Day 198 - 7:09 PM - Bay City Ruins, Pasay City, tro Manila
The battle finished causing hundreds of dead bodies to pile up in the ruins of Bay City Settlent. While it was declared finished, it did not an that all of the [Infected] and [chids] were dead. In the first place, it was impossible to kill all existing [Infected] and [chids] in the area in one go. In the least, Mark's group managed to reduce the number of the loitering enemies to a number where they could investigate the surroundings safely.
After all, they were in an area in the middle of several cities in the past. Even if they managed to clear the place of most of the enemies, for now, others would co wandering sooner or later.
In fact, it might not take long if not for Amihan. The sll of blood and the sounds of the battle would likely attract more enemies. That was why while Amihan was not participating in the fight, she was making sure that the sound and the sll would not spread out too much.
That was why they needed to investigate the place as fast as they could. It was unless they wanted to entangle themselves with a neverending battle.
But before everything else...
"Ugh!"
Mark painfully groaned with a frown. He was already holding onto his temple as if he was suffering a severe headache. His complexion was also pale. And although he was still able to stand, he seed to be already losing strength.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Chitrice stood beside Mark and asked.
Since the battle finished, everyone was already gathering outside the floating vessel. Even Illia and Spera, who stayed inside, ca out.
Mark did not answer Chitrice, seemingly looking irritated. He then picked up a part of a [chid] he was really interested in and made his way towards the vessel, with Chitrice following behind in confusion.
But even though Mark was still far away, everyone noticed sothing wrong as Mark unstably walked slower than usual.
"Gege!"
i realized what was happening. She imdiately rushed towards Mark.
And then, i embraced Mark without hesitation.
Both of them had the blood of the [Infected] on their clothes. It was sticky and slled foul. But that was not important at this mont.
"Thanks, i'er."
Mark put up a small smile as he felt i's embrace.
With i's assistance, Mark reached the group faster. And knowing that there was sothing wrong with Mark, everyone gathered around him as he sat beside i on a large piece of rubble.
Seeing the state of their father, the three girls also looked worried. Iola and Abbygale were silent, but the youngest could not help but ask Mark.
"Papa, are you sick?"
Miracle asked, imitating i, trying to hug Mark with her short arms.
"Master, did sothing happen to him? Did he get injured by sothing?"
Illia embraced and asked Chitrice, who fought together with Mark. But Chitrice's initial response was a confused shake of his head.
"I don't think it's an injury," Chitrice replied. "I just rembered, but his complexion did not seem good before we started fighting. It just got worse over ti."
Chitrice's reply added to the confusion. No one could understand what was happening. Well, aside from two people.
Everyone's eyes fell unto Mark and i. Within her embrace, Mark's complexion and state were clearly getting better.
And at this ti, Spera stepped upfront.
"Mark... can you explain what is happening to you?" Spera asked straight up. "I rember you have the sa state back in Infanta."
"I'm fine."
Mark replied.
"You're obviously not!" Spera angrily replied. "Everyone is worried, especially since we don't know what is happening! At least, tell us what is going on!"
Spera was being pushy, which was very unlike her. But knowing that Spera lost her control over her emotions, it was clear what was going on with her.
"So, you are worried about ?"
Mark looked up to the angry Spera with a sly smile.
"Wha-! No! I!"
Spera fumbled her words. As she closed her mouth, not knowing how to reply, she angrily stared at Mark, pouting with her embarrassed blush.
"Gege, don't tease her."
i complained to Mark. She had an expression of an older sister trying to protect her younger sibling.
And in response to i's complaint, Mark shrugged. He would not be able to promise anything about teasing Spera.
Nonetheless, Spera had a point. The people around Mark were worried because they did not know what was happening. The only person who knew was i, and that was why she reacted fast when she saw Mark's state.
There was a bit of silence as everyone was waiting for Mark's response. But as if she felt uncomfortable with the atmosphere, the always silent Abbygale spoke.
"Papa, Mama, I'm hungry..."
Abbygale said, rubbing her stomach.
Mark and i looked at each other. Mark gave another shrug.
"Let rest for a bit. Then let's clean up and have dinner." Mark suggested. "Also, let's find a better place to eat."
Mark looked around, and the others did the sa. And considering the dead bodies scattered all over the place, it sure was not a good place to eat. There was also no proper space inside the vessel to eat dinner for the whole group. As such, after cleaning up themselves and changing clothes, they should have dinner sowhere else.
With i's help, Mark recovered fast. They all cleaned up and changed clothes. As for the place for dinner, they chose the area of Bay City facing Manila Bay.
Fortunately, while Manila Bay was now reduced in size, there was still a part of it that was water. And it seed that the barrier of Bay City kept a wide area of the waterfront intact.
And here, they managed to peacefully prepare dinner.
It was strangely fun. It felt very much like a picnic in the middle of a destroyed city. It was all because of the ruins of Bay City.
Unfortunately, it was already late. As there was no ti to cook, the group had to make do with canned food. It was not like canned food was bad, but because the main cook in the Mountain Base, Trisha, was a professional cook, even simple porridge was delicious.
Anyways, Mark started to explain what was happening to him while they ate.
"What's happening to is a strong side effect of being an [Empath]."
Mark said.
"But how? There are no other people here."
Spera could not help but ask.
Everyone in this group knew that Mark was an [Empath], especially Spera, who learned it while being threatened by Mark. But they were unable to understand how it was a side effect.
[Empaths] were known to be sensitive within crowds of people. However, Bay City was literally empty. They were the only people here. So why did Mark have a reaction that was way worse than when he was visiting Infanta Settlent, where there were still people?
But as it seed, Chitrice and Illia imdiately understood what was going on just when Mark said it was a side effect of him being an [Empath]. Furthermore, Mark was more or less a transcendent [Empath]. He might be the very first [Empath] to reach this level as a mortal.
To Spera's question, Illia asked Mark.
"It's the lingering emotions of the dead, isn't it?"
And to that question of the [Elder Succubus], Mark nodded solemnly.
[Empaths] were sensitive to the so-called [Emotional Energy]. They react to it and absorb it without control. This kind of energy could be emitted by anything that was capable of feeling emotions. It was not limited to humans. Even animals and insects, and sotis, plants.
However, that [Emotional Energy] did not need to co directly from the source to be felt. And pretty much like every other energy, there were things that could beco a dium or trigger to be absorbed by sothing.
One example was art. A painting could be made sloppily or professionally. However, even professional works of art could feel dull without the proper emotions of the artist, while a child's art could be more emotional than an adult's.
And since emotional energy could be absorbed by things, of course, it could also spread unto the surroundings.
The worst thing, however, was that, unlike most energies, [Emotional Energy] had a tendency to linger. The stronger the emotions, the higher it was likely to linger in the surroundings.
Unfortunately, most of the ti, the strongest surge emotions happen at a single event. And it was during a person's death. The more brutal and fearso a person's death was, the stronger the emotions released to the surroundings. Furthermore, how unexpected the death was also strengthened it in most cases.
And at those tis, those strong emotions carried negative traits.
Fear, helplessness, despair, regret, there were various emotions that could spread out during a person's brutal death.
During the fusion of dinsions, everyone watched the sky in fear as the debris from space rained on Earth. And the earthquake demolished buildings, destroyed the land, and killed people.
In Bay City, many people lived inside the buildings. The feeling they had as they tried to escape to safety but found out the floor beneath them crumbling was sothing horrifying. As they fall to the ground and get buried under the falling rubble, their emotions would intensify.
With the population that Bay City had, considering it was a place with many tall buildings, the death toll would be extrely high.
All of those people died at the sa ti, covering the entire Bay City with their emotions as their [Emotional Energies] scattered upon their deaths.
For an [Empath], places like this would be an enormous torture chamber.
It was the sa for the New Infanta Settlent. That ti, however, the negative [Emotional Energy] in the settlent was only enough to make Mark's mood sour.
In Bay City, however, the effect on Mark was overwhelming.
That explanation made everyone understand what happened to Mark.
"You should have been more careful."
Spera complained.
"I didn't expect it to be this intense, either."
Mark bitterly replied.
But then, another question entered Spera's mind as she looked at Mark and i alternately.
"But how co that you got better when Sister i embraced you."
At this ti, it was Illia that replied to Spera's question.
"You didn't know, huh. i had a unique physique. It's what they called [Body of Void]."
"Void? as in Empty?"
Spera asked in surprise. It was the first ti she heard about i having a unique physique. She was not new about physiques as there were people with unique bodies in Auraboros. But it was the first ti for her to hear about the [Body of Void].
"Usually, void ans empty," Illia explained. "But in the case of the [Body of Void], it ans more like 'clear'."
They then explained to Spera that i could deflect or remove any negativities from her body. This ti, she was using her body to protect Mark from the negative [Emotional Energy] in the surroundings.
"I see..." Spera said, looking at i. "You didn't tell about this..."
It was obvious that Spera felt a bit disappointed. Illia and Chitrice seed to know i's [Body of Void] but she did not.
"Don't bla them," Illia interjected. "They did not tell us either. We just knew since we had seen a similar physique in the past."
That consoling from Illia made Spera feel better. It was not that i did not tell Spera. Mark and i were actually hiding it from everyone.
The dinner beca a talk about Mark and i and their uniqueness. But it was not exactly peaceful because so [Infected] would wander nearby from ti to ti. Nonetheless, they managed to enjoy the dinner.
As it was getting late into the night, everyone decided to camp. With Spera here, they could just return to the Mountain Base to sleep, but it would destroy the atmosphere.
Of course, while it was ti for the little girls to sleep, Mark did not plan to join them.
They needed to find clues as to where the people in Bay City went, after all.
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