BLOOD MUTANT SYSTEM.-Chapter 436: CH: MAKE A CHOICE.

After a few minutes passed, the discomfort left behind by the ritual began to fade. Slowly, Jim and Anya regained full control over their bodies, although they were quite weakened by it.

Naturally, the first thing they checked was their chests.

Were the wounds still there?

Was there still blood?

Why was...

"...There’s no pain..." Anya muttered.

Her fingers traced the spots where tendrils had pierced into her only minutes ago. She looked down and froze.

There was nothing.

Not a single drop of blood. No wound. No scab. There wasn’t even a scar.

Jim, who had endured the worst of the ritual, ran his hands across his chest and found the same thing.

Nothing.

No blood. No wound. No scab, no scar. Not a single trace of the damage that was inflicted on him was left behind. It was as though none of it had ever happened in the first place.

But he noticed something else—something different. Not just in himself, but in Anya as well.

"I feel younger," he murmured.

Anya looked at him, and her eyes widened.

"You look younger, too."

Jim studied her face, then nodded slowly.

"So do you."

The two humans stared at each other in disbelief. They looked years younger—almost early twenties at most—despite both having been well into their early thirties just moments ago.

It wasn’t just appearance.

They felt younger. Stronger.

Wrinkles were gone. Muscles that had once sagged slightly were now firm, defined, and fuller. Their posture felt natural, effortless. Their physiques were less strained and slumped, now more defined and confident. Even their expressions had changed.

They didn’t feel like Blood Mutants anymore.

They felt...

"...Human again," Jim whispered.

His gaze shifted to Eden and Eve.

The two Ethisian Blood Mutants stood silently, watching as Jim and Anya processed the changes to their bodies. After a moment, Eve finally spoke.

"You’ve both been reverted to an almost human-like state," she said calmly.

Two dark orbs of glowing, violent, blood-red energy hovered above her palms, drifting restlessly in the air.

"This is the essence of a Blood Gene, the core of what makes us Blood Mutants," she continued. "Yours were saturated with dark energy. That’s why they manifested this way."

She frowned slightly.

"We’ve never seen another Blood Mutant’s essence beyond our own, but I can tell, this isn’t how it’s meant to feel."

Eden stepped forward.

"Now," he said, "we’re giving you a choice." Jim and Anya tensed. "You can remain in this human-like state," Eden continued, "and we’ll arrange a ship to return you to Earth. You’ll be free from this war. Free for good. Or we turn you again—properly—into pure Blood Mutants."

"But if you choose that path," Eden finished, "you’ll fight with us and the Ethisians to bring down the Granians...and kill the Mutant who turned you."

’We’ll have to kill Ace?’

Jim and Anya’s eyes widened. Stunned, they looked at each other, then back at Eden, then at the dark energy hovering over Eve’s palms.

After a moment, Anya stepped forward.

"Is it really necessary for us to kill him?" she asked quietly.

Despite being abducted, experimented on, and turned into a bloodthirsty weapon, Anya didn’t hold that against Ace. In her eyes, she had suffered less than he had—carried a lighter burden than the one he bore.

"The one who turned us... who turned me," she continued, "is someone I looked after while we were still on Earth. He was a peculiar person, and I took an interest in him whenever we’d meet. Even though he turned me, against his will, I don’t think I can go from feeling that way about him to killing him."

Eden and Eve exchanged a glance before responding.

"Killing him isn’t our only option," Eden said.

"But it is the fastest and easiest," Eve added.

Jim frowned. "What’s the second option?"

"The alternative is making him fight for us," Eden said. "Which will be nearly impossible. Now that the Granians have lost control over both of you, they’ll intensify the brainwashing they were already using."

Instead of clearing things up, his words only deepened Jim and Anya’s confusion.

"Brainwashing?" Anya said uncertainly. "The Granians weren’t brainwashing us... were they?"

Eve tilted her head slightly. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Think back," she said. "When you were abducted and turned, didn’t they place blockers on your necks to suppress your rage and control when you could and couldn’t use your blood manipulation abilities? And afterward—weren’t you submerged in tanks filled with green fluid?"

Eden continued, "The blockers suppressed your initial fury. The fluid dulled your hatred toward the Granians, making you easier to tame and control."

He studied them closely.

"Ask yourselves this. If you despise the Granians for abducting you and forcing you into a war you never chose... why haven’t you acted against them?"

The question struck deep.

Jim and Anya fell silent.

"You’re both powerful," Eden went on. "And the one who turned you is even more so. Strong enough to sabotage—maybe even wipe out a great number of the Granians. So why hasn’t it happened?"

Before either could answer, Eve spoke again.

"Because they tamed you," she said calmly. "If you still carried all that anger and hatred, you would’ve killed several Granians by now. And because of how valuable you are, they wouldn’t kill you, not yet."

"They’d instead resort to harsher, more inhumane methods," Eden added. "And since you haven’t been subjected to those yet, we’re confident they’re focusing on fully brainwashing the remaining Blood Mutants, including the one who turned you."

"That’s why the second option is the hardest," Eve said. "We were once brainwashed too. It took an unbearable amount of time for the Ethisians to undo what the Granians did to us."

"And it came at a cost," Enor interjected grimly. "Undoing the damage done to these two alone cost me a fifth of my army."

Eden’s expression darkened.

"That’s why killing him is the simplest path," he said. "Still—if you believe you can convince him to join us, you may try."

He paused.

"But once Eve and I see him..."

"We won’t hesitate," Eve finished quietly. "We’ll put him down. He’s not there yet, but from what I’ve sensed from the residuals of the dark energy that once plagued you, he may become too powerful to handle, even for us. So, what’ll your choice be? Fight, or return to Earth?"