Mutreph continued his account.
"The day after our escape, my mother was exhausted. Her wounds were too deep, and she had drawn on her last reserves so that we could get away. From then on, she could no longer even move. I was still paralyzed, and she therefore had to continue watching over me. She told me not to worry, that I would lack for nothing.
"I told her I was hungry. She smiled, and then something unthinkable happened. She asked me to eat her.
"I thought it was a dream, a nightmare, a joke in poor taste. Me? Eat my mother? She answered that she was no longer good for anything, and that the only thing she could still do was feed me. That day, I did not eat, despite her insistence.
"For more than two weeks, I ate nothing, and neither did she. I was still terribly hungry, but I was incapable of moving to look for something to feed myself. My mother asked me again to eat her. I stubbornly refused: better to die of hunger than to do such a thing. Then she brought her arm to her mouth and began to devour it.
"I was stunned, horrified, terrified. She told me: 'You see? It doesn't hurt me. Go on, eat me, Mutreph.'
"That day, I cried. I was angry and overwhelmed at the same time. She held out her arm to me and added: 'A young boy must eat to gain strength. Eat, my son, nourish yourself, to speed up your recovery.'
"It was with tears blinding me and snot preventing me from breathing that I began to feed on my mother. I knew that each of my mouthfuls made her suffer, that she was still alive and felt that dreadful pain. I hesitated, and I kept crying.
"She told me: 'Mutreph, when one mutant eats another while he is wounded, he recovers more easily thanks to the other. I have already lived my life, and look at me: I am no longer in a state to continue. It is your turn to live yours, my child. Eat me.'
"I took another bite of her, then another, and so on. While I was eating my mother, she told me a story: hers, the one I have just told you.
"For a month, I fed on my mother. Nothing remained of her, neither her flesh, nor her organs, nor, above all, her life. Only bones remained. And yet, I had recovered: not completely, but I was already able to move and to move one arm.
"As a farewell, I decided to eat her bones as well, so that she would always be within me. But after that, I had a new objective: to find my father, kill him, then devour him, to reunite them. And all those who would stand in my way will die in atrocious suffering…"
He fell silent for a moment.
— That is the end of my story, children. What do you say? Do you want to face me, or let me pass?
The young mutants were stunned: they had not known that Mutreph had lived through such things.
— Mutreph, so your father is still alive? asked Saramut. Where is he?
— My father is in Monor City.
— And once you have killed him, what will you do? asked ErMut.
— I will go live in snowy mountains.
— And do you really intend to kill everyone who stands in your way? asked Mutjack.
Mutreph nodded.
— That's a bit stupid, said Saramut. With your appearance, they will obviously want to attack you. Without meaning to be rude, you are truly repulsive.
— Ha ha ha! I know. But I didn't ask for anything: everything I am today is my father's fault.
— Mutreph, we are sincerely sorry for what you have been through, said Mutana, but we ask you to stop. Who is your father, first of all?
— My father is Doctor Grijan.
— Doctor Grijan? exclaimed ErMut. He is a very important man, known throughout the world. He comes from the southern countries of Gu-HoiT!
— Exactly. We are originally from Persila.
— Mutreph, if you kill him, you will surely provoke a second war between humans and mutants. He is a man of the highest importance today!
— Pff… After putting us through so many horrors, my mother and me…
— Mutreph, said Mertana, you should understand: you must give it up and let karma take care of his fate. There is a God who watches over everything, injustice included. He will deal with Doctor Grijan in your place.
— Ha ha ha! Nonsense! If a god truly existed, why would he let so much injustice prosper? Why watch me suffer all that time, and put my torturer in the spotlight? Huh?
— I am sorry, Mutreph, said ErMut, but we cannot let you go as far as Monor City. We must avoid a new war.
— Then you have chosen to stand in my way.
The humanoid mutants took up combat stances.
— Mutreph, I beg you, give it up, said Saramut. I know it is very difficult, but I think your mother herself would agree with us.
Mutreph, seized with anger, threw himself at her.
— By what right do you allow yourself to speak of my mother?
He struck in Saramut's direction, who leapt backward and dodged. On the other side, Mutjack charged at Mutreph and delivered a kick. He hit him, but, strangely, Mutreph exploded into several pieces.
— But what the…?
Everyone was surprised. Was Mutreph not so solid after all?
Suddenly, the scattered pieces went wild: a portion of his repulsive flesh seized Mutjack's foot and hurled him violently against the hard ground. Mutjack spat blood.
— Mutjack!
Mutreph's body reformed. He was holding Mutjack's foot in his right hand.
— I ask you one last time: let me pass, before I eliminate you all. To give you a preview, you have no chance. Thanks to my father's chemical products, which still flow in my organism, I have learned three things: metamorphosis, dematerialization and solidification.
— Solidification? What is that? asked ErMut.
Mutreph's body burst apart again of its own accord, and let Mutjack fall back to the ground. The humanoid mutants were seized. The ground was invaded by Mutreph's flesh and blood, and his voice rang out.
— What you see, this heap of decaying flesh and blood, is what I call dematerialization. My entire body passes into a sticky state, similar to a liquid. That allows me to slip wherever I want and to spread out, but also to suffer no damage: in the liquid state, I no longer feel anything.
ErMut swallowed.
— All of that is still repulsive.
— Ha ha ha! And this?
Mutreph reformed behind ErMut, who had not seen him coming.
— ErMut, watch out, he's behind you! cried Saramut.
ErMut turned around, surprised.
— And this, I call solidification!
His arm hardened and took on a metallic appearance. He struck ErMut, who was sent flying through the air.
— Solidification allows me to strike with a body harder than steel, and confers a sort of armor on me. I become capable of withstanding countless physical attacks, or even atomic ones: up to the power of twenty nuclear bombs!
ErMut, who was about to hit the ground, was caught in mid-air by Mertana.
— Mutreph, you are nothing but scum! screamed Saramut.
She drew her sword and threw herself at him.
— You're going to taste my saber!
Mutreph smiled.
— And here is the last one.
His body increased in volume and became nauseating. Swollen, it gave off a smell of rot, of flesh that had been decaying for weeks, even months, and released intense heat, which prevented the young humanoid mutants from concentrating.
— This is the form many know me by. This decomposed body gives off a heat that confuses the senses, that stings the skin, the eyes and the nose. It also allows me to control the size of my limbs and my body. With all that, do you think my father has any chance against me?
Saramut was disgusted, like the others.
— If you think that will be enough to make us flee, you are mistaken, said Mutjack. Come on, guys, let's go!
The band of young humanoid mutants attacked Mutreph all together. Mutreph contented himself with using his abilities to get by: dematerialization, when an attack was about to reach him; solidification, to strike and inflict heavy damage; then metamorphosis, to confuse them as soon as they found a counter. In the eyes of the young humanoid mutants, he seemed invincible. He had no weak point, and fighting him was becoming more and more difficult.
Saramut turned toward ErMut.
— ErMut, I think this is the ideal moment to call Team A. Don't you think?
ErMut frowned.
— No. I will beat Mutreph alone.
He charged at Mutreph, filled his body with mana, which turned into a greenish aura, and attacked.
— Mutreph, your magic tricks are only good for the weak!
He struck, but Mutreph dematerialized then rematerialized farther away. ErMut pursued him and chained attacks, but the process repeated several times.
— Oops, I forgot a little detail, said Mutreph. When I use dematerialization, my body is highly toxic. Yes indeed: touching it poisons you with neurotoxins and cytotoxins!
— Damn it, that can't be true!
— Oh yes it can. And that's not all. In metamorphosis mode as well, my smell emits neurotoxins and cytotoxins that you inhale while breathing. Even if you manage to get out of here alive, you risk dying afterward. It will weaken you very quickly, so that I can finish you off. The more you breathe, the closer you get to death!
ErMut and Saramut exchanged a glance and nodded at the same time.
— This is the moment!
They drew closer to each other.
— You're going to taste our ultimate attack, Mutreph. We'll see if you're still so full of yourself!
The others had understood the signal. They gathered and joined their hands in front of them.
— Oh… What are you preparing for me?
All the young humanoid mutants concentrated their energy, which they reinforced with mana, to form a chaotic energy ball, whose frictions crackled in the space. Mutreph suddenly felt threatened.
— No, I have to stop you!
He ran toward them, but too late. The young humanoid mutants shouted the name of their technique:
— Enraged destruction ball!
The ball was released and flew straight at Mutreph. He could not avoid it: he was too close, and it was as fast as sound.
— Dematerialization!
An immense earthquake shook City C, followed by a gigantic explosion. The explosion was so vast that Team A, composed of Sakolomé, Bakuzan, Bakuran, Zeltania and Tanreo, turned around to see what was happening.
— Do you think that's Mutreph? asked Bakuran.
— I don't know, but we should go take a look, said Bakuzan.
Zeltania and Tanreo seemed to know what was going on.
— No, it's not Mutreph, said Zeltania. It's my friends, or rather Team B.
Bakuzan turned toward her.
— How can you be so sure?
— She's right, answered Tanreo. They used the enraged destruction ball technique. But it's not complete: my participation and Zeltania's are missing. With us, it would have been more powerful.
Zeltania nodded.
— What do you mean? asked Sakolomé. Is it a combined attack?
Tanreo agreed.
— Exactly. If they're using it, it's probably because they've run into a threat. We should go see.