrival here, I have done no protecting."

"Huh?" Edge was surprised. "Then, the barrier?"

"Not mine," Melfiss answered. "It's hers."

Edge saw that Melfiss' stare did not leave Luna as she answered.

It meant that the barrier surrounding the hut was Luna's.

"But..."

Edge was baffled.

"How?" Melfiss interjected and then smiled. "Because the vessel of the fragment's soul that went to the past cannot be left without protection."

"What are you saying?"

Edge spoke in a firmer tone, pressing for an explanation.

"Would you like to hear a story? Do not worry. It would be a short one since I am not there to witness everything when it ended."

Melfiss' eyes finally left Luna as she gave Edge a serious stare.

***

Day ▋▋▋ - ▋▋:▋▋ ▋▋ - Unknown Location

"Where am I?"

Luna could not help but voice out in worry.

The last thing she remembered was the display of Mark and Amihan's joint attack against the flock of [Infected Birds]. There was nothing she could recall afterward.

And the moment she woke up, she found herself in this place.

As Luna looked around, there was nothing but trees and plants all over the place. It was clear that she was in a forest. The question was where was this place and how she got here.

"Limabela! Bajing! Nelia!" Luna called out. "Livia! Melfiss..."

"Edge... Everyone?!"

Unfortunately, no matter how loud she shouted, she received no reply. Not even an echo of her voice came back for her to hear.

"Don't tell me... Did I get thrown into another world? Like in the Anime?"

A fan would normally be delighted in this setting. But as Luna thought closer to that hypothesis, she felt downhearted instead.

There was no way she would be excited in this situation. Earth might be a mess because of the apocalypse, and most people would want to leave it, but not Luna. She had friends to survive with and a niece she had to protect. She would never want to leave them, especially this way.

"What happened... Did I somehow die?"

Luna slumped her back on a large tree. She then sat down by its roots, starting to feel depressed.

It was only that that Luna noticed...

"What are these clothes?"

Luna asked as another thing to be confused about entered her attention.

The clothes Luna wore were not her usual clothes. It was not even something modern people would casually wear.

It was a long white fluttering gown. It was not a party gown. It was more like a sleepwear. On Luna's feet, it was a pair of some kind of old-style slippers similar to the ones shown in European illustrations.

"▋▋▋!"

But before Luna could mull down over her situation, a panicked voice entered her ear.

"▋▋▋! ▋▋▋▋▋▋!"

"▋▋▋▋▋!"

The first voice was followed by other voices.

Unfortunately, Luna could not understand even the slightest of what they were saying.

Nonetheless, there were people. Luna could try to establish contact and at least learn about this place. That was if she could understand them or find someone she could.

Luna stood up and ran towards the voices. Of course, she was cautious. It would be stupid to just show up and end up getting killed.

"▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋!"

But there, following the panicked voices, ones with vicious tones followed.

Luna hurried even more. She finally found the first group she heard. But Luna froze after seeing them.

It was a group of two men, three women, and two children. And all of them barely wore anything on their bodies. Feather crowns, loincloths, leaf skirts, stone spears, and scar-like tattoos. The women did not have anything to cover their tops, and even the children were mostly naked. There was no doubt that this was a group of tribal people. Early tribal people to be exact.

Luna did not even have time to swallow the scene as the pursuers entered her eyes.

Similar to the first group, the second group was clearly tribals. The difference was that they wore more animal fangs and bones on their bodies as decoration. They carried bone spears and bone knives too. It was quite a huge difference compared to the stone-tipped spears of the first group.

"▋▋▋▋!"

A young cry echoed, making Luna flinch.

One of the two children of the first group tripped on a tree root while running. The child clearly hit her chin hard on the ground and was barely conscious. But there was no time for them to waste. One of the two men picked up the child and carried the child on his shoulder.

The first group continued to run. However, it did not take long for the pursuers to catch up and surround them.

Left without a choice, the two men wielded their spears. They put the women and children in the center, protecting them.

But what could two men with stone-tipped spears do against more than ten fully armed warriors?

The two men were defeated. They were killed and beheaded. The women were then dragged back. And the two children? One, the girl, was brought back with the women. On the other hand, the barely conscious boy...

"NO!"

Luna could not hold back anymore.

This might be some sort of a tribal rivalry. That was why Luna did her best to not interfere. She had nothing to do with it, after all. She could barely make do with her current situation, not to mention she was unarmed. Although her mutation allowed her to strengthen her body, it was not the right time. It was currently in the middle of the day when her mutation was the weakest.

Luna had no confidence in winning against these armed people.

But when Luna saw what the vicious men were about to do the the injured child, she could not hold it anymore. It would have been fine if the child were also carried away like the others. But it seemed that these vicious tribals had no need for males.

One tribal was about to stab the child with his bone spear. Luna rushed out and tried to tackle the merciless man.

However...

STAB!

Blood splattered as the spear pierced the child's head, which immediately took his life.

Luna stared in horror at that scene.

And then, laughing, the vicious tribals left with their trophies, leaving Luna, who was still shocked about what she witnessed.

Luna approached the corpse of the poor child, still in a stupor. She attempted to touch the corpse.

However, Luna's hand passed through the corpse's body without resistance.

It was what happened when she tackled the man earlier. She passed through the man's body, unable to prevent the brutal scene. It also seemed that these people could not see her because the men left without looking at her.

"What is this..."

Luna voiced out with a sniffle. The strong and decisive leader of the Moon Chasers was nothing but a poor, helpless girl in this situation.

In a half-conscious state, Luna began to wander the forest. She found the remains of the tribe where the first group she saw likely came from. It was destroyed, and corpses were everywhere.

It was when she noticed what seemed to be an altar near the center of the village. It was thoroughly destroyed, even more than all of the houses combined. The altar had totally been desecrated. It was as if the altar was the main reason for the conflict.

Luna found herself standing in front of the broken altar. A large piece of the stone carving on the floor took her attention.

It was because that piece had one single carving.

It was a circle.

But Luna somehow knew.

It was the carving depicting the full moon.

THOOOM!

Luna flinched. It was because her surroundings changed.

She was no longer in the destroyed village. Luna was now facing a lake in the middle of the night.

And there, Luna saw her.

It was at the center of the lake.

Illuminated by the moonlight, a beautiful woman with silver hair danced with her feet barely touching the water.

And then, when Luna thought that it would just be the same as before...

The eyes of Luna and the silver-haired woman met.