CHAPTER 23: BURDEN OF LOVE

Amelia looked at the guy that was in front of him.

"He is still alive," She said as she rushed towards Mark and hugged him. They hugged for some time before separating. Mark and Charlotte also hugged him, they heaved a sigh of relief.

"So you guys miss me" He asked as he looked at them with a complex gaze.

"No I don't miss you, I was just crying because I won't see someone to spar with, She said.

"Has he developed a soul?" the Butterfly goddess thought but quickly rejected the conjecture but she still looked at him suspiciously.

"How did you survive" She asked him.

"My infinite dimension saved me but I was still gravely injured so I fell into the water and it still took me some time to recover" He lied. He and Liz had already practiced the lie he would use to cover up the whole story.

"Ok since you are alive, I don't have any work here again," the Butterfly goddess said and she disappeared.

"Go and face them, they are yours to face," Amelia said as he pointed to the people.

Back in the white house,

"I will have to take a journey to the leaders, he is far too terrifying and they are only the ones that can handle him," Tiger said. The leaders of Earth were surprised when they heard that but they all agreed, that Mark was too terrifying.

Hours passed but the jubilating atmosphere was still on for the humans on earth. The four already returned to the ship. The mercenary ground had already turned into a sea except for the southern region that was protected by the ice wall that Amelia erected. The strange thing was that the ice was keeping the people warm. Who says that the ice has to be cold, She could alter the temperature of her ice but it is still cold. It was already night and on the ship, the three already went to recover from the battle especially Amelia, she was gravely injured from the shockwave.

It was already midnight.

Mark floated on the water and looked at where the mercenary ground was once, it has now turned into a sea. He felt desolate and gloomy.

"Why do people always have to do evil to their kind just for power" He thought as he looked at the sea.

"Won't you absorb the blood essence to undergo evolution?" Liz asked him.

"Is this what I want?" He asked.

"From the day I gained power, different duties have been on my shoulders. From first, saving Elizabeth to saving the earth to saving the world. It was just today when I almost died that I knew the weight on my shoulders" He said.

"You have to do it," Liz told him.

"I know but I have already lost my humanity," he said.

"You were never human", Liz answered.

"I know but at least I still felt like one but the more evolution I undergo, the more I get far away from humanity," He said.

"Will Elizabeth love me when she wakes? Will she accept me for who I am?" He asked.

"It does not matter who you are but your mind, she will love you as long as you still have that human heart," Liz said.

"How sure are you" he asked.

"I just knew today. Earlier, you could have just probably taken my advice and left everyone but you still chose to save them even though you didn't know whether you would survive. After reducing the power of the missiles, you could have withdrawn your world and no one would have blamed you but you still chose to hold on and you almost died, That heart of yours is compassionate so don't just hold yourself back" She said.

"Hmm," He sighed.

"Just let me observe the stars this night and let me appreciate their free life I don't know when I will have the chance to observe them again," He said.

"The key to breaking through to Sword Phantom is you" Liz just said.

"Yes, I know" He answered as he floated towards one of the high buildings in in southern region. He landed on it and sat down while drinking the bottle of wine in his hand. The rest of the night passed.

The following morning, Martins, Amelia, and Charlotte were already at the cabin of the ship. Martins and Charlotte had already recovered, they were just trying to open their third meridian. They could feel it loosening up, it was Amelia that was still recovering. They wanted to eat, they felt hungry but Mark was not on the ship.

"Amelia, you have fallen for Mark" Charlotte was the one who started the conversation at the dining table. Amelia coughed out the meat that was in her mouth because she was caught unaware by the question.

"No" She tried to deny it.

"I know you have," Martins said.

"So stop trying to hide it from us," He said as he sighed.

"I never thought that you would be the first among us to fall in love but do you know that he only has a lady in his heart," Martins said.

"Yes," She answered.

"Why will you" Charlotte asked.

"I tried not to" Amelia answered.

"But I could not help it and it pains me to know that he has fallen in love with another lady. He is the most dangerous among us but his heart is his weakness. And I guess that's the reason I fell in love with him and I know that the probability of him falling in love with me is very low but we still have a long way to go so I just hope that he will notice me and I will be the second person to occupy his heart" She said while smiling bitterly.

"Hmm," Martins sighed.

"This is an affair of the heart. Like you said, it can't be stopped but I'm worried that it will let you turn to the other part because we already have an idea of what love can do," Charlotte said.

"Just promise us that you won't turn evil," Martins said.

"I won't turn evil don't worry, in fact I even hope that Elizabeth will wake up, I want to see the type of lady he fell for," She said.

"Ok then," Martins said and they ate in silence. After they finished eating, they went to their respective rooms. Mark landed on the ship, he had been hiding and he heard what they said. He just sighed and went into the kitchen of the cabin to get what he could eat. He ate and went out from the ship again. He just looked up at the sky as he sighed again.

This routine continued for a week, Mark would leave the ship when they wanted to come out and he would enter the ship when they returned to their room. He did not do anything because he was trying to achieve a peaceful heart so that he could break through to sword phantom.

It was a night again, he was looking at the stars on the top of one of the buildings while drinking the bottle of wine in his hand. He suddenly noticed something as he looked into the distance and he smiled bitterly. Not long after, Amelia appeared in the distance and she slowly floated towards him.

"Good evening" He greeted her.

"Good evening" She answered.

"How are your injuries" He asked.

"I'm now fully healed" She answered.

"You've not been around for a while and I decided to come and meet you this night," She told him as she sat beside him and took the wine from him and drank it. She looked down at the people that were going around doing their normal chores.

"I just wonder how normal life was before you awakened your power when you were still human," She asked him.

"Hmm," He sighed.

"It was interesting, making new friends, loving people, and having people who care about you. Even though there are also downsides at least people are still around you that you know are like you" He answered as he remembered his former life.

"But with power come duties and loneliness" He sighed as he thought about his meeting with water elementals and what he was told. His mind also drifted to the way a beautiful planet was destroyed. There were a lot of unanswered questions on his mind. He just sighed with loneliness.

"It's lonely but don't forget you have a new family," She told him.

"Yeah I have you three but I'm still a little bit overwhelmed" He answered.

"We can share your burdens," She said.

"Ok," He answered as he looked at her while sighing gently. They continued looking at the stars but after some time, he felt a gentle scent get closer to him and suddenly something fell on his shoulder. It was Amelia, she was resting her head on his shoulder. They continued watching the stars.

Back in the primordial forest, in the deeper part of the forest. A place that even the superhumans dared not to go into. The restricted place of the primordial forest, a place of certain death for the superhumans. Tiger got there and looked at the lab in front of him. He got to the entrance of the lab which opened automatically.

"Enter" A voice was heard from the depths of the warehouse. He went into the warehouse. He continued to walk into the long hallway that had an apparatus box with liquid and they had humans in them. He continued till he reached the end of the hallway and opened the door. It was a large and desolate room that had three chairs at the end and people with bloody eyeballs staying in the room. Tiger walked in with his head bowed down.

"What is this weakling doing here, Should we just rip out his throat" One of the men who was sitting on the left side of the chairs said.

"Let's hear what he has to say. You know that he is one of our most important pawns" The one in the center said. Tiger knelt on the floor,

"Thank you for giving this lowly slave a chance to live," head

"Just get to the point," The one in the center said.

"He has finally arrived and we can't handle him," Tiger said as he pointed a pad forward. The pad left his hand and floated to the hand of the man in the center. They watched the video while their eyes brightened.

"Finally, he has arrived We can finally start the plan. The one in the middle among them said excitedly.